Hox Vox - The Wanderer (2011)

Hox Vox

Jamendo
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.1

/Progressive rock, Avant-prog, Sound collage, Crossover, Avant-garde, Jazz, Latin music/

Comment: Gianluca Missero, a prog-head from Venice, embarks on The Wanderer from an ironic point of view - with samplings by Iggy Pop`s Passenger pouring it over with sound effects and a speech line. Upon it the clear-cut cuttings and sudden starts of progressive rock chords and rhythmic revel will be brought forth, including the details from latin rhythms, funky bass thudding, jazz-hued interventions and electronic undercurrents. A hectic business as usual. Just 5 tracks, yet much enough for a spectacular ambience to be evoked and marvelled. Although the whole is aesthetically multi-layered, it is seamlessly elaborated and subsequently accomplished indeed.

Mirabilia - Sümpaatiline õudus EP (2011)

Bandcamp

9.6

/Experimental indie, Psychedelia, Singer-songwriter, Art-pop, Indie pop, Psychedelia, Leftfield, Space pop, Krautrock, Avant-pop, Indie folk/

Comment: Dallas was a cult combo from Tallinn, Estonia, and was considered as one of the most prominent Estonian (if not the most well-known) indie pop names in the ending part of 90`s (they released the last and self-released output Delay Lama in 2003, though, after being on hiatus for some years before it. By the way, some days ago were their seminal albums Raj Kapoor/Sleeper`s Entertainer re-issued under Seksound). The band which was apparently influenced by Stereolab, blending indie rock tunes with bossa circulations, fairy-alike orchestrated progressions, psychedelic electronica, some dance vibes, all in all, making it out as a beatific pop group anyway. However, Holger Loodus, their leader, made comeback with the project Mirabilia in the mid of 00`s, having released the album Log In Eye (Seksound). In any cases, the follow-up Sümpaatiline õudus EP is a 4-track issue being named after and using the text of Charles Baudelaire`s Horreur Symphatique as well. He is assisted by the members of now or previously existed acts like Galaktlan Project, Kismabande, Chance, and Sinine, all in all, playing out a very solid set, indeed demonstrating himself as an exciting singer-songwriter, who incorporates besides "usual" indie guitar sections the elements of dynamical psychedelia, catchy alt-folk, krautrock-esque experimentalism, variable sound effects and space contexts. Indeed, it may resemble Dallas at times, yet it is an obvious leap upon the next level.

Pablo Akaros - Unis par les cliks (2006)

Edensonic
Archive.org

8.0

/Tekno, Techno, Club dance, Remix, Minimal, Progressive, Minimal/

Comment: A 4-track brainchild of this profilic Spanish-based club music gearhead reflects upon those dodges and beat manipulations so characteristic to the middle period of 00`s. However, it is an example of bouncing yet minimally fluttering, repeated shapes-relied techno-tekno blended sets, which is intersected by progressing, acid-filled synth brooding at times (Mikro Punto). On the other side, though, it is an insertion into more elemental and warped, spaciously blasting avant-techno realms, for instance through the Catkin Bay Remix of the track Mikro Punto by Jesse Somfay.

Dockta Valkus - Infobomb EP (2010)

Neferiu Records
Dockta Valkus
Bandcamp
Lastfm

8.7

/Experimental, Hip-hop, Avant-garde, Psychedelic/

Comment: After his high-acclaimed debut issue SKYBASE (2008) Dockta Valkus is back with his 6 new tracks within 16 minutes, making collaboration with Mighty Vega whose hectic MC-ing makes potently sense in front of a background built on outer space-looking samples, mystically profound, abyss-arrived bass beats, all in all, making the EP out as a remote species from the chart-appealing rap music, moreover, embodying as a kind of ideal hip-hop paces on its own.

Dark van Galaxy - Ekania (2011)

Tunguska Electronic music Society - Tunguska Chillout Grooves vol. 3 (Lilith & Selena)

Jamendo

7.7

/Electronic pop, Psyambient, Chillout, Psytrance, New Age, Downtempo/

Comment: This compilation consists of two albums (Lilith; Selena), having the total length more than 2 hours. I love ARGONIKA`s track Do You Hear, which makes difference with a fine robot pop. Or Alexander V. Mogilco (feat. JAMA)`s soul notch tuned New Age-drenched mix. In the most part, however, it is a kind of middle-tempo swaying on soothing and burbling synths and synthesized flute passages. By the way, the beautiful coverprint as well.

Random Article - Valley Sessions, January-February 2011 (2011)

Archive.org

/Drone folk, Improvised music, Jam session, Live recording, Experimental folk, Psychedelic folk/

8.5

Comment: It has always been a big pleasure to listen to the Exeter-based improvisational folk groups, mainly concentrated on around a band named as Children Of The Drone. Here is a set of 20 songs, relied upon meditative, improvised raga tunes, restrainted drone folk, played upon bass, violin, vocal improvisations and occasional bouzouki and percussion interventions (tablas) plus burning chestnut logs recorded at a cottage in the Broad Oak valley, near Canterbury (UK), January-February 2011.