Human Elephant - Owner Without A Dog EP (2010)

Umor Rex

8.7

/Post-punk, Goth rock, Psychedelia, Dark pop, Singer-songwriter, Experimental pop/

Comment: In comparison with John Edward Donald`s previous work, however, some new influence lines can be admitted. For instance, dark folk influences are mainly replaced with post-punk/gothic and introspective psychedelia. So you can compare it freely with Joy Division and The Doors respectively. Indeed, it is an impressive journey into the past evoking lots of memories from your subconsciousness.

Deadman - Cerebral Frontier (2010)

Umor Rex

9.3

/Experimental folk, Indie folk, Folk indie, Eletronic, Folk noir, Alt-folk, Drone folk, Avant-folk, Baroque folk/

Comment: The Belfast-based musician Jason Mills aka Deadman`s 6-track submission does include oozing-droning folk chords and minimally designed fingerpicked folk formats and whistling careless pop and more or less murky experimental folk/indie pop and orchestrated folk appearances and near-dance occurences and some air-filled attacks from the outer space. Produced by David Baxter aka Filaria. Indeed, it is a near-brilliant workout/or an obscure one as it was used to say in past times.

Azoora - Tension

All Black Everything - Rapt Withal (2011)

Bandcamp

9.0

/Drone, Avant-garde, Noise, Psych-music, Electro-acoustic, Microtonal, Psycho-acoustic, Experimentalism, Acousmatic, Minimalism/

Comment: All Black Everything is back again with a brand new issue after the two excellent releases Gentle Floor, and Revenge Body, respectively. As ordinary as it is used to be by his side, some new tracks to be added with an obsessive concern upon tonality, form, and manipulated moods, embedded more in the tradition of early electronic pioneers (Pierre Schaeffer; Morton Subotnick, La Monte Young), rather than showcasing nowadays approaches regarding the sound.

PJ001 - transmission #01 (2011)

Pjoew

8.7

/IDM, Electronic pop, Indietronica, Drum and bass/

Comment: This is the first and the last issue under Pjoew to date. This is a compilation of 13 tracks based mainly upon spacious IDM-lines and burbling synth-driven electronic pop cores and at times guitar chord-dominated electronic indie as well. However, there are some exceptions as well. For instance, CruizeOfFiction`s Contrail is a subtle drum and bass/dream and bass, or HyeVolture`s Hye walkure, part 1: you're armed (...and your sick shit) resembles somehow those sounds made by Radiohead upon the Kid A. And a kind of shrilling lo-fi electronica made by Olkin Donder (Total Tendencies). Anyway, my favorite is Teebo`s The sound of 1000 growing trees which makes huge sense with slightly psychedelic synth shreds and crescending space around it. A strong output indeed.

Jetman Jet Team - Unfinished Album (2011)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Shoegaze, Fuzz pop, Dream pop, Psych-rock, Alternative pop, Trance rock/

Comment: After a two year hiatus, the former members of The Pop Eccentric Brenan Chambers, Miguel Diaz, Tyler James, and Quin Dickinson have returned, added singer Alisa Dickinson to the line-up, and become Jetman Jet Team. However, this is the debut issue by the Seattle-based group delivering a solid set of shoegaze/newgaze strivings. It might be the strongest notch from this 3-track release is Albatross which is filled in with blissed-out harmonies, up-and-down gears, reminding strongly of Pia Fraus. On the other side, the last track Corrosive merits its name blending Kevin Shields-alike mumbling lullabies with metallic reverbs and trance rock-relied ambience.

Elisa Luu - Ebbrezza (2011)

Laverna

8.5

/Experimental electronica, Art-pop, Indietronica, Ambient, Electronic pop/

Comment: This is Elisabetta Luciani aka Elisa Luu`s follow-up to her masterpiece The time of waiting (2010, La bèl), though, at the time her ambitions are more lopsided toward fluttering electronic-based approach, deliberately convulsive ambient experiments or slightly subdued or introspective feelings brought forth through dreamy electric pianos, rather than exultant indietronica and experimental fusion, respectively. Only the kick-off H1 (feat. Giulio Maresca) hints at her previous habits regarding indie(tronic) sound more detailly. In any cases, those 4 tracks do make out a fine synergy.