Blues for spacegirl – Arezzo (2011)

Blues for spacegirl
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.4

/Dark ambient, Dystopbient, Soundscape, Drone, Ambient noise, Ambient drone, Minimal, Epic/

Comment: Profound, dense, wide - all in all, it is very expressive indeed. Only in this way could the Belgian musician`s album be described for. Moreover, during a three year lapse he has released 6 albums, and it is one of the most suggestive of them, for sure. In fact, this one-track one (29 minutes) is an extended version of the Fibroma split EP`s closure track. By the formal side he used to push a listener into a seemingly bottomless labyrinth of dark ambient, drone, and ambient. Lots of abstract yet beatless (vibrating) rhythms come directly from the structures of the tracks, all the higher spheres are filled in with the flashes of angels and demons at times. It might be that this one is worth even for some higher rates, still let`s hold those points for his future albums. By the way, the outer sleeve is really magnificient either.

Henrik Josè - Pinpointing The Problem

Woodworkings - Goodbye Homes (2011)

 

Futurerecordings 

 

 10.0

/Post-rock, Ambient, Experimental rock, Chamber rock, Minimal, Epic, Instrumental, Modern classical, Soundscape, Ambient noise/ 

Comment: Oh, it sounds so huge...so vast...so... . In a more profound way, this case is about an exhilaratingly infiltrated blend of ambient, modern classical, post-rock-ish fringes, silentful dream-hued noise, filled in with the sense of entropy which will have modified into mesmerizing, melancholic beauty. There can be sensed for listenable and unheardable, for real entities and ghosts either. Goodbye Homes embarks on by the zero point from nowhere, getting an impulse to grow and blossom and finally to get succumbed unheedingly. Like the life story of a person. By listening to the last track I almost started off crying... . In fact, it is not the first and only case by Woodworkings to make out for the issues with the maximum-point rate. And Futurerecodings is previously one of the peaks amongst the labels all around the world.

Hox Vox - Il Cavallo Spaiato (2011)

Hox Vox
Bandcamp
Jamendo
Lastfm

8.6

/Avant-prog, Classical, RIO, Experimental rock, Jazz, Fusion, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Progressive/

Comment: Gianluca Missero`s (aka Hox Vox aka Turbogrind Terrorizers) new album is really worth to listen to. Actually every recent step by his side needs to be looked back to the way passed along already. The Venice resident has been one of the stalwarts of the nowadays RIO/ avant-prog movement, while being theoretically predictable at this methodical point, however, he has managed to bend his follow-ups into sufficient progressions via off-kilter electronics, changing the metres, adding new patterns and elements. This time the previously known structures are densely laced with drum and bass rhythms and other breaks, fusion, jazz standards, spoken word interventions, samples from the stadium and streets. By the stylistical smorgasboard it can seem unkempt and destructed, yet, on the other side all the developments are apparently strictly controlled. In a word, while being stubbornly mind-evoking and a little contradictive by its speculative aspect, however, this does not flavour the practical side at all. Indeed, it is the sign of a great master.

Moses Luster and the Hollywood Lights - I`m The Lion (2011)

Bandcamp

9.0

/Singer-songwriter, Baroque folk, Alternative pop, Electronic, Dark pop, Noir pop/

Comment: Moses Luster is a musician from USA, who previously used to be a touring musician (and the gigs in the casinos as well). However, his recent album (consists of 12 tracks) is an impressive set of dark pop/noir numbers, which is supplemented with crazy synths, dizzy orchestrations, lone pianos, crescending ridges, female voice-backed notches, and densely hitting drums. At times his voice gets to fall nuts, variegated with suggestive falsettos and crooner characteristics, cabaret-tinged half- and full tones, angrily conveyed narrated parts of his (past) life. Indeed, it is not problem for him to be resigned and angry simultaneously. Luster is already compared to Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, (and Scott Walker by my side), yet, his sound has lots of junctures with Beirut, Cat Bark Cat, Jens Lekman and other contemporary baroque/chamber folk artists. However, I Won`t Stray and Some Day (a kind of the ballad) are one of the best single glimpses from 2011. I just discovered the release can be classified as the kind of grower.

Damn Robot! - Hunang Skrímsli (2011)

Megaupload
Hawk Moon
Lastfm

8.8

/Post-rock, Electronic pop, Experimentalism, Sound collage, Cut and paste, Weird, Avant-garde/

Comment: Obviously there is more than just one way to find out proper possibilities for translating this sound into minds and words, though. Despite of it, however, it seems to me that the spinal c(h)ord of this album is somewhat related to a post-rock-ish endeavour (probably because of being most frequently represented here) mixed up with fluttering electronic progressions and some unconventional solutions. More profoundly, confronting mellow and harsh, acute and indirect, radio tunings, schizoid samples, rapidly changing sonic episodes, robot pop vocal lines, however, it might be that the conclusion of circumstances happened here all the way allows it to get direction and impetus for. My favorite notch from there is No Slack, But Luckily The Seats Go Back reminiscent of Be There, the collaboration track by Ian Brown with Unkle in 1999. Uhh, beautiful and redemptive.

Fuji Kureta - See-through (2011)

23 Seconds
Lastfm

9.0

/Electronic pop, Club dance, Experimental electronica, Trip-hop/

Comment: Fuji Kureta is a duo from Istanbul, formed in August 2008. This time the singer Deniz Öztürk and the composer Sahin Kureta take on innovative electronic pop in which Björk-like songwriting shadows can widely be recognized (searching for junctures between electronic pop and more experimental approach). Or making a couple of bows to Kraftwerk (What If). In a more direct way, there can be heard for angular beats, drabbling glockenspiel-esque formations, multiply crossbreeded rhythms, trip-hop spasms, dream-tinged vocal lines, some club dance glimpses and much more. By the way, those 8 songs are recorded in French and English respectively. An accomplished workout indeed.