Bing Satellites - Summer Night (2009)

BFW Recordings

9.4

/Ambient, Soundscape, Progressive, Shoegazetronica, Epic, Synth pop, Crossover, Ambient dub, Psyambient/

Comment: This 7-pieced set is a peculiar and wondrous issue by a profilic musician and label founder (BFW Recordings) from Manchester, UK. First of all, therein can be detected for a wide smorgasboard of styles and tendencies, veering from bubbling ambient dub/psyambient and shoegazetronica to cinematic, sometimes bleak synth-induced soundscapes and melancholic quasi-modern classical approach and angrily gazing synth progressions. Regarding his previous experiments, however, the most odd track is Indigo, which used to be an instance of cosmic prog/fusion (with those barking bass interventions). By the way, the last track does have the longitude of 80 minutes (it starts out as melancholic and epic as a steam ship coming slowly out from the fog down the river).

Tobias Faar - Hidden Locations (2011)

Brusio

8.9

/Minimal, Soundscapes, Dark ambient, Noir, Dystopbient, Sound art/

Comment: The first of those 5 tracks does embark on with bleak, minimal skrees (of grasshoppers?) and bouncing stereo effects and barely “visible” burning around it (back to the nature, isn`t?). However, later all of that gets evolved into a more elemental maelstrom, incorporating more lush ambiences and vivid sonic effects and piano chords for its sake. Thudding and elliptical bass lines and shapes, malicious droning and strangling spasms and vast distances followed are the next characteristics of the album. Yet, inspite of a writhing bulk of sounds the whole brings to fruition itself as an example of B/W, noir-filled motion. Moreover, it could hold good as soundtrack for a sci-fi/horror movie.

Barbagallo - White (2011)

The Post Riot Era - On Zero Sum Living (2011)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.2

/Ambient, Post-rock, Guitar ambient, Minimal music, Crossover, Experimental rock/

Comment: The Post Riot Era is the project by Dean Hinds, a resident from Los Angeles. This 5-pieced set is a kind of tribute to post-rock music (yet not being a crescendo-loaded one, either) and ambient and minimal music. Slowly evoking guitar-based restraint hiss which is surrounded with bare electronics and extending soundscapes does grow organically into more clear-cut structures, moreover, letting no possibility for perception power to draw distinct borders between its particles. All in all, a sequential instance of the Californian avant-garde/experimental power.

Aamen - All Aamen tracks at /bc (2011)

Bandcamp

7.6

/Pop techno, Electro pop, Electronic pop, Lo-fi, Experimental electronica/

Comment: Made with crappy soundcard and hedfones... . This is a project from Estonia used to veer from blinking, joyous electro reflections and lo-fi pop techno to more aggressive, brooding electro-shooting and more artistic, semi-orchestrated snippets. All Aamen tracks at /bc is a follow-up (the compilation of previous tracks) to Diskoveri (2011, Trash Can Dance).

Fletcher Kaufman - House of Glass Dolls (2011)

Cakes & Tapes Hotfile
Lastfm

8.5

/Alt-folk, DIY, Lo-fi, Anti-folk, Electronic, Singer-songwriter/

Comment: Fletcher Kaufman is a singer-songwriter from USA and House of Glass Dolls is his debut album (in two versions). By listening and concluding it I can admit that Kaufman`s sound can be considered as one of those ones being part of DIY/anti-folk culture /CLLCT, for instance). Bare, rough guitar strums are accompanied with simple, barking cadences and at times female vocals in the background. On the other side, West Chron has strong electronic appeal with autotuned vocals, Grasping Love used to exploit Jewish motives. You can compare his sound with the oeuvres by Adrian Aardvark, and tinyfolk.

The Bilinda Butchers - This Love Is Fucking Right!