Videodreams - The World (2010)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Alternative pop/rock, Soft rock, Indie pop/

Comment: a nice set of 6 songs from Italy. More concretely, dreamy, a little bit lethargic vocal supply is supported by chiming guitars, colourful glockenspiel undercurrents and acidious synth fringes. The songs are masterfully spirited and soulful. All of that might remind of Coldplay, and Keane. In fact, the quartet do it even better.

The Womb - Escapism (2011)

23 Seconds

The Womb
Lastfm

9.2

/Synth noir, Hip-hop, Experimental indie, Art pop, Crossover, Electronic pop, Dark pop, Angst pop, Ambient pop/

Comment: Alan Driscoll, one of the most intricate singer-songwriters today is back with his brand new heavy. He is known by his idiosyncratic dark-hued vocal manner which is sticked somehow with (white) hip-hop mannerism (extraordinarily in the closure track The Narrator). By speaking about his(?)/someone(?)/anyone`s (?) paranoias and obsessions, he uses lo-fi synthetic sound only to give rhythm and soul for the issue. In fact, Driscoll has added some new elements - for example, Strobelites does function as a hell-ish blend of downtempo and deep ambient. Especially monumental is We Swam Through The Sky, an amazing angst-filled vista. Really horrifying indeed. One of the best tracks in 2011 so far. Of course, while you can feel some difference between Escapism and a masterpiece, called Purity Test (also issued on 23 Seconds, 2011), his last issue is outstanding for sure. You can compare Driscoll (living in Melbourne, Australia now) with another British world traveler and free thinker, called Momus.

Juan Gamiz - Organo de Zadar (2008)

Thrmnphone

9.0

/Electro-acoustics, Musique concrète, Organic electronica, Acousmatics, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Minimalism/

Comment: such music can be called as "organic growing" where roughly looping electro-acoustic music is crossed with concrete sounds/street noise. The reason why it seems to be so cogent and relaxing is quite simple - all of that is reduced to the algorithms of minimal music. The environments around the lonely looping gear are incessantly in change thus constituting the sense of permanent became. All in all, let`s celebrate this moment.

Computer Magic - The End of Time

Affable Noise & Luka Ueumura - Rehearsal Sounds (2011)

Bandcamp

9.1

/Guitar ambient, Ambient noise, Ambient rock, Experimental rock, Avant-garde/

Comment: monumental and massive guitar ambient/guitar noise/ambient noise outputs from Land of the Rising Sun. Potent guitar carcasses are at times decorated with arpeggio-backed warbles and fingerpicked strings, on the other side undermined with chaotically rolling electronics/and pitch bent effects below it, thus swelling and contracting the 7-track whole incessantly. Indeed, it can be classified as an example of uncompromising ambient exploration.

htrspltn – some mediavirus vol. 1 (2011)

Dystopiaq
Lastfm

9.2

/Sound collage, Experimental, Urban music, Plunderphonics, Sampledelic, Trip-hop, Hip-hop, Cinematic/

Comment: this 10-track decentration is an outstanding amalgamation in the realms of hip-hop and trip-hop music, sound collage and plunderphonics-induced world. Sublime infiltrated layers of cinematic pop, warped downbeat chords, haunting jazz-based detours, stabbing scratches, reversed bits and bites of world fusion, ethereal vowel experiments right and left do constitute your day for sure. All of that is wrapped up in obligatory crackling and hiss mist. It is insolent and alleviating at the same time. It could be described as an instance of demented Portishead, for instance. By the way, the album is created in Ulan-Ude, Eastern Siberia, Russia.

Various Artists - The Garden of Forking Paths (2007)

Hidden Shoal

9.3

/Post-rock, Ambient, Dream pop, Electronic pop, Experimental rock, Indie rock, Ambient rock, Indie pop/

Comment: only the best words can I have to describe the compilation that encompasses the music under the Hidden Shoal Records from the last quarter 2006 and first quarter 2007. The 9-track miscellany meets mostly at the crossroads of sublime post-rock, baggy beat-driven dream pop/electronica, elating indie pop/rock, ethereally washing drone experimentalism, endlessly swelling ambient music and brooding guitar-based experimentations. The Garden Of Forking Paths was the second collection in the array of 5 ones issued to date. Here are represented the tracks by Dilatazione, The Hero Cycle, Sankt Otten, Colour Kane, Moongoat, My Majestic Star, Wes Willenbring, Tangled Star, Slow Dancing Society.