X-Structure - The Future (2011)

Bushmen
Lastfm

9.0

/Downtempo, Psyambient, Electronic pop, World music, Chillout, Mood music/

Comment: X-Structure, a quartet from the Republic of South Africa is back with their brand new one. Similarly to their previous album (The Past) it is drawn upon the time category and used to shimmer like an iceberg in the sunshine or brown, sunburned landscape. By being massive, and a little bit mystical, the album represents the vision of electronic Africa, because of below those soothing, mostly majestic synth layers are deeply buried different shapes and patterns of the Black continent. Chill and alert.

Kent State - Polly

Echoes - Echoes (2009)

Lastfm
Bandcamp

9.5

/Post-rock, Ambient rock, Ambient, Crossover, Experimental rock/

Comment: a gritty set of instrumental post-rock compositions from St Louis, Missouri, USA. Furthermore, epic, monumental guitar works (which include lots of changes in timbre texture and dynamics or providing lofy, dark-hued droning below the other layers) are sometimes mixed up with airy found sounds and the telling oscillations of hum to create a lush vision of rock music or on the other side constitue an interim compartment to bridge post-rock and ambient into a new path and bewitching ambience. Indeed, it is far away from being just a sequent (boring) post-rock publication. In a word, it is one of the best guitar-based releases ever heard.

Sara Santos - Vacu Sessions 20 ( 2011)

Vacu Sessions

9.3

/Guitar ambient, Sound art, Experimental rock, Experimentalism, Avant-garde, Noise/

Comment: massive, abrasive guitar seaways and slapping drums are up here to dominate throughout the 37-minute session. Crashing, ingurgitating and crushing noise enlightened with some atmospherical layers coming out from it/revolving around it. In fact, having no certain idea how to entitle it exactly - is it sound art or a sort of cutting edge noise rock a la the Lightning Bolt? Never mind, first of all, Sara Santos` work reminds of Tore Elgarøy`s whilom opus The Sound Of The Sun (2001, Rune Grammofon) and Glenn Branca`s guitar noise-drenched symphonies. And it makes you smile tonight.

slept. - on a bright day (2011)

Test Tube

Lastfm

9.7

/Ambient, Ambient noise, Microsound, Guitar ambient, Abstract electronica, Avant-electronica, Soundscapes, Electro-acoustic, Dystopbient, Glitch ambient, Minimalism/

Comment: I can remember exactly for my first experience related with Lukasz Wegrzyn`s music (self-titled EP) happened in approximately 2 years ago. In the meantime LW has issued 2 releases (Torpor EP; Feather EP) in addition to it. This 7-track album is a masterpiece and one of the albums in 2011 for sure. It consists of minimal, restraint and blissed-out ingredients as if re-creating hidden memories to experience bittersweet perceptions and visions. Majestic ambient monoliths are set at a distance while sharp glitch shards are positioned to move on along the front line. By running on sparse, remote wastelands you can perceive some noisy yet somehow laid-back maelstroms, buzzing drones, effortless chord changes. In any cases, the album can be considered as an ideal vision of ambient music.

Joxfield ProjeX - Silent Night Night Silence Pt 2

Joseph Volmer and Eric Fourman - The Transcription of Organ Music (2011)

AudioTong

9.6

/Drone rock, Conceptual, Ambient, Drone, Guitar ambient, Experimental rock, Epic, Post-rock, Avant-rock/

Comment: a stunning, well-balanced drone rock/glacial glow-ish post-rock suite passing along the panoramic flight based on toy piano, guitar, piano, and toy flute. First of all, this 12-minute soundscape is dominated by gleaming guitar hum and orchestrated vectors moving up and down. When it is time to rise up, however, those peaks and crests do chime truly monumental and majestic. An epic result which Angus Maclise would have loved, I guess.