Chromelodeon - The Final Recordings (2007/2008)

iimusic

9.3

/Psychedelia, Alternative, Progressive rock, Avant-rock, Experimental rock, Electronic, Electro-rock, Fusion/

Comment: Chromelodeon was a frantic, 8-piece instrumental music group from Philadelphia which by their vanguard-ish intention and vision could be compared with the likes of Black Moth Super Rainbow, and The Octopus Project. More concretely, as the title of the album refers it is their final album which, by the way, was recorded live in 2005. Heavily acidic synthesizer-driven notches are fringed with intense, hysteric sort of drumming. At times the listener can hear sparse, 8-bit alike electronic bits below those massive, psychedelic synth washes and overdriving synthetic effects, which, however, is not surprising because the combo was known for covering video game themes. Indeed, it is their swan song, though, a very decorous one.

M A S & Travis McAlister - The Fade Out Room (2011)

Test Tube
Lastfm

9.5

/Hauntology, Sampledelic, Avant-garde, Electro-acoustic, Ambient, Musique concrète, Experimentalism, Cut and paste, Sound collage, Acousmatics, Spoken word/

Comment: haunting samples and somehow blissed-out milieus surrounding...haunting samples and blissed-out milieus. Those old school, the 1920/30`s swinging pieces are intertwined with organic street sounds and weird, creepy electronic and atmospherical progressions now and then. Anyway, this 8-track album is similar to the ones of their label mates Gutta Percha, and the Caretaker (of course) who is the biggest name on this genre. Aa s result it is a hypnotic experience passing through the different eras of (experimental) music searching for elusive redemption and vast synergy. Behind the project are M A S (aka Makram Abu-Shakra), and Travis McAlister, two experienced sound creators, who used to play in various improvisation groups together during the early 90's in Southern California.

Invisible Elephant - You Can Have It All

Leah Rosier - Irie rmx EP (2011)

Dubbhism
Soundcloud

9.2

/Dub, Crossover, Remix, Pop, Dancehall, Reggae/

Comment: this is an amusing 6-track remix album comprising the Caribbean rhythms and ambiances and on the other side within these Jamaica-relied elements you can clearly perceive how the pop intentions by Leah Rosier, a singer from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have been maintained to seep optimal dose out of it. So the EP can be called a sort of crossover release where a type of catchy mainstream-inflected pop example is intertwined with dub/dancehall cadences. The music of Leah Rosier is remixed by Bruno Tanmateos, Monolow, Digikal Roots, Peter Speakah, Caballo & Neki Stranac, and Not Easy At All. Ultimately, it is an enjoyable and charming music in any sense of these adjectives.

[Compilation] 8081 - va006 (2011)

8081

8.6

/Tracker music, 8bit, Bitpop, Chipbreak, Chiptune, Experimental electronica/

Comment: 8081 is a label from Russia dedicated for consecrating the chiptune/bitpop/tracker music/8-bit pop, however, a kind of music considered to be a precedessor of the nowadays electronic music scene (by the way, allegedly the deceased Malcolm McLaren was truly fascinated with such sort of music at the ending period of 90s/beginning of 00s having a talk about it as a new version of punk music) This is a 11-track miscellany providing quite usual understanding of the aforementioned styles. On the other side, there are some exceptions as well. The first track offers up an angry, rave-inflected vista; the favorite of mine, the seventh notch is up here to display a tough conglomeration between tracker music and jungle undercurrents. Here are represented the artists such as Good Chemistry, Moaner, Light Elf, Den Derty, AlexOrge, <3an, vefiretiwina, Max Tailord, BOB The Builder!, spacecosmic, and fakediscoclub.

Skala Collective - Black Constellation (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.4

/Krautrock, Post-rock, Avant-rock, Ambient rock, Instrumental rock, Psychedelic rock, Free jazz, Avant-industrial, Space rock, Experimental rock, Dub rock, Electronic, Improvised music/

Comment: Skala Collective, a trio out there provides a mesmerizing blend of post-rock, electronica, free jazz/improvised music, space rock, ambient. At times it is gloomy and contemplative on its propulsive post-metal/doom metal and illbient/dark ambient-esque run, at times thoroughly acute due to its krautrock-ish progressions. On the other side, however, the most off-beat tendency is that the trio (Roger; Maya; GBart) fuses the structures of post-rock with the steps of dub rock balancing between majestic and soothing. In any cases, you can draw parallels upon the likes of Cul De Sac, and Tortoise, Jessamine, and Bardo Pond, Melting Clouds, and Gastr Del Sol. All in all, it is an outstanding (rock) album for sure.

A Happy New Year!

Dear musicians, music activists, bloggers, melomans and listeners!

The year 2011 will be over soon and 2012 will be starting thereafter. It was a prolific year, for musicians, for labels and for writers. I guess I will not be wrong just saying that there are not being around such a year with so many issues and truly qualitative music. While I have listened to enormous quantity of releases, however, a countless more time of albums was not to be listened to and waiting to be shed light upon in 2012, 2013, and so on.

However, I am going to point out some artists who did have huge impact by their impressive aesthetics on me. Mirabilia, Clinker, Nick Rivera, Woodworkings, The Hirundu, Possimiste, slept., Lee Noble, Brian Eno (on Warp), Ermine Coat, EDASI, Saito Koji, Bing Satellites, 2muchachos, Derek Clegg, Wonder Wheel, ~▲†▲~, Wreck And Reference, plusplus, Sejdman, The Womb, The Wreck Up, The Bilinda Butchers, Nick Rivera, fydhws, bryyn (previously Pinkle), VIYA, Gutta Percha, Super Random Knowledge Porridge, Valery & The Greedies, Cold Womb Descent, Bear Mountain, The Hatsune Mikus, Bob Ostertag, Starfire Connective Sound, Doug Sharp, Speculativism.

Unfortunately there were some unpleasant moments and tendencies as well. While lots of new websites and blogs appeared on the free music blogosphere, Free Music Galore, Peter`s Blog, and Netlabels Revue - very eminent blogs - decided to end up their activity. Another aspect is closely related to the possible pressure on free issued music and culture. As you know it is no surprise that some instances are intended to smother this movement. Let`s recall Bradford Cox case at the end of 2010 and this year they tried their "fortune" at Recent Music Heroes. I was really surprised how arbitrarily and absurdly these processes used to happen (for instance, blaming someone without the author`s approval who otherwise used to share this content legally at Bandcamp). Of course, don`t forget the SOPA case being relevant to it running on at the moment. I hope the common sense of the US representatives will win ultimately.

In a nutshell, we need even more blogs and websites to cover all the amount of free music as a kind of the expression of free people`s free will. God bless you. A Happy New Year in 2012.