The J. Arthur Keenes Band - Computer Savvy (2011)

8bit peoples
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.5

/Experimental indie, Tracker music, Alternative, Chillwave, Dance rock, Crossover, Glo-fi, 8-bit, Chiptune, Avant-pop, Leftfield, Post-psychedelic electronica, Chip funk/

Comment: there are represented 7 joyful yet extraordinary ditties because the songs are half indie-inflected ones and half 8-bit/bitpop/chiptune appearances by Dan McLay from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Computer Savvy is his sophomore album, a follow-up to Pamplemousse (2009, Pause) His captivating vocal timbre - truly longing vocal manner (reminiscent a little bit of Panda Bear) is a resonating counterpoint to sawtooth-shaped beats and angular ridges and abrasive drones. There are a lot of places either being obviously influenced by the aesthetics of the chillwave/glo-fi movement. On the other side, Expelling Bee is an instance of funk grooves - arrghhh, actually I am lacking words to describe the blissfulness and suggestiveness present at the ending part of it. Cluck takes on electro/breakcore-driven dance rock gears. Once again, the whole is fabulous and idiosyncratic. In a word, McLay is a superman who should throne Billboard or something like that - to turn mediocre into good.

[Teaser of the day] Sicilian AV Project - Ibn Hamdis

Bartek Kawula - Glass (2011)

basic_sounds

9.3

/Dub-tech, Club dance, Dub house, Deep techno, Acid house/

Comment: there are up three dub-inflected appearances which are directed upon the listener`s ear and his/her extremities. It is a little angular by its roughly bouncing beats and acid house-tinged piano chords (of course, resembling of the beginning of 90`s) at Changes, yet, it will make sense at the end of the course. The other two notches are more churning and more relaxing including the samples of female voweling, cinematic bass bits, programmed drum clacks and so on. In a word, it used to be deep in dub somewhere in the middle of a club venue of someone`s brain. Altogether, it is a hypnotic and masterful notch by Bartek Kawula, a Toronto-based producer. The issue has been released on an excellent label, called basic_sounds.

The Specktators - EL Girls

Dimitar Dodovski - Fiction Makes Sense (2010)

Tropic
Bandcamp

9.2

/Dub-tech, Experimental electronica, Club dance, Dub-house/

Comment: DD originates from Macedonia providing a handful of lush tracks running on gritty dub landscapes and vibes with crackling hiss and undulating hum and lofty synth whiffs all of that is fused with the presence of club dance grooves and turns. Of course, all these elements are seamlessly and organically interlaced with each other thus constituting an organic whole. Ina word, it is a little smarter than an average club-oriented album used to be. It is IDM (intelligent dub music at the moment, though) thought for your soul and body.

fydhws - O (2012)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.0

/Dark ambient, Soundscapes, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Minimal/

Comment: fydhws is an experimental artist from Macedonia who has been releasing qualitative sounds and exciting visions over time. However, this time he offers up 4 compositions which used to run in a quite rough way embellished with suggestive undulation of murky, even threatening tonality and more organic, found sound-based effects (the sound of water dripping, for instance) along and around it. All of that is based on the works of a treated guitar running on through the effect blocks and pitch plugins.The favorite of mine is the last track which has been managed to get into a more lush progression. In a word, this set showcases fydhws to slosh in his well proved goodness.

Drapeiseasy - Alpha Nunca Mais EP (2012)

Bandcamp

9.0

/Ambient, Ambient drone, Ambient noise, Epic, Soundscapes, Minimal/

Comment: just 3 tracks outlined over 11 minutes from Curitiba, Brazil. It is a soothing and inspiring whole being simultaneously played on undulating, hiss-laden layers/silentful noise bits and riffles drifting in between more light-hearted or more murky tonality. It chimes as if were an instance of ambient music, though being heavily inspired by DIY aesthetics and on the other side subjected to minimal algorithms. Or not? However, at times the listener can detect the snippets from it being truly mesmerizing and astonishing ones.