Arts & Crafts Label & Management Sampler Vol. 8 (2012)

Arts & Crafts
Soundcloud

8.8

/Indie pop, Alternative rock, Baroque pop, Electronic pop, Singer-songwriter, Synth pop, Alt-folk/

Comment: this is the eighth compilation by Arts & Crafts, a considerable Toronto-based indie imprint. (Chiming) guitar music meets poptronica/electronic pop/synth pop meets baroque pop - this would be one of the slogans of the miscellany. At times it allows for itself even more bombastic elements having powerful rises and ascending. There are represented such artists as Bishop Morocco, Antoine Reverb, Molly Rankin, Dan Mangan, Gold & Youth, Cold Specks, Parlovr, Trust, Eight and a Half, The Darcys, Zeus, Uncle Bad Touch, Bam Bam. The favourite of mine are Cold Specks`Holland which interlace an alt-folk and chamber folk template with soul(ful) tendencies, and Trust`s Sulk which is an instance of glimmering synth pop.

[Teaser of the day] Maria Minerva - Pirate`s Tale

Spies On Bites - Watch Your Step (2011)

Bandcamp
Soundcloud

8.7

/Hip-hop, Urban music, Electro-hop/

Comment: just a pair of tracks by Nathan Cochran, a producer from Tampa, Florida. These pieces are about gritty hip-hop based on thudding bass lines and intriguing synth sways and poignant electro-tinged rhythms.

Dubsalon - Durban Chamber LP (2011)

Id.eology

9.1

/Dub, Psychedelic/

Comment: this album contains 8 tracks and one huge, 30-minute remix/mixtape by DJ Saetchmo, of course, made up of the notches of Dubsalon. The concept and obsession of the album rotates around dub, dub, and dub. Sometimes it is more traditional, sometimes more psychedelic or electronically hemmed or intensely mixed with each other. However, all of that might not make difference if all this synergy coming forth from the slots and terrains of it wasn`t so mesmerizing and formidable.

P.Laoss - Triplandenia EP (2009)

Load And Clear

9.3

/Dub-tech, Tech-dub, Deep dub, Club dance, Deep techno, Minimal techno/

Comment:Andrè Müller aka P.Laoss aka Vakuum Sounds is a producer from Schwerin, Germany who is inclined to create deep, hypnotic dub and techno-centered compositions which in turn constitute both a cozy private room for the listener and providing catchy dance-appealed sequences for fine club visitors. Sometimes it is more flourishing, at times more restraint and minimal, though. However, to listen to it in late hours it would be acting as the same way as being alone accompanied by the lullabies. Otherwise, excluding the abovementioned situation, it pumps you up. In a word, it is refined and even someway optimal deserving to be a classic.

[Teaser of the day] The Womb - I Disown My Country

Sea Things - Ferns

Sea Things - Ferns from Steph D on Vimeo.