Beko Beko_box3 (Beko DSL)

To speak tongue in-the-cheek of the style "witch house" it may seem to be sounded like the gothic people/dark wavers` chillwave music. No doubt, between the aforementioned styles are obvious similarities (the use of low-end synths, the exploitation of the DIY-aesthetics), while their main difference is drawn by the using of noir-loaded soundscapes/hauntology, and peripheric sonic experiments. The style, by the way, under which categorized bands, at least some of them, love to use different symbols (especially the different way-shaped crosses) in their names, though the most well-known of them, for instance, the likes of Salem, Modern Witch, and oOoOO are restricted in the borders of alphabetical signs yet. However, the label Beko DSL is always used to pretend finding out new bands and styles-subgenres, but their turn toward witch house/drag/haunted house seems to be their first notch, though. This release, consisting of three boxes, and 6 ensembles (Mater Suspiria Vision; d3thplaY; High Park; Residual Prophecy; ZON; lll^◊^lll, can be considered as a fine kind of overview-offering compilation. In any case, a good introduction to the new hype.

Listen to it here

This Lonely Crowd Entangled Chaos (Velvet Blue)

Hooray! Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, Red Queen, and Jabberwock are proudly back. The expectations toward their sophomore release are really high because of their debut album An Endless Moment Eveyday All the Time (2010, Sinewave) being madly energic and artistic through shoegaze- and post-grunge guitars, reminiscent of vocally Billy Corgan`s manner from Smashing Pumpkins. A salient mix of dream pop and power pop.

A new release, new coverprint, new direction, new measures. First of all, Humpty Dumpty don`t search anymore for Corgan-esque abrasiveness in his vocal manner, feeling more soft, murmuring, and dreamy - and often doing it in the cooperation with Red Queen. In fact, the vocal part is diminished, too, and the sound is properly arranged - without the dominance of chaos-driveness, the collapses of mayhems, crazily intense key changes, and driving-in and driving-off effects. Instead of powerful guitars there are rather airy guitars to be represented in consisting of dreamy even lethargic soundscapes, which subtle movement is sometimes "disturbed" by massive brown noise-alike exorced keys of guitars throwing up elemental hooks of the AEMEATT. Yet once time, in comparison with the first album the song structures are more transparent and predictable, thereby being a bit less attractive, though. In conjuction with it the release seems to be too short (4 tracks) also for playing out their transboundary conception in the complete way. But by measured on the absolute scale, it is a solid work, though. And the quintet`s coverprints are still one of the best, too, conveying the spirit of golden age shoegaze music to this day. An eye is resting while watching it.

Listen to it here

8.8

Head In Body Not So Empty EP (KLaNGundKRaCH)

Head In Body, the Czech-based project`s new EP sounds most time like a tribute to Suicide, a legendary no wave band from the USA. More specifically, it sounds as the album of a kind of variations dedicated to Vega & Rev`s creepy (anti-)hit Frankie`s Teardrop. Sonically it does mean that certain elements are nicely represented here - psychotic, chopped, and through delay-channelized mutated vocal effects bring forth themselves as the dominating pannel of the sound. On the other side, the EP build up a bit difference, succeeding keep moving elsewhere. And the different elements do base upon the experiments of profoundly low bass drones and brown noise crackles to have brought on the other side, and driving in the wake of Pan Sonic. Anyway, in a good shape balanced ominous album.

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8.8

[Old but important] Negativity Life Is A Dead End (Negativity)

For a while, I have listened to some albums of Negativity leaded by Julien
Jandera from Drusenheim, France offering his poisonous ideas related to
his hating feels regarding life and human kind (actually the coverprint being designed with a hanged man could say it all). 9 tracks of the 12th album, considered as his most brutal ones, consist of angry and ruffle guitar riff waves while biting and grinding vocal lines are in the first place, though, which altogether will make up a lot of synergic trash and black metal monumentums. In fact, although it might sometimes be seemed a bit loose, it may be defined as black metal on the DIY-mode, but it does not sound in the boring way anyway. Moreover, Jandera is probably not a man used to find excuses for deviating from his main line, concerning on one synth interlude, and the finishing track is wrapped in by drone doom madness. Profoundly drone, burningly doom.

Listen to it here

SLUTEVER Sorry I`m Not Sorry (Bandcamp)

By speaking of contemporary girl power in music, you can not bypass The Slits, a British band which sounded as the female counterpart to the Public Image Limited (or was it the other way round, though), blending intensely punk, dub, and dance rhythms. In addition to it not much weeks have passed by since their frontwoman Ari Up (Arianne Foster) was passed away.

The legend is gone, but certain sonic patterns and traditions are left behind. One example of such artistical and rebellious bands is definitely Slutever, a duo from Philadelphia. Nicole Gagliardi, and Rachel Snyder has already won the attention of the press and had a couple of gigs with the Best Coast, and Cults. Behind the music the more surprising fact is that the rest of their life do consist of watching TV (because of reflecting the American Dream at the rate of 90%), and school attendance.

Why their 6 tracks album is used to be a significant one? In the first place, redoubtably rough sonic linearity (noisy guitars, garage sound (in fact, recorded in a bathroom and bedrooms), shrill vocals, whistling feedback, permanent energic overdrive; secondly, the lyrics reflecting the carelessness, selfishness, lack of love, but also searching for it and avoiding of it and the longing for dirty teenage sex. This kind of sound is used to be tagged as shitgaze/shi-fi, and the first part of the word is referred as well. My favorite track is So Prone, with dreamy background and cellophanic guitar sound. This is a kind of release which especially will decorate your first half of a day.

Listen to it here

8.8

Monokle & Galun In Frame (12rec)

Vladislav Kudryatsev & Aleksandr Kumach aka the Arkhangelsk-based combo Monokle`s third album Tesaurus (under Id.eology) was one of the best albums of 2009. Now Kumach has left the band and Kudryatsev is joined by a former beatboxnik and otherwise versatile artist Sergey Galunenko aka Galun and the result does seem even in better way to be sound. 12 tracks give testimony of prominent examples of songwriting, balancing between post-rock, poptronica, chillout, downtempo, indie rock. It is used to be continually dense, and warm, and mostly it is so intensely loaded with dreams that the soundscape does seem a bit lazy in the good manner sounding up very nostalgic and relaxing to my ears, conjuring up gratifying listening memories from the past by approximately 10-12 years ago. The tracks like Crossed Fingers, and Means are reminiscent of the manner by Brendan Perry, and the beatific times when I spent the most of my time in the bibliothek of the Tartu University for listening to Dead Can Dance among others. Regarding the next track (Justalite) I shall have to ask you do you remember Louis Armstrong`s great track We Have all the Time in the World for one of the James Bond-related soundtrack? (It was also covered by My Bloody Valentine). Regarding the motive of this track you can see really close similarity with it. Get At Will remembers one of the toughest work, being grew up from the Estonian underground scene Bizarre`s sophomore album Cafe de Flor (1996, Forwards), especially the track Airs Of Arabia with otherworldly chanting female voice and shoegazers` atmospheric guitar swayings. In a nutshell, one of the best works of the 2010.

Listen to it here

9.8

[Artists] 100percentelectric

100percentelectric/Jamendo
Reverbnation
Lastfm