Helado Negro Pasajero (Asthmatic Kitty)

Helado Negro is Roberto Carlos Lange, a musician from Florida being part of the famous Asthmatic Kitty roster. Those 8 tracks, only 2 of them are the kind of original songs, represented here are up to a mesmerizing mix of contemporary indie music influences and Lange`s Latin (Ecuadorian) roots. In addition to the Latin-based rhythms and catchy melodies he sings in Spanish at times being assisted by Isaac Lekach (voice, guitar), Julianna Barwick (voice), Jason Ajemian (banjo), Jacob Champagne Wick (Trumpet), Jamie Reeder (violin), Shannon Fields (clarinet, accordion). By filled in to be astonishingly suggestive, sometimes even down to heartbreaking, longing-infected baroque pop tunes which initially were intended to be a gift for Lange`s parents. In fact, all the set of minutiae do make the full range sense, particularly because of austere yet sublime electronic undercurrents. Besides covering the songs of Los Iracundos, Eduardo Mateo, Roberto Carlos, and Leo Dan, he gives a new and modern touch for Pink Floyd`s Goodbye Cruel World. All in all, this set is a great example of how sexy could the Latin music be played out actually. My heart is gone indeed.

Listen to it here

10.0

[Artists] Candle Light

Candle Light/Bandcamp
Lastfm

Tunguska Electronic Music Society Ellipsis II: Tundra.Ambient.Dreams. vol.2 (Jamendo)

The Moscow-based Tunguska Electronic Music Society (TMS) can be admitted as an umbrella organization which embraces lots of musicians, producers, dj's and composers, who work in a profilic way from the beginning of 2007 in "Tunguska Music" style. Moreover, TMS is also a net of network music distribution labels and a net of little bars and cafes. Its branches are known under such names as Tunguska Chillout Grooves, Tunguska Music Society, Tunguska Project, Tundra Ambient Dreams, Tayga Feeling, Transsyberian Express, Nikola Tesla Tribute, etc.

Before the listening to the Ellipsis II: Tundra.Ambient.Dreams. vol.2 I made acquaintance with the previous ones by the likes of Ellipsis II: Tunguska.Across.Sphere. vol.2, and Ellipsis II: Tunguska.Shaman.Vimana. vol.2, which were more dominated by chillout-esque electronic music being interchanged via smooth jazz themes and mindtouching, atmospheric-fried electronic approach, respectively.

However, the collective fills in the Tundra-titled album with a different point of view being kicked off proceeding in an epic mix of ambient, drone, ethnic drums, wherein Kosmische Musik-alike acid-hued synth swirls are permanently zipping over vast landscapes, which progression later involves the elements of space rock/space synth, unleashing the flow of metallic shards and fluttering, atmospheric sonic arrows over to the space around to be expanded and conquered. In principle, it does recruit a quite austere sonic statement, it is even minimally designed out, on the other side, it does not afford minimalism-close attacks for itself, offering enough propulsions and warbles on its own. Sometimes the whole does acquire peculiar dimensions via weird, even dystopic sonority as if those frogs and insects living in the futuristic, robot-dominated world, would have been mutanted via genetic changes, respectively resulting in croaking and chirping out mechanical sounds hardly discerned. Moreover, any signs about the presence of human being are long dismissed. Still at the closure some resurgent, chant-esque vocals will be appeared to get evolved into a few patterns, yet, getting no dominant reference within the soundscape. For the nature-based concrete soothings as forthcoming concrete sounds in the last tracks, however, are much more importance reserved.

In the conclusion, I really wish to express affectionate hope that the epicness is a universal chracteristic and hence allowing for the 13 tracks within 75 minutes to actualize great touches and milieus for any kind of listeners.

Listen to it here

9.4

[Artists] Alison Eales

Alison Eales
EardrumsPop
Lastfm

[Compilation] Between Two Waves – Vol. A (EardrumsPop)

As I said once, the Norwegian-based EardrumsPop has been one of the finest single and compilation records around the world to date. (Unfortunately the first compilations are being down for a while because of purposed to save space for future issues. I hope those will be uploaded somewhere else, at Archive.org or Bandcamp, for instance). The music under this label does proof out as a voice of nowadays and classical sensed indie conscience. More profoundly, it does veer from jangle, twee pop, dream pop, baroque pop and sunshine pop currents to poptronica and electronic pop, and shibuya-kei notches (lots of artists represented herein come from Japan). Yet, in principle, the indie pop under EardrumsPop is rather a retrospective appearance, for sure, having avoided to be a hype-centric one (which is also very important!), instead aspiring for great classical melodies and astonishing harmonies to shuffle seamlessly the (theoretical) gap between nowadays and the previous decades.

On Between Two Waves - Vol. A (released in April of 2010) are represented 14 tracks by the following artists like Boa Constrictor vs The Honeydrips, Baffin Island (The Very Most + The Hermit Crabs), Suspicious for the Winter (Casa Murilo + Like Spinning), Jacob Borshard and Cake on Cake, Starlight Recorder (Dylan Mondegreen + Alex Rinde (The Margarets)), Leaving Rio (Cineplexx + Onward, Chariots), Peacock Dreams (Shelby Sifers + Spirituals), Saturnalia (The Lost Cavalry + We Walk On Ice), Kubot (Martin Gustafsson (Boy Omega) + Martin Bergström (New Beginnings/Sin Närmiljö)), Early to Bed (Wisdom Tooth + Me And The Horse I Rode In On), En handvändning (Solander + Jerker Kaj), Johnny Favourite and the Exs (Johnny Favourite + little xs for eyes), Dizzie Bird (The Marble Man + Angela Aux), and Broken Motion (Paragraphs + Me And My Arrow). As it can be witnessed for, regarding the collection title and concerning on the artists`specific juxtaposition to each other, each song in principle consists of a blend of (at least) two artists or musicians (can it somehow be related to the abandoning of the kind of snooty eccentricity, though?). The miscellany is full of great songs, though, some of them are outstanding - Baffin Island (The Very Most + The Hermit Crabs)`s You Make Two Weeks Two Days which is a fine ukulele-based troubadour pop reminiscent of some workouts by Jens Lekman and Sondre Lerche; Jacob Borshard and Cake on Cake`s Summer Will Have Its Way is a Belle & Sebastian-esque warble; Leaving Rio (Cineplexx + Onward, Chariots)`s Vanish does involve delicious doo wop harmonies, sung the first half in English, and the ending side in Spanish, respectively.

Listen to it here

Happy New Year

In fact, the 2010 year was a year which really delighted me by an endless array of really good music. Indeed, the most of the reviewed releases were high-rated or even very high-rated by me, yet, all the points given were profoundly calculated out (every exemplar was listened to at least 2 times, usually 5-6 times, for). To get have to set my steps further, it is even more embarrasing if to think about how much albums weren`t allowed to get upon my ears. This is reason why I understood finally it does not make any sense to chart my list of the albums of 2010. And on the other side, it will probably take circa 3-4 years onward to complete a comparably proper list of the best of 2010. For the next 2-3 weeks I am going to continue with the overviews for the albums of 2010. In any cases, first of all, thanks to all the musicians. You made superb job. God bless You. Happy New Year.

[Artists] High Park

High Park
Soundcloud
Lastfm

Hong Kong In The 60s Places (Bandcamp)

Hong Kong In The 60s is a London-based trio, lined up by Mei Yau Kan (vocal, guitar, keys), Christopher Greenberg (vocal, guitar, keys), and Tim Scullion (vocals, guitars, keys). Their 8-track sophomore Places EP - the follow-up to the Willow Pattern Songs EP (2009, Proper Songs) is full of mesmerizing, chillout/easy listening-soaked shards, dominantly loaded with the space age pop and exotica pop sensibility. Indeed, they are deeply get involved in mighty psychedelic grooves to draw upon kinds of moods and shades popularized by Jean-Jacques Perrey, Gershon Kingsley, Mort Garson, and the Barrons approximately 4 decades ago. As you have figured out yet, indeed, a set of simplistic and robust yet catchy, a bit dreadful, altogether full-blown, synth-based melodies-harmonies and burbling cadences can be expected for. Almostly, though. One of the two exceptions is A Bad Night Out which is into the exploiting of vintage-looking, downbeat-drenched Latin rhythms (of course, mingling it with electronic effects). The second feature is Disintegration The Advisory Circle Reshape, as the title admits, it is not their own creative output, playing out a notch of contemporary indie electronica/indietronica/poptronica/glo-fi. By the way, the release name of this Sean O`Hagan-afforded group is obviously used to be a hint at their vast scale of their nowadays and previous residing places/countries (The UK, Hong Kong, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Africa). In a nutshell, without some exceptions, as it is noticed above, it is an excellent quasi-retrospective/retrogard-ish outlook.

Listen to it here

9.8

[Artists] Expendable Friend

Bandcamp
Upyourlegsforever
Myspace
Lastfm

Atlas Sound Bedroom Databank Vol. 2 (Atlas Sound)

This release is my personal favorite exemplar of the 4-part Bedroom Databank series. 16 tracks do show up a crafty balance between strumming, guitar-relied pop and computer-processed electronic experiments, or thirdly, a mix of both which, more detailly, reminds on its fluctuant approach of Deerhunter`s Weird Era Cont. (2007, Kranky). No doubt, Bradford Cox is a hero between so-called established, commercial music and free webaudio world. Moreover, his special juxtaposition to those realms does not even make so much sense as much of his workouts under the moniker Atlas Sound and Deerhunter-related deeds which can be considered as one of the most essential hallmarks on contemporary indie music. Obviously his later profilic approach occurred in letting out music from his old tapes might closely be related to his health condition. By having managed to push down more musical fingerprints over into the present, past, and forthcoming future, by this point of view, his action may have a metaphysical and religious background. As I noticed above the album is a fluctuant integration of both electronics and natural strings realized off into a warble, merry-go-round-alike whole, being at times folk-ish, the second time blues-infected, on the other hand, the last track Here Come The Trains is an embarassing cosmic blues-y, krautrock-heeled notch.

Listen to it here

9.2