The Freak Fandango Orchestra - Tales Of A Dead Fish (2011)

Jamendo
The Freak Fandango Orchestra
Lastfm

9.1

/Folk punk, Balkan music, Ethnic punk, Brass pop, Alternative pop, World music/

Comment: TFFO is a 6-piece combo from Barcelona, Spain providing a frenetic, essentially cheerful mix of Balkan, and Gypsy music in the mist of punk-ish attitude being directly influenced by the music of Goran Bregovic, Emil Kusturica And No Smoking Orchestra, and Gogol Bordello. There are represented two versions of a song called Hitman`s Lovesong which is a restless bypass which should be repeated again and again.

Sledding With Tigers - Acoustic Funtime Friendship Show Pt. 2

Brown Recluse - Panoptic Mirror Maze (2011)

Bandcamp

9.4

/Indie pop, Alternative pop, Dream pop, Psychedelia, Brass pop, Experimental indie/

Comment: this is a buoyant and dashing indie pop album embellished with psychedelic keyboards and suggestive brass sections above and around the middle layers consisting of...keyboards and programmed beats. At times it is heavy...heavily easy getting close to cheerful bossa nova and ye-ye developments. On the other side, by its electronic keyboard-laden sound this 9-track issue reminds of White Candles, another combo from Philadelphia, sharing some co-members with each other. Furthermore, there can be drawn parallels upon the likes of Belle & Sebastian, The Concretes, A Sunny Day In Glasgow. In a nutshell, Brown Recluse offers up a pop model, a kind of ideal pop music model. Cheers!

Possimiste - Star Caesar (2011)

Possimiste
Lastfm

9.7

/Avant-pop, Experimental indie, Musique concrète, Electronic pop, Bedroom pop/

Comment: Possimiste is one of the best pop prominencies popped out from the Estonian underground scene in 10s. Star Caesar is a song which is quite different from her other, highly dream-bruished, faery notches. More concretely, however, you can see how Ariel Pink-esque timeless bedroom pop meets the sensuality of Jane Birkin, and actually it involves much more you have no proper words to describe it for. Excellente. That`s all.

The Anarchist Pizza Society - No Gods, No Slices (2011)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

8.6

/Anti-folk, Alternative, Folk punk, Lo-fi, DIY/

Comment: it is pizza anarchy conjured up by Connor Griffin, and Kayla Bastos. Strumming guitars, accidental harmonica-relied forays, some snippets of banjos and tambourines are up there to create a catchy blend of folk-ish punk, anti-folk, and distinctive kind of lo-fi music. Two Ships sounds like a track produced by Radiohead. However, the heart throb of mine is Baby, O Baby (Slice Slice) sung by Bastos involving the best elements of the American roots music. Pizza anarchy?

Weird Ribs - Spacerail

JoieJoieJoie - Les Iguanes (2011)

Bandcamp

9.5

/World music, Covers, Alternative pop, Crossover, Experimental pop, Exotic pop, Psychedelic pop/

Comment: JoieJoieJoie is Clèment Marion, a France-rooted musician residing in Brussels, Belgium who is more known due to his debut issue 2006 (poni republic) 5 years ago since having stayed one of my favorite albums. This time he provides two songs both of them are the covers having hints at the Far East music (all those gong and local flute-induced sounds) spiced up with lofty psychedelic ingredients. Indeed, it is highly exotic and relaxing. By the way, the notch called Les Iguanes reminds of King Crimson`s Lady of the Dancing Water (from Lizard, 1970). Ultimately it is really huge due to its exoticness and picturesque coverprint either.

The Wreck Up - The Wreck Up (2011)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.4

/Fusion, Avant-rock, Progressive rock, Experimental rock, Funk, Art rock, RIO/

Comment: I have no hesitation about a fact that an outlet resulted in the collaboration between the Englishman David Preston (also known from a band called Res Band) and the Italian RIO/prog-head Gianluca Missero (Hox Vox; Turbogrind Terrorizers; The Blasted Muffins) is a truly felicitous act indeed. Their 5-track debut shoots cues everywhere taking on psychedelic progressive rock, art rock, catchy dance-appealed funk, haunting neoclassical progressions and shamanic throat singing. Indeed, the issue is to offer up a rainbow-like experience is thought for those who like Prince, CAN, The Pop Group, Jethro Tull, Yat-Kha, Yes (and Hox Vox either).

Trance And The Arcade - troubleman 7 (2001/2011)

Free Music Archive
Troubleman Unlimited

8.4

/Harsh noise, Psycho-acoustic, Experimentalism, Techno/

Comment: this 3-track issue was firstly released under the legendary/cult label Troubleman Unlimited almost 11 years ago. As a female voice says here in the opening track Drippp "noise is everywhere", indeed, the release does reflect upon the sharp elements of digitalized noise which used to be truly rough and bleak or on the other side just referring to the condition of elemental chaos. At times (the last track) it is blended with raw techno beats and weird squeaks and fringed with bulimic guggle.

Bryyn - Giraffe