Recent Music Heroes

2/12/2018

Gomme – Hiss (2017)

Moncul

Black Totem

Punk rock
Indie rock
Riot grrrl
Angst rock
Alternative rock
Post-punk

Comment: Gomme comes out of France by playing rough punk rock/post-punk/alternative rock. It can be considered riot grrrl because the combo embraces three women (Betsy, Lauren, and Hannah). Hopefully I can describe them as women. Maybe I am a chauvinist schwein because of employing this word. However, I really hope I am not. I like many moments within this 10-track outing. There is a German sung composition Gott ist Tot. It is obviously a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche although I am quite sure today Nietzsche would have said today Gott ist nicht tot because the recent society and weltanschauung is not a place to foster genuine heroes. The recent human being is way too weak and fragile and enslaved by machines he/she has him/herself created. Because of being so weak and fragile and practising a parasitic lifestyle he/she cannot consider him/herself a God. It comes the time when we need the genuine God more than we have ever needed. Secondly there is a powerful cover song of Kate Bush`s Wuthering Heights. I like the trio`s straightforward gear mostly played on a guitar, a bass, and the drums (at times the instruments are accompanied by synthesised sounds either). At times the tuning of the guitars is turned down and thereby emitting sounds out there of coming very close to doom rock riffs. At times the guitars are changed into cellophane tuning and millennium-ending anxiety thereby getting an alternative rock combo a la Sonic Youth. I can say Gomme rock very well though the favourite female rock combo of mine is still Electrelane. The issue is a part of the discographies of such labels as Moncul, and Black Totem Records.

2/11/2018

Makunouchi Bento – 3 Electrical Snowghosts (2017)

Bandcamp

Electronic music
Alternative
Improvised music
Ambient
Hauntology
Art music

Comment: there is up another wondrously humming release being truly stunning due to its atmospheric layers and lunatic rhythmic sections as if coming out of a helium-filled globe. It chimes like a modern sound enclosure of a fairy tale within one can hear mystical and hyper-realistic tendencies. The fairies are dancing and unicorns are flying. The Romanian combo's music fosters your longing fantasies and drops you down into magic layers to get away from this bleak world. So yes, the music lends validity to the narrative, and vice versa. At times one may say it is a half-way into The Caretaker's aesthetics but it then would take the path elsewhere. For example, the listener can discern uncanny, jazz and improvised music leaves being filtered through the aether in the midst of the mix. Just listen to it because the words and sentences are way too imperfect to translate this 3-notch issue. it is an absolutely brilliant art ghost.

Nasienie – Prevention of Sleep Disorders EP (2010)

Webbed Hand

Ambient
Electronic music
Experimental electronica
Post-industrial
Drone
Avant-electronica
Electro-acoustic

Comment: as you can see this 4-track issue provides a practical intention. It is produced by a legendary Russian experimental musician, Nasienie so I can guess to get a good result from it. It is not the first time by him to appear at RMH. Once I read about a black metal musician who was treated in the psychiatric clinic in the way he would have to produce one track in a day to reflect upon his recent mental shape. If the sleep disorders could be resolved through demanding rational analysis and it was backed up by commanding music then this album is for you. Indeed, I cannot say this album is an example of music which used to be regarded as the typical sort of sleep music. Although it includes some dreamy progressions it is quite intensive through post-industrial fields which are up there through clanging electro-acoustic experiments, bold and at times amplified drones, and glitched-out fringes (in the first place at Detuned Sunday). On the other side, the artist does not torture a listener with lengthy compositions rather giving her/him possibility to relax through subconscious turns. In a word, it is a strong result by Nasienie and Webbed Hand Records.

Orphan Stamps – Orphan Stamps (2017)

Bandcamp

Lo-fi
DIY
Bedroom pop
Alternative pop
Indie pop
Glo-fi
Hypnagogic pop
Electronic pop
Space pop
Fuzz pop

Comment: the 00s has certainly been a great decade in discovering new music. Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective, The Caretaker, Cagey House, slept., Serena Maneesh, Eureka Brown, Tim Hecker, and of course Ariel Pink, the amazing maverick whose music had denied classification both in terms of styles/genres and musical epochs. Honestly, I do not like very much what Ariel Pink would have been doing in the 10s but he is still one of the most enchanting creative forces within the indie scene. But I adore Orphan Stamp's self-titled outing which reflects upon the early period of Ariel Pink though adding a special, idiosyncratic touch to the whole. And 11-notch release is an instance of contradictory impulses at the first glance where faint, and even introverted lo-fi dodges are variegated with highly expressive and hovering glo-fi/hypnagogic pop appearances. Secondly, the whole consists of austere yet highly catchy compositions (for instance, the magnificent River) being juxtaposed to more more chord involving extraterrestrial space pop songs. Truly cloudless developments are represented over there which unfortunately cannot otherwise be met in natural state of a human being's life. In other words, misty, even murky corners are eventually lighted up with highly intense sunbeams as if spending your time in the middle of a forest island filled in with natural play of glistening rays and grayish shades. Behind the project is Karl Frank who had previously released under his own name and under a Swedish imprint, redstarcommunity. Purely golden gem.

2/10/2018

Shinpal – Basic Theory Of The Radiation (2017)

Cold Fiction Music

Bandcamp

Ambient
Electronic music
Dreamwave
Kosmische Musik
Avant-garde
Experimentalism
Soundscape

Comment: this set of a pair of tracks clocks in at a 53 minute, so it is a premise we could wait for a winding issue. I would like to call such sort of music post minimal synth because all those marginal sounds with regard to the rhythm and harmony are magnified into a flourishing and full-fledged soundscape over there. And additionally post Kosmische Musik because the initial base harks obviously back to Tangerine Dream. By any means, it is a fantastic issue where the total sum exceeds grossly the sum of its initial elements. Those elements may be rough on their own yet by listening to it one can feel effervescent life behind them. You can feel different kinds of dance movements coming in and going out by those damned electronic bits. The bits and glitches are mostly supported by semi-orchestrated and floating developments and atmospheric reverberations hovering atop. The outing is a bit of the discography of Cold Fiction Music.

The Blessed Cassettes – Errors And Omissions (2016)

Reverse Engine

Lo-fi
DIY
Alternative rock
Indie rock
Psych-rock
Electronic
Americana

Comment: the combo which were previously being known as The Litter come out of Houston, Texas, USA consisting of members of The Strangelet Disasters. Their 9-notch release is a tight mix of simplistic, even primitive chords and structure, rough harmonies and uncanny psychedelic sensitivity. First listening times of it may seem a bit inferior but the more you are listening to it the more you get the charm out of it. Especially good are those circling electronic/marimba progressions within the guitar noise thus reminding of such post-rock combos as The Dylan Group, and Tortoise but there are also up galvanised guitar-based dodges. And those hazy synth compartments as if coming out of the 80s yet chiming truly retro-futuristic and contemporary in a dreamy way (as if being produced by Daniel Lopatin, for instance). Although it is not an example of roots music it is somehow indirectly influenced by it so you can say it certainly comes out of the United States after hearing the first chords of it. The issue is a part of the discography of Reverse Engine.

2/08/2018

The Cherry Blues Project – Selectas Memorias del Invierno (2017)

Petroglyph

Microtonal
Avant-garde
Experimentalism
Micronoise
Post-industrial
Drone
Electronic music
Sound art
Illbient

Comment: this batch of 11 pieces is based on childhood memories and vacations spent in the city of Gualeguaychu (Argentina) during the 90s. The word Invierno which does mean “winter” in Spanish used to sound quite close to the word inferno, hell by other word. Indeed, by listening to it I would like to say the soundscape supposedly reminds of the latter because of consisting of restrained yet somehow threatening sonic progressions. That's the unexpected consequence because emotional level is high nonetheless with regard to the minimal and buried details of the issue. Yet it is the subjective reconstruction of mine because the soundscape is rich and succulent in its slightly buried appearance. It involves surprising turns as well – at No (Edit) you hear slight Islamic samples together with a layer of chopped, microscopic noise sounds. This mind-provoking outing is a part of the discography of Petroglyph Music.