Łabandzi Śpiew: 2025

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piątek, 29 sierpnia 2025

Blak - Mont Solitud (2025)

Post-rock so complex that you can't really keep up with everything that goes on and yet everything sounding coherent and atmosphere-inducing? This is the Catalan band Black's sophomore album called Mont Solitud and the sheer energy of the track here, together with the perfect execution of the ideas, makes me wanna say that it is my favourite post-rock album of the year so far!

I don't know how to explain it, but this music feels so genuinely wild. It's vibrant, it's wild, it's a bit chaotic. The noisy parts are very noisy, the calmer parts feel like the calm before storm. To me it's clear that the artists feel the music, that there is notching artificial in their compositions. One more thing that facilitates this feeling is that the second track of the album, La solitud és gàbia, features my favourite Chinese post-rockers, An Corporation, and if any music should be called the most genuinely energy-filled, it would probably be them.And yes, the results are spectacular.

The band describes their music as "an instrumental journey through the many faces of solitude", but to be honest I don't hear the solitude here. Rather the opposite, there is so much going on in every second of the album, there are guest artists, there is the special "collaborative song I Am You, featuring the voices of 50 people who joined in to sing with us", which I don't know what it is about, but doesn't sound solitaire at all. But perhaps the artist's wanted to explain that even though you are joined by many people in your life, in the end, you are alone anyway. Sad, but true. And explained in a fantastic way.

Mont Solitud costs 7 EUR.

Check: La solitud és gàbia

Country: Catalonia /Spain

Genre: complex post-rock

czwartek, 28 sierpnia 2025

Hiroe - Wield (2025)

They may be seen as US new big post-rock group or maybe it's just a media stunt. Nevertheless, the truth is that the Pennsylvania band of Hiroe released their second album which is as good as the first one and includes the same heaviness of guitar music as the debut. So maybe it is true after all?

You can safely say that their music has a lot borrowed from heavier, metal music. The guitars feel overwhelming, sometimes there is some of the guitar riff racing (Collider!), but the thing that strikes me most is the pace the drums keep in some tracks. Makes you feel alive that one. That's why, if we play the genre game, I'd say Hiroe is the band right on the border of post-rock and post-metal, right in the crossfire if the front moves one day.

Being a thematic continuation of Wrought, Wield comes back to the thoughts on the "transformation stemming from personal loss within the context of a devolving world, against the backdrop of the global pandemic" and I don't know if it's just me, but the sound of the music makes it quite a bleak realization in the end. Still, with Mario Quintero as producer and Cult of Luna's Magnus Lindberg mastering, the album feels fantastic quality-wise.

Wield costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Tides

Country: Pennsylvania, US

Genre: heavy post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

Hiroe - Wrought (2022)

aswekeepsearching - Rooh (2019)

środa, 27 sierpnia 2025

aswekeepsearching - kyun? (2025)

It's probably clear by now that those three guys from Pune are my favourite Indian artists. Their post-rock music is as inclusive when it comes to original sounds as it is atmospheric. It's all proven true once again on the band's sixth album entitled kyun?

Reaching their 10th anniversary as a group, the artists dedicated the album to... dedication. Or more precisely, "to the strength it takes to keep going". As always, the dense atmosphere of their music is achieved by the use of violins the sounds of which are not only complimentary, it's very often the main focus of the audience and it's a great thing. I just love post-rock with strings, no doubts about it. And here, violins play both of the spectrum, the energetic, melody-bringers and the calmer, atmosphere-makers. Obviously, it makes the music feel cinematic too, but it's not the main feeling I get when listening to kyun?

The guitars are also joined by a flute (I think?) and a multitude of samples, ambient passages, other effects. That's what I call an eclectic and inclusive guitar music! And Uddipan Sarmah's vocals are another thing. It just fits the style of the band and I'm always open for more vocals in post-rock compositions. After all, the artists are set to create a "must-experience for anyone who appreciates the power of music to evoke emotions and transport you to a different world" and so any means are acceptable to do that.

kyun? costs 12 USD.

Check: happiness > god

Country: India

Genre: violins-led post-rock

aswekeepsearching - Zia (2017)

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piątek, 15 sierpnia 2025

Pan Thorarensen - Ljóstillífun (2025)

Icelandic soundscapes that reflect the country's landscapes just have to be outstanding. It is proven once again on a debut album of Pan Thorarensen, otherwise acclaimed and experienced artist known as a member of the ambient music father-son duo Stereo Hypnosis.

The album is inspired by Icelandic nature which is really not a surprise. I feel like it's difficult not to get inspired by nature living in such a beautiful place. But it's not just inspiration, Pan used field recordings and made an inspiration into music itself. It's literally giving the voice to the nature. Second thing that draws attention to the album is the guest list. And it is really impressive and including artists like Patricia Wolf and Hoshiko Yamane of Tangerine Dream.

The results are calm and relaxing. There is no place for winter storms, it is more about the peacefulness and emptiness. I can't complaint, especially when some wildly beautiful piano keys appear.

Ljóstillífun costs 6 EUR.

Check: Glitský

Country: Iceland

Genre: instrumental ambient

Label: U Know Me Records

Hypnodrone Ensemble - Plays Orchestral Favourites (2018)

czwartek, 14 sierpnia 2025

The Polar Dream - Alma Gris (2025)

Their fourth album is th first that got through into my music bubble and I'm so glad it did! The Mexican post-rock outfit The Polar Dream create a unique take on the music genre, that is lighter and fresher than most, staying true to the music's atmosphere though.

Post-rock inspired by cyberpunk (and also shoegaze, Krautrock, etc,)? Oh yes, count me in! It's definitely not a coincidence since the album is opened with a track titled Mexico 2045! The sound also shows the inspirations with a big parts of the compositions being driven by synthesizer sounds. It's something like Tides from Nebula but maybe even more synthetic in some parts. But the thing I like the most (and, to me, feels most exotic) is the trumpet and its impact on the music (so great in Mudra!). This screams Mexico to me and I love it.

In general, the music here feels so much alive! It's melodic and energetic while still preserving the genre's signature mood. It's really fun listening to the Mexicans, I have to catch on with their previous releases as well.

Alma Gris costs 4 EUR (84 MXN).

Check: Mudra

Country: Mexico

Genre: cyberpunk post-rock

Label: Atajos del Norte

środa, 13 sierpnia 2025

thisquietarmy x otay:onii - Howl and Tell (2025)

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The collaboration between two outstanding experimental musician, thisquietarmy (Eric Quach) and otay:onii (Lane Shi) had to bear some exciting and valuable fruits. And, surprise, surprise, it did! Long and spacious, yet deeply intense. Imagine industrial ambient and noise folk music from your beautiful nightmares.

As mentioned on their instagram, the project was born during the 2023 tour that Quach went on in Europe and where Shi was supposed to be an opening act, but quickly got introduced in the main one as well. And I have to tell you, it was rather clear that the two would find a common language. The industrial soundscapes with noisy guitar sounds hidden in the backgrounds, lurking from the shadows fits perfectly with Shi's vocal improvisations that you can feel on your skin. Even when the backgrounds attack the most with the raw and dirty sounds, the vocals are still the most important to me. But maybe I'm just drawn to their uniqueness so much.

This autumn, otay:onii is playing a gig in Warsaw and I'd love to see her live finally. Maybe this will sooth the regrets I have from not going to thisquietarmy's performance at dunk!festival:)

Howl and Tell costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Lips Touching the First Word in Sleeps

Country: Canada, China/Germany

Genre: industrial dark folk

Label: Cruel Nature Records

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wtorek, 12 sierpnia 2025

신윤수 - Wherever (2025)

Another proof that shoegaze music fits so well into the Asian scene that serves as a real hub for the beautiful, noisy music. For Korean artist 신윤수, Wherever is the third short EP in her discography filled with the perfect balance between the soft and airy and the loud and heavy.

"Crafting emotionally textured soundscapes rooted in solitude, memory, and motion", the Korean musician is deeply rooted in the genre's 90s original sound, but adds the contemporary sound quality and the overall good flow. Like in the fantastic old table and its flowing backing vocals that drive the whole composition. It's melodic enough but the artist doesn't over do it: it's not twee, it's not indie pop, it's a real guitar banger of an EP with airiness and ethereality woven inside.

Especially when the album looses all the breaks when it comes to the guitar noise. It's not a coincidence that there's post-rock mentioned in the description. I just wish it was longer: the album and the tracks themselves, I feel like they don't reach the whole potential before they're cut short.

Wherever costs 10 USD.

Check: old table

Country: South Korea

Genre: melodic shoegaze

Label: THE VAULT

piątek, 25 lipca 2025

Vetle Nærø - All Moments Must Pass (2025)

From Moments

I know the Oslo-born neoclassical artist's music from 2023's album From Moments. This year, Vetle Nærø is back with even better album filled with piano, soft electronica and tons of self-reflective abilities. It's worth listening to, even if all moments must pass as the title suggests.

The fourth album in the artist's discography is all about intimacy. The soft piano keys and even softer electronica feels closer than the skin. The main theme of the tracks, the airy, ever-changing and never-repeated nature of life can't be more personal for any human being. The omnipresent atmosphere of the tiniest of concerts is the definition of intimacy. Apart for the music, the artist (I presume) published some very wise words on his BC account, saying that "Impermanence is often seen as a source of suffering, as human resistance to change can be a central cause of our pain. Yet, within this very resistance lies the potential for profound growth".

This is the main theme of the piano-driven album. The overall psychedelic/oriental theme is further established with the use of Alan Watts's monologue sample in First You Are Born and titles such as Mantra and any other as all of them are closely connected to the main thought. Everything passes, but somehow we will be ok.

All Moments Must Pass costs 10 EUR.

Check: First You Are Born

Country: Norway

Genre: electronica-touched neoclassical

Label: piano and coffee records

Monochromatic Visions - REFORM (2022)

czwartek, 24 lipca 2025

Osnova - Rise the Sun (2025)

Sometimes, the melancholic and dreamy music fans also want to dance. Three years after their debut album, the Californian trio brings another occasion to do just that with their second album rightly called Rise the Sun.

Jean-Claude Vorgeack and Sam Ribeyro's extremely airy guitars that blend together with drums into a warm and ethereal mist represent the dreamy side of the Americans' music. However, it is counterbalanced with high-pitched, fresh and distinctive vocals provided by Caroline McLaughlin. This is not your ordinary pairing and it bears extraordinary fruits as well: the mist becomes energetic and full of hopeful melody. Especially when the backgrounds become dominant as it is the case in the title track.

I appreciate this slightly different take on the dreamy music. maybe not everything has to be melancholic to the core. With this kind of lively, melodic music, it really is possible to raise the Sun.

Rise the Sun costs 6 USD.

Check: Blame the Fates

Country: California, US

Genre: lively dream pop

Label: Dune Altar

OSNOVA - OSNOVA (2022)

środa, 23 lipca 2025

Oak - EP (2025)

Oak is both a tree and a music band from France. As one could guess, the artists are very closely rooted (haha) to the allegory provided by the band's name, stating, amon other things, that it was "planted in 2009". It's been a while now and Oak don't have a massive discography so it's always a good thing that they decided to show something to the world with this year's EP called EP.

"Oak has not yet reached its canopy" is another of quotes form the band and I can't help but wonder what that will look like when it finally happens. Because the little material we have suggests that there is a huge potential for massive, atmospheric post-rock sound somewhere in Oak's core. The EP is short, even if the second track reaches some impressive time stamp, so it's very difficult to access, but I like what I hear. The guitar-oriented, classic post-rock doesn't really seek tons of melodies, rather it's focused on the heaviness of the sound and this is something I appreciate very much. I will keep my eyes on this one (another one with so many fantastic ones around!) French post-rock collective.

EP costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Fear Carries the Grace of Stillness

Country: France

Genre: heavy post-rock

Label: ITAWAK RECORDS

wtorek, 22 lipca 2025

Gloios - Polvorosa (2025)

A beautiful mess from Brazil; Rafael Xavier aka Gloios, the artist from São Paulo, himself calls his new album a mess that encompasses a shitload of various music genres. But the coherent slowcore warm atmosphere brings everything together, making Polvorosa a beautiful, musical journey.

Let me quote the artist further: "post-rock, ambient music, metal, dream pop..." but also Brazilian music like MPB, forró, samba, xote, baião which I know nothing about, all of this makes up the third album in Xavier's discography. Everything is based on slightly industrial electronica, but there is also some, very distant, very echoey and everything but clear vocals. And it doesn't really matter because you can hear the genres like you can see pebbles in muddy water. There is something there, but who knows what exactly? And the water is warm and welcoming, slightly terrifying, but you have to go in and let it go.

I love it when music clearly shows where it comes from and you can have little doubt that this is the sound from Brazil. There is so much going on there: various rhythms, paces, dance moves, everything slightly hidden but also clearly felt. Just listen to the weirdness of Boiafria or my favourite, very mysterious Ficha.

Polvorosa costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Ficha

Country: Brazil

Genre: ethereal eclectic slowcore?

piątek, 4 lipca 2025

Neue Welt - Spánek ti bude peřinou (2025)

Before attending a festival, I have a habit of listening to each and every artist performing there not to miss anything interesting. And this brings sometimes fantastic results as has been the case of the Praha-based band I discovered before this year's Pohoda Festival. I can't wait to hear their artsy noise rock live!

The band makes me think of this year's comeback made by the French band Kwoon. Similar vibes when it comes to the artsy approach to rock that meets incredible noise where necessary. Also the instruments feel familiar: not everything is done by the guitars here. Quite the opposite, the big role is played by violins and piano keys that both add up to the incredible atmosphere of the new release. There are segments that feel like instrumental ambient, some other even almost like a big band meeting dark jazz. But most of the time, the Czechs focus on their beautifully weird art rock meets folk meets post-rock compositions.

I love every aspect of the album. The louder parts feel euphoric, the slower feel artsy, the ones with vocals are melodic and captivating. I genuinely feel like I discovered a hidden gem just outside of my country's borders. And as already mentioned, soon I'm gonna see the band live at Pohoda. If I survive til the middle of the night that is.

Spánek ti bude peřinou costs 7 EUR.

Check: Kdybych brečet mohl

Country: Czechia

Genre: noisy art-rock

Label: 6000 Ωveček

czwartek, 3 lipca 2025

Tylko Nieświadomi Przeżyją - Tylko nieświadomi przeżyją (2025)

I'm gonna be honest: despite the fact that the band comes from my city and that I've seen some of those artists performing live in other projects, I got to know about this release in an exceptionally weird way. From my Chinese friend (good sides of globalization here). And it's good that it happened because this new project lies exactly on the border of my comfort zone as their music is as post-rocky as it is jazzy.

The soundscapes on the debut release are vast. The pace is slow and slowly developing. The sights are surreal. This is all thanks to the wide range of instruments appearing on the album, including saxophone, glockenspiel, harp... This chaotic line up makes up a psychedelic yet coherent whole, an orchestration of various sounds that go from impro-like dark jazz passages to louder, post-rock-esque sections and back. The single Nigredo is a perfect example here: slowly rising up to a jazzy but also loud and atmospheric crescendo. The longer tracks are indeed constructed with a similar idea in mind, making me feel like at my post-rock home.

The parts outside of my comfort zone certainly include the omnipresent saxophone (sorry, not my vibe) which, I have to admit, sounds pretty alright. I do also prefer where the music gets louder, more involving and slightly heavier, but there is a lot of space for the lovers of the instrumental ambient and dark jazz, mysterious soundscapes. I hope to see the band live soon, it must be so much fun!

Tylko nieświadomi przeżyją costs 6 EUR (25 PLN).

Check: Nigredo

Country: Poland

Genre: post-jazz

środa, 2 lipca 2025

Monochromatic Visions - Change Who You Are (2025)

It's only four tracks, but when something is that good, who cares? I have mentioned the British band a couple of times before and it's no surprise as their music makes a perfect blend of the noisy and the melodic. It was proven on their new EP.

Shoegaze, new wave, pop music. They all have their place within this short release. The music here feels light and unbelievably catchy, but there is a hint of a darker atmosphere and the omnipresent noise somewhere in the backgrounds, like something you catch with the corner of your eye but can't really focus your sight on. All for compositions are worth checking out, including the most poppy one, the first song of the album, I Told You. And frankly, I like it the most, probably because it's as catchy as it can be, a candidate for a summer hit within the noisier offstream world.

Change Who You Are costs 14 EUR (12 GBP) (which is slightly ridiculous to be honest).

Check: I Told You

Country: UK

Genre: melodic ethereal wave

Monochromatic Visions - Monochromatic Visions (2017)

wtorek, 1 lipca 2025

Aortes - Carrion (2025)

It took 6 years and one change of name for the Lithuanian post-metal outfit (now called) Aortes come back on my blog. And there is a good reason for that too as their new album (second under this moniker and 5th in general) is a masterful dose of heavy atmosphere and post-hardcore anger.

The artists themselves think highly about the release, calling it a "brand new and more mature sounding album" and I have to agree. It is no simple post-metal/hardcore music here, it's more nuanced, deeper and more attractive face of the genre while still retaining the clue of this kind of sound: energy and expression. However, parts such as Carrion with the spoken word vocals or the addition of the saxophone sound in the same song, or an entire ambient intermission in Black Mold make me appreciate the release even more. Not to mention that they, simply speaking, turn up the atmosphere of this dense music.

I can't stress enough how good the atmosphere is on this album. It's unsettling like an alarm siren, it's heavy like a tank, it's slow and steady and suddenly very fast. I love it, especially on When We Cease, a track that left me lying on the ground overwhelmed by its weight. Fantastic stuff.

Carrion costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: When We Cease

Country: Lithuania

Genre: noisy post-metal

Autism - Have You Found Peace? (2019)

piątek, 20 czerwca 2025

Sugar for the Pill - LUV (2025)

I've seen Sugar for the Pill this year at Automatic Noise in Amsterdam in January and it was one of the highlights of the festivals. The band with probably the least difficult inspiration to decipher in the world, released their sophomore album last month and showed why this was the case.

Good shoegaze can be found anywhere in the world. I'm not very familiar with the Greek scene, but Sugar for the Pill is an outfit that proves this thought. Led by the airy vocals and light melodies, the band released a beautiful collection of songs that are as ethereal as they are melodic. A selection of certain hits for every (other) Slowdive lover. This ability to marry the airy and the catchy is what draws me to their music and songs like Anelia, Komorebi and, especially, Colours prove it over and over again.

The album offers no break from the melodic, fast-paced music that, maybe because of the album title and the overall visual setting, feels... cute. Light and carefree, dreamy like a dream you don't want to wake up from. And one that, when it's finally over, makes you immediately miss it.

LUV costs 10 EUR.

Check: Colours

Country: Greece

Genre: catchy shoegaze

Label: Make Me Happy Records/Shelflife Records

czwartek, 19 czerwca 2025

Favorite Obsession - Bliss (2025)

Four years after their debut EP and only a month or so after their live appearance at Kraków's Shoefest, the young Czech band Favorite Obsession released their first ever full-length album entitled in the most shoegaze way possible. Bliss makes a promising debut with a number of melodies that are as catchy as one would like.

Recorded "in-between line-up changes, mental breakdowns and gender changes", the album presents a case study of indie rock music with a heavy influence from shoegaze and dream pop genres. There is a healthy dose of noise in this material (which was especially noticeable live!), but it's more about melodies, the fun from singing them aloud, the energy coming from the stage. At least in most of the songs because (Inside) I Bloom makes a beautiful, very intimate and emotional (just take a look at the lyrics, the song starts with "20 year old crisis/6 strings are helping me survive") ballad to provide some balance.

There is something weird going on in Taxi Driver and I can only assume that it's a way to stress that (Inside)... is such an important part of the album. If this is true, I'd make the silence shorter. Because it's not the end of the release! Of the engaging, catchy and very emotional release to be truthful.

Bliss costs 7.5 EUR (180 CZK).

Check: (Inside) I Bloom

Country: Czechia

Genre: noisy indie rock

Label: Golden Hive Studios

środa, 18 czerwca 2025

Lazy Legs - Tower (2025)

It's been 8 years (!) since the Oregon band Lazy Legs appeared on this blog with their EP called Chain of Pink. Now, after what seems to be some changes in the line-up, they released their third album and enchanted me with their minimalist yet very airy take on slowcore kind of noise music.

The artists admit to take inspirations from a variety of genres, mixing "shoegaze, grunge, slowcore and doomgaze" into one, moody kind of music. It surely is slow, it's very airy and based on the rougher nature of guitar sounds. It feel also a lot like a letter of admiration to minimalist rock music usually made by duos (I'm thinking The Kills, but maybe it's because I've been listening to them a lot recently). It's maybe because the band now only consists of Laura Wagner and Michael Tenzer while before, there was also Nicholas Piontek playing drums. Regardless of the reasons, the band's music feels now closer to the audience, honest and beautiful in this desert, grunge way.

The rough guitar makes here a beautiful dialog with vocals that are not only made airy. They are literally very often just backing vocals playing the main part of the song. It makes the compositions well-balanced but also very, very dreamy regardless of the heaviness of the music.

Tower costs 5 USD.

Check: Rot

Country: Oregon, US

Genre: shoegazey slowcore

Label: Wild Patterns

Lazy Legs - Chain of Pink (2017)

wtorek, 17 czerwca 2025

我夢見長頸鹿對我說 [The Giraffe Told Me In My Dream] - Velvet Distortion (2025)

The "overly noisy, overly sweet" band from Taiwan with probably the craziest name out there is back with a new release! Six years after their first EP, the noisy machine gives us another small taste of what they can do with shoegaze music.

And I really mean shoegaze. It's not noisy rock, it's not atmospheric dream pop. It's very loud, very noisy and very dreamy shoegaze, true to the genre's origins. Driven by vocals that are absolutely gorgeous and ephemeral to the limits, making the audience feel as if they were immediate transported to their deepest, most intimate dreams. The music is a perfect fit here: noisy where it should be, euphoric when needed, slow and moody in other parts. A match made in heaven.

The only downside is that, once again, it is only a taste of what the Taiwanese are capable of. Basically three songs (with a short introduction) already shows a lot, but one would like to experience more. And more frequently than once in six years.

Velvet Distortion costs 4 USD.

Check: Glimpse

Country: Taiwan

Genre: true shoegaze

我夢見長頸鹿對我說 [The Giraffe Told Me In My Dream] - Slowfall (2019)

piątek, 13 czerwca 2025

Øystein Skar - Hem (2025)

The Norwegian pianist, most known for his role in the synthpop band Highasakite, Øystein Skar have released his solo debut via Moderna Records and the next sentences are probably very easy to predict: it's moody, it's atmospheric and it's the Norwegian landscape translated into piano notes.

The album is said to "merge the lyrical beauty of piano with the dynamic energy of electronic music, resulting in a fusion that is both innovative and compelling", but I have to say that I hear mostly the former. Hem, I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the title means "home" as the image of Norway is quite vivid in his music, at least in my ears, is all about slow, subtle piano compositions. There are parts where the faster, jazzy part of Skar's music education is audible, but it's rare. And yes, I'm happy they are. I'm here for the ambient music played on piano keys.

Hem costs 8 EUR (12 CAD).

Check: Ljos

Country: Norway

Genre: piano soundscape

Label: Moderna Records

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T E S A - C O N T R O L (2020)

czwartek, 12 czerwca 2025

Concepcion Huerta - El Sol de los Muertos (2025)

Sound textures, audio soundscapes, narratives delivered by notes only. Concepcion Huerta is a Mexican artist whose drones and ambient sounds create an emotional cocktail deeply rooted in her geographical background. The veins of the world are open again, just like the cover art suggests.

This emotional piece was created "entirely within a subharmonic framework and meticulously processed through tape manipulation". It has to be said that not all of the sounds here are gonna be pleasant, in fact, it's quite the opposite: some of the tracks are designed to evoke nightmares of deep undergrounds and the worlds of the dead. There is, however, no notion of morality here I think, described pictures are not terrifying or charming, they just are. It's the truth about the world as seen by the artist and as transcribed into these monumental soundscapes.

El Sol de los Muertos costs 7 EUR.

Check: El Sol de los Muertos

Country: Mexico

Genre: droney soundscape

Label: Umor-Rex

środa, 11 czerwca 2025

T E S A - I N T E R V A L (2025)

The Latvian TESA is a band that never disappoints. Never. The Baltic giants create their metal-like heavy post-rock or rock-like light post-metal with grace and with consistency that characterize only great artists. Although their new album is entitles Interval, it doesn't feel like it's any kind of transition or pause. It's as good as ever been and ever will be, I'm sure of it.

The Eastern equivalent of the French heavy noise of Year of No Light start the album with a fast and heavy hit in the face. While the long tracks change pace and melodies very often, the first seconds of the album are here to remind you, dear listener, what are you signing up for. A hurricane of massive sounds that are designed to spare no one. It's interesting that the tracks are so diverse: there is many sudden changes so when the listener is emerged in one of the passages, they are brutally waken up from the trance by a different melody, different direction the track suddenly switches to.

Nevertheless, the sound here is quite literally overwhelming and forcing you to stop and fall in love with its relentless power. This is the very nature of TESA.

I N T E R V A L costs 9 EUR.

Check: Interval II

Country: Latvia

Genre: massive post-rock

Label: My Proud Mountain

TESA - G H O S T ( 2015)

wtorek, 10 czerwca 2025

Go With Strangers - Ave, Reverie (2025)

Remember when mum used to tell you not to go with strangers? Well, you definitely can do that with this one. Eugene San is based in Malaysia and makes music as one-man band to "face his social anxiety". And the results? A fantastic set of noisy shoegaze songs.

I love how immersive the noise can be. When listening to songs like Breathe In, what you breathe in is the reverbing air and dreams that flow around trying to drown you in. And sometimes it is the shoegazey, dense, overwhelming kind of noise, but sometimes it can go in more surprising directions with some metal riffs in Misery (You'll Never Break Me). And I really can hardly say which song here is my favourite. The artist has a very special gift of writing very well-leveled compositions and every one of them is worth the listerner's attention. In the end, I chose Further with its captivating melody and tasty noise, but it could as well be any other track.

Interestingly enough, the album was made out of "fascination with the feeling of “Sonder” (...), which is the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and craziness", a theme good for a whole book, but really works as a base for a music album as well. The artist concludes that the album may be "a warm greeting, and also a bittersweet farewell, to dreams and daydreams". So it matches everyone's life at some point, no doubt about it.

Ave, Reverie costs 8 USD.

Check: Further

Country: Malaysia

Genre: immersive solo shoegaze

piątek, 6 czerwca 2025

Maria Somerville - Luster (2025)

Taking inspirations from everywhere, but mainly her home Ireland, Maria Somerville creates dream pop with many faces, but one soul: it stays intimate and close to the audience thanks to the slow pace and ethereal vocals. The artist's sophomore album is all about this close artist-listener proximity.

On this album, the artist's range goes from ambient pop to acoustic dream pop up to almost industrial-like tones. But generally the vibes revolve around the slowest, most intimate of genres. A beautiful voice, background hums and maybe an acoustic guitar is all the artist needs to enchant us. With Projections, she proofs that it doesn't mean that her songs are not catchy, but generally the melodies are less important than the airiness and softness of the sound. And softness is what I seek on albums like this.

Luster costs 12 EUR (9.99 GBP).

Check: Projections

Country: Ireland

Genre: intimate dream pop

Label: 4AD

:soundcloud:

czwartek, 5 czerwca 2025

Benefits - Constant Noise (2025)

The band who "write songs about things that concern [them]" and really, all of us, is back with a sophomore album. And I can safely say that they only get better with their fascinating and inspiring blend of poetry and synthetic music. Whatever you need to hear right now is probably already on Constant Noise.

I can't think of many artists who make music quite like Benefits. The spoken word poetry is, of course, the first thing that catches your attention. It is a lyrical take on post-punk social commentary focus, but there's more to it. I'm afraid not being a native speaker, a lot of it flies above me, but what I can catch, is striking enough. That's why those moments when lyrics about war and injustice is matched with disco-like electronica is especially shocking. But the music varies basically from track to track with harsh guitar noise and atmospheric drones as important as the electronic notes.

This combination of poetry and guitars makes me think of last year's album from Overhead, the Albatross, but maybe because since the recent dunk!festival, they are on my mind regularly. What also certainly deserves attention is the track recorded together with Peter Doherty of The Libertines which is a nice little thing that can brighten the day of an indie rock veteran like myself.

Constant Noise costs 9.5 EUR (7.99 GBP).

Check: Land of the Tyrants

Country: UK

Genre: eclectic lyrical post-punk

Label: Invada Records

środa, 4 czerwca 2025

Waves Crashing - Effection (2025)

The Cascadian shoegaze is not something I talk about every day, but maybe it'll change since Waves Crashing, a band from Washington state, released their debut album and it kind of rocks. If you need some tasty retro noisy vibes in your life, this is the address.

The retro vibes here are omnipresent. It is a noisy rock blessed by RIDE and The Jesus and Mary Chain: the melodic guitar music with a layer of fuzziness to make it even more beautiful. And the melodic aspect is dominant here, my favourite track, Comatose is a perfect example here. The way an unnerving and disturbing word is shaped into a fantastically catchy and airy chorus is done in a true classic shoegaze fashion. Just look at it: "Something out my window/I feel it close/Try to stay normal/In a comatose".

And what accompanies the lyrics is guitar music as fuzzy as one should expect. There are riffs that make it outstanding (like the finish in In My Head), but they are mostly just complimenting the airy vocals. Which is not a bad thing. I personally thing that the more atmospheric ballad-like the band gets towards the end of the release, the slightly less interesting the music. Slightly. Good thing that they finish with a remix of Comatose as this tells me they know they have a real hit in their portfolio.

Effection costs 9 USD.

Check: Comatose

Country: Washington, US

Genre: retro noise rock

Label: Neon Sigh / Audiomanic Music