Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą 2025. Pokaż wszystkie posty
Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą 2025. Pokaż wszystkie posty

piątek, 6 marca 2026

O SAALA SAKRAAL - Oastar (2025)


If you check the RYM page of the Dutch project O SAALA SAKRAAL, you will find that it consists of four drummers. The drums in this tribal ambient pagan outfit are in the spotlight, indeed, but they are not everything that is going on in this chaotic and eclectic music. It's time to dive into this spiritual experiment for the third time.

The album is said to be an artistic response to an event nobody from outside of the Netherlands heard about: the "destruction of an ancient solar temple by local authorities in the eastern region of Hamaland, a land still shadowed by the enduring influence of the Church". This alone shows the vibes that dominate in O SAALA SAKRAAL's music: the spiritualism is here, but it's spiritualism that is much, much older than what people may think and it involves tons of drumming, humming and whispering. The dark ambient meeting tribal sounds is such a unique experience! I sure would love to see the project performing live one day!

The album is meant to be a response to "a yearning for restoration, for a return to the primordial harmony that once bound all things". The mesmerizing compositions transport the audience in time and not so much in space, but basically to whatever was there, at the location of your home, when it was still the wilderness. Listening to the dark but profound music of the talented artists, you can be sure that they "come cloaked in the guises of the woods".

Oastar costs 8 EUR.

Check: (We Come) Cloaked in the Guises of the Woods
Country: The Netherlands
Genre: dark tribal ambient
Label: Cyclic Law




piątek, 20 lutego 2026

Born Erased - Birds Drink My Blood (2025)


Angel Simitchiev has appeared on this blog twice already but never under the moniker of Born Erased. His dark ambient soundscapes are of the best quality and now this is further certified by the fact that the December album was released by Cyclic Law. 

If you wonder what's the deal with the surprising and gory title of the album, its description explains it: the album is inspired by the brutal yet impressive nature of... nature. If you (metaphorically) squint a little, you can hear the album as a distorted soundtrack to documentary movie on the wonders and dangers of [insert any place that is not yet entirely tamed by humans]. Especially the moments where Simitchiev's dark ambient reveals some more ethereal sides (as in Voider). This probably means that, although still in the realm of ambient soundscapes, the tracks here are structured in a cinematic way, making them way more approachable to fans of other kinds of music.

Until, of course, this facade is completely destroyed by the industrial anxiety in Throne of Cages, but I guess it also fits the topic quite well. The nature is brutal, but the humans canbe even more so.

Birds Drink My Blood costs 8 EUR.

Check: Voider
Country: Bulgaria
Genre: cinematic dark ambient
Label: Cyclic Law




czwartek, 19 lutego 2026

Eveleen - falling rain and the light will take you there (2025)


Seta Respati creates his music as Eveleen and he has been doing it for over ten years now. Still, released last December album is his long-play debut so it's worth celebrating. He says that he "make[s] some noise, some people called it art" and I would be one of those "some people" since the single From Me To You I mentioned in here back in 2018.

I love it when I listen to one-person post-rock projects and am unable to say if it's really done by only one artist. This is the case with the Indonesian artist. His post-rock is delicate and skillfully crafted, it's definitely more about creating small gems of melodies than overwhelming with sound. The relaxing sounds feel like lying down on grass and experiencing the world around you from the safe and content position. The inclusion of piano keys that sound like glockenspiel in my ears, only adds to this feeling, making me think of the most relaxed tracks from Sigur Rós (yes, that's why I like dawn: an ascension the most).

So sit back, relax and get transported to the beautiful soundscapes provided by the talented artist from the far away land of Indonesia.

falling rain and the light will take you there costs 10 USD.

Check: dawn: an ascension 
Country: Indonesia
Genre: solo post-rock



środa, 18 lutego 2026

Bloed - Tranen (2025)


So I have this little tradition that before every edition of Dunk!Festival, I listen to the whole discographies of all of the announced bands. I listen to the artists I know to start celebrating this fantastic event and to the artists I don't know to assess if I want to see them live or choose eating something instead. And it's a great thing I do that as this made me discover Bloed, the Belgian band that combines everything I like in aggressive metal sounds.

A sister and two brothers make up the line up of this fresh outfit for whom this is the long distance debut. And saying they play metal is an extreme understatement. It's more like aggressive electronic music (sometimes makes me think of Crystal Castles) with aggressive vocals (the metal part here) and great bass lines-drums framework. Last year I was amazed how much I loved Igorrr's single track called Headbutt where truly impressive metal anger was combined with whatever Igorrr does to maintain their image of true weirdoes. So, in short, Bloed's music sounds like Headbutt without the weird. Electronica very rarely compliments the metal vocals so well so I give kudos to the rookies from the depth of my heart.

I believe Bloed's walls of noise will make many of Dunk!'s regulars blush while the exciting, modern compositions filled with ever-changing pace and surprising bursts of noise will force the audience to reach their limits in front of the stage. I, personally, can't wait.

Tranen costs 9 EUR.

Check: Druk
Country: Belgium
Genre: electronica-based modern metal



sobota, 14 lutego 2026

Tristan Perich & James McVinnie - Infinity Gradient (2025)


I dig pipe organ sound in anything. Give me Anna von Hausswolff's early releases anytime of day. But when I heard about this album where this instrument meets post-minimalism and "1-bit music", I had no idea what to expect.

Tristan Perich is well-known for his minimalist electronica (not by me cause that is, simply speaking, not my kind of music), James McVinnie is an acclaimed organist from NY and together they've created something they call "an hour-long symphony in seven movements for organ and 100 speakers in 1-bit audio". It sounds extremely impressive, probably more from the realm of modern art than music, but it doesn't matter to me much. What matters is that the album itself is so satisfying to listen to. Probably because all I hear is the organs i various compositions I have no ability to describe as I lack music knowledge. What I know is that the hour passed so quickly when I was submerged in the massive sound of the king of the instruments.

Infinity Gradient costs 9 EUR (8 GBP).

Check: Infinity Gradient: Section 7
Country: New York, US
Genre: organ-based orchestral neoclassical
Label: Erased Tapes Records



czwartek, 12 lutego 2026

monotheism - Mantra (2025)


Three masked individuals from a far away country of South Korea bring another near-divine (and very short) album to my speakers. 7 years (!) after their last EP (also mentioned in here), they come back with this trance-inducing, spiritual and mind-blowingly noisy release that is entitled Mantra but also IS a mantra at the same time.

"We play the resonance of the divine. Three waves become one mantra", they state and they follow by explaining the role of each of the three tracks on the EP. The noisy guitar sounds first let us connect with the divine resonance, then find the origins of all sounds and finally get lost within the sound itself. The aggressive-sounding guitars are most certainly NOT what one would imagine when reading a description like this, but I can assure you that the flow is there and it can take anyone with it towards the sonic awakening.

Mantra costs 5 USD.

Check: Cycle
Country: South Korea
Genre: noisssssy post-rock




środa, 11 lutego 2026

The Burning Paris - Last Leaves (2025)


When the American Post. Festival announced another batch of artists set to join this year's edition, one addition to the list caught my attention and reminded me that I used to listen to Coral City Ruin a lot when I was much younger. So I checked them (again) and I'm blown away and their 2025's third ever album is just exactly what I love in music.

They call it a combination of shoegaze, dream pop, neoclassical and post-rock, but I just call it "what if Piano Magic played post-rock today" and I can't think of a better compliment in my mind. I reckon it's the combination of the slowcore, extremely melancholic atmosphere, poetic lyrics and violins-heavy, but also very much multidimensional compositions that makes me think of the British band (R.I.P.). According to their own words, the music here "swells between serenity and intensity" and I have to say that the balance between the weight of the guitars and the beauty of piano and violin music (as well as the ethereal vocals) is perfectly struck.  

So it seems that during the hiatus of my attention in their music, the Americans managed to disband, get back together, albeit with substantial changes to the line-up, release their first album in years and now top it with a second release. And I'm more than glad to say that they keep doing what I remember from over 20 years ago.

Last Leaves costs 10 USD.

Check: August Fires
Country: Massachusetts, US
Genre: post-ghost rock
Label: A Thousand Arms Music



wtorek, 3 lutego 2026

Smote - Songs from the Free House (2025)


I'm so surprised that I have just found Daniel Foggin aka Smote's new album in Tethered Hand's summary of the best post-rock albums of 2025! I'm surprised because by pure coincidence I will be covering Tethered Hand's release... tomorrow! It's also interesting because it shows how diverse post-rock music can be as Smote's music is just on the border of the genre, yet impresses with similar elements as more traditional post-rock projects.

Foggin blends so many things in his musical cauldron, man! The album starts like a perfect drone release, but then it shifts from desert rock into post-rock passages into space rock psychedelia. And then there is this thing with the flute music whatever you can call it. Listening to this album is genuinely like a road trip with new things to appreciate in every minute of the passing soundscape. And in reality the trip takes place on a desert in outer space and you are in a heavy tank, rocking on the uneven surface of the planet.

The album feels extremely heavy with the heaviness of doom and sludge, even if, quite frequently, it becomes calm and almost soothing. How is it possible? The quiet fragments are designed to emphasize everything else, like the ethereal choral chants in Chamber or the slow guitar riffs everywhere else. It's difficult to imagine an album so diverse and at the same time so coherent: the form changes but the mood stays the same til the end. Ah, yes, and Lankum's Ian Lynch is here too!

Songs from the Free House costs 8 EUR (6.99 GBP).

Check: Wynne
Country: UK
Genre: heavy space rock
Label: Rocket Recordings



piątek, 30 stycznia 2026

Tsarewitch - Yer (2025)


Drones and pipe organ sounds sounds like a perfect combination to me. So I had to take a closer look at this EP. Released by Alexander Yordaki, an artist from Moldova who wanted to draw people's attention to the situation in his homeland, the elusive Gaugazia in the southern part of Moldova.

Thematically speaking, it's worth taking a look at the artist's description of this album where he briefly talks about who the Gaugaz people are and what is the danger for them right now (spoiler alert, like in most cases in our part of the world, the answer is "Russia"). So go to his Bandcamp and read it. And then maybe Wikipedia to have a better idea of the complexity of this case. (and yes, I'm happy to say that it's my first Moldavian artist on the blog, not to mention a Gaugaz one!)

Musically speaking, the EP is one composition made of sloooow and deeeep sound of pipe organs with some subtle additions in the form of "recordings from Yalpug, a steppe valley in Comrat where a dry riverbed divides the suburb from the town" and a bit of spoken word samples towards the end. The whole thing feels extremely nostalgic and it's not a coincidence as it is a piece of very personal music about what one person sees as a home.

Yer costs 1 EUR.

Check: Yer
Country: Moldova
Genre: pipe organ drone
Label: Reflection Nebula



czwartek, 29 stycznia 2026

adele dazeem - Metanoia (2025)


They are named after actress and singer Idina Menzel (whose first name was famously mispronounced by John Travolta, resulting in her using "Adele" in multiple occasions afterwards), they come from London and they released their first EP last autumn. This blend of shoegazey atmosphere and post-punk vibes caught my attention immediately.

The EP is short, but still it's clearly well done: there are parts that are noisy, there are parts filled with darker, coldwave approach to music, there are some curious instrumental parts too. Their compositions are designed to go on and on, mesmerizing the audience with the harsh trance-inducing passages and overwhelming with noisy guitars. I'm very happy that the musicians don't consider the end of lyrics as the end of their songs: I'd say that in this case, the songs really start after the post-punk vocals disappear. But it's only my instrumental-noise bias probably.

Metanoia costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: Misère
Country: UK
Genre: noisy coldwave
Label: Sonic Cathedral



środa, 28 stycznia 2026

L.O.E. - Chiaroscuro (2025)


So the post-rock gods decided that at the end of 2025, two British bands released some particularly dark-sounding and awe-inspiring albums. I've covered Civil Service here and now I NEED to drop something about Last of Eden aka L.O.E. Maybe it's the zeitgeist, but if it means that we're going to get so good and poignant albums then... Well, then there is at least one bright side of what's going on.

Another common feature with Civil Service is the main theme of the album, as it is a "cinematic exploration of duality—the contrasts between light and dark, despair and hope". What is so striking about this quotation is that it is all clearly audible in music. The dark-sounding guitars, overwhelming and touching, tell the story that inspired the band, the personal struggles of their bassist who has serious problems with his health, but still makes everything to go on and win against all odds with sheer determination. The heaviness of this music with occasional samples and slower moments is a perfect illustration for what a human existence feels like more often than not. 

The band is coming for this year's Dunk!Festival and I'm more than happy to witness this music live. Oh and the aforementioned music gods also decided to have two post-rock albums last year that included the same quotation from Alan Watts (writer, researcher of the Eastern philosophies) with All Is Violent being first in July. So that's fun, isn't it?

Chiaroscuro costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: I Was Not Magnificent
Country: UK
Genre: dark post-rock
Label: Hopeful Tragedy Records/Fontana North



wtorek, 27 stycznia 2026

The Lions Constellation - New Moon Rising (2025)


This year I already posted about ARIMA, melodic and noisy guitar rock music from Spain, but not really as they are from the Basque Country. Now I have The Lions Constellation, melodic and noisy guitar music from Spain, but not really as they are from Catalonia. It took 15 years (!) for the band to release their second album, but I'm gonna call it: it was really worth it.

I love shoegaze music that can impress with the noisy side and the catchy side as well. When listen to this album, released last autumn (I still haven't caught up with the new year releases!), I can hear exactly this. Take Allison for example: obviously the first thing I checked was if it was a cover, but no: and instead of focusing on the other Allison's hazy atmosphere, it presents a fantastic melody and catchy flow that makes it closer to the third Allison, the one from The Kills. It's a banger and still isn't my favourite one here.

The very shoegaze-like atmosphere is, on the other, the main focus in some spaces too, especially in When You Dream, which HAS TO be a reference to When You Sleep, right? Same vibes. But the melodic, hit-heavy shoegaze generally overshadows anything else on the album with A Long Life Is Not a Real Life being my favourite song here as it features my beloved way of using guitars in noisy music genres.

New Moon Rising costs 9 USD.

Check: A Long Life Is Not a Real Life
Country: Catalonia/Spain
Genre: catchy shoegaze
Label: Shelflife



piątek, 23 stycznia 2026

Cicada - 凝視白色的邊界 Gazing the Shades of White (2025)


Ah, yes, some high-brow entertainment! The Taiwanese small orchestra that features violin, cello, piano keys and an acoustic guitar, came back with another brillant release (there's too many for me to count, really) that transforms geography into music and feels as artistic as mysterious.

The band is around for over 15 years now. In this time, the band "has woven Taiwan’s mountains, seas, and landscapes into sound". This time, the geographical inspirations are broader as the artists draw inspiration from the wintery sceneries of Iceland, Greenland or New Zealand. The cold, the ice, the whiteness, it's all enchanted into classical music notes. However, it's not like we are served with droney white noise, quite the opposite, there is a lot going on. Perhaps not something I'd associate with the winter stillness, but maybe the inspirations were rather subtle.

"Through delicate sound and moments gathered on the road, Cicada turns the disappearance of eternal landscapes into intimate encounters between music and listener". And the music in questions is particularly magical.

凝視白色的邊界 Gazing the Shades of White costs 15 USD.

Check: 凝視白色的邊界 Gazing the Shades of White
Country: Taiwan
Genre: orchestral neoclassical
Label: WINDIE Music




czwartek, 22 stycznia 2026

Civil Service - DARK /// (2025)


They released their debut album in 2024 and now are following it with the sophomore album or maybe a continuation of the first one. They are from UK, but are not Public Service Broadcasting side project (even if some of the samples suggest so). Civil Service is a band I did not have on my radar, but my post-rock society turned my attention to.

And it's such a good thing they did. The new album begins in the best way possible: with a collaboration with Overhead, the Albatross' Luke Daly on vocals. But even when he leaves the track list, some parallels to my favourite British post-rockers are still audible (the child speaking in Black Giraffes for examples), although this is more classic post-rock than the one featured on I Leave You This. But it's not *THAT* traditional. The beautiful violin soundscapes complimenting the heavy guitars work like charm, the inclusion of samples and vocals enriches the composition while the subtle electronica provides the final touch.

As mentioned already, DARK /// is a continuation of the themes from /// LIGHT, but while the debut album was focused on the humankind's main quest in life: finding something that could be seen as a meaning of existence, the second album "shifts focus to the immovable obstacles in our way". The way the guitars sound feels so dark (Every Beam Of Light Is An Invitation To Death!!!) to me and dark post-rock is what I want. I love this album, if I have found it earlier, it'd certainly make my AOTY charts.

DARK /// costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Black Giraffes
Country: UK
Genre: complex post-rock
Label: A Cheery Wave/Ripcord Records



środa, 21 stycznia 2026

Glimmer - Get Weak (2025)


They've been releasing singles since 2023 and now it's time for their debut album (which, honestly, is way a better tie line than many other bands). Glimmer (what an awesome shoegaze name!) are from New York and Get Weak showcases how fluent with hazy and loud music they are.

If I had a sheet with features of a perfect shoegaze album, this one would check all of them. The guitars build thick walls of sound that, additionally, has tendency to sound pretty rough on the edges (yeah, that's where all the grungegaze tags come from!). The songs are melodic and catchy. The vocals hazy and soft (with a hint of Americana in them? Or am I hallucinating things?). It's music that takes as much from the garage rock-and-roll as it does from the ethereal genres. My preference is when they shift into higher gear while maintaining the nice level of haziness.

When posting about their debut album, the band stated "We put everything we had into this record. There were moments of pure joy and sadness during the process, but it was well worth it, and we’re stoked for you to hear". And I have to say, it really was worth it.

Get Weak costs 10 USD.

Check: Sorrow Again
Country: New York, US
Genre: grungegaze



wtorek, 20 stycznia 2026

SEIMS - V (2025)


The Australian project SEIMS is an exciting answer to a dilemma: can post-rock music be artsy and atmospheric at the same time. Yes it can. The band that is usually connected to such genres as math rock and post-rock, released their probably fourth album called V, four years after another great release: their probably third album called Four. MATH rock. Q.E.D.

Jokes aside, although their music is mostly instrumental and very much guitar-focused, it's difficult o call them "simply post-rock". The complexity of their compositions and the approach characterized by melodic, isolated guitar sequences (I know it's not true, but those make me think of some flamenco or fado music in some places) suggest to me that we deal with art rock that somehow has been deprived of vocals along the process. But then, the artsy is suddenly overwhelmed by the loud and heavy, making a perfect case for art-post-rock music.

A separate word should be said about Forever the Optimist, my highlight of the album. I love how it starts with slower, elaborate guitar dance and slowly growing into the energetic finish fueled by chanting, a rare sight on the release. It also sums up the overall mood of the album: in the times when post-rock (and really all the music I listen to) gets dark and apocalyptic, the sound here is bright and optimistic. And if I like it like this, it's a sign that it's very well done.

costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Forever the Optimist 
Country: Australia
Genre: art-post-rock




piątek, 9 stycznia 2026

Fuzzy Lights - Fen Creatures (2025)


Out of many music projects that deserve more recognition, I feel like Fuzzy Lights occupies the number one spot in this line. I love the fuzzy and the lights in their music that can be only described as post-folk rock with beautiful songwriting.

I've covered their 2010 album that is one of my favourite releases ever, as well as their great comeback in 2021. Now (it's been already 4 years!), the Cambridge-based band is back again with their signature sound. The way they combine the noisy and rough-sounding guitars and the sweetest of vocals just speaks to me. It's like showing the dark and the bright side of music, of world, of life. 

There is something very British in their songwriting too, making me think about Piano Magic all the time. Maybe it's the similar level of nostalgia, but also not understanding what this nostalgic feeling comes from? I feel it especially well in my favourite track here, War Ditches with its military-like drums completing the picture painted in the song. I'm really glad that the English band came back for good it seems. Now I want to see them finally on stage!

Fen Creatures costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: War Ditches
Country: UK
Genre: post-folk rock




czwartek, 8 stycznia 2026

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - Corporal (2025)


Lorelle (or Lorena Quintanilla) and The Obsolete (aka Alberto González) make music together for 15 years now and somehow this exciting guitar music with a solid dose of ethereality has never been posted about on this blog! I really had to change that, given that the 7th album from the Mexican artists is really something.

The psychedelic rock from the duo is quite dark and minimal, drawing a lot from the cold wave and synthwave genres: Lorelle's emotionless vocals really sound like taken from the genre's main stream and the synthy backgrounds mesmerize the audience with the sequential, looping passages. I mean, almost half of Dilación is drums with bass line only, this is not the dark guitar minimalism, I don't know what is.

The album reaches an interesting point in Palabra, a track where tamed cacophony rapidly turns into industrial noise while everything is smoothed down by the subtle vocalization, I love it! It shows what range the musicians have and how unafraid of experimenting they are (especially that here's also a place for pure guitar drone track at the album too). I'm sure people know about the duo, but for me, it's a great discovery.

Corporal costs 12 EUR (10 GBP).

Check: Control
Country: Mexico
Genre: dreamy coldwave
Label: Sonic Cathedral



środa, 7 stycznia 2026

Nuclear Daisies - First Taste of Heaven (2025)


Coming from Texas are Nuclear Daisies, a band who likes their shoegaze served trippy. With Ringo Deathstarr's Alex Gehring in the lineup, the outfit released their sophomore album back in the summer, but it's so good that it deserves mentioning in the middle of winter's frozen landscape.

What makes this project quite special is the psychedelic vibes of the shoegaze/dream pop offered. Or even a step further: the trip-hop-esque bits and pieces that add up to the music's ethereal but very much otherworldly atmosphere. The further the album goes, the more audible the trip-hop influences with Doves and Fangs sounding as t-h as possible while still clearly within the realm of dreamy guitar music and finally, 333 is basically Teardrop.

This also makes the album's flow so attractive! The melodies are captivating, the pace faster than slower, the ethereality clearly noticeable in the soft vocals and hazy backgrounds. When it comes to the song I'd recommend, it has to be Infinite Joy as I love the shoegazey compositions that use the silence to fuel their overall catchiness and this is definitely the case here.

First Taste of Heaven costs 9 USD.

Check: Infinite Joy
Country: Texas, US
Genre: psychedelic shoegazey indie
Label: Portrayal of Guilt



wtorek, 6 stycznia 2026

ARIMA - Ez dago amor (2025)


Is the band led by Paule Bilbao my favourite outfit that makes music in Basque language? Yes, obviously, it's the only one I know. But the fact about ARIMA is that it's one of the European hidden gems the music of which is definitely worth discovering. Regardless of the language it is sung in.

The signature sound of the Basque is the combination of indie rock (with more focus on the "rock part" with noisy and hazy vibes. Bilbao's clear and strong vocal carries the compositions but at the same time (at least in my ears and mind) stops me from putting their music on the shelf labeled "shoegaze". Which is fair play, as the vocals a) are fantastic and b) leave a lot of space for the instruments to create this slow(ish) and heavy atmosphere. As I know since their appearance at the AM Festival, this sounds particularly impressive live.

The noisier and more ambient passages don't slow down the melodies here. It's the melody that makes  Isurkari one of my favourite tracks of the end of 2025, but truth be told, this short EP is stacked with hits like guitar-rich Zarata for example, with the spoken-word-based intro and outro tracks adding to the album's atmosphere. I wonder if the band plans to release their first LP anytime soon, I, for one, would appreciate it very much.

Ez dago amor costs 8 EUR.

Check: Isurkari
Country: Basque Country/Spain
Genre: ethereal indie rock
Label: Bonberenea / Aloud Music Ltd.