NurseOnDuty - EP:3 (2017) EN

NurseOnDuty is a unique project that answers the question "what if punks gave up electronic guitars and startes to play electronic music and actually compose melodies instead". Because the English girls make anarcho noise pop at its best. And it is asskicking.

NurseOnDuty start their insane dance from the very first notes. Catchy music won't let you relax even for a second, which is true thanks to great melodies - the best one is probably "!NoPasaran!". The project has both a punk raging spirit and pop-like ability to stick to your brain. And to make your heart beat faster and your legs dance.

The name of the project couldn't be better. Girls who treat, in this case they treat the whole society, are automatically connected with being nurses. Apart from the overall message, the punk origins can be heard also in the sound quality that could be described as lo-fi if you want to be nice. But it shouldn't be too discouraging.

The EPka, as anarchism suggests, is for pay-what-you-want.

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Murmure - Évaporation (2017) EN

There is no way around it, dreampop sung in French immediately gets an uncanniness +10 boost. And Murmure is a high level dreampop creating music compared to Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky and Hammock.

The airiness of Murmure is achieved by the angelic voice of Rachel Mayer and delicate, soundscape electronics by Keven Carrière occasionally supported by guitar sounds. It is heard throughout the CD but it reaches its peak in "Évaporation" (the track I mean). The whole album sounds like a walk on an icy lake and makes me think of winter and frosty air. Or perhaps just of Canada. You can easily get lost in this music. Especially that the lyrics talks about mystery and melancholy, and although I don't understand it, I can hear it anyway.

"Évaporation" costs 3,99 CAD.

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Sergey Sheerman - Dyḗus (2017) EN

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Noyus, Ükku - Warzone EP (2017) EN

Not so long ago we finally got it! The whole world was waiting for the new album by The xx. But meanwhile there appeared our local version of the Scotsmen and it came from Lithuania as the union of two artists - Noyus, the guy, and Ükku, the girl. 

I can't shake off the feeling that "Warzone" is like the mixture of the Romy Madley Croft - Oliver Sim duet with the Polish Kasia - Łukasz whose band Coals is one of the hottest things in our scene. The Lithuanian have perhaps even more in common with the Poles - Ükku's vocal and unsettling music in the background with pulsating drums and unkempt backing vocals. And everything has some of this Lithuanian magic that makes it sound as if it wasn't recorded in Vilnius but somewhere under the stars far away from the city. Perhaps it was.

The duo works  wonderfully - there's perhaps not much of the dialogue-like style of The xx because Noyus and Ükku usually sing simultaneously and complement each other. And it's very electronic and catchy and touching. As the album progresses they really sound like Lithuanian Coals. But it's good. It's very good.

"Warzone"  costs 5 EUR.

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Milchstrasse - 2016 (2016) EN

"Glockenspiel" is the keyword for this post. Bernhard Wohner of Wien, nicknamed Milchstrasse (meaning the Milky Way in German obviously) likes it very much. Plus, he creates extraordinarily moody electronic dreampop that instantly gets into your soul (via ears and so forth).

Taking topic of music into consideration we get as far from yesterday's painful Paragraphs as it's possible. "2016" is optimistic, full of understanding for pain and instant consolation. "I will find my way back/back home to you" says "Parallels", "Everything will be alright/everything will be OK" sings  "Everything [...]" and not to mention "We'll All End Up Well". "Parallels" mentioned is undoubtedly the very peak of the album. Not too complicated but touching lyrics and the melodies of Glockenspiel create an ultimate must-hear song for every romantics wandering in foggy mountains. Magic. Plus, mountain chalet-like guitar and the sound of fireplace in "We'l All..." and surprisingly unfitting for the whole thing  (and for Glockenspiel) spoken monologue in "Supernova" complete the album.

We can get "2016" for "pay-what-you-want".

Oh, yes, "Glockenspiel" means cymbals.

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Agura Matra - Die With You (2016) EN

Hardly ever do I reach so distant musical areas as Indonesia. Which is a mistake. It's a country with a good number of alternative projects (e.g. this week I listen to the debute EP by Annie Hall). Another example is Agung Rama Putra known as Agura Matra who describes his job in a simple way - "I manipulate sounds". And he knows what he does.

Lively backgrounds of almost dance-like samples wonderfully contrast with melancholic, dreampop vocal. It sounds best in "Good Night" in which great airy keys play their role too, or in, perhaps the best track of the album, "Daggers and Horns" where everything matches everything as if it never were separate sounds. The album is filled with aspiring hits up to the end ("Good Night", "Die With You"!) with all of them equipped with heavy church- or even funeral-like keys that build the melodies.

"Die With You" is available for 3 USD.

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XMDMX / DCDNS - Айзельгерц (2016) EN

It's a peculiar thing to listen to hip-hop, even the most abstract one, and have so little idea about the lyrics. On the other hand you can always treat the voice as another instrument and enjoy the whole composition, just like it is with ambient or post-rock. XMDMX makes it certainly possible. The very first piano sounds bought me and there is also the artist's voice which has so little in common with hip-hp. He sounds like suffering bard reciting poetry with his deep, resonating way of speaking. If it's not goth-hop I don't know what could be.

The tracks' titles say something about the topics they handle. There's "Dust", "Confession" and "Shadows", titles that could appear on a dark ambient album. There's also "Ole Lukkoye" - a tribute song for the Russian band that combined progressive rock with shamanic Tuva influences under Gorbachev. Perhaps it's time to learn some Russian to understand the album better.

XMDMX is a universal artist, he publishes also a series of short clips on his Instagram under a shared name "Project: Melancholia". You can hardly not like him.

"Айзельгерц" is a poetry for 1 USD.

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