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wtorek, 29 listopada 2022

Orbel - Lur Hezea (2022)

The artists singing in Basque are getting present on this blog. After Arima from the Basque Country, it is time for the band from the northern side of the Pyrenees, Orbel. Coming from Bayonne, the musicians create something from the borders of darkwave and nightmarish dream pop and hey showed it on their second album called Lur Hezea.

The album's title translates to "wet soil" and it only strengthens the overall impression that there's tons from folk culture in the band's music. The ancient, ritualistic nature of their art took form that is close to the dark folk/darkwave blend that is fairly popular i various places in Europe. But the vibes here are certainly more artsy: the music is dark but also far from being simple, the compositions create tones of atmosphere but not in the easiest ways possible. The minimalist background electronica works in a fantastic way in this surroundings too. It's artsy darkness.

The band decided to switch their sound from post-rock/metal into what they call "oscillating between tribal rhythms and funeral introspections, like an ancient pagan ritual" and I ave to say that it seems to have been a really good decision. Especially when they incorporate some other genres into their tasty blend: like tribal folk in Irentsi or noisy backgrounds in Okerra.

Lur Hezea costs 10 EUR.

Check: Heriozko Giltza

Country: France

Genre: artsy darkwave

Label: Usopop Diskak

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poniedziałek, 28 listopada 2022

Glaston - I Am Whole (2022)

They make music since 2014, their debut album appeared in 2017, but it's only now that Glaston released their second album ever. The Swiss band brings post-rock and neoclassical music extremely close together and this makes I Am Whole something to have your ear engaged by for sure.

This is a pretty unique approach to post rock, I must say. Saying that it is led by the piano sounds is definitely not an exaggeration: the very classical piano keys are omnipresent here and decide the pace and the mood the music takes. And more often than not, it is surprisingly chill and relaxed pace and mood: the artists are concerned with the piano's beauty while guitars and drums mostly accompany this main actor. SO perhaps a neoclassical post-rock would be a fitting label for the Swiss band's music. There are cracks on this image that appear from time to time, as in Rotbuch where the guitars create very unnerving soundscape toward the end of the track, but the overall feeling is that the louder guitars still sit in the piano's shadow.

This is the way, a very jazzy way if I can add, the band decided to go to take the audience on a "journey of exploration, tapping deeply into emotions and feelings within". That's why more often than not, the music here feels calmer and more self-reflective than I would assume judging by the singles. It's an interesting surprise and I must say that it takes a while to appreciate this long album, but it's worth it.

I Am Whole costs 9 EUR.

Check: Rotbuch

Country: Switzerland

Genre: piano-led post-rock

Label: A Thousand Arms Music

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sobota, 26 listopada 2022

VIRUS2020 - SECT طائفه (2022)

Rami Harrabir is an artist from Tunisia who creates various kinds of electronic music, but as VIRUS2020 focuses on very dark ambient soundscapes. His album SECT طائفه makes it very clear.

His gloomy soundscapes are extremely immersive, one can feel them coming from every direction. Like an incoming night somewhere in the Tunisian desert. Especially that some parts include some obvious references to local, Arab folk which makes it only very unique. But the album is not just an oriental gimmick, Harrabir is really fluent in creating dark and bass-heavy drony ambient and I'm here for it. Interestingly enough, probably the most ear-catching track here, Crucified but ... مصلوب و لكن features Oiseaux-Tempête's Frédéric D. Oberland which only adds to the album's rich sound.

SECT طائفه costs 3 USD.

Check: Crucified but ... مصلوب و لكن

Country: Tunisia

Genre: oriental dark ambient

piątek, 25 listopada 2022

Cruel Sister - Girls My Age (2022)

The "lover of big fields and forests" from Dublin, Faith Nico Boyd-Millar makes her music as Cruel Sister. And there's no doubt she is very talented as Girls My Age makes a very tasty noise pop dish.

The dream pop solo projects often rely on the lo-fi atmosphere to boost their oneiric capabilities, but it's not the case here: Boyd-Millar's music feels very well done, also quality-wise, and the noise we can admire comes solely from the quite heavy guitar sounds. The vocals are, of course, fittingly dispersed and, really, barely audible, but this is the point here. It's noisy and ethereal and, honestly, doesn't feel like a solo project. Maybe it's because in some fragments, the artist sings in choir with herself and it feels very authentic. It's always impressive how noisy one person can be and the Irish artist is a fantastic example here.

Girls My Age costs 4.5 EUR.

Check: too much

Country: Ireland

Genre: solo noise pop

czwartek, 24 listopada 2022

푸른 산 - 님의 침묵 (2022)

Coming from the Korean city of Incheon, 푸른 산 (Puleun San) is a post-rock band who released "an album from the heart" which is supposed to "celebrate beauty, peace and nostalgia". And 님의 침묵 presents an interesting take on instrumental music.

I feel it may be the Korean specialty as 푸른 산is not the first artist here who makes post-rock music as if it was supposed to be a shoegaze background, just waiting for some airy vocals. The overall structure of the fast and not that long compositions as well as their effect-heavy and dense nature, suggest some kind of influence coming from the shoegaze icons of the 90s. Still, I can't say that the band's music feels deficient without the vocals, I'm saying that this post-rock's flavour hits different than usually and I must say it is a compliment.

The interesting fact is that the album's title translates to "silence" while its content is everything but quiet music. The most impressive example of the loud music the Koreans create is the album's longest track 님의 침묵 that uses its whole length to overwhelm the audience in the best possible way.

님의 침묵 costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: 님의 침묵

Country: South Korea

Genre: shoegaze-like post-rock

The Stargazer Lilies - Lost (2017)

środa, 23 listopada 2022

The Stargazer Lilies - Cosmic Tidal Wave (2022)

For me, The Stargazer Lilies are synonymous with dense and moody shoegaze. A real shoegaze, if you will. The Californian band released their fifth album recently and, while there's no hit like Golden Key was, it represents the high quality oneiric psychedelia.

It's worth noting that, despite their name, the band is really into metaphors that involve the Sun as the new album is opened with Lit Like the Sun. Or maybe not really "despite" as the Sun is also a star. Anyway, the opening song introduces the album's psychedelic, heavy and slightly lo-fi atmosphere. This all results in a captivating experience, bringing together the psychedelia's trance and shoegaze's deafening abilities. And the raw excitement coming from the noise is especially well audible in Distant Space. And it's just a start as from this point, the dam breaks and the pure oneiric enthusiasm drowns the audience until the end of the record.

Yet another Sun-related track, Purple Sunshine, may be one of the album's highlights with the melodic and even glitchy, at one point, vibes. Those references to light are really very much in tune with the music itself as its overwhelming noise feels more luminous than dark, making the whole release hopeful and euphoric.

Cosmic Tidal Wave costs 9 USD.

Check: Purple Sunshine

Country: California, US

Genre: luminous shoegaze

Label: Floravinyl Records

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