piątek, 30 kwietnia 2021

Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi - Melodies in the Sand (2021)


Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi (or The Havels for the English-speaking audience) is a duo from Czech Republic that's together on the stage for over 30 years now (or even more as they were part of a band called Capella Antiqua e Moderna). It seems that their last album is an already a decade-old Tuláci V Zrcadlovém Sále so it's a good opportunity to refresh their works with this collection of songs taken from various part of the duo's career, called Melodies in the Sand .

The Czechs do great job in combining neoclassical instrumental music, mostly piano and heavy-sounding strings, with experiments with vocals that create a haze made of voices and whispers which is an utterly atmospheric and mysterious thing to do. Most of the compositions here are instrumental though. They are both minimalist in the sense of being created on maximum two instruments (as far as I can say) and dark/moody which doesn't always go together that well. They are also featured with an "ability to penetrate and enrich the innermost corners of a perceptive human soul, a gift which they share with sincerity and humbleness". And also, I'd never heard of them before so I consider myself lucky it finally changed.

Melodies in the Sand costs 7 EUR.

Check: That Which Glitters
Country: Czech Republic
Genre: dark neoclassicism
Label: Melody As Truth



czwartek, 29 kwietnia 2021

Citrus Clouds - Collider (2021)


Citrus Clouds, an Arizona-based three-pieces shoegaze band, showed their second album this March. Following the debuting Imagination from 2016, Collider makes another instance of "music to daydream to" as they describe their own music.

And quite fittingly too. Citrus Clouds' sound is heavier and more rough on the edges than dream pop while also more melodic and less hazy than shoegaze. This nice little niche is well developed into the band's unique sound. Both Stacie Huttleston and Erick Pineda's vocals have the right amount of ethereal dreaminess to them so that it doesn't affect the overall melodies which are pretty significant here. Also the guitar's work seems to me more towards (indie) rock than traditional shoegaze (those riffs in A Pastel Sky!).

The band admits to take inspirations from various artists including Pixies and Stargazer Lilies, but also from colors. Each song was inspired by a different color and it seems to be audible in the way the songs are similar but at the same each has something different in it (like In a Daydream has some of the deep West country-esque vibes while Let Love Find You brings on a vast sea of ethereal backing vocals). And finally, my favourite tracks, Collider and Summer Everywhere, being lined with heavier sounds that so well compliment the dreamy aura of the album.

Collider costs 10 USD.

Check: Collider 
Country: Arizona, US
Genre: shoegaze pop
Label: Lolipop Records



środa, 28 kwietnia 2021

White Cold Desert - Sky in Flames (2021)


White Cold Desert is an artist/project from London with a handful of singles and a brand new EP called Sky in Flames (and also with absolutely brilliant, yet minimalist visual branding). The short album makes actually a good debut and even better forecast for the future.

This is an instrumental music that feels as if it was created with vocals in mind. More specifically, with airy/shoegazy vocals. They would be a perfect fit for the noisy guitars that at the same time create a smooth, homogeneous layer of sound with extremely mesmerizing features. Also, the newest single, Slowdive, leaves no doubts about what kind of inspirations the artist/band have in mind. For now, however, this could be called instrumental noise rock and as such, it works as well. Especially that some parts make particularly vivid guitar noise that sucks the audience in into a kind of trance (Comet has those abilities most prominently). A promising start.

Sky in Flames costs 4 EUR.

Check: Comet 
Country: UK
Genre: instrumental noise rock



wtorek, 27 kwietnia 2021

Tony Anderson - Nuit (2021)


Tony Anderson is a California-based composer and electronic music producer who usually creates catchy and uplifting electronic pop songs, some have appeared on this blog already. This time, Anderson made something different and I love it, Nuit is something a fan of darker electronica should reach for.

The title is French for "night" and it's no coincidence as the artist decided to leave the livelier electronica (like in the great Finding Your Heart) for darker, meditative music, "as if the earth were performing a silent ballet while we all slept". And so the dense electronica with heavier, post-dub, gloomy disco-like sounds dominates the soundscape here but it is usually lightened up by beautiful piano, subtle like night sky's stars but very important as well, as it is the case in the album's fantastic opener in Retour.

This all is enriched by the inclusion of classical instruments (and guest classical artists) that include harp, violin and cello. They too sound dark and very much in the correct place in the correct time. The dark electronica works with them in the best possible way, bringing a twist to "traditional" neoclassicism, just listen to the most ethereal and dreamy composition of the title song Nuit. The artist managed to compile music that sounds like a massive body of water, an ocean that is powerful even when not stormy. No wonder Anderson says "it’s the deepest dive I’ve done in my music to date".

Nuit costs 9.99 USD.

Check: Retour
Country: California, US
Genre: dark electronica



poniedziałek, 26 kwietnia 2021

Wachcamp March-April'21 with Corduroy, de Lune, Sonia Gadhia, Gumshoe, Rajada



Corduroy - Gråa Dagar

"Sweden's most beautiful band" of four musicians from Norrköping make another worth-having-on-your-radar artist recording for the VÅRØ label. Their new single is all about noisy-shoegazy indie rock with clear and dreamy female vocals. The band's debut album is supposed to come out this spring. The single costs 1 EUR.

Country: Sweden
Genre: noise rock
Label: VÅRØ




de Lune - lay_it_down

Rin de Lune, a multi-instrumentalist and musical experiments lover from New Zealand, shows a tiny and lovely indie pop song with sweet vocals and moody ambiance while exploring "voice manipulation using an analogue vocoder". The song costs 2 NZD (1 EUR).

Country: New Zealand
Genre: experimental indie pop




Sonia Gadhia - Be Mine

And another short and cute song, this time even shorter and even cuter. Sonia Gadhia, a Californian artist tied with Spirit Goth Records, together with Josh Hwang aka Castlebeat, created this synthpop love ballad that soothes a lot of everyday's pains. The single costs 1 USD.

Country: California, US
Genre: dreamy synthpop
Label: Spirit Goth




Gumshoe - Demos 01

The first of two short demo albums by the UK artist. A quick but interesting adventure in electronic post-rocky music with lively and light tunes on the background of subtle beats and tiny amounts of noise. The two tracks cost whatever you want to pay.

Country: UK
Genre: electronic post-rock




Rajada - Màxim comú divisor

A very interesting debut, this Catalonia-based three-pieces band created some complex compositions with very dreamy, ghost-like vocals on top of that, the songs range from ethereal dream pop fragments to very guitar-oriented ones and this all fits together. The two songs cost whatever you want to pay.

Country: Spain/Catalonia 
Genre: noise rock
Label: El Mamut Traçut



piątek, 23 kwietnia 2021

Angel Simitchiev & Linus Schrab - Airborne (2021)


So it happened that I knew Angel Simitchiev as MyTrip and Linus Schrab as V I C I M before, but when they joined forces on this new album, they decided to leave their nicknames behind and instead use their real life names. And so Airborne happened, yet another fantastic ambient album with which the Amek Collective label brings the Eastern European gloomy electronica closer to the public.

The two artists bring to life what's best about industrially unnerving ambient soundscapes. Their compositions can have some beautiful and peaceful moments, but there's always the feeling of the incoming danger somewhere within (check out This Is Our Garden with its disquieting bass that haunts the backgrounds). Not to mention that some tracks are straight up dark and overwhelming with atmosphere, just like the brilliant, war-like-sounding A Smoke That Will Never Clear. Either way, the balance is shifted towards the dark and this is what glues the audience to the speakers throughout the whole album.

Airborne costs 5 EUR.

Check: A Smoke That Will Never Clear
Country: Bulgaria
Genre: industrial soundscape
Label: Amek Collective



czwartek, 22 kwietnia 2021

The Antlers - Green to Gold (2021)


There's little doubt that NY's The Antlers are one of the most important slowcore acts out there. For me it was THE first slowcore band I encountered and their Hospice stayed with me for years. They are now back with their sixth long play called Green to Gold.

The Peter Silberman - Michael Lerner duo offers what they are known for: acoustic peaceful music with soft, delicate vocals. This and the subtle but also quite catchy melodies (Wheels Roll Home strikes with how catchy it is and at the time evokes country-like, delicately nostalgic feelings) go together so well. For me, the title of the album can refer either to the way day transforms into evening or summer into autumn. The same vibrant green into golden static feeling. If it is, it addresses the feeling of subtle nostalgia perfectly.

The whole thing is achieved with guitar and piano sounds with the company of drums. This is the core but it's not the whole thing as there is a whole range of various instruments, from banjo to clarinet, that sometimes result in a "small-scale" orchestral parts, as in, otherwise extremely mellow, It Is What It Is. But this non-invasive, subtle slowcore can evolve into full-blown dream pop atmosphere, as it does in the absolutely beautiful Volunteer and I dig it a lot.

Green to Gold costs (8 USD).

Check: Volunteer 
Country: New York, US
Genre: slowcore art rock
Label: Transgressive Records



środa, 21 kwietnia 2021

Ciśnienie - Radio Edit (2021)


Ciśnienie is a Katowice, Poland-based jazzy post-rock band that exists for a while now but had no studio long play album in their discography until now. This is great news because the live albums, although generally appreciated, didn't strike the right note with me. With Radio Edit it's so much different (although technically it's also live but recorded with no audience).

The album is opened with a quieter jazzy and piano-based fragment in Czarodziej ("A Wizard") but this massive, over 16-minutes long track goes on and ends up in a very post-rock, guitar-filled way with a big and loud bang. It is surprisingly serious and dark (for a jazzy music) but this feeling is denied with Zerok, a lively, trumpet-oriented tune that brings light to the heavy vibes of the album's beginning and quickly evolves into a jazzy chaos we know and like. Most of the fragments all over the album, however, are built more like post-rock pieces - with music gradually building up to a loud and satisfying finish (best heard in Calm the fuck down, one that is as far from being calm as possible).

The best part of the album for me would be Diet Choke, the shortest track here surprises with heavy electronic leitmotif that brings a lot of extremely attractive industrial and heavy vibes, this is the track that evokes the most tension and puts a lot of pressure ("ciśnienie" in Polish) on the audience and they're bound to love it.

Radio Edit costs (5 EUR).

Check: Diet Choke
Country: Poland
Genre: jazzy post-rock



wtorek, 20 kwietnia 2021

Mint Julep - In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep (2021)


The Oregon-based duo Mint Julep has an already-established name within the dream pop music scene. It's Keith (a member of Sono but better known probably as Helios) and Hollie Kenniff who together make this very ethereal and very electronic haze of music. They have released already 5 albums (including last year's Stray Fantasies) but 2021's In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep may be their best yet imho.

The music here is so subtle, the melodies so intangible that in some parts it's closer to ambient pop than dream pop. Hollie's vocals flow somewhere in the background, very often completely drowning within the vast but peaceful sea of electronica (in tracks like Longshore Drift or Shores being basically ambient soundscapes) and supported by airy backing vocals that create the most ethereal experience in the finish of Lure. The amount of the dreaminess on this albums is truly impressive.

The electronica becomes more prominent (and beautiful) in Pulse, a song based on, well, a pulsating phrase that is both unnerving and completely mesmerizing. It's such a shame it doesn't last twice as long (or more). This may be applied to most of the tracks actually, they do such a good job in creating this trance-inducing synth passages that a listener could get lost in for hours but they finish after a disappointingly short time. Still, better to have loved and lost...

In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep costs 10 USD.

Check: Pulse
Country: Oregon, US
Genre: ambient dream pop
Label: Western Vinyl



poniedziałek, 19 kwietnia 2021

Boneflower - Armour (Instrumental) (2021)


Armour was a screamo/post-hardcore-filled album released a year ago by the Spanish band Boneflower. Now, it's proven that the content definitely holds up as a post-rock/post-metal whole with the instrumental version of the album showed (or bound to be showed as the Bandcamp page claims the release date is set to September) in 2021.

These origins mean one thing: the music here is dangerously energetic and loud. The constant stream of rapid guitar sounds fills the listener's attention to the point where nothing else seems important. The ever-changing riffs and melodies gravitate towards math-rock experience while the heaviness of this sound clearly suggests that it was meant with metal vibes in mind. Especially when the guitars are set loose, which happens very often, so they feel like a blizzard of sound (more than just a precise blade of noise) in the centre of which the audience suddenly appears. It feels so good in tracks like Saltpeter and Polarity, but in truth, the whole album is one the same, good level, no doubts.

The album on Bandcamp doesn't include all the tracks that appeared on the original release, perhaps they will be added later (and thus the release date). Still, the material here is so good that every fan of loud and guitar-saturated instrumental music should reach for.

Armour (Instrumental) costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Polarity
Country: Spain
Genre: heavy math-rock



piątek, 16 kwietnia 2021

Michael Gordon - Placid (2021)


Michael Gordon, a.k.a. Mike Abercrombie or half of the famous ambient duo North Atlantic Drift, is another artist who released a great, very moody album on the Polar Seas label. Placid guarantees a fantastic and relaxing time with some quality music.

The album is built around delicate piano sounds that are washed under by extremely subtle electronica. The melodies here are ambient-like ghostly, almost intangible so it takes some focus to catch this beauty. But if you are able to do so without any distractions, it is also very satisfying. Especially that Gordon doesn't shy away from very long and very peaceful soundscapes, most prominently in melting into the blue and gather at the edges with its rain-like piano keys that make everything so much sadder and more beautiful at the same time.

Placid costs 3.5 EUR (5 CAD).


Check: gather at the edges
Country: Canada
Genre: piano-driven ambient
Label: Polar Seas



czwartek, 15 kwietnia 2021

Free Return Trajectory - Free Return Trajectory (2021)


Free Return Trajectory is a "music project with no boundaries" developed in Poland by two artists known as Michael Eple and Jack von Bøker. They make some quality guitar-based ambient-to-post-rock music that can be now checked out on their debut, self-titled album.

Space music is usually associated with heavy electronica-vibes, but the Poles prove that it doesn't have to be so. The project's main themes are definitely cosmic-oriented, the music, however, at least at the beginning, is mostly instrumental ambient and heavy guitar post-rock. The intensity of this music changes rapidly when the guitars are initiated, much like the engines of a space shuttle. It can also appear as synth-heavy passages in the intriguing and very much mesmerizing (though rather short) Planet of the Ants or almost trip-hop-meets-guitar-post-rock-vibing track called Descent

The space theme is obviously also present in the cover art and in the tracks' titles, but the most important thing is that you can feel it only with the music. Especially that the longer the album goes, the more electronically-trippy it gets, up to its poignant finish in Black Hole Era.

Free Return Trajectory costs 3.5 EUR (15 PLN).

Check: Descent
Country: Poland
Genre: space post-rock



środa, 14 kwietnia 2021

Lovecraft in Tokyo - come saremmo stati? (2021)


The Italian band Lovecraft in Tokyo have just released their second EP with some worth noticing, dreamy vibes on it. come saremmo stati? marks also a genre-shift in their career and it's very interesting where they will go from now on.

They admit to change their original, more post-rock-like sound that on this album is being toned down into more dreamy, ethereal music. This album, that was created by each artist separately, due to the obvious reasons, is opened by coarse guitar sounds but they are quickly soften by quite cheerful synths. "We played with more dream pop and layered sounds, pursuing the themes we like to feel bad about in the same way in the lyrics" - the lyrics are in Italian so it's hard to follow, undoubtedly though, they don't sound sad and the contrast between the meaning and the sound always makes great results.

There's probably a big surprise for Italian fans in the middle of the album too, as the band decided to cover a song by Lucio Battisti, a classic Italian singer/songwriter from 60s and 70s. And this song in the dreamy disguise feels like it was written to sound like this. However, the song I like the most would probably be Didascalie with its vocals slowly getting lost within the oneiric music like a consciousness fading slowly within the dream.

come saremmo stati? costs 3 EUR.

Check: Didascalie 
Country: Italy
Genre: noise dream pop



wtorek, 13 kwietnia 2021

Russian Depression - Russian Depression (2021)


A band with one of the most dark-post-rock names ever, Russian Depression have just released their first EP called... of course, Russian Depression. They play guitar-based but also thick and heavy instrumental rock and definitely show some huge potential.

The EP consists of three tracks. Only three as they show that the musicians are able to create great post-rock music. The album opens with Broken Mirror, a slow-burning track that doesn't shock with the pace but gets more and more exciting with every second. The second one, Betrayal, seems to follow this pattern but this is quickly denied by a sudden change of pace with brutally heavy riffs being introduced halfway its length. They come and go, changing the place with moody keyboard notes that add to the dark atmosphere of the whole release. Error is already the finish and we can only hope for more material to be showed soon.

The Russian's talent was also acknowledged by the big guys, this album was mixed and mastered by Jannes Van Rossom and Jonas Everaert from the one and only dunk!studios.

Russian Depression costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Betrayal
Country: Russia
Genre: dark post-rock



poniedziałek, 12 kwietnia 2021

Itai the Maid - Obdormiscere (2021)


What Itai the Maid, an artist from Moscow, makes, is definitely lo-fi and DIY-like but also very, very clever and charming. Her album Obdormiscere shows that you don't have to have the best quality of sound to create something great.

The album's title translates from Latin to "falling asleep" and also the title track's lyrics, in Russian this time, treat about the same thing. No wonder the whole thing has clear dream pop vibes: dispersed vocals, backing vocals, music haze in the backgrounds. However, there's quite a lot going on besides, making this music much more complex. More or less subtle electronic sounds add to the music's feeling of modernness, the Russian language sounds both mysterious and, at least to my Polish ears, familiar (and also t.A.T.u.-gone-dreamy-like), the omnipresent gothic, dark atmosphere makes it quite eery. And it's also pretty melodic so, as I said, a lot is going on on this album, including chip-tune-like dance madness in Insanire.

In general, the release is all about being gloomy but catchy, Gothic but fun and lo-fi but very much engaging. 

Obdormiscere costs... 20 USD, which is a bit weird to be honest.

Check: Obdormiscere 
Country: Russia
Genre: lo-fi ethereal wave



sobota, 10 kwietnia 2021

Hiroco.M - Still (2021)


Hiroko Murakami creates her music as Hirocco.M and has been releasing singles all over the last year. There's still no longer album but this year's super short EP called Still gives us the taste of what it will be sometime in the future.

Released by Moderna Records, the EP is filled with the most impressive piano-based beauty. The short compositions are like tiny pictures with their own structures and thoughts but short and illusive. This may be the strength of the release: the short tracks make you want to focus more and appreciate them while they last. And it's absolutely worth doing so, not only for the piano music fans. Still the track, but perhaps the whole album as well, was meant to catch the feeling of 2020's stagnation, as the artist states: "yet calm and somehow uneventful, the lack of change created a yearning for excitement, for meeting loved ones and friends I could not. Still, stalled, stuck". If this is a result of this year, perhaps it had its brighter sides.

Still costs 5 CAD.

Check: Still 
Country: Japan
Genre: piano-based neoclassicism
Label: Moderna Records



piątek, 9 kwietnia 2021

Neonach - Neonach (2021)


Neonach is a solo project by Craig Douglas, another artist who developed his ideas during the lockdown season. Thanks to Shore Dive Records, I'm lucky to discover his music on the debut album called, of course, Neonach.

To be precise, it's the debut album under this moniker, as the Massachusetts-based artist creates music also as Omega Vague. As Neonach, he makes music that borders both ethereal dream pop and psychedelic electronica while still not shying away from reaching towards such extreme genres as metal (the background-placed, dispersed metal screaming in Volution is something absolutely beautiful) or noisy drones (Below). He has also a help of other vocalists: Izzy Hagerup, Tara Toms and Waritsara 'Yui' Karlberg (known as Ethereal) - they all add up to the dreaminess of this music as well as to its multidimensional vibes.

This multidimensional nature makes the whole album a psychedelic trip through many aesthetic choices and paces while all the time having the dreamy, ethereal spirit all over the place. This is the release's great advantage that goes on from the impressive start to the equally interesting finish.

Neonach costs 5 USD.

Check: Volution 
Country: Massachusetts, US
Genre: psychedelic dream rock
Label: Shore Dive Records



czwartek, 8 kwietnia 2021

Bardia Haddad - As the Remaining Shreds Quiver in the Afterthought of a Storm (2021)


The Swansea-born but residing in Iran artist appeared already on the blog with his beautiful single release Fly/Burn. The instrumental ambient/post-rock-like music is now being followed up with a new EP called As the Remaining Shreds Quiver in the Afterthought of a Storm.

Haddad started as a metal artist in VitaPhobia but he continues his career under his own name making slightly quieter music. It's balancing on the verge of instrumental ambient and guitar post-rock, getting close to post-metal from time to time. There's tones of mystery and atmosphere here, mostly provided by heavier guitar sounds that channel the storm and heavy weather phenomena alluded to by the album's title. The coming and passing of a storm is actually the concept behind the whole album and it can be easily felt: the long compositions change the pace frequently and feel quite chaotic in a good, surprising sense, but the main plan behind the album is clear: the tension goes up and then is being released (although even the final act gives us the feeling of ecstasy rather than peace).

As the Remaining Shreds Quiver in the Afterthought of a Storm costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Quiver as the Storm Fades Over the Ruins
Country: Iran
Genre: solo guitar post-rock



środa, 7 kwietnia 2021

All My Faith Lost ... - Untitled (2021)


The Italian folk/darkwave band All My Faith Lost... started making their music at the beginning of the millenium. A decade ago they released their last album called... Decade, and it made the fans talking about bad omens. Fortunately, the artists came back this year with an LP called Untitled, and it's a comeback worth waiting for.

Their music is based on Viola Roccagli's oldschool, very genre-relatable female vocals that makes you think of the classics like Dead Can Dance, but also about all the atmosphere they bring. They're non-invasive but very clear, not loud but poignant. And quite beautiful. They echo over a slowcore take on dark folk music based on acoustic instruments, mostly guitars that carry this music on. This is a rather unusual way to create darkwave music (as far as I know) but there's hardly a better genre for this release to be classified in. You can safely add acoustic, folk or art in front of it and the definition is complete.

What makes the album even more artsy is that the tracks here are inspired by paintings by such surreal artist as Ruas, Tara McPherson, Nicoletta Ceccoli and Ray Caesar. The most striking song here is, and it's an easy choice, We All Die Sometimes. The combination of unreal melody, slow pace and unnerving theme that is being performed with soul-stirring violins and peacefully mournful guitar makes it a long-lasting, darkwave hit. (Also, what a beautiful cover art!).

Untitled costs 8 EUR.

Check: We All Die Sometimes
Country: Italy
Genre: acoustic darkwave
Label: Cyclic Law



piątek, 2 kwietnia 2021

trajedesaliva - Ultratumba (2021)


The Spanish/Galician trajedesaliva is a band of a certainly long history. It was started back in 1998 as an attempt to create some darkwave/dark jazz music. I hadn't heard about them before I discovered their new (but only the fourth one?) album called Ultratumba and I have to say, there is a lot going on there and I love it.

The thing that enchanted me is, as it's often the case with me, the spoken word/poetry inclusion. This is something that sounds especially powerfully and poignant on the backgrounds of deep basses and electronic chaos. Especially with the heavy beats of A casa por las vías. Or with the harsh noise of other tracks. It is even more impressive when you realize the album was recorded "using only analogue synthesizers and voice". It was meant to be an intimate, personal take on industrial and noise (Familia Ferro!) electronica and it certainly feels like it. This is the way the duo conveys the message of the album being "family dialogue, full of sadness, acceptance and hope, that digs into the origin of melancholy". There's few things more personal than family relations. And few more intimate music touches than whispering vocals (so great in Arenas calientes!). 

Ultratumba costs 7 EUR.

Check: Arenas calientes
Country: Spain
Genre: spoken word noisy ambient
Label: Gradual Hate Records



czwartek, 1 kwietnia 2021

Withered Witch - Infinite Void (2021)


A new thing from Texas. This is one of the best quality very heavy albums I heard this year. The band you can find next to nothing about in the Internet, seem to be debuting now with an EP called Infinite Void.

In their tracks, the Americans make the best of metal music genres, post-metal atmosphere and stoner rock's heaviness. You can feel the loudness with all of your body's cells and it does feel phenomenal. The post-metal pace is slow but also inevitable, emanating this powerfulness that is typical for epic nature phenomena. Scary, yes, but also mesmerizingly beautiful and fascinating. This is very tangible especially in Grave Moss, the way the vocals are distorted here evokes some horror-like, primal fears inside you. The way the band combine a lot of things from a lot of genres, as well as the free form and inclinations to experimenting (within a genre's limits) makes me think of this music as psychedelic metal. And I enjoy every second of it.

Infinite Void costs 4 USD.

Check: Grave Moss
Country: Texas, US
Genre: psychedelic post-metal