sobota, 31 lipca 2021

Carlos Ferreira & Almanacs - La Deriva (2021)


After three (!) albums last year alone, the Brazilian artist Carlos Ferreira is back with what's the best music from him I heard so far. And he's not alone as La Deriva is the result of collaboration with Wilmer Murillo who is better known as Alamanacs.

The two ambient artists come from two different countries in Latin America, Brazil and Honduras, and this alone makes this release quite special (read more about it on the Bandcamp page). But there's a lot more to this album as it's one of the best ambient works I've heard for some time now. Together, the two artists create some extremely beautiful soundscapes of multi-layered electronica and longing. Tracks like Ausencia, Desdén y Fortuna are so pretty that it hurts. It is even more impressive as the album is unscripted, it's a "spontaneous exploration of abstract concepts and blurry images" by two artists that became a brilliant album.

La Deriva costs 5 USD.

Check: Ausencia, Desdén y Fortuna
Country: Brazil, Honduras
Genre: ambient soundscape
Label: giraffe tapes



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piątek, 30 lipca 2021

Day Aches - Promo "21 (2021)


This is only a short promo EP but it is so interesting I couldn't just skip it. Day Aches are from Washington D.C. and create "monolithic, heavy, yet, dreamy sound". There's not much material here but it's juicy enough to give it a try.

What draws me to their music is the opposition: the vocals here are one of the softest in dreamy music while guitars - one of the heaviest. There's something from heavy rock, stoner music here, or, as the artists see it, grunge, mostly in the massive riffs and crushing ambiance. The psychedelic guitars know no rest throughout the three short compositions on the release and have to be balanced by the airy, particularly dreamy vocals. The band have all they need to create ethereal music. Their works exist to remind us of one of the truest things in life, one that is also seen as a cliche but this doesn't mean it's not right: "to truly appreciate the great moments in life, one must come face to face with bad ones". And this sums up the balance between the harsh and heavy and the soft and soothing in their sound.

Promo "21 costs 2 USD.

Check: Shed
Country: Washington D.C., US
Genre: dream grunge



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czwartek, 29 lipca 2021

sonhos tomam conta - hypnagogia (2021)


Sonhos tomam conta is a project created by the Brazilian artist known only as Lua. This is some particularly grim and depressing shoegaze music, probably even blackgaze, though with only a few metal-derived elements throughout the album. But hypnagogia is still moody as hell, it's dreamy as hell and it's also very, very sad.

The project's name translates to "Dreams Take Over" but this is not put in the sweet and ethereal context here. The artist suffers from acute depression and suicidal thoughts are a constant in her life since she was a teenager, and the album reflects that, as she puts it, "this album is about me coming to the realization that I don't have many years left in my life" and "it's just a preparation for a bigger fall into the nothingness that makes me who I am". This all is terrifying enough but then there are also hallucinations she experiences and the album aims to recreate them. The artist's story itself makes me think of some of my favourite musicians like Paragraphs and Eric Howden who struggle and fuel their art works with this struggle.

Everything on the album is kept in dark and dreamy atmosphere. The pace is very slow and the compositions take their time but never really get louder, there's no conclusion and no crescendos. It's all about the sadness in the airy vocals and the channeling of depression that affects the audience from every minute of the release, from the ultimately ambient-pop-like ballads (meu corpo é uma prisão ("My Body Is a Prison")) to the most metal-like tracks (like this tweet isn't funny anymore or my favourite, epic magnum of lonely people in neon cities) The album is a proof for this miserably uplifting conclusion that even the worse that can happen in your life may result in something beautiful.

hypnagogia costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: lonely people in neon cities
Country: Brazil
Genre: depressive blackgaze
Label: Longinus Recordings



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środa, 28 lipca 2021

Last Victorian Death Squad - Just In Case I Never See You Again (2021)


The Leeds and Riga-based Last Victorian Death Squad have been releasing their music with Shore Dive Records for some time now, but previously their material didn't really strike the cord with me. It all changed this July with the EP entitled Just In Case I Never See You Again.

The "purveyors of violent noise and blissful melodies" showed four energetic and noisy songs that simply burst with energy. The particularly noisy and chaotic backgrounds bring the psychedelic trance-like experience to the mix, while very much rock-like vocals give a lot of lively, danceable vibes. This is some shoegazey rock'n'roll here - the one you expect people to crazily dance to during live gigs. And similarly, the lyrics are also mostly about love, some experiences you can share with the artists but it's nothing that would be a downer preventing you from partying. I especially like Kiev, the track the EP's title comes from and one that talks about what is probably the most beautiful aspect of love - the fear of longing after the other person.

Just In Case I Never See You Again costs 3 USD.

Check: Kiev 
Country: UK/Latvia
Genre: noisy indie rock
Label: Shore Dive Records



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wtorek, 27 lipca 2021

Corduroy - Corduroy (2021)


Corduroy already made me hyped with their single earlier this year and now they are ready with their debut album released by, of course, VÅRØ label. The band are from Norrköping, a Swedish city that's known for its industrial past and so can be compared to Manchester; no wonder this makes Corduroy music easily comparable to music from the English city.

It is an attractive indie pop with a great dose of noise in the backgrounds and pretty, airy and multi-layered vocals on top. The melodies are swift and catchy and the guitars that occupy most of the space here - are psychedelic in the best way they can be. Surprisingly often they are the main actors here, there are parts devoted mostly to them throughout the whole release while vocals take a rest on the side - there's a healthy deal of psychedelic guitar riffs all over the place and the musicians don't shy away from this rock heritage. I feel like towards the end of the album, the guitars more often create the more shoegazey walls of noise, especially touching in my favourite Gråa dagar.

Also the theme of the album revolves around Norrköping's history and its modern life in which it experiences the "progress towards a post-industrial society where factories have become fancy flats and juice bars". While overall it doesn't look positive in the musicians' eyes, the ultimate message is that you can always "rely on your friends, the music and the local bar" and this is something I like.

Corduroy costs 7 EUR.

Check: Gråa dagar
Country: Sweden
Genre: noisy indie pop
Label: VÅRØ



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piątek, 23 lipca 2021

Stijn Hüwels + Tomoyoshi Date - 遠き火、遠き雲’ ​(​A Distant Fire​,​ A Distant Cloud) (2021)


The French LAAPS label is on it again with another great ambient album. This time it's the (second already) result of collaboration between the Dutch Stijn Hüwels and the Brazilian/Japanese artist Tomoyoshi Date, known as part of the Opitope duo formed with Chihei Hatakeyama and a ton of other projects. Basically two hugely influential names on the ambient scene together on the album called 遠き火、遠き雲’ ​(​A Distant Fire​,​ A Distant Cloud). 

The legend says that the musicians met back in 2015 and at the same day recorded what in time turned out to be their first release together, Hochu-Ekki-Tou. The new album is described as "slow and bright", recorded "using field recordings, processed guitar, piano and synth". The title is also the title of a poem by Tadahito Ichinoseko who can be heard reciting it on the album too. The release strikes with calm and peace from the very first moments. It's not extremely quiet though, it's that the pace and ambiance of the processed guitar, synth and electronics sounds create this kind of comfortable trance that is only enriched with the omnipresent nature-based field recordings. There is quite a lot of things going on: the fields recordings, the spoken word, the neoclassical parts, a lot of electronic curiosities. However, the release never looses the best thing about it - the slow and relaxing flow.

遠き火、遠き雲’ ​(​A Distant Fire​,​ A Distant Cloud) costs 6 EUR.

Check: 遠き火、遠き雲’ ​(​A Distant Fire​,​ A Distant Cloud)
Country: Belgium, Brazil/Japan
Genre: complex soundscape
Label: LAAPS



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czwartek, 22 lipca 2021

Retreat! Retreat! - The Monomyths (2021)


The familiarly named British Retreat! Reatreat! are a new band from Northampton, who create guitar post-rock of good quality with "no singing, no flamboyance". They showed the first glimpses of their work on the EP called The Monomyths.

The band's names is obviously an homage to Sheffield's legends 65daysofstatic and the track from the classic 2004's The Fall of Math. However, Retreat! Retreat! the band, don't really sound like their experimental-driven counterparts, their music is more traditional and very guitar-oriented. That said, it is really well done too: the quality of sound is mesmerizing, the compositions sparking the audience's interest and the atmosphere make them fall for this music quickly. Especially the EP's closing title Endless is impressive as far as the massiveness of the music is concerned. No wonder that while describing their music, the artists emphasized one word with capital letters: "VOLUME". Yes, this rampart flow of loud and untamed guitar noise is totally my jam, I want more of R!R! already.

The Monomyths costs what you want to pay.

Check: Endless 
Country: UK
Genre: guitar post-rock



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środa, 21 lipca 2021

gloomchurch - Matching Luck (2021)


Gloomchurch are from Portland and they make their own take on the very noisy rock from the 90s. The band consists of experienced artists but this is only their second EP together and Matching Luck makes a great addition to the shoegazey music worldwide.

Their list of influences is long and involves the likes of MBV, Slowdive, Spiritualized and other legends of shoegaze and space rock. No wonder that this album is like a love letter to the 90s airy music, there's everything one would associate them with: light melodies with uplifting, though withdrawn and distorted vocals accompanied by the omnipresent guitar noise that is even more beautiful than the vocals. It brings a lot of shoegaze's mesmerizing heaviness that is not only fantastic but also imposes those nostalgic and simply sad vibes on the otherwise fun compositions. I love the depth and quality of this noise, especially in flintheart glomgold, the track with the catchiest chorus and the most dense psychedelic atmosphere here.

Matching Luck costs 8 USD.

Check: flintheart glomgold
Country: Oregon, US
Genre: noisy nugaze
Label: watercollectivetransmissions



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wtorek, 20 lipca 2021

Rodent Destroyer - Nespurrth (2021)


Even though this project may be considered a joke or even a mockery towards metal music, everybody should know about it. Rodent Destroyer is Human Slave a.k.a. Alister Reed from Pennsylvania, but it's not the end of the line-up as other band members include... Reed's cats. This makes the name of the project as well as all the album and tracks' names making sense and I love it, while, at the same time, Nespurrth is at the same time genuinely enjoyable. 

The cats are vocalists here. And I would have never said that cat meows fit metal music so well. They probably don't perform life but in the album versions, they do brilliantly. They add ferocity to the already utterly crazy and thrilling music here. And it's no exaggeration, the pace is extreme, the guitar sounds are crude and nerve-wrecking (in the lo-fi, very black metal manner) and the songs... very satisfying. Each is delivered with a pun in the title (my favourite being Enslaved by Pawpaganda which I'm not sure cats would actually sing, they would rather be the imposing part here) and with cat (and human) vocals all over the compositions. And an important notice here: even though the project was established only last year, they managed to release the third album already and even change the vocalist, as on Nespurrth it is Zelda not Lord Purr anymore who produces vocal samples.

Nespurrth costs 8 USD.

Check: Where the Sliamese Live
Country: Pennsylvania, US
Genre: feline black metal
Label: Above Ground Records



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poniedziałek, 19 lipca 2021

Dola - Czasy (2021)


Dola is Polish artsy and environmentally aware post-metal band who debuted last year with a well-received self-titled album. Now it's the time (it's a pun) for the follow-up with the intense and extremely unnerving in many ways album called Czasy.

This album is said to be an escapism tool for the band, used to leave this troublesome times. And as such, it is particularly melodic for post-metal music. On the other hand, it is meant to be a commentary for the reality around us as it is now (which is suggested by the band's name (translated to "Fate") and the album's title ("Times")), and this reality is drawn in very dark colours due to, for the most part, the climate crisis that will prove to be the humanity's main disaster in the history. You can notice it in the track titles (Wszystko odrośnie meaning "Everything will grow again", presumably after human cease to exist) but mostly in the very bleak, very heavy-burden-depicting music.

It's not only about the crushingly massive guitars and slow-paced compositions that feel like the title's "time" - slow but inevitable, nothing you could run from. In general, it is more about gloomy ambiance than pure desperation, as if the artists were already at peace with what's coming (best audible in the darkly sacral and airy moments). But there are still fragments that indicate the incoming doom and the chaos that will come right after in a very desperate way, as the beginning of quite jazzy Kije ("Sticks") and the occasional post-hardcore-like vocal intrusions all over the place.

Czasy costs 20 PLN.

Check: Nowa jesień
Country: Poland
Genre: apocalyptic post-metal
Label: Widno



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piątek, 16 lipca 2021

Res Magnifica -- Dream, Still (2021)


The Latvian drone artist appeared on this blog already with a split album with his Russian counterpart Accasari. This time it's time for his solo album released by Noyade Records in April.

The album is filled with sounds coming from the "contemplation of nature, melancholic thoughts with the unhurried rumble and noises from the depths of the Forest". The soundscapes here are spacious and calm, with the drone noise smooth and soothing rather than unnerving. This corresponds with the album's title as the music is more of a dream and less of a nightmare, more still and less lively. And very beautiful.

Dream, Still costs 3 EUR.


Check: Glory of Winter 
Country: Latvia
Genre: drone soundscape
Label: Noyade Records



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czwartek, 15 lipca 2021

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys - Transit Tapes (For Women Who Move Furniture Around) (2021)


Lucy Kruger, the half of the brilliant Medicine Boy duo she created with André Leo, started her solo career a while ago, but Transit Tapes (For Women Who Move Furniture Around)  is the first album she releases after the band ceased to exist. She performs her music together with The Lost Boys that consist of Liú Mottes, Andreas Miranda and Martin Perret, however there's no argue that Kruger is the project's leading force.

She comes from South Africa but lives now in Germany, and this album, as a follow-up to her 2019's Sleeping Tapes for Some Girls release, "documents Lucy's first year and a half after moving to Berlin". The foundation of her music is being minimalist and dark at the same time,  showing "the bare bones of the songs, a slow burning psychedelic folk that is both intimate and ambient". This puts more focus on lyrics and the artist's mesmerizing and delicate voice - it is music closer to singer/songwriter phenomenon than Medicine Boy's was, but it is filtered though the same, utterly sad and slowcore-paced vibes.

And just like on Leo's solo album earlier this year Kruger helped him with certain parts, Leo had a role to play on this album as well, and I still find it so very cute. It does make the longing after Medicine Boy less painful.

Transit Tapes (For Women Who Move Furniture Around) costs 10 EUR.


Check: Promised Land
Country: RSA/Germany
Genre: slowcore dark pop
Label: Unique Records/Schubert Music Europe



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środa, 14 lipca 2021

Tanner Merritt - CYRUS I: WEIGHT OF REFLECTION (2021)


Tanner Merritt is an artist probably best known for being the vocalist in the post-hardcore band O'Brother. However, back in 2013 he released a solo album and now it's time for the follow-up in CYRUS I: WEIGHT OF REFLECTION.

The music here is very far from what the artist does with his band. The album shows a unique blend of various offstream genres including industrial electronica and goth rock with IAMX's vibes, all set within an ethereal atmosphere. The latter is provided mostly by the subtle vocals, never too loud and too expressive as the emotional part is conveyed by lyrics that talk about grief, anger and all the emotions that are human but also difficult to comprehend. They fit so well with the eclectic, very modern-sounding backgrounds. There's so much going on there with guitars, piano keys and a lot of electronic sounds, but they are still very able to sound very coherent and never over the top. This helps in achieving probably the mot important goal here: being catchy and moody and intimate at the same time.

And moody it is for sure. The quiet experimental chaos in the backgrounds is put into the form by the ethereal vibes and poignant lyrics. There are so many track here, like EXIT SIGN or GLEAM IN THE GREY, that are simply overflowed with dense airy atmosphere. The levels of echoes and backing vocals in some places put this, after all, modern and eclectic electronic pop album, within the dominium of airy dream pop at the same time.

CYRUS I: WEIGHT OF REFLECTION costs 7 USD.

Check: EXIT SIGN
Country: Georgia, US
Genre: dreamy modern pop



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wtorek, 13 lipca 2021

YEAR OF NO LIGHT - Consolamentum (2021)


The French YEAR OF NO LIGHT exists for 20 years already. After such an impressive time of creating super massive and heavy music, it is not so surprising that the band's celebratory album Consolamentum is not far from a masterpiece.

The album, as could well be expected, is made of "lengthy, sprawling compositions of towering walls of guitars and sombre synths" that emanate the sense of gloomy hopelessness. They can easily start from guitar drones and go all the way to massive and hyper-satisfying crescendos while not really hurrying at any point. Quite the opposite, the compositions take their time to unravel which makes them extremely engaging for the listener, who is not able to go anywhere without hearing the whole thing. It is true for the longest, monstrous tracks like the opening in Objuration and for the shortest but arguably the most exciting Alètheia. 

This last song is even said to be "one of the most agonizing and arguably one of the greatest moments in heavy music of the past decade", and that's no exaggeration as it makes almost 8 minutes of crazy galop with the incredible pace and incredible weight of the sound - it seems unnatural for anything that heavy to go so fast, but perhaps it's the years of experience that make it possible for the artists to conceive such a beautiful monstrosity. The album's title comes from a term in the Catharic Church's lore where it stands for "a ritual that brought eternal austereness and immersion in the Holy Spirit" and that fits within the band's interest in "the fall of man and salvation through darkness". This dark and cathartic music depicts those in the perfect way.

Consolamentum costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Alètheia
Country: France
Genre: psychedelic post-metal
Label: Pelagic Records



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poniedziałek, 12 lipca 2021

Nordsun - Tales of a Beautiful Life (2021)


Nordsun, previously known as Splitter, is an artist from Germany, who decided to change the moniker he makes his music under to convey the otherworldly sounds he creates, ones so well audible on the second debut album Tales of  a Beautiful Life.

The artist explains his music as a "wild mix between ambient, alternative rock, electronic music…" and here the list of genres goes on and on but the main characteristic of the tracks here is that they "discover the surrealistic dreamworld of Nordsun" that is filled with "escapism and surrealistic mind spheres". All of this takes the form of super ethereal ambient pop in which the ambient soundscapes are dominant and imagination-fueling while the vocals very, very distant while still emotional. This makes up the album's core foundation: the spacious and delicately psychedelic blend of electronica, guitar and piano sounds with particularly melodic vocals.

The artist sees the dissonance in that he released an album about "beautiful life" in the middle of a world crisis but there's an answer to that: the album is more about the unreal and the ideal, as he states: "my dream world was more exciting than the real world" and this borderline escapist approach is well-felt all around the release.

Tales of a Beautiful Life costs 4 EUR.

Check: Pier to Cosmos
Country: Germany
Genre: ambient dream pop



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sobota, 10 lipca 2021

Cyberian - Dark Orphism (2021)


Stefan Bachvarov is another Bulgarian ambient artist who I got to know thanks to the amazing label Amek Collective. Better known as Cyberian, Bachvarov collaborated with Angel Simitchiev as Vague Voices and now shows his own album called Dark Orphism.

The album is filled with very fittingly dark music. It stems from the artist's interest in "paganism, nature, and the occult". The title suggests inspirations taken either form very psychedelic art (Cubism derivative so it must be veeery psychedelic) or Greek mythology (pretty dark part of it if you ask me). Anyway, it may be both, as Bachvarov's music is filled with trance-inducing soundscapes kept in a very bleak and gloomy atmosphere. But it's absolutely not all about homogeneous soundscapes; there's a lot of noise and a lot of broken rhythm that makes it almost danceable. Almost.

Dark Orphism costs 6 EUR.

Check: Seeds of Death
Country: Bulgaria
Genre: dark experimental electronica
Label: Amek Collective



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yoo doo right - Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose (2021)


One of the most interesting debuts of the last months, the Canadian yoo doo right have just released their first long play Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose and it hits so hard in the best way possible. 

The band describes their music in a very picturesque way, talking about the guitar and synthesizer soundscapes in which "solemn, chin-to-chest vocals dance in and out of the primordial sonic spectrum". And indeed, the album starts with a solid dose of guitar blizzard in a very post-rock-like compositions, that, at the same, suggest a lot of psychedelic rock influences, especially with the way the repetitive drums induce mesmerizing trance as do the similarly repetitive vocals that appear somewhere in the middle of the album. But the main magnet for me is the quality of the noise. It is always present, sometimes in the backgrounds, sometimes in more prominent role and especially attractive in the perfectly loud finish in Black Moth.

Their music seems to draw inspirations from both past (Marché des vivants' title may be taken from the event held in Poland to commemorate the Jewish victims of WWII) and future (extremely Black Mirror-like vibes can be felt in The Moral Compass of a Self-Driving Car particularly). And perhaps everything that fits their spacial and massive music that shows a lot of space vibes (they introduce themselves as "part interstellar ear-worms" after all) and induces striking feelings in the audience.

Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose costs 9.99 CAD.

Check: Black Moth
Country: Canada
Genre: psychedelic post-rock
Label: Mothland



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piątek, 9 lipca 2021

Sky Is Alright - Sky Is Alright (2021)


The London/LA-based Sky Is Alright released their first album Sky Is Alright  and it may be one of the most interesting ethereal music releases this year. The duo consists of the artists known from post-rock/mathrock bands The Littlest Viking and Signal Hill, but now they create this extremely soft-vocals very guitar-based dreamy music that takes you straight to Morpheus' Realms.

What strikes the most from the beginning is how airy the vocals are - they're not your dreamy indie pop vocals, they are an ethereal cushion, an incarnate dream, the most delicate male voice since, perhaps, Hanging Valleys. Those whispers are accompanied by very rock-like guitars (no place for soothing synths, everything is filled with the pop-rock vigour) in catchy compositions. Especially Sky Is Alright and Indigo Moon deserve special attention  while  Mistress Pessimist may be the liveliest dream rock song I heard for a while now. The whole album finishes with extremely mellow songs that make it feel as if the whole release simply dissolves into the air.

Sky Is Alright costs 8 USD.

Check: Indigo Moon
Country: UK
Genre: ethereal indie rock
Label: Somewherecold



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czwartek, 8 lipca 2021

Fuzzy Lights - Burials (2021)


I can't stress enough how important for me was the band's 2010 album Twin Feathers. It brought me into the world of atmospheric, post-rock-influenced post-folk and I love it until now. Finally, after over a decade since this one and 8 years after the last album, the British band released a new one and it brings the same kind of vibes I missed.

Their approach to music is very characteristic: on one hand it is clearly inspired by folk music with the inclusion of violins and the way they address folk mythology-like themes in the lyrics. On the other, the compositions are very much guitar-based and particularly noisy, this is some real post-rock meets post-folk situation. And the style hasn't changed over the years much - Rachel Watkins' delicate but also clear vocals, violins ' role (very familiar in Maiden's Call) and the torrential guitar noise that is so mesmerizing and unnerving at the same time.

The album is opened by the single Maiden's Call which makes an instant post-folk hit but is followed by noisy ten minutes of Songbird - a song that doesn't follow your typical song's construction but is pure and unrefined beauty. This may actually be the main difference between the old and the new sound of the band: it seems their music is noisier, the guitars are coarser and more rock-like. But it sounds so well, be it in the most lively songs like Under the Waves or the moody post-rock ballads. Also, let's mention the absolutely staggering cover art picture.

Burials costs 7 GBP.


Check: Maiden's Call
Country: UK
Genre: noisy post-folk



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środa, 7 lipca 2021

Whispering Sons - Several Others (2021)


The brilliant Belgium band is back! Brussels-based Whispering Sons, a debut prodigies of 2018 when they released Image, follow up with a strong album filled with dark and uncomfortable compositions of extremely melodic and catchy post-punk. A must listen-to, no doubts.

As their Bandcamp page states, the band decided to lose the debut's theatrical atmosphere to underline the "sheer, unpretentious intensity". And I have to say, I  d i g  the theatrical, especially that watching Fenne Kuppens on stage is like attending a touching performance on its own. But the core elements are all there anyway: the minimal, utterly post-punk music arrangements, mesmerizing melodies and, of course, Kuppens' voice. Not only it's unique and outstanding no matter what's around it, it also brings tons of gloominess and darkness to even the liveliest songs. Take Heat, the bass line of which is fast and energetic with fresh and eager guitars around it but the vocals (and lyrics of course) make it sound so depressing anyway.

Especially when the vocalist decides to occasionally raise her voice and start screaming, the effects are spine-thrilling. And a look into the lyrics only make the feeling of anguish more poignant: they sound extremely personal, talking about the psychological and the physiological aspects of being human in such a way it borders very painful grotesque, as in Screens ("she’s no longer a woman / she’s merely a body to look at / a monstrous body to look at"). Huge album, can't wait to see the Belgians live.

Several Others costs 10 EUR.

Check: Surface
Country: Belgium
Genre: dark post-punk
Label: PIAS Recordings



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piątek, 2 lipca 2021

Peter Bjärgö - The Translucency of Mind's Decay (2021)


The Swedish artist makes music for almost 30 years now, his discography is impressive and now it's time for its next part. Released with Cyclic Law, the new album The Translucency of Mind's Decay brings some of the darkwave nostalgia in a surprising form.

It is opened with very cinematic sounds of the title track - ones the epic vibes of which make you feel like you suddenly appeared within a completely different realm that surrounds you entirely. Especially that the vocals here have those folk/fantasy vibes with very darkwave twist within them. And this is the general ambiance of the release: there's a lot of ghostly backing vocals, Medieval-like instrumental sounds, and this general feeling of being in a very epic dream, which is true especially for tracks like Honoré de Balzac-inspired Séraphita.

The Translucency of Mind's Decay costs 8 EUR.

Check: Séraphita
Country: Sweden
Genre: fantasy neoclassical
Label: Cyclic Law



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czwartek, 1 lipca 2021

Vespers - Dour (2021)


Dour is the second short album from the Tennessee-based band Vespers. It is filled with guitar-based post-rock music that surprises with some unique ways of presenting the instrumental music.

The album is kept in a rather gloomy atmosphere. The music starts slow and with huge dose of reflectiveness, but when finally gets louder, the guitars show how to crush the audience with steady and heavy sound. There's some of the stoner rock's atmosphere here that is being slowed down and made into what post-metal is for black metal I suppose. This is abruptly changed in Bloodletting and its metal-like fast pace. And this very heavy, stoner-like approach to post-rock with fluctuating pace is the main theme of the EP - one that perhaps doesn't shock with anything but is genuinely very enjoyable (especially in the album's best and noisiest The Oldest House), even if in a bleaker way.

Dour costs 7 USD.

Check: The Oldest House
Country: Tennessee, US
Genre: stoner post-rock



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