Amplifier, Amplifier

UK, 2004

Amplifier are a three-piece progressive/alternative rock ensemble. Sel Balamir, Matt Brobin and Neil Mahony make music with guitars, drums and bass.

Playlist:

1. Motorhead
2. Airborne
3. Panzer
4. Old Movies
5. Post Acid Youth
6. Neon
7. On/Off
8. The Consultancy
9. One Great Summer
10. UFOs

Link.

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The Mayan Factor, 44

US, 2005.

The Mayan Factor is a progressive rock group located at Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

The Mayan Factor have a very ethnic sound, using atmospheric percussion, mellow guitars, and various keyboard samples and tribal bass, reminiscent of Clann Zú at times. They are extremely melodic, with a very intense and heavy feel. They are somewhere in between progressive rock, folk, indie and alternative rock.

Terrible album cover, though.


Playlist:

1. To Kill a Priest
2. Terrorist
3. Propaganda
4. Hopi Elders
5. Ventrilaquist
6. Gosia
7. Yesterday's Son
8. Bondage
9. A Red Gone Blue
10. Jack Nicholson
11. Recon
12. Self Storage

Link.

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The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Acme Plus

U.S.A., 2003

Yesterday at my favourite bar I heard this album playing. Their blend of many things that obviously include blues, alternative rock (with remnants of punk) and music genres based mainly on the pentatonic scale, left me simply amazed. Not having yet been confronted with JSBX earlier, my ignorance was blatant; These outtakes from the original Acme from 1998 are nothing short of world-rocking.


Playlist:

1. Wait a Minute
2. Get Down Lover
3. Confused
4. Magical Colors (31 Flavors)
5. Not Yet
6. Get Old
7. Bacon
8. Blue Green Olgs [Remix]
9. Heavy [Remix]
10. Lap Dance
11. Right Place, Wrong Time
12. Leave Me Alone So I Can Rock Again
13. Soul Trance
14. Electricity
15. New Year
16. Chowder
17. T.A.T.B. [For The Saints and Sinners Remix]
18. Hell
19. I Wanna Make It All Right (Zebra Ranch)
20. Radio Advert for Acme [Bonus]

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Clann Zú, Rua

Australia, 2003.

Rua is the first full length album by Irish-Australian band Clann Zú. The album contains themes of resistance and desperation. The songs are sung mainly in English, though there is some use of Irish Gaelic. The production gives the songs a heavily layered sound, with prominent use of violin tracks and Declan de Barra's emotive voice.

Playlist:

1. Words For Snow
2. Five Thousand More
3. Hope This Day
4. All That You've Ever Known
5. Everyday
6. All the People Now
7. Rí Rá
8. Lights Below
9. Crashing to the Floor
10. You're Listening to a Dead Man Speak

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Hanne Hukkelberg, Blood From a Stone

Norway, 2010

"For her third full-length, Hukkelberg decided to head north instead of south. A lot farther north, in fact, on the tiny Norwegian island of Senja, located some 180 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Living in such isolation would have one assuming the resulting album would be one of stark intimacy,(…) the songs themselves turn out to be some of Hukkelberg's most extroverted work to date."


Playlist:
1. Midnight Sun Dream
2. Blood From a Stone
3. Bandy Riddles
4. No Mascara Tears
5. Seventeen
6. Salt Of The Earth
7. No One But Yourself
8. In Here / Out Here
9. Crack
10. Bygd Til By

Link.

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Emily Wells, The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties

US, 2008.

Emily Wells creates a unique kind of music by blending her many influences. She is a classically trained violinist with a penchant for hip hop production. Live, Wells creates a lush layer of “symphonies” by looping and live sampling everything from her violin and voice, to her many toys and electronics.

Playlist:

1. Symphony 1 In the Barrel of a Gun
2. Symphony 2 & the Click Boom Boom
3. Symphony 3: The Story (Featuring Count Bass D)
4. Symphony 4: America's Mercy War
5. Symphony 5 Was A Surprise
6. Symphony 6: Fair Thee Well and the Requiem Mix
7. Symphony 7: Dreams Memories & Heaven
8. Symphony 8 & the Canary's Last Take
9. Symphony 9 & the Sunshine
10. Symphony 10: Could This Really Be the End?

Link.

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Bullets In Madison, We Became Your Family When You Died

US, 2010.

Bullets in Madison is an indie-experimental band from the suburbs of Chicago. With a cinematic and orchestral sensibility, their songs center on ambient, key-driven tones. Their sound encompasses everything from brass, guitars, glockenspiel, and violins.

Playlist:

1. Impossible Grave
2. Animals
3. Joel Found His Angel Cowering In The Garden
4. Riots
5. Broken
6. The Eclipse
7. St. Jude
8. Crimes
9. This Is The Last Night
10. Requiem

Link.

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Trespassers William, Having

US, 2006.

Hailing from Southern California, Trespassers William are an indie rock/dream pop band known for their ethereal music. "Having" is their third, released on 28 February 2006 on Nettwerk Records.

Playlist:

1. Safe, Sound
2. What of Me
3. Weakening
4. Eyes Like Bottles
5. I Don’t Mind
6. Ledge
7. And We Lean In
8. My Hands Up
9. Low Point
10. No One
11. Matching Weight

Link.

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Anathema, We're Here Because We're Here

England, 2010.

So Anathema finally found a record label, Kscope, for their much anticipated release. However, other than a couple of decent songs, the album feels generally disappointing.

Playlist:

1. Thin Air
2. Summer Night Horizon
3. Dreaming Light
4. Everything
5. Angels Walk Among Us
6. Presence
7. A Simple Mistake
8. Get Off, Get Out
9. Universal
10. Hindsight

Link.

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Yeasayer, Odd Blood

U.S., 2010

The pronounciation of the band name kind of sums up what I know of them; something like yay-sayer. On a different note note, what I've heard of this album has left me well surprised. I don't know if I should go with their 'Enya with bounce' description or my own Tool of Electro-pop just because it was my foremost impression. Still, coming from a quite common kind of ensemble and the companies they share, I still found it an interesting listen for a change.


Playlist:

1. The Children
2. Ambling Alp
3. Madder Red
4. I Remember
5. O.N.E.
6. Love Me Girl
7. Rome
8. Strange Reunions
9. Mondegreen
10. Grizelda

Link.

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The Unwinding Hours, Self-titled

Scotland, 2010.

Iain Cook and Craig B., former members of Glasgow alternative/post-rock band Aereogramme have formed a new project, The Unwinding Hours, and this is their debut. The most beautiful sad music, very reminiscent of Aereogramme.

Playlist:

1. Knut
2. Tightrope
3. Little One
4. There Are Worse Things than Being Alone
5. Solstice
6. Peaceful Liquid Shell
7. Child
8. Traces
9. Annie Jane
10. The Final Hour

Link.

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Efterklang, Magic Chairs

Denmark, 2010.

"Magic Chairs" is the third studio album from Danish alternative/post-rock/electronic group Efterklang. Incredibly beautiful and upbeat at the same time.

Playlist:

1. Modern Drift
2. Alike
3. I Was Playing Drums
4. Raincoats
5. Harmonics
6. Full Moon
7. The Soft Beating
8. Scandinavian Love
9. Mirror Mirror
10. Natural Tune

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Immune, Not Until Morning

France, 2008.

"Shuffling jazzy drums, introspective vocals, beautiful piano, gorgeous interspersed guitars all spaced out beautifully giving the song time to breathe..."

"Take a little bit of post-rock and cross it with cinematic pop, and I think you might get what Immune was going for on Not Until Morning. At times jazzy, but very dour and slow."

Playlist:

1. Lie Awake
2. Slow Backwards
3. Wakening Of A Former Land
4. When We Faint
5. Misplaced
6. Slightly Upon My Arm
7. Hello
8. Recorded Home

Link.

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Apse, Spirit

US, 2006.

Apse was formed in 1999 in Newtown, Connecticut as a three-piece while the members were still in high school. The group made purely instrumental ambient rock until about 2003, when reverberant lead vocals by Bobby became a regular part of the band’s songs.

Amidst a shifting lineup, the group moved away from the trappings of “post-rock” territory to write and record its debut full-length album – the tribal, atmospheric Spirit, released in 2006.

Playlist:

1. (Intro)
2. From the North
3. Legions
4. Shade of the Moor
5. (Transition)
6. The Crowned
7. Wind Through the Walls
8. Blackwood Gates
9. Earth Covers Us
10. Spirit

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Lampshade, Because Trees Can Fly

Denmark, 2003.

Lampshade blend post-rock instrumentals with indie/alternative rock melodies. It's a little more pop than usual, but the beautiful vocals make it all worthwhile. Will please fans of Logh and Audrey.

Playlist:

1. He Is Right In My Mirage
2. Clean
3. Because Trees Can Fly
4. Angel In Stockholm
5. Come On In
6. Within Symmetry
7. As I Left the Room
8. Adorable Void?
9. Raindrops
10. Plakka Plakka
11. The Hug
12. Treasure Is

Link.

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Sonic Youth, SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century

U.S., 1999

A noise & experimental kind of homage/retrospective on 20th century music, namely the works of influential artists such as John Cage, Takehisa Kosugi, Christian Wolff and company.
Ought to clear your head right up.


Playlist:

1. Edges
2. Six (3rd Take)
3. Six For New Time
4. + -
5. Voice Piece For Soprano
6. Pendulum Music
7. Having Never Written A Note For Percussion
8. Six (4th Take)
9. Burdocks
10. Four ⁶
11. Piano Piece No. 13 Carpenters Piece
12. Pièce Enfantine
13. Treatise (Page 183)


Link.

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Junius, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist

US, 2009.

Junius' new record is a full-fledged concept album, inspired by the life and theories of controversial scholar Immanuel Velikovsky. The album’s ten songs are both cinematic and accessible, building to crescendos which echo some of post-rock’s most epic moments, but with vocals, hooks, and lyrics creating focus throughout. Actual quotes from Velikovsky’s interviews and lectures are interspersed between songs, providing a sense of narrative to the proceedings.

Playlist:

1. Birth Rites By Torchlight
2. The Antediluvian Fire
3. (turning to the spirits of the hours...)
4. A Dramatist Plays Catastrophist
5. Ten Year Librarian
6. Stargazers & Gravediggers
7. (...he fell before her)
8. Elisheva, I Love You
9. Letters From Saint Angelica
10. The Mourning Eulogy

Link.

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Apse, Climb Up

US, 2009.

Apse was formed in 1999 in Newtown, Connecticut as a three-piece while the members were still in high school. The group made purely instrumental dark ambient rock until about 2003, when reverberant lead vocals and a more dynamic atmosphere were added.

Playlist:

1. Blown Doors
2. 3.1
3. All Mine
4. Rook
5. In Gold
6. The Age
7. Tropica
8. The Whip
9. Lie
10. The Return
11. Climb Up
12. Closure

Link.

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The Flaming Lips, Embryonic

US, 2009.

Embryonic is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band The Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009.

Playlist:

1. Convinced Of The Hex
2. The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine
3. Evil
4. Aquarius Sabotage
5. See The Leaves
6. If
7. Gemini Syringes
8. Your Bats
9. Powerless
10. The Ego's Last Stand
11. I Can Be A Frog
12. Sagittarius Silver Announcement
13. Worm Mountain
14. Scorpio Sword
15. The Impulse
16. Silver Trembling Hands
17. Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
18. Watching The Planets

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Blueneck, The Fallen Host

England, 2009.

Following Scars Of The Midwest, Blueneck's second full-length album is a true atmospheric post-rock masterpiece, even more intense than its predecessor. Absolutely recommended.

Playlist:

1. (Depart From Me, You Who Are Cursed)
2. Seven
3. Low
4. The Guest
5. Children Of Ammon
6. Weaving Spiders Come Not Here
7. Lilitu
8. Revelations

Link.

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