Digitalism, I Love You Dude

Germany, 2011

I'd unconsciously waited for this for a bit so I wasn't expecting when it came out.
Thumping and driving, this sophomore album: I was very surprised with the maturing of this electro "dance punk" duo — in terms of both sound and musicality — as I hadn't really loved Idealism except for "Anything New".
I Love You Dude is a great album, cohesive and fun to listen to. Sometimes a rare combination as it obviously tells a musical story, akin to Daft Punk's Discovery. Their concept of social critique and imagery in their music evokes gets you to feel both bright and dark moods (sometimes in the same song) and, come on...
...what basslines.


Playlist:

1. Stratosphere
2. 2 Hearts
3. Circles
4. Blitz
5. Forrest Gump
6. Reeperbahn
7. Antibiotics
8. Just Gazin'
9. Miami Showdown

Link.

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Umberto, Prophecy of the Black Widow

US, 2010.

If Zombi and Justice had a child and the child played videogames. Just awesome.

Playlist:

1. Temple Room
2. The Psychic
3. Red Dawn
4. Widow Of The Web
5. Black Candles
6. Night Stalking
7. Someone Chasing Someone Through A House
8. Everything Is Going To Be Okay

Link.

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Apparat Organ Quartet, Pólýfónía

Iceland, 2010.

"Apparat Organ Quartet is a 5 piece band: 4 organists and 1 drummer. Their music is sometimes described as “Machine Rock and Roll" but the standard definition of their sound is “Organ Quartet Music", a completely new genre."

The truth is, words cannot describe how awesome this music is. A crossover between nintendocore and Kraftwerk on acids. I strongly recommend this album.

Playlist:

1. Babbage
2. Cargo Frakt
3. Konami
4. Pólýnesía
5. Pentatróník
6. Macht Parat den Apparat
7. Síríus Alfa
8. 123 Forever
9. Söngur Geimunglingsins

Link.

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RQTN, Decades And Decisions

France, 2010.

RQTN is the solo musical project of the young french producer Mathieu Artu. His music is a subtle mix between classical music and modern influences such as new-wave, post-rock and pop music.

Playlist:

1. 1928 - A Birth Among Others
2. 1942 - A Struggle In The Haze
3. 1955 - A Shelter For Lovers
4. 1970 - A Gaze Towards The Lighthouse
5. 1982 - A Dawn To Remember
6. 1986 - A Son To Concede All
7. 1997 - A Block In Town
8. 2003 - A Motionless Frozen State (ft. Antoine Ollivier)
9. 2010 - A New Decade

Link.

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Maybeshewill, To The Skies From A Hillside

England, 2010.

Maybeshewill are an instrumental band from Leicester, UK. Maybeshewill’s music is characterised by the use of electronic elements alongside more traditional ‘rock’ instrumentation. The band’s music is also littered with references to film and popular culture. This is their latest EP.

Playlist:

1. To the Skies From a Hillside
2. Спутник-2
3. To The Skies From A Hillside (The Party Mushroom Remix)

Link.

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Keiji Haino & Pan Sonic, In The Studio

Finland/Japan, 2010

Monstruous collaboration between two of the leading projects within the realm of analog and digital manipulation of soundscapes and extreme noise. In this work Mika Vainio a.k.a. Pan Sonic delves into a more beat-based approach than most of his usual work while Keiji Haino offers us his extremely fuzzy, loud and psychadelic guitar and some weird vocal delivery.

Playlist:

1. So Many Things I Have Yet To Say
2. If I Could Incarnate This Feeling Would You Consider It A Creation
3. Imperious Doppelganger of Tears, Playing Catch With Objectivity That Evades Ultimate Responsability
4. I Wonder If We Have Become Wiser Than Gods By Making Worse What Already Is
5. This Trembling, No Longer Seems To Be The Axis At The Center
6. As Far As The Left Goes, It Is Starting To Look Red What About The Right, I Wonder What Colour it Will Be
7. In The Hollow Created Between The Eyebrows, What Offering Would Be Most Appropriate
8. Without A Doubt, An Attestation Written From That Time, Will No Longer Have Effect, Because The Wound Has Widened So Much
9. I Have Embedded It Approximately 2 Minutes And 7 Seconds Into The 4th Song, In Order To Return Here Whenever I Wish
10. Perhaps There Is No Need To Return
11. Preparation Is Unnecessary From This Point On, Leave Me

Link.

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Final, Reading All the Right Signals Wrong

England, 2009

Final is a project by Justin K. Broadrick, frontman of Jesu and Godflesh, ongoing since his formative years.
Reading All the Right Signals Wrong is very well conceived – and, in many aspects, an obvious product of personal growth – and expands itself into a texture-weaving driven kind of sound that will at times be cinematic and at others heavy and pounding turbulent.


Playlist:

1. Right Signal
2. Wrong Signal
3. Stop At Red
4. Green

Link.

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Fredrik, Trilogi

Sweden, 2010.

Fredrik, a songwriter/sound artist duo from southern part of Sweden, embodies some of the finest Scandinavian experimental pop aesthetics: captivating melodies, rich layered arrangements and complicated charming instrumentation evoking the sound of Sigur Rós and Efterklang. Without overloading the compositions, Fredrik builds layer upon layer of atmospheric, melodically overpowering and somewhat mystical soundscapes.

Playlist:

1. Vinterbarn
2. Milo
3. Holm
4. Densistafabriken
5. Vanmyren
6. Ava
7. Flax
8. Under Vattenverket
9. Ner
10. Tretusenvioler
11. Viskra
12. Locked In The Basement
13. Omberg

Link.

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Es, Kesämaan Lapset

Finland, 2009.

Es (Sami Sänpäkkilä) is the founder of the Finnish underground record label, Fonal Records. His music explains pretty much what most of Fonal Records’ music is about: experimenting with sounds, bound together by free-folk ambient and occasional huge drones.

Playlist:

1. Ennen oli huonommin
2. Kesä ja hymyilevät huulet
3. Säteet sun sielusta
4. Kesämaan lapset
5. Haamut sun sydämestä

Link.

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Civil Civic, 1 + Run Overdrive/ Fuck Youth

UK, 2010

Civil Civic is a band formed by Aaron Cupples and Ben Green. The magnificent distortion you'll find on the guitars will carry you to spaces close to the ones you reach with bands like Sonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine. This is amazing. Believe me.

Playlist:

1:
1 - Less Unless
2 - Baghdad Break
3 - C27
4 - E8-4AH
5 - Stacks ON

Run Overdrive/Fuck Youth:
1 - Run Overdrive
2 - Fuck Youth
Link.

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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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Bo Becker, Of Vistula

US, 2010.

I don't know much about Bo Becker, but fans of Eluvium and Jacaszek will surely enjoy this album.

Playlist:


1. Morning
2. Pylon
3. Dream of the Red Chamber
4. Ikon
5. Of Vistula
6. In Human Endeavors
7. Fourth of July
8. The Power of Atom

Link.

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When The Clouds, The Longed-For Season

Italy, 2009.

When the Clouds is the recording project of artist and producer Francesco Galano. In 2007 he began working on several songs blending electronic elements with acoustic instruments creating a sound with extraordinary emotional impact. The songs are characterised by the use of acoustic instruments such as rhodes piano guitar, bass guitar, strings, mellotron, glockespiel and diamonic fluctuating along with a complicated structure of concrete sounds, glitch and noises that make up the rhythmic/percussive structure of the music. In 2009 he signed a deal with Drifting Falling for his debut EP “The Longed-For Season” a six track tapestry that reveals more and more of itself with each listen. Equal parts restraint, masterfully crafted tension and euphoric release that will leave listeners lost in thought.

Playlist:

1. The Dawn and the Embrace
2. Rise On
3. Flooding River
4. November Song
5. The Place Where This Path Leads
6. The House of Sleep

Link.

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Glowworm, The Coachlight Woods

US, 2008.

Glowworm is a chamber rock/electronica band from Portland started by Kevin Davis with the help of Jesse Robert W. in 2006. The Coachlight Woods is Glowworm’s first full length LP.

Playlist:

1. Periphescence
2. Contrails
3. The Captive
4. Lux
5. Nightshores
6. Cracks in the Desert Sea of St. George
7. Lith
8. Into the Woods
9. Glow Scraped From the Earth

Link.

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Kira Kira, Our Map To The Monster Olympics

Iceland, 2008.

"Our Map to the Monster Olympics is a twisting, sometimes terrifying, often glorious and touching kaleidoscope of a record. Swarms of fragmented voices mouth melodies through home made microphones while contact-miced Kalimbas fight for breath in seas of beautifully damaged technicolour, granulated shotgun beats fire from sniper positions in foreboding atmospheres- AND YET armies of glockenspiels, brass and casios remind us that everything will, in fact, be ok."

Playlist:

1. Sjarmaland Intro
2. Melur Sjarmur
3. Ágústskot
4. Gremlin Holiday
5. Happahrolfur Salhsu
6. Bless
7. Langti Burtu Bua Vinir
8. One Eyed Waltz
9. Beach Box Disasters
10. Hjartafanturrin Skrajafur

Link.

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C!ties, Self-titled EP

Ireland, 2008.

Cities is an instrumental band from Ennis, Ireland, formed in 2007. In November 2008, they released their first EP, which was entirely self-produced, and can be downloaded for free at their website.

Playlist:

1. 4+1=5
2. 15728
3. Dive Dive Dive!
4. !
5. Satellites
6. SuperMassiveBlckHls.rmx

Link.

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Arms And Sleepers, Matador

US, 2009.

Arms and Sleepers is Max Lewis (Boston, MA) and Mirza Ramic (Portland, ME). The band was formed in 2006 and has since released a handful of albums and EPs. Their style blends trip-hop, ambient, electronica and post-rock. It's exquisite.

Playlist:

1. Orly
2. Matador
3. The Architekt
4. Twentynine Palms
5. Helvetica
6. The International
7. Simone
8. Kino
9. Words Are For Sleeping
10. The Paramour

Link.

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David Beans, The Loss And Recovery E.P.

US, 2008.

David Beans is a twenty-four year old writer, composer and producer of music. Influenced by various acts including Sigur Rós, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Album Leaf, The Notwist among others, and composers such as Max Richter, Clint Mansell and Philip Glass, his music attempts to combine the emotion of ambience with classical structures allowed with modern technology.

Playlist:

1. Preface
2. Dream
3. Peaks
4. Father
5. Children
6. Remorse, Meet Recovery.

Link.

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Bersarin Quartett, Self-titled

Germany, 2006.

Bersarin Quartett is one man project from Münster, Germany founded by Thomas B. in 2006. Self-titled debut album was released February 2008 on Lidar Records. B. blends dark electronics with beautiful instrumental melodies, creating a cinematic atmosphere.

Playlist:

1. Oktober
2. Geschichten von Interesse
3. Inversion
4. St. Petersburg
5. Und die Welt steht still
6. Die Dinge sind nie so wie sie sind
7. Nachtblind
8. Es kann nicht ewig Winter sein
9. Endlich am Ziel
10. Mehr als alles andere

Link.

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Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, Ark 1

England, 2008.

Psychedelic/avant-garde/electronic/krautrock, all into one. This is one album you cannot miss.

"A serious slice of esoteric, eclectic freakbeat weirdness. Re-edited nuggets, long lost exotic psychedelia and krauty, disco beats are all mangled into previously unheard shapes."

Playlist:

1. Before We Start, If?
2. Get Ready To Fly
3. Dig It
4. Electric Bananas
5. Aglarsa Anam Aglar
6. Sunday Morning Sun-g
7. Don't Cry Girl
8. I Swim Around
9. Bubble Burst
10. Path Though The Forest
11. Light Years
12. Red Tuesday
13. Winter In June
14. Midas Reversed

Link.

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