Clann Zú, Black Coats & Bandages

Australia, 2004.

Clann Zú was an Australian band that formed in Melbourne in 1999. The forming members drew inspiration from an eclectic mix of musical styles, such as punk, rock, folk, electronic & classical. Their fusion of Celtic folk, electronic music and rock has created a unique epic soundscape full of powerful atmospheric sounds and off-beat instrumentation. Their songs are bilingual, utilising both Irish and English lyrics.

Reminds me a lot of Crippled Black Phoenix. Really cool stuff.

Playlist:

1. Black Coats & Bandages
2. There Will Be No Morning Copy
3. So Complicated
4. T-Éan Bán
5. One Bedroom Apartment
6. From An Unholy Height
7. An Deireadh Scéal
8. From Bethlehem to Jenin
9. You'll Have to Swim
10. A Sudden Intake of Breath

Link.

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Khoma, A Final Storm

Sweden, 2010.

Khoma is a Swedish (post-)rock/metal band hailing from Umeå. After three years of silence Khoma finally surface. In late august 2009 Khoma began the recording of their third album "A Final Storm", the follow-up to the highly acclaimed "The Second Wave" of 2006.

Playlist:

1. Army Of One
2. From The Hands Of Sinners
3. Harvest
4. Orisis
5. A Final Storm
6. Inqisition
7. The Tide
8. All Like Serpents
9. In It For Fighting
10. By The Gallows
11. Mist

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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Message To Bears, Departures

England, 2009.

Message To Bears is the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Jerome Alexander. Alexander creates beautiful soundscapes by overlaying acoustic guitar lines, piano, percussion, samples and strings.

Playlist:

1. Running Through Woodland
2. Hidden Beneath
3. Pretend To Forget
4. Hope
5. Autumn
6. At The Top Of This Hill
7. November
8. Snowdonia
9. Find Our Way Home
10. Lost Birds

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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Amiina, Re Minore

Iceland, 2009.

Amiina (formerly Amína) is a string quartet from Reykjavík, Iceland: María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (violin), Hildur Ársælsdóttir (violin), Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir (viola) and Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir (cello). The group makes music with a great number of instruments - synth, piano, electric and baroque guitar, celtic harp, harmonium, melodica, celesta, glockenspiel, gideon harp, call bells (also called “office” or “reception” bells), glass harp, kalimba, mandolin, and musical saw played with a bow.

This EP is simply enthralling.

Playlist:

1. Ásinn
2. þristurinn
3. Tvisturinn

Link.

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Ólafur Arnalds, Eulogy For Evolution

Iceland, 2007.

"Icelandic composer and multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds is bound to find himself met with comparisons to his fellow countryman Johánn Johánnsson: Arnalds' highly cinematic approach has that same instantly digestible quality that Johánnsson, and for that matter Max Richter, are able to tap into. After its initial string swells, the sweetly sorrowful opener '0040' starts to sound vaguely reminiscent of the mournful piano music at the end of the '70s Incredible Hulk movies, and that certainly isn't intended as a jibe, it's lovely stuff, if rather dramatised. The ensuing pieces maintain this wistful, downbeat sound, riffing on various permutations of string and piano arrangement, only for Arnalds to whip the rug from under your feet with the brash guitar distortion of closer '3704/3837' which features some seriously histrionic quiet-loud post-rock action, only for all the drums and fuzz to crumble away abruptly for the lonesome, organ-fuelled coda. Gorgeous."

Playlist:

1. 0040
2. 0048/0729
3. 0952
4. 1440
5. 1953
6. 3055
7. 3326
8. 3704/3837

Link.

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Ef, Mourning Golden Morning

Sweden, 2010.

EF is a five-piece band from Gothenburg, Sweden. It all started in May 2003, and soon they stood in a small basement and created quite heavy music. It didn’t take long for them to find that melodies, emotions and explosions were more interesting. "Mourning Golden Morning" is the band's third full-length and a post-rock masterpiece.

Playlist:

1. Escapade #1
2. Sons Of Ghosts
3. K-141 KYPCK
4. Longing For Colors
5. Fyra
6. 401 Lwa
7. Alp Lugens And Beyond

Link.

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Wooden Shjips, Dos

US, 2009.

Wooden Shjips is a vital and refreshingly inspired quartet from San Francisco playing loud rock ‘n’ roll in a style heavily influenced by the experimentalism of psychedelia, classical minimalism and garage rock excess.

Playlist:

1. Motorbike
2. For So Long
3. Down By The Sea
4. Aquarian Time
5. Fallin'

Link.

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Red Sparowes, The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer

US, 2010.

"The Fear is Excruciating, but Therein Lies the Answer is Red Sparowes' 4th studio release, and it delivers across the board well beyond expectations. The complex progression and dynamic energy in this album is so fluid, so precise yet natural, you’re almost forced to believe it’s a living, breathing, sonic force. Add to that the chameleon qualities of this album and its ability to fit any mood you’re in. One song can either help you celebrate great joy or reaffirm you through a brooding depression."

Slightly less epic (and less boring) than their previous stuff, "The Fear Is Excruciating" shows a much more dynamic and progressive metal structure, often reminiscent of Isis.

Playlist:

1. Truths Arise
2. In Illusions of Order
3. A Hail of Bombs
4. Giving Birth to Imagined Saviors
5. A Swarm
6. In Every Mind
7. A Mutiny
8. As Each End Looms and Subsides

Link.

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Slow Six, Tomorrow Becomes You

US, 2010.

"Put this collective in the “rock” bin only because rock fans are so likely to like them. For while many Brooklyn bands bandy about the term “experimental,” Slow Six makes it meaningful with piercing string snippets, haunted motifs, and glassy—or is it Glass-y?—synths.

Call them post rock, call them chamber music, call them experimental neo-classical. No matter what you choose, understand that broad genre descriptors do little to describe the striking compositions of Brooklyn collective Slow Six."

Playlist:

1. The Night You Left New York
2. Cloud Cover (Part One)
3. Cloud Cover (Part Two)
4. Because Together We Resonate
5. Sympathetic Response System (Part One)
6. Sympathetic Response System (Part Two)
7. These Rivers Between Us

Link.

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DAAU, We Need New Animals

Belgium, 1998

This is a (strange but) beautiful album. DAAU (short for Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) are a quartet comprising cello, violin, accordion and clarinet.
We need new animals shows unsettling, and oftentimes progressive, but always meaningful soundscapes that will at times remain sharp or, at others, warm you up while you listen to it; it transcends genre.


Playlist:

1. No Rule
2. Hot Shades (My Medina)
3. Nix
4. Broken
5. Gin & Tonic
6. Oliphant
7. Waltz Delire
8. Traag
9. Dip 'n Dodge
10. Lady Delay
11. Lost Souls

Link.

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