Cream, Disraeli Gears

U.S.A., 1967

Disraeli Gears (funny thing about the name of the album, if you don't know already, wikipedia is your friend) is a breakthrough album for a vast majority of musical elements that later came to define what rock would be from then on. One of the first albums the wah wah pedal was used on – about that, check the Cry Baby documentary also –, specifically in "Tales of Brave Ulysses", and which includes the rock classic "Sunshine Of Your Love".
A very good psychedelic listening experience, a cohesive (as much as possible) opus that has earned its place as one of the great albums in rock history.


Playlist:

1. Strange Brew
2. Sunshine of Your Love
3. World of Pain
4. Dance the Night Away
5. Blue Condition
6. Tales of Brave Ulysses
7. SWLABR
8. We're Going Wrong
9. Outside Woman Blues
10. Take It Back
11. Mother's Lament

Link.

more...

Riverside, Memories In My Head EP

Poland, 2011

Drifting away from their latest release, Riverside seems to target the fans who missed their earliest materials. This EP expresses their spacious nostalgic flavor along with a spiritual feel from the front-man Mariusz’s side project "Lunatic Soul".


Playlist:

1. Goodbye Sweet Innocence
2. Living In The Past
3. Forgotten Land

Link.

more...

Miracle, Fluid Window

US, 2011.

Steve Moore (Zombi, Earth, Titan, Gianni Rossi, Lovelock) + Daniel O'Sullivan (Sunn O))), Guapo, Æthenor, Ulver, Mothlite, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses) = Miracle.

Playlist:

1. The Visitor
2. Sunshine Hall
3. Wild Nights
4. Sunstar
5. Breathe

Link.

more...

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.

more...

Vessels, Helioscope

England, 2011.

Vessels is a post-rock band from Leeds, formed in September 2005.

Playlist:

1. Monoform
2. The Trap
3. Recur
4. Later Than You Think
5. Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute
6. Art/Choke
7. Heal
8. All Our Ends
9. Spun Infinite

Link.

more...

Mamiffer, Mare Decendrii

US, 2011.

Simply awesome.

Mamiffer is Faith Coloccia, a Seattle-based pianist, and Aaron Turner from Isis, Jodis, Lotus Eaters, as well as a collective of other song-weavers and visionaries.

Playlist:

1. As Freedom Rings
2. We Speak in the Dark
3. Blanket Made of Ash
4. Eating Our Bodies
5. Iron Water

Link.
Buy it.

more...

DeVotchKa, 100 Lovers

US, 2011.

DeVotchKa is a four-piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots. This is their latest release. Playlist:

1. The Alley
2. All the Sand in all the Sea
3. One Hundred other Lovers
4. The Common Good
5. Interlude 1
6. The Man From San Sebastian
7. Exhaustible
8. Interlude 2
9. Bad Luck Heels
10. Ruthless
11. Contrabanda
12. Sunshine

Link.

more...

FEN, Epoch

England, 2011.

FEN are a recently created project from Eastern England that blends black metal, post-rock and shoegaze. Their debut, "The Malediction Fields", was an amazing and absolutely overwhelming album for me. Of course expectations were high enough for "Epoch"... Overall, it's a good atmospheric album, definitely worth a listen, even though not as memorable as its predecessor.


Playlist:

1. Epoch
2. Ghosts of the Flood
3. Of Wilderness and Ruin
4. The Gibbet Elms
5. Carrier of Echoes
6. Half-Light Eternal
7. A Warning Solace
8. Ashbringer

Link.

more...

Gallowbraid, Ashen Eidolon

US, 2010.

Another steal from soundweave, but this stuff is so damn good. This EP is like a mix of Agalloch and Wolves In The Throne Room... or something along those lines. See? This is why I don't write the descriptions myself.

Playlist:

1. Ashen Eidolon
2. Autumn I
3. Oaken And Aspen
4. Autumn II

Link.

more...

Grails, Deep Politics

US, 2011.

According to a press release, "The eight-song set was conceived during the band's longest-ever gestation period between albums, a fact immediately reflected in the increased compositional depth, intensified use of fetishistic cut-and-paste production techniques (akin to those employed by RZA and MF Doom), and the striking inclusion of lush string arrangements (courtesy of acclaimed composer Timba Harris)."

The resulting sound is described as containing "the indelible stamp of '70s Italian film scores and obscure occult/fringe library music, cultivating an immersive environment that inspires both an eternal sense of longing and an impending sense of dread."

Playlist:

1. Future Primitive
2. All The Colors Of The Dark
3. Corridors Of Power
4. Deep Politics
5. Daughters Of Bilitis
6. Almost Grew My Hair
7. I Led Three Lives
8. Deep Snow



Link.

more...

Long Distance Calling, Self-titled

Germany, 2011.

“We are just a tiny part of the ever growing universe. It's the important third album, so we decided to call the album Long Distance Calling as a statement.”

Playlist:

1. Into The Black Wide Open
2. The Figrin D'an Boogie
3. Invisible Giants
4. Timebends
5. Arecibo (Long Distance Calling)
6. Middleville
7. Beyond The Void

Link.

more...

Vanessa Van Basten, Closer To The Small/Dark/Door

Italy, 2010.

"Vanessa Van Basten is a duo from Genoa, Italy with many guests and contributors from the alternative and extreme Italian underground. They make slow, heavy, metaphysic instrumental music. Formed in 2004. Their influences are the cosmic psychedelia, industrial rock like Swans or Godflesh, Neurot & Hydrahead catalog.

The music can still be described as heavy post-rock, but Vanessa Van Basten is nowadays a lot more than just that. A strongly emotional sonic magma absorbs and metabolizes different sonic influences, from the introspective metalcore of Jesu and Neurosis to the experimental metal drones of Sunn O))), from Lycia and Slowdive melancholy-driven soundscapes to the psychedelic and spacey atmospheres of Klaus Schulze to the cinematic melodies of Morricone and Badalamenti. And there you have Vanessa Van Basten."

I can't really be bothered to describe the album or the band in my own words, but this is awesome.

Playlist:

1. Porzellangasse
2. Putana
3. L'Uomo Che Comprava Il Tempo
4. Fuck The Best, Take The Rest
5. Domio '95
6. La Selva Dell'Orba
7. Scolopendra
8. Untitled
9. L'Affetto Non Serve

Link.

more...