Even after 2008 Snowman relocated to London from Perth, Western Australia, they still kept that ancient, mystic, native Australian perfume in their music and “Hyena” have that hypnotizing brightness which floating around in gentle circles and ties you down smoothly. It’s simply beautiful and have a discrete charm and powerful magnetism. Diving deeper into “Absence” we will discover a multi-dimensional world made of subtle synthesizer layers, tribal percussion and drums, discrete guitars and amplifier feedback, and mysterious vocals. Sometimes everything seems pretty strange or untouchable and distant, but it’s vibrating and addictive. It’s a mixture of World music, Psychedelic and Ambiental music, soundtrack like music for a movie eventually played backward, back to a forgotten, obscure or even vanished universe from the dawn of the times. Read more Snowman – Absence (2011)
psychedelic
Aidan Baker – Lost In The Rat Maze (2011)
Aidan Baker is a Canadian musician and writer alternately based in Toronto & Berlin. He performs as a solo artist and with several groups: Nadja, Whisper Room and Arc. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, his primary instrument is the electric guitar with which he creates music ranging from experimental/drone to ambient post-rock and contemporary classical. He has released numerous albums on labels from around the world & has authored several books of prose/poetry. Read more Aidan Baker – Lost In The Rat Maze (2011)
Moon Duo – Mazes (2011)
Scheduled to be release on March 28 in Europe, respectively on March 29 in USA, “Mazes” is the second full-length album by Moon Duo. Inspired initially by the legendary duo of John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, Moon Duo was formed by Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Sanae Yamada in San Francisco in 2009. Utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, and vocals, the Duo play a mixture of Psychedelic and Trance/Chillout, counts such variant groups as Silver Apples, Royal Trux, Moolah, Suicide, and Cluster as touchstones. They music is spacy and airy, minimalist, but kind of warm, pulsing, sometimes it give me the feeling that Iggy Pop jamming with the French duo Air. Read more Moon Duo – Mazes (2011)
Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (2011)
This is the fifth album by Gang Gang Dance and their continue the trip into the experimental electronic and worldbeat area of the music. They gained a kind of cult status in the New York underground and which finally push them into the mainstream attention. They blending electronic and post rock, psychedelic music into something strange and mysterious music with exotic perfume. Last year the band received publishing royalties from British group Florence and the Machine. Members of Gang Gang Dance noticed that part of “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” was lifted from their song “House Jam” from they 2008 album “Saint Dymphna” and approached Florence and the Machine’s label who acknowledged that “infringement had occurred”.
After releasing all their earlier records with Brooklyn label The Social Registry, in 2010 Gang Gang Dance signed with UK label 4AD and “Eye Contact” is the group’s second album after stepping out from the underground. Read more Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (2011)
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Inner Space (2011)
It’s almost kinky to write and record a 32 minutes long song these days. And actually it’s a nice track, the mix is what bothering me. The slide guitar is much too loud and covers almost completely the solo guitars and the bass. And it’s pity, they done beautiful things if you listen careful enough. But if you have to focus hard, all the pleasure of the listening goes out on the window. Still, “Part 1” from “Pink Lady Lemonade – Youre From Inner Space” it’s kind of chill, joyful, warm and embracing. A nice trip with beautiful images made of sounds running before our eyes. “Part 2” break in like a noisy explosion, it’s a crazy mixture of improvisations on psychedelic, noise rock and jazz like samples. It last only five minutes, but it’s heavy. “Part 3” comes back with the spacy theme of “Part 1”, the mix is much convincing, the pulse is a little bit faster and the song got a pleasant groove. 10 minutes of shades and bubbling sounds which brings me the image of a blooming flower. Well, kind of hippy. 🙂 Read more Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Inner Space (2011)
The Dark Sides of the Moon
“The Dark Side of the Moon” was a milestone, not only in the career of Pink Floyd, but in the history of the music and not at least, source for inspiration for many musicians since its release. There’s many tribute, cover and reinterpretations of “The Dark Side of the Moon” and I gathered here a few of the most intriguing and interesting of these releases.
Released on 10 March 1973, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd and it was the record that moved, back or forward – it’s a matter of point of view – the English band from the closed circle of fans to the mainstream. “The Dark Side of the Moon” is a concept album that explore the themes of conflict, greed, the passage of time and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Syd Barrett’s deteriorating mental state, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterized their work following the departure in 1968 of founding member, principal composer and lyricist Barrett. The album was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used some of the most advanced recording techniques of the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers were given prominence in several tracks, and a series of recorded interviews with staff and band personnel provided the source material for a range of philosophical quotations used throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was directly responsible for some of the most notable sonic aspects of the album, including the non-lexical performance of Clare Torry. Read more The Dark Sides of the Moon
The Residents – Lonely Teenager (2011)
The Residents are for a quit long time around and since the end of the 60s they explore the experimental/avant-garde area of the music releasing over 40 albums, but also they explored the multimedia area. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, The Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects, and Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by them. Actually they are more an art collective than a classic band. The Residents – as they declare – are “four people who dabble in the arts, they make music, videos, perform, and generally have a pretty good time.” Well, “Lonely Teenager” is pretty dark, but still colorful, surprising and exciting material. Mostly navigating on some strangely colored space rock/psychedelic fields, “Lonely Teenager” is a trip into a dark labyrinth of conscience. Read more The Residents – Lonely Teenager (2011)
Thomas Giles – Pulse (2011)
“Pulse” is one of the most wonderful and exciting records I had the pleasure to listen this year and I admit it, it was a huge surprise. Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. is the lead singer and founder of the band Between the Buried and Me, one of the leaders of the new – twisted – metal wave, a powerful and extremely creative band wich show a new direction and proved once again: metal is not dead.
“Pulse” is actually the second solo album by Tommy, the first was released back in 2004 under the name Giles. The new material is extremely colorful, impossible to label, crammed in some particular box. And about the influences and different musical roots of Tommy we can get an idea by listening the cover collection released in 2006 under the title “The Anatomy of” by Between the Buried and Me where we have songs by Metallica, Sepultura, Depeche Mode , Queen, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Earth Crises, Blind Melon, Counting Crows, Soundgarden, Faith No More, Motley Crue, Pantera, and Smashing Pumpkins. Read more Thomas Giles – Pulse (2011)
Current 93 – HoneySuckle Aeons (2011)
Labeled apocalyptic folk, experimental music, dark ambient, neofolk, even post-industrial and musical influences include religious chants, traditional folk music, but also some progressive bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Current 93 it’s hell of a trip musically and literally. David Michael Bunting aka David Tibet renamed “Tibet” by Genesis P-Orridge are what we usually called a weirdo. He took off from preoccupation with mysticism, mostly influenced by the works of Aleister Crowley and ended up stating that he now identifies himself as a Christian. Kind of backward trip of Crowley. 😀 Still, he kept in he’s project name the number “93”, number of great significance in Thelema, the religious philosophy founded by Crowley. (The central philosophy of Thelema is in two phrases from Liber AL: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” and “Love is the law, love under will.” The two primary terms in these statements are “Will” and “Love”, respectively. In the Greek language, they are Thelema (Will) and Agape (Love). Using the Greek technique of isopsephy, which applies a numerical value to letters, the letters of both of these words when added together equal 93). Read more Current 93 – HoneySuckle Aeons (2011)
Flaming Lips and Neon Indian (2011)
“Is David Bowie Dead?” (or “dying” – it’s still unclear…) it’s a huge song. It’s so David Bowie. 6 minutes and 45 seconds of pure stardust. I can play this single track for a whole day. At least. Maybe even backward. The over 8 minutes of “Alan’s Theremin” is more Neon Indian than Flaming Lips, it sounds like a psychedelic puzzle torn off from the 70s and striped to the bones now days. It’s like a carousel, floats and waving around. “You Don’t Respond” returns with a twisted guitar riff and gloomy electronics and sounds exactly like a broken answering machine. Finally “Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth Part 2” seems like a rehearsal recording, kind of “work in progress” stuff. And that’s all, this is the long expected collaborative project of Flaming Lips with Neon Indian, this 12″ EP. Read more Flaming Lips and Neon Indian (2011)
