Back in 1999 Clemens Mayr of black metal outfit Amortis decided to put together something different, the project originally entitled Project Judgement. Using some heavy riffs delivered by his band mates, guitarist Lukas Lindenberger and Simon Mayr and some electronic textures and layers, the style of the new band was set. The debut album, “Desperate Accuse Dimension” was released in 2002, featuring Roman Lindenberger – guitar and Lukas Lindenberger – drum programming. Mayr later considered this album too Gothic oriented and not enough experimental, so only one year later they released their second full-length album called “The Near Life Experience” which was much better produced and sound closer to the original ideas of Mayr. Read more Shadowcast – Space Age Revolution (2011)
Reviews
Mindplotter – Coma (2011)
Mindplotter is a one-man project from Ukraine and “Come” is the second album after the 2010’s “La Beauté De La Solitude” exploring an electro-industrial, experimental area with noise and breakbeat textures, but also including colourful influences also from The Chemical Brothers, God Is Astronaut, DJ Shadow, Unkle and Massive Attack.
“Coma” sounds like a battle-ground for post-rock and ambiental music, it’s a collision between genres, matchcore and cinematic, smooth soundscapes are merged into one, glowing and colourful music.
Organic and mechanic, rock and electronic music blended together and the result is quite dynamic and exciting. Read more Mindplotter – Coma (2011)
Sankt Otten – Gottes Synthesizer (2011)
In the manner of Klaus Schulze/Tangerine Dream and in the best tradition of Neu! with dark electro textures and Krautrock resonances, Sankt Otten, the duo from Osnabrück, Germany formed by Stephan Otten (drums, keys, programming) and Oliver Klemm (guitar, keys), in 1998, delivered a new trip into the warm analogue sounds, sequencer lines and electric drums of the 70s and 80s, but still breathing alive, looking into the future.
Especially the title track, “Gottes Synthesizer”, over 13 minutes, is a brilliant piece with tunes that re-call Robert Fripp. Read more Sankt Otten – Gottes Synthesizer (2011)
Schwarzer Engel – Träume Einer Nacht (2011)
The term “Neue Deutsche Härte” was invented by the German music press after the release of the debut album “Herzeleid” by Rammstein in 1995, but bands such Oomph! set the standards of this (sub) genre years before.
Schwarzer Engle sounds like a blending of Rammstein with Umbra et Imago, elements of industrial metal, German rock, alternative metal are mixed with Gothic textures and epic constructions. “Träume Einer Nacht” (“Dreams of a night”) is the band’s second full-length album following the critically acclaimed “Apokalypse” from 2010. Read more Schwarzer Engel – Träume Einer Nacht (2011)
Treehorn – Hearth (2011)
Eight tracks, forty minutes of weighty, musculous rock, balancing between stoner / Southern rock and post-hardcore / post-grunge elements.
Formed in 2008 and playing gigs around in Italy and France, in April 2011 they release their first full length album, “Hearth”, produced by Escape From Today Records and Riff Records (Italy), and A Tant Rever Du Roi and Swarm Records (France). The album was recorded at Blue Record Studio in Mondovi (CN), by Massimiliano Moccia, sound engineer of Uzeda, Three Second Kiss, Fuh and Dead Elephant among others; the master session has been done by Bob Weston (Shellac) at his Chicago Mastering Studios. Read more Treehorn – Hearth (2011)
iwrestledabearonce – Ruining It For Everybody (2011)
Merging colourful, different approaches and genres, iwrestledabearonce managed to create their own unique style metal. Between death metal and metalcore, heavy metal and avant-garde with neo-progressive infusions, iwrestledabearonce seems to delivered an unstoppable album. Their musical style is considered avant-garde metal due to their use of frequent genre changes within songs, including jazz, swing, neo-progressive, grindcore and electronica/disco, on a solid ground of metalcore. Influences for their musical style have come from a wide variety of bands including The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried And Me, Radiohead and Bjork.
Read more iwrestledabearonce – Ruining It For Everybody (2011)
Le Swing Du Lundi – Swing a nouvelle-ville (2011)
Morwenna Le Normand Рvocals, Fred Miossec Рclarinet, Christian H̩l̩ard Рguitar, Erwan Raoul Рguitar and Fran̤ois Chapron Рbass share a common passion: the swing. In their opinion, swing is the cure against monotony, against the cloudy sky and the gray Mondays, swing is the cure for everything.
Chicago, Blue Moon, It don’t Mean a Thing, Honey Suckle Rose are some of their re-swing titles, the French band delivered a nice collection of unforgettable tunes served with style and charm, classy, acoustic, but with fire in it and groovy, still soulful.
Read more Le Swing Du Lundi – Swing a nouvelle-ville (2011)
Archie Shepp and Joachim Kuhn – Wo!Man (2011)
Shepp was born in 1937, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied piano, clarinet and alto saxophone before focusing on tenor saxophone, but occasionally plays also soprano saxophone. He studied drama at Goddard College from 1955 to 1959, but choose the music career.
He played in a Latin jazz band for a short time before joining the band of avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor. Shepp’s first recording under his own name, Archie Shepp – Bill Dixon Quartet, was released on Savoy Records in 1962.
Joachim Kühn, born in 1944 is a German jazz pianist. Kühn studied classical piano and composition with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey, but influenced by his elder brother, clarinetist Rolf Kühn, he simultaneously got interested in jazz. With a trio of his own, founded in 1964,he presented the first free jazz in the GDR (German Democratic Republic, East Germany). In 1966 he left the country and settled in Hamburg and since 1968 he living in Paris. Kühn worked with Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods, Michel Portal, Barre Phillips, Eje Thelin, Ray Lema and Jean-Luc Ponty. During the second half of the 70’s he lived in California and joined the West Coast fusion scene and recorded with Alphonse Mouzon, Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker, and Eddie Gomez. Read more Archie Shepp and Joachim Kuhn – Wo!Man (2011)
Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel – Soundtrack From The Motion Picture (2011)
Think of Lemmy (Motorhead) meets Kyuss and in very few words this is what Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel music’s about. Dirty Rock’N’Roll and Southern/Stoner Rock mixture, raw, quite unpolished, but pulsing, pretty groovy and good as it is. This is not Quantic Physics, don’t have to be Einstein to figure it out. Just like they said: “the recipe is very simple: rock’n’roll, women, engine, whisky and rock’n’roll.” What kind of guy might need something else? Zappa – playing the role of a bad-ass motorcycle man arguing with the Devil – had sang once: “I have small desires, titties and beer…” 😆
Instead of an official bio, these guys from Strasbourg, France also declare: “after been drunk in every bars of the State of the New Mexico, LOS DISIDENTES DEL SUCIO MOTEL come in France to make undulate your small ass.” So, shut up, stand up and move your money maker! 😆 Read more Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel – Soundtrack From The Motion Picture (2011)
Nox – Freaks (2011)
Don’t misunderstand me: this is a pretty cool material. But why “Nox” – the Latin word for “night” – ? There’s a pretty famous Hungarian Pop band using this name,a Death Metal horde from Netherlands, although they were formerly known as Centurian and it seems they shift back to this moniker in 2010 – use/share the same name. And it’s pretty annoying. On a market over-saturated as the music market are, your name is your brand and musicians – artist – I expect to be more inspired, creative, conscious and careful when they pick up their name. Not to mention the possible legal issues and other inconveniences. Actually, it was pretty hard to dig them out on the internet… Others may not bother that much.
Nox (trio) comes from Brussels, Belgium and it’s the project involving Catherine Graindorge – who also plays violin in Monsoon, Elie Rabinovitch – drums and David Christophe – bass. Read more Nox – Freaks (2011)
