-{:(.SINGLES.):}- All Electronic, All the time (Nnls, Aardonyx, Notch, Rameses B, Alex Tune)

Band / Artist: Nnls, Aardonyx, Notch, Rameses B, Alex Tune
Year: 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017
Genre: NRG, Hardcore Techno, Nu Breaks, Electro House, EDM, Electronica, Techno, Trance, House, Drum and Bass, Lo-fi

My Review:

Notch - Listen To The Rhythm / Descent
Some great old style uplifting trance/house stuff. I really enjoy the use of the rhythmic repetition of the vocal tracks and atmospherics. I posted them not long ago actually.

Nnls - Connection
This has a great lo-fi feel and a really well done atmospheric quality.

nnls about the release: „Roads are more comprehensive than any other human sign, nothing is shared more than them, sometimes they last for thousand years. So, while listening to the album you can try to work out road names from titles and draw my own non-existing non-spiral non-jetty.“

Here is the website built as advertising for the full album.

Aardonyx - Dedicated
Drum N Bass is always a welcome return to the table. This one is very similar to Hybrid, for the mix of the techno sound with orchestral suites and ethereal female vocals. Here is their bio.

aardonyx are a UK born production duo writing Drum and Bass in minimal, abstract and liquid styles, with a wide variety of musical influences.
After making music separately for many years they joined forces under the name Aardonyx in 2016.
This is just a taste of what's to come...
For DJ bookings or correspondence please contact theaardonyx@gmail.com  

Rameses B - Russ EP 
This is sort of that Pop-anthem EDM (Electro/House) you hear these days, and its got a good hook to it. Would be good music for a compilation video of someone doing crazy cliffhanging stunts or skiing barefoot on youtube.

Alex Tune - Takes Me Higher
Some gritty Hardcore or Progressive Breaks/NRG/Nu Breaks with that late ninties to 2010 sort of rap-rock singover style going on. I like it some, but I'll need to listen to it when I'm more in the mood.

Arcade Island - Spring EP

Band / Artist: Arcade Island
Year: 2012
Genre: Alternative Rock, Chillwave, Lo-fi, Alternative Pop

My Review:
So this one.. I bet i could have heard songs from this one on the radio about 5 years ago, over and over and over, and i would have hated it, because it would be burned into my head.

Its a one man band, which makes it more impressive, though I guess its less impressive now that the music can be made digitally... I mean, whatever, its good.

This is what he says about this album.

A blending of Electronica and Rock, the album is a collection of works from the past few months. Lots of ambient synths and guitars, big drums with rock bass lines, and with catchy vocals and accessible lyrics ranging from alien abduction to unrequited love. 

Arcade Island started in 2006 in Pennsylvania out of curiosity by Alex Bew, a 21-year-old self-proclaimed nerd with "too much time on his hands". "I don't like making music in just one genre, and I don't like people telling me what to do, so I'll make whatever kind of music I want. Not even Abraham Lincoln can stop me. Although he could probably do a good job of it with his vampire skills and all."

Their Facebook is here.

If you like some of that 2008-2011ish electronic 80's influcenced emo pop.. whatever the hell you'd call it. You should check this out, I dig this one, and some more I've found from him as well. It's well polished.

Arcade Island - Spring EP

I also want to share the bonus album, Youth in Decay. Its obvious that he's gonna evolve a lot. I like this one more.

Arcade Island - Youth In Decay

Yeah Yon - Pasen y Vean

Band / Artist: Yeah Yon
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop, Pop, Rap

My Review:
I swear to god I wrote a whole review for this once already, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how that vanished. Anyway, this is a rap artist from Spain, who I enjoyed, though he isn't my normal style.
He's from the Mesdemil Netlabel, who I've been enjoying the hell out of recently.
I am not about to rewrite all of that I had on here, so I'll just share and hope you enjoy.

Yeah Yon - Pasen y Vean

Aba Made Sound - Nu Afrobeat

Band / Artist: Aba Made Sound
Year: 2012
Genre: Afrobeat, Funk, House

My Review:
Some strong groove, Some great shaking and moving.Its classically afrobeat. That sound that makes you think of the african funk era, just stripped down into something more streamlined and danceable.It sort of becomes this odd funky lounge-dance sound, which can be a great filler for a party at your house.

Since Afrobeat isn't too widespread in america, I'll share a chunk of description from Wikipedia;

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Nigerian and Ghanaian music, jazz, highlife, funk, and chanted vocals,fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. 

This album is created by a group of musicians out of Turin, Italy. Most notabley is Cyberdread who made all of the sampling work come together. Its a good, lively album of longer pieces with lots of cowbell, hand drums, vocal samples, horns. It mixes lo-fi and hi-fi really smoothly, and gives you something that is just engaging enough to make things have an aire of action, while being relaxing at the same time.

Aba Made Sound - Nu Afrobeat

Microbit Project - White Deaf Cat

Band / Artist: Microbit Project
Year: Recorded 2012, Released 2014
Genre: Ambient Techno, Lo-Fi, IDM

My Review:
A sweet, soft, Lo-Fi album of chiptuney IDM type stuff. it has a lot of synth Theramin sounds. Its very melodic, and leaves you in a peaceful place overall. The label released a long post with the album, so here it is.

Microbit Project is a music project by EugenKha.
One of the most creative melodic music producers among poets, and audio explores that puts Russia high up on the underground map of prettiness!

He debuts a very beautiful release on L0bit, delivering all round electronic sweetness. It's something that you will like when you are into good friendly vibes,  that put 'easy listening' way up to to the forefront.

an album about a pretty 'White Deaf Cat' celebrated with lovable melodies, petite cuteness and friendly vibes. Something so adorable that you might scratch your head how on earth this release could be delivered for free! But that was written in the will of the deaf white cat, that this music would be out there for everyone to enjoy, to be cherished and loved!

And for sure this release is all about love! every note you hear, perfectly captured in this ultra friendly sound. These cute music lines that makes you feel like stroking the soft fur of a white deaf cat. It's of grotesque beauty and yet so microscopic small that it will fit in your smallest pocket.

The release comes with two remixes for everyone who just can't get enough of this album! And L0bit assures you, you can't get enough of this album!

Alright, well, go enjoy.

Microbit Project - White Deaf Cat

Lindsay Fuller - Live @ Hearya

Band / Artist: Lindsay Fuller
Year: 2012
Genre: Acoustic, Singer/Songwriter

My Review:
LOOK HERE.

A good album of some sort of live acoustical female music. Its good, heartfelt, and worth a listen.
She has been doing music around quietly, and is originally from Alabama. Here is her website.




I won't keep up with the hoopla, you should just check it out. Because its nice. Scroll halfway down the page and save the tracks.

Lindsay Fuller - Live @ Hearya

Volfoniq - Volfoniq Revisited

Band / Artist: Volfoniq
Year: 2012
Genre: Dub, Hyperdub, Reggae

My Review:
Hyperdub, that thing that happens when people fuck with dub, and mix it with things like Trip hop and Techno or any glitchy electronic music.

Volfoniq is a French electro-dub band, coming from Montpellier. Really pretty place, with mountains and trees galore. I'm also completely not surprised that they would be from France, because the french are totally goo-goo for Reggae and all of its versions. They had an official website.. once. Now its a wall of Japanese text.

All tracks on this were mixed versions of tracks from the album "Ernest", which came out not that long before this one. This isn't the longest album, but it is good, and makes for some nice stuff to throw on when you are out on a wander about town, or just kinda chilling out at home.


Volfoniq - Volfoniq Revisited

MMPSUF - Retina

Band / Artist: MMPSUF
Year: 2012
Genre: Downtempo, Ambient, Acoustic

My Review:
Think about waves at moonlight. Think about alleyways in the crisp dark of an autumn night, with steam rising from vents and floating off to die in the atmosphere. Think about the asphalt spilling by beneath the beams of your headlights as you drive off to another minor chapter of your life.

This music can bring you that. It has this sound reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins (on a serious depression streak) or a softer, more droning track from Camille, and maybe even just a little bit lke some kind of experimental project by Dido. Its beautiful, and soft, and sort of sad, in an acceptant way, like the singer knows there isn't anything to do about it, but sing about how she feels.


mmpsuf live (Eglė Sirvydytė): The Rooms from mmpsuf on Vimeo.

This one is only 5 tracks long, but it unfurls itself to you so wonderfully, that I can't help but be happy for the whole thing just as it is.

MMPSUF - Retina

Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

Band / Artist: Cosby Sweater
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Dubstep, Electro, Jazz Rock

My Review:
Did you watch old 90s anime movies, and find yourself enjoying the tackiness of the synths they used for the background music? Do you ever find yourself walking at night and wishing that somewhere off in the distance, there was a guy soulfully playing a saxophone? Did you fall in love with the wobble base noise the second you first heard of this mythical thing called "Dub of the Steppe"?

Well if you didn't answer any of those questions with a yes, then fuck you. Enjoy this band anyways.

Cosby sweater popped up in a random music search about 6 months ago. I was REALLY enjoying them, but somehow they fell off my radar and into my collection of tracks I needed to review one day. I found them again recently, and remembered why they made me so happy. There is so much going on here, that I'll let someone else try to explain it.

Everything about Cosby Sweater is catchy. From their witty moniker and humorous album covers, to the abounding funk they unleash. The burgeoning trio has established a knack for composing spellbinding numbers in the field of live electronica, fusing slick production with head-turning instrumentation on each robust release. This results is something so effervescent, so hair-raising, that even their most docile efforts could turn a dance-floor upside down

So if that doesn't tell you whats up, then I'll say a pinch more. David Embry on synth and vocals, Nicholas Gerlach on Tenor Saxophone and EWI, and Richard “Sleepy” Floyd on drums.

 

 They remind me a little of Pretty Lights,  but with these parts that remind me of old synthy anime soundtracks, glitchy triphop/dubstep grooves, and then layers of saxphone and warm flourishes over all of it.

If you don't bob your head to this, then you hate freedom.


Cosby Sweater - Hey, Girl, Hey

Ruby The Hatchet - Ouroboros

Band / Artist: Ruby The Hatchet
Year: 2012
Genre:

My Review:
Rock. Grunge. These are things that seem to have died as far as the radio is concerned, but from my end, I'm never happier than now with the bands I find in the grunge (or would it be neo-Grunge status now?) realm.

Ruby The Hatchet is definitely one of these. There never were enough female-fronted grunge-rock bands. This sounds strongly like Cusses, a great used-to-be-local band out of Savannah Georgia, and the Nymphs, a grungy metal-ish band from back in the 90s that only seemed like they released one album.

I have their facebook here.
https://www.facebook.com/rubythehatchet

The wonder of Ruby The Hatchet seems to be in their band dynamic. They have such a deep, heavy sound, which breaks into a solid jam-out riffs and some wonderful groaning vocals that have been dipped into a steaming cup of badass. They definitely rock you hard and steady through most all track on the album.

There are some longer drawn-out guitar solos, run through some very fuzzy filters, and some crisp, heavy drumming, and lots of vocals that raise the bar on quality, because unlike a lot of indie rock bands, they ring loudly and clearly across the top of the sound.

You like good rock? Then FOLLOW THIS BAND.

Ruby The Hatchet - Ouroboros

Halloween - Self Titled

Band / Artist: Halloween
Year: 2012
Genre: Surf Rock, Rockabilly

My Review:
Its Halloween, and last year I did that huge collection of Halloween themed posts. This year, I'm just going to share the band Halloween. They are a 2 man surf rock band that just make some lyric-less jam music.

They are on White Moon Recordings, which says this for itself;

White Moon Recordings is dedicated to finding outsider and homemade music throughout the world and releasing it to people who want to hear new, odd, and genuine sounds.

Hopefully you have a good Halloween, and enjoy some candy and scares.

Halloween - Self Titled

Fissunix - Heavy Metal Mashups Vol. 2 “Louder Than Hell Mix”

Band / Artist: Various Artists, Fissunix
Year: 2012
Genre: Metal, Mashup

My Review:
So I'm back again with something to break out of the chill and sad music that I seem to have been picking for the past few weeks. I guess I'm doing a decent job of shaking my blues, but Heavy Metal mashup tracks will definitely help with that.

This is a compilation, or a mixtape, depending on which you want. I like hearing the original tracks separately a lot of the time, so I have my collection. I love that first track. It amuses me to no end, and also, I can totally rock to it while laughing. Heres the tracklist, I'll let you figure out what songs are mashed for each one.

Fissunix & DJ Schmolli – HairBangers
Dan Mei – Last Ride Of The New Shit
Mad Mix Mustang – 2 Minutes To The Middle Of The Night
Loo & Placido – Antisocial Pigs
Bassnectar Remix – Seek and Destroy
Dj Schmolli – Cold As Superbeast Prometheus
Wax Audio – South Of The Grapevine
Loo & Placido – Black Sab System
Wax Audio – Master Of Doin’ It
DJ Morgoth – Ace Of Spades Feels Good
Dj Schmolli – Rock Of Ages
Dan Mei – Rolling In The Fire And Flames
Tinylightsbelow – Psychosocial Baby
Fissunix – Birth of the Cannibal
Dan Mei – Coat Of Arms Of E.T.
Fissunix – Over wasted years
Fissunix – Grid it up
Wax Audio – Chemical Diver
Dj Schmolli – Cold As Superbeast Prometheus

So I will say that I am not a big fan of every track, some of it is pretty take-it-or-leave-it, but I'm still happy getting some fun metal mashups, people don't mash metal songs nearly enough.If you like any specific track, go check out that artist, because I'll bet you can find some more by them that you enjoy.

Fissunix - Heavy Metal Mashups Vol. 2 “Louder Than Hell Mix”

Mixtape

Separate Tracks

Racing Glaciers - EP

Band / Artist: Racing Glaciers
Year: 2012
Genre: Folk Pop, Indie Alternative

My Review:
I love that front cover.

Its 7 tracks long, and it has a lot of emotion, and quite a bit of tambourine. Its really pleasant, with parts of it sound that vaguely remind me of old U2, but not really, and an overall sound that brings me to question whether it is folky indie, indie alternative, alternative pop, folky pop.. I don't quite know.

The band hails from Macclesfield, UK. They are just starting out, which I think impresses me more. Here is their facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/RacingGlaciers

So my favorite track might be Little River. What track do you like best?

Racing Glaciers - EP

Líam - MMIX

Band / Artist: Líam
Year: 2012
Genre: Experimental, Ambient, Post-rock, Shoegaze

My Review:
I asked a while back for some friends to do a couple reviews of music that they really enjoyed. I've decided that now might be an interesting time to start going through them. Starting out is a review from a close friend of mine whose a synesthetic. Here is her review.

Tagged as “Experimental, ambient, post-rock, shoegaze” on Bandcamp, MMIX by the German band Líam manages to hit all of those points beautifully. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the album since I had never heard the band before, but I was in a post-rock kind of mood and it made me feel like a junkie getting my fix.  Due to the synesthesia, I’m going to have to describe this music mostly in visuals because that’s the easiest way for me to verbalize it.

MMIX oscillates between hard, guitar-diven rock and softer ambient and experimental sounds. The softer music I would describe as pleochroic, stealing the gemologists’ term for a color change that occurs with a shift of light. It’s a little like focusing a camera; overall, the music looks a certain colour and texture, muted greys, soft greens and blues and the occasional lavender, with the smoky nature that only post-rock seems to do well. However, as I focus my ear on a particular instrument, the focus shifts and music changes from a veiled scene to a brilliant shade of orange or blue, with staccato textures I ignored on the highest level. These colours appear against the mist of the greater view, but at a much higher altitude.

In their more vibrant moments, Líam achieves a coherence of purpose among it’s individual sounds, with slightly varying hues moving together and forming a concrete directional movement. Much like watching a turbid spray of water twisting and advancing in minimal gravity, but lit from within with coloured light. In these moments the background, the outer edge of the music, my peripheral musical vision, is not black as it is in most songs, but a deep red or orange still within the visible spectrum.

When Líam returns from their ignition they tend to do so in a void, with focused execution that allows an individual sound to vibrate and move as a lit wavelength, moving in impossible trajectories but always reshaping to an original form. The beautiful lifts and drops of Líam’s music make it easy to simply close your eyes and listen only, doing nothing but appreciating the soundscapes this band is able to produce.

 Well I think that definitely does this justice. I hope you enjoy, and Thank you Ned for sharing some good post rock.

Líam - MMIX

Deadfile - Applied Oneironautics

Band / Artist: Deadfile
Year: 2012
Genre: Post-Rock, Film Score, Instrumental

My Review:
Hey. Are you a dreamer?

I'm back with another Deadfile album. Another sadcore, softy album, filled with keys, violins,and many an analogue wondermaker. This one catches me more than the first one I posted here, with more clarified compositions and melodies.

If I could say one thing about their music, it'd be that I wish there were more lyrical parts. That is pretty much a minimal issue with this album, as it plays with a striking similarity to certain types of film score, as well as reminding me of some old piano compositions i've heard in the past. The sampling layers in really well for most tracks, and I feel like I'd keep this over the first one I posted.

Give it an hour of your time. It was worth it for me.

Deadfile - Applied Oneironautics

Moby - Multi-pack

Band / Artist: Moby
Year:2000-2012
Genre:Ambient Techno, Techno, Choral, Trance, Acoustic

My Review:

Moby introduces mobygratis.com from Moby on Vimeo.

So Moby is still a cool guy. I've always loved the Play & Play B-sides albums. I've had a really hearty cry to some of the tracks on Everything is Wrong. I've danced quietly to some of the tracks off of his multitudes of albums, and sat solemnly to others.

This is a little more of an artists resource than it is a huge collective. Moby releases these songs to be used for any art piece you are making as an independent artist. The goal is to help indie film people make video with a great soundtrack. Either way, you're looking at music from 2000 onward, all there for you to enjoy, so you should enjoy it.

Thanks Mr. Moby.

MobyGratis - Multi-pack of albums

The Astray - Letters

Band / Artist: The Astray
Year: 2012
Genre: Indie Rock, Synth Rock

My Review:
My friend listened through this one while I was passed out in the car on a roadtrip. She hated it.

I listened through it a couple times, and I couldn't see what it was that annoyed her so much. This was her review.

Astray...le review.

If you like that almost emo-ish, post-hardcore, synthy rock...the Astray totally delivers that. mind you, they have a really solid sound that reminds me of Dreamy Thursday or This Day and Age or even a Depeche Mode (they list them as an influence on their Facebook). First time through, this album made me super sleepy (I think it was the dark, windy backroads and synths)...but a second time through, I started to appreciate their sound more. it's surprising to me that they're such a small act, they have a really developed/produced sound.

 I dunno how comprehensible any of that is...I just jotted stuff down. use it however you like.

My review is a little more brief. There is a lot of 80s/90s "underground" rock influence in this album. They seem to have been influenced by Placebo, The Cure, and I cant think of what else off the top of my head, maybe New Order. The singer has a higher pitch,younger voice like you hear from a young version of Placebo, and overall, its a good synth rock album.

The Astray - Letters

Quilty - Masonish

Band/Artist: Quilty
Year: 2012
Genre: Alternative, Alternative rock, Indie rock, Femme rock

My Review:
If you have an ear for Veruca Salt or the Plumtree album I shared, then you should enjoy this one. Quilty might be on hiatus, or just busy with other things. The band has a Tumblr page here http://quiltytherockband.tumblr.com/


The most of it is soft, with some playful circusy moments, and then brooding, tense parts that occassionally burst into a chorus filled with a stifled rage. I listened through this one and the other free EPs offered up for download, and I REALLY enjoy the first and third track on their EP, Strange Matter, which is also up for grabs.

Quilty – Masonish

LIL KIDS - Slow Rainbow

Band / Artist:

Year: 2012
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Soul-RnB, Bastard Pop, Alternative Hip-Hop, ?

My Review:
This is some odd, bastardy, nerdy, sarcastic alternative hiphop that came from Williamsburg, Virginia. The beatmaker goes by Lopato, and the MC, I never saw a specific name for. They've known each other since Middle school.

Its all kinds of easy listening, old funk, psychedelic rock, and old school hiphop blended into beats with a very "Laissez les bon temps roulez" sort of sound on one side, and a gritty, drunken, Don't-give-a-fuck sound on the other. The music isn't much about the self promotion, and it makes the MC look like a nerdyjerk, but in all the ways that your one total jerkface friend is fun to hang around.

If I could describe this music visually, it'd be like smeared, drippy, melty, moldy, rainbow sherbert colors with bits of dirt and glitter in it. Under a blacklight. The video does an alright job of describing it.



Apparently they have since moved to Brooklyn, where the MC complains about getting fat. I can't think of another hiphop set that sounds close enough to reference this, so watch the video, and if you like the music, you should give it a chance.

LIL KIDS - Slow Rainbow

Low Leaf - GiGA GAiA EP

Band / Artist: Low Leaf
Year: 2012
Genre: Harpist, Alternative Pop, RnB, Nu Disco, Alternative Hip-Hop

My Review:

If the last Low leaf album I showcased was like an acoustic little dragon, this would be her taking another step toward their sound. I guess that since this came before, then the last one would be her taking a step away into a direction more her own. Here is her website.

http://www.creatordiy.com/

Don't get me wrong. This isn't an unoriginal work that just rips off someone else, nor does it seem that is her goal. She builds up a funky rhythm all her own, that comes off with the same weirdo groove of Beck, painting with a palette more like contemporary Hip-hop/Pop/RnB/Techno. Its thick and dripping of sounds like Missy Elliot, Squarepusher, Peaches, The Presets, MIA, Mouse On Mars.. I could keep this list going. Frankly, I'm really enjoying the way this album plays. The waves of awesome and weird lap in their own times.

Low Leaf - GiGA GAiA EP