Musical guitar-focused post rock. Spacy in more than one sense.
This release at Cologne-based netlabel Der kleine grüne Würfel comes from ESA’s communication officer, who produces music for a hobby; what a nice surprise! 8 tracks of laid-back, slightly trippy instrumental post rock want to be discovered: Continue reading “Marco Trovatello – [2018] Not At All”
Fun indie ska rock. German band, faux tropical sound, with an air of punk.
Wow, only 9 years after release I come to review this album. 11 tracks of honest ska punk rock, fully equipped with brass section, off-beat guitar riffs and half-screamed lyrics. I find nothing special about this album, but that’s a good thing: it represents its genre well. Continue reading “Boxing Fox – [2009] The Shepherd Hates Us”
Rough indie rock & roll. Simple, straight-up songs without bells & whistles, but with guitar & drums.
Electronic music is rather easy to find online. Good, honest and analogue music is much harder to find. Therefore, it’s great to even find cool, classic rock & roll music. This 4-track EP sounds much older than it is. (Yes, this was a compliment.) Continue reading “The Dots – [2006] The Dots”
Cinematic instrumental post rock. Like an alternative soundtrack to Magnolia, this slow-paced exercise in wackyness.
The inspiration taken from Air cannot be overheard, and is clearly stated in the album’s release notes. So if you like the alternative sound of the French pop duo, give this album a try on a train ride. Continue reading “Wacky Southern Current – [2011] In a Realm of Uncertain Summer”
Solid soft hard rock. Very well recorded and produced vocal rock music; hard to place on the spectrum between soft and hard rock.
Still Pluto do very conventional, very solid rock in North West Russia (Petrozavodsk, to be precise). From there, their music reached me through the catalogue indie rock netlabel Southern City Lab. So if you are tired of the umpteenth minimal techno release, give this source a try. But back to this week’s offer: Continue reading “Still Pluto – [2014] Songs To Mend The Heart Once Been Torn Apart”
Jazzy postrock. A modern classic, surfing hard on genre boundaries.
This gem of a EP, released at now inactive Berlin netlabel 12rec is surprisingly hard to classify. Although it ticks all the boxes of instrumental postrock, the songs touch everything from pop music and jazz harmonics. Jazz in disguise, so to speak. Continue reading “jasmin – [2005] EP02”
Radio-compatible guitar pop rock. Three relaxed songs from Sweden.
The guitar chords come easily with this release, as well as the snares and drums. The arrangements don’t win prizes for originality, yet are crafted with such care that you can even forgive them with opening with the played-to-death four-chord progression. But judge for yourself whether this is for you. Continue reading “Emerald Park – [2011] Reality Bites EP”
Excellent progressive hard rock with strong female vocals. This is one of the early prominent examples of professionally produced, Creative Commons licensed albums out there.
Early listeners on Jamendo equivocally praised it to be one of the best submissions on the platform. While the free music scene has exploded with thousands of artists, this release for me has stood the test of time. The title track made into one of the early Free Music Contest 2010 compilation conducted by Musikpiraten, an association dedicated to making known high quality Creative Commons music. But back to this album: Continue reading “The Nuri – [2009] Masquerade”
(Un)conventional alternative rock. With netlabel blocSonic, it’s hard to not be impressed. I adore how they keep publishing consistently solid to exceptional albums and compilations year after year. The word conventional is meant as a compliment. Although it is not strictly correct: the use of brass instruments and synth sounds clearly is an exception to the rock band formula. Continue reading “Lorenzo’s Music – [2017] Cool ships and heat exchangers”
Electronic post rock greatness. We probably all have heard those drawn-out, long, boring post rock extravaganzas with minutes of continuous distorted guitar sound carpets without sense or measure. This not one of those…
Instead, the genre is enriched by upbeat tracks, careful addition of electronic effects and ornamentation. In short: it sounds pretty fresh! Read on for my two representative picks: Continue reading “Antethic – [2017] Ghost Shirt Society”
