Lars Horntveth ∞ Pooka

1. Pooka
2. Joker
3. Mars Bar (Call For Gary!)
4. Ticks
5. Kahlua Blues
6. News On The March
7. Lesson In Violin
8. Pooka Soundtrack

One of the members of Jaga Jazzist has a solo project and this is it. Not entirely the same as Jaga Jazzist but you can hear some similarities. One of the reasons I enjoy this more than JJ is that this is much more ambient, more focused on strings and has some ingrained electronica roots. There is some absolutely brilliant composing going on here. It’s interesting, different and evokes wonderful emotions.

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Black Dice ∞ Load Blown

1. Kokomo
2. Roll Up
3. Gore
4. Bottom Feeder
5. Scavenger
6. Drool
7. Toka Toka
8. Cowboy Soundcheck
9. Bananas
10. Manoman

Black Dice feels like the electronic-noise equivalent of a jam band. Take an idea or sound and just build, expand and roll with what you have. There is a ridiculous amount of experimentation, varying sounds, strange rhythms and a motif of something like a strange grinding obsession running through this album. This is definitely not for the average listener, and it takes some determination, but it feels less like what is happening and more like how it is happening.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor ∞ Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada

1. Moya
2. Blaise Bailey Finnegan III

This is a straight-forward release by GY!BE. A great EP to give you an extra GY!BE fix for when you need it. I can describe this record the same exact way I can describe any other album by this band. Great post rock. An interesting tidbit though, the “poem” recited by “BBFIII” is actually the lyrics to an Iron Maiden song.

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Quoc Duong ∞ Quoc Moon Duong

1. All My Stuff
2. Mine
3. One Umbrella
4. Just Dandy
5. Where the Sun Has Gone
6. Smartest Man
7. Flat
8. Whore
9. Please Stay
10. Track
11. I Know
12. Devil Town
13. Sleeping On The Mississippi
14. Here Again

This album comes from a friend of mine from school who has made here some very nice, extremely lo-fi acoustic tracks. At the start with “All My Stuff” and “Mine” the album doesn’t start of incredibly strong, but soon the quality of both the songs and the recordings begins to increase dramatically. The LP continues to get better and better and by the end it just puts it on cruise control for the last couple of tracks. This isn’t a genre that I listen to a whole lot, but I found listening to this was enjoyable and I’m not just saying that because he’s a buddy of mine. If you like almost minimal acoustic lo-fi songs, a bit it in the light of Neutral Milk Hotel, go ahead and give this a definite try.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor ∞ Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

1. Storm
2. Static
3. Sleep
4. Antennas To Heaven

My favorite Godspeed You! Black Emperor album starting with the incredible opener, “Storm”, which easily fits into one of my most favorite tracks of all time. The beauty and scale the bands brings to the table on this proper album is absolutely unmatched and yet to be unrivaled by any followers of theirs in this genre. GY!BE are the kings of apocalyptic post-rock and it is shown in full force with this record. It feels like a more innocent and less corrupted version of f#a#∞, where that album was full of pain, this is full of hope. The title of the record alone presents this image of some sort of redemption. Again, there is the beautiful mixture of field recordings, guitars, orchestral, percussive and noise instruments to create a unique sound for this innovative and talented band.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor ∞ f#a#∞

1. The Dead Flag Blues
- The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)
- Slow Moving Trains
- The Cowboy…
- (Outro)
2. East Hastings
- ‘…Nothing’s Alrite in Our Life…’ / Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)
- The Sad Mafioso…
- Drugs in Tokyo
- Black Helicopter
3. Providence
- Divorce and Fever…
- Dead Metheny..
- Kicking Horse on Brokenhill
- String Loop Manufactured During Downpour…
- (silence)
- J.L.H. Outro

An absolutely essential record from the godfathers of modern day ambient post-rock. GY!BE created a beyond ethereal experience with this record that still transcends most music today. The name of the album is derived from particulars of the vinyl pressings, where side one began with an F#, side two with a A# and as the needle reaches the final groove it overlaps onto itself and begins a never ending loop (infinity). Like most music that “doesn’t require your attention, but rather rewards it”, it’s best to become fully immersed into the music. Listen to it in a dark room in the middle of the night and every sound takes center stage. Incorporating incredible spoken dialogue, some light “singing” but mostly full instrumentation and noise aspects, this is a record that draws you into a full circle of fear, regret, desire and hope.

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Mount Metropolis ∞ Susurrate

myspax

1. Across the Courtyard
2. Colder is Better
3. She’s Gone
4. Fossil Computer
5. Growing Up
6. Intermission
7. Poetry
8. Lobby Music
9. Mr. Kaneda
10. Susurrate
11. Happiness

Some more of my own music. More a traditional album rather than an EP. Hope whoever listens, enjoys. I’m not signed or anything, and right now making music is just a hobby. This album in particular is made with heavy use of sampling. 95% of the sounds used are samples, and makes for some nice indie, experimental electronic.

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Kashiwa Daisuke ∞ Program Music I

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1. Stella
2. Write Once, Run Melos

One of the most impressive releases to come out in a very long while. Program Music I is absolutely brilliant experimental electronic combined with beautiful modern classical to create some of the most interesting music to listen to for an hour. The opener, Stella, is one of my new favorite tracks…ever.

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Apparat ∞ Walls

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1. Not A Number
2. Hailin’ From The Edge
3. Useless Information
4. Limelight
5. Holdon
6. Fractales Pt. 1
7. Fractales Pt. 2
8. Birds
9. Arcadia
10. You Don’t Know Me
11. Headup
12. Over and Over
13. Like Porcelain

Probably the strongest electronic albums of 2007, and a great ensemble of just about every faction of electronic music ever imagined, from dance, to indietronic, to experimental, to minimal.

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Animal Collective ∞ Sung Tongs

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1. Leaf House
2. Who Could Win A Rabbit
3. The Softest Voice
4. Winters Love
5. Kids On Holiday
6. Sweet Road
7. Visiting Friends
8. College
9. We Tigers
10. Mouth Wood Her
11. Good Lovin’ Outside
12. Whaddit I Done

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Mount Metropolis ∞ Everyone We Know – EP

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1. Youth
2. Everyone We Know
3. Green Rain
4. Morning, South

Shameful, I know, but I can put up my own music if I want. Yes, I made my own music. If you give it a listen, thanks.

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Normal Quality (192kbs)

múm ∞ Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is Okay

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1. I’m 9 Today
2. Smell Memory
3. There Is A Number of Small Things
4. Random Summer
5. Asleep On a Train
6. Awake On a Train
7. The Ballad of Broken Birdie Records
8. The Ballad of Broken String
9. Sunday Night Just Keeps On Rolling
10. Slow Bicycle

Probably one of my most favorite electronic albums of all time, and definitely up on my list of favorite overall albums. It’s charming, experimental, and beautiful. The album has a growing, seemingly self-referential maturity that runs through the album and almost forces nostalgia on the listener; not a bad thing at all.

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múm ∞ Go, Go Smear The Poison Ivy

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1. Blessed Brambles
2. A Little Bit, Sometimes
3. They Made Frogs Smoke ‘Til They Exploded
4. These Eyes Are Berries
5. Moon Pulls
6. Marmalade Fires
7. Rhuubarbidoo
8. Dancing Behind My Eyelids
9. School Song Misfortune
10. I Was Her Horse
11. Guilty Rocks
12. Winter (What We Never Were After All)

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M.I.A. ∞ Kala

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1. Bamboo Banga
2. Bird Flu
3. Boyz
4. Jimmy
5. Hussel
6. Mango Pickle Down River
7. 20 Dollar
8. World Town
9. The Turn
10. XR2
11. Paper Planes
12. Come Around

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Explosions in the Sky ∞ The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

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1. First Breath After Coma
2. The Only Moment We Are Alone
3. Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean
4. Memorial
5. Your Hand in Mine

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Explosions in the Sky ∞ All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

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1. The Birth and Death of the Day
2. Welcome, Ghosts
3. It’s Natural to be Afraid
4. What Do You Go Home To?
5. Catastrophe and the Cure
6. So Long, Lonesome

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Explosions in the Sky ∞ How Strange, Innocence

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1. A Song For Out Fathers
2. Snow and Lights
3. Magic Hours
4. Look Into the Air
5. Glittering Blackness
6. Time Stops
7. Remember Me as a Time of Day

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Yppah ∞ You Are Beautiful At All Times

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1. Ending With You
2. I’ll Hit the Breaks
3. Again With Subtitles
4. The Subtleties That Count
5. We Aim
6. What’s the Matter?
7. In Two, the Weakly
8. Almost That Category
9. Good Like That
10. Cannot See Straight
11. It’s Not the Same
12. Longtime

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Candy Bars ∞ On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narravation

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1. Landscape
2. Works Cited
3. Violets
4. The Flood in Your Old Town
5. A Family Photo Taken At An Aquarium
6. Lovesong Lake
7. The Birthday Song
8. You Were Always a Horse
9. Enough To Choke a Cold Air
10. Winter is a Cathedral
11. The Basque Country

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Line ∞ Neu – EP

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1. Neu
2. Rain on a Sunny Day

Some pretty fucking awesome electronic noise.

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Digable Planets ∞ Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space)

©Capitol

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1. It’s Good To Be Here
2. Pacifics
3. Where I’m From
4. What Cool Breezes Do
5. Time & Space (A New Refutation Of)
6. Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That)
7. Last of the Spiddyocks
8. Jimmi Diggin’ Cats
9. La Femme Fétal
10. Escapsim (Gettin’ Free)
11. Appointment At the Fat Clinic
12. Nickel Bags
13. Swoon Units
14. Examination of What

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Daedelus ∞ Denies the Day’s Demise

©Mush

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1. At My Heels
2. Sundown
3. Nouveau Nova
4. Vida Vida
5. Samba Legrand
6. Like Clockwork Springs
7. Lights Out
8. Bahia
9. Our Last Stand
10. Patent Pending
11. Sawtooth EKG
12. Dreamt of Drowning
13. Sunrise
14. Petite Samba
15. Never None the Wiser

Denies the Day’s Demise is an interesting title for Daedelus’s last album before he started to delve into more house, electro sorts of music. This album has the last hints of his jazz, classical, electronic beginnings and all of the clues for his newer musics. I had the opportunity to see Daedelus live, but what I heard that night was dance music, which was great, but I had half expected his usual affair of a downtempo electronica genre melting-pot. Denies the Day’s Demise creates the atmosphere that Daedelus has been successfully able to exude for a long while now. It fits his British Victorian outfits and badass muff chops. His classical, in the park jazz band, dance music has a unique flavor and sticks in your head at a more subconscious level.

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Plaid ∞ TekkonKinkreet OST

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1. This City
2. Rat’s Step
3. This City Is Hell
4. Brother’s Chase
5. Butterfly
6. Oasis
7. Beginnings
8. Snakeing
9. Open Kastle
10. Assassouts
11. Safety in Solitude
12. Where?
13. White’s Dream
14. Bonus Track – Asian Kung-Fu Generation

TekkonKinkreet is a damn good movie, though it isn’t very popular, or well known. I watched the movie and loved every aspect, especially the soundtrack. I only later realized that Plaid was behind the OST. This music gives the film that perfect cinematic, other-worldliness which suits the style of the movie. The opener, “This City” is hauntingly beautiful, which can be said about most of the songs. The mood is set by the music, and the film’s feelings are accentuated and created through this music. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, or even heard of it, I recommend this album. Plaid is brilliant IDM and this only goes to show how capable of musicians they are.

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Mouse On Mars ∞ Ideology

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1. Actionist Respoke
2. Subsequence
3. Presence
4. The Illking
5. Catching Butterflies With Hands
6. Doit
7. First : Break
8. Introduce
9. Unity Concepts
10. Paradical
11. Fantastic Analysis

This is the Mouse on Mars album that I associate with jazz electronica or just plain good ole’ fashioned, experimental electronic. Probably my favorite Mouse on Mars album, Ideology is just a nice head-bopping trip down to crazy town, while this provides the soundtrack as you float away on a cloud. The beauty of Ideology is that it takes seemingly quirky sounds and matches them up with nice traditional instrumented melodies, like on “Catching Butterflies with Hands”, or takes quirky electronics and matches them up with quirky instrumental melodies, such as on “Subsequence”. It’s beautiful and trippy and out of the ordinary and I love every second of it.

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Caribou ∞ Andorra

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1. Melody Day
2. Sandy
3. After Hours
4. She’s the One
5. Desiree
6. Eli
7. Sundialing
8. Irene
9. Niobe

Lately, there has a nice trend in the indie rock community to recall the styles of the early surf rock era of music made more popular by the Beach Boys. It’s as if these bands picked up a copy of Pet Sounds and decided use it as inspiration for their next albums. Animal Collective did it, Panda Bear did it, hell, Boris is doing it a bit, and finally Caribou has done it. Andorra is a fun album to listen, while it combines the sweeping vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys, packed with sunny melodies, Caribou still sticks to his electronica roots. It’s not wholly groundbreaking, especially with the gang of other bands that seem to be doing the same thing, but Caribou does it well, and well enough to really enjoy.

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Mouse On Mars ∞ Radical Connector

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1. Mine Is Yours
2. Wipe That Sound
3. Spaceship
4. Send Me Shivers
5. Blood Comes
6. The End
7. Detected Beats
8. All the Old Powers
9. Evoke an Object

I like to think that Mouse On Mars want to project a certain theme with each of their records. I’ve come to a conclusion for most of their albums, and for Radical Connector, they feature the sound of voice. Whether the song is pushed along with unaltered singing or whether voice is cut up and edited to make some sort of melody, vocals are used throughout almost all of the album, and of course, there is the wonderful experimental electronic that Mouse on Mars is well known for, to provide the stage for these singers. What I love about Mouse on Mars is that they either execute this either well or brilliantly, and not much less than that.

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Animal Collective ∞ Here Comes the Indian

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1. Native Belle
2. Hey Light
3. Infant Dressing Table
4. Panic
5. Two Sails on a Sound
6. Slippi
7. Too Soon

I find it a bit intriguing that a band like Animal Collective started out making stranger music, then moved on to more accessible albums like Strawberry Jam or Feels. They gained some popularity with their off the wall, tribal, experimental noise albums like Here Comes the Indian, made a name for themselves, then used it to make catchy electronic indie pieces. It makes me think about what kind of music they set out to make. Either way, it shows the creativity of this band. Here Comes the Indian is a unique and visceral outing from Animal Collective, combining chants, drums, drones, and clapping to make music that you can’t tell whether is beautiful or ugly, but ends up as a big mush of everything.

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Simon Finn ∞ Pass the Distance

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1. Very Close Friend
2. The Courtyard
3. What A Day
4. Fades (Pass the Distance)
5. Jerusalem
6. Where’s Your Master Gone
7. Laughing ‘Til Tomorrow
8. Hiawatha
9. Patrice
10. Big White Car

Simon’s obsession with Christ and the apocalypse make for a harrowing adventure. Reissued by Current 93’s front man, David Tibet, this obscure gem has been out of print since the 70’s. As a very rare record, like most of the best, Simon Finn goes to show that there’s a lot of serious listening were missing out of, and if your into the likes of comus and syd barrett I strongly recomend this.

5/5

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Alarm Will Sound ∞ Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin

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1. Cock/Ver 10
2. Logon Rock Witch
3. Meltphace 6
4. Blue Calx
5. Fingerbib
6. Gwely Mernans
7. 4
8. Prep Gwarlek 3B
9. Omgyjya Switch 7
10. Cliffs
11. Jynweythek Ylow
12. Mt. Saint Michel
13. Avril 14th
14. Prep Gwarlek 3B (Dennis Desantis Remix)
15. Cliffs (Dennis Desantis Remix)

Of all the music to attempt to perform with an orchestra, the insane complexity and seemingly inhuman arrangements of Aphex Twin would be much lower on the list. But I suppose someone like Steve Reich would be the perfect candidate to take on the challenge. In most cases, the songs on this acoustic version of Aphex Twin are just merely interesting renditions. “Avril 14th” sounds exactly the same and “4″ sounds about as close at it possibly could. Other songs, however, sound better then original. I would rather listen to Alarm Will Sound’s version of “Logon Rock Witch” which features prettier sounds and flowing strings. It’s fun to listen this album just to hear the intricacies included by a 20 piece orchestra, translated from some incredible experimental electronica.

3.7/5

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Cloud Cult ∞ Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)

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1. No One Said It Would Be Easy
2. Everyone Here is a Cloud
3. The Tornado Lessons
4. When Water Comes to Life
5. Must Explore
6. Journey of the Featherless
7. The Ghost Inside Our House
8. It’s What You Need
9. Story of the Grandson of Jesus
10. Hurricane and Fire Survival Guide
11. May Your Hearts Stay Strong
12. The Will of a Volcano
13. Love You All

When I first heard Cloud Cult, I was in the backseat of a car, maybe under the influence of something…but what I heard I thought was amazing music that I’ve heard all before. There was a discussion, if I remember correctly, about the quality of the lyrics and such. On a second listen while sober, I found my third guilty pleasure in the last year. The first being The Most Serene Republic’s Population, the second being The Deadly Syndrome’s The Ortolan. I’m a sucker for sappy indie art-rock, I suppose. There is such a melancholy hopefulness about this sort of music that always seems to put me in the right mood, and Feel Good Ghosts does just that, however, I like that Cloud Cult has put a nice electronic flavor to the album. All of the songs are pretty solid, though nothing stands out quite like the final vocoded-operatic ballad, “Love You All”, that is the epitome of sappy indie art-rock, which makes for an incredible cherry on top.

4.37654573/5

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Sunosis ∞ Warmed

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1. Leap
2. Plato
3. Bleeder
4. Live Long
5. Flint
6. Harfeda
7. Assured Pass

Sonosis was thinking clearly or not at all when he decided to put an absolutely exceptional track right at the beginning of this album. It always manages to suck me in and continue listening to the rest. I wish I was impressed with the rest of the album as much as I was with “Leap”. I’m not hating on the rest of the songs though. Sunosis has created here, a very listenable album, full of wonderful ambient, IDM electronica, and the final song reminded me of my love of Boards of Canada. Maybe the opening track should not have been where it was in the context of the rest. To hear an amazing song when the rest don’t quite reach the same level, leaves a bit of a hole.

3.62342349/5

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Doi ∞ Sing The Boy Electric

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1. The Sea
2. In Your Sigh
3. Missing
4. Cars. Alarms.
5. Beneath the Breeze
6. Where Rivers Turn
7. Ponds
8. Grained Departures
9. Unraveled and Tangled
10. The Unlikely Event

Doi is the much better than your average jazz-influenced, ambient, post-rock band. Beautiful in the way of bands like Múm, but doesn’t have that charming, childlike innocence. Unlike usual post-rock, where it’s sometimes hard to miss the subtle beauty of the music, Doi just decides to present it’s grace right in front of you. The voice here is used, seemingly just as if it were another instrument. I could draw comparisons to Múm all day long for this band, from it’s electronics, accordians, and delightful vibes, but really, there is a lot more to this music than that, and I’m really tired…it’s a good album.

4.000002324/5

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MSTRKRFT ∞ Bounce

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1. Bounce (feat. N.O.R.E. – Radio Version)
2. Bounce (feat. N.O.R.E. – Extrended Version)
2. Vuvuvu

A simple release by the electro masters MSTRKRFT. They seem to have gotten a hip-hop artist to give them some self-referential rap for their music now, which is pretty cool. Basic stuff from these guys, still good stuff. Makes you want to jump up and down awkwardly and pump your fist in the air a little bit, but put it back down because no one else seems to be doing the same thing. Then you go crazy after they do a build up and have a generally awesome time. Oh wait, I forgot that this isn’t one of their concerts…The single also includes another pretty cool song, “Vuvuvu”. Reminds me a lot of SebastiAn.

3.4/5

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Edan ∞ Primitive Plus

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1 ‘83 Wildin
2 One Man Arsenal
3 Humble Magnificent
4 Migraine (Almighty Dust Mix)
5 Key • Bored
6 Emcees Smoke Crack
7 #1 Hit Record
8 Syllable Practice (Original)
9 Rapperfection
10 Mic Manipulator
11 Primitive Plus
12 You Suck
13 Run That Shit!
14 Ultra ‘88 (Tribute)
15 Syllable Practice (12″ Version)
16 A.E.O.C.
17 Sing It, Shitface

This is my favorite hip-hop album. Ever.

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Eyedea & Abilities ∞ E&A

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01 Reintroducing
02 Now
03 Kept
04 Exhausted Love
05 Star Destroyer
06 Paradise
07 One Twenty
08 Man Vs. Ape
09 Get Along
10 Two Men And A Lady
11 E&A Day
12 Act Right
13 Glass

A straightforward release by a very talented duo. Eyedea’s lyrics aren’t particularly notable but his delivery is exceptional, and as always Abilities provides some very solid performances on the wheels of steel.

3.5/5

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Kid Spatula ∞ Meast

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DISC 1:

1. Housewife
2. Shistner’s Bassflex
3. Spacious Hallway
4. Further 2
5. Tugboat
6. P.V.
7. Local Jogger
8. Harpsichord
9. Trike
10. Residue
11. Carrier
12. Disclosed
13. Jackal
14. It Starts With Bongos
15. Squirms
16. Bobby
17. Grandwash

DISC 2:

1. Sad & Solid
2. Off Lemon
3. Orange Crumble
4. Detlev Bronk
5. Upton
6. Weiro
7. Peg
8. Lesque
9. Mocaseg
10. Go Ya Lo
11. Measty
12. Member
13. Mighty Softstep
14. My Piano & Me
15. Round
16. Buttress
17. Broccoli

A pseudonym of the omnipresent Mike Paradinas, Kid Spatula can best be described as a combination of IDM and electro; the fuzzy, noisy percussion of opening track ‘Housewife’ is unlike anything commonly conjured by Paradinas’ name (and perhaps the highlight of the album), while melodic pieces such as ‘Orange Crumble’ are a gentle reminder that, yes, this is the µ-Ziq we know and love. The album is both accessible and experimental, with each of the 34 tracks presenting their own style and flavor. It is, however, a far departure from the breaks and and bass of works such as Bilious Paths, though perhaps an omen of things to come with last year’s release of the synthie Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique. Not the best thing Mike has ever released, but a compelling work nonetheless.

π/5

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Sun Ra ∞ The Magic City

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1. The Magic City
2. The Shadow World
3. Abstract Eye
4. Abstract “I”

The Magic city is much in the vien of sunra’s impulse relase, “Atlantic”. A theramin and stand up bass support this skeletal piece, totally worth getting.  Sun Ra is essential to any one who has an imagination.

5/5

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File/Uploading Issues

MassMirror is being a bitch to us right now, and we don’t know why. We have decided to stray away from MassMirror so bear with us as we get some downloading issues resolved. Thanks.

Miles Davis ∞ Bitches Brew

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Disc One:
1. Pharaoh’s Dance
2. Bitches Brew

Disc Two:
1. Spanish Key
2. John McLaughlin
3. Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
4. Sanctuary

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Not much can really be said about Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, unless it’s critical acclaim about the genius of this record. Free jazz at it’s finest, Miles Davis and group of ragtag jazz musicians have put forth a record for the history books. Just the amount of new sound and styles that ooze out of this album is nearly mind blowing. Genres mix and mingle as if they were all friends at some crazy night club just chilling out, having full conversations with each other. The din of the crowd makes for incredible music, and revolutionary as well. But enough of my boring rant, because what is more interesting is the record itself. During the recording session, the musicians were merely given a tempo, mood, and a basic melody. There are parts in the songs where the voice of Davis is heard giving directions to some of the musicians. They basically created a new genre of jazz with this record, and we can tell from the use of a heavy rhythm section all of the brilliant uses of genre being molded and transformed from one to another. Typical jazz would suddenly turn to a rock pattern back to jazz then on to something else. The unexpectedness and brilliance of the music constantly keeps you along for the ride and doesn’t let up until the last seconds. Just listen for yourself.

5/5

UPDATE: Disc 1 Download link is now fixed.
UPDATE 2: Disc 2 download link is now fixed.

Smell Yo Dick ∞ Riskay

Alright, so it’s officially 1 o’clock in the morning and I don’t have an album for everyone, but I have the next best thing. A music video. Right now, this is probably my favorite of the week, if not the month. It’s beautiful and heartfelt, and everyone should listen to it, if they haven’t already heard it. Most likely, a sleeper hit, but a classic nonetheless. Enjoy.

Kiln

 Holo [re_lux]

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1. Breeze Plate
2. Squarewave Colorwheel
3. Toypieceplate
4. Dodecatheon
5. Sunsculpture.One
6. Sienna
7. Kekker
8. Gauss
9. Billionwatt
10. Continentsunderclouds
11. Sunsculpture.Two

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Dusker

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1. Fyrepond
2. The Colorfreak
3. Templefrog
4. Rustdusk
5. Airplaneshadows
6. Flycatcher
7. Arq
8. Rua
9. Korsaire [Airplaneshadows Rebuild]
10. Sunsethighway
11. Tigertail

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Kiln does an interesting job of staying ambient but still not boring you to death. When listen to certain ambient music, you forget that you were listening to it in the first place. Whether this is a pro or con is just opinion, but either way, both of these albums by Kiln do a good job of holding on softly to your ears, almost whispering its sound into your brain. First there is Kiln’s Holo, which is pretty good, but it’s easy to see that they haven’t quite found their perfect pitch yet, though it’s still amazing that this album is just now ten years old. Not revolutionary, but still an achievement for its day. We can begin to hear the inner-workings of what kind of music Kiln is trying to make here. That soft fusion of electronics and somewhat traditional instruments, like electric/acoustic guitars and pianos. There is a dreamlike pad floating through the song “Sienna” while around the corner an acoustic guitar is playing a sweet melody, until they come together for their duet. Kiln’s strongest songs, such as “Sienna” are when they get the mix just right. This is why Dusker turns out to be such a great album. Nearly ten years later Kiln produces an album well worth the effort. It’s deep and beautiful and clings to your memory almost like a dream. Electronics and organics have found a nice marriage in this album. On the downside, Kiln, it seems do nothing to truly break the mold of IDM and electronic music the like. What they do, they do well, but much more can’t be said for them. They produce easily listenable albums, pleasant for the mind and ears, though the music never really reaches into the mind, but merely comforts it. There is some genius here, but it shows more in the talent and creativity, rather than the experimental. Though, I can’t help but love them.

Holo: 3.47573553/5
Dusker: 3.95384753/5

Russian Circles ∞ Enter

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1. Carpe
2. Micah
3. Death Rides a Horse
4. Enter
5. You Already Did
6. New Macabre

The difference between post-rock and metal can range from huge, to a very fine line. I would not consider Explosions in the Sky metal, but I would at the same time, not consider Isis post-rock, but at the same time they both share qualities. Both use traditional instruments like guitars, bass and drums to create heavy sonic soundscapes, but while EITS is a lot more melodic and more ambient, Isis is a lot heavier and sludgier. EITS is considered more “post-rock” while Isis is considered more metal. Russian Circles is one of those bands that skips along either line, not quite being metal and not quite being post-rock but something right in the middle. The upshot of this is that it makes for some interesting music. Though, Russian Circles are not the only band around to make deeply melodic metal, they do do it well. It feels like they take beautiful, moody and apocalyptic harmonies and hammer them into our skulls with face-melting metal. Post-rock is an interesting genre that spans and feeds off of an amalgam of different styles. It can range from ambient to sludge with very little effort. Russian Circles gives us a little taste on how this can be done.

3.92352457/5

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Gui Boratto ∞ Chromophobia

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1. Scene 1
2. Mr. Decay
3. Terminal
4. Gate 7
5. Shebang
6. Chromophobia
7. The Blessing
8. Malá Strana
9. Acróstico
10. Xilo
11. Beautiful Life
12. Hera
13. The Verdict

The term “minimal” is thrown around quite loosely nowadays. If it doesn’t sound complicated, it isn’t. Slap a minimal tag on there and suddenly it isn’t questioned. The problem with most “minimal” electronic is that it isn’t. It is quite a bit more complicated than it lets on to be, leaving most people to assume otherwise, however on a album like Chromophobia, one could mistake this album as minimal tech-house, but there is more than what is on the surface. Accompanied with a steady beat is an entire world of clicks, saw, static hits, and other earthy sounds which make a nice accompanied mix to the electronics. It soon becomes easy to see as the album progresses the intricacies of the music within the music. The way all sorts of sounds are mixed and sort to make different rhythms (“Gate 7″). Two tracks with two different beats combine to create a wholly new one. While this album isn’t near perfect, where is should have ended at the masterpeice and brilliance that “Beautiful Life”, it’s hard to hate it. We could take a look at the album art for this album, and see Gui’s outlook. Simple, solid colored circles, something minimal, combined to make different shapes and colors, complex.

4.0000001/5

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The Field ∞ From Here We Go Sublime

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1. Over the Ice
2. A Paw In My Face
3. Good Things End
4. The Little Heart Beats So Fast
5. Everyday
6. Silent
7. The Deal
8. Sun & Ice
9. Mobilia
10. From Here We Go Sublime

Can ambient music ever be dance music? Can dance music ever be ambient music? I suppose its all in the execution and what you decide to give us depends on how we perceive what the music is. The Field makes a distinction by giving us both, taking what would seem to be an ambient song, adding a beat under it and suddenly making it into something worth dancing it, or at least some enthusiastic head nodding. What is easy to see about The Field’s music is that it is a rhythmic, loop-oriented, edit of what seems to be pre-existing songs, though the amount of change is so drastic that there would have no way to guess. Our only hint is what he gives us. Take for example, the end of “A Paw In My Face”. Throughout the entire song, it seems like some sort of folk-electro dance mix. Wee start to hear more and more elements of the song take center stage, until the final release at the end, revealing the actual song, and at this point your head is blown to realize that what you just heard came from this. Brilliant in it’s execution and satisfying in it’s creativity.

4.22835723/5

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65daysofstatic ∞ One Time For All Time

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1. Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here
2. Await Rescue
3. 23Kid
4. Welcome to the Times
5. Mean Low Water
6. Climbing on Roofs (The Desperate Edit)
7. The Big Afraid
8. 65 Doesn’t Understand You
9. Radio Protector

This is the first 65daysofstatic album that I ever listened to, and still holds its place as my favorite. There is a brilliant collaboration between electronics and fast paced rock. Heavy guitars and impossible drumming give the entire album a not quite human sense. Most of the songs have a wonderful contrast between sound grimy and dirty, but at the same time have pretty little harmonies. It’s not the typical metal that makes you feel like punching someone in the face around you. It makes you want to stand side by side with someone around you and fight for some crazy cause, whether you know you’re going to fail or not. A song like “Radio Protector” will stick with you after the album is over. The sweeping piano and innocent bells are accompanied by almost tribal drumming, accumulating into an insane burst of fury then dying off slowly. Sorry that this review sucks. I’m tired…

4.3001100011011/5

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Sufjan Stevens ∞ Illinoise

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1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience, But You’re Going to Have to Leave Now, or, “I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!”
3. Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
7. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
8. One Last “Whoo-Hoo!” for the Pullman
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjuction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbours!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
17. Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth
19. The Seer’s Tower
20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier / Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21. Riffs & Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds and The King of Swing, to Name a Few
22. Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run

When this album first came out, I knew very little of Sufjan Stevens, mostly meaning that I had never heard of him before, but Illinoise started getting critical acclaim. I’m a sucker for critical acclaim, so I got of the album. At this time in my life I had never heard anything like this before. It was all completely new to me. What was this strange sound that I was hearing? A quiet man singing in front of a small orchestra while he played it banjo. And what’s better, it sounded good. What struck me the most about Illinoise is the absolutely brilliant composition, especially on a track like “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” which still gets to me every time that I hear it again. But just about every song is like this. Take beautiful layer, mix with another, add on another, add another, take away another, and so on, and many times I was reminded of the genius of Steve Reich. There are points in songs where it all comes together and I’m blown away by how majestic it all sounds. Aside from the gorgeous music, are the lyrics by Sufjan. One highlight is probably, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” where he sings a little ballad about the pedo-serial killer. It’s creepy, yes, but at the same time it’s sad and heartbreaking. Also, I put forth Exhibit A from the song “Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!”: “Steven A. Douglas was a great debater, But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator.” Really, I don’t know why I am putting this for people to download, everyone should have this already! Either way, we are helping the musically impaired.

5/5

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Set Fire to Flames ∞ Sings Reign Rebuilder

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1. ‘I Will Be True…’
2. Vienna Arcweld / Fucked Gamelan / Rigid Tracking
3. Steal Compass / Drive North / Disappear
4. Wild Dogs of the Thunderbolt
5. Omaha
6. There Is No Dance in Frequency and Balance
7. Cote D’Abrahams Room Tone
8. Love Song for 15 Ontario
9. Injur: Gutted Two-Track
10. When I First Get To Phoenix
11. Shit-Heap-Gloria Of The New Town Planning…
12. Jesus / Pop
13. Esquimalt Harbour
14. Two Tears In A Bucket
15. Fading Lights Are Fading

The album cover reminds us f#a#∞ by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and the opening “on the street” audio give us the same sense, and the band holds a few members of Godspeed, the entire album consists of building and receding ambient drone made by guitars and strings, various strange folk speaking throughout some of the songs, and that desolate feeling of despair mixed with the beautiful pain of the music. Hell, Sings Reign Rebuilder seems just like another GY!BE album.

From the wiki: It was recorded in a century old house (either named or later dubbed 15 Ontario) apparently bound for destruction. From the liner notes: “your bulldozers and wrecking ball can make match-sticks out of the rickety staircase and crookt/creaking floorboards—but they can’t erase the recording that was made here.” An underlying concept in the work is the lyingdyingwonderbody, which consist of spoken word passages dealing with theoretical and political concepts that concern global climate and love. The police car at the end of “Love Song for 15 Ontario” was purely unintentional but was credited as performing nonetheless.

4.0129381231/5

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Fridge ∞ Happiness

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1. Melodica and Trombone
2. Drum Machines and Glockenspiel
3. Cut Up Piano and Xylophone
4. Tone Guitar and Drum Noise
5. Five Four Child Voice
6. Sample and Clicks
7. Drums Bass Sonics and Edit
8. Harmonics
9. Long Singing

Fridge is the collaborative effort of Kieran Hebden of the famous Four Tet, Adem Ilhan of Adem and another guy named Sam Jeffers, who decided one day to make an incredible fusion of methodical electronics and heart-melting post-rock elements. What they did right was just about everything, what they did wrong, I will say, came from no fault of theirs. Happiness is an album that is hard to really appreciate during the casual listen, especially if you’re not paying close enough attention. Admittedly, on the first one or two listens, I was not wholly impressed. I didn’t even remember what the music sounded like, so it went off into the background of my music library. A while later, I noticed the album and decided to give it another shot. This time I really got into it, from it’s ambient beginnings to, post-rock mid-section, and accumulation end. What struck me was how much I should have like this album from the beginning, but I had to think back to all of my favorite albums, where I didn’t even like them until the second or third listen. This is a funny thing about music. You can’t always know with first impressions, and albums can be loved or hated by pure circumstance, whether it depends on where you are, what is happening around you, or if you’re even listening, because sometimes, you just have to slide on those headphones and just…listen. Maybe you’ll find (H,h)appiness.

4.54832220984/5

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Goblin ∞ Suspiria

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1. Suspiria
2. Witch
3. Opening to the Sighs
4. Sighs
5. Markos
6. Black Forest
7. Blind Concert
8. Death Valzer
9. Suspiria (Celesta and Bells)
10. Suspiria (Narration)
11. Suspiria (Intro)

This was probably in the hay-day of genuinely creepy ass horror movie music, along side with soundtracks like the Exorcist. Probably the best driving force for Suspiria, other than the magnificent colors and overall bloody awesomeness, was the soundtrack. If this music didn’t give creep you out right from the start, you must have the TV on mute or something. Either way, Goblin came correct with this soundtrack. Incorporating off-putting “la-la-la’s”, next to bells and heavy, beating drums. But the cool thing about the soundtrack is that Goblin is definitely not afraid to just go ahead and rock out. Halfway through the first track, “Suspiria”, they break down into a badass horror-rock groove, which still makes you wonder whether you should be head banging or looking over your shoulder.

4.2/5

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65daysofstatic ∞ The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties EP

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1. Dance Parties (Distant)
2. Dance Parties (Mechanized)
3. Goodbye, 2007
4. Antique Hyper Mall

So, 65daysofstatic, when did you start making dance music? Not that I’m complaining at all, I’m just wondering, why the sudden change? Your math-rock, post-rock, electronic, what have you, was absolutely amazing and basically blew my mind many times over, but now you’re compelling me to…shake my booty. Your two “Dance Parties” songs are awesome, I must admit, and I find it admirable that you can so easily step out of the bounds of your previous music to make something for the dancefloor, yet still stick to your electronic math-rock roots. Bravo, sirs, bravo. Okay, so that is a mere half of this EP, and I see that the last two songs here, we have gone back what people know you best for. Alright, so this is a solid EP, and completely fluid from start to finish. I like what is being done here, and only seeks to prove a) the immense talent of 65daysofstatic (though, most of us should already know about this) and b) that lines between how genres are looked at can be crossed and bent around in a rewarding manner.

4.6/5

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