Lakes of Russia - Stars Decorate The Fire

Lakes of Russia - Stars Decorate The Fire

As lovely as the both the name of the artist and album would suggest Lakes of Russia are a rather special new discovery for me. Gentle and lush, slowly played guitars echo against the ivories of delicately handled pianos. Simply described on their website as songs for the lonely and sleep deprived each song burns slowly and never takes the obvious climax of a wall of sound. Simply lovely.

Myspace


Múm - "Rhubarbidoo"

Anoice, Takahiro Kido, This is Ivy League, Women, Matmos Reviewed

So it really has been to long since i visited this page and shared good music with you. Much has happened and much new music has been discovered and continues to be discovered on a daily basis, the Japanese in particular, seemingly a nation full of talented musicians, equal parts genius and beauty. An endless stream of musicians similar in style to World's End Girlfriend and dare i say better than. Each one taking the most lovely parts of classical and turning it into something of exceptional splendour.

First up Anoice, whose album Remmings is a real joy, a gorgeous mix of piano and violin, occasionally dischordant but in a subtle way rather than any barrage of decay that you may expect. The almost Tarantula AD had they not discovered 80's poodle rock of Kyoto stands out alongside the yearning violins of Liange.

Anoice - The Three-Days Blow mp3

Anoice guitarist and programmer Takahiro Kido also records under his own name, more sparse and slightly magical in its basic form. Lovely piano compositions

Takahiro Kido Myspace

Yasushi Yoshida's new one for the ever impressive and reliable noble label is a touch of genius in a very similar vein perfecting the mold he so sucessfully created on pevious album Secret Figure. Highly recommended.

Yasushi Yoshida mp3's

This is Ivy League have been catering for my pop requirements. Thir self titled debu album is a breath of fresh summer air, like Belle and Sebastian with a greater love for Simon & Garfunkel, for Modesty Blaise, for Love . like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names if they slept in silk pyjamas, really quite brilliant. Richest Kids, A Summer Chill, Love is Impossible stand out. This is Ivy League - Richest Kids mp3

Women are just brilliant, like No Age playing Shin's covers. Clinic covering the Bach Boys. I need say no more.

Women - Black Rice mp3

Matmos have been getting all perfect on us, less concepts more electronics, the opening three tracks on new album Supreme Balloon are obscenely good, suffocated in retro synths, rubbery and brain meltingly good. The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to the exceptional openings but the three are well worth tracking down.

Matmos - Rainbow Flag mp3

And some old school Matmos

Matmos - Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan Favorite on Hype Machine

Happy listening...

Sources

Girlpants

Glorious Noise
Souls on Tape

Fluxblog

Give me a Song for a Snowy Sunday

Just five minutes back snow was showering itself down like dusting on a cake, nonchalantly falling like everything was normal and we weren't slowly working our way into the month of April...now there's glorious sunshine...I sometimes forget just how great Belle & Sebastian are, even though the blogs very bame is stolen from one of their songs..from time to time i'll revisit, latey i've been trying the newer stuff, swallowing my pride as an old school fan and just ennjoying the fact that as far as "chart music" goes, Belle and Sebastian are indeed a breath of fresh air. Today though I'm feeling sinister and Fox in the Snow seems like the right song to be listening to on repeat, i smile to the line, the best looking boys are taken, the best looking boys are staying in bed in the gloriously simple and instantly loveable Judy and Her Dream of Horses.

Belle & Sebastian - Judy and the Dream of Horses Mp3

Sources
Listen

How can you not love Kimya Dawson, so imperfect yet twice as perfect for it, a hero for those who "can't sing" who aren't afraid of being different yet are secretly paranoid about what other people think. I Like Giants is a lovely song..."all girls feel too big sometimesRegardless of their size"

Something Beautiful for a Saturday Afternoon - Dustin O'Halloran

And so i stumbled over Dustin O'Halloran, classically trained pianist and on the strength of what i've heard so far he is quite certain to become an artist that will soon sit at the heady heights of my last fm chart alongside peers Jon Brion & Michael Andrews. The homemade youtube enthusiast video to Opus 36 is breathtaking, a beech tree in reverse time lapse photography, slowly being rebuilt branch by branch like our own lives sometimes, when so to speak they are so unfairly cut to pieces...

Lullatone - The Bedtime Beat (Someone Good Australia) Reviewed

Lullatone - The Bedtime Beat (Someone Good Australia)
It’s been a wee while since I’ve heard an album that I though I just had to write about instantly but from the wonderful opening track it was clear that Lullatones "The Bedtime Beat" was going to be one of those. Simple, cute and creative beyond belief, like the child who is given a cardboard box rather than a remote control car or whatever the kids are playing with these days, that cardboard box will become to the child whatever he so pleases and so to Lullatone each and everything in their sight is transformed Rugrats style into something else. An unrivalled ability to see the most unlikely things in the most mundane objects and sounds. The bathwater becomes a drum pattern, as do secretly taped snores, there are no boundaries, all objects are instruments in their eyes. So here we have a minor masterpiece, this is the sound of Deerhoof had electricity never been invented, Mice Parade if they had had all their batteries stolen. Cute, clever and certainly more than worth of your attention.

Lullatone - The Bathtime Beat MP3

Myspace

Need More Sources, And So I Watch You From Afar, Not To Reason Why Reviewed

I'm feeling a little less than inspired of late so your just gonna have to trust me on these, let the music do the talking so to speak, I guess that’s how it should be anyway...over the last few months I’ve stumbled over some of the most lovely instrumental music I’ve heard in sometime, delicately reassuring textures of warmth wrapped in electronic washes, peppered with simple yet piercing piano, an instrument I’m growing to love by the day, so much feeling in each note, I really want to learn how to play properly yet I don't have the will power to do it, one day I hope.
Need More Sources is the brainchild of Chris Stewart a delightful mix of pianos, stringed instruments and delicately treated electronics, falling between Motoro Faam, Colleen and Max Richter and a welcome addition to any weekend when your week has just been too much, an album to cherish.
At the other end of the spectrum sit, well maybe not sit, perhaps a more accurate picture would be of an agitated, impatience, and standing up and sitting down, standing up and pacing up and down, are And So I Watch You From Afar. Although I will always stick up for post rock when the critics shake their sticks so predictably at it for its ...erm, predictability, I do find myself occasionally getting tired of all the Explosions in the Sky wannabees out there and more often than not prefer those who go to the effort of making strings, violins and cellos particularly, a strong feature of their sound. And So I Watch You From Afar choose not to yet manage to throw in some great dynamics on a par or maybe even better than Russian Circles and Let Airplanes Circle Overhead..I like this alot...
And So I Watch You From Afar - I Capture Castles MP3
And So I Watch You From Afar - Holylands, 4am MP3
...I also like Not To Reason Why, again fitting undisputedly into the post rock scene but with enough about them to stand apart from the crowd, gentle piano riffs lull you in before they kick in without ever going to far into the obvious crashing, epic climaxes so often called upon. 1.21 Jiggawatts!? stands out...
Stream tracks here

Sources
Tapas n Tapas

Encephala -We are the Dreamers of Dreams (Earstroke)

Encephala -We are the Dreamers of Dreams (Earstroke)

In a week when we have been spoilt with new albums, new offerings from The Long Blondes, Blood Red Shoes, Isobel Campbell, Blood on the Wall & Portishead have all leaked into the hard drives of music lovers world over, and yet the albums that have captured my attention most this week have all been from net labels, extraspecially so the magical We are the Dreamers of Dreams by Nate Zuckermans' wonderfully original dream project Encephala.

Each track a dream experience retold set to dreamy soundscapes and often spiralling off far into the surreal. I have never heard anything quite like it, perhaps the closest comparison being Michael Andrews excellent soundtrack to the equally inspiring Miranda July film, Me & You & Everyone We Know. Gloriously dreamy and occasionaly spooky each track is captivating and addictive capturing the beauty of dream, the infinite possibilities of escaping every day life, the escape that us dreamers yearn for and get sucked into, reaching a heartaching pinnacle on I Just "i just wanted you to be alive" she repeats again and again "the driver tells me that i have to let you go" such conviction, such tragedy, you can almost hear the tears running down her face. Rarely is such tragic beauty captured this well.

Encephala - We are the Dreamers of Dreams Full Album Zip

Encephala - MæreFære MP3

Encephala - The Color of Your Socks MP3

Myspace

Earstroke

Lyrics

Phon Noir & The Young Republic Reviewed

Phon Noir - the figurines are moving (Sub Rosa)

A delightful album of layered electronics, found sounds and gentle guitars coming over like a mixture of Bright Eyes and The Postal Service given a laconic remix by Four Tet, all woven and sewn up into a little package of early morning sunrise.

Best taken as a piece of music rather than any individual tracks that jump out, here Matthias Grubel satisfies those like myself who were disappointed by Khonnor's much talked about Handwriting.

Website
Myspace

Phon Noir - We Still Miss The Future

The Young Republic - 12 Tales From Winter City (End of the Road)
Another great pop album, this time from the talented Boston octet The Young Republic mixing Belle and Sebastian, Hefner, The Tyde and even early Embrace without sounding identical to any of them. Great well written and perfectly executed pop songs, mixing both folk and country along the way, stylish and instantly memorable.

Website
Myspace
The Young Republic - Excuses to See You mp3
The Young Republic - Girl From The Northern States mp3

Sources
The Daily Growl
Song By Toad

Final Light - To Stop an Exploding Man

Final Light - To Stop an Exploding Man (Lost Children Net Label)
Whilst last years French Teen Idol courtesy of the Lost Children Net Label melted my mind time and again last year and indeed to this day, Departure finds its way onto most compilations i make, so they start the new year well with an excellent release from Final Light that is set to take the place of French Teen Idol, at least for a while.
Full to the brim with skipping beats and deep mumbled samples, set against simple pianos and ambient swells of orchestration, comparisons could be made to a sunday morning world weary Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia or in places World's End Girlfriend. Though with all due respect this is somewhat less visionary in scope yet very much worthy of your attention.

Final Light - To Stop an Exploding Man (Full album ZIP)
French Teen Idol - Departure MP3

FortDax : archival 2001- 2006

I know i've posted this before ut this weekend i've fallen in love with Fortdax again and have been digging deeper into the wonderful and unbelievably free three volume archival (there's a link below) simply astounded at the beauty on offer and the quality of the songs that are sadly prefaced by the words (unreleased), its hard to imagine that someone wouldn't jump at the opportunity of proudly stamping their label details on the back of such a release. Along with this are also two excellent albums, Folly and Divers, Folly being the more essential. I only wish i'd had the pleasure of experiencing this live...long may the fortdax memory live on...

"FortDax : archival 2001- 2006 what do i hear? i hear these pieces being made. the circumstances of their making. from the inside there is little emotional resonance. not now. you become acutely aware of the mechanisms involved, the faults and failings, the things you wished you’d known & implemented then. much of that which you’re about to hear has lain dormant or even unearthed for, i feel, good reason, but the impetus behind these archival bundles is partly to draw a line under the past, to somehow corral this work away from *what will come next*. there are incomplete mixes, boxy ‘midi-fied’ demos, plenty of repetition, the grating addition of a particular string patch from my roland groovebox (bless her), more ‘tinkly things’ than you could wave a wand at and all manner of jumps in relative volume (i wasn’t aware of even the idea of compression until i took ‘folly’ in to be mastered in 2003). and these notions help explain why you’re hearing this for free. there’s also the simple fact that you may have paid for the previously released elements of the archive already – i haven’t attempted to remaster anything or even touch it up and therefore you shouldn’t be expected to part with your cash twice over. it’s a slightly embarassing process, especially as it all takes place in public...but no-one is forcing my hand here, and similarly you’re under no obligation to listen. you aim to come to terms with your past, with who you were and what you did back then, and you allow yourself to move along. in theory...my own opinion is that the best of what FortDax was can be found in ‘divers’ and ‘folly’. you’re already a fan, and you believe this too, right?what’s still missing? glaringly, my remix of nathan fake’s ‘you are here’, simply as i’m told it’s still selling nicely for border community. i’ll try and keep a (slightly edited) mp3 file of it up on MicePace (www.myspace.com/fortdax) for as long as possible. and if you’re a real stickler for completism, you’ll note that 2006’s radio 3 session is also absent. this comprised five tracks, all of which were near-identical to those in the live set (trust me, i used the same backing templates). i don’t own the rights to those recordings, i’m afraid. everything i’ve built since spring 2006 will serve the *next* work, and has been deliberately excluded - it really isn’t ‘FortDax’ anymore.update! november 8th 2007:archival add-on : the nathan fake remix FREEthanks to james' kind permission, you can now complete the FortDax archival collection with my 2006 remix of nathan fake's 'you are here'...http://www.sendspace.com/file/lp0mlgthis may be a useful point at which to express my gratitude to the 450+ people who have downloaded the 3 archival bundles so far. truth be told, i hadn't expected half as much interest in the older work, so i'm really glad that it's being enjoyed by you all.everything in these three compilations is copyright FortDax 2001-2006 (other than the remixes, which belong to their respective owners).all files were originally available, free of charge, from www.fedge.net/fortdax in the summer of 2007.who made this possible? everyone who was involved with FortDax along the way, but especially geoff dolman, dominic martin, glen johnson, cotton casino, ian fletcher, darren crawford, james holden, nathan fake, sam dunn, andru duff, my as-yet-unknown bride-to-be and especially my long-suffering, ever-willing parents.i’m indebted to jeff keibel for being more than just a webmeister over the years. he’s as responsible for providing these files to you without cost as i am.and anyone who bought a record. or said a kind word. and all the FortBuilders from the mailing list. bless all of your ears and take very good care.this archival project will be the last dedication to meg, with all my love.where next? oh, you’ll see, you’ll see...(darren durham, june 2007) "