(Load, 2007)
(Load, 2007)
(Dead Oceans, 2007)“Citay really nail that rich acoustic-electric rolling tabla honey harmoney sound that all those heavy bands - Sabbath and Zeppelin, especially-used to do, back when all the best musicians were inspired by what the Incredible String Band were doing, and were still able (or willing) to express a feminine side to go with their preening barbarian or depressive wail aspects...This is an album without a sell-by date, with a song for every season...Monumental.” ---ARTHUR MAGAZINE
“Inspired by the acoustic sides of ‘70s rock behemoths Led Zeppelin, Heart and Black Sabbath, they've taken a detoour into lush, baroque folk and sun-kissed Laurel Canyon jams; blending those groups with more pastoral shades with the likes of John Fahey, Pentangle and CSN&Y to very fine effect.”---MOJO
(Magic Marker Records, 2007)
(Acute Records, 2007)
"The Valentine Process is truly a musical world unto itself. The microcosm in which this album exists lies on a plane few have found and even fewer have captured. The Valentine Process is such a primitive and skeletal recording one must wonder how the trio stumbled upon the sound. “Ammut — Great Death, Eater of Hearts” may be a familiar breed of organic dissonance rivaling any freak collective’s strangest output, but the empty production and jarring melody create an aura previously unknown in the music world.
In a medium dominated by bedroom folkies and lo-fi soldiers always on the hunt for new ways to muffle their sound and create the most comfortable and intimate recording, Egypt Is The Magick # have taken the same approach but turned it inside out by creating a spatial and barren sound. The Valentine Process turns the bedroom into an infinite chasm or an abandoned cave. “Genetic Dispute Solved by Grammatological Nantooth,” with all its noisemakers, cheap percussion, and incoherent chants, only deepens the void. The voices refuse to give warmth; rather, it sucks the warmth from you. Your blood will run cold in The Valentine Process’ brand of isolation."
01 RideIf your notion of prog begins and ends with Yes, prepare for a treat. The missing link between Ozric Tentacles' Erpland and Pink Floyd's Meddle sat under a palm tree on a Balearic beach, AMO1's tropical progtronica stands out as music that references the familiar - Fleetwood Mac, most notably - while striking out on its own unique and utterly splendid path, guided by producers Mo Morris and Leo Elstob.
Opener Ride is one of several tracks that clock in at an unhurried six minutes plus, with arabesque acoustic guitar rounds in places reminiscent of the fretwork of Ozrics' resident genius Ed Wynne. A compulsive, repetitive bassline, spacial melodies and characteristic big electric guitar sounds set the scene for what follows."
(Polyvinyl, 2007)
(Karaoke Kalk, 2007)
(In The Red, 2007)
(Southern, 2007)
(Marriage, 2007)
(Rough Trade/World's End, 2007)Can't wait to hear what those nautical nuts in British Sea Power have up their sleeve for their forthcoming LP? You're gonna have to wait 'til early next year to find out for sure. But the ship of new BSP jams hasn't sailed just yet; no way, no how. The band has a new EP titled Krankenhaus? on the way that should tide you over.
(Acuareladiscos, 2007)"Somewhere amid all the reuniting he's been doing lately with Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, the ever-prolific Lou Barlow found the time to craft this five-song EP. Two words on the inside flap give a clue as to when exactly Barlow penned these tunes: "prerevival" and "postemoh" (EMOH being the name of Barlow's 2005 solo CD). So maybe it's not surprising that Mirror the Eye doesn't stray far from the bedroom bong-inspired philosophizing Barlow has been known for since Sebadoh's early records.
The "prerevival" animosity toward J. Mascis is still prevalent on opener "Yawning Blue Messiah." Over haunting, simple guitar chords, Barlow sings, "Thought of you once again/ I miss you, brother/ But I hate your guts/ What was it inside you that/ Made me regret what was?" Things get goofy on "Faith Defies the Night" and "You're a Goat," almost as if Barlow is aiming for Tenacious D-style mock-rock. On the former he claims he's "out spending a Sunday in a dungeon." And the latter goes full-bore with the title's imagery: "You've got splayed feet/ Cloven hooves/ I heard you brayin'/ What were you sayin'?"
(Secret City, 2007)
(P.W. Elverum & Sun Ltd., 2007)
| 1. Canto I | ||
| 2. Planes Like Vultures. | ||
| 3. Outside Of This Car, the End Of the World | ||
| 4. To the Stars! To the Night! | ||
| 5. (Storm) | ||
| 6. We Are Gods! We Are Wolves! | ||
| 7. Breathing Rapture | ||
| 8. Look To the West. | ||
| 9. (Howl) | ||
| 10. Le Loup (Fear Not) | ||
| 11. Canto XXXVI | ||
| 12. I Had a Dream I Died. |
"The best songs here go beyond Sufjan Stevens’ orchestral folk-pop, even if they’re not as painstakingly detailed and evocative. “Outside of this Car! The End of the World!” rides a steady drum-machine beat with a syncopated pentatonic loop, adding a mirror-structured countermelody and building guitar crashes in a powerful canon. Throughout the album, interesting banjo lines mirror this kind of layered composition, creating a consistent compositional tone that’s remarkable for its consistency—even when the sounds employed on each song are so different.
“Breathing Rupture” reprises a strummed banjo introduction that is used throughout the disc, but this time Simkoff’s vocals connect into longer phrases, thrilling with poetic imagery beneath multi-tracked echoes. “Look To the West” fuelled by calm organ drones, highlights Simkoff’s oblique poetry: “Eyes full of sleep, and steady breaths pressed from chests/ … Look to the west, what colors grow there? / There, where bells and swells and storms gather”."
(The Blue House, 2007)
(Azul Discografica, 2007)"Talibam! dance back and forth across the line of party starting and room clearing, and do so with all available middle fingers held mightily aloft. As New York City’s soon-to-be-iconic purveyors of “shitstorm skronk,” Talibam!’s totally irreverent destructo-jazz/improv was first heard on a series of mythically regarded CD-Rs, and through the group’s near ceaseless touring activities. This is the band’s first proper release, and in lieu of bearing the expected influence of Sun Ra’s Arkestra or mid-'70s Captain Beefheart, Ordination... is a brain-rattling demolition of the entire avant lesson plan, as those with a more academic criteria might be inclined to teach it.
The lead-off title track is the living embodiment of a strong come-on, and blares forth with the same kind of attention-grabbing impudence as Minor Threat’s “Filler.” The next 20 minutes of ass-over-backwards musical turmoil further cements the brutality with more, dare I say, nuance, including some stylishly incorporated African polyrhythms, and ear-buzzing electronics.
The ringing harmonics of “Lunch Break at Naan” definitely serves as the album’s milemarker, however, and said track proceeds to a level of dementia which curiously summons a listener’s desire (well, my desire) to belt out Hasil Adkins-worthy screams during the breakdown.
(Castle/Sanctuary, 2003)
(Crucial Blast, 2007)"A band not afraid to experiment, SYA add laser-edged synths, electronics, psychedelic ambience and distant harmonica within the album's earthy production. It's a beguiling mix that sees them construct sounds from the thundering opener "Mars Ascendant" through to the skewed psychedelia of "Coragyps Atratus (Ego To Absolvo).
The outstanding "Sheltering Sky" should surely come with a health warning. Not since "Sky Valley" era Kyuss have we heard a gargantuan groove like this. Amassing a sound that resembles a titanic foghorn, "Sheltering Sky" reaches a level that could just about cauterize your arteries."
(Blue Note, 2007)
(Cardboard Records, 2007)
(Self-released, 2007)
(Too Pure, 2007)
| 1. Can: I Want More |
| 2. Aphex Twin: Goon Gumpas |
| 3. Boards Of Canada: Everything You Do Is A Balloon |
| 4. Can: Spoon |
| 5. Stereolab: Blue Milk (edit) |
| 6. The Velvet Underground: I'm Sticking With You |
| 7. Broadcast: You Can Fall |
| 8. Gamelan Drumming |
| 9. Holger Czukay: Cool In The Pool |
| 10. Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Hold Of Death |
| 11. Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra: Some Velvet Morning |
| 12. Ween: Japanese Cowboy |
| 13. Holger Czukay: Fragrance |
| 14. Aphex Twin: Nannou |
