Saturday, March 31, 2007

Fragile New Virus: Eye Scream

Viral melodies

The sound echoes bands like Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but with an even darker twist, while the little word-game of the title (Eye/I) is potentially a reference to Marvel comics and The Residents (on a lighter note, it also sounds like "ice cream").

Project System 12: Digital Wonderland 5

Wandering in Dreamland

With melodic echoes from the past combined with the epic-rhythmic element more prominent in the previous Digital Wonderland instalments, this album conjures up and invites us to explore a brightly coloured world of fantasy creatures and landscapes - unicorns, dreaming elves, dragonflies on parade, fairy princes, sleeping centaurs, sunsets and falling stars.

Eugenie: Cio che vorrei

Electrifying!

An album full of robust energy. Even the darker-themed songs are brimming with a high-spirited dynamism that dispels all melancholy, leaving a trace of elation and hope in the listener's soul.

Friday, March 30, 2007

engeo: Half of a Sentence

Nice melodies and guitars

A very pleasant album to listen to, with interesting guitars and good vocals. There are echoes of '90s British bands (and maybe some '70s), but still the sound has an element all of its own.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

The Starving Time: Random Walk

The element of the unexpected

Interesting to listen to, although at the beginning the harshness of the sounds is almost overwhelming. But from the chaos emerge strange, sweet melodies, sometimes verging on atonality, creating an atmosphere of futuristic fairy tale with beautiful and surprising musical imagery.

Essiar: Summer in Minsk

Sarcasm and sensitivity

I ran into this album by chance and once more, found myself before a pleasant surprise. An intriguing mix of moods and emotions, conveyed to the listener with fluent directness.

Monday, March 19, 2007

JellRoy: Le voyage de Monsieur Fogg

Pilgrimage to the edge of the soul

A journey into the soul and the spirit, borrowing its symbolisms from well-known archetypes/prototypes and uniting sounds and aromas from all around the world in an interesting, attractive blend.

deathstar: hope

A rose is a rose

Nice, moody melodies and interesting titles - the only problem is that the (English) lyrics aren't heard very clearly and, my usual complaint, aren't published on Jam either.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Syd_Sax: 2Mind2Jester

But why not...

Well, it's true that what attacks the ears from the very first notes is... surprising (to say the least). But after the first "shock", one begins to adapt and recognise the ghost of something... the rough outline of a half-formed/morphed thought? The embryon of a melody that never takes shape? The sketch of a musical idea that was deliberately left at that? Reminds me (remotely but persistently) of something I can't identify right now.

Samuel: Once Upon Eternity

Bittersweet...

Interesting melodies with a bittersweet edge. The voice has a pleasantly dark feel to it. All tracks are beautiful in a rather singular way - although I prefer the ones with the simpler arrangements (like Feelings or Scared, for example).

Friday, March 16, 2007

Paul Leide: Demo

Dark and atmospheric

I had first discovered this album via the now defunct Jamendo Spiral (an interesting, experimental feature that consisted in "rotating" all existing albums, so that each user of the platform could discover new music at random) and was instantly captured by the imposing ambience, haunted by strange melodic imagery.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Of The I: Twelve Sequences of a Storm (Demo-noid E.P.)

Strange and beautiful

Beautiful, strange sounds creating a dreamy ambience, with an alternation of melodic repetition and intense rhythm among the tracks.

Morpheus: Rebis

Otherworldly experience

An interesting, "exorcising" journey into strange echoing dreamscapes and the subconscious, with sounds and voices that seem like coming from inside the listener's own head.