Blake Stone - Aliens of Gold

The mass escape of "experiments"

One of the first games of the genre (if not the very first, in fact) that I had the chance to play, from a demo that came with a new PC back in those heroic times.

Nehoryn: Memory's Garden

Tripping down memory lane

A composer of prodigious talent and impressive musical inventiveness, Nehoryn offers a "retrospective" of his earlier compositions in a 12-track collection by the eloquent title of Memory's Garden. It is always exciting to observe how an artist's work has evolved with time, what elements and influences determined its development, which of them were left behind for good and which were the crucial ones to remain and mature into something even richer and more accomplished.

Fanfan l'elephant: Toi

Luminous elation in pastel tones

An appetising single of ambient electro, inviting us to a voyage of the heart and the spirit; the melodic lines, percussions/drums and sound effects form a universe of stark beauty, soothing for the ear and purifying for the soul.

Oscar Fantoche: Fantoche Orchestra

First and last waltz

An odd, haunted waltz suspended in mid-air through the mist. A slow oriental melody snaking its way along a lazy counterpoint of percussions and bassline. A fragmented, intoxicated march flirting with languorous violins.

Urzhia-Kan: Atlantik

Profundity in surface

A delicate mermaid choir, electric guitars, synth and an ostinato drum groove echoing the rhythm in Ravel's Bolero: the eponymous opening track of Urzhia-Kan's second album, Atlantik, promises an engaging and adventurous musical experience.

John Peter B.: Origami

Modular, multifold elegance

Symphonic arrangements and experimental researches in an album featuring unexpected piano harmonies, quasi-minimalistic stings and winds and an almost outworldly choral part, as well as a couple of more rhythmic tracks where the tendency of stylistic exploration is significantly prominent.

SHAMATRONIC: Trip solombre

Orpheus in the Underworld

Trip solombre is a genuinely original album on all aspects. Its greatest asset rests in the impressively powerful, flexible and almost weirdly beautiful voice of the singer, tracing an occult journey on engrossing sonorities accented by dark, ritualistic hymns and incantations.

Nehoryn: Golden Hyphen

The hyphenation of attracted opposites

Golden Hyphen is the latest album by Nehoryn, accompanied by a lovely printable booklet that contains the song lyrics and images eloquently illustrating the artist's universe, from the deft confrontation of colour with black & white to the touches of light bursting through the dominant darkness.

Nehoryn: Cyberfire Inside

Fiery the angels fall

There is no "immaculate conception" in art any more, but on the other hand there is an abyssal gap between this undeniable fact and the currently dominant mentality in the music industry, according to which everything new that is created has to be an almost identical copy of something already known and "officially recognised", so that it "has the right" to fit into a strictly defined category or genre. But genuine music (and art in general) is, and should be, what defines, redefines and/or defies the existing genres and categories; totally indifferent to the established "rules", it forms its own if necessary, only to do away with them when they are no longer needed.

Melchiades - Kouki: 3908

Acid post-apocalypse

3908 is the fruit of an unexpected, if not improbable, collaboration between two artists whose diametrically opposite musical temperaments promise an intriguing (at least) auditory experience. The extremely minimalistic cover and laconic, enigmatic title do a really good job at disguising the tumultuous richness hidden within. This is an album that should by all means be seen - and most importantly, listened to - in conjunction with the personal view of art expressed by each one of its contributors.

MADFEET: Si l'amour etait de ce monde

To go where?

Okay... I found this album while searching for Celtic rock music for a friend, and I must admit that it attracted my curiosity, given the fact that in spite of the impressive introductions on the group's main page, the one and only review it has got so far is negative to the extreme and without any explanations. I must also admit that I usually write about the music I find interesting and which I hope other people might also like to discover; I have infinite respect for everyone's creative endeavours and their (our) agony of artistic expression, so when I don't like something, I just don't write anything. And I have to confess that this time, I find myself in a difficult position.

XKTDra: Presentations

The voice of fairies and mermaids

This is an album out of this world... Music that comes from an unknown, seductive universe, and the voice of a mermaid or a fairy, with an almost archetypal sound that speaks directly to the heart.

EsprieM: EsprieM

A voice, guitars and a small dark world

An almost entirely acoustic album, relying heavily on guitars. The voice is a very beautiful hybrid of Brian Molko and Kurt Cobain (mostly Molko, especially in the way the voice "slides" on the notes in Angel's Fly), with an edge of its own and a remarkable expressiveness and flexibility. The lyrics are some of the best I heard lately, conveying powerful, dark emotions.

fresh body shop: orgamilk

Fragile beauty

A pretty but somewhat disturbing cover, a mysterious title... and twelve beautiful acoustic ballads, with very nice lyrics and a voice that caresses the ears. The fragility of the fallen doll on the cover is reflected in the sensitive melodiousness of the songs.

DIXIT: Morsure de la nuit

The heart of the beast, or the beast in the heart?

Maybe because of the initial cover that had to be replaced by the (very nice) current one, the title of this album always makes me think of The Beast Within - second episode of the Gabriel Knight game trilogy, which tells the story of a forbidden passion and of a fight for life and principles. The hero's internal conflict is as powerful as the struggle against the enemy; and when the enemy also exerts a fatal attraction on his rival, the fight becomes a lot more than a matter of life and death.

deathstar: starlight

Sweetness...

Anyone who liked deathstar's previous album will not be let down by this one - there is a continuity in the style and themes, even references to song titles of hope themselves (another Blue Rose here), but with a somewhat more prominent element of cosmic atmosphere.

Starlight: Let the music speak

Atmospheric dreaminess

A pleasant album with nice lyrics and good recording quality. The singer's voice is very warm and the instrumental melodies create a dreamy atmosphere that carries the listener away.

Pivert: Pourquoi pas?

Wistful and sweet

Soft, moody melodies, lyrics combining humor and tenderness and a pleasant voice with potential. I like this expressive way of singing, making each song sound like an interior monologue or an intimate dialogue with the listener.

to-m: tom 1

Pas mal du tout!

Maybe the technical means are limited, but there is evidently such passion for music that it makes the album well worth a listen, as well as paying attention to the lyrics.

LES2VAINS: Just stand on the light

Soul-cleansing

Beautiful melodies sung by interesting voices, honouring their influences (The Beatles, Belle and Sebastian, Simon and Garfunkel, R.E.M. and others, as also noted in their profile) but also contributing their own element of originality.