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Aagoo (2009)
Harking back to an America where one's own lonely voice was the only radio and a BBQ meant a spit in the middle of the desert, Torino's Father Murphy hide detuned industrial textures within stripped-down, spacy folk instrumentation, like a man in a black hat picking up a bullet-riddled guitar with which to serenade his captives.
Melodic (2009)
The first album from this Nottingham-based band is California dippy: whispered female/male harmonies, slack flutes, swinging drums, comping Hammond organs, and a bass player who finds basic funk riffs in every progression.
Pattern Is Movement reanimate the past
If one way that bands tie themselves to the past is through sonic reference — Fleet Foxes calling forth Crosby, Stills and Nash, or Animal Collective channeling the Grateful Dead — then there's been a number of bands who tie themselves to the past through cultural reference.
Honest Jon's (2009)
Over the past year, Honest Jon's has released three compilations culled from more than 150,000 78s of early music from the EMI Hayes Archive: music from 1930s Baghdad, early West African music recorded in Britain, and a more general compilation that moved across country lines and the first half of the 20th century.
Gnomonsong (2009)
Hidden under reverb and aggressive analog production, the first sung lyrics on You Can Have What You Want belie what seems to be a cheery record title: "Once we walked in the sunlight three years ago this July."
Fat Possum (2009)
Fat Possum (2009)
Kranky (2009)
With his sixth album, Tim Hecker continues his computer-enabled investigations into the ambient music of nebulous distortion.
Kompakt (2009)
Gui Boratto's 2007 debut, Chromophobia , was a pop crossover because of its string of 2 am dance anthems.
Family Vineyard (2009)
Recorded in 1981, The Curse of Midnight Mary illustrates one genesis story for Loren Connors's affected and distended interpretation of solo blues guitar. Like Robert Johnson.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's new homonymous album is filled with well-worn lyrics.
There is a surge in polyglot music, but despite its force, a strain of conservatism (one that has always run through indie rock) is keeping pace.
Rune Grammofon (2009)
Asked to describe his label Rune Grammofon's output, Rune Kristoffersen uncomfortably offers, "It's typically somewhere between improvised, electronic, contemporary . . . ," before fading off.
Rune Grammofon (2009)
Replete with bands who weave jazz, modern composition, and electronic music, the Rune Grammofon label captures a thriving scene of Norwegian improvisers and composers.
Throwback Throwdown
Psychic Circle (2008)
Touch (2008)
Labyrinthitis deals with the material science of sound — in particular the Tartini tone.
Rune Grammofon (2008)
Flowers of Evil — a covers record, though it includes two originals — lacks power.
Domino (2008)
It begins with a MIDI organ and Tundra singing like Little Orphan Annie: “I landed in somebody’s lap, between the iPod and yellow trucker cap.”
Huume (2008)
Known also for his more ambient work as Vladislav Delay, Luomo is the house-music moniker of Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti.
Jagjaguwar (2008)
This could prove strenuous, but the album is more contemplative than didactic — a (k)no(w)here that’s difficult to study but easy to inhabit.
Ghostly International (2008)
School of Seven Bells piece together two points of reference: the electronic music made popular by the Postal Service, Volvo ads, etc.; and the tightly controlled feedback of shoegaze.
Staubgold (2008)
Any undergrad who has a few Satie discs in his or her collection — for studying and making out! — would find the same passive ambiance on this album.
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