TonesSmall Sur
The latest release from this Baltimore, MD band is very warm, mellow, and rich with a vibrant and appreciative energy. Their lyrics are simply beautiful, undeniable, and powerfully recharging. Tones reminds you of how absolutely wonderful it is to be a living human animal being amidst the lush landscapes of earth. I LOVE this record.
The Long ProcessionAmia Venera Landscape
This technically came out in December of 2010, but I cannot help but include it here. Technical, bludgeoning, and massive riffs meet with sweeping ambient interludes, dissonant cyclones of noise, and melodic melancholic doom. This album is relentless, and dare I say perfect. AVL's more-than-impressive self-released debut is a monumental triumph of modern metal.
Red Heart The Ticker
Heartwarming and homey New England folk by husband and wife duo Robin MacArthur and Tyler Gibbons. With a mixture of mostly traditional and some contemporary instrumentation Your Name... recreates several "lost" Vermont folksongs which MacArthur's Grandmother spent many years tracking down. You can read and/or listen to the story behind this very unique record on NPR Music.
The Volume In The Ground
Adeem
Hiphop from New Hampshire...learn it. This LP keeps you swaying from beginning to end with original beats, catchy loops, smooth grooves, and thoughtful words. Hiphop with insight is the best best hiphop and Adeem does it right. The Volume In The Ground is forward-stepping recognition of what is, with a realization of positive intent for what will be created...for what is at the leading edge.
Adeem
Hiphop from New Hampshire...learn it. This LP keeps you swaying from beginning to end with original beats, catchy loops, smooth grooves, and thoughtful words. Hiphop with insight is the best best hiphop and Adeem does it right. The Volume In The Ground is forward-stepping recognition of what is, with a realization of positive intent for what will be created...for what is at the leading edge.
Searchlight Needles & Blue Highways
CONC has a classic aesthetic - a vibe that resonates with a simple and introspective expression. I can't help but hear these two records with a mental movie being projected in my mind. There's something theatrical yet understated here - like montage music in an artsy indie film, or the backdrop to a solemn actress providing a lonely stage performance - a lovely monologue mirror to the soul.
Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light
Earth
Ambient psychedelic stoner rock at its finest. Slow, repetitive, and sonically rich tapestries are carefully woven over three sides of vinyl. Ghost tones swell and ebb between guitar, cello, and various "devices". The result is a creation of intimate and warm space, in which each musical movement breathes with the listener in appreciation of presence.
Earth
Ambient psychedelic stoner rock at its finest. Slow, repetitive, and sonically rich tapestries are carefully woven over three sides of vinyl. Ghost tones swell and ebb between guitar, cello, and various "devices". The result is a creation of intimate and warm space, in which each musical movement breathes with the listener in appreciation of presence.
Peggy Sue
Poppy, brilliant UK indie rock chock full of amazing songwriting, creative twists, and musical exploration. Acrobats is gorgeously melody rich and impeccably heartfelt. Vocals are cute, sultry, and very well trained. Each piece of well-varried instrumentation works for the whole of each song in a beautifully balanced way...and each song, offering a distinct flavor, complements the others, making for a diverse but cohesive work of art. This album is an absolute joy.
777: Sect(s) & 777: The Desanctification
Experimental psychedelic black metal...maybe. I don't know what to call this except quite interesting and quite good. Here Blut Aus Nord provide an intense artistry to the mathematics and mystery of musical sound: overlapping repeating illusionary patterns, majestic and cryptic motifs, grating dark dissonance, and odd time changes. These elements combined with gritty guitars, sweeping eerie keyboard ambiance, and haunting vocals comprise the sound of the two 777 records.
His Young Heart & The Wild Youth
Daughter
Daughter
I fell in love with Daughter toward the end of last summer; I listened to His Young Heart's four catchy tracks too many times to count. Daughter's work is concise, passionate, soft, and bursting alive with the human experience. There is a vulnerableness and yet also a fierceness present in Tonra's lyrics - her voice carries them into your heart where they settle in as your own. These two EP's are simply beautiful.
Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw
Lustrous, sensual waves of shimmering, living, meditative celebration. This collaboration is an uncanny match made in heaven. Droning organ, airy scrambling synths, reverb soaked electric guitars, drumming bass, and subdued percussion repeatedly climb into space and slowly glide down again. This record is like the lost live interlude outtake from the most tranced-out Doors show imaginable. That is all you need to know.
Sleepy Vikings
This Tampa Florida band has quite a fantastic debut album of somewhat shoegazey, melodic tunes. Mixed male and female vocals harmonize over acoustic strums and clean electric leads whilst percussion sets the pace, sometimes picking things up a notch. A softness and loving acceptance pervades the energy of the whole record - it's a great way to refresh and recharge the soul.
Eylsian Magnetic Field
Dirge
The name Dirge is a perfect reflection of this French band's sonic character. Eylsian Magnetic Field is hugely epic "post-metal" funeral dirge doom. Ambient, droning, and heavy - this record creates a weighty, introspective, crestfallen space. Keyboards, choirs, and organs add an airy breathe to the sludge and dirt of tuned-down guitars and downtrodden percussion. Vocals crown the mix with gruff cathartic wails and desperate laments. This record leaves you empty and ready to move.
Dirge
The name Dirge is a perfect reflection of this French band's sonic character. Eylsian Magnetic Field is hugely epic "post-metal" funeral dirge doom. Ambient, droning, and heavy - this record creates a weighty, introspective, crestfallen space. Keyboards, choirs, and organs add an airy breathe to the sludge and dirt of tuned-down guitars and downtrodden percussion. Vocals crown the mix with gruff cathartic wails and desperate laments. This record leaves you empty and ready to move.
We Will Start A Storm
Loch Lomond
Portland Oregon's Loch Lomond are in the studio right now working on the followup to this record...and they indeed have their work cut out for them. This album is a treasure-trove of charming and melodious songwriting. They have reached a pinnacle here: each song is just what it should be - no more, no less. With varying depth of instrumentation and voice, Loch Lomond have served each song just so. The result is passionate art: wonderfully lovely to the ears and heart.
Well...that's it I suppose. There were so many amazing records in 2011 it's impossible to choose a small selection and not leave something out. I've done my best to pick out the records that I had not already written about, and that seemed to have evaded the praise of many popular bloggers and critics. 2012 is looking to be a powerful year for music; many great artists and bands have already announced releases and projects in the works. I am very excited to find new and inspired sounds to fill my ears.
Loch Lomond
Portland Oregon's Loch Lomond are in the studio right now working on the followup to this record...and they indeed have their work cut out for them. This album is a treasure-trove of charming and melodious songwriting. They have reached a pinnacle here: each song is just what it should be - no more, no less. With varying depth of instrumentation and voice, Loch Lomond have served each song just so. The result is passionate art: wonderfully lovely to the ears and heart.
Well...that's it I suppose. There were so many amazing records in 2011 it's impossible to choose a small selection and not leave something out. I've done my best to pick out the records that I had not already written about, and that seemed to have evaded the praise of many popular bloggers and critics. 2012 is looking to be a powerful year for music; many great artists and bands have already announced releases and projects in the works. I am very excited to find new and inspired sounds to fill my ears.
