Bit Cloudy – The Visitation Plays
Wide ranging and immaculately produced experimental IDM with a playful spirit and plenty of surprises. Over the course of its nine tracks, the album incorporates elements of ambient, techno and various strains of IDM into its musical DNA, recombining and splicing bits into creative new shapes.
Smart and snappy rhythm programming, creative sound design and tight production are anchored by an emotive harmonic sense and a knack for ear-catching melodic phrases. The whole is cinematic, inviting and the kind of thing that will reward repeated, close listenings.
(Listened to the entire album)
–
Matty Frank – Dooda
An intoxicating blend of indie pop, r&b, and folk into a cohesive and engaging sound and vibe. The songwriting is solid, with some memorable turns of phrase, and the music is similarly clever and well put together. Much of it lives at the current juxtaposition of pop and r&B, with a touch of Sufjan Stevensesque folk-pop thrown in here and there.
The tone varies between ebullient joy and the kind of poetic melancholia that only indie misery merchants can pull off. And the production that cements it all together is lush, rich and well polished. If any of this seems intriguing, don’t let this one pass you by.
(Listened to the entire album)
–
May Joy – Flagrant Ardour
A unique “collaboration” between a human musician and a software-based “singer” to create an album of poppy protest songs about the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. On the musical side, these are accomplished, polished and hook-laden tracks. Piano, guitar, strings (cello, maybe?) and synths all play their part, and the songs come together well throughout.
The synthetic vocals are definitely intriguing – not stereotypically “robotic” in any way, but they still have a slight synthetic sheen that’s hard to put a finger on. Some unusual phrasings and a slight “edge” to some of the vocal tones (which could also just be post processing!) are all that gives it away, tho I suspect some will be put off by the very concept. That’s silly tho – it’s not pretending to be anything but what it is, and what it is is a nice, inviting set of jazzy cabaret pop protest songs with a robot singer. Neat.
(Listened to the entire album)
–
Bruxa do Mangue – Marianna and Júlia
Lo-fi goth-meets-indie rock concept album from Brazil about a pair of vampiric lesbian lovers. A wide range of indie rock and goth influences run thru this, all held together with a Guided By Voices lo-fi aesthetic. Musically you get everything from weird experimental spoken word and sound design pieces to mellow indie ballads, heavy on acoustic guitar and light on production.
At different points I was reminded of everything from Bob Mould to early Cure, but somehow there’s an overriding vibe that reaches thru everything. Songs are in both English and Portuguese (along with an instrumental to round things out), and the singer has a distinctive voice and style that might not be for everyone, but if it works for you, you’ll find this to be an ambitious and intriguing album with a distinctive sound and vision.
(Listened to the entire album)
–
GM Slater and Dancing Deadlips – “Entombed Indecision”
Dark, moody, experimental ambient/soundscape with eerie spoken word lyrics and a palpable sense of menace about it. A single, 15-minute long track that evolves thru a variety of dark and haunted spaces over its runtime, while an effected voice whispers dark nothings in your ear.
Distorted and stretched out bell sounds, rain, cassette hiss, and static are all in the “instrumental” mix here, and the echo on the voice does a lot of work as well. Get a little too high, turn off the lights and turn this on, then see if you can stay in your skin thru the whole thing…a perfect track to freak yourself out with.
— — —
A parting note: Running this blog/newsletter takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, and a fair bit of money (my hosting is ~$13.50/month). I don’t intend to charge for it ever, but it would be great if those of you who appreciate it would consider the occasional donation/tip. If you can spare a few dollars, maybe hit my Ko-Fi page and show your appreciation? Alternately, you could always buy some of my music…
Discover more from Ether Diver
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.