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Ulver have always had a soft spot for conceptual works. In that respect, their latest ep is their most conceptually rigorous release ever.
Originally planned for a september 2002 release, well over a year later, Estradasphere finally released their 3rd opus: Quadropus. With the drummer-‘problem’ still unsolved the now quartet got help from former drummer Dave Murray and Theo Mordey.
Belgium also has Sludge bands. Blutch was noticed by many for their crushing performances during their European trek as opening band for Bongzilla. They also happen to be releasing their second full-length, Fra Diavolo.
OK, no need to have you waiting much longer… The first Grails album is quite simply amazing. Coming from Portland, Oregon, they sound universal.
From the country of Nick Cave and Dirty Three comes Sodastream. A minor revival is their third full-length, and while it’s not musically similar to the aforementioned artists, it is equally gorged with emotions.
Most evil band name ever. Period. And we’re not talking black metal. We’re talking pop. Not regular pop. Very noisy pop. Send this CD to Dubya and you will see. He is going to hate the name. Then, he will listen to the CD and think it’s another unconventional weapon belonging to the Ayatollahs. You have yourself another war…
The books released their first album Thought for food in June 2002. It was hailed by an unanimous press as one of the best releases of the year. And rightly so: it truly was something else. Of course, a few people think they are way overrated and were looking forward to their second album, just to slag it off. Hmm I guess that now that The books are better known, people who loved the first CD will think this one is rubbish. Let’s just have a look so that I can make up my mind…
Some of today’s most interesting musicians in experimental music today are Germans around forty: Ekkehard Ehlers, Harald Ziegler, Frank Blumm and Stefan Schneider among others. Most of them release albums on Staubgold. Joseph Suchy too.
Anathema does not seem to have Lady Luck on their side. Besides all the troubles within the band and the family (which has become almost the same these days, with 3 Cavanagh brothers in the band), their (doom)metal-past prevented them to break through to a different, and maybe bigger, audience. Strange, because the emotional rock that Anathema writes these days could easily appeal to people who like the 'emotional rock' by bands like Coldplay and Radiohead.
One year ago, the masters of all things mathcore disbanded and released their swansong in the form of the Anthology of dead ends ep. 22 minutes showcasing why Botch were held in such esteem by so many people between 1993 and 2002.
Until quite recently, JOMF were known only of a little group of connoisseurs but since they were chosen as cover stars by The Wire last year, it has become very difficult to avoid them.
'Does humour belong in music?' It's an old question and many people seem to disagree with Frank Zappa, the man who made an album by that name. I think it does, like it belongs in life, as music reflects life. Not necessarily real life: imagination is life as well. Fantasy, history, future or the current, it doesn't matter.
04th of October 2000, Jester Records unleashed on an unexpecting world the news that Carl-Michael Eide (aka Czral) had just formed a band retaining “the visionary components of (one of Eide previous bands) Ved Buens Ende”. Many fans of VBE bowed down and cried. Too good to be true. Alas, they didn’t know they would have to wait for almost 3 years before actually getting to hear the album…. Worth the wait?
Third album for the American trio, an exercise in gazing at its shoes while playing slow, depressive music, building some great atmospheres.
After releasing 3 albums with a sort of easy-tune-ish pop: shiny and happy on the surface but not seldomly with a subtle bitter twist that wasn’t obvious to just everybody, they scored a big hit with Lovefool. The song was used on the very popular movieRomeo & Juliet and the new, very generic, video completely ignored the melancholy of the excellent first version and the song itself. But they were stars now!
The message is is a split CD between a Belgian and a Dutch band. They both play a music that one might link to post-rock. Yeah, that’s right post-rock, the genre that got so many people’s pants wet 5 years ago.
2003 is a busy year for Julien Loquet. A few months ago, he released a superb album, Mani, under his Dorine_muraille alias on no less than Fat Cat Records, and now he is back under the Gel: moniker with Dolce (the second Gel: album).
An up and coming noisician meets a veteran guitarist from the japanese noise rock scene. They record stuff together and release a CD. You buy it. You got yourself a puzzling but excellent album.
Through Isis, Old Man Gloom and Lotus Eaters, Aaron Turner has been the provider of extremely powerful music for the last couple of years. August 2003 sees him releasing the second full-length of his “ambient” project, House of Low Culture.
Funny how thing go… I’ve been living full-time in a city called Liège (Belgium) my entire life until very recently and yet it took a distributor based in Bruges and a label from Brussels for me to discover on of the city’s most interesting “sons”…
Ominous music out of your speakers… Sabers probably won’t physically threaten you, but you’re never going to be sure how you’re gonna get out of this situation safely, at least for your mind...
Short but good. I think it’s a perfect way to introduce this latest release from Cédric Stevens, a Belgian artist who has been active in the electronic music world for 10 years already.
Avant-rock, art-rock ? Whatever… 4th studio album for the austrian band, and what an excellent collection of songs !
A pop-artist with aspirations for way more than just pop, that can be a tough situation. I think former Japan vocalist David Sylvian has been in this situation for the last 15 years.