Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe [Review]

Julianna Barwick appeared in my ears while I listened to The Magic Place (2011). Comparing her to another emerging Avant-garde/Experimental artist Julia Holter makes me think of them as musical sisters. Julianna Barwick is the silent sister, the one who whispers her words while the music warp her tender voice with the exact harmonies needed. Nepenthe is a perfect night soundtrack, which make you imagine that angels voices are singing to you, a moment before you close your eyes. Its production is minimalist, yet impressive and Julianna's voice... Well... Try to listen, here are five samples of her albums, three of them from the later.

Album Rating: 8/10

The Harbinger (Nepenthe, 2013)


Envelop (The Magic Place, 2011)

Forever (Nepenthe, 2013)

Pacing (Pacing EP, 2013)

One Half (Nepenthe, 2013)

About Farewell - Alela Diane [Review]

After a great half year of musical discoveries in 2013, July seemed to be weaker than the previous months. But then my ears met Alela Diane's wonderful voice. The Forth studio album of this Folk singer from Portland's scene, About Farewell, is a beautiful, mature album of one of the most surprising talents I've heard this year (Torres debut album, for example). I'm not a great fan of Folk music (Maybe that's because I'm from Europe...), but Alela's voice haunted me over and over again, made me listen to her album few times this week. Here are five of my favourite tracks of her album, which was released on 30th of July.

Album Rating: 9/10

About Farewell

Lost Land

 

Rose And Thorn

 

Hazel Street

 

The Way We Fall

Life Is A Rollercoaster: 20 Years To Red House Painters' "Red House Painters"

When you look at the roller coaster's photograph on the cover of the sophomore album of Red House Painters, you can't even imagine how beautiful yet painful is this record. Roller coasters always seems to be one of the scary attractions in parks but Red House Painters sung about "The one only sissies ride..." (Roller coaster). I think that's one of the things that made them pretty under-rated, the sharp look on the things that we try to forget. This four piece band from San Francisco consisted of Mark Kozelek (Which formed few other acts later such as Sun Kil Moon), Anthony Koutsos (drums), Jerry Vessel (bass) and Gordon Mack (Guitar) and split about a decade ago. This album is their best, with one of the most beautiful breakup songs I've ever heard, Katy Song, which goes like this: "Can't go with my heart when I can't feel what's in it I thought you'd come over, but for some reason you didn't, glass on the pavement under my shoe, without you is all my life amounts to".One of my all time favourites, five songs of it will show you why, even though that's been 20 years since its release on 24 of May, 1993.

Album Rating: 9/10

Katy Song

Mistress

Dragonflies

Brown Eyes

Grace Cathedral Park

Volume 3 - She & Him [Review]

If you don't like bitter-sweet music, which sounds like Nostalgia Pop music from the breezy 60's, you can skip this article right now. If you like this kind of music, I'm convinced you'd love the new release of She & Him named Volume 3, which was released on 7th of May, 2013. This album continues the same spirit of the previous ones made by the collaboration of Zooey Deschanel (Yeah, the cute girl from New Girl and Indie movie [500] Days Of Summer) and M. Ward. In contrast to their earlier records, this one is more mature, maybe because it was the first release since Zooey Deschanel and her her husband, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie, separated. The music may sound sweet, but the songs' lyrics are about togetherness and separations, which make you wonder what the hell Ben Gibbard was thinking about when they divorced. Meanwhile, it seems that Zooey Dschanel keeps doing the things she likes in her own sweet way and it sounds great with the melodies of M Ward guitar. That's not a ground breaking album but it'll keep you warm in colder nights.

Album Rating: 7/10

I Could Have Been Your Girl (Taken From Volume 3, 2013)

In The Sun (Taken From Volume 2, 2010)

Somebody Sweet To Talk To (Taken From Volume 3, 2013)

Black Hole (Taken From Volume 1, 2008)

London (Taken From Volume 3, 2013)

MCII - Mikal Cronin [Review]

Mikal Cronin is an American young artist, which is known for being part of Ty Segall's live band as Bass guitar player. In addition, Mikal Cronin, which specialises in Garage-Indie Rock, which sounds sometimes like it was recorded on Lo-Fi, takes part in a lot of other bands such as Okie Dokie, Epsilons, Party Fowl and Moonhearts. But the main reason I mention him here is his second solo album named MCII, which was released on 7th of May, 2013. In this album, Mikal Cronin finally escaped the burden of Ty Segall's shadow, showing how talented he is as a solo artist. The album is more communicative than his debut record and it seems that he left some of the Garage Rock ingredients behind, replacing them by something similar to Power-Rock. It kind of reminded me the new album of Kurt Vile, what makes him one of my favourite so far in this year. Here are five songs by this talented artist, three of them from the last release.

Album Rating: 9/10

Turn Away (Taken From MCII, 2013)

Is It Alright (Taken From Mikal Cronin, 2011)

Peace Of Mind (Taken From MCII, 2013)

Apathy (Taken From Mikal Cronin, 2011)

Weight (Taken From MCII, 2013)

New Toughts: 10 Years To Blur's "Think Tank"

When Blur, the highly acclaimed four piece band from London, started their recording sessions in 2001, they didn't know that it would be the last album of them together. All the four founding members, Damon Albarn (Vocals), Graham Coxon (Guitar and backing vocals), Alex James (Bass) and Dave Rowntree (Drums) have been together since high school, but Graham Coxon was deeply involved with alcoholism, what  made him leave the recordings after a while. The three members then recorded without their leading guitarist, a thing that you can notice when you hear the album at the first time, when you're looking for the guitar melodies in the songs (except of Battery In Your Leg, the only song he played in at this album. The result is more Electronic, Damon's voice based and a few clues for things that Damon Albarn will do in the next decade with Gorillaz, The Good The Bad And The Queen and more. It's also more Political with references to the invasion to Afghanistan and an anti-war declarations that you can recognise on the album cover. 10 years after the release of the seventh album of Blur (Released on 5th of May, 2003), I can still find here some magical moments, five of them are featured below.

Album Rating: 8/10

Out Of Time

Battery In Your Leg

On The Way To The Club

Ambulance

Sweet Song

Sudden Elevation - Olof Arnalds [Review]

After writing about Olafur Arnalds' latest release named For Now I Am Winter, it's time to move on to his cousin, Olof Arnalds. This young Icelandic singer/songwriter has three LP's so far, the last one of them called Sudden Elevation, which was made available for purchasing in February 2013. While Olafur Arnalds is focusing at Neo-Classical elements together with Electronic and Ambient music, Olof Arnalds is an Indie-Folk kind of girl, playing charango and violins for a few Scandinavian acts such as wonderful Mum. Her last release is a mature one, based on her fragile voice and strings playing without any special studio productions. As such, it's as pure as her voice. The only problem I can see in that record is that after three songs it seems it's all the same... She should have tried different tunes in order not to bore her audience. So here you've got the opportunity to listen three songs from her last release and two from earlier ones. Hope you'll enjoy this five songs set

Album Rating: 6/10

German Fields (Taken From Sudden Elevation, 2013)

Surrender (Featuring Bjork, Taken From Innundir Skinni, 2010)

Treat Her Kindly (Taken From Sudden Elevation, 2013)

I Nyju Husi (Taken From Við Og Við, 2007)

Onwards And Upwards (Taken From Sudden Elevation, 2013)

For Now I Am Winter - Olafur Arnalds [Review]

Olafur Arnalds is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist who usually makes great mixture between Piano and other classic instruments with Electronic/Ambient music. So far he has released three albums in his career, while his fourth release got out to record stores on February, 2013. In For Now I Am Winter he cooperate with Arnor Dan Arnarsson, the leading singer of Agent Fresco. The result is a beautiful, space-like sounds which hugs gently the listeners ears not letting him forget what he heard. I think it's one of the most atmospheric albums I've ever heard, the closest thing to Sigur Ros projects. It's hard to imagine that Olafur Arnalds was once the drummer of a Hardcore/Metal bands , but that's the magic that lays on his hands: On the one hand, he can hit the drums and the other hand, he can play peacefully on the piano. All you have to do now is to take a warm blanket, get it on you with a hot chocolate beverage and drown into five songs from Olafur Arnalds' discography, three of them from the last release.

Album Rating: 8/10

Old Skin (Taken From For Now I Am Winter, 2013)

Fyrsta (Taken From Living Room Songs, 2011)

A Stutter (Taken From For Now I Am Winter, 2013)

A Hundred Reasons (Featuring Haukur Heidar Hauksson, Single Only)

 

For Now I Am Winter (Taken From For Now I Am Winter, 2013)