YEAR OF NO LIGHT - AUSSERWELT [2010]

I know people shit themselves at the mere mention of Pelican and Isis. I know that the release of their recordings throw skinny metalheads into a frenzy of Beatles-like proportions. Or well, for underground metal standards anyway. Those two American groups have managed to stir quite the pot of beans. They have been cooking it slowly and even though in hindsight, it may seem like their best recording’s are already way behind, their momentum has never ceased. I have been largely unaffected by either. A few years ago I saw Isis live. They were as much fun as watching people paint a mansion white. Surely, theirs is the deep kind of music, the one that emerges slowly and that requires certain degree of contribution from the listener, but to me, openers These Arms Are Snakes were truly vibrant and stole the show.

 

There are other foreign counterparts that make music with the same flavor and with similar potency and that don’t get the same recognition. A few years ago Gallic nutsos Year of No Light released a gorgeous record titled Nord. It got a bunch of good reviews and that was that. Since, they’ve had four splits with fairly unknown bands and a live album, none of which have received much coverage. Ausserwelt is only their second full length of original material and it features a black and white photo of a tiny island for a cover.

 

I mention that because as I listen to Ausserwelt I can’t stop thinking about maritime motifs. I shit you not, this is like music for whales or dolphins. This is metal as interpreted by Flipper or Shamu. Ausserwelt shall be a soundtrack for one of those Natural Geographic documentaries about unscrupulous fishermen, or it should have been used as a curtain close to the award winning documentary The Cove. Year of No Light don’t play metal, they make natural post rock, dramatic after metal. The dude in charge of the electronics, keyboards, etc, especially him, is elsewhere, like dolphins, he clicks, whistles and bursts.

 

There are four songs in this record. They are all cut from the same cloth. And they all spend their combined 48 minutes apparently building momentum; Neur-Isis drums (read tribal and metal) sustaining the whole thing and never arriving to a steady beat. Meanwhile layers of prepotence offer distortion in minor measure to ethereal wail-like sounds that surmount to the call of the wild. Ausserwelt sounds like great soundtrack music, it sounds awesome when it doesn’t take center stage nor requires our full attention. But in the foreground and as a whole, one comes to notice that it builds to no end, and like a joke with no punchline, it never delivers.

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GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT - AGE OF THE FIFTH SUN [2010]

Props to God Is An Astronaut for having had a steady, noticeable progression throughout their career in post-rock since beginning in 2002. As I would imagine, that’s quite a feat: they’ve successfully been turning mildly bumpy 90-degree angles to vary and evolve their electro-ambient-guitar-jam exploits from release to release. You see, the three-piece have always had it in their mind to never subscribe to any of the genre’s more well-known, though restrictive, characteristics that many of their build-to-boom, echo, and reverb distant neighbors often seem to try to revitalize and make relevant in recent years. In an interview leading up to Age of the Fifth Sun's release, Torsten Kinsella (vocals, guitars, and piano) even went as far as to say that “we don’t play post-rock; we [may] have elements of [it], but I’m not going to follow the rules.”

And follow the rules Torsten, his brother Niels (bass and guitar), and Lloyd Hanney (drums and synths) have not, at least as Wikipedia might define the barriers, that is. Their first album, The End of the Beginning, was as naked and bare as debuts can get, crafted merely on a sole sampler and keyboard station. But despite such meager beginnings, therein laid the inception of the core dance-synth groove nature of God Is An Astronaut’s sound, already showing possible signs of hope that the band might be of future interest to those more disillusioned and tired with the now-generic genre stereotypes. From their second, and often most praised release, All Is Violent, All Is Bright, which expanded the framework of their debut with the inclusion of real drumming and a more present guitar element, to the more guitar-driven, distortion-fest of 2008’s self-titled release, God Is An Astronaut have yet to settle in a niche for themselves, always delivering with at least some degree of surprise.

Until now, that is. It’s said that “if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it”, and in God Is An Astronaut’s case, that means taking everything from their past albums and combining it into one compact and somewhat disproportionate Age of the Fifth Sun, all without adding anything new or interesting into the mix. This may not sound like such a bad thing, especially for the Irish band’s fans, but it still hints that the band are running low on innovation, having to recall past efforts in order to bridge the gap to their possible future. It may be a little too early to place judgment, but it must be asked: really, do we need another stagnating post-rock band?

When Torsten stated that Age of the Fifth Sun would be a change and that “every song is different,” he apparently wasn’t exactly telling the truth, though taken in a direct literal sense. Indeed, opener “Worlds In Collision” plays like a remix to what I’ve interpreted to be God Is An Astronaut’s remix CD: distant reverb sets the stage before Hanney takes control behind the kit, leading the Kinsella brothers with their intensely melodic flirtation of swirling synths and pounding guitar distortion along for the ride, picking up speed and then slowing down. Many of Age of the Fifth Sun’s cut’s play out in such a way, varying ever so slightly – “In The Distance Fading”, “Parallel Highway”, and “Shinning Through” – and even the cuts that don’t – “Lost Kingdom,” with its hollow-like intrigue, and “Dark Rift,” playing to its name with its solemn, brooding channel of ambiance and keys – feel strangely unmotivated and uncomfortable in the track list. Repeats and awkward junctions like these cause the album to have a very bumpy and undecided path for what it wants to do. Call me pessimistic, but when a post-rock release - or any instrumental album, for that matter - fails to contain some kind of purposeful flow, be it chaotic or smooth, I begin to reach for the off button. Frankly, it’s just not worth it.

That’s the very problem that God Is An Astronaut have seemed to have stumbled onto here on Age of the Fifth Sun. In mixing the electronic-led beginnings of their debut, the more post-rock leaning of their All Is Violent, All Is Bright, and the harder-hitting moments of their self-titled release together, the band have made an album that suffers from disproportionate flow, unmotivated songwriting, and, yes, though concentrated solely on the band’s past work, recycled material. It’s really upsetting, too, as once a band removes that almost expected flair - in this case, that surprise element - that really made them stand out from the crowd initially, they then take a backseat and begin to fit in with the masses. It's not so much a relation of sounds to their sonic neighbors; it's more of a copying of tactics, and Age of the Fifth Son, I'm afraid, is where God Is An Astronaut begin to fit in with the others. This is one of the few instances in dealing with post-rock where I would say that it's best to go against the flow; too bad that God Is An Astronaut have seemly dove in head-first.
sputnikmusic.com
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FOALS - TOTAL LIFE FOREVER [2010]

Very shortly after their just-fine debut album, Antidotes, landed on these shores, the young Brits in Foals up and decided the record wasn’t any good. They said it wasn’t “insurmountable by any means,” and they publicly complained about TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek’s production, which for some people was the only reason to give Foals any thought. Too many times before, we’ve heard the “but this isn’t the album we wanted to make!” argument from bands who underperformed out of the gate, which is why Foals' shtick feels so tired. But that’s also why it’s surprising that Foals’ sophomore album, Total Life Forever, is basically Antidotes 2.0: No Antibalas Horns. These guys apparently disliked how they sounded on their debut so much they decided to replicate it.

Because of that similarity, it feels like I’m reviewing Antidotes here, because the reasons why that album never completely connects are the same reasons that Total Life Forever doesn’t either. Lyrically, Foals are often cliché and direct (requests to go to someone’s arms, to come back, to “be there,” for example), but singer Yannis Philippakis, who clearly studied at the alter of Bono, is also sometimes hopelessly oblique and is often not saying anything at all (“Miami” has no references to the earth’s sweatiest city, and the phrase “total life forever” is unclear even after it gets shouted a bunch in the title track).

Foals still play with styles -- they can veer between poppy math rock and rocky angular post-punk -- and it still feels like they’re on the verge of a stylistic breakthrough that has yet to happen. For every sonic experiment like the vocal-sample built “This Orient,” there’s a sub Bloc Party-jack like “After Glow.” For every soaring, ready for ad placement jam like “Black Gold,” there’s a “Miami,” a song that lifts from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Snow Patrol in equally awful measure.

The one thing Foals did succeed in on Total Life Forever is removing any sense that they’re a Dave Sitek studio creation, because his formerly heavy sonic fingerprint is nowhere to be found here. But what that actually means is that horns from Sitek’s pals in Antibalas aren’t around, and the guitars don’t sound as much like they were computer programmed. Everything else is in its right place.

All in all, though, Total Life Forever is a slightly more assured record from Foals; this time out they sound like they’ve taken complete ownership of their music. They were originally called out for being a new version of the umpteen shimmery post-punk bands that came before them, but with Total Life Forever, Foals can now (mostly) be considered as an entity unto themselves.  
prefixmag.com
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A SILVER MT. ZION - KOLLAPS TRADIXIONALES [2010]

"A Silver Mt. Zion is a post-rock band formed in 1999, in Montreal, Canada, by Godspeed You! Black Emperor musicians Efrim Menuck, Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar. According to an interview with VPRO Radio in The Netherlands, originally the project was for Efrim to learn how to score music, but the idea was soon abandoned as Efrim decided that he preferred music not to be defined by rules, preferring simply what sounds best. Despite this, he continued the project out of a desire to experiment with ideas that would not work within the context of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The decision to record an album was partly inspired by the death of his dog Wanda, who had died while Godspeed You! Black Emperor was on tour. He wanted to record an album in her memory, but did not feel that he could effectively do this through Godspeed’s collective, consensus format.
Unlike Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion’s music often features vocals. The last few albums they have released contain no purely instrumental tracks. Efrim confessed that he was uncomfortable with this at first, feeling “foolish” and uncomfortable with the role of the singer in music generally. That is, he did not want to be the focus of the band’s music but rather wished to use vocals as a stylistic tool. Some fans were initially ambivalent about the use of vocals, but Efrim’s poetic lyrical style is now well respected among fans. Furthermore, Silver Mt. Zion’s fanbase has expanded, and they are no longer seen merely as an offshoot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor but as a unique and separate entity" LAST.FM
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SIGUR RÓS - TÍU LIFANDI [A CELEBRATION OF TEN YEARS OF LIVE MUSIC] [2009]

"Sigur Rós is an icelandic post-rock band. The name is derived from the name of lead vocalist Jónsi Birgisson’s little sister Sigurrós. According to their website, it is pronounced “si-ur roas (as in roast).” They hail from the same creative and vibrant Icelandic music scene as múm and Amiina. They released their first ever foray into film-making with their tour documentary, Heima in late 2007.
Jón Þór (Jónsi) Birgisson, Georg Hólm and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson formed the group in Reykjavík, Iceland in August 1994. They soon won a record deal with a local record label, Smekkleysa (Bad Taste). In 1997, they released Von (Hope) and in 1998 a remix collection named Von Brigði. The name is Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means “disappointment”, but Von brigði means “hope alteration”. (In English, the album is sometimes known by the alternative name “Recycle Bin”.)
International acclaim came with 1999’s Ágætis byrjun (“An alright start”) for which the band were joined by Kjartan Sveinsson. The album’s reputation slowly spread by word of mouth over the next two years. Soon many critics worldwide hailed it as one of the best albums of its time and the band was playing with Radiohead and other big names. Drummer Ágúst left the band after the recording of Ágætis Byrjun and was replaced by Orri Páll Dýrason."
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BATTLE OF MICE - A DAY OF NIGHTS [2006]

"It isn't very often that a team-up involving members of two distinct bands works out in the way that Battle of Mice's A Day of Nights does. That is to say that the gazier aspects of guitarist Josh Graham's Red Sparowes and the sheer intensity that Julie Christmas brings to her band, Made Out of Babies, come together without having to make sacrifices on either end. The music on A Day of Nights is sometimes dreamy, at other times coarse, and still other times intrusive and uncomfortable. What really sticks in the listener's ear with A Day of Nights -- at least in the general sense -- is that this album feels like it was constructed in a cave. It's tight, cramped, and screaming within a breath's distance of one's face. And yet, it's a huge-sounding record, powerful, layered, and dense. Christmas is the star here (as she is in most appearances on disc), her voice moving from wailing banshee to precious-sweetheart-stalker on the verge of a breakdown and back at the drop of a hat. For Graham, whose band can be as heavy but lacks (perhaps due to their lack of a vocalist) the intensity that Christmas provides to her band, this is his (and the rest of the players, whose ranks include Tony Maimone) moment to break from the collective-like sound of Red Sparowes and explore a tougher, more pummeling style of song structure. Tracks like "Bones in the Water" and "Wrapped in Plain" are undeniably heavy and intense, almost churning between tension and release, but the heaviest moments on the record -- and most disturbing by a long shot -- are at the end of "At the Base of the Giant's Throat" (the band will not discuss this section, by the way): a 911 call of a woman being either beaten or worse while the phone keeps listening. To call parts of this record harrowing would be spot-on, but it can also be delicate, heavy, precious, and dreamlike. No mean feat, really. A Day of Nights is a perfect example of pushing the confines of metal and rock aside and really letting go. An amazing piece of work, hands down." AMG

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ENABLERS - TUNDRA [2008]

"Fitting to its name, the San Francisco quartet Enablers writes songs that are equally manipulative and encouraging to our darkest desires. The band made up of journeyman veterans of Swans, Tarnation, Nice Strong Arm and Toiling Midgets merges dramatic and flowing melodic soundscapes — of which SF Gate calls “possibly the world’s best power trio” — with the visceral spoken narratives of underground literary veteran Pete Simonelli. It’s almost as though the band’s fluid and often soothing music exists to distract our better instincts while Simonelli whispers above it all, urging and lulling us into the dark, decrepit world of his words.
Guitarist and recording engineer Joe Goldring has collaborated with Swans, Toiling Midgets, and Doug Scharin of June of ’44 under the moniker Out in Worship, as well as with Neurosis’ Steve Von Till’s solo projects.
Guitarist/bassist Kevin Thomson, veteran of Timco and Nice Strong Arm, has been playing and touring for twenty years and with his own projects and has been a writing partner with Goldring for ten of those years collaborating on Morning Champ, Touched by a Janitor, and now Enablers.
Drummer Yuma Joe Byrnes has lent his unique take on the trapset to Tarnation, Broken Horse and others.
Pete Simonelli has been continually writing and publishing his efforts in underground literary journals for years and now brings his poems to the table for Enablers." LAST.FM

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APSE - CLIMB UP [2009]

"Apse was formed in 1999 in Newtown, Connecticut as a three-piece while the members were still in high school. The group made purely instrumental ambient rock until about 2003, when reverberant lead vocals by Bobby became a regular part of the band’s songs.
The lineup expanded over the years and by 2005, Apse was signed to Spain’s Acuarela Discos to record and release its culminating self-titled EP.
Amidst a shifting lineup, the group moved away from the trappings of “post-rock” territory to write and record its debut full-length album – the tribal, atmospheric Spirit, released in 2006. Extensive touring (exclusively in Europe) and further lineup changes took place over the course of the next two years, during which time the band signed to ATP Recordings, which gave Spirit a wider re-release in 2008.
A limited edition vinyl LP titled Eras, which signaled the start of a shift in sound for the group, also was released in late 2008, very much under the radar.
Apse is now made up of Bobby, Michael Gundlach, John Mordecai, Jed Armour and Brandon Collins. 2009’s Climb Up sheds much of the gloom, tribal rhythms and esoteric lyrics of Spirit for more eclectic moods across its 12 tracks, coupled with more concrete lyrics exploring the many sides of relationships between people."

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IMMANU EL - MOEN [2009]

"Immanu El is a young Swedish band with a unique sound: dynamic guitar and keyboard soundscapes, captive singing and with somewhat of a moving Nordic mood. The music is focused at varying dynamics and a wide spectrum of harmonic expressions and sounds that can move between presence and ambience. Originally the band was inspired by early post-rock and experimental bands and sounds, which combined with pop influences made Immanu El create a sound of their own based on atmospheric soundscapes that became the fundament for their debut album.
The core in the Immanu El sound has ever since the first songs were written in their mid-teens been to create something heartrendingly beautiful and moving, but the performance to create it has changed. As the band members have grown older and turned from teens into young men, the music as well has got a lot more mature and even more specifically unique. The core of beauty is still there, but what we can hear from today’s Immanu El is a rock band with confidence, profession and quality in their own sound. Atmospheric surroundings has yielded for a more down to earth, present and forcing kind of music, and the result is something rarely seen or heard before – a sound more touching and beautiful than in the rock quarters, but with more attitude and presence than in the soundscapes of post-rock." LAST.FM

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HORSEBACK - THE INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN [2009]

"Jenks Miller’s psychedelic/drone project, Horseback, produced an avant-garde sleeper-hit with 2007’s Impale Golden Horn (Burly Time Records/Holidays for Quince Records). That record, which Aquarius Records’ review staff tentatively described as “the best drone record of the year” upon its release, boasted four lengthy tracks, each one a vibrant, kaleidoscopic journey toward a manic, inevitable nirvana. More melodic and accessible than most noise records and noisier than most dream-pop records, Horseback’s debut carved itself a niche somewhere between Merzbow and Stars of the Lid, offering a refreshing sound to fans across many sub-genres of psychedelic music.
Horseback toured in the fall of 2007 with Meisha/Arco Flute Foundation/New American Folk Hero visionary Mike Tamburo, including a stop at the fourth-annual Arthur Magazine-curated Million Tongues Festival in Chicago."

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THE MERCURY PROGRAM - CHEZ VIKING [2009]

"Formed in the summer of 1997, The Mercury Program started as a three-piece consisting of Dave LeBleu, Sander Travisano, and Tom Reno. After releasing 2 self-recorded 7”s on Boxcar Records, their self-titled full-length was released in 1999, also on Boxcar. In late 1999, The Mercury Program signed to the New York City-based indie startup Tiger Style Records. During this time, they added an additional member, Whitney Travisano, and turned the trio into a more dynamic quartet. The sound of the band changed dramatically with the addition of a fourth member as the vibraphone and Rhodes piano began to play a more significant role in the song writing.
In early 2000, the new line-up hit the studio with Andy Baker. The result was their sophomore effort, From the Vapor of Gasoline, which was released by Tiger Style Records later that Spring. The record received a tremendous amount of positive press, including the first national exposure for the band with an 8 out of 10 rating in Spin Magazine. From the Vapor of Gasoline was quickly followed up in 2001 by the All the Suits Began to Fall Off EP, which demonstrated the band’s maturation and comfort as a quartet. Unlike previous releases, this EP doesn’t include any of the usual sparse bits of vocals; instead, All the Suits Began to Fall Off marks the band’s departure into a new all-instrumental direction." LAST.FM

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CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX - A LOVE OF SHARED DISASTERS [2007]

"With a full baker's dozen's worth of musicians listed, the debut album by the U.K.'s Crippled Black Phoenix is part of the whole post-Broken Social Scene concept of band as endlessly mutating collective, but A Love of Shared Disasters is considerably more mutant than most. The driving force behind the band is Justin Greaves, former drummer for sludgy art-stoner metal acts Iron Monkey and Electric Wizard, but the heaviness sporadically on display here owes more to Mogwai (whose bassist Dominic Aitchison is a key participant) and Godspeed You Black Emperor!, an obvious touchstone for the epic centerpiece "Long Cold Summer." Elsewhere, there are twisted fragments of Neutral Milk Hotel's lo-fi emo-psych, traditional British folk-rock in the Steeleye Span mold (complete with harmonium parts straight out of the Shirley & Dolly Collins songbook), tunes reminiscent of old sea shanties warped within an inch of their life (see the opening "The Lament of the Nithered Mercenary" and the vintage Fairport Convention gone doom metal feel of "The Northern Cobbler"), and unexpected hits of straight-up Sigur Rós ethereality. It shouldn't make a bit of sense, and it doesn't in any sort of logical way, but there's an underlying vision to A Love of Shared Disasters, a cracked singularity that keeps it from being just a random bunch of acid-fried weird ideas glued together higgledy piggledy." AMG

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EASTSTRIKEWEST - WOLVVES [2009]

"I have to admit I'm a sucker for anything with sweeping strings, layered soundscapes, along with a somewhat progressive/experimental approach. So it's no surprise EastStrikeWest's debut full-length, 'Wolvves' has won me over greatly.
Opener 'God Can't Take His Eyes Off Me' sets the tone with its grand, epic sound and combination of raw guitars and spiraling strings that dominate and create a mesmerizing sound. Whereas 'Stumble' is a slower yet favourable track, which sees Tom Clark's vocal soaring above and beyond.
'Welcoming The Ghosts' is eerie and haunting with its slow, delicate build-up, whilst 'The Architect' sees the band heading down the dark indie rock route similar to that of White Lies. However EastStrikeWest manage keep their layered and lengthy sound intact, to keep up with the record momentum.
'Every Word And Whisper Said' is beautiful in its approach, as sweeping strings and distant pounding drums create an atmosphere that just grabs you, and helplessly admire. 'Electricity' is somehow the stand out track of the record, as it takes all that is great with this record and throws it into one; the sweet-sounding orchestra, Clark's superb, strong vocals, delicate rock guitars and much more, to create an awe-inspiring performance.
By now you're thinking this record is pretty much fault-less, however you'd be wrong. Despite it's grand, warming sound, 'Wolvves' is a lengthy record and one that is dominated by tracks lasting 5 or 6 minutes long. Therefore EastStikeWest are not the most accessible of bands.
On the other hand, it is a record that you have to live with until realise its brilliance. The bands song-structure is not too complicated, that it doesn't leave you in discomfort. It is a record that flows nearly seamlessly.
Therefore if you're a fan of bands that create a sound that is wide and layered with a slight touch of beauty, then EastStrikeWest might just be your new favourite band."
alterthepress.com

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BEAR IN HEAVEN - BEAST REST FORTH MOUTH [2009]

"Bear in Heaven is a Brooklyn-based rock band formed by Jon Philpot. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music, krautrock.
Jon Philpot has previously released music as part of the duo Presocratics, in collaboration with guitarist and composer Need Thomas Windham. Presocratics released two albums on the record label Table of the Elements in 2001; both were produced by Philpot.
The first Bear in Heaven release (Tunes Nextdoor to Songs, Eastern Developments 2003) was an EP of solo recordings by Philpot, recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, with guest musicians performing on various instruments. Shortly after the release of Tunes Nextdoor to Songs, Philpot moved to Brooklyn, New York and joined with guitarist Adam Wills, keyboardist/guitarist Sadek Bazarra (a graphic designer with Brooklyn design collective GH avisualagency), guitarist David Daniell (of San Agustin), and bassist James Elliott (Ateleia, School of Seven Bells). Eventually drummer Joe Stickney (drummer with Paul Duncan, Rhys Chatham’s Essentialist project, and current touring drummer with Panthers) was added to the lineup. Daniell left Bear in Heaven in 2005 to focus on his solo project.
Red Bloom of the Boom, Bear in Heaven’s first full-length album with the full band, was released in 2007 by the Hometapes record label." LAST.FM

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OMEGA MASSIF / MOUNT LOGAN - SPLIT [2009]

"Omega Massif is an instrumental post-metal band from Würzburg, Germany and were formed in 2005 by Andreas Schmittfull (guitar), Michael Melchers (guitar), Boris Bilic (bass) and Christof Rath (drums). They recorded their demo “Kalt” in 2005 and began playing shows with bands like Knut, Taint and Tephra among others.
In 2007, Omega Massif released their first full-length album “Geisterstadt” (which means “Ghost Town” in German). The album weaves a tale of ancient abandoned silver mines, treks through deep mountain tunnels, and forsaken boom towns illustrated through Omega Massif’s massive instrumental post-metal. The vocaless nature of the music turns the focus on pure atmosphere, and Omega Massif deliver, layering the pulverizing repetitive metalchug with a sense of gloom and longing that becomes near-suffocating at times, but there are also lots of gorgeous ethereal melodies throughout." LAST.FM

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DIRTY THREE - OCEAN SONGS [1998]

"The Dirty Three's fourth venture into long-play territory is easily their most controversial, and a decided change in direction. While the band's previous recordings -- Sad & Dangerous, Dirty Three, and Horse Stories -- have all, in some way, attempted to capture the trio's live show, where slow, winding patterns and riffs become a swirling churning blast of emotional cacophony for both musicians and listeners, Ocean Songs takes a very different tack to achieve an end that is similar, but more focused. There is an aesthetic at work on Ocean Songs, from the cover through to the last note of the original recordings (early issues of the CD came with a second CD with three bonus tracks, all of which have surfaced elsewhere), the purpose of which is held in the somewhat mysterious title. The music is what makes it so. Are D3 playing songs inspired by or seemingly "created" from the ocean? Or are they paying homage to the ocean? The music here keeps all tempos reigned in and all instrumental flurries to a minimum, creating the feeling of waves lapping and pouring into and out of one another. It's as if the D3 were on a vessel, playing to the ocean itself. There are hints in guitarist Mick Turner's gorgeous cover painting, which shows a tranquil mermaid on one side, a near tidal wave over a red boat on the back sleeve, and both in deep blue against a light blue background, seemingly under the ocean. On the tentative opener, "Sirena," Warren Ellis plays two- and three-notes lines, held interminably against Turner's pastoral and minimal guitar flourishes while Jim White's rhythmic constructs glisten and shimmer through the middle, offering it all more room to drift rather than create a frame. On "Distant Shore," a tune built on three chords and a fragment, Ellis puts the album's tentative nature forth in the elegantly twisting lilt of his violin, creating a melody that is simply a chant, as Turner and White slip around his center, creating a view of the shore and the ground, mirage-like and ephemeral, and presented through a watery prism, as mournful, left behind, turned away from. The centerpiece of the album -- from which there is no return, either to "traditional" D3 form or to anything else considered rock music -- is "Authentic Celestial Music." Ellis, for the first time, overdubs his violin, creating a series of drones and overlapping melodies. Turner plays its straight, creating a chord structure that follows the dynamic changes in Ellis' minimal style, from one melody to the next, with no more than 12 notes total. White relies on his tom toms and a muted snare, almost leaving his cymbals out of the mix entirely until over halfway through the tune's nearly 11 minutes. Here is a new kind of intensity for the D3, one built in unison and not in any kind of rock counterpoint. A dynamic range is built upon slowly, with repeated phrases and rhythms masking the turbulence underneath, mirroring it even, and holding some degree of it in, where previously the dials would have been in the red. This is not to say there isn't drama or tension -- far from it. It's just that it does not get released through catharsis; instead, it merely goes quiet. When "Backwards Voyager" ushers in the second half of the album, it is clear that listeners are in the aftermath of a storm. A dangerous calm is created by White's whispering snare, and deepened by Turner's generous open-tuned chords, plucked and gently strummed, as Ellis just hovers elegaically in the background, moving the band into a lulling, shimmering space where everything floats in open, empty, poetic, and lyric space. D3 move eventually from this gorgeous, mournful, and some what sad space into the heart of beauty itself, meditating on this new terrain, one which extends far beyond anything they conceived of exploring as a band on previous albums. Loss, desire, remembrance, solitude, and the tenuous benevolence of nature are all emotional frames explored in tracks like "Last Horse on the Sand," the densely mysterious "Sky Above, Sea Below," and "Black Ride." The disc ends with "Ends of the Earth," with Ellis taking up the piano as well as his violin, and Turner playing a gorgeous yet simple lyric line that evokes the shimmering horizon, endlessly out of reach, just over the next curve in the earth. Ellis, whose chords underlie his fragile song, also layers his violin just above White's brushed snare that haunts Turner's guitar. In the middle of the tune's five-minute span, one can see into the depths of the ocean itself, and hear it speak its secret truths while revealing its hidden, flowing body. It's a song than ends in a small, shimmering whisper about things to come, things that are, and things that will never be. On Ocean Songs, the Dirty Three have expanded themselves immeasurably as a band by holding themselves in to listen, and have made some of the most haunting, poetically profound, and emotionally honest music ever to come out of the "rock" world."

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FLY PAN AM - N'ECOUTEZ PAS [2004]

"Fly Pan Am, or Le Fly Pan Am, is a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Montreal in 1996. They released their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect.
The band was formed in 1996 by guitarists Jonathan Parant and Roger Tellier-Craig, drummer Felix Morel, and bassist Jean-Sebastian Truchy. Eric Gingras would later on join the band in 2002, contributing guitar and percussion.
They shared personnel with Godspeed You! Black Emperor until guitarist Roger Tellier-Craig left Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 2003 to concentrate full time on Fly Pan Am. In 2005, Roger Tellier-Craig and Eric Gingras began the french psychedelic kraut-pop outfit known as Pas Chic Chic along with other members of Montreal’s illustrious music scene.
The band is noticeably influenced by the French Canadian culture of Quebec, as well as the burgeoning avant-garde musical scene in Montreal. French is the predominant language used in producing albums and writing lyrics, with English peppered throughout. The track titles on past records, as stated by Roger Tellier-Craig, were written in a way to interpret the song, which Tellier-Craig concedes was “lost on most listeners” due to the French used. Unorthodox electronic sounds, occasionally provided by Alexandre St-Onge, intersect the music and often serve to confuse the listener." LAST.FM

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LABRADFORD - MI MEDIA NARANJA [1997]

"Labradford consists of bassist Robert Donne, guitarist/vocalist Mark Nelson, and Carter Brown on keyboards. Their music style is experimental ambient/post-rock, although their earlier releases such as Prazision and A Stable Reference were much more related to dark drone rock.
In 1993 they released their debut album on Kranky which has remained their home since. The group’s music mostly drifts on the guitar effects and the keyboard passages, with the vocals, when present, in the background.
In 1999 they started a tour with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and their Festival Of Drifting series, which featured appearances from Pole, Matmos, Papa M and Sigur Rós.
Though the group has not officially disbanded, they have not released another album since 2001’s critically acclaimed Fixed::Context, and the band members have apparently moved away from their former base of Richmond, Virginia. Robert Donne has joined the slow-core group Spokane. Mark Nelson continues to release records on Kranky under the name Pan•American." LAST.FM

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SHELS - SEA OF THE DYING DHOW [2007]

"Formed by former Mahumodo front man Mehdi Safa and drummer Tom Harriman, based in the United Kingdom and in California, *shels (sometimes referred to as Shels) self-released their debut album ‘Sea of the Dying Dhow’ on June 18, 2007 on their own imprint (*)shelsmusic.
Showcasing progressive, cinematic soundscapes and raw brutality, *shels’ live lineup has featured members of Eden Maine, Mahumodo, and Fireapple Red.
*shels was formed in 2004 following the split of Mehdi Safa’s former band Mahumodo. While some of his former band mates went on to form Devil Sold His Soul, Mehdi (born in America of Lebanese and Iranian parents) relocated to Los Angeles. There he wrote the music that has created *shels.
*shels released “Laurentian’s Atoll” in December of 2007 again to acclaim from the press.
Plans are already being started for a UK tour in the summer of 2009, along with a US tour before the new album “Plains Of The Purple Buffalo” is unleashed later in the year." LAST.FM

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PELICAN - AUSTRALASIA / THE FIRE IN OUR THROATS WILL BECKON THE THAW [2003 / 2005]

"The secretive instrumental art metal outfit Pelican was formed in Chicago by guitarists Trevor de Brauw and Laurent Lebec, with bassist Larry Herweg and his sibling drummer, Bryan. Owing a great debt to pioneering forefathers Neurosis and often compared to Boston's nearly as influential Isis (minus the vocals, naturally), Pelican coincidentally also found a home at Isis mastermind Aaron Turner's Hydra Head Records. After making their debut with an eponymous four-song EP in 2003, Pelican expanded their epic, otherworldly trance-metal to continent-sized movements with 2003's critically acclaimed Australasia album and followed it with 2004's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. After nonstop touring, playing in clubs, small halls, and mammoth festivals, the quartet took a much-deserved break. They returned to the studio in 2006 and released City of Echoes in June 2007, followed by the live CD/DVD After the Ceiling Cracked later that December." AMG

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