We Made God are the latest Icelandic band to step up to the mark and their debut album delivers soaring, epic, driving rock of the highest calibre.
The fourpiece are early 20-something’s Maggi (vocals, guitars), Arnór (guitars), Stuni (bass) and Biggi (drums). From the gentle introspection to brutal noise of album opener Gizmo to the pyschedlic riffing of the Deftones-esque “Bathwater” and the gentle floating guitars of “The Color”, “As We Sleep” was entirely produced by We Made God and shows a band at the height of their powers. By turns epic and gentle, the band merge intelligently crafted rock songs with the unique and powerful vocal take of Maggi.
“A big noise in their native Iceland, We Made God deserve a wider audience for their self financed , self-released debut. Referencing the otherworldly ambient atmospherics of Sigur Rós and Deftones’ driving, muscular riffs, the quartet’s epic widescreen soundscapes and frontman Maggi’s keening vocals are by turns beautiful and harrowing” An audacious debut.” – Q Recommends 4/5
There are very few bands who create a sense of atmosphere and emotion purely through their music yet on their ambitious, epic debut it’s exactly what Chelmsford post-rock, trio Souls Vibrating In The Universe set out to do. ‘All These Worlds Are Yours’ is an aural journey through sweeping sonic soundscapes, delicately beautiful melodies and huge, brooding crescendos, creating spectacularly atmospheric walls of noise.
Forming in 2002 from the ashes of the fast-fading Essex scene, Souls Vibrating In The Universe came of age with their original demo ‘The Inevitable Sadness’. Off-kilter song structures and subtle, downbeat dynamics showed a band willing to experiment and the end result defined the band’s original, easily recognisable sound. ‘All These Worlds Are Yours’ takes the blueprint of their earlier work and expands it in every direction possible. Taking influence from art-rock titans Sigur Ros and Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as nods towards Radiohead and even Snow Patrol, Souls Vibrating In The Universe are an experience not to be missed.
pg.lost is a four-piece post-rock band from Norrköping, Sweden formed in year 2004. The band was initially called Before You Give In but after numerous changes in the lineup the band took on the current name.
Current lineup:
Mattias Bhatt - guitar Gustav Almberg - guitar / key boards Kristian Karlsson - bass guitar / vocal Martin Hjertstedt - drums
An orchestra of the heart, a playground for the long lost sporadic thoughts of giving in or getting back. Pg.Lost is a swedish band of many directions, but most of all a band throbbing with great melancholy grinding against the precious high hopes of not just individual human thinking and feeling, but also contrasts within pushing the sonic boundries of endless instrumental experiments of prolonging. Pg.Lost recently recieved a lot of press attention because of an American individual attracting a record deal by falsely using their music as his own. But then again Pg.Lost does have a way of sounding like a deep emotion or unresolved issues, so no wonder a fraction of us get confused, and start mistaking their music for something private."
Pg.Lost feature members from Eskju Divine and Last Days Of April and has supported bands like MONO, Khoma and Efterklang. 20th of June 2007 Pg.Lost released the "Yes I Am EP" on the Swedish label Black Star Foundation. 29th of September 2008 Pg.Lost released their first full lenght album "It's Not Me, It's You!".
An instrumental three piece post-rock band out of Johannesburg South Africa. A Full length album is expected from the trio in 2009. The band is currently recording…
Albinobeach is the brainchild of 3 very different and musically contented individuals: Garrick van der Tuin, Kalin Pashaliev and Ian Finch . In 2006 the three got together to form a rock outfit that would attempt to push the envelope in the South African music scene. At that stage the band was quite despondent to the identicalness of the South African rock industry, so the band concentrated their energy in doing 'Something Else'.
This 'Something Else' would conceivably be achieved by gazing beyond the popular-culture ever encompassing our airwaves today. Easier said than done… The band experimented with numerous ideas pertaining to their music. First, they saw the importance of beautifully crafted songs that would remind the listener of an ongoing narrative. Implementation of synthetic instruments under the form of samples and programming brought about a dreamy and extraterrestrial feel to the bands' already molded and unusual sound. Allowing the music to take its own course, letting an idea play it self out in full without feeling the pressure of time and a snappy resolution. The band draw on many varying influences from different musical cultures and genres, from jazz, progressive rock, metal, electronica, downtempo, trip hop and traditional folk music, always aware of not being repetitive in their creative process.
The band went instrumental.
Being a three piece, the band knew that an explicit element was missing when it came to live performances. albinobeach comprehended the idea of guest artists sharing the stage with them. The band has thus become open to different interpretative modes when performing their songs. Nickolai Vassilev, a friend to Kalin Pashaliev (bass), was brought-in for the first couple of shows in order to test the waters of the instrumental niche. Playing the Bulgarian Kaval (a wind instrument only indigenous to Bulgaria), audiences became awestruck by the splendor and earthiness of the instrument. The 'Something Else' was achieved. The band look now to expanding their ensemble with the help of many other local instrumentalist who they respect and love.
Today albinobeach perform in front of an extensive selection of listeners. Young and old recognize the gravity and sincerity of the band. The non-egotistic 'suffer' of the band allows the listener to get closer by being sucked into the colorful display of sound, harmony and epic-escapism. In July 2007, albinobeach struck a deal with 'Forgotten Empire Records,' an American label situated in North Carolina. The label deals exclusively with experimental, progressive and instrumental music. The music of albinobeach will now reach listeners in North America (USA & Canada) and will also be distributed through their European subsidiary.
This is a side project from 5ive’s Ben Carr that is described as “an interpretation of depression falling into madness”. All of the tracks (seven are printed on the package, but nine appear on the CD itself) consist solely of various guitar riffs, tones, and textures, and the result is pretty interesting, not to mention diverse. From acoustic guitars and ambient hums to doom-laden crunches, sinister drones, and twisted feedback… it’s all here. And the tracks range in length from a mere two minutes to nearly 20! So there are definitely a lot of doors being opened and explored.
ent is the name of a solo project by the singer and guitarist of ストレイテナー ホリエアツシ (Horie Atsushi) mainly focusing on experimental electronica influenced pop.
ent is the alias that Atsuhi Horie hailing from Nagasaki in the south of Japan. He came to Tokyo at 18 years old and started a full-dress band activity. And now he is taking charge of vocal & guitar & keyboard in the band called STRAIGHTENER that 90's UK ROCK and 00's US INDIE influenced. However, Atsushi was attracted to Electronica and Post Rock personally several years ago. And he started the song making different from the band in the bedroom to aim at making more personal and more sentimental songs. Afterwards, he named this solo project "ent". And the first album "Welcome stranger" made little by little in parallel with the band activity was released from Preco of Japan in February, 2009.
My Humble Opinion
Very nice and light music, easy to listen. Some kinda post-rock with pop rhythms and vocals.
This Is My Normal State is a post-rock/ambient band from Bristol, South West England. Formed in October 2008, the band has just finished recording its debut EP: Angel Falls ++ (October 2009).
Taking influences from bands such as Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, Mono, Mogwai and Joy Wants Eternity to name a few, the band create a sound-scape of interlocking melodies, typified by the use of reverb drenched guitar loops, and fragile, ethereal vocals.
Russian Circles is a three piece instrumental post-metal/post-rock band from Chicago. Similar to fellow Chicago residents Pelican, Russian Circles play epic, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal to soft delicate passages. They are also known for their energetic live shows, which include tours with Tool, Red Sparowes, Minus the Bear and Daughters, as well as appearances at the 2006, 2007 & 2008 SXSW festivals.Formed in late 2004 by guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper (both formerly of another instrumental band Dakota/Dakota), they quickly recruited Dave Turncrantz, formerly of St. Louis band Riddle of Steel. In 2007 DeKuiper departed the band and Brian Cook (These Arms Are Snakes and Botch) took on the role of bass player for the writing and recording of their newest album, entitled ‘Station,’ recorded in Seattle with Producer Matt Bayles. Station was released on May the 6th, 2008 on Suicide Squeeze Records.Cook does tour with Russian Circles on bass when the timing does not interfere with his own band These Arms Are Snakes.
Russian Circles announced a new album entitled ‘Geneva’ which is scheduled to be released on October 20th, 2009. The album will feature the same lineup as Station, with Brian Cook reportedly taking a much larger role in the writing and creation of the album. Brian Cook describes the band’s take on the new album being “less concerned with making sure we could replicate the material live as we were with making a compelling album.”
Frakkur is an alias used by Sigur Rós singer Jón Þór (Jónsi) Birgisson to release his solo material.
This first public appearance of frakkur (a.k.a. jónsi birgisson) was a part of Kitchen Motors's 5 year birthday celebration, held at the klink og bank building in Reykjavík on may 1st 2004. the concert began with four musicians onstage but Frakkur was nowhere to be seen, until a faint drum could be heard approaching from the back of the building. this was Frakkur entering the building, in full costume, followed by the girls choir of kársnesskóli. Frakkur circled through the crowd and led the choir to the stage, where he drummed and sang. Joining Frakkur onstage were jazz musicians Hilmar Jenssen on guitar, Skúli Sverrisson on bass, Matthías Hemstock on percussion and Orri Páll Dýrason on pots and pans. The performance lasted for only 10 minutes, after which Frakkur led the choir back the same way they came.
We vs. Death is a Dutch indierock band, founded in 2000. Since then the band has put out a few releases and has been touring throughout Europe, Canada, Russia and Japan.
In the second half of 2000 a couple of like-minded musicians find each other at Utrecht University in Netherlands and decide to start a band. Almost right away they choose to make instrumental music, that by lack of a better term can be described as post-rock. Anno 2008 we vs .death moved to using more vocals and harmonies, the sound evolved to more song-based material.
In the Netherlands We vs. Death is still the most successful exponent of the genre, that nowadays becomes more popular among bands.
After releasing the 7” EP en two split-CD’s, the band released their full-length debut in Spring 2006. The CD-package also contained a DVD and a booklet with a short story from artist Jeremiah Day. The CD, again released on the Zabel Muziek-label contains eight tracks.
Yndi Halda are a post-rock band from Canterbury, United Kingdom. ‘Yndi Halda’ is Old Norse for “Enjoy Eternal Bliss”, also the name of their “self-titled” debut. The band’s music is characterized by expansive, cinematic pieces that have seen the group compared to modern classical and post rock - however, Yndi Halda’s work is usually considered more thematically optimistic or hopeful, and more song-based than artists of those genres.
Comprising of members Jack Lambert (guitar), Brendan Grieve (bass), Daniel Neal (violin), oliver newton (drums, tamborine) and James Vella (guitar, glockenspiel and lapsteel), the band formed in 2001 while all of the members were still in school. In the summer of 2005, they began recording the three tracks that make up debut release Enjoy Eternal Bliss (EP), which was finished in the autumn of that year. A fourth track has been planned for the world-wide release of Enjoy Eternal Bliss in November 2006, on both Big Scary Monsters and Burnt Toast Vinyl.
The self-released edition of Enjoy Eternal Bliss was often reviewed favourably (although the band have boldly copied negative reviews onto their myspace site), and gained a lot of attention because of its distinctive, individualised hand-made covers.
They have since gained a great deal of support from the self-released EP despite their limited exposure on the live circuit and have recently signed to the Big Scary Monsters record label in Europe and Burnt Toast Vinyl in North America. Vella also works on a side project title A Lily.
You Slut! are a Derby/Nottingham instrumental math-rock experimental 4-piece.
Styzer, Rhyll [Axe 1] Christ, Vanilla [Axe 2] D’Angelo, Sato [Head Rim-Smith] Zwei, Marc [Axe sans treble]
A 2005 6-track EP ‘Grit Eyed & Greasy Tailed’ was followed with the release of 8-track mini album ‘Critical Meat’ in Japan (Xtal Records) in 2007 and the UK (StressedSumo Records) in 2008.
Work on the follow up album is ongoing.
The four members of You Slut! also play in: Amusement Parks on Fire; Mascot Fight; Pilgrim Fathers; and Salo.
Sleepmakeswaves are an instrumental rock band from Sydney, Australia. Drawing influences mainly from but not limited to post-rock, the young quartet mix driving metallic bombast with textured electronics to create a sonic space where delicate melodies and thunderous climaxes peacefully co-exist. Since their formation in late 2006, sleepmakeswaves have rapidly established themselves as a promising and unique voice in their field. Within the space of a year the band has enjoyed considerable word-of-mouth support and have landed auspicious opening slots with post-rock luminaries such as Pelican, Laura and Meniscus on the back of their powerful live show and acclaimed demo recording.
Albums
Demo (2007)
One Day You Will Teach Me To Let Go Of My Fears
By Moving The Stars I Have Found Where You Are Hiding
We Made God are the latest Icelandic band to step up to the mark and their debut album delivers soaring, epic, driving rock of the highest calibre.
