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.
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.
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.
“…Perched on a cloud, Sandy put to the world a project. Reflection of its dreams more deep and gone out all right of his imagination, Bruise and dreams saw the light of day. Behind these three words hides themselves a melancholic universe, woven stories and of dreaminesses. Of this world was born Kwoon, a group of post-Rock, composed from seven musicians that divide the same love of the music and supernatural histories. Thus, the members of Kwoon entrainent the listener in a trip surprising, lulled poetry and of amounts in power.”
Kwoon is a small French post-rock band of seven members. Their name seems to derive from the Chinese word for a martial arts training hall, the equivalent of a Japanese dojo.
We All Inherit The Moon is an ambient post-rock band, perfect for fans of mono, godspeed you! black emperor, and brian eno, among others. They have so far released a 1 sided etched 5 song Lp on 180 gm vinyl and a split vinyl release with The Ascent of Everest both on the futurerecordings label. All of there songs have also been collected onto cassette and 8 track(!) by label Scotch Tapes as well a japan only cd release.
Once described as “frequently mesmerizing, seamlessly interwoven combination of electronica and ambient guitar…” by the legendary Wire magazine. Stafrænn Hákon has indeed through the last 6 years been described as a mix of post-rock, lo-fi, ambient guitar & electronica. The Icelandic born Ólafur Josephsson has been recording music since 1999 under the name Stafrænn Hákon (sometimes stafraenn hakon, stafrann hakon) which has often confused the media, due to the confusing Icelandic origin.
Late in 2005 and Stafrænn Hákon is hard at work on his 5th album entitled “Gummi”. Ólafur drives up to the countryside in Iceland to meet up with his friend Lárus Sigurðsson in a church to record harps into the opening song of “Gummi”. Still there is no sign of any elf or a ghost there, the reason is simple, and there is no such thing. The delicate and subtle sound of Lárus harps spread over crunchy ambient guitars in opening tones of “Járn” and make the song one of the most complete songs Ólafur has ever written. The more acoustic alive sound on the album can be clearly heard when Birgir Hilmarsson of Blindfold and Ampop plays the last notes on the harmonium as he stands up and exits the studio in the closing track “Veggur”. The climax of the song comes with Birgir singing harmony vocals over the enormous guitar layers and crunchy drums from Daniel Lovegrove (aka Dialect). Samúel White a long time collaborator and vital part of the Stafrænn Hákon project is delivering one of his most elaborative works with his beautiful picked guitar parts. In the intense melody of “Hausi” Samúel´s guitar is sounding huge with vocals contributed from Minco Eggersman. “P-rofi” collaboration with the Danish based Efterklang ties the album together with the advanced sonic structure and subtle use of instruments. When Ólafur enters Daniel´s studio to complete the album with additional production, he knows this album is going to be the most complete and solid record he has ever done. With Daniel´s drums and production, the sound stretches to new dimension in Stafrænn Hákon´s soundworld.
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.
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.
When drowning in the appropriate sound, you find yourself achieving the same fundamental effects in your soul as coming up for air has on the body. Caspian is that appropriate sound. An instumental rock band from Beverly, Massachusetts formed in Autumn of 2003, these four young men have crafted a sound that is immediately riveting, emotionally devastating, and achingly passionate. Characterized by towering walls of sound, oceanic guitar work and vicious rythymic elements, Caspian is a band that knows how to imbed itself within the part of you that refuses to easily surrender. Take a walk around the bands home co-ordinates and you might find some clues. Tan stretches of sand and the infinite blue horizon of the Atlantic might be bigger influences here than anything else. The jam packed seasonal cycle might explain the bands desire to cover everything from gentle and placid to furious and destructive, all while maintaining a unified musical sensibility, and a fierce sense of adventure . Live in an area like this and you're bound to create something hopeful, inspiring and downright massive. Caspian wants to bring you to places like this and to places we all havent seen yet. Let them take you.
Felix Laband is an electronic music artist from Pietermaritzburg, South-Africa.
He creates light, emotional, minimalist soundscapes by combining several styles, and samples from classical, jazz and old television recordings overlaid with instrumental performances by himself and other guest artists. His music has been described by his record label as “indie-tronica” and is similar in some ways to Boards of Canada and Iceland’s múm.
Tiny Masters of Today are an American indie punk rock band, consisting of teen sibling duo Ivan (born February 21, 1994) and Ada (born March 4, 1996) both from Brooklyn, New York.
In the band both members play guitar however Ivan also plays bass and drums. Ada plays keyboards, bass and drums. The duo first began playing music in 2005 and released their debut single in July 2006 on UK indie Tiger Trap.
The band signed to Mute Records and released their debut album ‘Bang Bang Boom Cake’ in August 2007. Brand new album ‘Skeletons’ is set for release in the UK on the 1st June.
My Humble Opinion
For Chrissake, these children are 13 and 11!! And they really rock! Omg I feel like I'am an overgrown imbecile ;(
Instrumental post-rock from Athens, GA. Shares members with Cinemechanica and Maserati.
On Anam Cara, the bands first proper record, A. Armada weaves its sound through ringing guitars dipped in echo and a rhythm section that serves more as propellant than mere support. The pieces shift from somber genteelness to intense consideration to soft cradling. This isn’t music to conquer the world by; this is music to conquer oneself with. But if you ask the band about this they’ll probably give you a blank stare. And that’s, really, the whole point. In making music for themselves they’ve inadvertently made it for you. A. Armada distinguishes itself from its peers by possessing an intangible Southernism which renders its intensity more introspective than bombastic. -Gordon Lamb, Flagpole Magazine
Athens, Georgia has given birth to its newest musical prodigies, A. Armada. The instrumental quartet uses an incendiary marriage of weaving guitars and pounding drums to create their brand of music. -CMJ Music News
Album
Anam Cara (2008)
The Dam Was Split But The City Was Saved
The Moon Shifts The Sea, The Sea Shapes The Shore, The Shore Shakes The Sand, The Sand Sinks
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.
