ambient / post rock / classical

An often recurring theme in the world of literature and movies is the sudden disappearance of humans, the "last person on earth" experience. 'Earth Without People' is a fascinating documentary series about how the earth will react after all people are gone. 'The Stand' by Stephen King uses the same theme to build up to a final battle between good and evil. It happens to be a theme from one of my own stories-in-the-pipeline, and it also seems to be the starting point for this new album by Indian one man project Mixtaped Monk. In this story Arka finds himself all alone on the planet. Everybody else is gone. With those emotions and questions he recorded a splendid soundtrack.

Musically, Arka Sengupta travels in the worlds of downtempo music, including classical piano melodies, post rock compositions, classic rock ballads and ambient tunes. Opener 'Chronicle of the Ending' mostly seems to function as a calm and rather impending intro. Here, the artist finds himself alone, here the questions and fear appear and here this long journey begins. The first real highlight comes with 'Sunshine on a Desolate Road', something the might be inspired by listening to Brian Eno jamming with Pink Floyd.

The album continuously drives on this slow, gloomy paste with serene rhythms and looping soundscapes. Yet, there is also a certain amount of unpredictability here. Although calm and introvert, sometimes eerie melodies appear, sharp and uncomfortable. In a way that perfectly resembles the overall theme of the album. You're alone in a vast world. It sure is silent and tranquil, apart from the often scary sounds of nature, the collapse of building structures and your own heartbeat when panic strikes.

On 'Distant Stars' we see the last human gazing into the night skies, to the twinkling of the stars. I wonder what he is thinking? The song makes way for another Pink Floyd inspired anthem, 'From Loneliness to Solitude'. I guess it's clear what he is thinking now. Being the last man on earth can't be a very happy and joyful occasion, but is sure comes with beautiful music. Perhaps that music is a bit too sweet and easy digestible at times but it is an excellent soundtrack for one of the earlier mentioned movies and documentaries.

I can imagine elaborate drone images over an empty city while 'Birds, Seas and Mortals' is playing. I can see the man sitting down in despair and loneliness during 'Maybe a Bright Future Waits'. This album is based on a dream. After listening, I would like to see that dream, see what happens, see how the last person on earth copes with that destiny. No doubt that this album would make an interesting and well varied soundtrack.


​Serge

psychedelic / electronic / downtempo / chillout

Divine Architecture is the second album released by Hungarian electronic music producer David Vigh, under the alias of Takkra. With eleven marvelously crafted songs – Equillibrium, Merging Matter with Spirit, Armistice, Galactic Shaman, Chasing Dragons, Celestial Mechanics, The Healer (Changa Song), Sound Is God, Scienta Sacra, The Dervish and Towards the Within – the sound of the artist is a profoundly philosophic, sensorial and serene dive into the quintessential soul of the universe. In a dimensional atmosphere of perfectly devised harmonies, where gravity has no opportunity to write the downfall of its own expansive cosmogonies, but to work for them to stay on a permanent inviolable ascendancy, everything on this transcendental work is felt with the pungent plausibility of sincere and elemental human sensibilities. As the beautiful and majestically colorful sound softly penetrates into your mind, you definitely feel your soul evaporating, and becoming one with the universe, in a galactic empire of gracious intimacy, that knows no boundaries underneath its infinite horizon of everlasting redemption.

The overall sound of the album is captivating, and the style of the artist is simply marvelously impeccable, with no negative elements to point it out. Just close your eyes and enjoy the journey. Everything else is superficial. While your soul drifts away from the monumental collisions of its own sentimental atmosphere, graceful harmonies draw in the epicenter of your conscience a peripheral wall of discreet, but pervasively pungent melodies, that easily inscribes into the plural densities of your perceptions the tangentially impalpable transience of an inherently existential grandiosity, that obliterates its own overshadowed horizon of events. With a formidably expansive musicality, that comprehends and encircles on the flexible anatomy of its poetic filter the vastness of its own proverbial intensity, Divine Architecture can be described as a wonderful, monumental album, that definitely establishes a superior standard for the genre, on creative and technical matters.  

One of those albums that definitely works as a major therapy session, Divine Architecture is a gracefully cohesive state of the art work. Thoroughly energizing, sincere, and expanding its horizontal wave of harmonic gracefulness from the axis of a lucid atmosphere that understands profoundly the sensitivities of its solid anatomy, this album is a pleasant surprise from the beginning until the end, and a landmark celebration for enthusiasts of the genre.  

Definitely, the technical precision and the natural sensibility of the artist are responsible for this over-the-top, fabulous record, whose sensationally fantastic degree of artistry is just exceptionally wonderful, and establishes new boundaries and parameters for electronic music in general. Despite appearing to be simple on the surface, Divine Architecture is a majorly dense and complex album, that dissipates with its creative labor all the general commonalities found within the genre, without depriving nor distorting its fundamental characteristics. You just have to listen to this monumental work of art. You will be definitely thrilled with the aggrandizing nature of its original dispositions.   


Wagner

electronic / downtempo / ambient

Monday morning, one of the hottest days of the year. I have been cursing the sun and planning to go live in a cool cave somewhere. Hot summer days are nice, but not when they last for weeks without rain, wind or any temperature drop. For now, my living room is fine but in a few hours it will turn into a greenhouse, practically unbearable to sit in. So I guess I'll do my review work now and spend my evening in a summer bar nearby. There, I actually wouldn't be surprised to hear pieces of this album flowing through the speakers. This is perhaps one of the most modern sounding albums I have reviewed in the past few years, even Lords Of Acid sound old compared to this.

Band of Orson's Machines is a side project for Urs Wild, who we know for his impending dark ambient sounds. This album contains no less than sixteen songs, all between three and a bit over six minutes long. Here, the focus is on electronics, beats and thick bass melodies. Furthermore there are vocals samples and dreamyu ambient passages, together creating a soundtrack for a dystopian, futuristic movie.

Musically, Band of Orson's Machines delves into the same pool as acts like Burial, Sumach, Bonobo and so on. The music drives on these lengthy and deep basses while the rest of the music adds a bit of variation to the whole thing. That being said, the album isn't very varied but I don't think that is to be expected from this genre. The main elements and set-up for most of the songs is similar but that doesn't seem to harm the overall quality.

I does make it tough to pick out a favorite track. 'Playground' perhaps, with the sounds of children playing and yelling. Or opener 'Monument' which immediately sets the gloomy and immersive tone. Or maybe 'Moths' which covers the searing hot sun with ice cold darkness. In fact, I'm quite sure that all these tracks soon end up in my day-to-day playlist, along with other downtempo acts like Autechre, Boards Of Canada and Kode9. I suggest you do the same for this is an interesting marriage between modern day electronics and vintage ambient sounds.


​Serge

krautrock / psychedelic 

psychedelic rock / krautrock / neo folk

doom / blues

techno

electronic / darkwave

shoegaze

death metal

ambient / downtempo / post rock

death metal / power metal

americana / alternative rock / indie

bandcamp

stoner metal

ethereal / drone

drone / ambient / experimental

dark ambient / electronic

electronic / synth pop

electronic / experimental

drone / dark ambient

drone / ambient

dark ambient

bandcamp

dark ambient

dark ambient

techno

techno

alternative rock

Glauber

drone / experimental

Abjection Productions

Glauber

alternative rock / shoegaze

folk rock / americana

website

metal / post hardcore

post metal

progressive metal

downtempo / electronic

Audiobulb

death metal

doom metal / dark metal / death metal

thrash / death metal

techno

dark jazz / downtempo 

Ever since I founded this website, I've always been fascinated with the most unique, out-of-the-ordinary albums. In the past three years, several of those have been reviewed and still often appear in my day-to-day playlist. I think that looking for rare gems has become some sort of obsession, not only in the past three years but throughout my entire lifetime. It doesn't limit itself to music either but that is a whole different story. Today, while browsing my mailbox, I stumbled on this album by The Thing With Five eyes. It was originally coined as a dark jazz album and, even though I disagree with that tag, it's one of those unique gems my brain and ears crave.

The Thing With Five Eyes is a brand new project by Jason Köhnen, known for a multitude of bands and project, including Bong-Ra, Celestial Season, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Recently, he also released some other exciting albums on Svartlava from Rotterdam. These will be featured on the next edition of Brieviews. Now, let's focus on this fascinating musical experience that 'Noirabesque' has become.

On this record Köhnen is accompanied by Algerian / French singer Leila Bounous. She adds Arabic timbres to the music, which somehow brings a select number of Dead Can Dance songs to mind. Besides these element, you can find a wide array of musical influences, from ambient over (dark) jazz to krautrock and downtempo electronics. But even with those influences, there is a beautiful conceptual feel throughout the entire thing.

Another helpful hand (or set of lungs in this case) is proved by Izzy Op De Beeck (Detour Doom Project) who plays the trumpet. His efforts are rewarded in the brilliant track 'Taurus', which is probably my absolute favorite on the album. Yet, rest assured, there is not a dull moment to be found on 'Noirabesque'. It's an album with nine highlights, as each song is another awe-inspiring piece of work with 'Salem' being a perfect and genre defining opener.

In the end, I think the "dark jazz" tag is definitely earned here, especially in the way that The Thing With Five Eyes can stand next to Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones, Radare, Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte and Somnambulist Quintet. Yet, just as easy this album delves into that scene, it redefines it with heaps of new influences. I have been following this scene since day one and I'm extremely happy that acts like these pop-up. 

Recommended? Almost as much as breathing...


​Serge

electronic / downtempo

Speaking about ways an album is promoted, this one comes with some really big references. Perhaps it's quite gutsy to name acts like Tycho, Philip Glass, Mike Oldfield and Bonobo but it certainly is dangerous. I mean, those are some big names, some incredibly talented artists who have proved their timelessness. 
So yes, I was quite curious to see if Phantoms vs Fire can keep his promise. This Italian one-man project, founded by multi-disciplinary artist Thiago C. Desant delivers a thirteen track album, showcasing his multi-instrumentalist talent and his love for atmospheric electronic music.

So I started listening to the songs closely. Opener 'Breathing' mostly seems to serve as an ambient inspired intro while title track 'Swim' sets a step in the right - downtempo - direction. Nice, but I was not impressed so far, not yet. That critically changed when 'The Beach House' started to play. There was the musical brilliance that can be compared to Bonobo and Tycho. What a track, definitely a highlight on this album, gloomy, downtempo and immersive.

'Nightmares And Dreams' seems to follow a similar path but often wanders off into experimentation, a bit like a child with an attention disorder. Again, not a bad tune but after 'The Beach House' I'm expecting perfection. 'Cinematik' answers to that call. It's a joyous blend of downtempo electronics and Radiohead inspired indie rock, something like that. By now, my opinion about this album is definitely nudging towards the positive.

Apart from the obvious influences, I can sense some interest in traditional Japanese or Chinese music, judging from the plucking melodies here and there. 'Atlantic' opens like that and then turns into something that feels like a modern version of synth pop. 'Nightwalker' takes the latter and twists it into something slow, gloomy and highly atmospheric. Well, perhaps now is the time to mention that this is quite a varied album.

'Starfish' was initially coined as one of the highlights of this album. My ideas are often different but this time I have to agree. This certainly has hit potential and can easily become a fan favorite, thriving on a steady, danceable beat. Another one of those smile-evoking tunes is 'VHS Hypnosis', followed by an equally playful 'The Gloaming Swell' and the weird 'The Invisible Sea'. I think "playful" is a good term to describe the entire album.

Well, that will be it. I described almost all the tracks here, except 'Underwater', which is actually one of my personal favorites and closer 'The Illusion (End Credits)'. I guess it's safe to say that 'Swim' is an excellent album, beautifully combining a wide array of instruments and influences. I'm especially curious for the future of this project. The talent and motivation seem to be present and if all goes well, this could become a name to be reckoned with in the near future. 


​Serge

post rock

densely acquiescent serenity, majorly entangled in a human emotional diagram of omnipotent infinity, S/T is a simple, yet complete sonorous conflagration of a melodic universe, whose imponderability is virtually attached to the most restless deliberation of a wonderful and honest expressive moment in time.     

​Wagner

heavy jazz / grindcore

ambient / post rock

jazz / noise rock / experimental

bandcamp

heavy metal

crust / hardcore

progressive metal

hip hop / j-rap

electronic

black metal / metal / death metal

black metal

doom / post metal

death metal / thrash metal

folk metal

alternative metal

grindcore / crust

psychedelic rock / blues / stoner

post rock

An effervescing idiosyncrasy of starving, but calm and levitating melodies swears to an infinite ocean of time a formidable conflagration of creative harmonious contingencies. The sound is beyond exceptional, and everything that revolves around your ears bears the scope of an infinite storm of peaceful eternity.

​With precise and overly diluted, but poetic guitar lines, ​Three Horizons Away is an imaginative and surreal glorious panorama of exponential beauty. Despite its brevity, the sonorous sincerity expanded through the brave, but serene vastness of splendorous rhythms redirects the soul through a journey of ascendant and pure reality. The continual universe promulgated by its linear and constant propulsion of peripheral sounds exhibits the greatness of it’s fantastic, but discreet style, as a different pattern of sensibility.  

post rock

A full, energizing and pure post rock work, with profoundly melancholic, but genuinely organic sonorous vicissitudes, upon which formidable and lucid guitar lines comprehend the painful vicinities of incisive and latent harmonies, that revolves around a mysteriously ancient, but poetic silence. A monumental transformation of conscience reveals itself at the grandiloquent axis of serene melodies, that not only impress by the brutal honesty and sincerity of its audacious beauty, but also by the infallible ordination of its salutary sonorous manifestation, that opens an omniscient pattern of authentic intuitive creative algorithms over the impatience of its notes. With a striking, but overwhelming simplicity, the sensitive calmness of this work is a delightful experience, that makes this brief, but majestic masterpiece a glorious necessity for all enthusiasts of the genre. Leviathan is definitely a precious and marvelous state of the art work, highly recommended.  

post rock

A brief, but poetic immersion towards a recrudescing world of ethereal conflagration, Lift Off ably leads the listener towards a more introspective and interior version of himself. A calm, serene and minimalistic quasi-operatic work that derives the essence of its intrinsic value through the vastness of its sincere and genuine sonorous evaluation, this EP by Man Against Mankind is a rude, but decisive filtration of translucent harmonies eager to revolve around the undermining capacities of reality, determined to descend over a spirit of pure sensibility. With seriously experimental overtones, the audacity of the musician’s style is an experience that reflects the authentic rapture of his creative spirit. With plausible sonorous features that expand the antagonistic principles of its abundant qualities without renouncing the splendor of a glamorous simplicity, Man Against Mankind deserves to be comprehensively inserted in a more singular musical category, given the fact that its aura of original sensibility is  highlighted by the fantasy of harmonies impossible to forget. 

black metal

An interesting EP, with a full atmospheric layer of enormous grandiosity, the hazardous and afflictive anxiety that comes out from the imperial harmonies of this grotesquely delightful sound replicates with precision the endemic agony and the intense features that characterize the genre, and its sinister overtones. With a somber expectation that announces  an imminent conflagration of unraveling proportions, the melodies that strikes the tissue of infinite possibilities simply reaches a level of splendor that eagerly evolves to a planetary dissension. Perfect as the soundtrack of a really macabre movie, Ice-Cold Souls drives at the core of its majestic opportunities the real lancinating devices exceedingly genuine to the genre. Undoubtedly, it’s a marvelous example of how graceful, dense, subtle and evasive the tempestuous sonorous tissue of atmospheric black metal should be.       

black metal / death metal

A majestic and very powerful metal work, with traditional elements brilliantly inserted at the core of the songs, If it is True What the Prophets Write is an elemental journey through the most sincere qualities of an intriguing style, that seems somewhat crossover.

​Despite some moments of more generic harmonies, the group displays an intelligent and passionate singular style, that interestingly revives at the heart of its vibrant molecules an amalgamated version of metal. The human virulence of death metal intertwines the efficiency of its brutal coalescence with the furious fastness of black metal, in a sidereal conflagration of melodies, that exhibits fatally hostile harmonies, also abundant in sensible thrash metal intensities. Definitely a memorable work, If it is True What the Prophets Write is a curious and refreshing EP, that deserves to be highlighted at the center of the underground scene. 

indie / psychedelic / alternative

electronic / downtempo 

crust / grindcore

Fucking shitfuck, did I just become a crust/grindcore fan or what? I mean, I wanted to add this album to Brieviews because quite usually these albums are rather one-sided and there is just not much to write about them. I also wanted to promote these guys because they're from Antwerp. But when I started to play 'Barbarians', I was in shock. Here was a perfect industrial sounding crust punk tune blasting through my speakers. Fast, delirious, harsh and intense, just what we need. So I continued listening. 'The Violent Way' is another of my favorites. These guys have just turned crust and grindcore in one of the most immersive pieces of extreme music I've ever heard.

I mean. I know some of these guys. I often see them at gigs but I have never talked to anyone of them and now they present me with one of the most impressive albums in Antwerp (and the world, or as we say "the parking lot") today.  Fuck yeah this comes highly recommended. 

grindcore

Whooaaarg

post metal / drone