ambient / post rock

bandcamp

When I started this website some five years ago, one of the first things I noticed were the one man post rock bands. It seemed like every town around this planet had its own weird loner making atmospheric tunes on his bedroom. Many of them had become quite good at it, too. Yet, throughout the years those one man acts seemed to  have vanished, or at least disappeared from our attention span. Of course, many other things happened here at Merchants Of Air but I started to miss them, even though I was not really aware of that. What I'm trying to say here, is: I feel like this album brings me back to the early days of Merchants Of Air, where we supported even the loneliest of talents.

Almøst Silent is G.Teixeira, residing in France and successfully locking himself up in a Parisian room to create a gentle mix between down tempo, ambient and post rock. 'Swamp Tales' is a lengthy album, containing fourteen tracks, including a few intermezzos ("Fills & Gaps"). It all begins with 'Black Moose', which calmly lures you into the world of Almøst Silent. That world is one of rest and  friendliness. Nothing on this album is heavy or intense ('Curse Of Relationship' being the perfect counterexample of that statement). Instead, Almøst Silent mainly goes for a warm and comforting sound. With (mostly) programmed drums and soothing soundscapes, Teixeira creates a meandering foundation to paint guitar loops and piano riffs.

In the opening paragraph I mentioned something about some of these acts being really good at what they do. Well, Almøst Silent certainly belongs in that category. Once again, I can see this music enchant the audience in the forest at Dunk! Fest, should Teixeira decide to bring a band or find a way to perform this beautiful music live. 'So Low', for example, is such a sweet tune, perfectly capable of sending people on their way to a beautiful daydream. I don't know if that is every going to happen, but we can only hope, can we?

Another aspect I really dig, besides the excellent performance of vintage post rock, are the guitar licks. Here and there, as in the brilliant 'Leaving Jupiter Is Not An Option', these guitars bring something progressive rock-ish to the mix. These also showcase the splendid storytelling qualities of Almøst Silent. A Swarm Of The Sun comes to mind, mainly because of the way these songs build-up. I guess that's a huge compliment. 'Swamp Water' is truly worthy of that comparison and one of my favorites on this album.

'Because That's A Glitched One' comes up with the Boards Of Canada-esque beats, arguably the most electronic sounding of them all on this album. They guide an array of guitar-scapes and keys, turning it into another favorite of mine. But, I guess, that's mostly because this album is just so easy to become enthusiastic about. Almøst Silent delivered something worthwhile, a solid statement of how well one-man post rock bands can actually become. 'Swamp Tales' is a great album, one that many post rock and downtempo fans alike might appreciate.


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noise / dark ambient / experimental

bandcamp

electronic

dSound In Silence

progressive / metal / black metal

heavy metal / thrash metal

downtempo / electronic / post rock / shoegaze

facebook

psychedelic / doom

sludge / black metal

ambient / modern classical / experimental

bandcamp

drone / doom / noise / experimental

ambient / electronic

noise rock

stoner rock / grunge / alternative rock

facebook

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post rock / post metal

noise rock / jazz / experimental

doom / sludge

psychedelic / doom / stoner rock

ambient

house / techno / electronic

dark ambient

ambient / experimental

electronic / downtempo

bandcamp

heavy metal

black metal / death metal

ambient

Audiobulb

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psychedelic / chill-out / downtempo

Bholenath is an album released on December 24, by a psychedelic chill-out artist, better known by the alias of Hypnotizer. An hour-long album, the record has ten tracks: Kiskanu, Aliens Room, Life Oportunity, Planet Tribe, Between Witches, Jungle Market, Changing Energy, Mystical Experience, Cloudy and Distant Connections. With gracious and somewhat tempestuous – though commonly stagnant melodies –, Bholenath is not a marvelous nor epic record, though manages to be quite interesting and responsive, revolving around colorful and symbiotic harmonies that inadvertently expands its sonorous waves over the diluted axis of its own musical allegories. Despite the fact that delivers some abrasive commonalities and clichés, there is a genuine creativity present on this album, that makes the nucleus of its work to be truly representative of the genre; more specifically, its modernist trends, influenced by reggae and world music, which are quite audacious and elegant. 

Bholenath displays moderately some tangentially sophisticated flavors and dynamic liquid grooves, that makes the music interesting. Its cohesive and free-flowing sound is a discreet amalgamation of lucid sonorous densities, passionately combined to create a colorful atmosphere of sensible, placid and sagacious peripheral possibilities. Nevertheless, occasionally, the music resents itself from a moderate and conspicuous level of monotony, although the quality and the dynamism of the sound remains intact. 

A cohesive and sensitive work, that understands the visceral anatomy of its harmonious and energetic layout, Bholenath can be defined as an impressive – even majestic, sometimes – exemplar of psychedelic chill-out music, if we are willing to ignore its more rude, but to a wider extent, insignificant limitations. True to the cosmogony of its own salutary, but inherently mordacious musical diagram, on this album, the sound expands itself through the tissue of its latent fragmented waves of digressive serenity, whose perceptive artistic platform revolves around the immensity of its refreshing abstract tonalities. 

Of course, while this album is not marvelous, it can be considered a decent, lucid and sardonically delusional psychedelic voyage, that takes its own volatile essence by storm, transforming each molecule of its own hallucinatory transient grace into a virtual reality sensitive journey. An interesting work – that fails to avoid entirely the generic elements of the genre –, Bhilenath is a moderately satisfactory psychedelic chill out album, with some impressive and extraordinary arrangements. 


Wagner

psychedelic / electronic / chill-out / downtempo / psytrance

With its deep space virtuous cosmogonies and a voluptuous synchronic ambient layer of masterful sonorous engineering, that works at the skylight precious visibility of its fabulous technical mordacity, Ataraxia, with all of its ten formidable and exponentially delusional tracks – Ataraxia, Psylent Coral, Shamanism Eyesight, Trust The Wait, Starseed, Cosmic Hologram, Badass Wolf, She is a Nurse, Psycho Delicate and Meraki – proves to be a dense, eruptive and monumental album, with a sound condensed at the imponderable vicinities of its own universal axis of arduous tenacity. In a belligerent zone of furious beauty and serene complacency, the harmonious sonorous fragrance of Ahanjack displays the elemental and versatile capabilities of all of its marvelous and intricate levels of artistry.  

Departing from conventional, but surreptitiously deep melodic alignments that break the spiral axis of the conspicuous effigies of sound that drives the linear pulse of the beatings, the album consistently displays a dynamic creative fever that definitely understands the bizarre complexity of its own vivacious concept, and effectively plays by the rules; beautiful harmonies dance in the colorful horizon of a day that never fades away, as red twilights shine bright at the tender displacement of ascendant harmonies, that rise from the dreams of its own imperative intonations. 

As the album evolves, the harmonies become more and more fluid, lucid and organic, though the flexible design of its anatomy exhibits a creatively expressive composure that is the groundwork of the artist’s style. Nevertheless, the psychedelic galaxy that vividly revolves around the charming and elegant harmonies creates surreal cadences of everlasting clouds that filtrates the impulsive beatings of the rhythm, although the general layout of the sound is left untouched, and obeys a coherent melodic elasticity that rarely moves outside its peripheral zone of sensibility.

Ataraxia is definitely a formidable album of psychedelic chill. With disruptive harmonies and a sentimental musical layer that promotes a delightful collision between effective melodies and surreal intonations, the record is definitely a sensational musical achievement. Despite the fact that the artist is somewhat relapse in terms of audacity, the consistency and the inebriant agility abundant in the music showcases a genuine charisma that overflows the ordinary elements of its inherent creative abilities, exposing a dimension of hidden splendor, which is something that the audience can experience with a high degree of satisfaction. 


Wagner 

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.


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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.


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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