Yesterday's mail. (Sleep Whale, MGR, Isis)

Sleep Whale - Little Brite

A twenty-six minute electro-acoustic soundtrack to a summers-day is what this Texas outfit offers on their six track EP. Imagine laying on your back in a park, drifting away on the tones of a skilled fingerstyle guitarplayer sitting on a bench improvising on the downtempo electronica from some kid down the street checking out the latest hip Japanese cupboard idm. Add the organic flow of waves caressing - and subtly refracting - a production floating on warm strings and you end up with half an hour of breezy summer bliss. A successful exercise in a genre labeled as electro-acoustic from a band we hope to hear more from in the future.

myspace.com/sleepwhale



MGR (Mustard Gas and Roses) - Wavering on the Cresting Heft.

I love MGR; it's slow, it's dark, it's beautiful sadness on vinyl I want to be devoured by at massive volumes...

The sleeve note describes it rather well:

MGR is an emotionally charged amalgamation of sounds that, much to it's credit, refuses to fit neatly into any particular category. MGR's effectiveness stems from how fluidly Mark Gallagher - of renowned dirge architects Isis - is able to gradually add texture upon texture, building up the intensity of the tracks until they reach a tragic momentum. Imagine Isis with much of the bombast stripped away, leaving only dark, moody and melancholic soundscapes...

myspace.com/mgrsounds


Isis - Wavering Radiant


Read up on my findings of Wavering Radiant here. Both the Isis & MGR albums are released by Conspiracy Records with much love and eye for detail, as always.






There even is a print on the inside of the gatefold sleeve... wow.


ConspiracyRecords.com
myspace.com/isis

Sleepingdog - Polar Life

first review of 2009 is up and it's advised you give this a listen ;)

Sleepingdog is the outcome of Chantal Acda's need to have an musical outlet when she was working on the Iceland-inspired album Tonar under the moniker Chadca. Without the intention to release anything, she headed for the basement where she recorded and channelled her emotions in the minimalistic music she experimented with at the time. Afterwards she impulsively decided to release the material on Naked In A Clean Bed which is, in comparison with the sound-exploring album Tonar, an artist's fragile foray into her capacity for evoking emotions. Polar Life continues in that fashion with a sound that is still a bit rough on the edges, but more beautiful than before. Basement static is traded in for a warm tape-brown analog filter. The music is layered with vocals that are treated just like any other instrument and have been handsomely tweaked accordingly. Imagine the town of Twin Peaks hosting an "Island Airwaves" day, where you find yourself sitting on a table in the Black Lodge and you'll have the perfect setting to be touched by the album's soothing properties.


website
myspace
Zeal records


read the full review @ The Silent Ballet

Erwtensoep woensdag

As the fall is reaching it's peak, the omens of winter are starting to reveal themselves... Frost by night, fog in the morning... bright, sunny yet cold days.

As it was this morning, what we refer to as 'erwtensoep' around the Gloomvillian area, it can make up for some interesting sights. It's a shame my only slightly decent means to capture this perishing phenomenon, being a tiny digital camera, decided to start ignoring shades of yellow and green. But nevertheless it is all I got at hand and it did make up for an interesting colour scheme. Click the image below to see the gallery of the few impressions I made...

Stockholm 2008 gallery

A first gallery of photos taken in and around Stockholm in March 2008. Mostly sepia & b/w photos along with some nightly impressions.



click the image to view the gallery

de La Mancha - Atlas

One of the two test reviews I wrote for The Silent Ballet and an album that blew my mind... an excerpt:

The innovative and refreshing sound makes de la Mancha stand out from the masses. The balance of dreamy psychedelic indie and post-rock, all with a melancholy you’ll only find in Sweden, works brilliantly, I might even dare to use the word addictive. Atlas has taken me to a magnificent high, only to smoothly bring me back down and leave me craving for more…

read the full review
de La Mancha myspace
de La Mancha website

Paatos @ the Spirit of 66

On October 29th, 2006 the Swedish melancholic post-rock-ish band Paatos played at the infamous Spirit of 66, Verviers, BE. They were supported by the UK band Lo-ego who has, after a short 'reconfiguration' named The Earth Died Screaming, disbanded in the meanwhile.

For me this gig was sort of a mile- and stepping stone in the Swedish contemporary prog rock/metal scene and the most astonishing 'progg' scene. Being able to discus all these with the band themselves after the gig was most memorable -to say at least- hanging out and just doing some 'prata strunta' once the Spirit closed created a small bond that would prove to be rather strong on later encounters.

It was also here that I had the luck of meeting Stefan Dimle -bassplayer of Paatos, Morte Macabre and the late Landberk-, owner of the Mellotronen record store & label who was just starting of promoting the 20th Anniversary Melloboat cruise. A 'solid ground' was layed down for future encounters and some more mindbending musical discoveries.

To cut it short, a memorable first Paatos gig (for me), a first Spirit of 66 experience and the pleasure of being one of the privileged to witness Lo-ego in all it's, short lived, glory.

Footage below is of Paatos' gig, before their gig we, Prockmedia, also had the opportunity to interview the vocalist Petronella Nettermalm about life on the road and the general Paatos experience... I'll be holding the interview back for now since it will be put to good use on the Prockmedia project one day... hopefully.





go to the youtube playlist
Paatos myspace
Paatos website