A Room To Breath In

Ólafur Arnalds - ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness

2010-08-14T00:38:00.000+01:00

Born in 1987, Ólafur Arnalds hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside of Reykjavík. He is an extremely talented artist, who explores the crossover from classical to pop by mixing chamber strings and piano with discreet electronics which makes him a perfect fit for cinematic pop label Erased Tapes. His is previous albums Eulogy for Evolution (already posted in this blog) and Found Songs (available for free here) are awesome. This is his latest album, which is - once again - excellent!

Artist: Ólafur Arnalds
Album: ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness
Year: 2010
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, piano

Tracks:
1. Þú Ert Sólin
2. Þú Ert Jörðin
3. Tunglið
4. Loftið Verður Skyndilega Kalt
5. Kjurrt
6. Gleypa Okkur
7. Hægt, Kemur Ljósið
8. Undan Hulu
9. Þau Hafa Sloppið Undan þunga Myrkursins

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

As The Stars Fall - Tempus Fugit

2010-08-13T01:42:00.000+01:00

As The Stars Fall is a French band that plays beautiful ambient/post-rock music with some electronica/trip-hop elements. This is their debut album, released earlier this year. Mesmerising!

Artist: As The Stars Fall
Album: Tempus Fugit
Year: 2010
Genre: ambient, post-rock, electronica

Tracks:
1. From Another Time
2. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
3. A Dead Leaf Dance
4. Some Tears Can Never Dry
5. Frozen River
6. The Road
7. I Gave You a Choice
8. Revolt

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests - Moa Anbessa

2010-08-12T01:02:00.000+01:00

Gétatchèw Mèkurya is an Ethiopian jazz saxophonist. He began his musical studies on traditional Ethiopian instruments such as the krar and the messengo, and later moved on to the saxophone and the clarinet. The Ex are an anarchist punk band from Amsterdam, They formed in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion and have released nearly twenty full-length albums. They heard Gétatchèw Mèkurya on Negus of Ethiopian Sax and invited him to perform at their 25th anniversary concert. In turn, Mèkurya asked The Ex to be the backup band for his 2006 album, Moa Anbessa. The album is a mix of studio and live tracks. The melodies are at once stomping, blusterly, joyous, wistful, searching, and triumphant. Very interesting! Highly recommended!

Artist: Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests
Album: Mon Anbessa
Year: 2006
Genre: jazz, punk, world

Tracks:
1. Ethiopia Hagere
2. Sethed Seketelat
3. Eywat Setenafegagn
4. Che Belew Shellela
5. Aynamaye Nesh
6. Aynotche Terabu/Shemonmwanaye
7. Musicawi Silt
8. Tezeta
9. Almaz Yeharerwa
10. Tezalegn Yetentu
11. Aha Begena

The Ex official Website
Gétatchèw Mèkurya (Wikipedia)
Last.fm

Buy from here
Check the comments to listen first.

Subheim - Approach

2010-07-23T12:07:00.000+01:00

Subheim is the personal project of electronic music composer and visual artist Kostas K., who is also the co-founder of Spectraliquid, an independent label active between 2007 and 2010. Subheim is a downtempo, experimental venture fusing IDM elements with rich ambiance and female vocals by Katja. Complex and uncompromising, Subheim’s debut album on Tympanik Audio is full of intricate rhythms, deep reverbs, and bitcrushed sounds, combined with pianos, cellos, and beautiful synthwork. Haunting melodies and distant voices meet complex beats and luring atmospheres to create a unique blend of dynamics and emotion. "Approach" flirts with post-rock and atmospheric downtempo styles, while still maintaining an original sound that is both captivating and inspirational. Outstanding!

Artist: Subheim
Album: Approach
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, downtempo, ambient, idm

Tracks:
1. Hush
2. Ybe 76
3. One Step Before The Exit
4. Howl
5. Away
6. Hollow
7. Stranded
8. Intact
9. Voces Perdidas
10. Hollow (rmx by Mobthrow)
11. One Step Before The Exit (reconstructed by Flaque)

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Tympanik Audio.
Check the comment to listen first.

EZ3kiel - Barb4ry

2010-07-22T00:41:00.000+01:00

Founded in 1994, EZ3kiel is a magnet-dub band originating from Tours, France. The band expresses itself in different music genres (electronica, dub, hip-hop etc.) and does lots of experimentation. In their music, beauty and melancholic mood quickly change to aggression and cruelty. The efficiency of EZ3kiel lies in their ability to surprise the audience. During their live performances, they are known for creating a poetic universe with beautiful visuals and graphics, which are made by bass guitarist Yann N’Guema. He uses samples of various photographs, which in combination with the music creates a special audio-visual experience. Bar4ry is their third album, released in 2004, probably their best album to date. Excellent!

Artist: Ez3kiel
Album: Barb4ry
Year: 2004
Genre: electronica, dub

Tracks:
1. Kika
2. Versus
3. Another
4. 3 Rue Montplaisir
5. Phantom Land
6. Tôt Ou Tard
7. Obssd
8. Barb4ry
9. Thought
10. Sûrement
11. Coaxial

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check he comments to listen first.

Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Wildling

2010-07-15T17:56:00.000+01:00

Kammerflimmer Kollektief is an amazing German band. I have already posted their 2003 masterpiece Cicadidae. This is their latest album, released earlier this year. For the first time Heike Aumüller's vocals have an important role in the album, while saxophone parts and free-jazz improvisations, that characterised their previous albums, are limited. Perhaps, Wildling is closer to psychedelia than nu-jazz. A great surprise in my opinion by a fantastic band. Highly recommended!

Artist: Kammerflimmer Kollektief
Album: Wildling
Year: 2010
Genre: electronica, jazz, psychedelic

Tracks:
1. Move Right In
2. Silver Chords
3. Aum A Go-Go
4. In Transition (Version)
5. Spookin' The Horse
6. Blind
7. Rotwelsch
8. Time Is The Fire In Which We Burn
9. Cry Tuff
10. We Paint The Town Beige
11. There's A Crack In Everything
12. Milte Hi Ankhen (aka Bird In Hand)

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Staubgold.
Check the comments to listen first.

Strangers Die Every Day - Aperture for Departure

2010-07-06T03:04:00.000+01:00

Strangers Die Every Day was a post-rock band from Portland, USA, formed in 2003 and disbanded in 2008. Their music is rich with haunting cellos and violins, their sound is a mesh between classical and goth along the lines of Black Heart Procession and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This is their last full-length album, released in 2008. Beautiful!

Artist: Strangers Die Every Day
Album: Aperture for Departure
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. …And The Blood Shall Spill
2. Aperture for Departure
3. Slow Bike
4. Romanticism
5. Charcoal #1
6. Esther
7. Charcoal #2
8. Safer in the Ground
9. Charcoal #3
10. Bicycle
11. The Dirge

Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen.
Most of the band members have a new project, called Alameda, and have recently released an EP. Check out their website and listen to the EP at their MySpace.

Akira Kosemura - Grassland

2010-07-04T03:25:00.000+01:00

Akira Kosemura (小瀬村晶) is a Japanese composer from Tokyo, who started composing in 2005. He also manages his newly formed label "schole". He plays piano-based ambient music with some electronic pieces. This is his most recent album, released earlier this year. Very nice!

Artist: Akira Kosemura
Album: Grassland
Year: 2010
Genre: ambient, piano, neo-classical

Tracks:
1. Grassland
2. Petrarca
3. Light
4. Marriage
5. Xiao Ge Er
6. Little Dipper
7. Ballet
8. Over The Horizon
9. Just A Few Minutes
10. Amour
11. Ensemble

Official Website (buy from here or from Schole)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Crises of Capitalism

2010-06-30T03:10:00.000+01:00

An animated lecture by Prof David Harvey (also see Wikipedia) for RSA.org about the crises of capitalism and the growing need for a new responsible and just social order.

Watch original lecture:

sgt. - Perception of causality

2010-06-28T18:38:00.000+01:00

Formed in 1999 in Tokyo, Japan, the four-piece sgt. utilises a broad range of genres to create their distinctive sound, including that of post-rock, jazz, ambient and improvisation. Using a guitar, violin, drums and bass guitar, the band creates uplifting instrumental compositions comparable to such acts as toe or Anoice. This is their debut mini album, released in November 2005. Beautiful!

Artist: sgt.
Album: Perception of causality
Year: 2005
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. 万能感に関する素描
2. 銀河の車窓から
3. 春風
4. Moewe
5. .......

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Q4 - Sound Surroundings

2010-06-25T02:19:00.001+01:00

The Q4 (The Quadraphoni Quartet) is a collaboration of three (used to be four = quartet!) Dutch producers: Arts the Beatdoctor, Sense and STW. The band was formed in 2005 in Amsterdam and, since then, they have created an impressive amount of material together, coloured by a wide range of musical influences and artistic collaborations. Although hip-hop is the foundation for all their music, material ranges from jazz & dub to hardcore hip-hop beats and drum & bass. This is their most recent album, released earlier this year. Reminds me of last year's amazing 2econd Class Citizen. Excellent!

Artist: The Q4
Album: Sound Surroundings
Year: 2010
Genre: hip-hop, trip-hop, electronica, downtempo

Tracks:
1. Intro
2. One of These Days
3. Oscuros Angeles (feat. Curra Suarez)
4. Demagogues (feat. PAX)
5. Look Again
6. Goin’ Down (feat. Terryman)
7. My Own Advice (feat. Unorthadox)
8. Pulse (feat. BLS)
9. Split Personality, Pt. II
10. Trouble With Me
11. Trouble Dub (Outro)

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from hhv.de.
Check the comments to listen first.

Distrails - Virginia Creeper

2010-06-20T02:10:00.000+01:00

Distrails is a musical duo from North Carolina, composed of vocalist/ guitarist/ percussionist Jared Draughon and pianist/ keyboardist Bitsy Pina. This is their debut album, released in 2008. A unique fusion of piano, lush orchestration, layered sounds, and the phenomenal range of Jared Draughon’s melodic, haunting vocals. Jared Draughon’s mellow, beautiful voice is complemented well by Bitsy Pina’s complex piano themes. This year's EP, "Dry Flies", is also great. Highly recommended!

Artist: Distrails
Album: Virginia Creeper
Year: 2008
Genre: indie, piano

Tracks:
1. Virginia Creeper
2. Always
3. Hourglass
4. Pursuit...
5. Critical Mass
6. Attractive Nuisance
7. Broken English
8. Waning and Waxing

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from CD Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Laura - Radio Swan is Down

2010-06-19T02:21:00.000+01:00

Laura is a six-piece band from Melbourne, Australia. Formed in 2001, they released a couple of EPs, while their first full-length album, "Mapping Your Dreams", was released in 2005. This is their fantastic second album, released in 2006. They play beautiful post-rock music, using instruments like piano, cello and synths, but also a variety of electronics and samples. They have recently supported band like Isis, Cult of Luna and legendary post-rockers Mono. Excellent album!

Artist: Laura
Album: Radio Swan is Down
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock

Tracks:
1. Radio swan is down Part 1
2. Is there no help for the widow's son?
3. I hope
4. Numbers stations
5. Every light
6. Lake Vostock beachfront
7. It's kind of like the innocent smiles
you get at the start of a relationship
before you fuck everything up
8. Radio swan is down Part 2
9. Patterns not people
10. Cambridge bypass
11. Another near miss

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Be Happy, It's An Order - Mutlu Ol, Bu Bir Emirdir

2010-06-16T22:49:00.002+01:00

A brilliant Turkish short film about government efforts to control folk music. Directed by Sinan Çetin.

Bitcrush - Of Embers

2010-06-14T18:13:00.000+01:00

Bitcrush is the escapist solo project of Mike Cadoo (ex-Gridlock member). Bitcrush strives to fuse live instrumentation with experimental electronica’s glitch-centric production techniques. This is his latest album, released earlier this year, in which he is continuing to expand upon this style of fusing emotive electronics and live instrumentation to create post-rock and downtempo music. Recommended!

Artist: Bitcrush
Album: Of Embers
Year: 2010
Genre: electronica, downtempo, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Of Embers
2. Dream Unto Fathoms
3. Fray The Middle To Meet The Ends
4. The Days We Spent Within
5. Ascension
6. Demons & Dandelions

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from n5MD.
Check the comments to listen first.

RQTN - Monolithes En Mouvement

2010-06-10T18:00:00.000+01:00

RQTN is the solo musical project of the young french producer Mathieu Artu. His music is a subtle mix between classical music and modern influences such as new-wave, post-rock and pop music. This is his first full-length album, released in 2009. Stunning piano-based neo-classical/ambient music. Highly recommended!

Artist: RQTN
Album: Monolithes En Mouvement
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, piano, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Debout, Decharges Passives
2. Comme Suspendu a Regarder Passer, Sans Jamais Toucher
3. Le Point Culminant, le Reveil, les Mains Brumeuses
4. Effleurer du Doigt, Deplacer les Masses
5. Remuer les Pieds dans L’Eau, les Yeux Clairs
6. Aurore, Lettres Manuscrites (G. Hoepffner)
7. Departs et Decalages
8. Marcher a L’Envers et Detourner le Regard. Sur le Rebord
9. Photographies, Emulsion. Interpretations

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Download (direct link from archive.org)

port-royal - Dying in Time

2010-06-09T16:43:00.000+01:00

port-royal is an Italian band formed in the summer of 2000 in Genoa. They play a dreamy, heady, melancholic, wide music on the border among electronica, ambient, shoegaze with some dance elements. "Dying in Time" was released in 2009 at n5MD. A brilliant album!

Artist: port-royal
Album: Dying in Time
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient, shoegaze

Tracks:
1. Hva (Failed Revolutions)
2. Nights in Kiev
3. Anna Ustinova
4. Exhausted Muse/Europe
5. I Used to Be Sad
6. Susy: Blue East Fading
7. The Photoshopped Prince
8. Balding Generation (Losing Hair as We Lose Hope)
9. Hermitage Pt. 1
10. Hermitage Pt. 2
11. Hermitage Pt. 3

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from n5MD records.
Check the comments to listen first.

Calla - Scavengers

2010-06-09T00:32:00.000+01:00

Calla is an American indie band formed in 1997 in New York City. Their music is beautiful, sometimes lo-fi, cinematic, apocalyptic and at times electronic and noisy. This is their second album, released in 2001. Excellent!

Artist: Calla
Album: Scavengers
Year: 2001
Genre: indie

Tracks:
1. Fear Of Fireflies
2. Hover Over Nowhere
3. Traffic Sound
4. Tijerina
5. Slum Creeper
6. The Swarm
7. Mayzelle
8. Love Of Ivah
9. A Fondness For Crawling
10. Promenade

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Beneva vs. Clark Nova - Sombunall

2010-05-21T01:32:00.000+01:00

Beneva vs. Clark Nova consists of the Oslo-based duo Frank Benjamin Finger and Rudi Simmons. Their soundscapes are detailed and full of contradictions as they are concerned about melodies, but at the same time are fond of abstract sounds. The sound of the duo is richly detailed and filled with constrasts, tripping with ease from childish play to beat-intensive melodies, from ambient to industrial noise. This is their much celebrated debut album, released on Fenêtre Records in 2008, following the ambient gem Flotsam/Jetsam on 3” CD in 2007. Their latest album "Dramadadatic" was released in 2009 on How Is Annie Records/Fenetre Records. Awesome album! Highly recommended!

Artist: Beneva vs. Clark Nova
Album: Sombunall
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, idm, ambient, downtempo

Tracks:
1. I'm Twins (The Babies Said)
2. 88 Kilos of Excrement
3. His Freefloating Affection (feat. Therese Aune)
4. Institute Benjamenta
5. Thora's Inferno
6. With Love, Etc. (feat. Therese Aune)
7. Suppose She Was Telepathic
8. Social Wrist-Twistings
9. Lazy, But Comfortable Size
10. Two Men Being Hospitalized When Only One Had to Be
11. Poligraph Polygraphikov
12. Nothing, Only Worthwhile

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Fenêtre Records.
Check the comments to listen first.

Melorman - Out in a Field

2010-05-19T20:57:00.000+01:00

Melorman is the moniker of Antonis Haniotakis an electronic artist from Athens, Greece. His sound is based on melodic elements and coloured loop lines with a tone of melancholy. This is his latest work in Symbolic Interaction. Very nice electronica/ambient music. Recommended!

Artist: Melorman
Album: Out in a Field
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient, idm, downtempo

Tracks:
1. Apricot fields
2. 5 o’clock spring time
3. Hold us
4. Small arms to hold
5. Sunlight noise
6. Toy
7. Silent breath
8. Watercircle
9. Theros
10. Tell me more stories

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Symbolic Interaction.
Check the comments to listen first.

Saddleback - Night Maps

2010-05-17T23:46:00.000+01:00

Saddleback is the work of acclaimed Australian producer, arranger and composer Tony Dupé, who plays piano, pump organ, guitar, drums and clarinets; constructing loops from small musical sounds. Saddleback has released two albums "Everything's A Love Letter" and "Night Maps". Tony has moved to Berlin to make a third album and to pursue arrangement and production work. This is a stunning album, influenced by jazz, electronica and neo-classical music. Highly recommended!

Artist: Saddleback
Albums: Night Maps
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, instrumental, jazz, neo-classical

Tracks:
1. Pushing Upstream
2. Hanging at Picnic Rock
3. Rain in Sea
4. Dance Card
5. For Crying out Loud
6. So Low Now
7. Shot Through
8. Singing Scribbles

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Preservation records or Boomkat.
Check the comments to listen first.

Glittering Blackness, Fall - Untitled EP

2010-05-10T01:13:00.001+01:00

Glittering Blackness, Fall is an instrumental/post-rock band from South Korea. Their music is clearly influenced by bands like Explosions in the Sky and Mono. This is their first album, released earlier this year. Excellent post-rock music. Recommended!

Artist: Glittering Blackness, Fall
Album: Untitled EP
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. 0
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4

Last.fm
MySpace

Contact the band to buy (gb.fall@gmail.com)
Check the comments to listen first.

Mono & World's End Girlfriend - Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain

2010-05-07T01:19:00.000+01:00

A collaboration between two of the greatest bands around: post-rock band Mono and fellow Tokyo native and modern electronic composer World’s End Girlfriend. In 2005 they released "Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain", a five-part album of neo-classical/post-rock music. Dark, sad, moving and beautiful. Massive!

Artist: Mono & World's End Girlfriend
Album: Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain
Year: 2005
Genre: neo-classical, post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Trailer 1
2. Trailer 2
3. Trailer 3
4. Trailer 4
5. Trailer 5

Last.fm
Mono: Official Website
World's End Girlfriend: Official website, MySpace

Buy from Temporary Residence
Check the comments to listen first.

Millimetrik - Northwest Passage's New Era

2010-05-04T19:42:00.000+01:00

Millimetrik, aka Canadian Pascal Asselin from Quebec, has been crafting honest, vivid musical landscapes taking sounds from hip-hop to classical music. His constantly evolving sound has a way of expressing his moods in exceptionally beautiful ways. At times melancholic, Millimetrik’s sounds will deeply brings you into an authentic journey. The music of this album, released in 2008, is a fantastic mix of electronica, idm and ambient. Recommended!

Artist: Millimetrik
Album: Northwest Passage's New Era
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, idm, ambient

Tracks:
1. Sournoise supercherie
2. Reykjavik (Version)
3. Les artefacts du futur
4. Suicide bi-polaire
5. La sonate de l’homme bon
6. Le libraire obscur du Mont d’Iberville
7. En mémoire de Terror et Erebus
8. The owls are watching us
9. À travers le temps de retour
10. Courants intimistes
11. Pascaline Knight

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here)

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Electric Litany - How To Be A Child & Win The War

2010-05-04T00:23:00.000+01:00

Electric Litany is a rock band, formed in the spring of 2007 in North London, England. They consist of a Greek (Alexandros Miaris - Vocals, guitars, piano) an American (Duane Petrovich - Bass) and an Englishman (Richard Simic - Drums). The three piece spent the past two years rehearsing in abandoned buildings and performing intimate shows in venues across Europe. This is their debut album, released earlier this year on Inner Ear Records. Their music has many influences, from Joy Division and Cure to Black Heart Procession, Interpol and even Sigur Ros. Very promising debut! Highly recommended!

Artist: Electric Litany
Album: How To Be A Child & Win The War
Year: 2010
Genre: indie

Tracks:
1. Don’t Fear The War
2. Home
3. The Dunes
4. Tear
5. (Like We Do In) January
6. Minute
7. The Roses Came
8. A Dream Worth Dreaming
9. A Time (Never Be Late)
10. February

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from Inner Ear.
Check the comments to listen first.

Watch the official video of Tear:

Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics - Inspiration Information vol.3

2010-04-28T23:41:00.000+01:00

Best known for his contributions to the best-selling Ethiopiques compilation series and the film soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch’s "Broken Flowers", Mulatu Astatke is a giant of modern music who first rose to prominence in the 60s, fusing western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian folk melodies, five tone scale arrangements and elements from music of the ancient Coptic church. The Heliocentrics are a London-based collective whose 2007 album "Out There" is a psychedelic jazz odyssey that explicitly invokes the spiris of Sun Ra, David Axelrod and, of course, Mulatu Astatke. This album, released in 2009, is a collaboration which started in April 2008 when The Heliocentrics supported Astatke's first UK live date in over 15 years. The results, a mix of standards and new compositions, are genuinely astonishing - representing a remarkably fluent, expressive clash of Heliocentrics gritty funk and spaced-out, avant-garde style with the earthy, virtuoso grooves and effortless melodic panache of Astatke. Incredible album! Get it now!

Artist: Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics
Album: Inspiration Information vol.3
Year: 2009
Genre: jazz, world, folk, experimental

Tracks:
1. Masenqo
2. Cha Cha
3. Addis Black Widow
4. Mulatu
5. Blue Nle
6. Esketa Dance
7. Chik Chikka
8. Live from Tigre Lounge
9. Chinese New Year
10. Phantom of The Panther
11. Dewel
12. Fire in the Zoo
13. An Epic Story
14. Anglo Ethio Suite

Album's official website (buy from here)
Strut records
Last.fm
Mulatu Astatke: Wikipedia, MySpace (fan page)
The Heliocentrics: MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Glass America - Redivivus

2010-04-27T23:41:00.000+01:00

Glass America is an American four-piece ambient/instrumental post-rock band from Boston. Formed in 2008, they wanted to create an original sound that encapsulated the best of ambient, instrumental music without succumbing to its clichés or being limited by what has come to be expected. Redivivus is their debut, released in 2009. Beautiful!

Artist: Glass America
Album: Redivivus
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. We Hung Our Harps
2. ...and then the sun
3. Harbinger (Sought After,
4. If I Forget You, O Jerusalem
5. Gomer (Returning Home)
6. A Voice From Behind
7. Sinai
8. The City No Longer Deserted)

Last.fm
MySpace

Register to GimmeSound to dowload for free and support the band:

Glass America
FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS

Boy is Fiction - Broadcasts In Colour

2010-04-23T23:53:00.000+01:00

Boy Is Fiction is a studio project by Melbourne producer Alex Gillett. His debut, self titled album was released in 2007. This is his second album released in earlier this year. His music “captures those quiet moments of introspection just before sleep”, a fusion of idm, ambient and electronica. Excellent album! Highly recommended!

Artist: Boy is Fiction
Album: Broadcasts In Colour
Year: 2010
Genre: idm, electronica, ambient, downtempo

Tracks:
1. In
2. As Far From Here As Possible
3. Feeling Lazy
4. Pinprick
5. Silo
6. Sand
7. Rat
8. I Close My Eyes
9. Either Way, I’m Dead
10. Your Name On My Skin
11. I Left You There
12. My Veins Are Blocked
13. Until Morning Comes
14. For My Friend

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

No.9 - Usual Revolution and Nine

2010-04-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

No.9 is the musical works of multi-instrumentalist "sound designer" Takayuki Joe. Growing up in Tokyo, Joe was interested in a wide range of music including Chicago blues, the jazz of Eric Dolphy and Thelonious Monk and the Japanese modern classical composer Toru Takemitsu. He also dug into Japanese Group Sounds, spy music, animation, funk and psychedelic rock, with one of his all-time favourite albums being the Beatles White Album (which includes the Beatles weirdest ever song “Revolution 9”, with the repeated refrain “No.9, No.9, No.9...”). He composes melodic instrumental music that has many influences, including jazz, ambient, electronica and pop. This is his fifth album, released in 2008. It was released in 2009 in a remix version, which featured work by I Am Robot and Proud, Aus, Kettel and miaou, among others. An outstanding album that brings to mind the likes of World's End Girlfriend and Kashiwa Daisuke. Brilliant!

Artist: No.9
Album: Usual Revolution and Nine
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, ambient, experimental, instrumental, idm

Tracks:
1. Introduction
2. I Hope [Canon No.9 Remix]
3. Alive
4. Future Airport
5. Again and Again
6. Symmetry World
7. Meguru
8. Found it
9. Princess
10. Prays
11. Afterglow No.9 Remix
12. Clover Classic
13. Over There Empty
14. With Millions of Love - Fine -

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Go here to buy
Check the comments to listen first.

Gry with FM Einheit and his Orchestra - Public Recording

2010-04-20T20:15:00.001+01:00

The extraordinary young Danish voice artist Gry Bagøien was attending the "Academy for Untamed Creativity" in Copenhagen when she met her musical partner FM Einheit, a former member of the legendary German band Einstürzende Neubauten. They formed a band called Gry and released two albums: Touch of E! (1998) and today's album, Public Recording (2000). This one features numerous special guests, including Pan Sonic and Neubauten’s Alexander Hacke. Their music is a fusion of trip-hop and electronica. They disbanded in 2002. A fantastic album, one of the best of the last decade. A must!

Artist: Gry with FM Einheit and his Orchestra
Album: Public Recording
Year: 2000
Genre: trip-hop, electronica

Tracks:
1. Rocket
2. Coctailism
3. Ray
4. Pop
5. Ego
6. Count to down
7. Princess Crocodile
8. Helicopter heart
9. Summer wine
10. Unreal
11. Ghost
12. Christo's revenge

Gry: MySpace
FM Einheit: Official Website, MySpace
Last.fm

Buy from FM 4.5.1
Check the comments to listen first.

edPorth - Saying vamos and thinking let's go

2010-04-19T22:56:00.000+01:00

edPorth (aka Patrizio Piastra from Italy) is an electronic and instrumental solo-project for post-rock followers, glitch maniacs, ambient dreamers and lap-pop fans. This is his debut album, availabl for free download. Very good!

Artist: edPorth
Album: Saying vamos and thinking let's go
Year: 2010
Genre: electronica, ambient, post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Eighteen Degrees Below The Horizon
2. Kreuzberg And The Sun
3. Saying Vamos And Thinking Let’s Go
4. Meeting At The Utility Pole
5. Kadievka
6. Your Sand
7. Long Exposure

Last.fm
MySpace

Download for free (or buy the physical CD)
<a href="http://edporth.bandcamp.com/album/saying-vamos-and-thinking-lets-go">Eighteen degrees below the horizon by edPorth</a>

Not To Reason Why - Would You Hug Fire?

2010-04-18T23:46:00.001+01:00

Not To Reason Why is an American four-piece band based in California. They lure their audience into a relaxed malaise with pleasant piano riffs and encapsulates their souls with heavy rhythmic articulation and soaring guitar lines with some of the most intense post-rock stylings this side of Japan. This is their first full-length album, released in 2009. Beautiful, melodic post-rock!

Artist: Not To Reason Why
Album: Would You Hug Fire?
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Forever
2. Bodes
3. Monsieur
4. Zeitgeist
5. Aurora
6. Give
7. Her
8. Ancients

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first (update: link removed by request)

Near the Parenthesis - Of Soft Construction

2010-04-17T20:52:00.000+01:00

Near the Parenthesis is Tim Arndt, a San Francisco based electronic musician. While playing piano and guitar in several bands through the years, Tim has continually been grounded in electronic and experimental music. His current approach focuses on full compositions, gentle and restrained, yet deeply layered and evolving. Passages never stray too far major or minor, centering themselves in between, and grow unexpectedly from simple rhythms and chords to swirling combinations of sound intensified with dissonance before resolving itself and quietly exiting. This is his second album released in 2007. Recommended!

Artist: Near the Parenthesis
Album: Of Soft Construction
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, ambient

Tracks:
1. It’s Not Even Midnight
2. Mare Nostrum
3. The Language Explosion
4. Litnum
5. The World Is Inside You Now
6. Open Sources
7. Trailing
8. A Little Damaged
9. Sitting in a Room
10. For, From
11. This Morning

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here or here.
Check the comments to listen first.

New Century Classics - Natural Process

2010-04-16T23:41:00.000+01:00

New Century Classics was formed in Krakow, Poland in 2006. They play beautiful instrumental/post-rock music. After recording a few mini albums, "Natural Process" was released in 2009 and is available for free downoad. Very good!

Artist: New Century Classics
Album: Natural Process
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Post-Cards
2. Congratulate You, Where?
3. Hedgehog
4. Drift Motion
5. Sandbox Love
6. Children of an Uncertain Future
7. Seven Days
8. Buddha Pilot
9. Fish Went
10. Is
11. A Small Misunderstanding
12. Spiders in the Attic

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Download (or name your price)
<a href="http://newcenturyclassics.bandcamp.com/album/natural-process">Post-Cards by New Century Classics</a>

edIT – Crying Over Pros For No Reason

2010-04-16T01:23:00.000+01:00

Edward Ma, better known under the recording name edIT (or The Con-Artist), is a Los Angeles electronic producer and DJ. His music is a fusion of electronica, downtempo, idm and hip-hop. This is his debut album released in 2004. Recommended!

Artist: edIT
Album: Crying Over Pros For No Reason
Year: 2004
Genre: electronica, downtempo, idm

Tracks:
1. Ashtray
2. Ants
3. Laundry
4. Situps Pullups
5. Dex
6. Twenty Minutes
7. Screening Phone Calls
8. Mop Head
9. LTLP
10. Mildew

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Old places new faces: A history of Home (2010)

2010-04-12T16:57:00.003+01:00

Renovation work on the much-anticipated Home for Cooperation in the divided island of Cyprus has begun. The Association for Historical Dialogue and Research has spent the last three years raising funds and acquiring all the necessary permits to buy and renovate the dilapidated building sitting in the heart of the buffer zone in Cyprus split capital, Nicosia.

The Home will be the first intercommunal building dealing with history education. The Cyprus Community Media Centre takes a look at the history of the place and the hopes for the future.

Her Name Is Calla - The Heritage

2010-04-10T01:05:00.000+01:00

Her Name is Calla is an English post-rock/indie band. After playing live all over the UK to much critical acclaim with the likes of iLiKETRAiNS and The Twilight Sad, they released their debut album, "The Heritage", in 2008, which was also positively received. They are currently working on their next album, "The Quiet Lamb", due to be released on Denovali Records in June 2010. Excellent album! Recommended!

Artist: Her Name is Calla
Album: The Heritage
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, indie

Tracks:
1. Nylon
2. New England
3. Paying for Your Funeral
4. Wren
5. Motherfucker! It’s Alive and It’s Bleeding
6. Rebirth

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - The return!

2010-04-09T12:18:00.001+01:00

Excellent news! Godspeed You! Black Emperor are back! (click on the image to read)
First show: The Nightmare Before Christmas, ATP festival

Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

2010-03-30T12:57:00.001+01:00

Born in Hiroshima, Kashiwa Daisuke (柏大輔) started off as the composer and guitarist of post-rock band yodaka in 2001. Being inspired by the band’s psychedelic sound due to a post-rock approach, and by Maurizio Bianchi, he started a solo project in 2004. As a solo artist his idea is to create not only acoustic, but also electronic filmy soundscapes and atmospheres, by melting together a variety of classic instruments, spoken word snippets and crisp beats. With a proper amount of ambient music, all of these form an exquisite sound experience. His first album - april.#02 - was released in 2006, followed by april.#07 - a remix album. Program Music I is his second album, released in 2007, which features only two tracks, whose runtime is still over an hour. It is a brilliant electronic album; particularly the first track, Stella, is out of this world. Highly recommended!

Artist: Kashiwa Daisuke
Album: Program Music I
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, experimental, post-rock, ambient

Tracks:
1. Stella
2. Write Once, Run Melos

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from noble records.
Check the comments to listen first.

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlândia

2010-03-29T14:05:00.000+01:00

Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. He is one of the most compelling composers working today. His stately, slow-building and hauntingly melodic music frequently combines electronics with classical orchestrations. Fordlândia, his most recent album, combines a darkly romantic minimalism and baroque counterpoint with kraut-rock, post-rock, glitch electronics and melodies inspired by North European folk music. The album is thematically influenced by the failure of Henry Ford's Brazilian rubber plant Fordlândia. As stated in his official website:

One of the two main threads running through it is this idea of failed utopia, as represented by the "Fordlândia" title - the story of the rubber plantation Henry Ford established in the Amazon in the 1920’s, and his dreams of creating an idealized American town in the middle of the jungle complete with white picket fences, hamburgers and alcohol prohibition. The project – started because of the high price Ford had to pay for the rubber necessary for his cars’ tyres – failed, of course, as the indigenous workers soon rioted against the alien conditions. It reminded me of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, this doomed attempt at taming the heart of darkness. The remains of the town are still there today. The image of the Amazon forest slowly and surely reclaiming the ruins of Fordlândia is the one that gave spark to this album.

A classical masterpiece! Get it now!

Artist: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Album: Fordlândia
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, minimalist

Tracks:
1. Fordlândia
2. melodia (i)
3. The Rocket Builder (Lo Pan!)
4. melodia (ii)
5. Fordlândia – Aerial View
6. melodia (iii)
7. Chimaerica
8. melodia (iv)
9. The Great God Pan Is Dead
10. Melodia (Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device Based on Heim's Quantum Theory)
11. How We Left Fordlândia

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from 4AD.
Check the comments to listen first.

Jatun - Jatun

2010-03-28T00:05:00.000Z

Jatun is an American band formed in 2004 in Portland. This is their highly acclaimed debut album, released in 2007. They play shoegaze with pop, electronica and post-rock elements. Very good!

Artist: Jatun
Album: Jatun
Year: 2007
Genre: shoegaze, electronica

Tracks:
1. Ghost and Grey
2. Ghost and Grey 2
3. Ion Crush (Remix)
4. Zombie Hotel
5. Bee Bee
6. Voila and the Case
7. Weakness
8. Young Crooks
9. Fashion Whore
10. George
11. A Reason for Enigmas
12. Move It or Lose It
13. The Temptation of Joy

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Jacaszek - Treny

2010-03-27T10:16:00.001Z

Jacaszek aka Michał Jacaszek, born in 1972 in Poland, is a composer and producer of electroacoustic music, combinig electronically prepared sounds with acoustic instruments. Treny is an ambient masterpiece, his most mature record, released in 2008. Beautiful music that combines neo-classical music with ambient and electronica. Recommended!

Artist: Jacaszek
Album: Treny
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Rytm to nieśmiertelność
2. Lament
3. Orszula
4. Żal
5. Powoli
6. Taniec
7. O ma żałości!
8. Tren IV
9. Walc
10. Martwa cisza
11. Rytm to nieśmiertelność II

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Boomkat
Check the comments to listen first.

The Unwinding Hours - The Unwinding Hours

2010-03-25T00:55:00.000Z

The Unwinding Hours is the new band formed by Iain Cook and Craig B., former members of Glasgow alternative/post-rock band Aereogramme. This is their debut, released earlier this year, an intensely rewarding experience with the literate flair of the song-writing effortlessly matched by Craig and Iain's musical ambition and creative scope. Recommended!

Artist: The Unwinding Hours
Album: The Unwinding Hours
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, indie

Tracks:
1. Knut
2. Tightrope
3. Little One
4. There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone
5. Solstice
6. Peaceful Liquid Shell
7. Child
8. Traces
9. Annie Jane
10. The Final Hour

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Anoice - Remmings

2010-03-21T18:54:00.002Z

Anoice is a Tokyo based six-piece group that have been working together since 2004. One of their members is Takahiro Kido (I posted one of his albums here). They play dreamy post-rock music with neo-classical/ambient influences. This is their highly acclaimed 2006 debut. Excellent!

Artist: Anoice
Album: Remmings
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient, neo-classical

Tracks:
1. [Untitled]
2. Asprin Music
3. [Untitled]
4. Kyoto
5. [Untitled]
6. Liange
7. [Untitled]
8. The Three-Days Blow
9. [Untitled]

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Ascent of Everest - How Lonely Sits the City

2010-03-20T23:50:00.000Z

The Ascent of Everest formed in the spring of 2005 in the shadows of Music City USA (Nashville, Tennessee). Since then the band has worked tirelessly touring and playing regional shows in support of their 2006 debut release "How Lonely Sits the City". An excellent post-rock album, clearly influenced by legendary bands like GYBE and Mogwai. Really good!

Artist: The Ascent of Everest
Album: How Lonely Sits the City
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Alas, Alas! The Breath of Life
2. As the City Burned We Trembled for We Saw the Makings of It's Undoing in Our Own Hearts.
3. Molotov
4. A Threnody (For the Victims of November Second)
5. If I Could Move Mountains
   i. Majesty and Awe
   ii. Collapse Into Understanding
   iii. Gathered Hearts Rise and Sing at the First Breath of Dawn

Last.fm
MySpace

The original self-released album is sold-out. Re-released by SHELSMUSIC label in 2008. Buy it from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

The Abbasi Brothers - Something Like Nostalgia

2010-03-18T23:12:00.000Z

The Abbasi Brothers is an experimental duo based in Manhattan, New York City, that consists of Yousuf and Amman Abbasi. This is their highly acclaimed debut album, released in 2008. In 2009, they scored two feature documantary films: The Wall and Warrior Champions. They blend brilliantly electronica with shoegaze. Really beautiful music! Highly recommended!

Artist: The Abbasi Brothers
Album: Something Like Nostalgia
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, shoegaze, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Stacy's Day Parade
2. Kompa
3. Something like Nostalgia
4. Camera Flashes Blue
5. The Way of the Wanderer
6. Dreams of a Graffiti Artist
7. The Social Evening (in 1992)
8. Mr. Boe
9. A Long Weekend
10. In a Field
11. Playtime in Spacetime
12. Approaching the End
13. Fragments of Memories as a Child
14. Reprise
15. Clouds are Sleeping

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Sven Weisemann - Xine

2010-03-16T23:57:00.001Z

Sven Weisemann is a German artist who has been DJ’ing since 1997 and producing since 2001. Xine is his full-length debut. Playing with classical instruments such as piano, layers of violins mixed with mellow sounds, spaced reverbs. Sounds like a soundtrack of a movie with its fragile athmosphere. Beautiful! Highly recommended!

Artist: Sven Weisemann
Album: Xine
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, electronica

Tracks:
1. Xine
2. Xine II
3. Xine III Aeron
4. Xine IV Lyra
5. Xine V Tearily
6. Xine VI Habor Lights
7. Xine VII Abroad
8. Xine VIII Life Cycle
9. Xine IX Suri
10. Xine X Awake
11. Xine XI The Swan Of Desire
12. Xine XII Ajna
13. Xine XIII Ray
14. Xine XIV Streams Of Living Water
15. Xine XV Suna¹s Flow
16. Xine XVI Avedon
17. Xine XVII Blandish
18. Xine XVIII Love In Vein
19. Xine XIX Swell
20. Xine XX Tyree's Meaningful Look

Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube channel

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first (update: link removed by request).

Slow Six - Tomorrow Becomes You

2010-03-14T18:54:00.001Z

Slow Six is an instrumental band from Brooklyn, New York. Broad genre descriptors do little to describe their striking compositions. Post-rock, experimental neo-classical, minimalism and ambient are among their influences. This is their third full-length album, released earlier this year. Outstanding!

Artist: Slow Six
Album: Tomorrow Becomes You
Year: 2010
Genre: neo-classical, instrumental, post-rock, experimental

Tracks:
1. The Night You Left New York
2. Cloud Cover Part 1
3. Cloud Cover Part 2
4. Because Together We Resonate
5. Sympathetic Response System Part 1
6. Sympathetic Response System Part 2
7. These Rivers Between Us

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Western Vinyl.
Check the comments to listen first.

We Fell to Earth - We Fell to Earth

2010-03-13T16:12:00.000Z

We Fell to Earth are an electronic rock band from London, UK, consisting of Richard File, former member of UNKLE, and Wendy Rae Fowler, known for her collaboration with Queens of the Stone Age and Mark Lanegan. The duo’s debut album contains grains of that desert night ambience. It bleeds an otherworldly quality tinged with psychedelia, melancholy and songs that float into the stratosphere. Excellent electronic music, clearly influenced by psychedelia and kraut-rock. Recommended!

Artist: We Fell to Earth
Album: We Fell to Earth
Year: 2009
Genre: psychedelic, kraut-rock, trip-hop

Tracks:
1. Spin This Town
2. Lights Out
3. Sovereign
4. The Double
5. Burn Away
6. Careful What You Wish For
7. Sun Shadow
8. Lost in Flames
9. Undone

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Wooden Shjips - Dos

2010-03-12T23:54:00.000Z

Wooden Shjips is a refreshingly inspired quartet from San Francisco playing loud rock ‘n’ roll in a style heavily influenced by the experimentalism of psychedelia, classical minimalism and garage rock excess. Started as an experiment in rhythmic primitivism and group improvisation, the current lineup brings a more structured rock approach to its performances, utilizing a traditional lineup of drums, bass, organ, guitar and vocals. Dos is their second full-length album, released in 2009. Absolutely brilliant psychedelic music with hints of kraut-rock. Awesome!

Artist: Wooden Shjips
Album: Dos
Year: 2009
Genre: psychedelic, kraut-rock, experimental

Tracks:
1. Motorbike
2. For So Long
3. Down by the Sea
4. Aquarian Time
5. Fallin'

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Afformance - A Glimpse to the Days That Pass

2010-03-11T11:59:00.000Z

Afformance is a four-piece band formed in 2005 in Greece. This is their first full-length album, released earlier this year. Beautiful instrumental soundscapes inspired by post rock, alternative, ambient and postcore scenes. Recommended to post-rock fans!

Artist: Afformance
Album: A Glimpse to the Days That Pass
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Will Teasle Hopes
2. Countryside Somnambulance
3. A Tide Before The Flickering Sun
4. Taming Waves/Riding Tigers
5. Zgy-Kix
6. Lugano
7. Do
8. Self-Killing Intruders

Blog
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from their MySpace. Limited 500 unique handmade copies!
Check the comments to listen first.

Talvekoidik - Silent Reflections

2010-03-10T20:46:00.000Z

Talvekoidik is the electronica side-project of German musician, Kai, founding member of S.K.E.T. (Hands Productions). This is his first release as Talvekoidik, an album of brilliant and original electronica that finds its influences in Gridlock and Beefcake as well as in Scandinavian, Baltic, Arabic and African musical traditions. Conceived in terms of rhythmic structures supporting catchy melodies, "Silent Reflections" is a work full of oppositions and contrasts enriched by a Celtic feeling, a somewhat epic touch. Very good!

Artist: Talvekoidik
Album: Silent Reflections
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, idm, downtempo, industrial

Tracks:
1. Such a Perfect Day
2. Concealed Longings
3. Rough Baltic Shore
4. Eismeer
5. The Moebius Strip
6. Sandstorm
7. Goodbye of the Certainty
8. Silent Reflections
9. Power of Eclecticism
10. The Cliff
11. Eismeer (Lomonossow Ridge Mix By Heimstatt Yipotash)
12. Atlas (Shrugged Mix By Fragment King)
13. Eismeer (Synthetic Coldness Mix By 16Pad Noiseterrorist)

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Brume records.
Check the comments to listen first.

Team B - The Lost Son

2010-03-06T20:18:00.000Z

Team B is the new musical endeavor of Kelly Pratt (Beirut, Arcade Fire). Their music is a combination of indie and eastern european folk, similar to Beirut's music. All of the lyrics on this short album (their second EP) are by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Theodore Roethke. The album is available for free download. Very good!

Artist: Team B
Album: The Lost Son
Year: 2010
Genre: indie, folk

Tracks:
1. Intro - The Lost Son
2. The Visitant
3. The Reckoning
4. My Papa’s Waltz
5. Genesis/Reply To Censure
6. Toil
7. The Lost Son
8. Gob Music
9. Praise To The End!

Official Website (if you like it, donate here)
Last.fm
MySpace

They plan to release it on vinyl later this year, so get it while you can!
Download

Seven Saturdays - Seven Saturdays

2010-03-03T22:50:00.000Z

Seven Saturdays started in 2009 by multi-instrumentalist Jonathan D. Haskell. His music brends ambient with minimalist electronica and the result is stunning! This is his debut EP, released earlier this year. Really good!

Artist: Seven Saturdays
Album: Seven Saturdays
Year: 2010
Genre: ambient, electronica, instrumental

Tracks:
1. The Shallow End
2. Secret Things
3. Good Morning, I Love You
4. Love In The Time of Anticipated Defeat
5. A Beautiful Day

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from here or here.
Check the comments to listen first

Sunwrae - Autumn Never Fall

2010-03-02T20:03:00.003Z

The exquisite Sunwrae Ensemble was founded during 2001 in Melbourne, Australia. Showcasing some of Australia's finest versatile musicians, the unique and flexible line-up includes piano, vibraphone, string quartet, harp, clarinets, alto flute, lap-steel guitar, double bass, drum-set and percussion. Dynamic, engaging and visually stimulating, Sunwrae stylishly captivate audiences, performing instrumental music by Artistic Director Rae Howell, textured with persuasive rhythms and spectacular improvisation! Performing a lush blend of melodic phrases and interweaving rhythms, Howell's compositions are a rare treat, crossing the boundaries of classical and jazz music, with the passages of improvisation giving their performances an immediacy and vibrancy rarely experienced in a classical recital. This is their latest album, released in 2009. Awesome!

Artist: Sunwrae
Album: Autumn Never Fall
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, instrumental, jazz

Tracks:
1. Autumn Never Fall
2. Chinook Winds
3. Poly
4. The Machine
5. Soluble Sun II
6. Disappointing
7. Drawn Down

Official Website (buy from here)
Rae Howell's blog
Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube channel

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Abril Despedaçado - Behind the Sun (2001)

2010-03-02T14:00:00.000Z

Abril Despedaçado is a film directed by the brilliant Brazilian Walter Salles, most famous for his excellent road movie "The Motorcycles Diaries". The film is inspired by the novel Broken Sun by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, about the honour culture in the North of Albania.

Behind the Sun tells a story about two families locked in a blood feud over sugar cane land in the 1910s somewhere in the north-east of Brazil. While showing the true face of poverty, Salles doesn't nourish the expectation with such corny stereotypes. Full of poetic imagery, dazzling photography and heartfelt performances, this is a wonderful portrayal of human pride and stubbornness along with love and duty. It shows the struggle between doing the right thing and doing the honourable thing.

This is a stunning piece of cinematography. A must see!

More info:
Official Website
IMDb
Wikipedia
Rotten Tomatoes

Trailer:

Eimog - Scenario

2010-02-27T13:09:00.000Z

Eimog is a post rock band formed in Agrigento, Italy, in 2006. Since their first live appearances, they have been steadily attracting the attention of both audience and critics by staging awe-inspiring, emotionally transcendent atmospheric performances. This is their first full-length album, released in 2009. Although their music does not really offer something new, it is still the kind of emotional, beautiful post-rock music that most of us loved. Recommended!

Artist: Eimog
Album: Scenario
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Saved By Thirteen
2. Until Death Do Us Part
3. Jana
4. Building Empires Upon This Landscape
5. May Tries To Be June
6. Madre

Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Dextro - Winded

2010-02-26T11:58:00.000Z

Dextro is the music production alias of Scottish artist Ewan Mackenzie. Under the Dextro moniker he has released a number of works, most notably to date the album "Consequence Music" and the 12” single "Do You Need Help". This is his latest album, released on 16K records in 2009. His music combines ambient with post-rock and electronica. Really good!

Artist: Dextro
Album: Winded
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, post-rock, instrumental, electronica

Tracks:
1. Closer
2. The Pacifist
3. Momentary
4. The Unknown
5. Ilm
6. Sanna
7. Ring Cycle
8. Pillar
9. Distance

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

World's End Girlfriend - Ending Story

2010-02-25T22:55:00.001Z

World’s End Girlfriend (ワールズ・エンド・ガールフレンド) is Katsuhiko Maeda, a musical genius from Nagasaki but based in Tokyo, Japan. I have already posted his last year's soundtrack, Air Doll. This one is his first album released on Yoshihiro Hanno’s Current label in 2000, which caught people’s attention in Japan and abroad. No need to say much about this artist. One of the greatest musicians in the world. Get it now!

Artist: World's End Girlfriend
Album: Ending Story
Year: 2000
Genre: electronica, ambient, post-rock, experimental, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Listening You
2. Magical Romantic Freestyle
3. Heartbreak Wonderland
4. Cruel Girl’s Beauty
5. Air Reason
6. Purple Orange
7. Red Red Red
8. A Faint Melody
9. Ending Story
10. Birthday

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

If you find a place where I can buy the CD, please post the link here.
Until then, check the comments to listen.

J.Viewz - Muse Breaks

2010-02-22T23:41:00.000Z

J.Viewz is a multi-genre project of electronic-music producer Jonathan Dagan. This is his debut album, released in 2005 by Deeplay Music. Taking many diverse musicians into the studio, The J.Viewz project started to metamorphosize into 'freestyle chill' blending elements of soft breakbeat, trip-hop, 2 step, jazz and more, all in a mellow groove. Great!

Artist: J.Viewz
Album: Muse Breaks
Year: 2005
Genre: trip-hop, chillout, electronica, downtempo

Tracks:
1. Under The Sun
2. Muse Breaks
3. Worth Light
4. When Silent It Speaks
5. Your Country
6. Room For Me, Room For Sweets
7. Meantime
8. Sunswoop
9. Feeler
10. Two Steps Away
11. Protected

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

A Backward Glance on a Travel Road - A Backward Glance on a Travel Road

2010-02-21T23:23:00.000Z

Featuring the base line-up of French metal experimentalists Hypno5e, this band gives the same universe of depth and dark ambience. Along with the Hypno5e base line-up, they include another guitar, cello, chants, tribal percussion and video projections warped from Emmanuel Jessua’s (guitars, vocals, piano, samples) own signature archives and movie extracts. Plus, it’s all done acoustically, while keeping the progressive and epic feel, mood swings from haunting to hopeful, and guitar tones as deep as the abyss. This is their debut album and is available for free download. Really good!

Artist: A Backward Glance on a Travel Road
Album: A Backward Glance on a Travel Road
Year: 2009
Genre: experimental, acoustic, dark

Tracks:
1. Regular Barbary
2. Falling
3. Johnny Got His Gun
4. In Absentia Part I
5. In Absentia Part II
6. Hier Régnant Désert
7. Approximativement Moi

Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Emancipator - Safe In The Steep Cliffs

2010-02-20T22:54:00.001Z

Emancipator is the project of Doug Appling, producer/multi-instrumentalist living in Portland, Oregon, USA. He self-released his first album, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough, at the age of 19 in 2006. His agile melodies layered over headnodic, immaculately-produced beats captivated fans across the internet and across the world. This is his latest album, released last month. It blends new instrumentation and organic samples with the signature Emancipator style of clean production, silky melodies and addictive drums. Dense layers of choirs, horns, American folk instruments such as the banjo and mandolin, violin and some distinct Asian influences make for a playful but refined album built out of intricate tracks listeners can enjoy on as many levels as they want. Dance to it, chill out to it, immerse your mind in it. Awesome!

Artist: Emancipator
Album: Safe In The Steep Cliffs
Year: 2010
Genre: trip-hop, electronica, downtempo, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Greenland
2. Black lake
3. Jet stream
4. Kamakura
5. All through the night
6. Old devil
7. Nevergreen
8. Ares
9. Rattlesnakes
10. Bury them bones
11. Vines
12. Hill sighed
13. Siren
14. Safe in the steep cliffs

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy a physical copy from his website (store coming soon) or download from bandcamp ($10).
Check the comments to listen first.

Rykarda Parasol - Our Hearts First Meet

2010-02-20T00:01:00.000Z

Rykarda Parasol is an American artist who creates beautiful dark rock music, similar to PJ Harvey and Elizabeth Anka Vajagic. This is her first full-length album, released in 2006. Often compared to Nick Cave, Nico and the Velvet Underground, and Johnny Cash, Parasol weaves intricate tales infused with dark meaning and simmering atmosphere. The end result is a highly stylized aesthetic of both sound and imagery. Most of the lyrics on “Our Hearts First Meet” are drawn from Parasol’s personal life and sewn into cohesive songs which, though seemingly simple, offer themselves up for multiple interpretations. This is a must-have for everyone! Absolutely brilliant!

Artist: Rykarda Parasol
Album: Our Hearts First Meet
Year: 2006
Genre: rock, dark, folk, blues

Tracks:
1. Good Sick
2. Hannah Leah
3. Night on Red River
4. Lullaby for Blacktail
5. Weeding Time
6. Arrival, A Rival
7. Candy Gold
8. Good Fall
9. How Does a Woman Fall?
10. En Route
11. Lonesome Place
12. Texas Midnight Radio
13. Weeding
14. Good Sick II
15. Janis, Don't Go Back

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

This is a self-released album. Please support by buying from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Bosques de mi Mente - Lo-Fi

2010-02-16T23:33:00.000Z

Bosques de mi Mente (Spanish for Forests of my Mind) is an independent project started in 2007 in Spain. The music is melancholic, piano-based ambient/neo-classical. All the albums are available for free download from the artist's website. Recommended!

Artist: Bosques de mi Mente
Album: Lo-Fi
Year: 2007
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, piano, melancholic

Tracks:
1. Paseo 1, primavera 5:17
2. Los titánicos esfuerzos de una bicicleta oxidada por avanzar
3. Un niño que ya no existe jugando con el viejo piano
4. Paseo 2, verano (la niña de Hiroshima)
5. Tormenta de verano
6. El amanecer reflejado en tus ojos, parte 1
7. Paseo 3, otoño
8. El mensaje de las ballenas
9. El amanecer reflejado en tus ojos, parte 2
10. Paseo 4, invierno (el largo y tedioso camino a casa)
11. Cuando se hayan ido todos, tan solo quedará el crujir de sus columpios al viento

Official Website (free albums here!)
Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Solanaceae - Solanaceae

2010-02-12T13:08:00.000Z

Solanaceae is the creation of Kim Larsen (also of ":Of the Wand and the Moon:" and "Saturnus") from Denmark. This project portrays a more psychedelic folk feeling than usually put forth in his other bands. This is his first album as Solanaceae and features 13 songs with themes of magick, woods and mysteries. If you like psychedelic folk, neo-folk, apocalyptic-folk etc., you will love it! Recommended!

Artist: Solanaceae
Album: Solanaceae
Year: 2009
Genre: psych-folk, neo-folk, dark, folk

Tracks:
1. I Saw Them Through The Pines / They Only Walk On Moss
2. Through The Trees Spears The Sun
3. Fenella
4. The Blood Of My Lady
5. O Deep Woods
6. Nakkiel II
7. Midnight Garden
8. Samorost
9. The Blood Of My Lady II
10. Hemlock And Mandrake Fields
11. The Swallows Spirals Through Them
12. Nihil Sum
13. I Saw Her Through The Pines

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Utomlyonnye solntsem - Burnt by the Sun (1994)

2010-02-11T13:14:00.000Z

Directed by Russian director and actor Nikita Mikhalkov, "Burnt by the Sun" is a powerful portrait of the viciousness during the Stalin era. It combines brilliantly history and drama, beautifully written and acted, it is a fantastic chronicle of love, family and the intrusion of politics.

Oleg Menshikov delivers an outstanding performance as Mitya, while the acting of Mikhalkov himself and his daughter, Nadezhda Mikhalkova, is also wonderful. Moreover, the photography of the Russian countryside is beautiful.

Overall, a great film about all those people "burnt by the sun" of revolution! Highly recommended!

There is a sequel coming out this year. Even though a sequel is usually a bad idea, Mikhalkov is a great director and you never know... :)

More info:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes

The trailer is stupid, so here is a musical part from the beginning of the film:

Pertegò – Hjarta

2010-02-10T13:55:00.000Z

Pertegò is a four-piece artistic project from Piacenza, Italy. Their music is influenced by "northern-ambient sounds", and blends elements from post-rock and cinematic music. This is their first album (after their demo), released in 2008. Really beautiful music!

Artist: Pertegò
Album: Hjarta
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, ambient, instrumental, cinematic

Tracks:
1. Hjarta
2. Bideri
3. E/Pallatio
4. Summer Night Games
5. Dova
6. Dance
7. Vigo
8. Bideri Evo FF

Last.fm
MySpace

The album is sold out. Go here for other releases.
Check the comments to listen.

Rome - Flowers from Exile

2010-02-08T18:08:00.001Z

Rome is a Luxembourgish dark folk act founded in late 2005 as the main output for the songs of Jerome Reuter and was joined by co-producer Patrick Damiani as official member in early 2008. In 2009, violinist Nikos Mavridis officially joined the band to further contribute to the creation of their unique sound, which they themselves refer to as Chanson Noir. Rome's music blends excellent songwriting craftsmanship, unusual arrangements and fine poetry into a musical output that combines chanson, dark ambient, apocalyptic folk, acoustic rock, cold wave – all rolled into one impressive avant-garde package. Highly recommended!

Artist: Rome
Album: Flowers from Exile
Year: 2009
Genre: folk, dark

Tracks:
1. To A Generation Of Destroyers
2. Accidents Of Gesture
3. Odessa
4. The Secret Sons Of Europe
5. The Hollow Self
6. A Legacy Of Unrest
7. To Die Among Strangers
8. A Culture Of Fragments
9. We Who Fell In Love With The Sea
10. Swords To Rust-Hearts To Dust
11. Flowers From Exile
12. Flight In Formation

Official Website (go here to buy)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Boats - Los Musicos Perdidos

2010-02-04T23:37:00.002Z

The Boats is a three-piece post-rock band from Melbourne, Australia. This is their first full-length album, released in 2007. The Boats are an atmospheric, dynamic and a beautifully improvised instrumental experience, creating sonic sketches of looped guitars, bass and drums. Dark and beautiful. Recommended!

Artist: The Boats
Album: Los Musicos Perdidos
Year: 2007
Genre: post-rock, experimental, dark

Tracks:
1. Warmth From A Window
2. 2 AM
3. The Sea Is In The Boat
4. Los Musicos Peridos
5. Strawberry
6. Little Black Rays Of Hope
7. Alone In Us (I Hope)
8. Asylum

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Kaada - Junkyard Nostalgias

2010-02-04T10:23:00.001Z

John Erik Kaada is a musical artist and composer from Stavanger, Norway. He has been working as a composer of film music and as a extensive touring solo artist. This is his most recent album, released in 2009. It's not easy to put his music in one genre. I'd say that combines neo-classical with electronica and experimental music. In any case, excellent album; highly recommended!

Artist: Kaada
Album: Junkyard Nostalgias
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, electronica, experimental, instrumental

Tracks:
1. A day and a night and a day
2. Truth serum
3. Ode to the old flesh
4. Hammering down the nails
5. Dragging an ox
6. Marja Dalia, The Polska Bogini
7. Broken Horse Restaurant
8. Late bloOmer Gipsiara
9. The Hermetic Bird
10. All the things that grow old and pass away
11. We salute you, polish working man

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first!

Grande Duke - Grande Duke EP

2010-02-03T19:47:00.000Z

Grande Duke is a trio from Derby, UK. This is their debut EP released a few days ago on Fight Me records. Their music combines elements from post-rock, post-metal, math-rock and jazz. The latter is definitely the most promising part of this EP. Give it a try!

Artist: Grande Duke
Album: Grande Duke
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, post-metal, instrumental, jazz

Tracks:
1. Stonecutter
2. Duke of Rain
3. Lunacy by Sea Wind
4. Chora

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Many thanks for this Sean. Much appreciated!

The American Dollar - Atlas

2010-02-03T13:00:00.000Z

Started by two high school friends from Queens, New York, in 2005, The American Dollar creates cinematic, electronica-tinged instrumental rock. The duo fuses processed drums, spacious keyboards and powerful organ swells with electric guitar and bass, creating deep sonic textures while maintaining the passion and energy of a live band. The swirling soundscapes build and swell, punctuated by glitchy beats, breathing and expanding into crashing guitars and soaring leads: precisely constructed symphonies for a new era. A great band; this is their most recent album, released earlier this year. Recommended!

Artist: The American Dollar
Album: Atlas
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient, cinematic

Tracks:
1. A Few Words
2. Age of Wonder
3. Fade In Out
4. Shadows
5. Oil and Water
6. Circuits
7. Red Letter
8. Clones
9. Equinox
10. Second Sight
11. Frontier Melt
12. Flood
13. Escapist

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Aufgang - Aufgang

2010-02-02T18:18:00.000Z

Aufgang is a French trio comprised of Juilliard-trained pianists Francesco Tristano and Rami Khalifé as well as drummer Aymeric Westrich. They explore the line between avant-garde, modern classical and four-to-the-floor drumming. This is their debut, released in 2009. Excellent mixture of piano, drums and electronics!

Artist: Aufgang
Album: Aufgang
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, piano, experimental

Tracks:
1. Channel 7
2. Channel 8
3. Barock
4. Sonar
5. Prelude du passé
6. Good Generation
7. 3 vitesses
8. Aufgang
9. Soumission

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

2010-01-29T16:54:00.002Z

Howard Zinn died yesterday, aged 87. Zinn was a historian, playwright, and social activist, one of the greatest voices of the US left. He is perhaps best known for the million-plus best-seller "A People's History of the United States", which presents American history through the eyes of those rarely heard in mainstream histories.

Growing up in an immigrant, working-class family in Brooklyn, Zinn became a shipyard worker at 18, later joining the air force and flying a bomber during the second world war. His experiences shaped his opposition to war, and on his return he took a PhD in history at Columbia University, later working with civil rights movement activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman, and leading antiwar protests. Professor emeritus at Boston University, Zinn received a host of honours, most recently the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr Humanitarian award from New York University for embodying "a vision of peace, persistence in purpose, and inspirational action" [The Guardian].

Howard Zinn was a founder of the Zinn Education project, which promotes the teaching of A People's History in schools throughout America. Moreover, he was a leading member of Voices a education, arts and social justice organization, which aims to encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the history of the US to life through public readings of primary-source materials. Voices works to remind people of the eloquence of ordinary people, as well as extraordinary and well-known figures from the American history.

In 2002, his autobiography, "You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train", was published and the words that end the book are probably the best tribute:

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of the world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

R.I.P. Howard Zinn! Many people paid tribute to the legendary historian. Check out the following:
Thank You, Howard Zinn (The Progressive)
The people's historian (Socialist Worker)
Howard Zinn's lesson to us all (The Guardian)

More info:
Howard Zinn.org
Wikipedia
Voices of A People's History
A tribute with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove (Democracy Now!)
Interviews: TVXS.gr, Conversations with History

A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn

DJ Cam Quartet - Diggin'

2010-01-26T23:59:00.000Z

Parisian hip-hop devotee Laurent Daumail (DJ Cam) is one of a few but growing number of French artists updating hip-hop for the chill-out crowd. Here, he collaborates with other great artists to create this brilliant album. The quartet comprises of DJ Cam on scratches, strings, drums and programming; Alexandre Tassel on the Bugle; Christian Brun plays guitar and Jerome Regard is on bass. Excellent nu-jazz/chillout/hip-hop. Highly recommended!

Artist: DJ Cam Quartet
Album: Diggin'
Year: 2009
Genre: chillout, nu-jazz, jazz, hip-hop

Tracks:
1. Nebulosa
2. Montara
3. Everybody Loves The Sunshine (feat. Inlove)
4. Boss Guitar
5. Think Twice
6. Little Sunflower (A Tribute To Freddie) (feat. Inlove)
7. Quincy
8. Mystic View
9. Climax (feat. Fillet Of Soul)
10. You’ve Got To Have Freedom (feat. Inlove)
11. Inside My Love (For Minnie)

Inflamable records
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Soft Words Traverse - Gently

2010-01-25T20:11:00.000Z

Soft Words Traverse is the independent American musician Billy Mays III. "Gently" is his debut, released in 2009. Flowing soundscapes, ambient, electronic, instrumental, experimental and emotional experience. Excellent!

Artist: Soft Words Traverse
Album: Gently
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Yield
2. A Cleansing Breath
3. To Circle the Drain
4. Light
5. Sprawling Certainty
6. Momentary
7. Pristine Castles
8. To Go On
9. Paradise, Perfect
10. Thoughts Like Clouds
11. Lungs of Gold
12. A Void Does Not Exist

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Heinali - Film Music (El Mar)

2010-01-22T12:56:00.001Z

Oleg "Heinali" Shpudeiko is a minimalist composer, music producer from Kiev, Ukraine. Never took music lessons, self-taught, his sound evolved with time. Experimenting and trying to find his sound, he produced a wide variety of tracks in almost every music genre and style, from noise and ambient to jazz and guitar industrial. In late 2007, he started playing live and mixing hip hop, acid jazz beats with old jazz, soul vocals, dark drum’n’bass basses. The first single “Ghost of s Chance” was released on Don’t Panic Records in 2008. In 2009, he’s moving away from electronic music and, as the part of Soloma art group, is composing music for art installations and performances. Current sound flows from minimalist, contemporary classical to electronic avant-garde. The music in this album, which (I think) combines the tracks from the EP "In to the Sea" with some additional tracks, is a brilliant blend of ambient and neo-classical. A good one!

Artist: Heinali
Album: Film Music (El Mar)
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, piano, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Into the Sea
2. Elegy
3. Into the Sea part II
4. A Short Day
5. Million Light Yearning
6. To Live (with Maria Navrotskaya)
7. The Fall of Autumn
8. Icarus
9. Hollow Path
10. Troubled Waters
11. Tu Fantasma

Bandcamp site
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen.

Goodbye Zeros - Top 20 soundtracks (results)

2010-01-19T19:18:00.000Z

These are the results of the voting for the top sountracks of the decade, organised by elafini. 27 bloggers voted their top 20 soundtracks. My list is here.

The Fountain (no.1) was by far the best soundtrack, easy to predict in my opinion. Clint Mansell has two scores in the top 5. No 2009 soundtrack in the list even though scores like Air Doll and Moon were fantastic. Perhaps, we can vote again in a few years...

The full list is here.
Excellent soundtracks, look for them and start listening.

1. Clint Mansell - The Fountain (2006)
2. Yann Tirsen - Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
3. Philip Glass - The Hours (2002)
4. Yeong-wook Jo - Oldboy (2003)
5. Clint Masnsell - Requiem for a Dream (2000)
6. Dario Marianelli - Atonement (2007)
7. Nick Cave & Waren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)
8. Shigeru Umebayashi/Michael Galasso/Various - In the Mood for Love (2000)
9. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Once (2006)
10. Björk - Dancer in the Dark (2000)
11. Jonny Greenwood - There will be Blood (2007)
12. Andrej Djorgatsjev - The Return (2003)
13. Elliot Goldenthal - Frida (2002)
14. Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
15. Johan Soderqvist - Let the Right One in (2008)
16. Terence Blanchard - 25th Hour (2002)
17. Danny Elfman - Corpse Bride (2005)
18. Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings (complete, 2001)
19. Ελένη Καραΐνδρου (Eleni Karaindrou) - Το Λιβάδι που Δακρύζει (The Weeping Meadow) (2004)
20. Alexandre Desplat - The Painted Veil (2006)

Trevor Tchir - Sky Locked Land

2010-01-18T23:37:00.000Z

Trevor Tchir (pronounced cheer) is a Canadian folk musician who unites the sounds and images of rural and urban spaces. His music tells stories of the people who work and love in the pulsing cities and austere hinterlands of Canada. "His lyrics are populated with characters who are both universal and intimate: poets who waitress, not-even-exes wondering why love never got a foothold, and grandparents building a nation and a place in it. In Tchir’s hands place, time and relationships become characters, too, with their own agendas and idiosyncrasies". Tchir holds a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Alberta! This is his fourth independent album. Excellent folk music! Recommended!

Artist: Trevor Tchir
Album: Sky Locked Land
Year: 2009
Genre: folk, blues

Tracks:
1. Are We There Yet?
2. In The Winter
3. Avalon
4. Borrowed and Blue
5. Georgie
6. Beneath The Mountain Ash
7. The Sweeter Air
8. Stones In The Ground
9. Wildmere
10. Tearing Down The Gardens
11. Myth Of Er

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from CB Baby. All his albums here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Motek - Motek

2010-01-17T20:24:00.000Z

Motek is a three-piece post-rock band from Aalst, Belgium. This is their debut, released in 2006. Brilliant post-rock music, melancholic and cinematic. Recommended!

Artist: Motek
Album: Motek
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Maybe I’ll Go Home
2. De vlucht
3. Hero
4. Second
5. Swallow
6. I Am Your Son
7. Some Sounds to the Close Night

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Mountain Men Anonymous - Krkonose

2010-01-16T11:16:00.000Z

Mountain Men Anonymous was a post-rock band from Gloucestershire via South Glamorgan, Wales (two members have now re-formed as Zail). Their discography includes self-titled demo in 2000, self-titled debut in 2001, a 7” split single between the band and Teflon Monkey and the album posted here, their most recent one. They are currently on "indefinite hiatus". Really good album. Check it out!

Artist: Mountain Men Anonymous
Album: Krkonose
Year: 2004
Genre: post-rock, experimental

Tracks:
1. Xanexxx
2. Quim
3. Dolph Lundgren
4. Finding Heart Through Pain
5. We Stole Your Rhyming Dictionary
6. Bringing Out Your Dead
7. Out of Europe
8. Weep
9. If All Else Fails

Last.fm
No website / MySpace

The album is sold out. Go here for digital releases.
Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Money as Debt

2010-01-14T15:37:00.001Z

"Money as Debt" and "Money as Debt II: Promises Unleashed" are two animated documentaries by Paul Grignon about the monetary systems practised through modern banking. The films visually demonstrate the process of money creation by private corporations known as "banks", illustrate the historical background of this system and warn of its subsequent unsustainability. They explain in simple and straight forward language the true nature of money and the dysfunctional and undemocratic nature of the global banking system. Brilliant and entertaining!

Official Website

Money as Debt (for greek subtitles go here):

Money as Debt II: Promises Unleashed

Rhian Sheehan - Standing In Silence

2010-01-13T23:30:00.000Z

Rhian Sheehan is a guitarist & electronica producer based in Wellington, New Zealand. His music combines cinematic soundscapes and delicate melodies interwoven with touches of the dub, ambient, and downbeat genres. This is a brilliant album, released in 2009. Highly recommended!

Artist: Rhian Sheehan
Album: Standing In Silence
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, cinematic, instrumental, electronica

Tracks:
1. Standing In Silence Part 1
2. Standing In Silence Part 2
3. Standing In Silence Part 3
4. Standing In Silence Part 4
5. Standing In Silence Part 5
6. Standing In Silence Part 6
7. Standing In Silence Part 7
8. Standing In Silence Part 8
9. Standing In Silence Part 9
10. Standing In Silence Part 10
11. Standing In Silence Part 11
12. Standing In Silence Part 12
13. Standing In Silence Part 13
14. Standing In Silence Part 14

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

2009 review

2010-01-12T15:09:00.002Z

The first year of "A Room To Breath In" is almost completed. I'd like to thank everyone for visiting. Today's post is a review of 2009.

Music

In my opinion, 2009 was not the greatest year for music. However, there were a few excellent releases, mostly from independent or previously unknown artists. It wasn't hard to find 30 or more albums that I liked, but here I post only my favourite 21. I couldn't really sort them, so I have just divided them into two groups: top10 and 11-21, with no particular order. You can find all 2009 releases posted in this blog by clicking here. I recommend every album I post. Enjoy!

Group A (top 10):

2econd Class Citizen - A World Without
Arms & Sleepers - Matador
World's End Girlfriend - Air Doll
Clint Mansell - Moon OST
Soap&Skin - Lovetune for Vacuum
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Piano Magic - Ovations
Message to Bears - Departures
French Teen Idol - El Siete Es La Luz
Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind

Group B (11-21):

Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
Parov Stelar - Coco
Black Heart Procession - Six (link coming soon)
Uniquetunes - 8
Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Flica - Telepathy Dreams
Arctic Plateau - On A Sad Sunny Day
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons
ZXYZXY - Hansuru
Luigi Rubino - A Theme for the Moon

Films

Not many good films in 2009, but these three movies were simply brilliant. The first two are directed by usual suspects (Coen brothers and Michael Haneke), plus an amazing sci-fi debut by Duncan Jones with Clint Mansell's music.

1. A Serious Man (Coen Brothers)
2. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)
3. Moon (Duncan Jones)

Radio

I don't really listen to the radio, because I prefer the music I download. However, this year I really enjoyed elafini's City Lights at PopLie.eu. Beautiful film music, different from the typical radio shows; unfortunately only in Greek. (CityLights@PopLie)

In Pictures

I always follow the amazing "The Big Picture", which posts photographs from news stories. Their 2009 review was excellent as usual: part1, part2 and part3

Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck

2010-01-11T22:41:00.000Z

Crippled Black Phoenix is a collective of musicians from many other bands (including notably Iron Monkey, Gonga, Mogwai, Electric Wizard and others), formed in 2004 in the UK. Their debut album, "A Love Of Shared Disasters", was recorded at State of Art Studios in Bristol. Geoff Barrow (Portishead), who is a part owner of the studio, produced the disc and released it on his own Invada Records. The band writes what they call "endtime ballads", signifying both the slightly macabre nature of their songs and their unusual blend of styles as the final evolution in music. This strange blend has led to them being called everything from stoner-prog to freak-folk to doom. This is their 2009 brilliant album. Highly recommended!

Artist: Crippled Black Phoenix
Album: 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, experimental, dark, blues

Tracks:
1. Burnt Reynolds
2. Rise Up and Fight
3. Time of Ye Life / Born for Nothing / Paranoid Arm Of Narcoleptic Empire
4. Wendigo
5. Littlestep
6. Crossing the Bar
7. Whissendine
8. A Real Bronx Cheer
9. 444
10. A Hymn for a Lost Soul
11. A Lack of Common Sense
12. I Am Free, Today I Perished

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Boomkat.
Check the comments to listen first.

Uniquetunes - 8

2010-01-03T01:38:00.000Z

Uniquetunes is a great instrumental band from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Formed in 2005, the band have eight members that use only analog instruments. Their music is a mixture of contemporary jazz, live electronics, modern indie rock and 70’s psychedelic. This is their most recent album, released in September 2009. Excellent!

Artist: Uniquetunes
Album: 8
Year: 2009
Genre: instrumental, jazz, psychedelic, post-rock

Tracks:
1. 88
2. Paper Shoes
3. Linza
4. Dr. Sartor
5. Mexico
6. Birdy
7. Style Kings
8. Blue Mood

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Nosaj Thing - Drift

2010-01-02T12:10:00.001Z

Nosaj Thing is an American artist from LA, California. "Drift" is his 2009 debut album, praised by critics all over the world. Great album that combines elements from experimental electronica and hip-hop. Recommended!

Artist: Nosaj Thing
Album: Drift
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, experimental, hip-hop

Tracks:
1. Quest
2. Fog
3. Coat of Arms
4. IOIO
5. 1685/Bach
6. Caves
7. Light #1
8. Light #2
9. 2222
10. Us
11. Voices
12. Lords

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Parov Stelar - Coco

2010-01-02T11:29:00.000Z

Parov Stelar is an amazing artist from Austria. I posted his debut, "Rough Cuts", here. This is his most recent album, released in 2009. Fantastic fusion of electronica, jazz, electro-swing etc. Highly recommended!

Artist: Parov Stelar
Album: Coco
Year: 2009
Genre: nu-jazz, electro-swing, electronica

Tracks:
CD1
1. Coco (feat. Lilja Bloom)
2. Hurt
3. For Rose
4. True Romance (feat. Lilja Bloom)
5. Distance (feat. Lylith)
6. Wake Up Sister
7. Let's Roll (feat. Blaktroniks)
8. Sunny Bunny Blues (feat. Veda 36)
9. Dandy (feat. Yola B.)
10. Your Man
11. Promises (feat. Klaus Hainy)
12. Letoile (feat. Max the Sax)
13. You And Me (feat. Lilja Bloom)

CD2
1. The Mojo Radio Gang (Club Version)
2. The Mojo Radio Gang (Radio Version)
3. Silent Snow (Original Version)
4. Ragtime (feat. Lilja Bloom)
5. Libella Swing
6. Catgroove
7. Matilda
8. The Flame
9. Fleur de Lille
10. Hotel Axos
11. Monster (Original Version)
12. Nosferatu (Original Version)
13. Starlight (Clubversion)

Official Website (buy from here)
Parov Stelar @Etage Noir
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Goodbye Zeros - Top 20 soundtracks

2009-12-31T20:16:00.003Z

After voting for the top 20 films of the decade, it is now time to vote for the best soundtracks of the zeros. The voting is organised by elafini. In my opinion, Clint Mansell was the best composer of the decade with three top class soundtracks, all in my top 20 list. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis and Philip Glass composed fantastic scores. The scores from Requiem for a Dream and Amelie are probably the most recognisable soundtracks of the zeros!

The results of the voting are here!

20. Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma - Naqoyqatsi (2002)

Beautiful minimalism by Philip Glass, with cello solos by the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Not as good as The Hours or Koyaanisqatsi but still brilliant!

19. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition (2005)

Excellent modern day western. Awesome music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (The Bad Seeds, Dirty Three), their first great soundtrack of the decade. Could be higher!

18. Air - The Virgin Suicides (2000)

Decent movie by Sofia Coppola, great soundtrack by Air! Electronica at its best!

17. Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (2007)

A great surprise by Pearl Jam's frontman!

16. Johan Söderqvist - Let the right one in (2008)

Fantastic music! I didn't know Söderqvist before this film. More

15. Björk - Selmasongs/Dancer in the dark (2000)

Great music and one of the best duets of the decade ("I've seen it all").

14. Your Hand in Mine - Every Night Dream (2008)

Music for Mikio Naruse's silent film. More

13. World's End Girlfriend - Air Doll (2009)

A masterpiece by Katsuhiko Maeda. More

12. Alberto Iglesias - Hable con ella (2002)

Excellent collaboration by Almodovar and Alberto Iglesias (once again!)

11. Clint Mansell - Moon (2009)

Masterpiece No.3 by Clint Mansell. More

10. Philip Glass - The Hours (2002)

Probably the best Glass since Koyaanisqatsi.

9. Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Dark and beautiful, just like the film!

8. Terence Blanchard - 25th Hour (2002)

Excellent! From this film I discovered Terence Blanchard.

7. Shigeru Umebayashi/Various - In the mood for love (2000)

Brilliant film, beautiful music! I wish I could have 2046 in this list as well.

6. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford (2007)

This is their best soundtrack! Looking forward for more. The music for "The Road" (2009) is also great!

5. Gustavo Santaolalla - The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

Road movie and music for the road! Awesome!

4. Clint Mansell - Requiem for a dream (2000)

Everyone knows this melody! Clint Mansell's greatest success!

3. Yann Tiersen - Amelie (2001)

Extemely popular! This is the film that made Yann Tiersen well-known all over the world!

2. Yeon-wook Jo - Oldboy (2003)

Top-class film and top-class music! "The Last Waltz" is one of the best tracks of the decade. More

1. Clint Mansell - The Fountain (2006)

Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet and Mogwai. No need to say anything more! The best soundtrack of the decade!

Dopedrone - Contact Book

2009-12-29T18:18:00.000Z

Dopedrone is a one man project started in 2000 by the Norwegian M.Anderson (also drummer of the shoegaze/post-rock band Yeti Island). He got his influences from shoegazer, stoner rock, 70’s progressive and psychedelic rock. Over the years his music has become more electronic, and can best be described as electronica/shoegazer/doom/noise. Contact Book was released in 2009 and it is available for free download. Spacious, heavy and beautiful. Recommended!

Artist: Dopedrone
Album: Contact Book
Year: 2009
Genre: shoegaze, post-rock, instrumental, electronica

Tracks:
1. Sunflare
2. Old Galaxy
3. Precession
4. Contact Book
5. Cydonia
6. Memory Loss
7. Down The Akashik Memory Lane
8. Star Aura
9. Entity

Paralucid Records@archive.org
Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones

2009-12-29T00:20:00.000Z

Dead Man’s Bones is a collaboration between actors Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Believer, The Notebook) and Zach Shields. This is their debut album, one of the greatest surprises of the year. You might have seen a video for their song "In the Room Where You Sleep" floating around the web recently. In the clip, Gosling and Shields lead a bunch of kids, all dressed in Halloween costumes, through a spare acoustic lament. It’s creepy and catchy, one of the best singles of the year. Overall, a great album about ghosts, monsters, graveyards, zombies or anything deathly. The participation of the Silverlake Conservatory Childrens Choir adds some extra creepiness! Awesome!

Artist: Dead Man's Bones
Album: Dead Man's Bones
Year: 2009
Genre: indie, gospel, dark

Tracks:
1. Intro
2. Dead Hearts
3. In The Room Where You Sleep
4. Buried In Water
5. My Bodys A Zombie For You
6. Pa Pa Power
7. Young & Tragic
8. Paper Ships
9. Lose Your Soul
10. Werewolf Heart
11. Dead Mans Bones
12. Flowers Grow Out Of My Grave

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Dead Sea - The Dead Sea

2009-12-28T23:15:00.001Z

The Dead Sea are Tim Bruniges, Nick Kennedy and David Trumpmanis, based in Sydney, Australia. They make music and videos using guitars, drums, a voice, computers and phones. This is their debut album which combines elements from post-rock, shoegaze and ambient. Excellent!

Artist: The Dead Sea
Album: The Dead Sea
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, shoegaze, ambient

Tracks:
1. Slow Jet
2. Okono
3. The Devil Bends
4. III
5. Zabriskie Point
6. Nulla Desiderata
7. Little Lights
8. Departure Gates
9. Banquet
10. Bandicoots

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here)

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Blue Pilots Project - Reboot

2009-12-28T01:05:00.000Z

Blue Pilots Project is the alias of Thomas Kosidis from Thessaloníki, Greece. He grew up listening to world music, from classical to psychedelic music. He went to a conservatoire for a short while but that all ended when he made his own studio which lies in the industrial part of the town and started exploring analog psychedelic sound. His debut album is called “Flight for everyone” and was released by Klik Records in 2007. Reboot is his second album, released earlier this year. Piano, guitars, percussion and later the use of computer create the unique sound of Blue Pilots Project which combines electronica with chillout music. Really good!

Artist: Blue Pilot Project
Album: Reboot
Year: 2009
Genre: chillout, electronica

Tracks:
1. Million Clouds
2. Reboot
3. Mamouth
4. Hallelujah
5. Gods Gift
6. Main Crisis
7. Senta
8. Vivere Il Momento
9. Air Fiction
10. Refloat

Website@Klik records
Last.fm

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

The Autumn Project - Fable

2009-12-27T02:47:00.000Z

The Autumn Project is an American post-rock/instrumental band formed in 2000. Fable is their debut, released in 2003. They have released two more albums: “La Luna de Negra” in 2004 and "This we take with us" in 2009. The Autumn Project’s music is dynamic and full of melodic overtones, but steeped with a backbone of brutality and dissonance. Fable is 60 minutes of emotionally hypnotic soundscape layers. Mesmerizing!

Artist: The Autumn Project
Album: Fable
Year: 2003
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. A Forest for the Trees
2. The Buffalo vs. the Bottomless Cliff
3. The History of Easterly Migration Westward
4. Blanden
5. Of Memoriam
6. How Life Lost Her Race
7. The Dustbowl Rose Again
8. Right/Left Thinktank
9. A Light Left on to Greet You in the Morning
10. How to Iron the Devil’s Doak

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Das weisse Band - The White Ribbon (2009)

2009-12-26T00:16:00.000Z

The White Ribbon is a drama film written and directed by the Austrian Michael Haneke, one of the greatest directors of the past 20 years. The screenplay focuses on the children in a German village just before World War I. According to Haneke, the film is about "the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature". It’s Haneke's least violent and most mature film – a masterpiece from a director who is increasingly making a habit of them ("Funny Games", "Cache", "La Pianiste" etc.).

As usual, Haneke explores the origins of human evil and whether individuals are responsible for evil acts or if they are born in a particular climate/society. In this movie, he is using his village as a microcosm to reflect Germany as a whole (similar with Lars Von Trier's Dogville).

The black and white photography is stunning. The direction is brilliant, as usual, and the acting is superb! A movie that can be heavy but thought-provoking and with a strong moral message! Highly recommended!

More info:
Official Website
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes
Wikipedia

Trailer:

Flica - Telepathy Dreams

2009-12-21T01:41:00.000Z

Flica is an electro-acoustic outfit produced by Euseng Seto from the evolving music scene of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Born in 1982, he started Flica in early 2007, solely crafting and producing music on his own. As a result, the subtle sounds that Flica creates are exceptionally melodic and uncomplicated, which perfectly mirroring his perceptions towards daily personal feelings on life and nature. Windvane & Window, his first solo album, was released in 2008. Telepathy Dreams is his most recent album, released earlier this year. Excellent!

Artist: Flica
Album: Telepathy Dreams
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, electronica

Tracks:
1. Commes
2. Drun
3. Hie
4. In Dreams
5. Ind
6. Istatic
7. Midnight Waving
8. Seing
9. Stairs

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here or here (more links at his MySpace page).
Check the comments to listen first.

St. Germain - Tourist

2009-12-19T15:05:00.000Z

St. Germain is the stage name of Ludovic Navarre, a French musician whose style merges jazzy house music with acid jazz. His first album Boulevard was released in 1995 and has sold over 300,000 copies worldwide. Tourist, released in 2000, is an intriguing collage of jazz for the DJ culture - a mixture of sampled rhythms and live musicians. Bob Marley, Toots and The Maytals, Miles Davis and Kool & The Gang are among Ludovic’s early influences. He composed his first work under the name of Sub System with friend Guy Rabiller. He has released EPs under a number of aliases, among them Deepside, LN’s, Modus Vivendi, Hexagone, Nuages and Soofle. Excellent album! Get it now!

Artist: St. Germain
Album: Tourist
Year: 2000
Genre: nu-jazz, chillout, jazz, electronica

Tracks:
1. Rose Rouge
2. Montego Bay Spleen
3. So Flute
4. Land Of...
5. Latin Note
6. Sure Thing
7. Pont Des Arts
8. La Goutte D'Or
9. What You Think About...

Website@Bluenote label
Last.fm
MySpace (unofficial fanpage)

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

2009-12-19T02:14:00.001Z

James Blackshaw is a London-based guitarist and pianist, born in 1981. He primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar and has been compared to Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Leo Kottke. His music is dreamy instrumental that combines neo-classical with folk and post-rock music. He has released many albums in the last five years. This is his seventh and most recent one, released by Young God records. Absolutely brilliant! Highly recommended!

Artist: James Blackshaw
Album: The Glass Bead Game
Year: 2009
Genre: instrumental, neo-classical, folk, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Cross
2. Bled
3. Fix
4. Key
5. Arc

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Young God records.
Check the comments to listen first.

Képzelt Város - Mit Nekem

2009-12-18T01:25:00.000Z

Képzelt Város is a Hungarian band from Budapest, formed in 2005 by four architects. Their music is mainly post-rock with some indie elements. This is their debut album, released earlier this year and is available for free download. Really good!

Artist: Képzelt Város
Album: Mit Nekem
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, indie

Tracks:
1. Sol
2. D2
3. Papirhajó
4. Zuhanó
5. Sergei6
6. White noise
7. Hercules
8. Futok

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Tired Tape Machine - Somewhere Safe

2009-12-14T01:26:00.000Z

Tired Tape Machine is Petter Lindhagen’s one man band from Sweden. Somewhere Safe is his debut, a beautiful ambient/neo-classical album, which Petter Lindhagen has single handedly written, produced and played all the instruments. It is self-released, digitally and – as the name might suggest– on cassette! Recommended!

Artist: Tired Tape Machine
Album: Somewhere Safe
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, instrumental, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Somewhere Safe
2. On a Train
3. This Winter
4. Like Glass
5. Life is a Joke
6. From a Great Distance
7. The Tired Tape Machine Waltz
8. Ghosts in the Machine

Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.