Johnnytwentythree is an American instrumental rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. The band’s first album, “Thirty Pieces Of Silver”, was released in 2004. The album was essentially a soundtrack to a short film by one members of the group, Stephen Imwalle. This is their second album, released in April 2007. They took a different direction and released an Enhanced CD, which contains 3 videos to accompany the music. Really great instrumental, post-rock music! Highly recommended!
Chinawoman is a solo recording artist from Toronto, Canada. Her sound can be traced to the exclusive Russian-only clubs of Toronto, where men in silk shirts croon tales of heartache over bossa nova synth, and to the ballet school where Chinawoman spent her youth a spectator of melodrama set to Chopin. Songs are lush with 70’s epic and/or Red Army Choir-style choruses, East-European melodies and restrained low-spoken vocals. All songs are written, performed and engineered by Chinawoman, who plays all the instruments. Chinawoman self-released her debut album “Party Girl” in the spring of 2007. Moscow based label Exotica-Soyuz did a reissue of the album in the fall of 2008. This is a fantastic debut! Dark, melancholic and beautiful! Highly recommended!
Comprised of American Sixpence None the Richer vocalist, Leigh Nash, plus Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Canadian ambient pop outfit Delerium. This is their debut album, released in 2007 on Canada’s premiere indie label Nettwerk. Great album that combines elements from electronica, trip-hop, jazz and pop!
Lis Er Stille was founded in Århus, Denmark in 2004, as part of an art project between lead singer Martin Byrialsen and an artist known as Vindril. The idea was to transform Vindrils surreal paintings into music. Suddenly the music became so powerful, that a band was build up around it. Since then Lis Er Stille has continued to create music in accordance with strict ideals of innovation and originality. Really beautiful post-rock music! This is their second album, released in 2007. Get it now!
Phideaux is a progressive rock band from the USA, led by Xavier Phideaux. Their music is also influenced by psychedelic and gothic rock, complimented for capturing the essence of classic rock. Doomsday afternoon is their best album in my opinion. Really good!
The World on Higher Downs is a four piece group from Wisconsin, USA. Their music is electroacoustic/ambient with some shoegaze influences, creating fantastic multilayered melodies and amazing atmospheres. Land Patterns is their debut album, released in 2007. Beautiful music, highly recommended!
The Blues Wire is the greatest and one of the very few blues bands in Greece. Their story began in 1983 when Sotiris Zisis and Elias Zaikos formed Blues Gang (who renamed themselves as Blues Wire in 1985), the very first blues band in Greece that tried to capture the original sounds of blues legends like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and T-Bone Walker. They recorded the first blues album ever to be made by Greek musicians, at a time when it was really difficult to play music without obvious roots in Greek culture, let alone get a record deal for it. Since then, they have become well-known in the blues community and they have played in many festivals across Europe. Blues Wire have provided the foundation of the Greek blues scene and the main inspiration for many younger musicians. This album, released in 2007, is a compilation of 14 songs spanning 20 years of recordings. A great introduction to Blues Wire's music. Get it!
Based in Nottingham, UK, Geiom is the solo project of Kamal Joory, a musician, DJ, and owner of the Berkane Sol label. He has released many singles and 12" since 1995. He creates brilliant dubstep, idm, electro music. Island Noise, released in 2007, is a great album, his most successful so far (I think...)! Those of you who like Burial, get this one!
iLiKETRAiNS are a post-rock band which formed in Leeds, UK, in 2003. They weave brooding widescreen songs from sparse piano and guitar, baritone vocals, uplifting choral passages and reverberant orchestral crescendos. Their music is influenced by bands like Interpol, Sigur Ros and Nick Cave. They draw their inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view and they work on concept albums which are also optically represented on stage, by means of video projections and the band’s actual image. This is their debut full-length album, released in 2007. A very successful album already, one of the best in the past few years in my opinion! As with their earlier EP, Progress Reform, many of the songs cover historical events; it's very interesting to read about them here. An absolute must!
Beware Of Safety is an American instrumental rock quintet from Los Angeles, California. This is their debut album released in 2007. Their latest album, "Dogs", was released in 2008. A truly amazing band that combines perfectly the aggressive noisy post-rock with ambient experimentation. Get it!
The Pirate Ship Quintet is a post-rock septet, originally from Bournemouth and Bristol, UK. Their cellist is a full time member of one of Britain’s most commended symphony orchestras as well as being a stand in for the famous London Symphony Orchestra. This is their debut EP, released in April 2007, and it's is really fantastic! They are currently working on their first full-length album.
Pascal Comelade, a French-Catalan minimalist, was born in Montpellier, France. After living for several years in Barcelona, he made his first album, Fluences, influenced by electronic music and by the group Heldon. Subsequently, his music has become more acoustic and is characterised by the sounds of toy instruments, used as solo-instruments and as an integral part of the sound of his group, the Bel Canto Orquestra. He has collaborated with many singers and musicians from diverse genres of music including Robert Wyatt, Dani, Faust, Christophe Miossec, Toti Soler, Jac Berrocal and PJ Harvey. I strongly recommend all his albums; if you like the music of Yann Tiersen, you will love it! This is one of his most recent releases! Enjoy!
