Puscifer’s ‘Existential Reckoning: Re-Wired (Alchemy Recordings, BMG) is definitely one of the better remix albums of recent years. The additional effort pays off in a more diverse, insightful auditory journey.
Highlighted by the irresistibly alluring, hypnotic voice of Josephine Olivia, VOSH’s ‘Vessel’ (Trash Casual Records) is harmonically complex and oh-so-severely superior.
Too vibrant to be termed ambient music, ‘Always Becoming’ fuses hints of folk-pop and dream-pop elements into imaginative sonic creations.
Singularly imaginative, 1st Base Runner’s (aka Tim Husmann) ‘Night Stalker’ hums with a sense of mounting unease on immersive synths, creating spectral, electro-organic soundscapes.
With ‘Amphibious’ (Tritone Records), Paul Jacks delivers pure-pleasure, warm veneers of silky pop melodies, along with rich, smooth vocals.
Imagine Leonard Cohen fronting The Bangles or The Cranberries with a scoop dollop of alt-country; the result is Seneko’s ‘The Girls from Cedarhurst.’
As a whole, Steakhouse’s ‘Amer Rouge’ is beguiling, with noteworthy songs adorning it with a unique amalgam of engaging surfaces.
Finnish melodeath masters Insomnium produce an outstanding, goosebump-inducing concept album in forthcoming release ‘Anno 1696’ – out February 24 on Century Media.
Framing drums, emphasized by suspended rhythmic pulses, and the ghostlike vocals of Andrea Ward make ‘Ribbon of Water’ sui generis.
If an album is needed to help us reflect on just what is happening, then Hammock’s ‘Love in the Void’ provides that perfectly.
What needs celebrating is how Striborg takes the same machine sounds any number of electronic and industrial producers have employed and makes them feel organic, cerebral and human in their expression.
Enigmatic and at times darkly poignant, Lamedd’s EP ‘Permit’ vibrates with complex, emerging sonic milieus, offering an alternative paradigm of reality.
Washington-based psychedelic prog-rock band What Strange Beasts releases their album, Starlight’s Castaways, a lengthy body of music encompassing 26…