Laura - Twelve Hundred Times (2011)

Genre : Post-rock, with Cello n Vocal, from Australia
Myspace
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Tracklist:

1. Visitor
2. This Grey Earth
3. Gravity Hill
4. Mark the Day
5. Glint
6. x1200
7. Stone Seed
8. Fugue State
9. The Slow
10. Safe Confinement
11. New Sate Confinement

New album by Australian post rock band Laura is really attracting. Cello and violin with ambient guitars is a perfect combination of instruments. Enjoy!

Sleepmakeswaves - .​.​.​and so we destroyed everything (2011) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-rock, from Australia
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Tracklist :

1. to you they are birds, to me they are voices in the forest (8:15)
2. in limbs and joints (4:30)
3. our time is short but your watch is slow (3:08)
4. a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun (11:08)
5. (hello) cloud mountain (3:20)
6. now we rise and we are everywhere (6:41)
7. we like you when you're awkward (2:36)
8. ...and so we destroyed everything (12:33)

Sleepmakeswaves are an instrumental rock band from Sydney, Australia. Drawing influences mainly from but not limited to post-rock, the young quartet mix driving metallic bombast with textured electronics to create a sonic space where delicate melodies and thunderous climaxes peacefully co-exist.

Since their formation in late 2006, sleepmakeswaves have rapidly established themselves as a promising and unique voice in their field. Within the space of a year the band has enjoyed considerable word-of-mouth support and have landed auspicious opening slots with post-rock luminaries such as Pelican, Laura and Meniscus on the back of their powerful live show and acclaimed demo recording.

Finally, SLEEPMAKESWAVES release their debut album ‘...and so we destroyed everything’. The culmination of two years writing and enduring numerous setbacks, the album sees the band at a creative high point.

The album is a dramatic showcase for the band - glittering melodic hooks are embossed by Dax Liniere’s lush production and the band’s heaving musicianship. With an array of memorable and climactic sequences, “...and so we destroyed everything” signals the band’s continued desire to push into new musical territory.

It May Never End - Such Is Life (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-rock, Ambient, Australia
Myspace
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Tracklist :

1. Last Light
2. To Fall Without Landing
3. All Thate Remains Is Silence
4. They Would Never Be Forgotten
5. Sticks & Stones
6. For All Eternity
7. The Saddest Story Ever Told

[me]It's a one man band (Neil Spicer) from Lara, VIC, Australia. And Such Is Life is a Free Album. An Awesome Free Album ;) You can visit the myspace page for more info.

Margins - Margins (2009)

Genre : Post-rock, Ambient, Experimental, Australia
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

01. Dust
02. Shot
03. Cowboys
04. Break
05. Through Mountains
06. And Manowaltz
07. Hauntingly
08. Down Desolate Roads
09. While the Sea
10. Closes in

BIOGRAPHY: The desert is a lonely place. Sounds come and go, but don't linger long. Nature in all its emptiness reigns supreme; you can't help notice the apparent nothingness. A clever and cunning beast, nothingness is merely a faзade, deceiving us to believe in the contradictory nature of its so-called existence. Far more is lurking beneath the sand, amongst the wind, in the jeans of the cowboy that you or I could ever imagine, sending futile words, such as nothingness, into oblivion. Stripping things back can be complicated.

Margins was a challenge thought up by a bunch of guys all in loud and abrasive bands. The task seemed simple: make pretty instrumental music. Avoid epic build-ups! Don't play quiet all song, only to finish in a seething, ear piercing, blaze of sound! It was easier to come up with parameters and paradigms rather than actually making the music.

After the first meeting of minds, the entire project was nearly put into the too-hard basket. The lineage of the band had gone a long way to create deceptively strong and restrictive boundaries. Previous and continuing marriages to The Nation Blue, Blacklevel Embassy, Ricaine, Hardware, Rhythm Bell and Warped (amongst others) resulted in a prolific amount of riffage and rock beats, but rarely what one would call "pretty music". Thankfully, with ideas bred determination, and a few months down the track, what could loosely be described as "songs" were emerging.

With intentions of creating a film soundtrack (minus the film), Margins set about creating music with space; music where the comment "don't play there" was just as, if not more important, than the actual playing; music that allowed the mind to wander, to tune in and be entertained, then to wander again at will. Margins aim to create sound where that illegitimate term 'nothingness' becomes something. The 40 minutes of sound to be released as a debut album
contains moments of subtlety, joy, intensity, simplicity and intricacy. Recorded literally under the streets of West Melbourne by Barry Stockley, mixed by Matt Voigt amongst the cows in Harkaway, and mastered by Bob Weston in Chicago, the final product resonates with the desert: complicated.

The Dead Sea - The Dead Sea (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-rock, Dreampop, Ambient, Australia
Myspace
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Tracklist :

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

The Dead Sea are tim bruniges, nick kennedy and david trumpmanis. They make immersive, largely instrumental music accompanied by highly textured film projections. They formed in Sydney in late 2006 and quickly earned a reputation as one of the most intense and exciting bands in Australia.

Their debut self-titled EP was self released in early 2007 and from this time their music has regularly been heard on radio JJJ, FBI, RRR in Australia
and their films screened internationally in Seoul, Rio De Janeiro and Vladivostok with "World Sham Pain" premiering at The Pompidou in Paris in 2007.
In 2008, The Dead Sea track "Nulla Desiderata" featured as the opening cut on The Silent Ballet compilation IX and also featured in the Swedish feature film "Halsningar fran skogen" (Greetings from the Woods).

In early 2009, The Dead Sea track "Respire" was featured in the hugely successful CBS series "CSI:Miami", and their track "Slow Jet" featured on the first ever Spunk Singles Club compilation released on the respected Australian label, Spunk Records.
The debut album by The Dead Sea was completed in early 2009 and is available now digitally through iTunes, emusic, Amazon and lala with physical release to follow on CD and vinyl in the 2nd half of 2009.

"The Dead Sea's long-awaited debut is a powerful mix of condensed ambience, crisp indie-instrumentals, and shoegaze-inspired dynamics. If that combination of elements sounds somewhat unorthodox, then the Sydney three-piece has succeeded in stepping out of the crowd and into the limelight.
What is perhaps most noteworthy about the release is that a sound that is often unapproachable by a general audience is as accessible as it is ever going to be; ambient tracks are boiled down below the three minute mark (and really don't seem to be missing much of anything), longer tracks contain thick layers that engage and entertain the listener, and just about every five minutes a solid rock instrumental combines with the band's vibrant sound to get the blood pumping.
Vocals even make an occasional appearance and are strong enough to lure in the non-instrumental enthusiast, as well as please those who are overly critical of the utility of singing. Few debuts are as fun, unassuming, and ultimately lovable as The Dead Sea."

“…pieces of ambient, insistent, instrumental, experimental, majestic and undeniably moving sounds…”
- Michael Smith, Drum Media

“In less time than it takes most ambient artists to tune their guitar… I find myself putting “Departure Gates” on repeat and its infectious little tune burrows its way into my subconscious in a way which very few artists of this ilk are able to do… hopefully there’s more of this magic medicine to come.”
- The Silent Ballet

[me]Fascinating, amazing, beautiful.

This is Your Captain Speaking - Eternal Return (2008) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-Rock, Ambient
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist

01. Part 1
02. Incirculation
03. Part 3
04. Lullaby
05. Part 2

from http://thesilentballet.com : “Attention passengers, This is Your Captain Speaking.” A disembodied, calm, authoritative voice, one that is meant to soothe and assuage the fears of those who have placed themselves in its charge – this is This is Your Captain Speaking. There's no better way to put it than that. The sophomore effort from the criminally-underrated band from Melbourne is every bit as sedate and calm as their critically-acclaimed debut, Storyboard, but it manages to set itself apart from this monument to craftsmanship. It seems as if the band is more comfortable in their role – more stately, or more determined, if you will. But the scrupulous attention to detail that characterized the debut is still there, perhaps stronger than ever. There's very little flash, and even less in the glitter department on Eternal Return, but all the special effects in the world won't land the plane when you need them to – they blow stuff up, rather than bringing you home.

This is Your Captain Speaking trades the overwhelmingly solipsistic attitude of most instrumental artists plying their trade today for one of communal import. Eternal Return is not a release that draws the listener in upon herself, leading her to meditate only upon listener-as-individual, but instead ushers said individual to her place within her personal "society." This is evident through the album's organization: of five tracks, only two are given titles proper, and these are nestled safely between Parts 1, 3, and 2. This lack of detail gives us reason to place more emphasis upon the two “named” tracks. Between “Incirculation” and “Lullaby”, it is easy to see the thematic connection to a protective social community, itself being shielded by the strength of the “Part” tracks. The content of the tracks backs up the titles' suggestive thematic element with their warm repetition and resistance to the overbearing, melodramatic emotional outbursts of the band's peers.

Perhaps most interestingly, This is Your Captain Speaking manages to escape the inherent paradox of community-centered instrumental music (in that it is music that is best appreciated when listened to through some sort of headphone device, obviously severing the listener from the community) through the album's title and development. The title, Eternal Return, along with the band's moniker, suggests that the album is a return from a trip. The listener is not meant to stay within the confines of the album, for that would prevent the return that is promised – we are always, eternally returning, encircled by those we care for and lulled to sleep by their soothing voices. The album allows us to experience this feeling of return twice – once, vicariously through the album's slow, subtle development, and then again once we finish the release, coming out of the vicarious experience and into the actual experience of the friends and family around us. The listener does not only get to enjoy the music itself, but also comes to appreciate her own real-life returns with a greater understanding than would be possible without the experience. I do not need to tell you that an album having this kind of effect on the real-world interactions of its listeners is as rare (and refreshing) as an oasis in the desert.

The Longest Day - Night Falls (2008) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-rock, Experimental, Shoegaze
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

01. are we not light years from home?
02. shining bright
03. the golden tree
04. the river
05. ill fares the land (part one)
06. glacial speed
07. slow motion world
08. the voices fell silent
09. negative zero
10. you are now free to float around the cabin

The Longest Day is a two-piece space rock/post-rock/shoegaze music collaboration, half of which lives in Sydney, the other in Canberra. The band formed under the same inner western sydney roof in 1997, initially inspired by the noisy lo-fi creations of Flying Saucer Attack, and influenced by the dreamy wall of guitars produced by bands like Ride and My Bloody Valentine. Songs were written and played for a select few, but jay and brad never recorded their output. The move to Canberra by jay in 2002, and the separate forays into the world of electronic music by both members, seemed to indicate a natural death of the band. An idea floated in a drunken conversation in 2005 was followed through, and jay and brad spent a week recording and mixing a collection of songs resurrected from the band's past, utilising the original 4 track tapes used at the time to record drums and loops for live performances. The result was 2005's Slumber, an album awash with guitar and reverb and sweet noise. The album was distributed gratis to anyone who showed an interest in hearing it. In the winter of 2006, brad travelled to Canberra for the band's next project - Sounds of Jupiter. Written and recorded in a week, Jupiter illustrated the band's progression in sound from that represented by Slumber (which of course represented a sound derived 8 years earlier), and is characterised by a more atmospheric and measured sound, achieved through expanded instrumentation and again through their love of reverb. In early 2007, the band hooked up with Sydney label Feral Media, who arranged for the distribution of the remaining copies of both previous albums. The relationship strengthened as the year progressed, the band playing in the October PowWow show to a strong reception. Jay and Brad again came together in September 2007 in Canberra to begin writing their next album. A collection of songs were written in collaboration with Boston (USA) artist/musician Christy Romanick, whose sublime, ethereal guitar drones underpin several tracks. Jay and Brad spent the rest of the year writing and refining songs, and came together in Sydney to record their third album - Night Falls, in January of 2008. The album was released on 1 May 2008.