Near The Paranthesis – Japanese For Beginners (2011)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, IDM
Myspace
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Tracklist :

01. soft warmly straw raincoat
02. voice and radio bureau
03. the rose and burial
04. your subconscious condition
05. the first surface
06. in regard to water
07. the listening surround
08. colors live remarkable
09. country of true wonder

“Japanese for Beginners” is Near The Parenthesis’ 4th album via the n5MD imprint and 5th overall. Not far behind on the contemplative artfulness of 2010′s “Music For the Forest Concourse” this new album finds Tim Arndt adding more texturally experimental treatments to his signature mix of melodic IDM and Modern Classical. Arndt was intent on creating a decidedly more “electronic” backdrop for the record, which includes what may be some of the most creative drum programing of his career. Building on this new platform, Japanese for Beginners continues Arndt’s bias and skill in constructing haunting piano motifs and, as always, brings the pieces together seamlessly. The songs on “Japanese For Beginners” are as hopeful, as dreamy, and as thoughtfully crafted as you want them to be. With this album as with any of Arndt’s releases, it is up to the listener to dive in to the details or simply let it play as the soundtrack to your day.

aKido – Gamechanger (2010) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Electronica, IDM, Downtempo, Experimental, Canada
Myspace
Buy (it's available as a free download and on CD or iTunes)

Tracklist :

1 Instantine 4:07
2 In Needles 3:55
3 Radium Girls 4:04
4 Paper Chase 4:33
5 Epoch (Get High) 3:38
6 Mrchf Thftr 1:35
7 Carrousel 5:04
8 Turnaround 4:45
9 Gamechanger 6:45
10 A Kind of Momentum 4:05

aKido is the electronic rock band of Kim Gaboury. The Montreal-based composer and guitarist began this studio project in 2004. Two EPs have been released to date; ‘PLAYTIME’ and ‘BLINK’, both out on Nordique Records.

With two albums and a handful of remixes, aKido has opened a portal into the world of indie rock and post-electronica. ‘Gamechanger’ is his much anticipated third album, a distinctive statement comprised of skilled simplicity and coherently juxtaposed layers making use of the freedom from any immediate dancefloor demands.

Released through his own Nordique Records, this new album truly demonstrates that there are many more elements at play within aKido’s songs that better lend themselves to the album format. ‘Gamechanger’ feels like a stirring journey, yet each track seems to have its own discreet identity. The harmonic explosion of guitars, the tape-manipulated synthetic sounds, the gorgeous female whispers and the shimmering melodies woven into his songs are given time to develop homogeneously. While groove is a central feature, aKido is at his best when all kinds of elements mesh together; dark atmospheric propulsions, idiosyncratic chord arrangements, tidy time signature switches, twirled leitmotivs and pummelling beats form a surprisingly cohesive whole. aKido indulges his heavier rock inclinations with artfulness and his intricate electronic inflections with effervescence.

‘Gamechanger’ is a deeply enjoyable album with a broad appeal to lovers of original electronic music.

Near The Parenthesis - Music For The Forest Concourse (2010) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, IDM
Myspace
Buy

Tracklist :

01 Good Evening
02 Lambent Traces Of The Day
03 Settle In
04 Pollarding Trees
05 Not Here, Not Tonight
06 Within An Orbit
07 Inertia (Stay Right Here)
08 Diffused
09 Low Horizon
10 Designing This Building
11 Pull Yourself Together
12 Good Night

Near the Parenthesis returns with "Music for the Forrest Concourse". Tim Arndt's fourth album for n5MD. Perhaps becoming a theme, Arndt again uses the concept of place as the muse for an album. An approach adopted with 2008's "L'Eixample" where Barcelona served as the inspiration. Time, however, is the inspiration for the current release and as a result Music for the Forrest Concourse is more imaginary. Arndt wrote this collection of music 'for dusk, for open air, for sitting down, and for breathing in. It is music for staring upwards and listening attentively or casually.' However you choose to listen Music for the Forrest Concourse will provide.

Bitcrush - Of Embers (2010) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, IDM, Post Rock
Myspace
Buy

Tracklist :

01 - Of Embers
02 - Dream Unto Fathoms
03 - Fray The Middle To Meet The Ends
04 - The Days We Spent Within
05 - Ascension
06 - Demons & Dandelions

Bitcrush is the escapist solo project of Mike Cadoo (ex-Gridlock member). Contrary to his work in Gridlock and his earlier solo project as Dryft, Bitcrush strives to fuse live instrumentation with experimental electronica’s glitch-centric production techniques. His debut album (entitled Enarc) on Component Records was, by the artists admission, a snapshot of his musical history thus far.

Those that keep a close eye on Mike Cadoo's Bitcrush project may have been somewhat concerned with the title of his previous full-length, Epilogue in Waves. That album, by Cadoo's admission, was to be the last of his cathartic Bitcrush entity. Thankfully, writing music is an integral part of Cadoo and has become an important means to understand life.

Now, two years later we see the release of Cadoo's fifth album from his Bitcrush project 'Of Embers.' Of Embers is his most intimate album and continues with the very personal cathartic nature we have come to expect. Cadoo has always transitioned between and fused together diverse styles seamlessly and with each album has moved the Bitcrush meme towards his personal needs of expression. Of Embers begins where the Epilogue in Waves' song Pearl left us. Presented are longer movements each that progress and tell their story patiently using the sound that has grown to become the Bitcrush norm. Of Embers is an hour in length, yet boasts only six tracks; three tracks over 10 minutes and two of those approach the 15 minute mark. Of Embers finds Cadoo looking even further back into his experiences and inner struggles than ever before to create what may be the most hopeful album of his musical career.

Melorman - Out in a Field (2009) + Expressing Thoughts EP (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, IDM, Downtempo, Greece
Myspace
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Tracklist :

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

Melorman is the moniker of Antonis Haniotakis an electronic artist born in Athens,Greece. He has contributed with tracks in Music Labels such as Symbolic Interaction,Archaic Horizon,Summer Rain Recordings,Shima Records, IVDT ,CCT Records,Sixteensteps and Envizagae.

His sound is based on melodic elements and coloured loop lines with a tone of melancholy.The melodies are aerial and fluffy changing as frequently as it can get.

Melorman tries to reach the ultimate feeling that melody may have to human emotional state. His latest work “Out in a field” in Symbolic Interaction it’s an ode to melody as he perceives it.

Bonus | Melorman - Expressing Thoughts EP

Teardrop - Time Spent With Antique Mirrors (2009)

Genre : Electronica, Ambient, IDM, UK
Myspace
Preview
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Tracklist :

1. Floating In A Lake
2. Euphoria
3. White Rose
4. There Is Nothing Left To Say
5. Fiction
6. Waving From A Rock Just Offshore
7. Pause
8. Contemporary Flight
9. A Short Walk Around A Glacier (Walking From A Rave)
10. Today The World Will Change
11. Ten Short Thoughts
12. Final Words
13. Open Arms

The band consits of just two members, jono renton and pete renton. Both are brothers and have been producing music together for years, and there latest project, Teardrop, has taken them the furthest. Both members using different skills to create their unique sound, the brothers are still one of a kind in that music genre.

Originated from Nottingham, UK the band recorded ther debut EP there (Queensferry EP) featuring their song Vuttony which had got fans excited from myspace and garageband. As well as fans, the song Vuttony brought the band numerous awards including, Best Chill out track for 3 weeks running, Track of the day, Best Melody, Best mood and Best song in electronica.

The album 'Time Spent With Antique Mirrors' (originally titled 'Euphoria') has been in the process of writing and recording for almost 2 years. “Both of us are perfectionists, it doesn’t take us long to write the material, its the recording that takes longest, getting what we have in our heads out and on to the computer." says Jono. So far the album contains a wider variety of music in relation to the previous EP.

Jon Hopkins - Insides (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Electronica, Ambient, Downtempo, IDM, United Kingdom
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

1. The Wider Sun
2. Vessel
3. Insides
4. Wire
5. Colour Eye
6. Light Through The Veins
7. The Lower Places
8. Small Memory
9. A Drifting Up
10. Autumn Hill

Jon Hopkins is a British musician who writes and performs his own music, melody-led electronica. He was born and brought up in London and started playing the piano when he was five. By the age of twelve he was studying piano at London's Royal College of Music.

He has worked with Coldplay, Imogen Heap, King Creosote, Massive Attack, Chris Coco and Brian Eno, amongst many others.

His debut album Opalescent is on Just Music's Absolute Zero imprint. Hopkins' second album Contact Note was released on Absolute Zero through Just Music in August 2004.

In April 2008, the independent web label Sounds Asleep released "The Fourth State", a single 32 minute long track of "pure ambient" music recorded by Hopkins in 2004.

In a November 25, 2008 post to his website, Jon announced that his third album, Insides, will be released in March of 2009. At the time of that announcement, however, the album was available through a limited-time release on the UK iTunes Store.

Hopkins was commissioned by multi-award-winning Wayne McGregor – renowned for his fierce, physically-testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations – to compose music for Entity, the latest production for McGregor's "Random Dance" troupe. Entity was performed live at Sadler's Wells in April 2008, and will later tour around Europe.

Bitcrush - Epilogue in Waves (2008) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Electronic, IDM, Post Rock, Shoegaze, Experimental, Ambient
Myspace
Preview (pw: www.qsound.ws)
Buy

Tracklist :

1 Prologue (4:35)
2 An Island, A Penninsula (7:07)
3 Of Days (5:34)
4 Tides (5:27)
5 What Would Hope Be Without Disappointment (6:05)
6 Atreaux (2:10)
7 A False Movement, True (4:55)
8 Epilogue To Tides (5:25)
9 Pearl (10:06)
10 To Drown (2:44)

Bitcrush is the escapist solo project of Mike Cadoo (ex-Gridlock member). Contrary to his work in Gridlock and his earlier solo project as Dryft, Bitcrush strives to fuse live instrumentation with experimental electronica’s glitch-centric production techniques. His debut album (entitled Enarc) on Component Records was, by the artists admission, a snapshot of his musical history thus far. Earlier this year a follow-up EP was released via n5MD sister website en:peg Digital entitled Shimmer and Fade. Shimmer and Fade featured heavily processed digital fluctuations blended with genuine percussion, shimmering guitars, interwoven dual bass guitar work and a sprinkling of vocals throughout. Bitcrush is continuing to expand upon this style of fusing emotive electronics and live instrumentation to create post-rock and downtempo music.

Epilogue in Waves, the third album to be released under Bitcrush, consists of 10 shoegazer selections, the majority of which are instrumental. Each song is a miniature journey with the music ranging from forceful to barely there. Though Cadoo is a very talented musician, this album makes it seem that he has gotten sidetracked in trying to get his listeners to feel, and meanwhile forgotten to develop his own creativity. The album is the perfect backdrop for melodramatic or overly dramatic days.

Last Days - The Safety of the North (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : IDM, Ambient, Electronica, Post-rock
Myspace
Preview <<< The Link is Dead. Sorry.
Buy

Tracklist :

01. The City Failed
02. May Your Days Be Gold (Feat. Fabiola Sanchez)
03. New House
04. Fracture
05. Thoughts Of Alice
06. Run Home
07. Life Support
08. Your Silence Is The Loudest Sound
09. This Is Not An Ending
10. The Fields Remember My Father
11. Missing Photos
12. Nothing Stays The Same, Nothing Ever Ends
13. You Are Stars
14. Blue And White Flowers
15. Onwards

Last Days is Graham Richardson. After successfully finishing a degree in graphic design in 1997 Richardson went on to work in the mental health field. While this work proved rewarding all creativity had been stifled. The desire to make music had always been there and it wasn’t until 2000 after acquiring a pc, acoustic guitar and microphone Last Days began to take shape.

After living on the south coast of England for 4 years Graham decided to move north to Edinburgh, Scotland. This colder, darker climate proved to be influential in developing the Last Days sound which can be the aural equivalent to those last days of certain situations which often yield some very strong and confusing emotions. They might be the last days of a relationship, school, job, holiday, major life change or even looking back on bittersweet memories of a loved one. Richardson always makes his music with those feelings of isolation, fear and hope in mind.

Although Last Days is mainly a computer based project the music that comes out on the receiving end sounds anything but digital. Instruments are stretched and transposed further degrading the quality which gives them a sound neither acoustic nor electronic. The sound is at times lo-fi, sometimes abstract often melodic but always human, providing late night refection on those memories of last days that we all share.

[me]The new album from one of my influence in making music... Awesome !!!

Milieu - Colortone (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Electronica, IDM, Ambient, Experimental
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

1 Cropduster
2 Color The Waves
3 Sun Dress
4 Summer Friends
5 Acid Fried Skate Rink
6 Jacket Holograph
7 Pillow Whiter
8 Night Ride
9 Silver Fountain Cascade
10 Waving Goodbye

Milieu is Columbia, South Carolina artist Brian Grainger. Brian started making music somewhere after his parents’ divorce in 1997. He played multiple instruments in a number of different bands and projects, teaching himself how to play guitar, drums, bass and keyboard without the aid of classical training.
In 2001, Brian began dabbling in psychedelic and ambient music, and by 2002 he became interested in writing computer-produced (but still organic) songs. Doing simple recordings with a four-track, guitar, organ and a drum machine, he adopted the Parallax moniker and slowly progressed into a unique and expressive aesthetic for himself.
By May of 2004, Brian had completed 6 albums under the Parallax name before retiring it and releasing music as Milieu. Brian currently lives with his wife Sophia and their pets.

[me]This album is so warm... similar to Board Of Canada...

I'm Not a Gun - Mirror (2008) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : IDM, Downtempo, Post-rock, Electronica
Myspace, Last.Fm
Download

Tracklist :

01. Longing Mind
02. Aracanum
03. Ghost Has Gone
04. Four Steps
05. Turning Circle
06. Looking Into
07. The Dance
08. Bright View, Windy Blue
09. 9th Day
10. Lacuna

I’m Not a Gun features John Tejada on drums, guitar and electronics, and Takeshi Nishimoto, who adds the licks on blissful guitar and bass reverberations.

With airy gestures and a sunny state of mind, they jam themselves into textures which have learned their lesson from the best records of the Chicago acoustic school: jazzrock does not have to be a pretentious monster, but can sing a poem of colloquial communication. As soon as structure wins over the solo, dialogue over technical skills and the lightness of swing over the pathos of improvisation, a new dreamlike soundscape is opened.

The duos new album, Mirror, will see the product of their Wednesday visits with one another released for the first time on Tejadas own Palette Recordings. Moving on from their usual home of
City Centre Offices, Tejada and Nishimoto have crafted an effort that reportedly features the latters guitar more prominently than past efforts, with each track anchored by Tejadas peerless drum programming. Business as usual? Sounds like it.

[me]Nice... chill... beautiful... :)

I Am Robot and Proud - Uphill City (2008)

Genre : Electronica, IDM ,Experimental, Synth-Pop
Myspace
Download

Tracklist :

1. Something to Write Home About
2. Uphill City
3. Making a Case for Magic
4. The Melt
5. 401 Circuit
6. Island Life
7. Storm of the Century
8. The Risk
9. Song for Two Wheels
10. Train Station Lullaby

I Am Robot And Proud is the name Toronto native Shaw-han Liem works under to create his singular brand of hypnotic, beguiling electronic pop music. Uphill City is the highly anticipated full-length follow-up to his very popular 2006 album The Electricity in Your House Wants to Sing. Like the previous record, Uphill City is electronic pop music that energizes the listener and refreshes the ear yet Shaw-han's skill as clever pop composer has grown even more mesmerizing. Shawn-han says the theme of the new record is that of struggle and achievement in the big city. IARAP is syncopated multi-instrumental rhythms and playful, repetitive multi-dimensional melodies -- just the elixir your head needs. Shaw-Han mixes acoustic instrumentation; piano, guitar and drums seamlessly with his unique electronic keyboard sounds and percussive elements. This isn't difficult, experimental IDM that pulls the listener off the left side of the dial. This is complex composition that manages to simply delight. It’s an exciting sound that gives one the feeling of flying fast & free through a heavenly modern green world of pop, beauty, and sunshine. Your brain chemicals are sure to be balanced after the first minute into the title track. “Since the 2006 album, i have done some traveling and playing shows around the world and visiting many cities. Its interesting for me to see how everyone is living in different ways but there are still similarities. In English, the word "Uphill" has a kind of a double meaning. It can be positive like "things are looking up", or it can mean something is very difficult like "uphill battle". I thought the city was like a symbol for the challenges that happen in your life.”

[me]Thx to sir Mayo @ IP for the link ;)