2.) Peter Broderick – "Home" & "Float"
Brilliant.
Peter Broderick deserves to have two records atop my list. It’s virtually unheard of these days for artists and bands to release more than one record a year, let alone two releases that match the quality and depth of Broderick’s Home and Float. Each release is quite different from the other, with Float being one of the most emotive and beautiful modern classical albums I have heard in recent years. Float, primarily comprised of Broderick’s poignant delivery on the piano and complimented with layers of subtle and despondent string sections effectively conveys a myriad of airy and melancholic sensibilities that are entirely beautiful and mellow. Perhaps what I enjoy most about Float is that it captures a forlorn and beautiful elegance that is mysteriously entrancing but never presumptuous or pretentious in its delivery.
Personally, I enjoy Broderick’s Home more than anything I have ever heard from Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Jose Gonzales or any other similar artists for that matter. While the utterly captivating Float would have been enough to consider 2008 a great year for Broderick, he followed it by releasing Home – a mesmerizing, serene and creative folk experience on par with the greatest that Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley had to offer and like no other release I heard in 2008. With Float and Home, Broderick, at the young age of twenty-one is poised to become one of the most important songwriters of his generation.
Peter Broderick Info
MySpace: www.myspace.com/peterbroderick
4.) Subheim – “Approach”
Great debut!
Subheim is Kostas K., an electronic music composer and a visual artist, originating from Greece and entering the international music scene. Approach is one of the most captivating and significant ambient/IDM/downtempo releases I have heard in quite sometime. Kostas was able to create a truly remarkable soundscape comprised of delicate vocals, unanticipated string sections, and a plethora of multifaceted rhythm compositions using both the tribal and natural sounds of real drums and the electronic glitches of reverb and bass. The ambiance throughout is genuinely personal, intimate, and if listened to closely transports the listener to an entirely different world. Approach is an evocative, memorable and moody release and is relaxing, rewarding, and impressive for a debut album.
Subheim Info:
Homepage: http://www.subheim.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/subheimmusic 
5.) God Is an Astronaut – "God Is An Astronaut"
God Is An Astronaut is the single best post-rock band in existence. Yes, I said it. In my mind, with their self-titled fourth release they have undoubtedly proved this yet again. Every single mesmerizing and crescendo-soaring track is of the utmost quality and is head and shoulders above most of their post-rock peers. What is arguably most astounding about this brilliant Irish band is that they are able to maintain such a level of excellence and continue to release relevant, inventive, and absolutely captivating post-rock with each successive album. This is undoubtedly a superb record that should be in your collection now.
God Is An Astronaut Info:
MySpace: www.myspace.com/godisanastronaut
13.) Digitonal – "Save Your Light For Darker Days"
I stumbled upon this record by accident, and I am exceedingly thankful that I did. Digitonal have created a stunningly beautiful record that I kept returning to over and over again. I cannot wait until their next release.
London electronica outfit Digitonal, comprised of London-based producer and instrumentalist Andy Dobson, Egyptian session violinist Samy Bishai and new member, producer Josh Doherty, release their second full length record, ‘Save Your Light For the Darker Days’, on Just Music Records.
Album opener ‘Ana Kata’ is like something from a movie soundtrack; it particularly reminds me, in parts at least, of Clint Mansell’s track ‘’Lux Aeterna’ from the ‘Requiem For A Dream’ original soundtrack – and that’s no bad thing, let me tell you! It doesn’t quite reach the dramatic heights of that particular piece of music (which is not a criticism – ambience is the watchword, here), but it’s pretty stirring, nonetheless, and a gripping introduction to the album as a whole.‘Save Your Light for Darker Days’ will appeal to fans of electronica (obviously) but also to those who enjoy the dramatic soundscapes of the likes of Sigur Ros and Mogwai. In fact, the only reason I can think that you wouldn’t like this album is if you have an inescapable need for vocals, because you won’t find none here, friend.
‘Silver Poetry’ is a particular favourite track for me; it builds and builds from tentative strings and percussion into a soaring, blissful high, before slowly breaking back down to silence, piece by piece. I like a track that takes you on a journey, and this one takes you somewhere really nice, like Chessington, or the zoo. I really, really like this album, I think because it reminds me of Tortoise’s 2001 masterpiece, ‘Standards’, which is one of my favourite records. The other tracks I would point to as the best are ‘Nothing Left to Say’, of which the above comparison is most accurate, and ‘A Lighter Touch’, which has a really great, celebratory feel about it.
Coming into the last third of the year, there’s nothing better to compliment the autumn period than a bit of ambient electro, and on that basis may I heartily recommend Digitonal’s ‘Save Your Light for Darker Days’ as the soundtrack to your September.
Review: www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk
Digitonal Info:
Homepage: www.digitonal.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/digitonal
14.) Mar – “The Sound”
While I enjoyed Mar’s debut The Silence, I did not think that they would follow it with such a splendid and creative release. Mar is a super-group of immensely talented musicians, and I am certain that they have only scratched the surface of their potential. I love The Sound.
Recorded in a cabin outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the new album by Mar is much more upbeat than their debut and features Bright Eyes’ violinist Anton Patzner and celleist Zoe Keating of Imogen Heap (and, earlier, Rasputina). In contrast, their debut was recorded in Iceland and featured Jimmy Lavalle of The Album Leaf and Black Heart Processional and also Samuli Kosminen of MUM.
I’ve always heard that Iceland has one of the highest rates of depression among residents and maybe the results of this new album by Mar proves that recording in the States instead has made it a lot less somber than their previous release. Either way, the string arrangements on this album are beautiful, no matter how it happened. In fact, the haunting fragility of these songs adds to their beauty and Mar is able to carry off the songs’ delicate power like pros, although the vocals don’t impress me as much as I would have hoped. Nonetheless, you will be hearing a lot about this band. Be prepared to fall under their spell.
Review: http://rockandrollreport.com
Mar Info:
Homepage: http://www.ringroadrecords.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/silenticeland
15.) Mono in VCF – “Mono In VCF”
Great debut!
Mono In VCF’s debut was one of the most rewarding listens of 2008. I have heard very few records that were able to capture such a cunning genre coalescing and retro-ambiance with such clever and ingenious tact as Mono In VCF have done. Highly original, the band melds Grace Slick and Nancy Sinatra with a distinctive New Wave elegance. This band has an extremely bright future.
On its debut self-titled album, Tacoma, Washington’s Mono In VCF creates a mammoth wall of sound that Tom Scanlon of the Seattle Times describes as “drifting leisurely in space somewhere between psychedelic Beatles and Massive Attack.” The sound is a haunting and orchestral brand of pop derived from various influences traced back to the decade of recording experimentation: The psychedelic 60s.
Songwriting duties belong to guitarist/organist Hunter Lea. Lea taps bassist Jordan Luckman for his own music and bass lines multiple times on the debut album. The two have been creating art together for the past five years and discovered singer Kim Miller in 2006. In reviews, Miller’s voice has been likened to Dusty Springfield, Madonna and Nancy Sinatra.
With roughly half the album tracking done at the VCF home studio in Tacoma, the band went into Jupiter Studios Seattle in May 2007 with British producer Martin Feveyear signed on to produce with Lea. In the past, Feveyear has worked with R.E.M., Queens of the Stone Age and Mark Lanegan among others. In the mixing stage, the two utilized discreet panning proven successful by George Martin and the Beatles but rarely used on modern albums. This gives the record an elaborate space and helps to make Mono In VCF one of the most defined debuts in recent history; an anomaly for the modern pop music landscape. Lea and Luckman recruited their idol, Canadian pop legend Terry Jacks (“Seasons in the Sun”, The Poppy Family) to contribute backing vocals on two songs on the debut record.
Influenced by film, composer scores, cinematography and Rod Serling almost as much as old Delfonics and Lee Hazlewood vinyls, the band creates a sound and mystique that pays homage while turning the classic sound and vision into something brand new and entirely refreshing. With roots deep in 60s psychedelia and soul, Mono In VCF sets forth with a debut album full of heavy and ethereal moods. These are pop scores made for the dark.
Review: http://cdbaby.com
Mono In VCF Info:
MySpace: www.myspace.com/monoinvcf
Honorable Mention:
- Alaska In Winter – "Holiday"
- Piano Magic – "Dark Horses" EP
- Russian Circles – "Station"
- Talkdemonic – "Eyes At Half Mast"
- Fleet Foxes – "Fleet Foxes"
- Blitzen Trapper – "Furr"
- Calexico – "Carried to Dust"
- Black Keys – "Attack and Release"
- Veil Veil Vanish – "Into A New Mausoleum" EP
- Tzolk’in – "Haab’"
- The Notwist – "The Devil, You + Me"
- The Helio Sequence – "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"
- Klimt 1918 – "Just In Case Well Never Meet Again"
- The Dresden Dolls – "No, Virginia"
- Mirror – "Mirror"
- Gentle Touch – "In Memory of Savannah"
- Maps – "The Wick And The Fire"
- Detektivbyrån – "Wermland"
- Steven Wilson – "Insurgentes"
- Blackfilm – "Blackfilm"
- Shearwater – "Rook"
- Viarosa – "Send For The Sea"
[VIA]
原帖有electronic类不过俺就自动过滤了
推荐个
Mono in VCF – “Mono In VCF” 在myspace听了下，很灵。真的很灵
