Mogwai "The Bad Fire" (2025)

The Bad Fire

release date: Jan 24, 2025

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: John Congleton

label: Rock Action - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "God Gets You Back" - 2. "Hi Chaos" - 4. "Fanzine Made of Flesh" - 6. "If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others" - 7. "18 Volcanoes" - 9. "Lion Rumpus"

11th studio album by Scottish band Mogwai following four years after As the Love Continues (Feb. 2021) sees a turn to hot producer name of John Congleton (Lana Del Rey, The Killers, Sharon Van Etten, Modest Mouse, St. Vincent,... to name a few) - a name that, imo, doesn't appear as a natural first choice, but hey, the band, or the managers may have thought they were in need of a distribution hack (?). Perhaps, Dave Fridmann didn't have the time? I think Fridmann have proved that he suits the band really really well, and he has always been a guarantee of a prominent production.

Compared to the excellent 2021 album, it's not a completely different release but it does feel like an inferior collection of compositions where the usual wide span has been narrowed in - confined - restricted, and the end result is of something where there's definitely steam but not enough coal to make the difference. The exceptions are "Hi Chaos", which sounds more like a left-over bonus track from the '21-album and "Fanzine Made of Flesh", which is the closest the band has been to switch to indie pop.

The Bad Fire is not a poor album and far from it, but after such a great achievement it does feel as inferior. What I miss here is a stronger direction - what is it really? It's obvious that the band has come a long way since Come on Die Young (1999) and that synths have by now become a more integral part of the band's primary instrumentation but where As the Love Continues showcased a fine mix that allowed for guitars to be fully heard side by side or together with huge electronic arrangements, this new outing sort of blends everything into one huge pot where new boundaries are no longer being pushed or new soil is investigated. To me, this is undoubtedly Mogwai, which means it can't be bad, and it never is. It's just that they sound like the music has been restricted from delivering as freely as it could.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Mojo 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,4 / 10, Rolling Stone, 👍PopMatters 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Blanck Mass "The Rig (Prime Video Original Series Soundtrack)" (2023)

The Rig (Prime Video Original Series Soundtrack) (soundtrack)

release date: Jan. 6, 2023

format: digital (33 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Blanck Mass

label: Invada Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Rig (Main Titles)" - 5. "Flesh Meets Floor" - 8. "Helideck" - 10. "Body, Rejecting" - 14. "Spiderdeck" - 17. "No Fire Without Flare" - 19. "Survivors, Arriving"

Soundtrack album by Blanck Mass (aka Benjamin John Power) following the release of several interesting releases, including his new-found role as official member of Editors and his first album with the band being EBM (Sep. 2022), and his own most recent soundtrack to Sam Collins' documentary about British football legend Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne released as Gazza (Original Score) (Nov. 2022), which again followed the acclaimed soundtrack Ted K (Original Score) (Mar. 2022), Blanck Mass' musical score to a 2021 Tony Stone historical drama about the so-called 'Unabomber' (the music to the film being released a year later). The most recent studio album credited Blanck Mass is In Ferneaux (Feb. 2021).

"The Rig" is a science fiction thriller television series in 6 episodes created by David Macpherson for Amazon Prime Video directed by John Strickland, and it's the first Amazon Original to be filmed entirely in Scotland. The soundtrack to the series has been issued as a digital album rwith a total running time at more than 72 minutes by Invada Records on its bandcamp profile and as a double vinyl issue.

Normally, soundtracks are a difficult genre - sometimes the animated visuals are a highly missing part, at other times the result is just too varied, and rarely, I think, they work perfectly in their own right, and in this case, it luckily happens to be one of the rare examples. Blanck Mass has made a strong soundtrack that truly makes you want to watch the series - if not only just to experience an audio-visual dimension of this work. Nonetheless, The Rig... is a fine soundtrack.

Jon Hopkins "Music for Psychedelic Therapy" (2021)

Music for Psychedelic Therapy

release date: Nov. 12, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC) (WIG458D)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]

producer: Jon Hopkins

label: Domino - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Welcome" (feat. 7RAYS) - 2. "Tayos Caves, Ecuador i" - 3. "Tayos Caves, Ecuador ii" - 4. "Tayos Caves, Ecuador iii" - 5. "Love Flows Over Us in Prismatic Waves" - 6. "Deep in the Glowing Heart" - 7. "Ascending, Dawn Sky" (feat. 7RAYS) - 8. "Arriving" (feat. 7RAYS) - 9. "Sit Around the Fire" (feat. Ram Dass & East Forest)

[ full album playlist ]

6th studio album by Jon Hopkins following 3½ years after Singularity (May 2018). The album contains nine tracks with a total running time exceeding 63 minutes, and it contains collaborations with 7RAYS, East Forest, and it builds on teachings (and the voice of) the late Ram Dass. Bearing in mind that East Forest is the alias for American electronic ambient artist Trevor Oswalt, who experiments with music for 'inner voyages', and that the late Ram Dass (aka Richard Alpert) was an American spiritual teacher and yoga guru, you may get the picture of this album, which also happens to come out after a pandemic and extensive lockdowns.

Where his 2013 breakthrough album showed everyone he was a master of progressive dance-oriented break grooves, his 2018 album proved to be a trip into deep space, this new one is again something entirely different. It's still an electronic release, but other than being instrumentally founded it's another kind of journey we're invited on. Singularity had some ambient feel to it, and that trend goes more full blown with this- and when comparing to his 2013 album, it mostly leaves you with the impression of being made by a different artist. The title Music for Psychedelic Therapy literally says everything you need to know. The music here is meant for what it proclaims. Hopkins has taken his fascination for transcendal meditation and mindfulness into his work in a new way, and the album comes out as an instrument, or a manifestation for inner journeys.

I normally don't fancy ambient or trance that much, and that's to put it nicely, but this deserves anyone's attention. It's hard to pin out highlights as the whole album is like one organism. I can only imagine how powerful it would be submerged into this while meditating. I think, I need to give it a try. The album may be his closest to some of the ideas behind Eno's music, but this is just so much better.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,4 / 10, Mojo, 👍PopMatters 4 / 5, Clash, Exclaim! 4,5 / 5, 👎The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]

Best of 2021:Mogwai "As the Love Continues" (2021)

As the Love Continues

release date: Feb. 19, 2021

format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold gold vinyl) / digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,14]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: Rock Action - nationality: Skotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth" - 2. "Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Dry Fantasy" - 4. "Ritchie Sacramento" - 5. "Drive the Nail" - 6. "Fuck Off Money" (4 / 5) - 7. "Ceiling Granny" (4 / 5) - 8. "Midnight Flit" - 10. "Supposedly, We Were Nightmares"

10th. studio album from Scottish Mogwai released 3½ years following Every Country's Sun (Sep. 2017), however that doesn't mean that the band has been on a hiatus. Primarily an instrumental ensemble, Mogwai has long been known for their soundtracks for both documentaries and feature films and we have also seen them issuing eps in between full length studio albums. Most recently, they made the music for the Italian tv-series "ZeroZeroZero", which was released via bandcamp in May '20, and before that they released two albums in 2018: in August the soundtrack Kin made for the American Sci-Fi-flic of the same name, and the following month they released the live-album 2018.

Mogwai sounds like no other band and it's an orchestra primarily engaged with instrumental music based on traditional rock-instrumentation centrered around guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, and with that in mind it's really impressive what kind of new music they manage to create without making it a mere repetition of the last, or any former album. Over the years, and much in the same manner they build up their compositions, they have slowly incorporated synths as a colour to their basic sound, which undoubtedly makes you point to the notion of post-rock, although, the band allegedly never has given much for that term. It's also a narrow etiquette, when your aim is to describe the band's style.

The album has garnered positive feedback and several critics has now come to see the band's tenth studio album as one of its absolute most coherent and best. At the same time, it's Mogwai's first to reach the very top of the album chart list in Great Britain. Mogwai has nearly always made use of the method known from noise rock, which may be described as taking a stance in between the quiet and the explossive and that aspect also comes in use on several compositions here, although, their method is always kept original and fully shaped to the progressive expression of the individual song. Mogwai is renowned for their coherent albums and As the Love Continues could in some ways be compared to the structures of classical works without actually being neo-classical.

As the Love Continues invites its listeners on a musical time travel back to the noise rock of the 90s, to Mogwai's starting point but also mix newer influences from the alternative scene in the last three decades with bites from electronica. At times you're tempted to think bits and pieces are inspired by Smashing Pumpkins, other frgaments by James Blake but then you eventually only realise that it's all pure Mogwai. It's demanding music - and in that way it follows a pattern of theirs where the music requires an implicit listener. You're bound to let the music speak, to let it unfold, and first then, you're may find yourself in a position where you're ready to take it in, to float in its stream and to experience its multifaceted structure.

The best by Mogwai is also the album of the year, and it's highly recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, musicOMH, Uncut 4,5, 👍PopMatters, Mojo 4 / 5, 👎Pitchfork 6,9 / 10 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell Burn

Blanck Mass "In Ferneaux" (2021)

In Ferneaux

release date: Feb. 26, 2021

format: digital (2 x File, FLAC - SBR267digital)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]

producer: Blanck Mass

label: Sacred Bones - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Phase I" - 2. "Phase II" - 3. "Starstuff (Single Edit)" (bonus track)

5th studio album by one-man project Blanck Mass follows 1½ years after Animated Violence Mild (Aug. 2019) (the album is released on bandcamp).

Compared to all other albums credited Blanck Mass this one is of another construct, so to say. All other previous albums contain various different compositions - most of which are of 'normal' running times going from 2 to 10 minutes, however, this contains two tracks only that basically are one composition split in two to fit traditional vinyl releases. "Phase I" has a running time just above 21 minutes and the "Phase II" a running time just below 20 minutes, but when played as digital files it's clear they appear seamless parts of the same composition - the digital album comes with a third 'bonus track': "Starstuff (Single edit)", which in essence is an edited outtake of the first part of "Phase I".

Musically, this has turned out as more complex, with greater variation, which implies both ambient moments, and bits of almost extreme white noise - and everything in between.

My initial verdict had me think of In Ferneaux ['Inferno'] as a step back and to what could sound like a minor work, but after having played it over several times, I kinda like the result, although, it's still a complex and somewhat experimental release that also bridges his more progressive work released under the moniker Fuck Buttons together with Andrew Hung and that of his solo music as Blanck Mass. In some ways because this is both more ambient and experimental in the way Fuck Buttons has styled their albums, and to some extent more upfront and 'hard', and yet, progressive bits, here and there, could point to inspiration in early techno days.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 7 / 10 stars ]

Blanck Mass "Animated Violence Mild" (2019)

Animated Violence Mild

release date: Aug. 16, 2019

format: digital (8 x Files, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Blanck Mass

label: Sacred Bones - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Death Drop" - 3. "House vs. House" - 4 . "Hush Money" - 8. "Wings of Hate"

4th studio album by Blanck Mass (aka Benjamin John Power) is the follow-up to World Eater (2017), although more recently the artist has been engaged in collaborating on the 2018 album Violence by Editors, which was released in an alternative version as The Blanck Mass Sessions (Apr. 2019).

Animated Violence Mild continues where the 2017 album ended, and in many regards it's like a new chapter to that. Here and there Power introduces something that sound like melody-lines, which could reflect inspiration from his work with the alternative rock band Editors - to me, this only adds a new dimension to his predominant industrial electronica.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,9 /10 stars ]

Electric Light Orchestra "Out of the Blue" (1977)

Out of the Blue

release date: Oct. 1977

format: digital

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,06]

producer: Jeff Lynne

label: Jet Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Turn to Stone" - 3. "Sweet Talkin' Woman" - 13. "Mr. Blue Sky"

7th studio album by Electric Light Orchestra following one year after the breakthrough album A New World Record and like that produced by primary songwriter and leader of the band, lead vocalist Jeff Lynne. The band has gone through various line-ups but maintained a quite numerous members list, and here they count seven (three of which exclusively play violin and cello). The band has evolved from playing primarily experimental progressive rock with bonds to symphonic rock and hard rock and through a stage with baroque pop to eventually play progressive pop with bold use of elements from funk and disco - and needless say: with a much more evident mainstream appeal.

I recall this very album from when it wasn't all brand new and they still hadn't released the successor Discovery (May 1979). In Feb. 1979 (at age 13) I happened to be in London with our class, and several mates from class both purchased the predecessor together with this one that I only knew little about. I recall from some teen club evenings at the local church (!) they played this quite a bit. From our journey to London, I remember buying albums with The Police (Outlandos d'amour and Regatta de blanc), Pink Floyd (The Wall) and Dire Straits (the debut) and a few others that I have now forgotten about - alongside a handful of releases for my older brother (I brought a handwritten list of titles to purchase for him). Unfortunately, I didn't yet know anything to the existence of punk rock or new wave at this point - that only came to my attention upon my return later that year, so I was more into music that I already knew of, and especially heavily inspired by my brother's music taste (except The Police, which he didn't play). But what I soon learned was that I didn't like Electric Light Orchestra - not one bit! In fact, I loathed the disco and progressive pop harmonies that my class mates soon praised as the new big thing alongside music by Patrick Hernandez, Kelly Marie, and / or Bee Gees.

The album is included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" as the only by ELO, as they were commonly known. Out of the Blue is the band's second consecutive Platinum-selling studio release, which eventually was surpassed in sales numbers by Discovery and Time (1981). The only reason I have put it here is that I wanted to revisit an album I really never understood. And still don't, it turns out! From the aforementioned book: "Released at the height of disco, Out Of The Blue was seen by some as a futuristic fish out of water." As much as I relate to that picture, it's probably not in the most positive of ways. To me, this is awkwardly over-arranged. Waaaay too much funk and disco, and not just that but with so many synths and strings that it should belong in space. And it makes me think of a musical wedding cake: Mostly impressive and nice to look at, but who really wants to consume that?! In my ears it doesn't fall far from the ABBA and Olivia Newton John melody structures that I disliked then as I still do to some minor degree nowadays. I have definitely grown much milder when it comes to polished pop of the 80s and 70s, and I do understand the qualities of a lot of music that I didn't like at a younger age, but ELO from '76 and onwards still doesn't do much for me. "Mr. Blue Sky" was a hit but would never have seen the light of day without The Beatles and The Moody Blues. "Turn to Stone" was another major hit back then - at least in Europe - but to me that was, and still is, a pastiche - a conglomerate of songs by artists suchs as Giorgio Moroder, Hot Chocolate, Earth, Wind & Fire merged with some Stevie Wonder-arrangements and equal parts of 10cc smoothness - all artists I'd rather listen to than this fine musical mish-mash that remains far from distinctive original.

Out of the Blue is still a cornerstone in the discography of Electric Light Orchestra no matter what I think of it, but I'm not in a position where I feel that I should actually recommend it. If asked back then, I would most likely have handed it 1 or max 2 stars - basically, suggesting it was crap, so in that respect I have come (much) closer in accepting it as genuine acceptable music. It's still over-produced, over-arranged and it didn't do much good for music, imho. But hey, wasn't I into punk?! And punk rock was in many ways a response to exactly this kind of music, and I still do understand the reaction and need to change music as it was back in the mid-70s.

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone, The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Underworld "Drift Series 1 - Sampler Edition" (2019)

Drift Series 1 - Sampler Edition

release date: Nov. 1, 2019

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]

producer: Rick Smith

label: Smith Hyde Productions - nationality: Wales, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Appleshine" - 2. "This Must Be Drum Street" - 3. "Listen to Their No" - 4. "Border Country" - 6. "Schiphol Test" - 7. "Brilliant Yes That Would Be" - 9. "Imagine a Box" - 10. "Custard Speedtalk"

[ 40 tracks playlist ]

10th studio album by Underworld following three years after Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (Mar. 2016) is much more than 'just' another studio album. Actually, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith has produced the album on the basis of their one-year project named "DRIFT", initiated Nov. 2018 through Oct. 2019, which saw the duo release new videos and new tracks each week as free-downloads via Underworld's official website. The result was released simultaneously with this one-disc outtake from no less than a 40 tracks digital album, or: a 5 cd + 1 DVD box-set of nearly 6 hours new music. The 'Sampler Edition' is a fine coherent collection of some of the tracks, which for the occasion has been edited to fit a one-cd format of approx. 57 minutes.

With this, Hyde and Smith more than anything demonstrate they're alive and kicking. The entire 40 tracks Drift Series 1 is actually a splendid and most impressive release, but to think of that as their tenth studio album appears too overwhelming if not somewhat contradictory.

Stylewise, the duo investigates various stylistic corners of house, trance, downtempo, techno - and with a the delicate use of progressiveness that has come to shape (nearly) all of their previous albums from Dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994) and via subtle variations up until present day.

Highly recommended.

[ Mojo, Q Magazine, Uncut 4 / 5, UnderTheRadar 8 / 10, PopMatters, The Music, Clash 9 / 10 stars ]

Kraftwerk "Kraftwerk 2" (1972)

Kraftwerk 2

release date: Jan. 1972

format: digital (1994 uofficial reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,02]

producer: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider-Esleben, Konrad 'Conny' Plank

label: Germanofon - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Klingklang" - 3. "Strom" - 5. "Wellenlänge"

2nd studio album by German band Kraftwerk, here only credited the two co-founders of the band, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, after the recently included drummer Klaus Dinger left the band and instead co-founded the band Neu! According to Hütter, it was hard to find drummers for Kraftwerk because no one would work with them when they chose to use non-typical (electric) instruments, so Hütter and Schneider themselves are credited percussion on the album here, just as they are on sucessorRalf und Florian (1973). The opening track "Klingklang" is almost 18 minutes long and in addition to being the album's longest composition, it has also given name to Kraftwerk's studio and record company Kling Klang, founded around '73.

Musically, a lot has actually happened since the debut Kraftwerk from 1970. The absence of actual drummers distances the album from other contemporary 'krautrock' releases and points to a purer electronic-founded style, where Hütter and Schneider - aided by the later legendary Konrad 'Conny' Plank sound - only stage their instrumental compositions using rhythms from percussion instruments such as xylophone, marimba and primitive programmable instruments, and on top of this basic substance they have added sounds from organ, electric piano, flute, violin, accordion, but also from more traditional instruments such as bass and guitar.

Still, it's a long way to the band's more iconic compositions with more traditional musical structures, but there is much pointing in the direction of ambient and progressive pop, and then the music has also taken a direction away from the initial improvisational and more abrupt compositions from the debut, which still had contained elements from psychedelic rock.

The album (just as its predecessor and the follow-up) has never officially been reissued, but only exists as a result of pirated copies - as here from the supposed Czech company Germanofon.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Trentemøller "Obverse" (2019)

Obverse

release date: Sep. 27, 2019

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Anders Trentemøller

label: In My Room - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "Church of Trees" - 3. "In the Garden" (feat. Lina Tullgren) - 4. "Foggy Figures" - 5. "Blue September" (feat. Lisbet Fritze) - 7. "One Last Kiss to Remember" (feat. Lisbet Fritze) - 9. "Try a Little" (feat. JennyLee)

5th studio album by Trentemøller as follow-up to Fixion (Sep. 2016) follows the near usual three years interval in between releases, and Obverse both stays somewhat on the same track and yet is its very own displaying a newfound inspiration in shoegaze and indietronica with pure instrumental compositions pointing back to ambient and minimal house and with vocal-based songs with lyrics by the featuring guest artists, and which embrace a more danceable touch in a courtship with alt. rock and darkwave without the lighter pop tones and the darker rock-influences become opposites.

The album appears as a more coherent whole than its predecessor, which seemed more divided into pure instrumental parts and, on the other hand, compositions with supporting vocals, as two opposing expressions with progressively minimal house and parts of pumping indietronica. In a way, Obverse stands as a fine extension to his second album from 2010: Into the Great Wide Yonder. Unlike Lost (Sep. 2013) and Fixion, this new outing as a whole, is a more of a muted kind with all songs in better harmony without sounding as counterpoints to other motions on the same album. The vocal-based tracks are not pure indietronica where song and melody dominate, but these are more of an unfolding-in-graceful union of instrumental ideas mixed with something reminiscent of Mazzy Star (Hope Sandoval) inspiration, e.g. on the two Lisbet Fritze tracks: "Blue September" and "One Last Kiss to Remember" - which is the album's darkwave uptempo track (I'm instantly thinking Pornography by The Cure ) - and perhaps the most obvious dream pop / shoegaze feature is "In the Garden" with Lina Tullgren. The album doesn't contain obvious hits like "River in Me" or "Complicated" - here it's the mood of the album itself that steers the direction, and in that way Obverse ultimately stands as one of Trentemøller's better ones.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👍allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

The Chemical Brothers "No Geography" (2019)

No Geography
release date: Apr. 12, 2019
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: The Chemical Brothers
label: Virgin EMI - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Eve of Destruction" - 3. "No Geography" - 4. "Got to Keep On" - 6. "The Universe Sent Me" - 7. "We've Got to Try" - 8. "Free Yourself" - 9. "MAH" - 10. "Catch Me I'm Falling"

9th studio album by The Chemical Brothers issued after a near four year hiatus is like the most recent Born in the Echoes released on Virgin EMI and as always produced by the duo. It's a ten track collection on which Tom Rowlands and Ed Simmons take a stronger grip on acid house than usually - a style closely related to electro house and something I don't really spend much time listening to. Basically, it's a bit like returning to the early days of techno. There is also some progressive house parts here and there, but the best thing about the new album is the lust to also include big beat as they did on the 2015 album.
The album has been met by positive reviews, and it seems like the duo has re-found its potential.
The album is so fresh to me, but for the time being, I really enjoy it, and from my experience with The Chemical Brothers one simply has to digest their new material to let it unfold before judging too hard. For now; I rate it good above 3,5, but is it a 4 star album and bettering the 2015 release?
[ 👍allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, The Guardian, Mojo, Q Magazine, Uncut, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Equinoxe Infinity" (2018)

Equinoxe Infinity
release date: Nov. 16, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Jean-Michel Jarre
label: Columbia Records - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "The Watchers (Movement 1)" - 2. "Flying Totems (Movement 2)" - 3. "Robots Don't Cry (Movement 3)" - 6. "Infinity (Movement 6)" - 8. "The Opening (Movement 8)" - 10. "Equinoxe Infinity (Movement 10)"
[ Official trailer: "the making of the album" ]

19th (or: 20th/21st/22nd ?) studio album by (now) 70-year-old Jean-Michel Jarre is the sequel to his classic 1978 album Equinoxe celebrating that album's 40th anniversary, much to the same formula he applied by releasing Oxygène 3 in 2016 to celebrate his '76 masterpiece Oxygène. The album contains ten tracks and has a running time just below 40 mins.
Musically, it's no big surprise when he pays tribute to his old classic - as he did with the "Oxygène"-trilogy by remodelling new compositions to echo his previous work in a way where you understand the reference point but also by incorporating new elements from progressive and minimal house as well as other styles of electronica to add something contemporary. He takes the listener back in time and shows us many of his own inspirational sources of modern electronica and the whole thing is moulded with grace and technical finesse of an experienced composer, who is familiar with all the twists and turns and every detail in the big pool of electronica to make it such a pleasant journey.
Yes, you have to like non-vocal-based progressive compositions, and if you fall into that segment, it's most likely that you too will find this a mighty fine accomplishment, and one of Jarre's better albums in recent years.
[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

Papir "Stundom" (2011)

Stundom

release date: Nov. 28, 2011

format: digital (6 x File, FLAC - Impetus Series 03)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Jonas Munk

label: El Paraiso Records - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "Sunday #1" - 2. "Saturday" - 3. "Monday" - 4. "Sunday #2" - 5. "Tuesday #1" - 6. "Tuesday #2"

2nd studio album by Danish instrumental rock-trio Papir is produced by Jonas Munk from the (Danish) band Causa Sui (the artwork is by Jakob Skøtt, drummer of Causa Sui), and the album is released by the label founded by Munk and Skøtt: El Paraiso. Stundum is the follow-up to the one year old debut, and 'stundum' is arcaic Danish corresponding 'occasionally', and all tracks have titles after weekdays. Where the 2010 album contained four tracks and had a total running time just above 30 mins, this one comes with six tracks and a total running time almost touching 80 mins.

Where the debut basically was experimental krautrock, I would argue that this second attempt has a much more apparrent experimental post-rock feel on top of the prog rock foundation, which in my mind makes it a bit more interesting. At times it becomes too jam-oriented - the style takes a fusion rock turn, probably due to studio improvs, but nevertheless, some parts tend to sound like free-associations, and then a new theme is picked up and a forward movement is taking place. It's difficult to sum up, but it's like a fascinating trip, and all you have to do, is to go along, let it unfold and see if it takes you somewhere. Overall, I think it's bettering the debut - only, I wish they would be more focused.

[ bandcamp ]

Anna von Hausswolff "Dead Magic" (2018)

Dead Magic
release date: Mar. 2, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Randall Dunn
label: City Slang - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "The Truth, the Glow, the Fall" - 2. "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" (live) - 3. "Ugly and Vengeful" (live) - 4. "The Marble Eye" - 5. "Källans återuppståndelse"

4th studio album by Anna von Hausswolff with new producer Randall Dunn builds on some of the same stylistic ingredients she revealed on her previous album, The Miraculous from 2015. The difference here, at a first listen, is the more lengthy compositions with two tracks above 10 minutes playing time and "just" 5 tracks in total, but it's also a collection of songs that sees the artist embrace elements from a huge variety of styles and genres. It's art pop, chamber pop, experimental rock, neoclassical darkwave and it's post rock, but without settling on one specific style - and that's a huge accomplishment as the end result - thanks to the original sound and the arrangements - is a very coherent yet extremely varied album.
The album was met by positive reviews, and once again places Anna von Hausswolff at the peak of her career with her so far finest release. What I really enjoy about this, is the inclusion of brighter and lighter pieces in her usually dark and sinister soundscape. It's not just the explorations of dark matter, but a journey through various musical landscapes that convey an uplifting sensation. Where her previous albums shared more with Diamanda Galás, she has now turned up more on her Kate Bush kinship - which really suits her sound.
Recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo and Q all hand it 4 / 5, PopMatters and SputnikMusic 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Best of 2017:St. Vincent "Masseduction" (2017)

Masseduction
release date: Oct. 13, 2017
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent
label: Loma Vista - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hang on Me" - 2. "Pills" - 3. "Masseduction" - 5. "Los Ageless" (live) - 7. "Saviour" (live) - 8. "New York" - 9. "Fear the Future"
[ live solo and acoustic on KEXP ]

5th studio album by St. Vincent co-produced by John Congleton and with Lars Stalfors.
With this, Annie Clark establishes herself as a purer art pop artist than on her previous releases. The noise pop attitudes are more low-key - bits are found here and there but the dominating picture is one of restrained originality taking a move as to embrace both earlier fans of her experimental and progressive rock as well a more recent audience who found her St. Vincent album more digestible. It's her most dance-able release so far and several tracks are touching synthpop meets electropop glued together with a glam rock attitude. But as with her previous albums this is truly a conglomerate of styles.
The album harvested fine reviews and it has become her best selling album to date reaching number #10 on the Billboard 200 in the US and number #6 in the UK. It ended high up on many year-end lists including a first spot on lists by the New York Times and The Guardian.
Musically, she has moved into the spotlight and I think it shows very much in her professional attitude. Earlier she contained and reflected a vulnerability that has been disguised by now. Sometimes I cannot stop thinking of her as an American PJ Harvey. She has the same directness, sexual awareness and a link to a Patti Smith / Janis Joplin-strong-women-of-rock-personality. It's also clear that her new-found (glamorous) image is far from her earlier open-hearted appearance (just watch some of her live performances).
I find this her most cohesive album so far and it appears as a true conceptual album with "Pills" and "Los Ageless" as my immediate favourites but also the title track and "New York" are fine songs, and where her previous works nearly all contained hits and misses this one keeps a high quality throughout, and that's ultimately why it's such a fascinating ride.
In a year with few truly great releases, I find this the most gripping.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, The Guardian, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

2017 Favourite releases: 1. St. Vincent Masseduction - 2. Paul Weller A Kind of Revolution - 3. Love Shop Risiko

The Durutti Column "Chronicle" (2011)

Chronicle
release date: Apr. 30, 2011
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Fanfare" - 2. "Synergetic" - 3. "Ananda" - 4. "Accord" - 5. "Time to Lift" - 6. "Anguish of the Text Message" - 7. "What Is It Worth" - 8. "Someone Got Away" - 9. "Jeeves and Wooster" - 10. "Friends" - 11. "Emptyness" - 12. "No More Close to Me" - 13. "Resolution"

22nd studio album release by The Durutti Column issued on Kooky Records and produced by ? [Vini Reilly?]. The style and music here is in the same area as Idiot Savants (2007) and Rebellion (2001), which is to say, a return to ambient dream pop, though, I think, it has some post rock feel, or at least a meditative progressiveness.
The album release comes after Vini Reilly has experienced a heavy degree of misfortune - firstly, his relationship with Poppy Morgan came to an end during the recording process, something he mentions in the liner notes had a huge impact on the finalising of the album, and once the album was put together, he was inflicted by two consecutive minor strokes in late 2010 - another followed in early 2011. The result of this has made it impossible for him to play the guitar, thus it seems unlikely that any new guitar music will be realised from his hands.
The overall experience is not that it's one of his best albums. Some tracks sound like outtakes or rough demos, and I find it hard to rate fully. It's also a typical The Durutti Column album that touches on modern classical.

Throwing Snow "Embers" (2017)

Embers
release date: Jan. 20, 2017
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]
producer: Ross Tones
label: Houndstooth - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Cantor's Dust (Part 1)" - 2. "Cantor's Dust (Part 2)" - 3. "Helical" - 4. "Allegory" - 5. "Ruins" - 6. "Gossamer's Thread" - 7. "Klaxon" - 8. "Glissette" - 9. "Recursion" - 10. "Pattern Forming" - 11. "Prism (Part 1)" - 12. "Prism (Part 2)" - 13. "Cosms" - 14. "Tesseract"
[ playlist ]

2nd studio album by electronic London-based project Throwing Snow aka Ross Tones is instrumental progressive, electronic or IDM, which both draws on more old-school techno as well as experimental electronic of the 1970s - I come to think of Jean Michel Jarre's early albums, and then there's a link to the works of Jon Hopkins.
The album consists of 14 individually tracks, but it's basically one long composition - moreover, the album ends the same way it starts, which makes it possible to listen to the album indefinitely.
Like with eg. Oxygène from 1976 by Jarre it's hard to pin out the best tracks as it's more one organic structure meant to be played from start to finish.
I really enjoy this.

Blanck Mass "World Eater" (2017)

World Eater
release date: Mar. 3, 2017
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Blanck Mass
label: Sacred Bones Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Rhesus Negative" (4 / 5) - 3. "Please" - 4. "The Rat" - 5. "Silent Treatment" - 7. "Hive Mind"

3rd full studio album release by the one-man project Blanck Mass, aka Benjamin John Power (from the duo Fuck Buttons).
Stylistically, this is instrumental progressive electronic like the music of Fuck Buttons where Power gets together with Andrew Hung, but that's still rather different from this as World Eater has a much stronger industrial style and perhaps tends to be more expansive in terms of exploring other stylistic grounds.
The album was generally met by positive reviews ending up on many album top lists of the year, and I can see why. Power blends styles and elements so originally that it's really a treat to listen to. It's like a bliss and it's right in your face - it's an experience where you never know where it'll lead you but the journey is exhilarating. Yes, it has drone elements, it has synthpop bits and pieces, like ordinary pop compositions, and it's very aggressive and dark hinting at post-rock and hard rock in its industrial outfit. So, yes, it's really a conglomerate of styles and genres and all in all a truly fine and well-composed album.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Needledrop 3,5 / 5, Sputnikmusic 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Queen Elizabeth "Queen Elizabeth" (1994)

Queen Elizabeth [debut]

release date: Nov. 1994

format: cd

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]

producer: Julian Cope

label: Echo - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Superstar" - 2. "Avebury: The Arranged Marriage of Heaven and Earth"

Studio album debut from duo Queen Elizabeth consisting of Julian Cope and multi-instrumentalist Thighpaulsandra (aka Tim Lewis) - the latter features on Cope's most recent Autogeddon (Aug. '94). The album (only) consists of two compositions running just under 35 and just over 31 minutes, respectively.

The music is characterised by experimentation and is mainly kept in a simple electronic universe, where synths, mellotron, and programming are main components, and although traditional instruments such as guitar, bass, piano, and drums are part of the compositions, the final product is a work of electronic model completely without any apparent influence from styles that one might be inclined to associate with Cope, such as funk, space rock, or neo-psychedelia. As the experimental collaboration album Rite - made by Cope and the long-time musical associate Donald Ross Skinner (who, by the way, also features here) from '93 - it's easy to think of Queen Elizabeth as music made for a film, but where Rite was influenced by many well-known styles and genres from the past three decades, the album here appears far more minimalistic, more stylish experimental - without being downright masterful for that matter.

Steve & Russell P. Kilbey "Gilt Trip" (1997)

Gilt Trip [debut]

release date: May 9, 1997

format: digital (2005 reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]

producer: Russell P. Kilbey

label: Karmic Hit - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Gilt Trip" - 2. "The Onset" - 3. "Tragic Mandarin Love Story" - 4. "Eyes Smeared With the Ointment of Love" - 9. "Happy Endings"

1st studio album collaboration by brothers Steve & Russell P. Kilbey, originally released on Vicious Sloth Collectables, in 2005 reissued on Kilbey's own label Karmic Hit. The album consists exclusively of instrumental compositions composed by the brothers - composed together or alone. The two Kilbeys play all instruments, except on "Tragic Mandarin Love Story", which is the only uptempo composition to feature both violinist Linda Neil and drummer Tim Powles (of The Church).

Musically, it is a type of 'soundtrack' to a non-existent film. It's ambient and atmospheric with an almost organic tone, and some tracks are progressive minimalism, and in some ways the album ties to Steve Kilbey's second solo album Earthed (1987), which also reflects some of the same soundtrack quality.

The two brothers subsequently issued several releases and later founded the project Gilt Trip, but here they have released their first collaboration under their own names, which has its qualities.