French band L’effondras, or ⊙, released quite an impressive instrumental post-rock album, in Les flavescences. From X to XII, Les rayons de cendre to Phalène, the band explores buildups and variations in relatively short pieces (from six to nine minutes). It’s really well executed, and it’s seriously some of the best post-rock I’ve heard. On XIII – Le serpentaire, however, they take things to another level, in a thirty-four minute epic. Though it’s closer to a twenty-four-minute song with a ten-minute ambient extroduction consisting of nature recordings. The whole album is fascinating, and utterly worth your while!
Combat Astronomy is a pretty well-known entity, at this point, in the realms of experimental jazz and avant-prog. Symmetry through Collapse was just released, and delivers six new tracks merging doom metal, stoner, progressive metal, and experimental jazz in one challenging pile of knots. The vocals here remind me a little bit of what I heard from Fire! Orchestra’s latest, although definitely less out there. The whole album might become a bit monotonous, after a while, but it’s still filled with very interesting parts and moments!
Missing You out of the Sudden! [sic] is a Japanese math rock trio with great promises. They just released EP1, which consists of almost twenty minutes of top-quality music. The three penguins band plays quite cheerful tunes that are expectedly challenging for the musicians involved. The guitarist also uses many effects to alter his guitar’s sound, which provides an always-welcome vibe of fun and slight craziness. I recommend you check these out!
Anakdota is a progressive rock band from Israel. Their latest album, Overloading, was released last November, and brings us some high-quality optimistic prog making me think of a more intricate version of Spock’s Beard, or a modern take on older Yes. It’s definitely some great prog, and should convince anyone that prog is indeed not dead; Overloading is inventive yet deeply rooted in progressive rock, and that’s why you should pay attention to it!
From the peninsula of Florida comes the alternative rock band named Kitsune. Their debut EP, Uninvited, features contagious vocal hooks backed with rather unique guitar works. The title track is sure to catch you with its dancing chorus, and the rest of the tracks will make sure to make your stay enjoyable. Be sure to give them a minute or two, just enough to fall under the charm.
Сольвычегодск (Solvychyegodsk)’s Чай с Захаром (Chay s Zakharom) EP is truly an intriguing piece of, I guess, experimental jazz music. The album consists of rather lengthy spoken Russian excerpts that end in a flurry of grind-jazz, often less than ten seconds long. It’s a tough one to size, but it certainly offers something unique and interesting enough, musically. The whole EP is no longer than eleven minutes, and perhaps features two full minutes of actual music, truly in grindcore fashion. And, for one dollar, I think you get your money’s worth!
Doom band Bereft will release their new album, Lands, on March thirty-first, and I had the chance to listen to it in full already. The album really can be summed up by ‘We Wept’, the single that is available for streaming now. It’s slow and cathartic, heavy with sounds and emotions. You can pretty much extrapolate on the whole album while listening to this song, and judge if this one’s for you or not. I personally really enjoyed it!
The Dutch quartet Kuhn Fu will release their newest album, Kuhnspiracy on March thirty-first. The album consists of highly-addictive compositions zig-zagging through experimental and fusion jazz. The songs are often slow and deliberate, rather calm, too, but go into overdrive from time to time, which really adds to the dynamic spectrum of the songs and makes for a really subjugating experience. This is one release to write in your wishlist.
This is a demo from the Japanese blackgaze entity known as Pale. As with every demo I showcase in these posts, this one shows great promises and a mostly complete ‘sound’. What’s interesting, here, is that they also bring to the table some uncommon time signatures or bar counts, like the beginning of ‘Gossamer’, based in twenty-one, where each chord lasts six, three, and twelve counts respectively. It’s the only place where I’ve spotted this on their demo, but I’d encourage them to focus more on these uneven structures for their upcoming compositions, because that’s something that could set them apart. In any case, this two-track demo is really good, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from the band.