Monthly Recommendations: May 2017

From this apparently so mechanical and inhuman score counterintuitively emanates so many emotions and thoughts, in strong waves of melancholy, passion, and amazement. The first, minimalistic moments betray a much more complex and dense interior. The fact that so much life vibrates from this synthesized offering only highlights the care and delicacy with which it has been crafted. Steeple is, without a doubt, a remarkable piece of work that all should try. A perfect blend of black MIDI and contemporary classical music.

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With this opus, we see them at their most diversified and confident. Between the blast beats and the atmospheric keyboard pads, you’ll find elements of folk music like the flute on ‘[.Pianeta.Zero.]’, electronic dance music like the dubstep part of ‘[.oltreLuna.]’, and industrial metal.

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At just over 40 minutes, Futility Report packs a lot of ideas into a small space, but almost every idea is a winner, leaving me craving more from these Ukrainian craftsmen. Good work by Debemur Morti locking them up; here’s hoping that partnership fosters the production of much more of this brilliant material.

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That’s prog done right, and giving back the literal epithet of the genre. Complicated multi-part harmonies and melodies go over compound and conflicting rhythmics with an ease only before seen with King Crimson, and some new bands from that truly-prog resurgence movement. However difficult they are to play and however deeply they have been written, the songs are incredibly accessible and don’t feel like a challenge at all, sometimes.

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Honourable Mentions

On June 1 2017, this entry was posted.