Nakama, XL-55, Elephant9, Hinterlandt, Nishaiar, Jack Tickner, Contraband, Stickman, and עלמה זהר

by Dæv Tremblay

Nakama – Golden City

Philadelphia’s Nakama is a brand new instrumental quartet who just released their debut album: the Golden City EP. Their sound is a fusion of jazz and instrumental progressive metal, which lends more credibility to the term “jazz rock”. Generally upbeat, the EP is also quite interesting in its choices with time signatures and chords, although these are more widely spread out than I’d have wished. Nevertheless, Golden City is a fun and promising debut for the band!

XL-55 – … Delenda est!

It’s a little hard to find the music of XL-55 to show you, but … Read more

Panu-Pekka Rauhala – 60 Songs in 60 Minutes

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Please don’t skip this because of the cover art shown above. I know it’s probably the worst album cover you’ve seen recently – or, ever! –, but the music it forbids is worth your time, I swear! Honestly, I debated whether or not I should include the “artwork” in this review… But out of respect for Panu-Pekka Rauhala‘s artistic choices, I decided to keep it, at the cost of this very warning. Ugh, it’s such an ugly cover for such a good album… It could win many art anti-awards, of that I’m sure! Well… enough … Read more

The Math-Rock House Band – The Math-Rock House Band

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

The only way I can make sense of this obscure new band’s name is as an act of protest against The Physics House Band’s overwhelming adoration amongst math rock fan groups. While I think they are pretty good, they aren’t really a math rock band. Enter The Math-Rock House Band and their self-titled debut. To add insult to injury, the Chicago band adopts a similar approach to the Brighton jazz rock trio, but put due emphasis on odd time signatures. Unfortunately, not all and everything is played in uneven timings, and they strike a tasteful equilibrium … Read more

Erna – Pan

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Erna is a fantasy. This is the only line we get to describe this Danish percussion duo. In slightly more details, Kristian Paulsen and Anders Bach have just released Pan, an EP made only – or rather, mostly – using various percussions and whatever object you can hit that creates a sound when doing so. Slightly over twenty-five minutes, Pan is relatively short. But it only feels that way since the cacophonic pieces take you and hold you in a trancelike hypnotic state. To be fair, I think that longer improvisations, like the two final … Read more