Tag Archives: pop

Cosmo Sheldrake – The Much Much How How and I

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

London multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer Cosmo Sheldrake released his debut full-length album earlier this month: The Much Much How How and I. The album shows the strong hand that Cosmo has on pop composition. Each of the fourteen songs on display are, in their own way, interesting, emotive, and full of ear hooks. I say “pop”, but the reality is deeper than that. Although many songs would definitely qualify as such, they are conveyed through a lush orchestration and a firm indie folk vibe; in the end, they are more than the sum of their … Read more

Tweet Tweet – Bearer

by Dæv Tremblay

Tweet Tweet is a soft experimental project from Steve Pardo; it hovers between indie music, folk, and experimental pop. Bearer was released on 20 October and accounts for almost thirty minutes of gentle compositions with soaring flutes, saxophone, and vocals from Lindley Cameron. Some parts sound like some beloved passage on a Sufjan Stevens recording – one known to favour flutes in his compositions –, some are more electronic, with low fidelity guitar recordings supporting the uncertain woodwind notes, some still are almost like a singer-songwriter piece, but all undeniably appeal to the listener’s soft side with whispered notes to … Read more

Namby-Pamby Boy – Namby-Pamby Boy

by Dæv Tremblay

Out in September but available for streaming now, Austrian Namby-Pamby Boy‘s self-titled third album aims at the no small task of transcending genres and categories. While not being outside of any pre-existing box, Namby-Pamby Boy is an album that breeds jazz, electronica, hip-hop, and rock together in a buffet of compositions. The ten-track, one-hour album goes from moody to energetic and offers plenty of interesting and powerful moments, thanks to the lush keyboards and meandering saxophone rocking the songs. The album will be out on September first through Babel Label.

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Frost* – Falling Satellites

by Jeff Nixon

Press_Cover_01

Their first album in 8 years (during which time the band disbanded and reformed), Falling Satellites is the much anticipated third album from Jem Godrey’s Frost*. Their critically acclaimed debut album Milliontown remains one of my favorite prog albums, and while I wasn’t as into the follow-up in 2008 Experiments In Mass Appeal (the mix on the first two tracks was strange, with the quiet sections being barely audible and the loud sections blowing out your speakers) I was excited to hear what was next for the band.

first-half

The intro to the album, ‘First Day’, is a soft ambient … Read more

Our Oceans – Our Oceans

by Dæv Tremblay

a2936028470_16What do you get when you put ex-members of progressive metal band Cynic with members of atmospheric black metal band Dodecahedron? Not what you would expect.

Our Oceans is a post-rock band in which Tymon (ex-Cynic) lulls us with his soothing melodic voice, which we really aren’t used to. Behind his voice and his guitar work is a silky smooth fretless bass playing jazzy lines and drums that put the emphasis on the ambient side of things: painting the background with cymbals over slow odd time signatures and polyrhythms.

Over the course of the album, there is some variety to … Read more