Hollow Branches - Anchored In Sleep EP

Artist: Hollow Branches
Album: Anchored In Sleep EP
Label:  Strix Records
Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Steel Flowers
02. Anchored in Sleep
03. Ivory Dream
04. Ante Meridiem
05. Impending Morning Haunts

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More than 5,000 miles separates the members of Hollow Branches, they have only been in the same room a hand- ful of times, each is in several other bands, and none of this is likely to change. In spite of these obstacles, Hollow Branches has managed to record two EPs in 2009 alone.
With a sound equal parts ambient, rock and trip hop, Words are Fire received a digital release in February and was downloaded no less than 500 times. Since that time, five new tracks have been written for their second EP, An- chored in Sleep. Thematically inspired by dreams, insom- nia, nostalgia and morning, Anchored in Sleep finds Hollow Branches expanding their sound with elements of progressive and post rock, as well as glitch. Anchored in Sleep will be available for download and purchase before 2010.

Anchored in Sleep:
Robert Hunter
Marius Sjøli
Jason Walton

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A Backward Glance On a Travel Road - A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Artist: A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Album: A Backward Glance On a Travel Road

Label: Self Released

Year: 2009

Tracklist:

01. Regular Barbary
02. Falling
03. Johny Got His Gun
04. In Absentia part I
05. In Absentia part II
06. Hier Régnant Désert
07. Approximativement Moi

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As a musician and producer, I find it truly amazing to be introduced to something new that touches my mind so intensely, I not only hear the music, but I also feel and see the music. A Backward Glance on a Travel Road, or ABGOATR, is a project born of the group Hypno5e. Knowing the work of gifted, multi-instrumentalist Emmanuel Jessua and drummer Thibault Lamy, my first thoughts predicted pieces of intense, powerful progressive metal that the band Hypno5e master. I would have welcomed a new record of equivalent weight, but I was encouraged by this album’s alternative beginnings.

A dark mix of progressive rock, experimental landscapes, and unique emotional texture, infused with multiple layers of ethnic styles, instrumental arrangements and moments of vocal majesty, A Backward Glance on a Travel Road is not music for your average listener. It contains some moments of heartfelt sincerity that mercilessly pull on your hearts strings, and in the same moment, can send dark, threatening visions of evil though your mind seamlessly. Without a true category which to be placed, this collection can only be looked at as beautiful unique, art form from the minds of true innovators.

"Regular Barbary", hypnotic and desperate, takes some illusive vocal samples and intertwines them with colorful acoustic guitar to add a perfect level of dramatic appeal. This is beyond a song or a just a good tune. It is too grand to be attached to such a small label. A sonic painting would be a much more accurate description. The middle-eastern and Spanish influences make this piece live beyond ones hearing. The second, "Falling" expands on the same architecture and fills you with a feeling of sadness and dread, but somehow holds you comfortably as the voices sore. Again, the brush strokes paint a very powerful picture if you are listening carefully. It makes you visualize more than just listen. Threatening at times, but consistently beautiful.

The classically, progressive influences come out clearly within "Johnny got his gun". It is horror, sadness, gloom, and a touching stroke of pleasurable pain set carefully between each and every one of its notes. Clearly an experimental homage to both Dalton Trumbo's 1939 novel of the same name, and Metallica's "One," the overall production, use of dynamics and chanting of "S.O.S. help me" makes a truly frightening and brilliant ending to the song. The beginning cascade of "In Absentia part 1" floats down softly, but darkly. The overall shapes and musical arrangement achieved in this composition is tight and warming. Again, it is an audible, but truly visual experience if your ears are tuned carefully.

As the remaining half, "In Absentia part 2" reaches for your senses, it's mood follows an upward motion like ascending slowly to the light from a deep, dark pool. There is still an underlying coat of darkness but you can feel it climb to something powerful and bright. "Hier Regnant Desert," a rhythmically aggressive ride away from the heavier textures and space of the earlier pieces, it latches on and pulls you down a road of tight, thumps and clicks joined by the same mystical phrasing that makes the other pieces so inviting. By the time the vocal cadence appears, you are held captive. These musical journeys are full of change, adventure and stories waiting to be written. It has beautiful breath and stamina which over powers you by its conclusion. "Approximativement Moi" wraps up the piece with less detail but with huge scope and depth. Soundscapes with obvious restraint, its tone and ambient quality is fitting to end a great album of pure, human emotion. (-by Bryon Turcotte)

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Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving - Tiny Fragments

Artist: Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving

Album: Tiny Fragments

Label: Self Release

Year: 2008






Tracklist:
01. Part One
02. Part Two
03. Part Three
04. The Banshee

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Tangled Thoughts of Leaving's music is progressive by nature. The inclusion of sparse influences, guided by concept and fused together, is the conception of their own sound, as each musicians respective inspirations force the collective into unchartered territory.

After several years of existence and growth, mid 2007 saw Tangled Thoughts of Leaving construct themselves a purpose built, make shift creative space.

A medium sized room, dedicated to forward thinking; the birth of new sound. In that very room, what was previously theory, became reality, and so began the process of four people leaving mediocrity behind them.

In the months of January, February and March of 2008, TToL used their creative space to record a concept, aptly titled 'Tiny Fragments'. This EP was to represent their current thought process. They gave themselves a series of themes, ideas from a previously recorded improvisation and a set amount of time.What followed was roughly 3 months of sproadic sessions, in which the 18 minute, 3 part title track was written and recorded.

With the creation of Tiny Fragments the band have demonstrated that they would rather risk potential failure than never pursue the invention of interesting art.

In late 2008, TToL approached likeminded instrumentalists sleepmakeswaves, from Sydney about doing a split CD. Hundreds of emails were exchanged as each band went away and recorded their contribution for the CD. The final product was released in April 2009 to an extremely positive reaction.

TToL are now working on their debut album, working towards a late 2009/early 2010 release date.

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Guapo - Elixirs

Artist: Guapo
Album: Elixirs
Label: Neurot Recordings
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Jeweled Turtle
02. Arthur, Elsie And Frances
03. Twisted Stems The Heliotrope
04. Twisted Stems The Selenotrope
05. The Planks
06. King Lindorm

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Guapo are very deep. Their press release is chock full of words I don't understand relating to and hinting at themes I am not familiar with. While psychadelic music is known to me, never have I heard anything quite like Elixirs.

Instrumental Pink Floyd, disturbing horror movie soundtracks, Mogwai gone goth...it's hard to pin down the sounds on this album. "Jeweled Turtle" quite literally scares me, it's foreboding and restless strings melding into a sort of funeral dirge for someone who never comes back from an LSD trip. It mellows out towards the last-half (track is 13 minutes) and eventually starts to sound like something from a similar group, Secret Chiefs 3; something middle-eastern and rootsy, while retaining that undercurrent of dread. "Arthur, Elsie and Frances" sounds like carnival music gone completely wrong; a sect of drugie clown nihilists who come across a room full of musical equipment on Halloween night after getting wasted on absinthe and mescal. Totally fucking bonkers, but also totally enjoyable. The two "Twisted Stems" tracks are somewhat more subdued, mellow and feature some vocal work. Probably the closest things to typical songs on Elixirs. "The Planks" is just badass, a quick rhythmic shot of adrenaline before the closer "King Lindorm" manages to pull all of these sounds together into one last, concise and deliberate dose of "what the fuck".

You'll notice over there on the "Try if you like" list, one of them says "Scary ass shit!". This is more or less what I got from Elixirs, beyond the obvious masterful musicianship, myriad of enjoyable little musical moments and an overall atmosphere that chokes you as much as embraces you. Guapo are deep, but not to the point where you need to do any digging. They've made the hole for you; just jump in. But don't play this one in the dark, with no one around...who knows what your feeble imagination might conjure up... (musicemissions.com)

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Junius - Junius

Artist: Junius
Album: Junius
Label: Radar
Year: 2007







Tracklist:
01. Elan vital
02. Hiding knives
03. From the isle of the blessed
04. Elan fatale (Inaudible secrets)
05. Forcing out the silence
06. The annunciation
07. Blood is bright
08. A word could kill her
09. In the hearts of titans
10. At the age of decay

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It is always refreshing to come across a particular album that can be played for days on end. With their self-titled album Boston quartet Junius, are likely to make the top of your playlist, and stay there for awhile. From the very first track, your ears will be encompassed by sound that is warm and comforting, yet dark and dramatic. It latches onto your mood and emotions, and spins them around until numbness ensues. Junius has created an album solid enough to rock out to, yet comforting enough to play while relaxing.

While the album borders on being heavy, it purposefully stops short, reflecting their style of balancing aggressive elements with more soothing, melodic tones. Like the work of A Perfect Circle and Dredg, Junius’ style has intensity capable of changing the ambiance in a room. Lead singer Joseph Martinez brings a diverse style to the album, texturing the tracks and making each one of them sound a bit different from the last.

The most memorable tracks are “Hiding Knives,” “Blood is Bright” and “At the Age of Decay,” since they showcase the band’s intensity, dramatic lyrics, and unique sound. Boston has good reason to be proud of Junius. They represent a new wave of progressive rock with an incredibly original style. - Dan Gotleib (tastemakersmag.com)

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Fractal Pattern - No Hope But Mt. Hope

Artist: Fractal Pattern
Album: No Hope But Mt. Hope
Label: Method
Year: 2004




Tracklist:
01. Faute De Mieux
02. Aphelion-Perephelion
03. There's Hope For Everyone On The Internet
04. Binary Consequence
05. Ad Infinitum
06. Interior Of A Turkish Caffinet
07. So It Goes, But Not So Much

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These shoe-gazers from Edmonton whip up a brooding brew of textual instrumentals which linger, palpitate, serenade and carry you over the course of the 7 song disc: No Hope But Mt. Hope. This quintet must not have all that much to be happy about (after all, they do live in King Ralph’s province), but they have managed to channel the sobering reality of where there geography into a truly beautiful sounding Canadian meditation. The music on this recording sounds hopeless and it aches and patters along at a dis-heartening, honest pace. The album’s artwork is adorned with sombre monochrome landscapes of skies and mountains, murky song titles such as “faute de mieux” and “there’s hope for everyone on the internet” and the inside of this release notes that “fractal pattern is commited to compassionate living”. The music documented on No Hope but Mt. Hope sounds like the band has made some pretty impressive steps towards bringing their beliefs on life and music into somewhat harmony.

Sound clashes, feedback and whimpering moments of solitude, space resound repeatedly all throughout the course of this recording. Speckled influences of Slint-like climax/anti-climax arrangements, Constellation-bands, the Surface of Ecyeon and punk are all echo’d and filtered through a shoe-gazer’s gaze. Fractal Pattern create a unique sound through the timbre of the instruments that they have chosen to mix-up on this recording. The classic rock band configuration is highlighted by the swaying wind-y sounds of horn, bow, trombone and harmonica. As the tension builds and releases in their songs, Fractal Pattern weave a tapestry of unstable and uncertain sounds that seem to know exactly where they are headed. There is an incredible balancing act being waged here by the musicians of Fractal Pattern. This is one of those recordings that you put on and then forget is playing, but then remember that its playing
because it catches you attention from out of nowhere, only to loose you again, but then pick you up again. - L. Pounds (earshot-online.com)

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Black Mountain - In The Future

Artist: Black Mountain
Album: In The Future
Label: Jagjaguwar
Year: 2008







Tracklist
01. Stormy High
02. Angels
03. Tyrants
04. Wucan
05. Stay Free
06. Queens Will Play
07. Evil Ways
08. Wild Wind
09. Bright Lights
10. Night Walks
Bonus CD
01. Bastards Of Light
02. Thirteen Walls
03. Black Cat

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During the nearly three years between Black Mountain's self-titled debut album and its sophomore full-length In the Future, there had been extensive touring, a first attempt at recording which proved to be a false start of sorts (though some of those songs ended up here), and a kind of development that would seem radical if these Vancouverites weren't so quirky to begin with. Certainly, the roots of this sound are evident on the debut album. It's loaded with trippy neo-psych folk and rock tropes. But these are counterweighted with a drenched-in-prog-and-Sabbath bombast that makes the title seem ironic. If not laugh out loud funny. That's right: prog rock and Black Sabbath-like riffery and knotty, multi-part structures worthy of Greenslade are all entwined with pixie-ish protocol, acid-laced folk (think Melanie meets Sandy Denny meets Grace Slick's early period duets with Marty Balin and Paul Kantner on the Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and Volunteers). The weird thing is, despite its obvious nods to rock collections, including not only Sabbath's Master of Reality but Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, Hawkwind's Warrior on the Edge of Time, Peter Hammill's entire Charisma period, Eloy's first three albums, Rush's 2112 (where some of these rather drenched-in-warped-myth lyrics were derived from; but then they're Canadians too), and Led Zep's Physical Graffiti, with a touch of the optimism of Thunderclap Newman and Graham Nash -- all is tempered by Neil Young's sleepy delivery -- sometimes in the same song! The sheer heaviness of tracks like "Stormy High," that wails out of the gate with guitars in full pummel riffage, fuzzed out bassline, and floor tom, bass drum, hi hat fury are stretched out by layers of Mellotrons! Then, Stephen McBean and Amber Webber begin wailing wordlessly à la "Immigrant Song," before McBean takes the lead vocal and you're ready for your space rock pith helmet! Where's Michael Moorcock when you need him? He's about all that's missing. It gets more insistent before it lets up with the starting-in-fifth-gear "Tyrants," that winds and wends its way through a multi-dimensional journey densely packed with sonic wonkery, key and time changes, and the feeling of a journey through time and space for over eight minutes. The sheer sonic throb is balanced by long, droning Mellotron and analogue synth drones, tribal, chant-like drumming, and the pleading, world-weary, vulnerable voice of McBean. It's quite a thing, but it's only a precursor to the truly epic "Bright Lights" near the end of the set that rages on for nearly 17 minutes. Fuzzy electrics, shimmering acoustics, and trance-like keyboards flit in and out between the alternating vocals of McBean and Webber. The music picks up intensity, shifts direction numerous times, and careens across the rock and folkscapes of rock's history from the late '60s through the '70s with great focus, wit, and ambition. There are other things like this here, too, with the utterly beautiful and tender lysergic folk explorations in "Stay Free," where unplugged six-strings, tambourine, McBean's falsetto, and Webber's harmony are seamless, as of one voice. The lyrics are direct, but the sheer sparseness of the mix (organs hover in the backdrop) stands in such sharp contrast to "Wucan" and "Tyrant" that it's like a wake-up call from the ether. (Movie music directors, take heed: this is the one you want for those long reflective moments where the two main characters have parted to rethink their positions.) It picks up, but never too much; the bridge is wonderfully constructed with just enough ornamentation to take it up a notch texturally and dynamically. "Wild Wind," clocking in under two minutes could be a lost Kevin Ayers' outtake. It's only a shame it's so brief. "Evil Ways" -- no relation to the Santana number -- is all metallic stoner rock with rumbling, quaking tom toms, piercing guitars, and huge organs challenging one another to overcome the vocals. As atrocious as this all sounds, perhaps, it's actually quite wonderful and it works without faltering. For what it is, is a stunning extension of the root sound Black Mountain arrived with. Part of the credit has to go to John Congleton for his amazing mix. It's packed with stuff, but there's enough space here, and wonderfully warm atmospheres, to bring the listener right into the deeper sonic dimensions that Black Mountain is trying to create. That it's done without artificial sounding punch up or tons of digital effects makes it come together as a whole. There is no sophomore slump here. -by Thom Jurek (allmusic.com)

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