Album: Magdalene - Magdalene

Band: Magdalene
Album: Magdalene
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. Elegia
02. Twain
03. Coup De Foudre, Coup De Hache
04. Giochi Attimi Ricordi Macerie
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Magdalene are a band from Italy who incorporate elements of epic post-rock and ferocious screamo into their sound. They have released one self-titled 4 track EP and a two track demo.

Album: Three Steps To The Ocean - Until Today Becomes Yesterday

Band: Three Steps To The Ocean
Album: Until Today Becomes Yesterday
Label: Frohike Records
Year: 2009



Tracklist
1. 31st December 1844
2. It's a day, maybe more, since I saw you
3. Diomede
4. Remember Lynne Cox
5. It's a minute, maybe more, since I could see
6. Il Quinto Giorno
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Three Steps to the Ocean is an Italian instrumental outfit. Like their counterparts in Vanessa Van Basten, Three Steps to the Ocean dabbles in the world of post-rock. The project was born in January 2006 in Italy,
A four-piece assembled a mixture of post-rock and instrumental metal. Influenced by Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, ISIS, Pelican. Moulding their musical intentions, results of their expression and experiences.


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Album: Eaststrikewest - Wolvves

Band: Eaststrikewest
Album: Wolvves
Label: Thirty Days Of Night Records
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. God Can't Take His Eyes Off Me
02. Stumble
03. Welcoming The Ghosts
04. Chu!
05. The Architect
06. Every Whisper And Word Said
07. Electricity
08. From Here You Can See Everything
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If anyone knows of or remembers bands such as Rosa or Threemovements then welcome to the latest incarnation from those bands in Eaststrikewest who come equipped with their debut 'mini album' in their words. (To me 5 tracks is an EP, any more is an album hence the album billing at the top) In recent weeks Eaststrikewest have managed to garner praise from people such as Zane Lowe for their shoegazing, progressive crossover style and I have to say I'm going to agree with him in this instance.

"Wolvves" kicks off with 'God Can't Take His Eyes Off Me,' an instrumental that is very similar to work I have heard from Russian Circles, Pelican and Explosions From The Sky (which I gather are influences of the band also), granted I didn't expect an instrumental opener either, normally the music I get jumps in and kicks into 88 mph (same as a time traveling Delorean) without stopping so it felt like a welcome, yet suspenseful change.

For 'Stumble' and 'Welcoming The Ghosts' we get a true insight into Eaststrikewest as the haunting vocals (which to me combine the sounds of Thom Yorke [Radiohead] with the messages sent by the vocals of Yourcodenameis:Milo) kick in along with the foot stomping drums and guitar. This all nicely kicks off the anthemic style songs that follow and that Eaststrikewest are very capable of poducing. We then again get a small interlude in 'Chu!' which to me could have been left off I'm afraid, it just didn't click.

The rest of the album show more of the anthemic rock that I feel could get them high slots with bands such as Editors in the next year. 'Electricity' was the greatest of the three as it mixes the progressive structure along with the epicness that is usually always brought on by strings.

Bands like Eaststrikewest seem to have been hiding recently and hopefully this "mini" album and the praise it surely deserves will bring in an era of music not seen since the days of Hell Is For Heroes as well as underrated bands such as Brigade.

A band well worth listening to if you like epic songs.
-Altsounds.com

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*Previous posts here and here

Video: Moving Mountains - Lights And Shapes

Album: Bye Horus - Locomotive-Histoire Marine

Band: Bye Horus
Album: Locomotive-Histoire Marine
Label:  Self Released
Year: 2008









Tracklist
01. Océan
02. Mous­saillons [nous étions]
03. Ban­quise
04. FL 86400s 1,62m M
05. Lo­co­mo­tive
06. Océan, Bois Dense, Hiver
07. Ber­mudes
08. Coma D'une Vague
09. L'exil
10. Le Phare
11. Re­ve­nir en Gare
12. Océan (Prin­Temps)
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Bye Horus is a young Post-Rock trio from the French Northern Alps. Formed in 2006 by 3 college fellows, the band definitely found its own sound at the crossroad of instrumental Rock and imaginary poetry. Bye Horus writes melodic and expressive soundscapes. Highly human and personnal, its music sometimes includes French lyrics.

Highly human and personnal, its music, inspired by Mogwaï and This Will Destroy You.

MySpace
WebSite

Album: Planning For Burial - Leaving

Band: Planning For Burial
Album: Leaving
Year: 2009










Tracklist
01. Wearing Sadness and Regret Upon Our Faces
02. Memories You'll Never Feel Again
03. Oh Pennsylvania, Your Black Clouds Hang Low
04. Humming Quietly
05. We Left Our Bodies with the Earth
06. Being a Teenager and the Awkwardness of Backseat Sex
07. Seasons Change So Slowly
08. Verse/Chorus/Verse
09. Leaving
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Planning For Burial is influenced by nearly 2 decades of constant music consumption. The outcome at times contains elements of slowcore, shoegaze, doom, drone, 90s alt rock, 80s goth, black metal, though never being defined by any one of those genres.

Official Site
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Album: Cylon - Resonanz

Band: Cylon
Album: Resonanz
Label: Dead Pilot Records
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. I
02. II
03. III
04. IV
05. V
06. VI
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Cylon is danish musician and net label co-founder Jannick Schou. I first heard his music through Ian who runs Heat Death, who sent me a copy of a demo Jannick had sent him. I was instantly in love with what I heard; 6 tracks of totally amazing subtle ambiance. I'm pretty lost for words when I think about this release, but I can say that it is totally ethereal and mesmerizing. I have lost my self in this album several times and each time I discovered new depths to it. It sounds like floating in clouds, it really does. Magical, elegant and uplifting; Jannick has created something really wonderful here and it gives me great pleasure to release it.

Limited to just 250 copies, packaged in a hand numbered and hand stamped 4 panel recycled card digipak with inserts. - Dead Pilot Records

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Album: Amia Venera Landscape - Self Titled EP

Band: Amia Venera Landscape
Album: S/T EP
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009






Tracklist
01. My Hands Will Burn First
02. Nicholas
03. Glances
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A sludgy post-hardcore from an Italian band. Brutal vocals rotate with clean and give to the atmosphere an alternative color.
Technical play of instruments, acceleration and high speed guitars. This EP is a great piece of the work about what this band can do.
Three well enough tracks with a heavy attitude, a hardcore sound and a technical approach. This is the first ever work of this band, but out of the blue is really well structured, great from the composition point of view and very good as a sound. No more to say, give it a try and enjoy their inspiration. Modern metal with alternative strokes of the brush. -noiz.wordpress.com

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Album: Shelving - Imhs

Band: Shelving
Album: Imhs
Label: Division Records
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. I
02. II
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Shelving is a band from Delémont, Jura (Switzerland) and their style is like Shora. So if you like Shora, you'll definitely love this one.

Dimitri | drums
Vincent | bass
Yan | guitars
Laurent | keyboards
Lorain | rhodes

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Album: Nic Bommarito - Taciturn

Band: Nic Bommarito
Album: Taciturn
Label: 12rec
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. Once A Freak, Always A Freak
02. Taciturn II
03. Arvo Pärt
04. The Academic (Life & Afterlife)
05. Badly Asbestos-Covered
06. Taciturn I
07. Continental Drift
08. I Never Listen
Download from archive.org or the official site

Taciturn has been a long time in the making. Recording finished in late 2004 after nearly two years of recording in different locations. In 2007, it was released by 12rec with new artwork by iambored and a modified tracklist. You can purchase a copy of the album here, or if you'd rather make your own there are pdfs for both inside artwork and outside artwork. From the 12rec website :

"Nic Bommarito comes off like the all-American college boy. He's from a small city in the near distance to Detroit, Michigan. He studied philosophy in Ann Harbor and changed to Albuquerque, New Mexico to expand his Sanskrit-studies. This trip took him across 2/3 of the US, but the next relocation was even more thoroughgoing . In 2006, Nic moved to Lhasa in Tibet, Republic of China. Nic is the unresting type. Due to his studies, he runs several websites, draws small comic strips, releases philosophical prose and documents his travels via a nice photo-blog. What's interesting for you: Nic Bommarito is a talented musician, too. He got in contact with us in late 2006, and we spontaneously decided to release his Taciturn LP at 12rec.

The Taciturn LP fuses instrumental rock music with moments of alt. Country and epic indie pop, keeping an eye on melody and structure. Imagine a mixture of Canadian GY!BE, the Americana avant-garde of Chicago's Brokeback and the huge melodies of Italian post-rockers Giardini di Mirò. Nic might not be the perfect musician, but he knows how to build up a song. For example, Taciturn I lasts nearly 10 minutes but you won't regret any single second. There's a strong sense of yearning throughout the whole LP that invokes a lot of pictures. Badly Asbestos-Covered sounds like desert and sea at the same time, bringing together slide guitar and accordion. The heavy string-arrangement for the final track I Never Listen is among the most touching I've ever heard."

*Take a listen to "Taciturn I". It's an amazing track , which make your heart get tight.

Official Site
Myspace

Album: Finneyerkes - Bastard

Band: Finneyerkes
Album: Bastard
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Cobain - (featuring Yawning)
02. Mountain Lion
03. Keely
04. Lins
05. Chicago
06. Lark
07. DisMIX
08. Honeymoon at the Holocaust Museum
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Read the words of Finneyerkes to the development of Bastard:

"This album was born when we were halfway through recording Without End. We had a few songs that we really liked and we didn't know what we were going to do with them. Those tracks were "Cobain featuring Yawning", "Lark", "Honeymoon at the Holocaust Museum" and "DisMIX featuring Cylon". we had no idea what we were going to do with them but we knew we didn't want to throw them away. none of them fit the style of Without End. we tried tacking a few of them on Without End but they stuck out like sore thumbs. we held onto them and when we were about 99 percent done, Randy said "why don't we just release 2 albums?" it sounded like a good enough idea. we weren't sure if anyone would want to hear 2 new full lengths from us but maybe a couple would. so we stalled a little longer and finished up some of the tracks we had kept locked away. we re-worked some parts and changed whole songs around and here we are. this is probably our most varied album. there are hints of classical, acoustic, electronic, a little bit of blues guitar playing, and a lot of spacey things going through the headphones. this is the album where words couldn't say what we were feeling. we became a better band and better friends trying to communicate by just playing. we're really proud of this album and we hope all of you enjoy it. thanks so much for listening. it means more than anything to us."

Myspace
Last.fm

Album: Jesu - Opiate Sun (EP)

Band: Jesu
Album: Opiate Sun (EP)
Label: Capo Verde Records
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. Losing Streak
02. Opiate Sun
03. Deflated
04. Morning Light
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With bands like the Angelic Process, Alcest, and now Phil Elverum (aka Mount Eerie), a whole new world has opened up for heavy music, large in part because of Jesu mastermind Justin Broadrick’s tireless effort to not settle for the conventional sounds of metal. The effort has become to make this loud, abrasive music become melodic and sentimental—something Jesu’s latest track, “Deflated” is somewhat the pinnacle of. Its drop-tuned doom riffage is buried into a swarm of melodic guitar melodies and quite possibly one of the best vocal performances of Broadrick’s career. The track builds beautifully behind slightly atonal sustained chords into a stoner shoegaze haze while Broadrick chants, “You give me reason.” How’s that for hardcore.

Oddly enough, it somehow makes sense that Opiate Sun, the EP on which this track is contained, will be released on Caldo Verde Records, Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon songsmith Mark Kozelek’s imprint. Hands down, this is the heaviest thing Kozelek has ever released (and he is doing so after being duly impressed by a Jesu show in 2007), but he is no stranger to spastic guitar passages –- something he experimented with earlier in his career. Opiate Sun is due out October 27th...
-Popmatters

Official Site
MySpace
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Album: Aarktica - In Sea

Band: Aarktica
Album: In Sea
Label: Silber Records
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. I Am (The Ice)
02. Lyzm
03. Hollow Earth Theory
04. A Plague Of Frost (In The Guise Of Diamonds)
05. In Sea
06. Onward
07. Young Light
08. Autumnal
09. Corpse Reviver No. 2
10. Instill
11. When We're Ghosts
12. Am I Demon
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Aarktica was conceived in the winter of 1998 with Jon DeRosa’s permanent loss of hearing in one ear as a distraction from his other musical interests. As his hearing loss became less of a distraction and more of a new way of listening, Aarktica became a means to execute the soundtrack of the life in mono now thrust upon him. One of audio distortions, aural hallucinations and a reliance on painkillers. The first album No Solace in Sleep was recorded on a dying 4-track cassette recorder in various NYU dorm rooms and released on Silber Records in 2000.

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Album: Collapse Under The Empire - Crawling 7"

Band: Collapse Under The Empire
Album: Crawling (Single)
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009






Tracklist
01. Crawling
02. Captured Moments
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Collapse Under The Empire is an instrumental/post-rock band from Hamburg/Germany. They formed 2007 and released their debut album „Systembreakdown“ (2009) on their own.

Most of the songs are alternating between electro-bleeps and powerful guitar explosions; it’s both disturbing and seductive. As with Collapse Under The Empire’s debut EP „Paintball“ they’ve succeeded their specific post rock sound, combining epic guitars with chilled electronic elements and a portion melancholic mood.

In one year’s time they have self-released their debut LP “Systembreakdown”, it displays acute instrumental sensibility, using pianos and synths with guitar-battering crescendos. “Systembreakdown” may only be about 40 minutes long with no nine-minute epic, but it packs a lot of beauty and emotion.

Nevertheless Collapse Under The Empire stick to their own style and do not want to emerge as a knock-off. With their mixture of instrumental post-rock they are trying to make a cut above the uniform pulp and put their own stamp on it.

"Crawling" is their new single with two tracks of their forthcoming (Nov. 27th) album " Find A Place to Safe".

Official Site
Myspace
Buy from iTunes or Amazon

Album: Pelican - What We All Come To Need

Band: Pelican
Album: What We All Come To Need
Label: Southern Lord
Year: 2009






Tracklist
01. Glimmer
02. The Creeper
03. Ephemeral
04. Specks Of Light
05. Strung Up From The Sky
06. An Inch Above Sand
07. What We All Come To Need
08. Final Breath
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Fourth studio album from this Chicago instrumental metal band and first for Southern Lord. Features appearances from members of Isis, Sunn O))), Harkonen, and the Life & Times.

Official Site
Myspace
Preorder from Play.com and Blue Collar Distro or Southern Lord (sometime in the future).

Album: Dvalà - If These Waves Were To Stay

Band: Dvalà
Album: If These Waves Were To Stay (EP)
Label: Self-released
Year: 2009







Tracklist
01. Intro/interlude
02. Like doves we fly
03. If these waves were to stay
04. You will always be alone
05. Time...
06. You will always be alone (first version)
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Dvalà is a Swedish ambient/post-rock band, who began in late 2008 with Rickard Markström (guitars, melodica & vocals), Gustav Eriksson (guitars), Filip Mijatovic (Guitars & glockenspeil), Joakim Weisner (Bass) and Jimmy Eriksson (Drums & percussion), together they recorded the debut demo "You will always be alone". Later the same year Joakim Weisner left the band and was replaced by Erik Sturén (bass). In may 2009 Filip Mijatovic, Jimmy Eriksson and Erik Sturén left the band and Peter Lundgren ( bass & reeds) and Tobias Gerefalk joined (drums). They started to record the debut EP wich was delayed until august 2009. The band is since April 2009 on hiatus while some members attend other projects (And they say, Ike), but are to begin again sometime in 2010 with new gigs and new records. The band has played as opening act to Pg. lost and Immanu el.

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