Reviews: indie x

Two EP’s by the Belgian band Tattoed Boy From Birkenhead (TBFB) found their way to me. On the self-released Godfass Rain EP there are four tracks of moody and down tempo shoegazer music. This genre seems to be revived lately as many new shoegazer bands are active at the moment. The music on this EP has a tranquil and sort of smoky mood like that of the Tindersticks…

From America comes the one-man project Sleepshell. You might call the music by this project `American moodiness`, somewhat in the same vein as The Dresden Dolls and Faun Fables. The music is melancholy and moody but not dark or depressive. Piano and slightly orchestrated keyboards set the tone of this record on ‘Intro’. ‘Train’ is a moody song dominated by a piano melody…

From the late 70’s untill into the 80’s S.Y.P.H. produced some wonderful albums with music somewhere in between (post)punk, Neue Deutsche Welle and new wave. This album with previously unreleased material is compiled by the original group members themselves. The twelve tracks featured here give you an idea of the sound and songs by this band, but not completely satisfying…

The Guilty Party are a female-fronted rock band from San Fransisco. This mcd, appropriately called “Five songs”, makes a good impression on me. The music is intense and dynamic, with a moody postpunk sound. The rather low, nonchalant sensual vocals of singer Angelica Maze make me think somewhat of PJ Harvey…

25 years ago the influential group Wire recorded the classic ‘Outdoor Miner’, a surprisingly poppy song, released on the album “Chairs Missing” and later in an extended version as a single. As sort of a tribute, Words On Music has assembled interpretations of this song by 19 artists from five countries…

Cochon Records is an American label specialized in weird and strange contemporary punk music. Often the sound is electronic but you will also find some guitar bands in their catalogue. In a certain way this release has the name Vanishing all over it. Jessie EVA from Vanishing did the photography for the artwork and worked on and contributed several tracks…

Schizowave plays diverse music ranging from jazz to triphop. The act is related to the musical scene surrounding the Schizoclub Gallery in Chicago, just like Kaif which I reviewed earlier. All music and lyrics are composed by Lena Potapova (originally from Moscow, Russia), who also takes care of keyboard and vocals…

Five untitled instrumentals, between two and twelve minutes. Slow, subtle music, somewhere between post-rock and ambient, with some improvisational jazz elements. Mode7 is a new name for me, judging from the names of this four-piece I assume they are from Israel. They have a standard rock line-up, with guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Some piano sounds and special effects are aded to the mix…

Ella Blame is an American duo who are hard to categorize. Singer Ella Blame and multi-instrumentalist Michael D. Temple combine indie pop, triphop, dance, ethereal/ambient and even jazz on this rather nice album. In their own words: “Ella Blame sound like a 21st-century version of Pink Floyd fronted by a 21st-century mixture of Tori Amos, Bj?rk and Barbra Streisand”…

Dereck Higgins from Omaha may not be an overly familiar name. But you can call him a veteran in alternative music, having been a member of various interesting bands. The most noteworthy is probably indie band Digital Sex, which even released an album on the legendary French record label Sordide Sentimentale…

Kaif is a project from Chicago, with as main member guitar player Josef Levitis, who is active in a wide array of musical styles. He is also co-founder of the Schizoclub Gallery, a creative space for art, music, theatre and other artistic performances.

Autumnblaze is a new band to me, even though this is their fourth record. Words Are Not What They Seem is a melancholic rock album. The songs are very moody with lots of room for tranquil pieces. When listening you feel that any second the tranquil mood can change and the songs may burst out into a fierce and energetic movement. This is also exactly what happens in most of the songs…

The latest release by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is an ambitious double cd called Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. The album comes in a luxurious packaging, with a nice text booklet. Because I reserved the album release early I also received the bonus cd-single ‘Nature Boy’, which is a powerful track with hit potential…

This cd single can be considered as a taster for Antony’s anticipated second album. It contains three new tracks, one of which will be included on the upcoming album ‘I Am a Bird Now’ (February 2005). It is the follow up to the praised self-titled debut of the ‘utterly genderqueer musical sensation’…

What immediately springs to mind when playing this record is the music of Garbage. ‘Addict’ is as much Garbage as Garbage itself.

A year ago the new band by Gorefest singer/bassplayer Jan Chris de Koeijer, called Cold Pop Culture, released a first demo. Cold Pop Radio Demo is the second demo. Cold Pop Culture mixes 80’s pop with synth music, a few wave influences and a bit of rock music.

RobotZen is an American band that has a sound that is really special. Their music is hard to describe and even harder to categorize. Their music has some wave influences, but overall has more of an alternative pop feeling with melodic pieces and samples…

At the moment some interesting bands come from the US. Next to Dresden Doll and The Vanity Set there is Barbez. Barbez plays cabaresque music with influences from Eastern European folkmusic, Brecht/Weill elemements and some references to the weird music of The Residents (there is also a cover version of ‘The Ultimate Disaster’ on this record)…

An album full of moody indie guitar pop. This is the second album of Coastal, after their self-titled debut in 2001. The listener is treated to slow, dreamy songs, with shoegaze and psychedelic influences. A tranquil, melancholic soundtrack for patient people. The sound is rather fragile, perhaps comparable to labelmates Fiel Garvie…

More gritty electronic stuff on Omega Point Records. Corporate MF makes a quite trendy mix of wave/electro and postpunk, with old and new influences.