- White Lies – ‘Take it Out On Me’
It’s like the hand that is coming to save you from a serene sea while you’re drowning in love’s solitude, from the joke that is not funny anymore, from the feelings of doubt when you ring me up at nights to wake me and ask me if I’m going to hurt you. Take it out on me. These are the White Lies that will continue to haunt our mutual demons.
Makis Gevros
- Mika Vainio – ‘Öisin Pidän Magneetteja Vatsallani (At Night I Keep Magnets On My Stomach)’
As I have said many times not only on the radio, but everywhere I have had the chance to do so, the most important music in Europe —and possibly outside Europe— comes from Scandinavia and Turkey. What can I say about the extraordinary talent of the Finnish Mika Vainio?
This is the best contemporary/experimental music in a self-made manner; maybe the best soundtrack of the year. Nothing more needs to be said. On iDEAL Recordings.
John Pallas
- Apocryphos – ‘Tenebrous’
Apocryphos has just released a giant on ‘Stone Speak’, his latest album on Cryo Chamber. This opening track, ‘Tenebrous’, takes the listener by full force. This is some of the best dark ambient around and easily competes with the classics of the genre. Listen to ‘Tenebrous‘ loud and absorb its sinister essence.
Michael Barnett
- Answer Code Request – ‘Neume’
This is the new release from Answer Code Request, resident of Berghain club in Berlin.
For many years, Berlin has been the most attractive city not only for domestic acts, but also for worldwide musicians, producers, DJs, like Brooklyn in New York.This nice techno track focuses on head bang beat with noir/classical/dark parts. Absolute success! On Ostgut Ton!
John Pallas
- The Amazing – ‘Ambulance’
Someone would say ‘another Swedish indie band’… but when you’re looking for the perfect pop capable to touch your heart, whether you like or not, you’ll end up there more times than expected; ‘minor’names like The Mary Onettes, The Radio Dept., Shout Out Louds to name a few, but, eventually, so essential.
I met The Amazing with last year’s gorgeous ‘Picture You’ album, to my surprise their third one already! It owned the rare capacity of melding several influences like psychedelia (guitarist Reine Friske plays also with Dungen), folk, new wave, shoegaze, even progressive into a compelling, unpredictable and individual epic sound.
‘Ambulance’ starts right back where it left off in an even more magnificent way, a beautiful sea of melancholy that drowns and dazes your senses with its reverberated guitars (this group has three guitarists! ), deep keyboard textures supported by a weeping mellotron and the trembling crooning voice.
Lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Christoffer Gunrup, usually reluctant to talk, recently has stated: ‘I wanted this record to be more bare, more grey’ and added: ‘It does not sound happy.’
We, inconsolable melancholic souls, are looking forward to soften the summer heat with the new album.
Fabrizio Lusso
Compiled by Makis Gevros, John Pallas, Michael Barnett & Fabrizio Lusso