RECORD OF THE WEEK  

http://noveller.bandcamp.com/album/glacial-glow

Sarah Lipstate is Noveller and Glacial Glow is her most assured, accomplished statement to date. Lipstate largely sheds the distortion and feedback present in much of her earlier work. Instead, she relies on instantly memorable melodies, a wider sonic palette, and excellent pacing to deliver arguably her best album.

Noveller announces her intentions from the opening track, appropriately titled “Entering”, as the syncopated rhythm of the melody represents a new twist from her previous guitar work. This is only the hors d’oeuvre for the stunning “Glacial Wave”, which drifts along serenely until Lipstate rains down gorgeous arpeggios like icy shards from the heavens. Other pieces feature sparse arrangements anchored by pulsing throbs which evoke a subtle, creeping anxiety more menacing than the feel-good retro-horror soundtracks making the rounds these days.

Throughout Glacial Glow, Lipstate exercises restraint and a fleeting melancholy feeling pervades the album. It says something about an album’s quality when the closing track, “Ends”, is chosen as the lead-off video. Ocean sounds combine with the lovely chord progression and guitar lines to create an uplifting, yet slightly wistful feeling and a perfect bookend to the record.

RECORD OF THE WEEK  

http://hawkmoonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hunang-skr-msli

Damn Robot! – Hunang Skrímsli is the debut album by Hampshire, UK based brothers Rob Honey (Oceanus, Inachus) and Tom Honey (Good Weather for an Airstrike). Having collaborated on a cover of Frederic Chopin’s Romance/Larghetto the duo decided to establish a more permanent project, and Damn Robot! was formed. Their first song “The Great Landfill In The Sky” was included on the well received Hawk Moon Records: Volume II compilation album along side the likes of The Echelon Effect, …And The Earth Swarmed With Them and Lowercase Noises. Damn Robot! have taken influence from many different artists including The Appleseed Cast, Clint Mansell, Imogen Heap and various Mike Patton projects, as such this album doesn’t stick to just one specific genre, it has elements of electronica, trip-hop, post-rock, ambient and more.

With gigs planned for summer 2011, this could be the start of something big for Damn Robot!

RECORD OF THE WEEK  

http://music.lowercasenoises.com/

Migratory Patterns is the latest release by Lowercase Noises.

Previous releases include  Carry Us All Away, Marshall, Seafront, Ambient Songs.

Quite simply it is beautiful music.

RECORD OF THE WEEK  

http://theecheloneffect.bandcamp.com/album/singularity-1

Singularity is a compilation of awesome solo post-rock / instrumental artists

After a few years of “grafting” (probably the only word i can think of to describe sometimes how it feels at 2am) i decided to put together a compilation of some of my favourite solo artists. These people know how hard it is to produce a record from scratch (with the occasional guest musician), i’ve never met these people in my life, and yet being a solo artist myself i like to take time to listen to their wonderful music, i then feel like i we’ve met loads of times!

Because we don’t have bass players to mail copies of our latest EP to stations, because we have to produce everything, our music, i feel sometimes gets lost, probably because we are too into the music. I thought that for once we could be a sort of band, and help each other out..this is the result.

Dave Walters
(The Echelon Effect)