Slipped Discs
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Anni Rossi - Rockwell
Anni RossiRockwell
Label: 4AD
Twittering lyrics flutter past brittle riddles and pickled patty-cake pizzicato. Rossi’s enchanting ellipses are modern, quaint, hermetic and open-hearted. Her oblique chamber-folk rocks as her twisted art-pop talks, poems restlessly squirming in well-scored precision. Spiraling violas, cymbal-less rhythms, melodies touched by vocal yodeling – “Rockwell,” covers strange terrain visiting scenic vistas, cozy burrows and paisley meadows.
• Anni Rossi Website • Anni Rossi WikiSholi - Sholi
SholiSholi
Label: Quarterstick/Touch and Go
Paralyzing prayers, guitar acrobatics and nervous percussion roast dark skeletal textures, colliding powerful free jazz tempos against ancient aspirations, ghostly hopes and driven intuition. Sholi’s toreador torpedoes swoop and climb, effervescent chords dance over stranglehold beats; indie-rock tapestries shrouding thick forests of skitterish transmissions. Ballistic mysticism in clanging anchors, spidery threads and moody transcendence.
• Sholi Website • Sholi WikiBell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bell OrchestreAs Seen Through Windows
Label: Arts & Crafts
Studied silences cultivate cacophony as, “Windows,” moves among bright lights and shadows, cinematic snapshots bursting with instrumental chutzpah. From glassy passages to race-car rhythms, BO’s quasi-classical motifs mate, molt and mutate into soundlab experiments, displaced soundtracks and theatrical interventions; elegant pools of acoustics preceding curious Keystone comedies and flowering romances
• Bell Orchestre Website • Bell Orchestre WikiMicachu & The Shapes - Jewellery
Micachu & The ShapesJewellery
Label: Rough Trade Records
A cauldron of mashed rapture, ripped mixtures and proto-punk busking bursts in brazen bombshells of cartoon brilliance, Micachu’s thrift-shop chops squawk and rock in impish waves of innovative grime. Brandishing outlandish vision, fashioning attractive contraptions, producing funhouse party rondos, “Jewellery,” clanks, clatters and contorts, delivering sly, kinetic inventions that surprise and delight.
• Micachu & The Shapes WebsiteGramercy Arms - Gramercy Arms
Gramercy ArmsGramercy Arms
Label: Reveal Records
Members of GUIDED BY VOICES, DEAD AIR and LUNA join former DAMBUILDERS’ Dave Darby, creating sterling gems of seamless harmonies, polished verse and unruffled melodies. Deceptively uncomplicated, Gramercy Arm’s well-placed hooks, easy-going vibe and nonchalant competence makes this laidback super-group a fine driving buddy, navigating romance’s rocky road through unerring skill and pop-rock diplomacy
• Gramercy Arms WebsiteIt Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar
It Hugs BackInside Your Guitar
Label: 4AD
Still waters run deep as England’s IHB conjure hypnotic layers of guitar and organ, breaking into chaos, generating finely-wrought furies and methodically singing unassuming tunes in a lulling subtlety of soothing translucence, unwavering slow burns and eerie, organic calm. Purring modestly in mildly narcotic splendor, the warm and fuzzy, “Guitar,” gently disarms.
• It Hugs Back WebsiteIda Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
Ida MariaFortress Round My Heart
Label: Upper 11 Records
Connecting directly with electric aplomb, this lusty Norwegian spitfire scrambles past pretense to wrap sorrow inside a whirlwind of impatience, anger anchored by short, sharp beats and straight-faced sizzle. Unleashing a flood of splintering skiffle wedged between catchy sledgehammer pop and love-torn ragdoll rock, the explosive, “Fortress,” tears down all walls.
• Ida Maria Website • Ida Maria WikiWolff - The Brass Ceiling
WolffThe Brass Ceiling
Label: Wolff and Tuba
Tribal tuba, soupy loops and plundering drums concoct cosmic gumbo as Wolff’s two-man army churns out chugging, interstellar funk; splicing catacomb vocals to interstellar samples for uniquely alien rhythms and bombastic, monastic panache. Mind-boggling combinations result as, “Brass,” triumphantly crashes past ordinary categories for squishy, trippy robo-soul that grooves to subterranean funk.
• Wolff WebsiteOther Lives - Other Lives
Other LivesOther Lives
Label: TBD
A debut filled with good-byes, the sweet melancholy of Other Lives employ sympathetic strings, poignant piano and spiraling guitars to convey their sad regrets. Sumptuous chamber-pop filled with somber, soaring sentiments, “Other Lives,” waltzes through windswept parables, humble testaments to restless affections, bitter lessons dressed in fond memories, effervescent empathy and hopeful minor chords.
• Other Lives WebsiteA Camp - Colonia
A CampColonia
Label: Nettwerk records
Flushed with lush, vampish nuance and lean, taunting lyrics, “Colonia,” wraps its political sting in leather and lace symphonies, a sage cabaret translated from level-headed, globe-trotting memories. A shimmering coronation of enchanted melodies, glamorous ironies and seductive intimidation; Cardigans singer Nina Persson portrays a post-modern Mata Hari, cool, coy sniping hiding inside her conniving metaphors.
• A Camp Website • A Camp WikiBrakesBrakesBrakes - Touchdown
BrakesBrakesBrakesTouchdown
Label: Fat Cat
Rock solid cynicism burns past corrosive pop-rock and beat-heavy intellect. Rallying around the hoi polloi in invigorating hooks, ironclad chords and an uncanny knack for suspiciously enigmatic phrases, “Touchdown,” pounds out its paranoia with passionate panache. Sparking flames in the face of modern ennui, Brakesbrakesbrakes’ riff-ripe sing-alongs are wise and innocent, brilliantly jaded yet ultimately undefeated.
• BrakesBrakesBrakes Website • BrakesBrakesBrakes WikiPaleface - The Show is on the Road
PalefaceThe Show is on the Road
Label: Ramseur Records
Honky tonk honesty fuels train-yard yarns turning contemporary issues into dustbowl hobo narratives; Paleface’s earth-bound wisdom croons rollicking acoustic tunes, weaving a deeper, understated understanding from everyday aggravations. “Road,” rolls with the punches, unfolding stolen moments over bare-boned anecdotes, uplifting skiffle and friendly encouragement; heartache and hindsight blending into folksy hopefulness.
• Paleface WebsiteView More
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