Tag Archives: stream

HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT’S ADEQUATE – One Word That Means The World (Arkhipov) / Music For Dancing

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When approaching a fusion based style, London’s Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate are rarely anything less than interesting. Since their inception, the musical duo have painted an art rock canvas that’s blended prog, pop, funk and ambient textures in a way that – for the want of an easy descriptor – sometimes makes them sound like The Pineapple Thief jamming with the rhythm section of early 80s King Crimson. At other times, you might stumble upon the atmospheres of later Talk Talk, or swathes of guitar work tipping their more than adequate hat in the direction of ‘In Absentia’ era Porcupine Tree, but almost always with the Gentlemen’s own, slightly odd, twist. Simply put, you can rely on them to tease your ears with something pleasingly complex.

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A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS – Change Your God / It is Time

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For those who’ve followed the musical progress of New York shoegazers A Place To Bury Strangers since their early days, the band’s gradual, and very natural shift into more commercial sounds has likely formed a very interesting journey. For those who discovered the band a little later, these “commercial sounds” could still feel cold and confronting, but somewhere beneath their distortion and darkness, it should’ve become increasing clear that these Jesus & Mary Chain obsessives were capable of wielding a great tune.

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EMBER BELLADONNA – The Grove

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The flute has often been a pivotal instrument within prog rock – Jethro Tull have much to answer for, but other bands like Focus and Tempest were never shy of making the instrument a core part of their arrangements – but its gentle sounds aren’t always associated with metal. In that regard, flautist Ember Belladonna’s debut album fills an important gap in the market. Its eight songs dart between different styles – from flawless new age sounds, to deep gothic grooves, to riff driven jigs – but Ember’s deft playing holds everything together with ease, and presents a classic tone that would be just as home on more of a classical oriented outing.

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NEWMOON – Temporary Light

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  1. Newmoon strike a perfect balance between atmospheric riffs and blankets of noise on their third album ‘Temporary Light’. The Belgian band have long been a part of the underground shoegaze scene, but it can be argued that it’s taken them a while to hone their art, and create something truly worthy of the genre’s mid 90s peak. This record is exactly that. This is a love letter to the stylistic past of a world driven by distortion pedals and hazy, fuzzed out soundscapes, yet at the same time, a set of tracks that sounds wholly relevant in the era in which it was created. If not quite a “genre classic” in the truest sense, it’s certainly the kind of record that those deeply into one of rock’s more malleable genres can take to their hearts.

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DISORIENTATION – Survival Mode EP

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In some ways, this second EP from Disorientation sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Scratch the surface, of course, and you’ll find bits and pieces of familiar noise, but nothing presented by this avant-garde metal duo ever takes a predictable route. This is doom and black metal, but never as you’ve experienced it before. It’s almost industrial, but never entirely so. There are also elements of avant-garde jazz prog and chamber vocals appearing, somewhat unexpectedly, alongside the heavier moments.

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