Thursday, May 15, 2014

Kulara - Fragmental Remembrance, a Switch of Resurrection, and My Hearing Vanished (2001)

Genre: Screamo, Experimental, Post Rock, Psychedelic
Country: Japan

I guess it should be no surprise that a really strange and experimental take on screamo comes from Japan. At times you can hear the traditional post rock/screamo similar to Envy and then they throw you off by adding some psychedelic, jazzy or whatever else genre they feel like adding. Don't go into this expecting some progressive psychedelic screamo like Gospel's The Moon is A Dead World because this is a completely different and intriguing beast of its own.

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Saturday, May 3, 2014

iglooghost & cow yote - SEWER_RAP (2013)

Genre: Hip-Hop
Country: N/A

Think Captain Murhpy (ie pitch-shifted rap over futuristic beats) except done much better. Only consisting of two songs (well, two songs with multiple songs within them) the two work together with such chemistry in its short run time. The glitch-y beats could definitely survive and live up on its own but cow yote really brings them to life here and does them justice.

Bandcamp and download within the description if you look hard enough

Friday, May 2, 2014

Vampillia - The Divine Move (2014)

Genre: Black Metal, Modern Classical, Post Rock
Country: Japan

Featuring screamed vocals mixed with soft operatic vocals while string instruments and piano play on top of blast beats and fast riffing, this will without a doubt be one of the strangest and most interesting albums you'll listen to this year. It's all about build and release here and the pay off is definitely worth it. The climaxes mix up the two halves of this album (the soft and the heavy) beautifully and fittingly. It's a fun and beautiful experience as much as it's bizarre.

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Saturday, April 26, 2014

_yi. - OTNJ_B (2013)

Genre: Electronic, Glitch Pop
Country: N/A

Using various samples from a variety of sources from jazz to J-pop, _yi. creates glitch-y, feel-good, and grooving songs that you can either chill to or dance to.

Name-Your-Price on Bandcamp

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Blazo - Colors of Jazz (2011)

Genre: Instrumental Hip-Hop
Country: Poland

All this really is is simple and relaxing jazzy instrumental hip-hop in the vein of Nujabes. Nothing here exactly reinvents the wheel of this style of hip hop but it's great in whatever mood you're in.

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Saturday, April 12, 2014

Majority Rule - Interviews with Majority Rule (2001)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

These guys seem to be overlooked in the realm of screamo despite doing a split with Pg. 99. This album is definitely superior to that split since Majority Rule go all out with brute force using massive riffs at a breakneck pace and knowing when to slow it down at the right times. It shouldn't be forgotten that the vocalist is one of the best in its genre with his passionate and high pitched screams.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

385 - Ningen (2013)

Genre: Punk, Noise Rock, Jazz
Country: Japan

If you ever wanted a Midori replacement (ie zany vocals ranging from cutesy vocals to loud screaming with aggressive jazz-influenced punk in the background) then 385 is a pretty damn good replacement. They may not be as good as Midori, even to the point you could accuse of ripping them off, they at least do their style well and have some funky basslines and nice solos here and there.

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