What a great find this is! Charlotte Cegara manages to blend touches of Siouxsie & The Banshees with Kate Bush’s earlier vocal acrobatics. She’s going to be worth exploring further, I’m sure.
Ethereal
Orthodox Outcast – Bright Sadness
I never expected to encounter a band of devout Christians like Orthodox Outcast, whose sound evokes the demo tapes of early New Order, the Cocteau Twins, or a much more stripped-down version of the Human League. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This is my surprise of the year.
Cuélebre – Oinos
Cuélebre is a band that creates a sound blending world music, folk, medieval music, and a hint of progressive rock with darkwave influences. Their name is derived from a mythical dragon in Asturian culture, which has Celtic roots. This music will appeal to fans of Dead Can Dance, Qntal, Sopor Continue Reading
Dust Of Time – The Waking Hours
Greek composer Manolis Fasoulakis (Dust Of Time) joins with the Last American Poet, Shane Beck for an album which deftly combines Fasoulakis’ ethereal sonic landscapes with the haunting poetry of Beck. If you are into bands like Dead Can Dance, Lycia, Zahmia Lehmanni-era SPK or bands of this caliber, The Continue Reading
Matryoshka – Laideronnette
Matryoshka are a band from Japan who play a nearly heartbreaking version of post-rock topped with gentle, almost drowned-out vocals. This adds to the character of the record. It’s one of the saddest albums I’ve heard in a while, but achingly so.
Mira – Mira
From the good souls over at Projekt Records: “Mira were a dream pop/shoegaze band from Tallahassee, Florida, formed in 1996 featuring vocalist Regina Sosinski, guitarist Tom Parker, bassist Max Fresen and drummer Alan Donaldson, with second guitarist Mark Davidson. After releasing several EPs on their own Tesseract label, the band Continue Reading
Linnea Hjertén – Nio Systrar
From Linnea Hjertén’s Bandcamp site: “Born from the synthesis of Swedish folk melodies and ritual ambient, Linnea Hjertén’s debut album “Nio systrar” (‘Nine sisters’) is a wordless invocation of primordial energy – a psychoacoustic gateway to altered states of consciousness. Each of the nine tracks brings us deeper into the Continue Reading
Ясный-Svetly – Песни (Songs)
There is such a gentle lilt to the voice of Nata Boundriver of Ясный-Svetly that I can imagine this being what Kate Bush or Hope Sandoval sounding like if either had fronted post-rock era Mark Hollis or some band specializing in ethereal, ghostly music. A sublime listen.
Brendan Perry – Eye of the Hunter / Live at the I.C.A.
Dead Can Dance singer Brendan Perry released this masterpiece of an album for 4AD Records in 1999. 23 years later, the label is offering the album as a download, CD and LP with bonus tracks from a performance recorded during 4AD’s infamous 13 Year Itch residency at the storied London Continue Reading
Skyphone – Oscilla
Our friends at Lost Tribe Sound have released yet another gem in their catalog. This release is from the Danish group Skyphone, and their Bandcamp release page explains further: “The new Skyphone record original began as a project to explore long form close-miced acoustic sessions. The trio worked to record Continue Reading