http://www.almostcool.org/mr/ Recent reviews from almostcool.org en-us http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2233/ Call me a sentimentalist, but there's something inside me that still gets a little bit excited about a new album from The Orb. They were literally one of the first artists (along with Aphex Twin) who really got me into electronic music, and despite some lackluster efforts from them in the past couple years, I'm still interested in hearing what they're doing. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-08 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2232/ In the time since their last album Amid The Noise, So Percussion have kept themselves quite busy. They toured North America with Matmos, teaming up on some mind-bending live performances, and are now back with Five (and-a-half) Gardens, another release that finds them working with several different artists. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-08 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2231/ The newest release on the Audio Dregs label finds what is essentially an all-star cast of indie artists from across the musical spectrum contributing ambient-related music for a sprawling release that touches on all corners. Artists from Kranky, Load, Carpark, 12K, Warp and a slew of other labels bump up against each other in sometimes exciting ways, and seventeen tracks fill almost an entire CD (seventy-five minutes plus) worth of sound. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-08 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2230/ In the past decade, it would be hard to pick another artist who has been as prolific as Jon Attwood (except perhaps Merzbow, and even he has slowed down somewhat). If you include singles and EPs and full-lengths and even the limited CDRs that he releases each year, Attwood (under the name Yellow6) has released over thirty hours worth of music in roughly ten years time. If you were a faithful collector, you could listen to his work for a full day straight without a single break (and still have several hours to spare), or fill four entire nights with nothing but his often somnambulistic sounds as a backdrop. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-08 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2229/ In some ways, The Balustrade Ensemble is a bit of a seriously fringe supergroup. Just about every single contributor to Capsules has not only released solo work, but also collaborated with a slew of other artists as well. Wendy Allen has done vocals for Howard Hello, Court And Spark, and others, while Liam Singer has released a solo album and performed on a variety of different albums. Scott Solter has released a couple different solo albums and done production work for a lot of different artists, and several of the aforementioned artists also play in a group called Boxharp. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-01 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2228/ Harmony Korine is the sort of director that most people either really love or really dislike. His films to date have moved with a sort of awkward fever-dream intensity that teeters between amateur and auteur while also mixing together occasional stomach-churning ugliness with otherworldly beauty. Given all of the above, it seems fitting that the music for his newest film comes courtesy of one J. Spaceman (Jason Pierce of Spiritualized) and Sun City Girls. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-01 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2227/ Sometimes a band comes along and gathers up a lot of critical acclaim, and in the process I find myself wondering just how and why it's all happening. No Age is one of those groups, and although there were places on their debut Weirdo Rippers where it seemed like the hyperbole-filled words really matched up with the music itself, I simply found myself largely scratching my head as to why the two piece had resonated so much. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-01 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2226/ At one point in my life, Portishead was easily my favorite musical group. It was probably just after the release of their amazing self-titled release and definitely after their debut had long since been carved in stone as a classic. They made their music, put out a decent (but not great) live album and seemingly fell off the face of the map. Sure, Beth Gibbons teamed up with Rustin Man on the occasionally-excellent Out Of Season, but it wasn't really the same. Aaron Coleman 2008-05-01 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/podcasts/2008/20080501_3.m4a http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2225/ In the course of only two years now, Cloudland Canyon have burst onto the scene in a rather prolific way, with a full-length release (Requiems der Nature 2002-2004), a split release (Exterminating Angel, with Lichens), and an EP ( Silver Tongued Sisyphus). Now, the duo is already back with their second full-length album Lie In Light and it feels like a culmination of their work to date, settling into a comfortable seven-song setting that blurs together some driving krauty rhythms with a healthy does of pure kosmische, as layers and layers of synths blur together into a heady haze. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-24 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2224/ I've followed Kronos Quartet for ages now, delighting in some of their work and recoiling at other pieces. Technically, they're always brilliant, and they've certainly never shied away from adventurous and/or challenging pieces. In terms of sheer quantity, their work hovers close to the top in my somewhat overflowing music collection. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-24 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/podcasts/2008/20080424_thecuspofm.m4a http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2223/ Last year, Paul Dickow released what was by far the best album to date under his moniker of Strategy. Future Rock was a stunning collection of music that blurred lines between kraut rock, funk, dub, space rock, and ambient music in a way that truly fit the somewhat lofty (intentional or not) title. Music For Lamping is the newest release from Strategy, and it's not really a typical follow-up in many ways. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-24 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2222/ A couple years after the time I first started getting into music that was outside of the mainstream, one of the first websites that I discovered was Brainwashed.com. At the time (clear back in 1996), it not only hosted websites for a variety of different artists, but also featured weekly updates (called "The Brain") with album and live reviews and other related information. Over the past decade, the site has grown in scope, but retained the same overall feel, with direct hosting of numerous artist websites (including Matmos, Windy & Carl and a ton of others), often-updated reviews, release date information, and other stuff. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-24 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2221/ This self-titled debut from Brussels-based quartet Cafeneon is sort of what you'd expect from a group of fairly young musicians who haven't quite worked out all their kinks yet. Flirting with a lot of different styles, it flirts with greatness in places only to leave you wanting in others, dipping into everything from sharp-edged post-punk rockouts to disco pop and kraut-like workouts that stir in a healthy helping of feedback and noise. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-17 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2220/ A couple years ago, Erik Levander went through a series of events that just about every laptop-based electronic musician has nightmares about. Halfway through the process of recording his newest album, he sustained a massive hard drive crash and had no backup of his work. With the help of donations from strangers and supporters, he found the money to take his drive to a high-end restoration lab, but even they couldn't salvage his work. And so he started over, rebuilding old tracks from mix-downs and starting others from scratch while keeping a list of everyone who donated as a private sponsor of his work. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-17 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2219/ The last time we heard from Mark Kozelek, it was on the very mediocre Tiny Cities where he was compelled to spend an entire album covering Modest Mouse songs without adding much of anything to them. Fortunately, the rest of his career has largely been much more successful, with a string of stunning albums as Red House Painters (including the beautiful Songs For A Blue Guitar, which is still my favorite Kozelek-related release to date) several interesting solo efforts (including a cover album of AC/DC songs) and the excellent first album Ghosts Of The Great Highway as Sun Kil Moon. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-17 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2218/ If I had to distill Vetro down to a single word review, I would simply say that it is "charming." That, of course, doesn't really do it justice, as this eight song, fifty-minute release is much more than that. Composed by New Yorker Giancarlo Vulcano (who has worked with Hollywood composer Howard Shore) and performed by Vulcano and musicians from the Brooklyn new music series, it's minimal-leaning music that favors repeated, sometimes simple phrases that come together in often unexpected and beguiling ways. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-17 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/podcasts/2008/20080417_vetro.m4a http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2217/ Over the course of two full-length albums and a slew of b-sides and other releases (which were then compiled into the Regions Less Parallel CD), Auburn Lull has certainly made a name for themsevles in creating hazy, beautiful ambient pop. In many ways, their sound is a throwback one, harkening back to groups like Slowdive and even the Cocteau Twins in places. Begin Civil Twilight finds the group continuing down the same path, with twelve songs running almost sixty minutes in length. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-10 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2216/ In Between Worlds is the second full-length release from ambient musician Christopher Bissonnette, and like his debut album Periphery, is constructed largely of manipulated samples of orchestral music. Over the course of six long pieces (that run just over fifty minutes in total length), he juxtaposes soft spatial ambience with sounds that are just this side of abrasive, resulting in music that largely sounds like an extension of the background sounds of everyday life. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-10 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2215/ With each album, Chris Clark (again identified by just his last name this time out) somehow manages to make small steps to identify himself as unique in a world that's been flooded with electronic music. His previous album Body Riddle seemed to deal with the sheer manipulation of sound in a way that nobody else was quite attempting, and Turning Dragons continues down that road, albeit with an even more forceful hand. Sounding somewhat like a deconstructed dance mix, this eleven song, forty-five minute album is certainly the loudest thing he's done to date. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-10 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/2214/ Foals is a five-piece group of youngsters hailing from Oxford, UK, and their music is constructed in just a way that they'll inevitably gain a ton of fans and a good portion of backlash at the same time. One could probably get away with calling it dance punk and be safe, but the group takes elements from a ton of different styles and mash it all together into this highly enjoyable debut release. There's lots of intricate high-fret guitar work and synths weaving around crisp beats, some horn blurts, chanting vocals, and the occasional digital trickery. The result is something that comes in between The Rapture, English Beat, and maybe even Battles, without sounding a great deal like any of them. Aaron Coleman 2008-04-10 http://www.almostcool.org/mr/podcasts/2008/20080410_antidotes.m4a