Storm & Stress

Storm & Stress are a U.S. experimental rock trio consisting of guitarist/vocalist Ian Williams (ex-member of Don Caballero, current member of Battles), bassist Erich Ehm, and drummer Kevin Shea. They derive their name from the German literary movement Sturm und Drang.

Storm & Stress
1.We Write Threnodies. We Write With Explosions
2.Today is Totally Crashing & Stunned in Bright Lights
3.Dance 'til Record Skips Like Passengers Shift on Take Off
4.Micah Gaugh Sings All Is All
5.Guitar Cabinet Stack Way High Is Freedom or Gravity Gives Us Rhythm
6.Piles of Blinkers Slip for New Years
7.Orange Cone Made No Noise

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Tyft

If you can't tell, I've been on a jazz kick lately. Even if you're not into jazz, give this and Dragon's Head a listen!

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Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson formed this trio with his downtown New York pals Jim Black and Andrew D'Angelo, to create a sonic environment filled with jagged grooves, unpredictable improvs, and live electronic transformations. A provocative atmosphere hovers over the musics: nothing goes on for very long, and there are frequent change-ups of tone and style. D’Angelo’s acerbic alto sax and bass clarinet sounds combine with Jensson’s stringent lines and Black’s slashing attack, but equally there are moments of disquieting reverie, and it’s all performed with composure and conviction. Although quite free in part the music is highly organized; if Webern were alive today and into avant-jazz/rock this is the road he might be taking.

Meg Nem Sa
1. Led Tyftelin
2. Shooshabuster
3. International Four
4. Ain't No Waltz
5. Tumble Bugs
6. Meg Nem Sa
7. Okkar
8. Ouch
9. Flutter
10. Hilsner
11. Bloq
12. Sets Nidur
13. Amena

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Boombox Casserole

Jazz-tronica duo from Milwaukee, WI USA.Sean Behling on synth bass, rhodes and tenor sax, Devin Drobka on drums. Robert Lundberg is also featured on upright bass on Undecagon, and Parallelogram. You can check them out HERE

Assembly Of Shapes
Square.01
Octogon.02
This Is Boombox Casserole.03
Undecagon.04
Trapezoid.05
Parallelogram.06
Trans-Rhombus.07
Ellipsoid.08
Star.09
Hexagon.10

Kitchens & Bathrooms

The American debut of Hamilton, Ontario's Kitchens + Bathrooms. Math rock with style and melody. Incredibly well crafted songs that are intense and catchy at the same time. (released 2003) All the songs flow together really well, to the point of not really being able to distinguish one song from the next, even though there are no tie-ins from other songs on this entire album.

Vehicles Beyond
1.First One In, Last One Out
2.He's On A Dirt Bike
3.Alphabet Conscious
4.Australian Council
5.The Commodity
6.
7.Cold, Colder, Coldest
8.Catalyst Envisionment
9.For Instance, Driving Blind
10.The Woods
11. Desert Prophets

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Tortoise

Tortoise’s almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago’s fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to Krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.

TNT
1.TNT
2.Swung From The Gutters
3.Ten-Day Interval
4.I Set My Face In The Hillside
5.Equator
6.Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work
7.Suspension Bridge At Iguazú Falls
8.Four-Day Interval
9.In Sarah, Mencken, Christ, And Beethoven There Were Woman And Men
10.Almost Always Is Nearly Enough
11.Jetty
12.Everglade

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Supermachiner

The ambient/experimental side project of Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou from Converge. Worth a listen or two. For fans of Old Man Gloom and Mogwai.



Rise Of The Great Machine
1. Rise of the Great Machine
2. Flight of Vultures
3. I Am Legend
4. Declaration One
5. Above You
6. The War We'll Never Win
7. Vicious Circles
8. By the Roadside
9. I Am Oblivion
10. Treading in the Wake of it All
11. Below You
12. Bitter Cold
13. A New Day a New Loss
14. Fireflies Light the Way
15. Remember My Name
16. A New Precepice Before Us
17. Declaration Two
18. Reign of the Great Machine

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Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone

I first came across Mary Halvorson's guitar work when I was in Brooklyn last March and was given the amazing opportunity to see her jazz trio at The Stone. For those of you who don't know, The Stone is a not-for-profit venue in the East Village set up by John Zorn (yeah THE John Zorn) for experimental and avant-garde artists. Tyshawn Sorey was sitting in on drums and apparently had learned all the songs that were played that night in a day. If you have the chance to see him play, don't pass it up. He has got to be one of the best drummers I have ever seen. The Mary Halvorson Trio also has an upcoming release on Firehouse 12 Records. This release "Prairies" is performed by Mary Halvorson (Guitar) and Jessica Pavone (Viola). Best described as avant-garde chamber music. This is their first release, The second On And Off (2007) can be bought here.

"The American prairie sound rebuilt with modernity is how the Brooklyn duo of guitarist Mary Halvorson and violist Jessica Pavone describe the stylistic basis of their debut album Prairies. Halvorson's guitar is an expressive beast, with a repertoire of moods that shift effortlessly from funky John Lee Hooker twangs to cerebral harmonics. Pavone's viola must also be two-headed: her recklessly exposed melodic monodies are met the other way with ornate decoration."

Prairies
1.Till April
2.Impossible To Recreate
3.Prairies
4.Two Day
5.Each Other
6.A Decade Passed
7.Familiar Spirits
8.One Day In August
9.Sometimes
10.Woebegone
11.Uncovered, Siren
12.Your Reason Is Dead
13. Last Hymn




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