Recommendation: Earth Size Diamonds - In A Shrinking Forest (2011)

What are you going to do with diamonds this big?

Recommendation: Eden - Aura (1979)

In the garden of...

The Resonance Association Release New Album

Read the announcement from mrs. vee...

Good Night Music: Global Commincation

Tonight as you go to bed to sleep, put this on.

You'll have sweet dreams...

Global Communication - 14:31

Eat your flowers, honey, or no hyperspace trippin' for you...

Fancy some electronic psychedelic music?
Try eating a flower...

Review: Daal - Destruktive Actions Affect Livings (2011, Agla Records)

What a second listening can do.

Streaming Album: Zombi - Escape Velocity

I've said here before that I subscribe to Rock-A-Rolla magazine that covers all kind of forward-thinking, experimental and avant-garde bands from various styles (metal, rock, electronic, jazz).

Their latest issue features Zombi on the cover and in a feature article and interview. A good read if you're interested in the band.

If you go here, to the Mag's website, you can stream the band's upcoming album, Escape Velocity, coming out on Relapse on May 10th.

Recommendation: Colin Masson

Colin Mason was the leader of the English progressive folk band, The Morrigan. He has also started releasing his own material under his own name, still retaining the folk elements, unto which he adds various lush sounding layers of keyboards, achieving at places a "symphonic prog" sound, particularly in his second album, The Mad Monk And The Mountain.

Recommendation/Review: Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious (2007)

Whenever I want an album to make me jump around, to give me high energy, pump me up, Vicious Delicious is a natural choice. 

This album by the Israeli psytrance group Infected Mushroom (although not really psytrance anymore) is a step up from what they released before and much more eclectic in nature. In here you have elements of trance, techno, psychedelic music, rap, hip-hop, rock, ethnic touches and what-not. 

The Electro-Lounge Series - #2: Bonobo

The second installment in the electronic/downtempo/chillout/trip-hop series focuses on Bonobo, a.k.a, Simon Green.



Let us find some background information about him together, shall we?

Recommendation: Hidden Orchestra (Scotland; electronica/jazz)

I've recently discovered a very pleasant surprise in the form of Scottish quartet Hidden Orchestra, formerly known as Joe Acheson Quartet.

Read more and listen after the jump

Band in the Spotlight, Review & Songs to be driven by...: Hidria Spacefolk - Balansia (2004, Silence)

Finnish space-rockers, Hidria Spacefolk, the self-proclaimed astrobeat orchestra, are a favourite band of mine with their highly energetic instrumental space/psych-rock tinged with cool effects.


Mikko Happo - guitar
Teemu Kilponen - Drums
Kimmo Dammert - Bass
Janne Lounatvuori - Synths, electric piano
Veikko Sutinen - Keyboards, Synths
Sami Wirkkala - guitar  

They've released 3 studio albums, 2 line albums 1 EP and 1 compilation of remixes. They are currently working on their next release.
More about the band here.

My review of the album, Balansia, is after the Jump.

Songs to stir thing up...: Infected Mushroom

Get your night started with Infected Mushroom. Here are two excellent songs from their 2007 album, Vicious Delicious, Becoming Insane and Change The Formality.

Recommendation: Navanoise/Steve Navarre (USA, electronic/ambient)

I don't know anything about Steve Navarre, except that he plays in the band Pindral and that he has his electronic/ambient project Navanoise, which I'm featuring here.

Here's what he writes in his Myspace:

"This project is an ongoing trial and error effort combining my love for sound. I love dabbling with synthesizers, field recording, real instruments and computer programming. The songs or perhaps better put, sound sketches, are a result. Music has been a passion for most of my life. When I'm not dabbling with my own sonic experiments I play bass in the Denver-based progressive rock band Pindral. I also have fondness for photography. The above sound sketches are unreleased demos. My usual technique is trying to combine elements that aren't intitally intended on going together, then by trial and error happy accidents occur and hopefully a comprehesive sound sketch is the result.

The first two "Are You Popular" and "Epiphany" are samples of newer work. They are a combination of synthesizer swatches I developed then added various other elements to them, such as, recordings from old stock movies and ham radio recrdings, programmed drums, etc. These will hopefully will be part of an upcoming official release I'm working on tentatively entitled "Enigmatic Oddysses".

The other samples are from a 2003 demo. "M2 Dreams" is an experiment with an old Hammond M2 organ I acquired for $35 at a local thrift store. All the organ parts/sounds are from this 50+ year old treasure in which I recorded a ten minute organ part holding down various chords and then utilized the draw bars to give the amazing textures. I then added programmed beats, field recordings and a former bandmate, Wayne Martein added the guitar part.

"Shortwave Iraq" is an edit of an over 18 minute piece I did during the first week of the war on Iraq. I recorded Bush's speech and various shortwave radio snippits from around the globe a couple nights right after the war was launched and added electric bass, programmed rhythms, field recordings and real percussion instruments to make this, perhaps reactionary piece of music. Hope you enjoy. They are rough in nature production-wise. Thanks if you do listen."

You can listen to the album in his Bandcamp; see below.