Atsuko Chiba - Water, It Feels Like It's Growing (2023)

The Canadian band claim to "venturesomely cross genre-defining borders with a cohesive and hypnotic blend of post-rock, progressive rock, and krautrock, weaving together a rich sonic tapestry that subverts through offbeat songwriting". This blend of genres feels particularly impressive on their third album called Water, It Feels Like It's Growing.

The dense and steamy atmosphere is one that characterizes the band. Their music is very much guitar-oriented, often in a very prog rock way, but adds so much to their compositions. The very first thing is the use of vocals: there is a good range of various kinds of vocals, often with the use of backing vocals, making those heavy psychedelic rock vibes all over the album. These fun-fueled, colourful compositions have this energetic and engaging component accentuated very much. But the band's music can get more atmospheric, even dreamy, with Shook (I'm Often)'s oneiric vocals that fill out the spaces around the audience and Seeds' beautiful string sounds. The whole album sounds like it was taken from thee past when psychedelia and prog were more popular and I appreciate this kind of homage.

Water, It Feels Like It's Growing costs 9 EUR (9.99 CAD).

Check: Water, It Feels Like It's Growing

Country: Canada 

Genre: psychedelic prog rock

Label: Mothland

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Darkfield - Reanimated Voices (2022)

Joey Westerlund already appeared on this blog two years ago with his album Carry Us Away. This year it's time for the third position in his discography with the new release called Reanimated Voices.

His solo post-rock music is based on the rough electric guitar sounds that contrast the very prog rock-like keyboard tunes. It's both dark and rocky and beautiful at the same time. The main theme for the album is said to be mental health, "emotions you feel or "voices" that you hear during various moments and periods of your life" - according to the artist's words. As the title of the first song suggests: it's all about chemicals, but the complex structures of the compositions on the album hint that there's way more to the topic. As in Copacetic where the attractive key notes are being devoured by very satisfying and loud guitars only to soon get back to the calm in Divided. However, the most interesting things happen towards the end of the album with Control's very modern feel and World Eater's satisfying crescendo.

Reanimated Voices costs 8 USD.

Darkfield - Carry Us Away (2020)

Check: World Eater

Country: Oregon, US

Genre: prog post-rock

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Blurred City Lights - Micropolis (2022)

Blurred City Lights appeared on this blog once before, back in 2018, when the duo released their second album Volker. But the artists themselves have been a big part of this blog anyway: Dean Garcia with the phenomenal trip-hop SPC ECO and Jarek Leśkiewicz as Opollo or half of Sunset Wrecks. There was little doubt that the new release from the two should be posted about here.

The whole project balances on the border between dreamy genres and trip-hop and progressive rock. Somehow, for me, Leśkiewicz's vocals are exactly between Riverside's Mariusz Duda and Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. If one had to label this music, they would probably go for dreamy trip-hop though, and I can absolutely hear that (especially in the parts where both are helped by another familiar face, the second half of SPC ECO - Rose Berlin). I appreciate both artist's skills in creating this trip-hoppy soundscape filled with subtle beats and imagine-fuelling electronic sounds all over them. However, this wouldn't be a complete picture since the duo are also well suited for guitar sounds as well, sometimes quite heavy, sometimes quite grungy and riff-oriented. It really is a blend of many things and as such, could only be appreciated. Especially that the whole album feels very coherent with its airy and surreal atmosphere that happens to be expressed in many different ways.

Micropolis costs 7.5 EUR (6 GBP).

Blurred City Lights - Volker (2018)

Check: All My Days

Country: UK/Poland

Genre: ethereal trip-hop

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Hemelbestormer - Collide & Merge (2021)

Hemelbestormer is one of the bands that define the heavy music scene in Belgium, one that never disappoints fans' expectations when it comes to the overwhelming guitar noise compositions. Three years after their third album A Ring of Blue Light, they are back with immersive and absolutely massive Collide & Merge.

This extremely long album (physically existing as double CD/LP) is filled with long and slowly developing (or even developing and diminishing and then developing again within one track) very much guitar-oriented compositions. They seem to last forever while the storm of guitar noise comes and goes, making this feel nature-like epic. There are traces of electronica here, but the focus is solely put on what can be achieved with a wall of guitar noise - and the results are so impressive! The blizzard of sound they can generate is fantastic with the noise parts in Collapsar (or rather somewhere within Collapsar's complicated soundscape), the first seconds of In Praise of Sun and in my favourite Void that constitutes almost a quarter-of-an-hour-long love letter to loud music.

But there's more to this music than only the crushing quality of noise. There's a lot of space for moody atmosphere building, drone ambient-like passages as well as for skillful guitar riffs. I love those mysterious spoken word/whispering bits in Quasar as well. In general, the whole album sounds like it was carefully designed to reflect what's the best in instrumental guitar music.

Collide & Merge costs 6 EUR.

Hemelbestormer - A Ring of Blue Light (2018)

Check: Void 

Country: Belgium

Genre: massive post-metal

Label: Ván Records

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Pertegò - Una (2021)

Pertegò and their emotional music appeared on my blog three years ago with their previous album Black. In the meantime, the Emilia-Romagna-based group celebrated the 10 years anniversary of their debut album and now, to underline this achievement, they showed their fourth album mischievously called Una.

The focus point for their art is nature and its forces, they are "telling stories about still free nature, they are talking about their world made of simple things and the nature that gave them birth" and fittingly, the music on the new album ranges from delicate and airy places to sky-reaching, breath-taking monuments made of sound. Just like the world around us was meant to be. The artists do that with an epic take on melancholic post-rock/prog-rock music with extremely heavy focus on creating the airy and ethereal atmosphere. The inclusion of piano keys gives it the delicate notes, the string sequences add to the whole thing's tear-jerking nostalgia, the oneiric-sounding vocals bring the element of Sacrum and simultaneously makes me think of the soundtrack for Civilization V, my favourite gaming soundtrack ever - with similar orchestral/choral take on the ethereal music. I love it so much as it goes on and delivers more and more nostalgic cinematic vibes and, simply speaking, beauty.

For the band, the album is "the end of the fifteen-year journey, a journey that has described [them] in every moment of [their] life until today" and, at the same time, marks the time of personal changes within the band's line-up. As a result, the album sounds fittingly epic (it's not always that an album means so much for a group of people) and magical.

Una costs 8 EUR.

Pertegò - Black (2018)

Check: Una

Country: Italy

Genre: orchestral ethereal post-rock

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Non Somnia - Stella Meae (2021)

Carlos Herrera Quifes is a Spanish artist who creates his music under the moniker of Non Somnia. The project's names is quite deceitful as it translates to "Don't Dream", while the music he shows is all about dreamy feelings. Herrera Quifes has just released his debut album called Stella Meae.

In his music, the Spanish artist combines virtually neoclassical instruments like piano keys and strings with space/sci-fi vibes of progressive electronica and post-rock. The mix here sounds as if Tides from Nebula decided to play some moody and slower pieces with beautifully sounding instruments. As could be guessed, eventually the compositions end  up more into the post-rock realm with very guitar-fueled and loud crescendos. But even then, the music doesn't go away from the piano/synth nature, these are not only ornamentation, it's the core of Non Somnia's sound and it feels very well done. This combination of genres creates a dramatic and dynamic soundscape with words like epic and cinematic that have to be uttered here.

Stella Meae costs 5 EUR.

Check: The End of the World

Country: Spain

Genre: piano-based post-rock

Label: Post. Records

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DeLaa Fargis - Collapse of Meanings (2021)

Poznań-based Grzegorz Zwierzchowski creates a unique, neoclassical take on prog/post-rock music and releases it under the moniker DeLaa Fargis. Last time he appeared on this blog it was just after releasing his album Paralax Markovian Denigrate. Now, after two years he's  back with Collapse of Meanings.

The main characteristic of his music is that despite the prog rock attire (the artworks, the titles, even the project's name), Zwierzchowski's music is fueled by piano keys. There's guitars, there's a bit of noise and drums of course, but the main thing are the keys and I love it. Another thing is that the artist cleverly introduces other Polish classics to the audience, like this album is accompanied by Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert's poem, one that has some eery lines that could be applied to the nowadays situation here ("it’s like a vast depression/hanging over the country"). And although the title of the album suggests a work about some kind of ending, some kind of apocalypse, the music is honestly too pretty to deliver the nervous atmosphere that may have been the point here.

Collapse of Meanings costs 7 USD.

DeLaa Fargis - Paralax Markovian Denigrate (2019) EN

Check: Noyade

Country: Poland

Genre: piano-driven post-rock

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Black Narcissus - Where the Flowers Grant You Wishes (2020) EN

Black Narcissus make a super modest duo out of Belgium who introduces themselves as "2-piece rhythm section providing intense and atmospheric tunes of monumental proportion". Modest because they are so much more than rhythm section what they prove on their second one, after 2018's Beyond The Whispers Of Common Men, album called Where the Flowers Grant You Wishes.

And of course I cannot shy away from the fact that it's yet another very much and very heavy guitar project from Belgium, this country has this thing for this kind of music. Anyway, the duo consisting of Thomas Wuyts and Jesse Massant, show a great deal of post-rock music with huge inspirations drawn from progressive rock and those monumentalism vibes - it's not only about their music, just read the track titles and study the cover art to get the notion of the atmosphere usually known from myths or fantasy literature.

The impression is further deepened by sampled spoken word sounding on guitar riff-filled compositions. This is this prog rock inspiration I usually don't appreciate that much but I'm ready to say that it sounds really good here. Probably because it builds up the very dark and very dense atmosphere of the album, ruling this music especially in the particularly good She Yields to None but Time.

Where the Flowers Grant You Wishes costs 8 EUR.

Check: She Yields to None but Time

Country: Belgium

Genre: progressive post-rock

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A Beautiful Machine - King Tide (2020) EN

It's difficult to wrap one's mind around the fact that this beautiful noise is created by one man only. But yes, Skye Klein and his A Beautiful Machine continue the career with the fifth album called King Tide. And it's really well done.

Klein makes his post-rock shoegaze ot airy post-metal for 20 years already. It comprises "Love songs in space, space songs about love, pitch black vapour trails and all the colours old and new and never before named". In practice, it means shatteringly powerful guitar uproar, noise that is both massive and devastating but also beautiful. No wonder that the Australian's new album is dominated by the theme of the ocean.

Post-rock here is filled with dirt, atmospheric and poignant noise, very post-metal and sometimes even progressive compositions swing like the title's king tide. For me it's perhaps too metal-progressive but it's made up by the climactic moments of the epic post-rock.

King Tide costs 7 USD.

Check: King Tide

Country: Australia 

Genre: shoegazing post-rock

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A Beautiful Machine - King Tide (2020) PL

Ciężko pojąć, że ten przepiękny hałas to dzieło tylko jednego człowieka. A jednak, Skye Klein i jego A Beautiful Machine kontynuuje karierę piątym albumem King Tide. I jest on naprawdę udany.

Klein tworzy swój post-rockowy shoegaze albo eteryczny post-metal już od dwudziestu lat. Składają się na niego "miłosne piosenki w kosmosie, kosmiczne piosenki o miłości, czarne jak smoła smugi pary i wszystkie kolory, stare i nowe i te, których jeszcze nie nazwano". W praktyce oznacza to wstrząsająco potężny gitarowy tumult, hałas, który jest jednocześnie masywny i siejący zniszczenie ale i piękny. Nic dziwnego, że na nowym albumie Australijczyka dominuje motyw oceanu.

Post-rock jest tutaj przepełniony brudem, nastrojowym i buńczucznym noise'em, bardzo post-metalowe, czasem też progresywne kompozycje kołyszą jak tytułowa król fal. Trochę dla mnie za bardzo właśnie metalowo-progresywne, ale zdecydowanie nadrabia to klimatycznoscią momentów post-rockowo epickich. 

King Tide kosztuje 29 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: King Tide

Kraj: Australia 

Szufladka: shoegazing post-rock

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In2Elements - Cycles (2020) PL

In2Element to solowy projekt Adama Szopy, który rozrósł się do tercetu dzięki przyjściu Krzysztofa Rutki (z krakowskiego Transmission Zero) i Michała Szendzielorza (Gallileous). W takim składzie artyści nagrali wydany bardzo niedawno album Cycles.

Wydaje mi się, że wiele w muzyce zespołu zostało z ducha solowego post-rocka. Przede wszystkim budowanie kompozycji w dużym stopniu w oparciu o dźwięki zadziornej, dobrze słyszalnej gitary prowadzącej. Tutaj sprawdza się to wyjątkowo dobrze, a motyw przewodni inspirowany irytującym owadem w Circadian Rhythm (wiem, że chodzi o rytm dobowy, ale czy to nie brzmi jak rytm wygrywany przez cykady?) jest znakomicie wciągający.  

Do tego dochodzą czytelne progresywne i metalowe inspiracje (Vicious Circle!) i kilka intrygujących zagrywek. Solidny, bardzo gitarowy, bardzo riffowy album stawiający bardziej na progresywne tupnięcie niż wygenerowaną atmosferę.

Cycles kosztuje 20 złotych.

Sprawdź: Circadian Rhythm

Kraj: Polska

Szufladka: progressive post-rock

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In2Elements - Cycles (2020) EN

In2Element is a solo project by Adam Szopa, that grew up to a trio when welcomed Krzysztof Rutka (known from the Kraków's Transmission Zero) and Michał Szendzielorz (Gallileous) aboard. With this line-up, the artists released recently an album called Cycles.

I think there's still a lot of the solo post-rock vibes left in the band's music. First of all, the compositions are often built on the sound of the very clearly-heard, pugnacious lead guitar. Here this is legitimately good and the insect-inspired leit-motif in Circadian Rhythm (I know it's an astronomical term, but doesn't it sound like a cicada rhythm?) is perfectly engaging.

And then there are also the clear progressive and metal influences (Vicious Circle!) and some intriguing solutions. Solid, very guitar- and riff-oriented album that is more about the hit than generating a mood atmosphere.

Cycles costs 5 EUR (20 PLN).

Check: Circadian Rhythm

Country: Poland

Genre: progressive post-rock

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Echo Tail - Beauty in Denial (2018) EN

"Beauty in Denial" is already the tenth (!) album by the English Echo Tail. Although the Cambridge located band describe themselves as prog/post-metal, their genre spectre is super wide, this time they wanted to focus on the shoegaze atmosphere with more aggressive guitars. That's why they called it the "angrier sister" of  "Fields of Vision", one of their previous albums.

Indeed, since the instrumental intro, we are faced with raw guitars in the backgrounds and hard-rock riffs at the fronts. Shoegaze sound lovers should be intrigued by the dispersed vocal (sometimes in a spectacular way) that is both full of airy vibes and incredible energy, together with some prog-rock colour. Sounds as if Riverside recorded guitars while drinking energy drinks and the vocal when they sobered up and the adrenaline level lowered down to default.

But not always, the further in the album, the more rockish the vocal is. The most aggressive, almost metal, as if a metal singer decided to whisper, appears to be in "Dispeller" which gives the refreshing energy and passion to the track. This spectacular combination of shoegaze and metal but not so blurred as in the backgaze's musical depression, has attracted me to this album in the first place. The next tracks continue with genre mixing which is a good decision although in some places it gets too hard-rockish for my taste (as in ""Letters to Manilla").

"Beauty in Denial" costs 0.5 GBP.

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Echo Tail - Beauty in Denial (2018) PL

"Beauty in Denial" to już dziesiąty (!) album angielskiego Echo Tail. Mimo że grupa rezydująca w Cambridge określa się jako przede wszystkim prog/post-metalowa to ich muzyczne spektrum jest niezwykle rozległe, na nowej płycie postanowili skupić się na shoegaze'owym nastroju z agresywniejszymi gitarami dlatego też nazywają ją "gniewniejszą siostrą" "Fields of Vision" jednej ze swoich wcześniejszych płyt.

I faktycznie, począwszy od instrumentalnego intra mamy do czynienia z przestrojonymi gitarami w tle i hard-rockowym riffem na pierwszym planie. Zwolenników shoegaze'owych brzmień zaciekawić powinien rozproszony (czasem bardzo zresztą efektownie) wokal, który chociaż pełen eterycznej atmosfery ma w sobie miejscami wiele nieokrzesanej energii i prog-rockowego zabarwienia. Brzmi nieco tak, jakby Riverside nagrali gitary na energetykach a wokale dodali dopiero, gdy poziom adrenaliny opadł do normalnego poziomu.

Chociaż nie zawsze. Nadzwyczaj agresywny, już niemal metalowy, tak jakby metalowy wokalista postanowił sobie poszeptać, wokal pojawia się w "Dispeller", co dodaje kawałkowi odświeżającej energii i agresji. To właśnie to efektowne skrzyżowanie shoegaze i metalu ale wciąż nie tak rozmyte jak w blackgaze'owej muzycznej depresji, przyciągnęło mnie do tej płyty. Kolejne kawałki to kolejne balansowanie między gatunkami, co na ogół udaje się świetnie choć "Letters to Manilla" brzmi już zbyt hard rockowo jak na mój gust.

"Beauty in Denial" kosztuje 2,50 złotego (0,5 GBP).

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Seyfert - Boa Noite/Boa Sorte (2018) EN

Seyfert is a solo project of André Luiz, that evolved into a four-pieces band with Yasmin Cruz as a vocalist. The Brazilians have just released their album "Boa Noite/Boa Sorte" where they emit so much eclecticism that doesn't make the atmosphere of the album any less unique.

Diversity is what's the most characteristic for this album. It starts with a delicate neoclassic intro and if it made someone less vigilant, they can be really surprised when "Nomes e Datas" 's guitars suddenly hit. They are not very loud but surely are aggressive. Still though, they go down quite quickly and Seyfert's music becomes relaxing ("Pointeros") and even... electronically epic ("Transcurso").

Another surprise is the appearing of vocals in the second part of the album. Both the male one (in progressive rock-ish "Morfeu") and female (in the beautiful ballad "210117") fit well into the already established mood of the album. The real game changer though is the last track that lasts well over quarter and in which the band's eclecticism is closed within one track.

Two cherries on top appear in the Bandcamp's account of the group where you can download Mogwai's covers. And the Brazilians have great taste as they chose probably the most beautiful songs by the Scots, especially "Take Me Somewhere Nice".

"Boa Noite/Boa Sorte" is available for whatever you pay.

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Seyfert - Boa Noite/Boa Sorte (2018) PL

Seyfert to solowy projekt André Luiz, który rozrósł się do czteroosobowego zespołu z Yasmin Cruz na wokalu. Brazylijczycy wydali właśnie płytę "Boa Noite/Boa Sorte", na której epatują eklektyzmem, który nie przeszkadza im jednak w generowaniu unikalnej atmosfery.

Ten album jest przede wszystkim bardzo zróżnicowany. Zaczyna się delikatnym neoklasycznym wstępem i jeśli ktoś spuścił przez to gardę może zostać znokautowany niespodziewanie gitarowym początkiem "Nomes e Datas". Gitary nie są specjalnie głośne ale z pewnością nie brakuje im drapieżności. Ta jednak wypala się dość szybko i muzyka Seyfert staje się bardziej refleksyjna ("Pointeros"), a w końcu nawet... elektronicznie epicka ("Transcurso").

Kolejną niespodzianką jest pojawienie się w drugiej części płyty wokalu. Zarówno ten męski (w progresywno rockowym "Morfeu") i kobiecy (w pięknej balladzie "210117") nie odstają od ustalonego wcześniej klimatu. Prawdziwym game changerem okazuje się jednak trwający grubo ponad kwadrans "Boa Sorte", który eklektyzm grupy zamyka w obrębie jednego utworu.

Dwiema wisienkami na klimatycznym torcie są dostępne na Bandcampie covery Mogwai. Żeby mało było ochów i achów, Brazylijczycy wybrali chyba najpiękniejsze utwory Szkotów z "Take Me Somewhere Nice" na czele.

"Boa Noite/Boa Sorte" można mieć za ile się chce.

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Seasonal - Heartvoid (2017) EN

One of the albums that, not only because of its title, should be listened to when your heart is reigned by void and helplessness. Maciej Sochoń's Seasonal is a one man project combining progressive rock, post-rock and shoegaze. But, what's probably most important as music is created for emotions, it's swarming with those.

The compositions played on guitars and drums, Sochoń ornaments with short dreampop-like vocals. As in "Lifeweight" where the beauty of the music and the melody is smashed by bitter lyrics. As the whole album actually is. The artist himself states that he wants to leave the interpretation of his work to the audience. The ideal of minimalistic lyrics and expressing music is the monumental "Bloodstained". Quite surprisingly, after a very slow "Off the track" there is space for particularly lively and energetic "I want to get wasted with you". But apart from this one-timer the whole album is more moody than catchy but it is more advantage than not.

"Heartvoid" costs 5 EUR.

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