Agrestic by Handwrist

If you like a tune with a solid bass groove, cymbals and a soaring guitar solo that keeps on giving, check out track 1, "Primer". If that doesn't make you want to listen to the whole album, I don't know what will. This is a great lead track. I am too lazy to write a full review right now (I may never will) but I wanted to share.

Plant Eater EP by Plant Eater

I wouldn't say this is super melodic but if you like instrumentals where the guitar is queen (super warm tones) and the mood is quite laid back, then give this album a good spin. This is probably the kind of album that grows on you as the melodies are quite complex. Only thing that tickles me a bit are the fade outs as I like my music to end with a bang (Just kidding, especially after listening to track 4 where the ending is a bit too abrupt, eheh.)

Hive Plot by One Sock / Placebo

I really like glockenspiel-type sounds arranged in such a way that they make pleasing melodies. This album has quite a bit of that.

mellotronworks by Mike Dickson

This is an album of classics (of classical music) played on the mellotron. If you have no idea what a mellotron is, well, let's just say that it's a precursor of the sampler but instead of playing wav files when a key is pressed, a tape rolls over a playback head (like a reel-to-reel tape deck or more recently a cassette player). As you can imagine, besides the fact that the needed tapes are a bit hard to come by these days (Even if you can find some, they have the tendency to desintegrate.), those things can be a little bit unpredictable and it takes dedication to produce one track, let alone a full album. I salute that dedication as it takes somebody quite special to undertake something like this.

I know this is not original work but it's always good to hear Bach and company, especially on a old school mellotron.

Effect by INVISIBLE PEOPLE

Well, it looks like the Russians are coming. Great little album (4 tracks) that marries a bundle of genres including downtempo, lounge, and hiphop. Track 1, "Heliosheath", features hypnotic vocals over a steady slow beat. Track 2, "Hear a dog bark", is an edgy "rapped over" industrial electronic track. Track 3, "Dark Mirror", brings us back the vocalist of track 1 and that's a really good thing. Track 4, "Dasein", is my favorite track of the album. It has a clever melodic hook that keeps on giving and the vocals are just precious.

All in all, a really good EP even if I have no idea what everybody is saying.

8 is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9 by Free Doom

Blend of fusion and progressive rock. It's also one of the longest title I have seen for an album (worth noting).

This album is quite freestyle, so be prepared for a boatload of notes and a frontal attack on your sensory nerves. Track 1, "Midichlorian Count", opens the album with some lyrical synthesizer playing a la progressive rock, announcing loud and clear what's to come (I like how it goes slightly bonkers about midway in.) Track 2, "A great disturbance", brings some calm into this debaucherie of notes. It's got a good amount of synthesizer pitch wheel playing, so if you like that sort of things, you're in for a treat. At some point, it kinda mutates into a mild flamenco with the exotic hand clapping patterns. Track 3, "Always two there are", has a bit of a drum n' bass influence, at least, at the beginning. It however morphes into something really strange which is probably not for the faint of heart (The number of notes increases drastically at some point. Be warned!) Track 4, "Mindful", seems to be an inner search into the mind of the track creator (It has that freestyle vibe written all over it.) Track 5, "These aren't the droids...", is probably my favorite track. Why? You may ask. Well, it has that nice soft melodic hook which keeps on giving. Track 6, "Use It", reminds of Mike Oldfield's best work when the ooh's and the aah's comes in. Hold on! Maybe that's actually my fave track of the album because I just love Mike Oldfield.

This concludes my review. I am sorry about all the clichés I have used to describe the tracks but I am afraid I just have trouble expressing myself when it comes to music (It ain't easy.)

Metropolis by Handwrist

Have you ever listened to a fusion/progressive album? Well, here's your chance right here and now. This is not really fusion as in fusion jazz, it's more rock fusion. Some of the stuff is pretty heavy with the progressive guitar playing and the lyrics delivered in a very distorted almost spoken word fashion. It's certainly on the dark side.

SP2 by Skinperiod

If you like NIN, you're probably gonna like this short album (only four tracks). Track 1 to 3 are quite the awesomeness. Track 4 is on the forgettable side though it picks up close to the end.