The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

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Label/Date: Chemikal Underground Records, January 2009
Genre: rock, indie, krautrock, post-rock, folk, pop, experimental, country
From: Glasgow, Scotland
Similar: Gutter Twins, Nick Cave, Black Heart Procession, Alabama 3, Neu!, Magyar Posse, The Jimmy Cake, Twilight Singers, Tom Waits, Decemberists, Can, Morphine, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Murder By Death, Johnny Cash, Josef K, DMST, Crippled Black Pheonix, New Model Army, Tom Fun Orhcestra, QotSA, Black Mountain, Low, A Silver Mt. Zion, Beefheart, Elliott Brood, Porcupine Tree, Calexico, Flaming Lips
Website : Myspace

"Over-population, dwindling natural resources and the yawning void within every one of us caused by society's unnatural social contracts and mass sexual repression means one thing: its checkmate for the human animal."

"So say The Phantom Band, with an invisible tongue firmly in an invisible cheek and if the sibylline verdict delivered by this mysterious Pan-Scottish sextet leans towards the dark side, then at least they’ve had the good grace to supply us with a fitting soundtrack for our spiral into the void. All universal matter can converge in a black hole - Checkmate Savage is where Beefheart meets Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, where Neu! meets Nick Cave, and we reckon it's a very early contender for album of the year."

Nisennenmondai - Neji/Tori

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Label/Date: Bijin record, 2008
Genre: noise-rock, experimental, all-female instrumental trio
From: Tokyo, Japan
Similar/Related: Psychic Paramount, Lightning Bolt, High Rise, Hey Colossus, Warhammer 48k, Cave, Grey Daturas, Neu!, Sonic Youth, Boredoms, This Heat, Afrirampo, Acid Mothers, Guitar Wolf, Noxagt
Website : Myspace

"With this album, comprising two earlier EPs, Japan’s Nisennenmondai take their gloriously groove-centered noise jams to the international stage. This all-female instrumental trio has garnered plenty of attention in their native land and has recently been lauded by members of groups like Battles and No Age, who on tour had discovered their fearsome live shows. Although they come saddled with a wealth of influences, partly due to their habit of naming songs after influential experimental-rock outfits, they still manage to own it uniquely, deftly careering from krautrock lock-grooves to industrial clang to nihilistic overdrive.

Like ESG, the other all-female rhythm juggernaut, the main muscle behind Nisennenmondai is the drummer: Sayaka Himeno’s standout playing is the group’s indispensible motor. It’s a mighty sound, and it’s sometimes difficult to fathom that it is emanating from three adorable Japanese girls just out of college. The group’s loosely improvised playing style is such a deliciously dissonant freewheeling caterwaul that it’s surprising to find out, for example, that the jarring steel-cage fight of opener "Pop Group" wasn’t recorded by an impromptu studio horde, Red Krayola-style. The track is also a compelling example for the benefits of lo-fi recording: The oversaturated sonics only make the metal-machine stomp sound that much more unhinged and out there.

The follower, "This Heat," is dominated by lower-gear but even more relentless, blood-stirring wonky rhythms. The jagged, unpredictable drumming and guitar/bass interplay produces a whirling whiplash that after long enough begins to make you feel like you’ve been staring too long into the sun. "Sonic Youth" indeed bears an unmistakable kinship with the titular group’s early releases, like their own self-titled debut EP or the epic tour collage "Sonic Death." But instead of steering and swerving away from the angular rumble in true no-wave fashion, the girls mind-meld into the kind of clamorous thunder that fans of Liars and the Boredoms are certainly familiar with.

The album highlight is "Ikkkyokume," a psychedelic burner presented here in two different takes: a whirling torrent of cymbal crashes and guitars that makes it sound like the girls are riding out the currents at the deepest end of the "Diamond Sea." Such force and free-jazz intensity produces a momentum that feels simultaneously propulsive and extremely static. It’s a trance-rock maelstrom that’s Not Safe for Work because there’s a fair risk you’ll end up in a glazed-eye stare while coworkers wave their fingers to check for signs of life.

The record’s back end sees more of a return to more traditional no-wave maneuvers, all straitjacketed skeletal beats and razorlike guitar work that befits any student of noise-rock luminaries like Lydia Lunch, DNA, Mars, or James Chance: Seems like the New York late '70s no-wave scene is these days not only ripe for scholarly book treatment but fit to be an object of the powerful mimetic impulse that Japanese culture is so renowned for."

Fire on Fire - The Orchard

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Label/Date: Young God Records, 2008
Genre: folk, bluegrass, gospel, psych
From: Portland, Maine
Similar/Related: Cerberus Shoal, Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince Billy, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes, Beirut, Eden Express, Grizzly Bear, Carter Family, Comus, Nick Drake, Pygmy Lush, Brightblack Morning Light, Phoebe Killdeer, Lau Nau, Iron & Wine, Neil Young, Yma Sumac, Fairport Convention, Amon Dull II
Website : Myspace

"Fire On Fire used to be the art-punk-prog-chaos collective Cerberus Shoal, but they ditched their electric instruments, went into hiding for a while, and now play all acoustic--stand up bass, mandolin, banjo, harmonium, accordion, acoustic guitar, dobro etc etc, and they all sing and harmonize on the songs. Live, they do it "old school" and just use two mics placed in front of them on the stage, like a bluegrass band. They all live in the same house up in Maine, across from rusting green oil tanks, apparently. To me they sound like a backwoods, fierce, psychedelic Mamas And The Papas or a crazed and joyously vengeful gospel string band." - Michael Gira/Young God Records 2008

The Mirimar Disaster - Volumes EP

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Label/Date: Undergroove records, 2008
Genre: progressive hardcore, post-metal
From: Sheffield, United Kingdom
Similar/Related: Burst, Taint, Gospel, Wetnurse, Eleventh He Reaches London, Converge, Isis, Helms Alee, Kylesa, Zozobra, Dilinger Escape Plan, Botch, Buried Inside, Circle Takes the Square, Burnt by the Sun, Black Ships
Website : Myspace

"From the off, with 'Alms For Strangers', 'Volumes' is a barbed-wired cluster fuck of pounding drums and twisted riffs, which continues into the colossal 'Control. Alter Delete'. 'Volumes' also features a vocal guest appearance from Maria Christopher (of Massachusetts' 27) in 'The Town Of Empty Sound' - showing a bleak and experimental nature of the band. The title track is a vitriolic groove-fest, while closer 'Sing Hera' brings 'Volumes' to a logical conclusion that leaves you wondering what's just hit your ears!"

Wetnurse - Invisible City

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Label/Date: Seventh Rule Records
Genre: fierce, progressive hardcore/metal/punk/grindcore
From: New York
Similar/Related: Burst, Dilinger Escape Plan, Botch, Mirimar Disaster, Converge, Today Is the Day, Akimbo, Helms Alee, Gospel, Kylesa, Zozobra, Unsane, Keelhaul, Buried Inside, Circle Takes the Square, Burnt by the Sun, Black Ships, Fuck The Facts
Website : Myspace

"If your record encompasses as many different forms of extreme music as Wetnurse’s second disc, Invisible City, chances are it’s bound to sound jerry-rigged with piano wire and scotch tape. So how did Wetnurse avoid sounding like a third-rate Mr. Bungle? By attacking each facet of its genre-blind aesthetic with the same groove-heavy, ten-ton beatdown. These NYC boys find the common ground between Today Is the Day’s skronk-metal, Unsane’s drill press riffs, the arty hardcore of Converge and thirty years of psychedelic rock, erect a barbed wire fence around it, and thrash all over the place 'til it all becomes one pulpy meta-genre. There’s blood, dirt and spiritual transcendence aplenty to be found in the Invisible City.

It takes gumption to imagine At the Drive-In as a death-metal band, like Wetnurse does in "Not Your Choice," and a whole lot of ingenuity to make the song flow so well from harmony to discord, alt-rock to filthy hardcore. Flow and urgency are at the heart of Invisible City. Even as songs stretch out long past single length, every riff propels the record forward. Wetnurse’s experiments aren’t always successful -- Stephanie Gravelle’s guest vocals on "Missing Lion Returns" are a bit placid for the metallic raga swirling around her -- but they’re always purposeful, and usually underpinned with a killer swing.

Let’s not forget that Wetnurse is a damn fine metal band, capable of battering ears with the best of them; take the savagely direct "Your Last Flower," a compact shitkicker that finds vocalist Gene Fowler deploying every one of his multiple personalities, from Chihuahua yelp to guttural death growl.

Aggression isn’t the only tool in Wetnurse’s shed, though, and Invisible City is stronger for it. After the band breathes fire through the first half of "Slow Your Spell, Miss Hell," a grungy, major key vamp turns eyes heavenward, a ragged guitar solo rains down cosmic dust, Curran Reynolds’s rumbling toms pat out the flames, and you can almost see the stars poking through. It’s pretty beautiful. And after such a frenetic 50 minutes, the calming acoustic guitar that closes Invisible City seems like a kindly peace offering to send us on our way."

Muga - There Is Nothing Eternal Exists

Awesome Japanese band I got from the heroes at Sludge Swamp. If you liked Bison's Quiet Earth you'll dig this too. The last 2 tracks are especially good.
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Label/Date: self-released, 2008
Genre: stoner-metal, sludge, hardcore
From: Japan
Similar/Related: Bison BC, High on Fire, Saviours, Baroness, Torche, Buffalo, Envy, North, Mastodon
Website : Myspace(none)

El Paramo - El Paramo

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Label/Date: Alone Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, instrumental stoner-rock
From: Madrid, Spain
Similar/Related: Colour Haze, Los Natas, La Ira De Dios, Kinski, Kyuss, Gonga, Karma To Burn, Ancestors, Monkey3
Website : Myspace

from Wine, Women and Song:
"El Paramo is a four piece from Madrid, Spain, formed at the beginning of 2005. They are influenced by Black Sabbath, Colour Haze, Black Mountain and Kyuss among a few others, so ofcourse their sound is a mix of the desert sounds with tones of Colour Haze, Kyuss and bla bla bla. But dont get me wrong this album is fucking awesome. Dont expect something new, expect only something damn good. These guys know what they are doing, you get some of the finest instrumental heavy stoner, psychedelia you havent heared for a long time, exept maybe from Colour Haze. Sorry for my enthusiasm but the only negative thing i can think of is that this album is only seven songs and 58 minutes. Please check them out, and buy this album!
Peace; mr.A"

Dragontears - Tambourine Freak Machine

Download: megaupload Thanks Dimitri!
Label/Date: Bad Afro Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, drug-influenced, experimental acid rock
From: Denmark
Similar/Related: Baby Woodrose, On Trial, Ghost, US Christmas, Acid Mothers Temple, Weird Owl, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, 13th Floor Elevators, Syd Barrett, Niel Young, Silver Apples, Dungen, Circle, Faust, Amon Duul, Mammatus, Pocahaunted, Dr John, Black Angels, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve
Website : Myspace

The Baby Woodrose side project called Dragontears has just finished the recordings of their second album, entitled Tambourine Freak Machine. The release date is set for for November 17 and it will be available as LP/CD and download. As a teaser it is now possible to listen to the song "Sunrise" on the Bad Afro MySpace.

The album is musically quite similar to the first - 2000 Micrograms From Home from 2007 - but the band used a larger amount of electronics and the eternal quest for hallucinatory experimentation has made the music span a slightly wider range, transcending musical styles like neofolk, psychedelic, space rock and electronica. Hell, it must be the first album in 20 years to include a bona fide drum solo!

The tracklist includes the ten minute drug fantasy "The River,"which involves an impressive eight verses of illuminated spiritual delerium (and is not a Bruce Springsteen cover). Also, another eight verses of righteous anger and loathing in ?Masters of War,? which is in fact a Bob Dylan cover. Other highlights are a 16 minute dark hypnotic journey titled ?The Freedom Seed,? which features Danish punk diva Janine Neble from Alive with Worms - and the electronic experimental track ?Dreamweaver 2,? which features delicately noisy circuit bends from ex-Raveonettes Manoj Ramdas, absolutely molesting an out of date drum machine and some Japanese toy keyboard.

Sacrilege - Behind the Realms of Madness

Download: mediafire Thanks Badger!
Label/Date: C.O.R. Records, 1985
Genre: thrash metal, punk
From: England
Similar/Related: Metallica, Slayer, Razor, Exodus, Venom, Municipal Waste
Wiki : allmusic

Virus - The Black Flux

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Label/Date: Season Of Mist, 2008
Genre: progressive black metal, experimental, avant-garde
From: Oslo, Norway
Similar/Related: Ved Buens Ende, Enslaved, Ulver, Pink Floyd, Deathspell Omega, Venom, Voïvod, Coil, Arcturus, Cynic, Shining, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Swans, The End Records
Website : Myspace

"Modern psyche/rock trio VIRUS combine the post rock machinations of TORTOISE with the singular, almost autistic riffage of prime SLAYER with the twisted avant garde appeal of the THE RESIDENTS. VIRUS features the singular guitar wizardry of Carl-Michael Eide's cult ensemble VED BUENS ENDE, the unchallenged fret talents of AUDIOPAIN's Petter 'Plenum' Berntsen and the rhythmic schizo-frenetics of Einar 'Esso' Sjursø (BEYOND DAWN)."

Nahvalr - Nahvalr

Download: mediafire Thanks Alex!
Label/Date: Enemies List, 2008
Genre: experimental black metal, ambient noise, shoegaze
From: Middletown, Connecticut
Similar/Related: Have A Nice Life, Xasthur, Velvet Cacoon, Wold, Caina, Blut Aus Nord, The Angelic Process, Nadja, Leviathan, Burzum, Axis of Perdition, Alcest
Website : Myspace

"NAHVALR is the world's first open-sourced black metal project. Spear-headed by Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga (of HAVE A NICE LIFE), NAHVALR aims to create the densest, most visceral sounds possible by combining the input of a dozen collaborators, all working individually, in a coherent and intuitive way. In other words: several people, operating anonymously around the globe, have their work hacked, chopped, distorted, fused and recorded over to create something altogether new. The result is sometimes chaotic, sometimes blissful, but always striking. It verges on territory explored by bands like XASTHUR and VELVET CACOON before striking off in more melodic directions, incorporating influences as diverse as BURZUM and BRIAN ENO's "Ambient 1: Music For Airports". The resulting hour of hyper-distorted evil is uniquely the product of the internet age, and a time when physical separation can't stop people from making scary sounds together in rooms around the world. "

Körperschwäche - Broken Blades of Steel Scattered Across the Narrow Way

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Label/Date: Crucial Bliss, 2008
Genre: instrumental drone/noise rock, industrial, ambient doom
From: Austin, Texas
Similar/Related: Nadja, Asbestoscape, Boris, Godflesh/Jesu, Sunn, Atlantis, Thisquietarmy, Angelic Process, Have A Nice Life
Website : Myspace

"A thunderous new disc from Korperschwache! Broken Blades Of Steel Scattered Across The Narrow Way detours from the blackened machine-pulse hypno dirges that have appeared on recent releases on Faunasabbatha, Inam, and Public Guilt, and delivers a slab of heavy, instrumental drone/noise rock that builds even further upon the heavy influence of classic late 80's/early 90's NYC noise rock (and especially Band Of Susans) that has been juicing Korperschwache over the past seven years with six tracks of dense billowing reverb, atmospheric hypno-riffs and supreme guitar squall. The Burzum/Abruptum-esque blackness of the Ourobouros series on Crucial Bliss is absent here, and instead the music emerges as a lumbering deformed cousin of classic alt-guitar noise, huge open chords unfolding over shimmering distorted strings and multiple layers of vibrating amplifiers, with some sweet sun-scorched melodies swimming around in these lengthy riff explorations. Of course, it wouldn't be Korperschwache without the jagged, pounding beats of Doktor Omega, and each of these mechanical jams uncoil over a battery of thumping machine beats, cymbal-soaked motorik rhythms and even the odd unexpected breakbeat that kind of sounds like some spastic jungle has suddenly ripped it's way through the swirling clouds of drone guitar."

Josef K - Sorry For Laughing

I discovered this band through Spacerockmountain. Thanks!
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Label/Date: Unreleased, 1980
Genre: post-punk, funk
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Similar/Related: Orange Juice, Joy Division, XTC, Talking Heads, Devo, Minutemen, Television, David Bowie, Wire, The Police
Wiki : Website

"Sorry for Laughing was scrapped by Postcard head Allen Horne for sounding too slick and not being representative of the Josef K sound. The band later confessed that the guitar sound was unnecessarily muted and that the bass and drums were too high in the mix. Despite this, roughly 20 test pressing copies somehow left the label's office, spurring a swarm of bootleg copies and high prices paid for the originals. Ten years later, it saw official issue through Les Temps Modernes on a disc containing their proper debut and lone official LP, The Only Fun in Town. The underground mania surrounding Sorry for Laughing was well-warranted, and it's apparent years later that the decision to put the kibosh on its release was more a result of perfectionism than plugging a hole in a dam. It picks up successfully from their initial trio of singles, sounding like a less doomy Joy Division with more pop instincts. Nothing here eclipses four minutes -- most of the songs are brief, spastic shards of over-caffeinated post-punk with skittish vocals on the verge of spinning out of control." -allmusic.com

Zak Riles - Zak Riles

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Label/Date: Important Records, 2008
Genre: ambient, acoustic, folk, middle eastern
From: Louisville, Kentucky
Similar/Related: Grails, James Blackshaw, Sir Richard Bishop, Ravi Shankar, Popol Vuh, Priestbird, Ghost, Ash Ra Tempel, Earth, Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn
Website : Myspace

"Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails (as well as M.Ward’s band). His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites. Like his band Grails, Zak Riles solo work is an elaborate mansion built of inspiration but with so much strength and originality that it stands firmly on its own. On these rocky shores come crashing waves of Sandy Bull, Mogolar, Deuter, Popol Vuh and the Ventures while Persian breeze drifts by wafting the melodies of Hossein Alizadeh. Essential listening for followers of Important Records who favor the likes of Grails & James Blackshaw.

Circle - Hollywood

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Label/Date: Ektro Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic, krautrock, metal
From: Finland
Similar/Related: Pharaoh Overlord, Faust, Can, Neu!, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind, Hammers of Misfortune, Kyuss, Los Natas
Website : Myspace

Black Elk - Always A Six Never A Nine

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Label/Date: Crucial Blast, 2008
Genre: fierce noise-rock/metal
From: Portland, OR
Similar/Related: Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, Racebannon, Oxbow, Pissed Jeans, Helms Alee, Shellac, Melvins, Todd, Akimbo, Young Widows, Tar, Fight Amp, Metz
Website : Myspace

The second album by Portland's Black Elk comes from a familiar enough starting point -- namely, there's something about loud guitars and aggressive yowling that will always please somebody, somewhere. Given how thoroughly any number of putatively different sounds and styles that match that description have essentially cross-fertilized into one monstrous leviathan of music, it comes as little surprise that Black Elk are almost a post-everything band -- they use lumbering metal, frenetic no wave rampages, epic solos, and distorted art noise, and that's just the opening song "My Last Shred of Decency." But if Black Elk are still arguably working towards their own sound, they're doing so with panache -- and it doesn't hurt that they've got a full appreciation of the classic '80s thrash and power metal they pretty obviously grew up on. (It's something that's even audible in the quieter moments, like the acoustic guitar start of "Brine," as any fan of classic Metallica can confirm.) Hearing the spiraling solos and chunky riffs on songs like the fierce as hell "Pig Crazy," helped by the excellent recording quality throughout the album, complements rather than works against singer Tom Glose's rasped rampage. Meanwhile, the fact that the album ends on a perfectly melodramatic note with the ever-more-intense performance of "Winter Formal" cutting off suddenly to silence further shows the band's sense of how to leave a maximum impact behind. At this rate the group's next album should be a spectacular breakthrough. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

A. Armada - Anam Cara EP

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Label/Date: Hello Sir Records, 2008
Genre: post-rock
From: Athens, Georgia
Similar/Related: If These Trees Could Talk, Caspian, Lite, Pg. Lost, Gifts From Enola, Explosions in the Sky, Mooncake, Maserati, Jakob
Website : Myspace

Hey Colossus - Happy Birthday

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Label/Date: Riot Season, 2008
Genre: noise, sludge, experimental
From: London/Watford/Somerset, United Kingdom
Similar/Related: Warhammer 48k, Cave, The Goslings, Grey Daturas, Raccoo-oo-oon, Year of No Light, Noxagt, Lightning Bolt, Mugstar, Godflesh, Todd, Psychic Paramount
Website : Myspace

From headlong infusions of psychedelic rock to the limitless furrows of doom, in "Happy Birthday" London's Hey Colossus has constructed an all conquering citadel of experimental/metal disrepair. The album is a rampaging fire-cloud of superstoked riffs and ever mounting walls of feedback, a rough house collection of battering new songs driven at sweltering pace by a band with a fearless momentum. The is the record that the band has always threatened to unleash - a pitch black album for our ever scorched earth." - Riot Season

Oaks - Bravo!

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Label/Date: self-released, 2008
Genre: stoner metal
From: San Diego, California
Similar/Related: Melvins, Big Business, Clouds, Tweak Bird, Karp, Kyuss, Red Fang, Death From Above, Floor, Lullaby Arkestra
Website : Myspace

Fuck The Facts - Disgorge Mexico

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Label/Date: Relapse, 2008
Genre: grindcore, extreme metal, experimental
From: Ottawa, Ontario
Similar/Related: Pig Destroyer, Leng Tch´e, Rotten Sound, Impaled, Nasum, Genghis Tron, Cephalic Carnage, Agoraphobic Nosebleed
Website : Myspace

"Canada’s Fuck the Facts returns with their hyper-charged new full-length ‘Disgorge, Mexico’. More streamlined and direct than its predecessor ‘Stigmata Hi-Five’, ‘Disgorge, Mexico’ is an incendiary, hard-hitting grind affair. Far more than just grind bombast, Fuck the Facts has transformed into one of extreme metal’s best new bands" - relapse

Earthless - Live at Roadburn

Huge thanks to Dimitri. God-fucking-damn-it I love this band!
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Tee Pee Records, 2008
Genre: heavy psych, instrumental/jam metal
From: San Diego
Similar/Related: Hendrix, Acid Mothers Temple, Mammatus, Kyuss, Blue Cheer, Zeppelin, Ash Ra Tempel, Iota, La Ira De Dios, Ancestors, Tee Pee Records roster, Green Milk From The Planet Orange, Boris
Website : Myspace

"Featured at the Roadburn Festival held annually in Tilburg, Holland, the heavy psychedelic trio Earthless includes Mario Rubalcaba (ex-Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Blackheart Procession, Clickatat Ikatowi) on drums, Isaiah Mitchell (Nebula, Drunk Horse) on guitar and Mike Eginton (Electric Nazarene) on bass. The festival is a celebration of tube-driven distortion, crackling electrical guitars and the many fans that come to celebrate the mighty riff. Earthless embodies the true essence of Roadburn so it came as no supplies that the band was invited to play in the 2008 edition.

Unexpectedly, Earthless wound up on the main stage of the festival in front of 2,000 rabid fans, mere moments before they were to headline The Batcave (a room with 200 person capacity). Live At Roadburn came about not so much by default but out of sheer necessity. When the headlining band at the festival did not use their two hour time slot on the main stage, concert organizers were left scrambling to find a replacement to fill the slot.

Earthless gladly accepted the opportunity and proceeded to lay waste to all that was surrounding them for a straight hour and a half of visual mind and audio massacre! Told of the recordings, the band had a few listens and decided that it was the most honest document that they could offer, for they were caught in their natural environment - the live show.

Tee Pee Records is proud to present Earthless’ latest assault on the senses, Live At Roadburn, a double LP/CD masterpiece recorded live at this year’s Roadburn Festival."

Supercontinent - Vaalbara

"Skull crushing sludge metal for fans of early ISIS and Cult Of Luna. It's mostly instrumental and all around incredible." Thanks to RibsOut for the link.

Download: rapidshare
Label/Date: Saw Her Ghost Records, 2008
Genre: post-metal, sludge, doom
From: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Similar/Related: Cult of Luna, early ISIS, Mouth of the Architect, Bossk, Neurosis, Omega Massif, North, Kongh, Manatees, Empires
Website : Myspace

"In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. Most commonly, paleogeographers employ the term supercontinent to refer to a single landmass consisting of all the modern continents. Vaalbara is the Earth's theorized first supercontinent." -wikipedia

Weird Owl - Nuclear Psychology

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Label/Date: Self released, 2007
Genre: psychedelic rock
From: Brooklyn, New York
Similar/Related: The Black Angels, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Assembled Head In Sunburst Sound, Kinski, 13th Floor Elevators, Hawkwind, Sabbath
Website : Myspace

"The age of Nuclear Psychology is upon us!
With the release of its latest EP, Weird Owl has revealed a deeper and heavier peek into its ever-burgeoning mindsets and soundscapes. Recorded by Gerard Garone (Radio 4) and Harley Zinger (live sound, Interpol) at Seaside Lounge Studios in Brooklyn, the songs on Nuclear Psychology find the band carefully removing some of the more frivolous layers of flesh and matter from the body of its previous recordings in order to form a more precise sonic representation of the pure ghosts haunting Weird Owl. Already gaining accolades such as 'imminent cosmic impact' and being compared to Crazy Horse and Built to Spill 'on your favorite drugs', Nuclear Psychology is a heavy portent of things to come from the Brooklyn psych band." -CD baby

Bongripper & Winters In Osaka - Meat Ditch

A 20 minute collaboration mixing the psychedelic, heavy-as-fuck doom of Bongripper and the experimental drone of Winters In Osaka.
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Label/Date: Self-released, 2008
Genre: doom/drone/sludge/ambient
From: Chicago
Similar/Related: Electric Wizard, Sleep, Nadja, Boris, Atavist, Buried At Sea, Mouth of The Architect, Disembowelment, Suma
Bongripper : Myspace
Winters In Osaka : Myspace

The Black Heart Procession - 3

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Label/Date: Touch and Go Records, 2000
Genre: dark indie, post-rock
From: San Diego, California
LIYL: Steve Von Till, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Pygmy Lush, Human Bell, Three Mile Pilot, Iron & Wine, Gutter Twins, The Doors
Website : Myspace

"Black Heart Procession is from San Diego, but sounds like a band comprised of the lonesome abandoned children of some lost Faulkner novel who have continued living in their decrepit, dilapidated family mansion for years since the tragic deaths of their aristocratic parents. The band's core members -- Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel of Three Mile Pilot fame -- enlist numerous friends and acquaintances from the San Diego scene to play various instruments, so the band's roster can sometimes swell to as many as eight performers. On five full-length albums, The Black Heart Procession has used saws, stripped-down unconventional percussion, Wurlitzer piano, subtle Moog, and other nontraditional instrumentation to create the kind of carnivalesque dirges we've come to expect from Tom Waits over the years. But the voices here are younger, and their owners' wounds are fresher, and somehow you're inclined to think that their tendency is to revel in the pain rather than kill it with whiskey. While slowly evolving in style from album to album, BHP has remained creepy and unsettling, tragic and exhausted, cold and very sad. Yet they've always been a rumbled elegance, a touch of the debonair, and a flair for small bits of dark melodrama, which might be the wild card that keeps you coming back for more."
Jesse Ashlock -epitonic.com

Eden Express - Que Amors Que

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Label/Date: Holy Mountain, 2008
Genre: psych-folk
From: Memphis, Tennessee
Similar/Related: Brightback Morning Light, Pocahaunted, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Cloudland Canyon, Espers, Lau Nau, Islaja, Six Organs Of Admittance
Website : Myspace

"While just about everything Holy Mountain puts out is awesome they also tend to focus on the heavier side of the underground musical landscape. With this debut by Eden Express they're showing their softer side, while managing to keep the awesomeness on full throttle! There would be no other time for this record to get released then smack dab in the midst of summer as this is some sun-soaked-tripped-out-bake-at-the-beach-psych-pop that we can't get enough of. Featuring one member of Cloudland Canyon, this is a group who understand how to evoke colorful and vivid sensations. Mixing Eastern tinged psychedelia with delicious hints of washed out samba with such an effortless and breezy delivery. This is a timeless sounding record that could just as easily be some lost early '70s South American psychedelic gem (which the cover design suggests) as much as a much more drugged out Antena or Brightblack Morning Light jamming on the beach with some Finnish folks like Lau Nau and Islaja at their side. Such delicious delay and reverb, just the right touches of flute and otherworldliness, and it's about time psych gets out of the forest and onto the sand. A record made to soak in sun and melt with." - Aquarius Records

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte

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Label/Date: ACT, 2008
Genre: jazz/experimental/ambient
From: Sweden
Similar/Related: Thelonious Monk, Triosk, The Necks, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Neil Cowley Trio, Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore, Exploding Star Orchestra, Steve Reich, Contemporary Noise Quintet
Website : Myspace

"Considering that this is the last we will ever hear from the wonderful e.s.t (pianist Esbjorn Svensson having tragically died in a diving accident earlier this year, at the age of 44) it's impossible not to feel sadness while listening to Leucocyte. Yet it's not for just the passing of one of the world's most talented jazz musicians. It's also for the fact that a band, so psychically linked and at ease with each other should, at this fascinating stage of their development, be robbed of the chance to grow and change as they undoubtedly would have done.

Composed of childood friends Svensson and drummer Magnus Ostrom, along with bassist Dan Berglund, e.s.t's last album, Live In Hamburg, seemed to be drawing a line under the ECM-friendly-with a-touch-of-rock-trio period of their career. Equally at home on the festival as well as jazz circuits, you could feel it was time for a change.

Leucocyte reminds you that, despite carrying the pianist's name, the trio were a band of equal thirds. It's Berglund's earthy tones that drive much of the first half of the album. Following the delicate introductory meditation, Decade, Premonition sounds hungry for just such a change. The feedback and distortion are comparable to Australia's Necks, but under it all Svensson's voice echoes the changes, and his keys can never resist the Jarrett-esque flourishes that trip lightly over the atmospherics. Not once does the soloing take the place of progression and thematic exploration. And the attack always veers towards that rock aesthetic that rears its head most ironically on the number entitled Jazz.

But it's the album's second half suite, Leucocyte, that indicates where the trio were headed next. Mixing in far more electronics; erasing melody, leaving just the warp and weft of instrumental texture, and even (on part two's Ad Interim) resorting to total silence: it shows us a band that were now fearless and confident enough to really experiment.

Leucocyte is far from a perfect album, and that's why it's so heartbreakingly good. It's unsure in parts, and occasionally too wilfully rough. But it's a pointer to a future that's been cruelly denied us. We can only dream of what might have happened next. But thank goodness we have this to remember Svensson by. It's a testament to an artist whose life was always a work in progress."
-Chris Jones, BBC

Go-Neko! - Una Especie De Mutante

Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Laptra, 2008
Genre: post-rock, space-rock, psych
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Similar/Related: Tristeza, Kinski, Tuna Laguna, El Ten Eleven, Hidria Spacefolk, Porcupine Tree, Holy Fuck, Samuel Jackson 5, Maserati
Website : Myspace

té

Soul and senses aligned create the greatest music
(japanese translation courtesy of Chairmaker)

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Label/Date: Zankyo Records, 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental-rock
From: Japan
LIYL: Lite, Mudy On The Sakuban, Muddy World, Caspian, Toe, Mono, Ostinato, Maserati, Hematovore
Website : Myspace

Pocahaunted - Chains

"The Olsen Twins of Drone". more info
Download: zshare
Label/Date: Teardrops Records, 2008
Genre: psych-drone, tribal drone
From: Eagle Rock, California
LIYL: Grouper, Religious Knives, Robedoor, Mouthus, Double Leopards, Lichens, Sunn O))), Ginnungagap, Aethnor, Skullflower, Faust, Growing
Website : Myspace

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

"Fucked Up's new album, The Chemistry Of Common Life, synthesizes all these diverse impulses into an expansive epic about the mysteries of birth, death, and the origins of life (and re-living). Merging elements of hardcore songwriting with up to 70 tracks of guitars, organs, winds and vocals, (including 18 guitars on the first single, the fatalistic "No Epiphany"), the music remains iconoclastic and startling, with Pink Eyes' vocals front and center. Guest musicians, of course, abound, notably gorgeous female voices such as Brooklyn's Vivian Girls and Toronto's Katie Stelmanis. The band remains contemptuous of churches and religion (opening track "Son The Father," with its refrain "It's hard enough being born in the first place: who would want to be born again?") while promoting an almost Buddhist mysticism ("Royal Swan"). But in the end the view is idiosyncratically scientific: amid soaring guitar chords, the title track pays homage to the random chemical processes that created life on this planet. Though Fucked Up remain punks at heart - if quixotically diverse ones - they have created a great, weird, heavy record that stubbornly sticks in your brain and your heart." - Matador Records.
Download: mediafire
Label/Date: Matador Records, 2008
Genre: hardcore punk
From: Toronto, Ontario
Similar/Related: Refused, Minor Threat, Black Flag, Negative Approach, The Bronx, Haymaker, Fugazi, Brainworms, Wire
Wiki : blog

Akimbo - Jersey Shores

"AKIMBO (the good guys) will be releasing our first ever concept record on NEUROT RECORDINGS. The album is called "Jersey Shores", the concept is "nature will fuck you up", and the theme is "sharks, in particular, will totally fuck you up." The subject matter we have harvested and immersed in to forge this piece of music is actually much more robust and historical than I am letting on here, but in the interest of comedy I have decided to remain base and neanderthal. Ha. The record is six songs, about 45 minutes long, and is an intergalactic portcullis that will unlock the secrets of time travel for the benefit of man. It was recorded in the same session as Navigating the Bronze (two albums in one session? oh yes we did) by master Chris Owens in dirty dirty dirty Louisville, KY."
Download: sharebee
Label/Date: Neurot Recordings, 2008
Genre: stoner-metal, sludge, noise-rock, experimental
From: Seattle, Washington
Similar/Related: Boris, Baroness, Melvins, Clouds, Gospel, Russian Circles, Pelican, Jesus Lizard, Black Cobra, Balboa, Suma
Website : Myspace

Hotel Wrecking City Traders - Black Yolk

one guitar, one drumset, whole lot of rock
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Label/Date: Bro Fidelity, CLF Records, 2008
Genre: instrumental stoner rock.
From: Melbourne, Australia
Similar/Related: 5ive, Karma to Burn, Big Business, Kinski, Kyuss, Los Natas, Lightning Bolt
Website : Myspace

The Calm Blue Sea - The Calm Blue Sea

Pretty generic, quiet/loud post-rock here. But done so well. If you're like me and still love some good post-rock it's one of the best this year. mostly guitar-driven with some piano thrown in.
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Label/Date: self-released, 2008
Genre: post-rock
From: Austin, Texas
Similar/Related: This Will Destroy You, Laura, Explosions In The Sky, Mono, Mogwai, Saxon Shore, Cloud Archive
Website : Myspace

Adebisi Shank - This Is The Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank

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Label/Date: The Richter Collective, 2008
Genre: upbeat instumental/math-rock, with noisy bleeps, bloops and squeaks like video game music (ie. Minibosses).
From: Wexford, Ireland
Similar/Related: Lite, Auto!Automatic!!, Minibosses, The Advantage, Té, Hella, Battles, Don Caballero, Oxes
Website : Myspace

Bohren & der Club of Gore - Dolores

"With DOLORES Bohren’s habit of making music which often makes the listener feel like he or she is stuck in some dark room in which the oxygen is slowly and mercilessly being extracted has changed.When listening to DOLORES, listeners are sure to get feeling that - after all these years - the shutters are being raised, the windows thrown open, fresh air and sunlight are flooding into the room. Quite by chance, the most natural thing in the world, cool, crisp and brazen." -Ipecac
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Label/Date: Ipecac, 2008
Genre: ambient jazz, avante-garde, minimalist
From: Germany
Similar/Related: Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble
Website : Myspace(fansite)

Murder City Devils - In Name And Blood

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Label/Date: Sub Pop, 2000
Genre: rock/punk/indie/hardcore, with electric organ
From: Seattle, Washington
Similar/Related: Drive Like Jehu, Rocket from the Crypt, Fugazi, Hot Snakes, Fucked Up, At the Drive-In, Big Business, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Dead Low Tide
Website : Myspace : Wiki

Conifer - Crown Fire

"Though Conifer has received quite a bit of critical praise they've somehow managed to live off the grid for the past six years. With Crown Fire Conifer is finally getting the exposure they deserve. Mixing post-rock, kraut-rock, metal and pschychedelia they have created this relentlessly driving and hypnotic masterpiece. Crown Fire's only vocals are from Oxbow's Eugene Robinson fronting the albums final 13 minute epic." -Important Recs.
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Label/Date: Important Records, 2008
Genre: Instrumental Sludge, Post-rock, Doom, Psychedelic, Experimental
From: Portland, Maine
Similar/Related: Capricorns, Oxbow, Year Of No Light, Mouth of the Architect, Harvey Milk, Isis, Rosetta, Tusk, Minsk
Website : Myspace

Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth

"Riffs, man. Important love of the riff. Honestly loving the shit that you do. You would just, like, do anything for the riff. It's like your child: you create it, and you nurture it, and it grows and it grows, and it turns into this fucking amazing thing that you would die for, because it's your fucking child. And then you send it out into the world, and it destroys things." - Bison
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Label/Date: Metal Blade, 2008
Genre: Metal, thrash, sludge, hardcore, doom
From: Vancouver BC
Similar/Related: High on Fire, Saviours, Baroness, Motorhead, Kylesa, Unearthly Trance, Municipal Waste, Mastodon
Website : Myspace

Todd - Purity Pledge

"..some of the nastiest, heaviest, hardcore/punk/noise rock ever. Repeat...EVER! Wave after wave of distorted noise-wrapped powerchords spill out of the speakers. The vocals are hideous growls, blunt shouts, and modulated washes. There are some keyboards added, but only to heighten the dymensia and further confuse the listener. " - [shiny grey monotone]
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Label/Date: Southern, 2005
Genre: hardcore/punk/noise/experimental
From: London, UK
Similar/Related: Am-Rep bands, Hammerhead/Vaz, Big Black/Rapeman, Young Widows, Boris, Kylesa, Jesus Lizard, Jucifer, Ministry, Part Chimp, Magik Markers, Killdozer
Website : Myspace

Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope

"Pygmy Lush are a slow waltz. They are condensation on a glass that’s been resting on rickety table on a porch with creaking boards, while cicadas buzz off in the distance. They are voices from a thousand miles away coming in on a static-ravaged radio in the middle of the night. They are nostalgia and tradition, but also a soothing friend that is crooning just for you. Let’s not forget however that Pygmy Lush are a six-piece band from Sterling, VA..." -indieducky.com
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Lovitt Records, 2008
Genre: folk, acoustic, indie
From: Sterling, Virginia
Similar/Related: pg.99, Iron & Wine, Neil Young, Brightblack Morning Light, Jose Gonzales, Nick Drake, Six Organs Of Admittance, Espers, A Whisper In The Noise, Decemberists, Calexico, Gentlemen Losers, Bob Dylan
Website : Myspace

The Alps - III

"Although III might be the third album from San Francisco trio The Alps, it marks their first studio-based record and a fresh direction for the psychedelic supergroup. Made up of Tarentel mainman Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, ex-Tussle member Alexis Georgopoulos (better known as ARP), and ex-Troll member Scott Hewicker, there is a deft amount of skill on display as the three rip through eight tracks of sizzling spiritual bliss. Comparisons here are easy to bring up -- Popol Vuh, Ennio Morricone and Serge Gainsbourg spring to mind for starters, as the band toss and tangle through thick drum breaks and reverberating, sun-drenched guitar lines. III feels like a lost soundtrack to some crumbling Italian surrealist classic with its pounding bass lines and swirling synthesizers. This is visual music, inspired by the likes of Werner Herzog, Alejandro Jordorowsky and Michaelangelo Antonioni, but what results is far more than a pastiche. Rather, the trio have concocted a record which, while being aware of its sprawling influences, is far more than the sum of its parts. The finest excesses of progressive rock and the leanest intricacies of the psychedelic folk scene have been splashed together with a distinct, dusty funk overlook to produce something which is totally out of time. Free from some half-baked scene or other, this is the result of three musicians doing exactly what they want. III has taken a plethora of sounds and crumbled them into something altogether beguiling. From the distant supernaturalism of "Trem Fantasma" to the Terry Riley-influenced bliss of "Pink Light," The Alps show us that there's more to psychedelia than meets the eye." - Type Recs.

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Label/Date: Type Records, 2008
Genre: psychedelic folk/ambient
From: San Francisco
Similar/Related: Tarentel, Popol Vuh, Grails, Goblin, Pink Floyd, Ghost, Hawkwind, Ash Ra Tempel, Panda Bear, Neu!, Circle, Acid Mothers Temple, Ennio Morricone, Terry Riley, Tangerine Dream
Website : Myspace

Dungen - 4

"Dungen's fourth studio album extends the acclaimed Swedish outfit's sound past psychedelia into something far more rare. Moving beyond mere stylistic concerns, 4 finds Gustav Ejstes' focus on the extremes of Dungen's sound separating into two entities. Blazing, raw guitar workouts have their own time and place, but now, so do stirringly orchestrated, jazz-cooled compositions with cinematic undertones."
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Label/Date: Subliminal Sounds/Kemado, 2008
Genre: psych-rock, classic rock, pop, folk, soul
From: Vastergotland, Sweden
Similar/Related: Caribou, Witchcraft, The Doors, 13th FLoor Elevators, Black Mountain, Pink Floyd, Comets on Fire, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Led Zeppelin, Amon Duul II, Curtis Mayfield, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Yes, Beatles, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, Beyond the Wizards Sleeve, Porcupine Tree, etc..
Website : Myspace

sgt. - Stylus Fantasticus

"sgt. brings fans some of the best post rock to come out of Japan in the past few years. The chaos-infused elegance that ripples through this album is profound and a major step up from their Freshman release. The sheer sound quality in this album is so beautiful that it is hard to forget that this is a recording. There is a wide spectrum of instruments used on this album. Of course sgt.'s signature piano and violin style reverberates throughout the album. Stylus Fantasticus is dosed in extreme experimentation. Each sound has it's own unique feel and texture. For example, Subarashiki Hikari's soothing piano and cross fading guitar creates the dramatic feeling of being trapped in fog. Meanwhile, the next track has a never ending frantic bass line with guitar effects creating a chaotic feeding frenzy. With Byakuya's wonderful violin lead topped with a drum beat so tight there is no way you won't be in ecstasy." - HearJapan
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Label/Date: Penguinmarket Records,
Genre: post-rock/experimental
From: Tokyo, Japan
Similar/Related: Cue, Sweek, Laura, Lite, Magyar Posse, Rovo, Bondage Fruit, Te, Toe, World's End Girlfriend, Yndi Halda, Natsumen
Website : Myspace

Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday

"Following up last year's Burning Off Impurities and their recent Take Refuge In Clean Living EP, Grails return with their darkest, heaviest record yet. Written and recorded over the last 18 months, Doomsdayer's Holiday delivers on the promises made by their previous albums, taking equal pride in smoky psychedelics and mountain-ascending riffs. With Faust, Earth and Sunn O))) collaborators acting as engineers - not to mention drummer Emil Amos having recently become the new other half of Om - Grails' avant-metal leanings are evident as always. But Doomsdayer's Holiday finds their already-broad palette continually expanding with 70s European film noir and cosmic free jazz explorations complimenting the Middle Eastern psychedelic folk-metal the group is already known for. After a wildly prolific three-year streak that saw the band ceaselessly pushing forward, Grails have finally made an album that pushes back." - their label
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Label/Date: Temporary Residence, 2008
Genre: experimental, psychedelic
From: Portland, Oregon
LIYL: Priestbird, Ghost, Bardo Pond, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel
Website : Myspace

Hammerhead - Into The Vortex

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Label/Date: Amphetamine Reptile, 1994
Genre: noise rock, post punk
From: Minneapolis, MN
Similar/Related: Vaz, Shellac/Rapeman/Big Black, Jesus Lizard, Karp, The Cows, Unsane
Website : Myspace

Brightblack Morning Light- Motion to Rejoin

Download: mediafire
Label/Date: Matador, 2008
Genre: mellow, droning folk/psych/soul/dub ("slow-mo blues, languid guitarscapes, and druggy atmospherics")
From: Northern California, USA
LIYL: Gentleman Losers, Six Organs Of Admittance, Earth, Human Bell, Pocahaunted, Espers, A Whisper In The Noise, Calexico, OM
Website : Myspace

Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - ARK.1

Huge thanks to Dimitri!
Info: "we got a big one here! you don't wanna' miss this! richard norris, founding member of the grid, and london's premier dj, producer and remix maestro erol alkan have been releasing music under the beyond the wizard's sleeve moniker since 2007, when their first 12" sold out in a matter of days. then came the second, third and fourth releases, all selling out as soon as they hit the shelves. here is a collection of some of the finest moments from the 4 highly sought after 12's. this is a serious slice of esoteric, eclectic freakbeat weirdness. re-edited nuggets, long lost exotic psychedelia and krauty, disco beats are all mangled into previously unheard shapes. totally exclusive to rough trade, this is simply some of the most vital, mindbending and great music to be heard. do. not. miss." -Rough Trade
Download: megaupload
Label/Date: The Third Mynd Recordings, 2008
Genre: Electronic, Leftfield, Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, Avantgarde, etc...
From: United Kingdom
Website : Myspace

Tweak Bird - Reservations EP

Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Volcom, 2008
Genre: stoner/sludge/psych, guitar/drums duo (2 brothers)
From: Los Angeles, CA
LIYL: Death from Above 1979, Big Business, Melvins, Clouds, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Thrones, Kinski
Website : Myspace

Young Widows - Old Wounds

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Label/Date: Temporary Residence, 2008
Genre: noise-rock, hardcore
From: Louisville, Kentucky
LIYL: Breather Resist, Fight Amp, The Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Unsane, Unearthly Trance, Melvins, Black Cobra
Website : Myspace