transelement - 8 songs about travelkrautrock/indie-rock: hell. i really wish i could turn back time. when the late great transelement was still there. one of the overlooked talented groups from england. sadly they've disbanded in 2004. this is their last official release.
with a not-so-prolific career of releasing 4 albums in 10 years, they've built up their own path on the footsteps of very varied influences. from aphex twin to beach boys to can.
so you can imagine how does their music sound like. one that you can never imagine.
their songs are highly eclectic. i can never guess what does the end of each track sound like. 'razy breakbeats meets beach boys-esque harmony meets boredoms-esque
psychedelic blasts' you may get something like this. weird as it sounds, but it's the mere creativity and catchy melodies that haunt you.
go to this site, try the mp3 of their last unreleased album... --krik
official site
god is an astronaut - all is violent, all is brightpost -rock: a follow-up to their debut, released in 2005. though moving in rather the similar direction, it's a much more refined work of the trio. so affectious that makes you feel like you're floating in space while looking down the earth witnessing the decay of human civilization.
delicate, intricate, passionate, atmospheric. i can write a lot more dramatic words about the music, but once you're listening you won't even care. it's a masterpiece. truly so beautiful. stop your work and go to buy it. i really mean it.
p.s. the video in this advanced cd is simply a documentary of catastrophic/violent events. really fits in the music itself. yay, if you're filming a documentary for the history of mankind, use this as your theme music. --kirk
official site
god is an astronaut - the end of the beginningpost-rock: a post rock/space rock trio from ireland. this is their debut. filled with melodic guitar washes, beautiful piano arpeggios &occasional 'dancey' beats. bleak. infectious. introspective. it makes me think of a strip down version of early works by mogwai. quite a good album. --kirk
official site
dustin o'halloran - piano solosclassical: dustin o'halloran, half the soul of dark pop band the devics, has gone solo. piano solo. taciturnly.
a 1930s restored sabel and a vulnerable heart.
upon the first note i'm paralysed from inside. that's the signatory romanticism bewildering me. the vast notes sew a dream. a dream of endless loneliness and nostalgia.
it's immediately reminiscent of debussy, satie and ravel. but there's no another "clair de lune", and dustin's no impressionistic giant. no self-indulge virtuoso inside.
listen to the opus as a whole. only to find the highly repetitive and dreamy sound
build up a hazy, evocative atmosphere. let yourself immersed into the gentle washes between his fingers. "what a dreary day it was," you think. --kirk
official site
my little airport - 只因當時太緊張indie -pop: 繼上年既在動物園散步才是正經事之後,今年第二隻碟: 只因當時太緊張,起初諗住都係清新野為主, 但係聽左之後,佢地既style有些少轉變了,有d歌幾guitar noise,例如: gi gi leung is dead, 佢地都講可能受the libertines影響.....今次會有d電他野聽 (只因當時太緊張),當然今次仍有清新野啦(你的微笑像朵花),佢地填詞及曲式開始似似 地amk了,我聽聞有d人聽左幾次就冇聽,又話想放去二手....但係我覺得此碟此起上一隻比較好聽,同埋曲式成熟左!!!我就係鍾意nichole個把 懶洋洋既聲....如果用正經腔去唱,反而冇咁好聽.....維港唱片近幾年已經成為香港本地label之一,但係大眾既聽聚幾時先發現本地indie有 d咁好既band呢?!
p.s. 咁你/妳當時緊唔緊張呀?! --edmond aka kurt0504@上一代
official site
ladytron - witching hourelectro-pop: yes!!! 電子淑女的剛剛發表的第三張大碟《witching hour》到手！ ladytron除了是electroclash 狂潮下的倖存生還者，而音樂方面亦更上一層樓。電音依然冷酷，旋律節奏更令人鍾愛。
正如主將 daniel hunt 接受 mcb 時所形容新唱片為一張有點 my bloody valentine 影響作品，注意第七首曲目"sugar", intro 部份的撕裂趺盪結他riff，有點mbv的"soon", "when you sleep", "only shadow"風格，歌曲本身仍甚為搶耳。另外亦頗mbv味道的可說是第十二首曲目"whiteligthgenerator"，輕盈美妙的調子更是一聽 難忘，不想望神６便想到太空。"the last one standing"，"destroy everything you touch", "international dateline"亦是非常急激舞動的作品。"all the way...", "soft power", "fighting in built up area", "beauty*2"亦非人性化的cool得相當有型。
數數今年好像有很多知名的樂隊相繼發表第三張大碟，who next？ --canoncigar
official site
tosca - j.a.c.electronica: 來自維也納前身為 ”dehli 9”，直至1994年發表處女作後名為”tosca”，前陣子發表了他們的最新大碟"j.a.c"。所感受到的是down tempo下男聲的囈語與跳脫結他旋律合拼之下的和諧。
宇宙之大，聲音是零零碎碎的滑行在耳腔之內，意境如神州六昇空，在bass line底蘊下有把聲音告訴你「學問」普通話是怎麼，乍聽之下有點驚訝。”damentag”的結他曲式總讓人聯想油脂時代的舞池到底聽上來仍是有股跳躍 感。以民族鼓帶領進入ambient狀態的”naschkatze”請問你準備好放鬆沒有？
每張唱碟每種音樂都有它存在的意義，不知道這個言過其實的唱片封套能吸引幾多消費者，也許這樣說會圓滑點，如半夜三更，如在pub/club，如在閱讀或在進行一些靜態的為行／地方，都可以考慮播放這張唱片。 --fc
v.a. - help: a day in the lifecompilation: 一九九五年前由 war child 發起為牽連於戰火中的兒童籌款的 help! 合輯距今已經整整十個年頭，當時有份參與合輯的單位可謂星級陣容，有 oasis, the stone roses, radiohead, portishead, massive attack, suede, the charlatans, the chemical brothers, manic street preachers, blur 等名字（大部分今天還健在呢！）。 到今年，war child 決定再發動結集 help: a day in the life 合輯。 眾多參與樂團雖然身處不同地方，但大都把錄製完成的歌曲經互聯網收集起來，比起 help! 的六日製作，今次只用了 30 小時而已（由錄音至網上收費下載）。
今趟獲邀的單位並不算是很巨星級，而是近年甚至乎近幾個月在英倫掘起的新音樂單位（當中的 babyshambles 更是還未推出其處男專輯的呢），new wave/post-punk 的代表有 maximo park, kaiser chiefs, bloc party, hard-fi, razorlight 等，brit-pop 的代表有 coldplay, elbow, keane，有唱作人 damien rice，亦有利物浦之音的 the zutons 和 the coral 。 除此之外 radiohead, the manic street preachers, belle and sebastine, gorillaz 等老牌子也獻出了新作品。 比較令人意外的是有 the go! team, tinariwen, mylo 和曾受戰火洗禮亦當過童兵的黑人 rapper emmanuel jal 等不同音樂風格單位的參與。
碟中的話題作，如 coldplay 觸動人心的 how you see the world no. 2，該曲原是 x & y 日本版的 bonus track，現重填上新歌詞，警世非常。 radiohead 的 i want none of this 就跟 we suck young blood 般，夢囈的聲線伴著孤寂的鋼琴，異常蒼涼。 keane & faultline 重玩了 elton john 的 goodbye yellow brick road，gorillaz 亦專程到港錄製的 hong kong，另外碟末有 george & antony 重玩 john lennon 的 happy christmas, war is over 亦總算打了一個貼題的句號。
雖然合輯只有七十餘分鐘的長度，卻可算是勾畫出今天英倫樂圈的新面貌。 雖然碟價非十分大眾，但只聽二十多個單位的新作品已經值回票價，可況是為戰地兒童籌款的，值得支持。
the world is so wrong...
let's stop all the fight... --john lennon - happy christmas (war is over)
根據 war child 提供既數據，各下聽完全碟後（76 mins)，應該會有二十五個小童在戰火中死去（但願你的那個版本是正版）。 --noclan10
official site
contributors (ordered by submission time):
kirk、 edmond aka kurt0504@上一代、canoncigar、 fc、noclan10
