March 2012
19 posts
Internet connection little issue
Sorry dear readers and listeners. I’m having some problems with my internet connection, and I’m not sure if I can post anything tonight. My apologies. Please don’t stop ice skatting on this lake ;)
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The Kabeedies - Soap (2012)
Meeting Steve’s request.
Soap starts and you quickly notice a vocal quite common in twee bands. “Hang-Ups of the West” and “Elizabeth” throw this post-punk/twee influences in our faces, and names such as Blondie, The Long Blondies, Liechtenstein come to our minds. But the next song “The Boy with the Bad Mouth” changes the sonority to something that could...
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Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend (2012)
Porcelain Raft is a project of a single man, this 27 year Italian British answering by the name Mauro Remiddi, who released this album in January (after a series of EPs last in the last year). Strange Weekend is a successful collection of weird and hypnotic sounds, layers, instruments and beats. Of course, all these sonorities are mixed with the best that dream-pop can offer. There are some really...
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The Rosie Taylor Project - Twin Beds (2012)
Finally meeting Loris’ and Monica’s requests.
Let’s start from the beginning. The Rosie Taylor Projects’ new album has a remarkable beginning with “Twin Beds (one)”, “For Esme”, ”Every Morning (and for the Rest of Our Lives)” (that that is for the best song in the album, with an amazing crescent ending), “The Last Happy...
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Pg.Lost - Key (2012)
Everybody knows how much is difficult to produce a post-rock album without sounding repetitive or missing the focus. This 56 minute-length work, which holds an average size for the style, mixes a lot of atmospheric characters and nuances, much of them calm and relaxing like Sigur Rós songs, but also containing amazing and utterly crafted build-ups moments, reminding the best phase of the British...
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Black Twig - Paper Tress (2012)
Meeting the requests submitted to the blog, here is the debut album of Black Twig, this Finnish band from this lovely city, Helsinki. Paper Tress is mostly a mix of all noise and experimental genres from the 80’s up to now, and this comprises as well some jangle-pop gems, songs like “Four Notes”, “Death Scene” and “Lake Songs” make the first half of the...
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Black Tambourine - OneTwoThreeFour [double 7"]...
One of the most important bands from Slumberland Records in the early nineties is back, the group has just released this double 7” containing onetwothreefour tracks (yaaaaay!), you known…I would hardly ever miss such a joke. Anyway, the band is still delivering that shoegazing noise songs, with lots of the twee golden age influences. There’s not much else to talk about this,...
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SEA 013 : Raindrops [The Story From The Past EP]...
”..Raindrops is a musical act by Treza Agung. It is formed by Treza (Loops, Synth, Vocal) in Bandung, Indonesia in 2008. The musical style of Raindrops’ songs owes something to the shoegazing genre in its extensive use of reverb and delay effects.
Most of the songs were influenced by dreampop and electronic bands such as: M83, Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints, Radio Dept., Bethany Curve, My...
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Boa Constrictor - On My Way To Die [3-track album]...
Catchy Swedish indie-pop band. This probably would explain everything, that’s all about another great pop group with wonderful influences and songs. Yet I have to say these guys are something! I remember quite well when I wrote about the Norwegian band The School, and all my thoughts ended up becoming true because they delivered and astonishing album in 2010. I’m sure it wouldn’t...
A New Face has just landed on the lake!
Marcito has been my friend for years and now he’s going to help me with the blog. There are so many coincidences about us, since we have the same name and taste for music, movies, etc. Anyway, from now and on he will be posting albums, so please be pleasant with him.
Nothing is going to change here, but certainly the blog will be updated more often.
WELCOME ABOARD DUDE!
.
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Miike Snow - Happy To You (2012)
Yeah, I’m not kidding and I do hate to be repetitive but there it goes another great release of March, the sophomore album of the Swedish band Miike Snow. They keep on making those dancy songs with beautiful synthesizers landscapes and hypnotic drums and piano riffs, which is clearly taking the band further from their influences, making their sound wider and providing a more concise album....
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Netherfriends - Middle America (2012)
“Starting April 2010, Shawn Rosenblatt AKA Netherfriends will be traveling the country for the next year writing and recording a song in each state.”
This is the description given in the website of this talent guy, Shawn Rosenblatt, who is the person behind Netherfriends. He is pursuing his personal dream of composing a song for each one of the 50 North-American states. The project...
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The Wedding Present - Valentina (2012)
Leeds is probably the city with the highest number of underrated bands this world already seen. The Pigeon Detectives and iForward Russia! are some of the current cases, and obviously, there is this band that should always be remembered: The Wedding Present. David Gedge has been making indie music since the eighties. This is his eighth album and Wedding Present’s power, lyrics and sonority...
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Reina Republicana - Reina Republicana (2012)
I’m surprised with the amount of nice indie-pop albums in this beginning of 2012. According to band’s Facebook profile, this album was released on November 29st last year, anyway, I’m considering as a 2012’s release. This band was indicated by a reader of The Crystal Lake, and what a astonishing surprise! Try to gather together the best indie-pop’s, twee’s and...
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Burning Hearts - Extinctions (2012)
I can’t ignore the fact I was at the Indietracks 2010 waiting desperately to see this band playing in the event, and they ended up not going there. At that time the world was still absorving the magnitude of their debut, Aboa Sleeping, and I was an ordinary guy, running after the pop bands I like. Ok, nothing changed here, I’m still an ordinary guy, and Burning Hearts keeps delivering...
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Morning Parade - Morning Parade (2012)
These guys have been treated as one of the most exciting British live bands. This certainly helped out in selling their music, and if you realize that they compose songs which are tailor-made for being any TV show’s soundtrack, then you have a bombastic combination. The first great moment of the album is definitely “Running Down The Aisle”, which reminds us right away of Keane...
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The Magnetic Fields - Love At The Bottom Of The...
Impossible to not like this band. They’re so funny, dancy, and have catchy sonority and smart lyrics. Since 69 Love Songs they have been released great albums one after the other. Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is composed of 15 songs within 34 minutes (!), and as soon as “Andrew In Drag” starts you realize that you are about to stand up and move around the room along with the...
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The Mary Onettes - Love Forever [EP] (2012)
New EP of this amazing Swedish band. The Crystal Lake’s visitors know very well these guys. I’ve been listening this Love Forever throughout this morning and in my opinion it looks a step back in their discography, not a bad release though. Islands had already shown us a slightly change in their sonority, but was able to mantain the quality of the debut, which it did amazingly. Love...
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Boy Friend - Egyptian Wrinkle (2012)
Austin-duo dream-pop (ok Márcio, what else would be with such cover) band formed by Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown, both grils formerly of Sleep ∞ Over, with their debut LP, Egyptian Wrinkle, which gets influence from earlier dream-pop bands such as Cocteau Twins and Lush, and mixes it with a little bit of synth-pop (sometimes, mostly due to the vocals and synthesizers, it’s impossible to...