Josh Whelchel

The cute and over too quickly “Jottobots” soundtrack from Josh Whelchel is a delightful affair as the four tracks loops beautifully in their haze. Opener “Jottobots” has a plucky Eastern popcorn sounding synth that leads the main melody in a Reggae Ska swing before “jotto Blastr” brings out all the retro chip-sets out for crisp and clean chip-tune  There’s little dub-step filler sections but the majority it full of never-ending arpeggios which all 16 bit boss battles have been made of.

“Those Neon Feels” calms us down with a soft chiming glassy plink before the drum toms kick in and the track becomes far more spacious and dramatic. From big chord stabs to heroic synth leads, the track has you covered –  which is an achievement to cram it all in under four minutes! “Something Slower” ends the short soundtrack with a tick tocking beat and what is almost a freeform jazz bass playing over slightly discordant keyboard shimmers.

Short, sweet but crafted to high quality my only nitpick is that the tracks artists details are blank and cannot be altered for my Last.Fm to pick it up and spread the love! So yeah… musics fine!

Sumthing Else

Sumthing Else have long been publishing some amazing game soundtracks however they are usually the huge symphonic top dollar explosive soundtracks. You could almost call them film soundtracks something in the way they are put together. However Sumthing Else has taken a great step to partner with Wadjet Eye Games to publish some indie game soundtracks. Names included are Resonance, Proteus, The Shivah & various Blackwell games. I’m so pleased as usually these kinds of soundtracks would appear on Bandcamp if at all. One step forward for VGM!

Marla Mase

Marla Mase is a rock crossover artist whom has piqued my interest with her latest release entitled “Speak”. “Speak” has since gone on the road to become a multimedia live show incorporating spoken word, visual cues, dance and imagery along with of course a live rock band. The whole thing is designed to help portray women and their world. She will be appearing at SummerStage 2013. Take a look at the video for “Piece of Peace” below.

On a complete side note, she looks a spitting image of one of my bosses at work!

Prescilla Hernandez

I think for once, I’ll let this absolutely beautiful track do the talking. For fans of Faun, Qntal, Omnia, Pagan/Neo-Folk, World Music with a difference and something very Lord of the Rings!

She did all the illustrations herself too!

EndAnd

Now there’s no secret I love myself some angry music here on HigherPlainMusic and EndAnd certainly have me covered! A three piece from NYC, they have plenty of shout about and do so in their noisy grungy punk rocking way. I love the little flairs and embellishments throughout the track “Commando” and HPM will be reviewing their latest release very soon.

I Am A Man With A St Tropez Tan

The quite bizarre soundscape artist that is Rick Senley released an album in 2011 under the pseudonym of “I Am A Man With A St Tropez Tan”. The album called “Just A Ghost” is almost like an audio painting of the world seen around you.

Opening with the short distorted introduction of “In France You Can’t Call your Pig Napoleon” you’re given quick flashes of what will be coming up before the electronica heavy “Please Be Careful What You Do With Yourself” bleeds onto the speaker. Encompassing sirens, barely audible humming bass and phased to the heavens keyboard stabs the track goes out of its way to be as in-cohesive as possible, almost to disorient you. It sounds like a musical beat heart factory churning in the centre of London. “Breaking” doesn’t cut any slack either mumbling twisted announcements and breathes warp around empty phone beeps and whaling guitars. It reminds me of something from Akira Yamaoka’s earlier Silent Hill soundtracks and from the Demento Soundtrack. Eerie and devilish – especially at the end when everything pitch bends downwards. ”Just A Ghost” the title track is the first track to resemble something of a normal song structure with a guitar riff and some intermittent drums and the guitar is seriously rocking out – even though it’s mostly the only instrument playing! Rick’s monologues in the middle again aren’t singing, they spoken thoughts and feelings.  You know that when this is the closest to an entry point for someone, you’ve got a completely experimental album!

“Tea For Me” reminds me of Bjork’s “Drawing  Restraint 9″ soundtrack in that its a pulsating speedy bell led track that gradually grows and grows into a furious frenzy. It really squeezes every drop of note spectrum out as it rises and distorts yet builds its tension and anticipation for a huge climax that doesn’t come. It is by far my favourite piece on the album and is a massive stand out. Melodic heaven.

“Southend” follows. It’s wet. It’s full of lapping water samples and crowd noise as it lays the foundations for the more celestial “Knives of Death” that runs some beautiful synths against a churning buzzing shaker. It’s not quite beautiful enough to feel at piece. It’s certainly not prickly enough to feel discomforted. It hits a really strange balance of the two which is fascinating. “Matt, Matt, Matt” the sheds the beauty and turns into an industrial pulse of static and low-fi explosives. It pulses away before some twisted evil screams, cries and noises are thrown in to confuse you. “Does Anyone Know What’s Going On” has a singular hum that fades in and out whilst various sample clips and loops burst in and out. Some are haunting. Some are confusing. Some are damn right creepy. In a similar fashion “There Is No Death” follows sample and vibrating guitars and harsh drum loops  It’s like you’re flying through the white light into a tunnel that goes ever onwards.

“Just A Ghost” is as experimental and Avant Garde as you can find. Rarely do I find it difficult to recommend or describe something but this album is like taking a spiritual journey on a broken sound stage. Everything has gone to pot and you’ve just got to ride it out. There’s moments of beauty, craze, insight and skin crawl. You just have to open minded enough to give it a go.

Monks of Mellonwah

Aside from having a pretty cool name, Monks of Mellonwah have a crisp and slick rock edge and high production values. They fall into the category of tidy rock for me, where each riff has its place perfected into the music, ala Chilli Peppers but with a bit more grunt.

Here’s the great video for “Neverending Spirit” which should help them break out of Australia. We will be reviewing their 2012 EP shortly in anticipation for their new record coming out on Bandcamp soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIr52K9miNk

I, Synthesist

Hello? I’m Marc Almond’s Long Lost Brother! Welcome to “I Synthesist”, whose just released his third album “Somewhere and Everywhere” last week. He has a retro-future synth pop vibe that is dark, dank and soaked in sweat but in a slightly menacing way instead of the cheesy pop way. It heavily reminds me of any Soft Cell work after their first album and that can only be a good thing! Here’s “Hello Virginia”

Watch out for the best glasses ever…

The albums available on Bandcamp.