It was really difficult to pick a song from Galento to post. Their new album "From the sea" is even more obtuse than their previous work "Golfstarblue". I suppose you could call them post-rock as they are definitely in the business of creating epic soundscapes, but there's way more artistry here than usually demonstrated in that genre and they lack the usual quiet/loud dynamics. No, this truly qualifies as "experimental music". They take organic musical sounds, chop them up and put them back together and then throw in elements of electronics and found-sound. At times I'm reminded of Negativland, other times it's Alog or maybe Majessic Dreams. It's mysterious and evocative, like the soundtrack to an abstract movie. The problem, as said above, is that it's extremely difficult to pick out one section of the record to represent the whole. No, scratch that: it's impossible. Hopefully this one piece stirs up your interest enough to check out the rest. It's worth it.

MP3: Galento - Hela bilen

It was really difficult to pick a song from Galento to post. Their new album "From the sea" is even more obtuse than their previous work "Golfstarblue". I suppose you could call them post-rock as they are definitely in the business of creating epic soundscapes, but there's way more artistry here than usually demonstrated in that genre and they lack the usual quiet/loud dynamics. No, this truly qualifies as "experimental music". They take organic musical sounds, chop them up and put them back together and then throw in elements of electronics and found-sound. At times I'm reminded of Negativland, other times it's Alog or maybe Majessic Dreams. It's mysterious and evocative, like the soundtrack to an abstract movie. The problem, as said above, is that it's extremely difficult to pick out one section of the record to represent the whole. No, scratch that: it's impossible. Hopefully this one piece stirs up your interest enough to check out the rest. It's worth it.

Galento - Hela bilen

Tons of new stuff being added to the webstore today including a selection of paid mp3 downloads from the Kasual Records catalogue (Arial Kill Him, Ikaros, Beezewax, etc.) and a handful of CDs from Oscillatone (Majessic Dreams, Kompjotr Eplektrika) with more stuff on the way from the likes of similarly named Danish labels PonyRec and PlayRec. Let's go shopping!

Swedish label Friendly Noise has announced two new releases for February 1. First up is a comp entitled "Are You Scared To Get Happy?" which features music from the play of the same name and includes acts such as The Radio Dept., Erik De Vahl, Testbild!, Majessic Dreams, Action Biker and more. The second disc is the album "You in honey" from Swedish indiepop act Most Valuable Players. Full tracklist and details: http://www.friendlynoise.se/news.html

New mp3 today from Majessic Dreams off their debut full-length album. We here at IAT were quite smitten with the duo's debut EP "Listen to the moon", so I was quite excited when the new disc showed up in my mailbox. The way they combine low-key pop with glitch/noise is absolutely sublime. Especially on this song - I just love the way that the acoustic guitar figure smolders with vibrating pulses of distortion. It's like watching a campfire burn itself out so that nothing is left but glowing embers. Quiet, beautiful and of course very recommended.

MP3: Majessic Dreams - Black out

New mp3 today from Majessic Dreams off their debut full-length album. We here at IAT were quite smitten with the duo's debut EP "Listen to the moon", so I was quite excited when the new disc showed up in my mailbox. The way they combine low-key pop with glitch/noise is absolutely sublime. Especially on this song - I just love the way that the acoustic guitar figure smolders with vibrating pulses of distortion. It's like watching a campfire burn itself out so that nothing is left but glowing embers. Quiet, beautiful and of course very recommended.

Majessic Dreams - Black out

Kompjotr Eplektrika
RedisetKompjotrAllesklaarEplektrika
Oscillatone

This is noisy electronic music, featuring Mats from semi-defunct art-punks Dialog Cet. A few of the tracks are quite nice (especially the opener "Sondmaskin"), but I find the CD to be a tough listen the whole way through in one sitting. I like the kinds of sounds and tones they employ, but the compositions tend to be lacking in direction. Which is to say, I like the general sonic ideas, just not where they take them. It shows promise, but I far prefer Mats' other current project Majessic Dreams.
- Avi Roig

Check out a sample from the new Majessic Dreams album: http://www.oscillatone.com/OSC-mp3/_mp3/out_there_MD.mp3
The 12-track self-titled record comes out October 15.

Majessic Dreams
Listen to the moon
Oscillatone

This EP is just awesome. Who needs ordinary things like melodies, good beats, strong vocals and memorable lyrics when you can get all disoriented and weirded out listening to Majessic Dreams? Call me depraved, but I probably get more excited by bands that break the rules and map out uncharted territory than bands that are just plain ol' good in a conventional manner. Swedish duo Mats and Jessica Majessic are responsible for this very strange 6-track EP, which is filled with ambient drones, barely-in-tune acoustic guitar and Jessica's beguilingly shy, tentative vocals. They're mixed low, so you have to strain to hear what she's singing. Somehow, the ghostly wisps of sound that result from all this are utterly compelling. "When you sleep", with its heard-in-a-dream atmospherics and feather-light percussion, rates a "10" on my personal cool-o-meter. Interesting synth tones spruce up "Different light", on which both Jessica and Mats sing - it's not exactly lo-fi, but "slow-fi," for sure. The average listener would probably like the pleasing harmonies and soft acoustic guitar of "Around here" best, but perversely, that tune is less than two minutes long, while the title track, consisting of very slow, droney drifty stuff and Jessica's barely audible, flickering-light vocals, is about six minutes! Honestly, I think this disc is fantastic, and truly original. Majessic Dreams are definitely wafting to the beat of their own out-of-step drummer. I can hardly wait for a full-length!
- Kevin Renick

Streaming playlist: Spring is in the air

Today's new mp3 is from Majessic Dreams, a promising new ambient glitch-pop duo who just released their debut EP "Listen to the moon" on oscillatone Recordings. This is one of the more straight-forward pop cuts from the record, but it's still lush with swirling backwards guitars and ghostly waves of tone. I've been mostly unimpressed with a lot of the so-called "indietronica" stuff I've been hearing, but these cats do it right. It's not just good songwriting, it also takes good sound production - neither of which are lacking here at all. It'll be interesting to see what they can do with a full-length release.