It’s post-punk, but feels like coldwave indie, very surprisingly coming from Canada.
Traitrs – Rites And Ritual
Bragolin – I Saw Nothing Good So I Left
These guys have one more album besides the one they credit together with Adam Tristar. It’s just as good with beautiful and soft darkwave melodies. I find this album emotionally rich and to go under my skin like good goth music does. Beautiful cover art, too.
Bragolin vs Adam Tristar – Let Out The Noise Inside
I wrote previously about Adam Tristar after I first saw him live. I’ve been going back to his music regularly and since then I’ve realized that his first record is probably my favorite, so this is a nod to that. Darkwave electronic goth stuff.
Angels Of Liberty – Servant Of The Grail
Classic goth rock. Besides the gloom and darkwave, some songs have a great hook, almost having a glam feel to them (like Son of Serpent and The Last Vampire).
Hello Meteor – The Oahu GP 3: Factory Team
It’s the breakbeat I love and remember done now, with some big beat, drum and bass, and video game sound aesthetics. This is such a fun album from the music through the concept to the cover art.
Darkways – Resonance
Another amazing goth record. Fantastically captured mood, classic sound, mix of post-punk and synths, with an occasional futurepop flair.
Twin Tribes – Pendulum
Classic post-punk goth sound and vibes.
kanekoayano – 石の糸 (Threads of Stone)
Cute and calm acoustic album. Kinda jazz, very light rock, pop.
Dva – Piri Piri
This album catapulted to the top of my listening charts of this year, it just has a ridiculously strong hook. It definitely helps that sun coming out more, trees are bursting in leaves, and this is essentially a soundtrack to summer. Kung Fu and Lococo are hymns for a sunny day on a meadow by a lake while having food on the grill and tossing frisbee.
Indie pop is a great genre for this record: it is absolutely pop with a world music spin, but it’s quite a mile from mainstream radio pop. Some songs have this strong cuteness factor because of the singer’s voice, like how The Asteroids Galaxy Tour took us by storm in 2009 with their debut. It also brings me back to the Radiocafé era of Hungary.
Messa – The Spin
It’s dark like gothic but not black metal or post-punk goth, it’s well-crafted musically but not over the top progressive metal, it’s slow in tempo but not at all doom or sludge. I was a bit confused when they listed things like jazz and dark ambient in their influences, and then, the track The Dress goes into a full-on jazz depart before jumping into a cinematic transition and ending up with a fantastic solo and then the crystal clear vocals arrive… They really have it all. Still, it’s not a mish-mash of things but a perfect amalgamation and genre-bending.
Overall, Messa is just one of those most eclectic dark rock bands that put the sweetest sorrow in my throat. And The Spin is a beautiful album, gives me shivers over and over again. I can easily listen to this on repeat.
Update: I’ve just listened to the previous albums of Messa and now it’s clear why they mention stuff like drone, dark ambient, doom, or stoner as references for their music. There are actual full tracks with these aesthetics on earlier records. However, I think The Spin is a lot more evolved and cleaner version of their sound. It’s not so much all these styles living side-by-side anymore but having a great blend of these sources into one coherent voice.