Felix K – Berlin

I find it surprising to see “drum and bass” as the main call sign for this music on its Bandcamp page (based on self-tagging and quoted reviews). I would have never used that genre here. If I’m looking for one word in that area then rather dubstep, or I’d rather say broken beat rhythmic noise with a techno aesthetic. Although, maybe the latter is just one way to elaborate what dubstep is.

Biosphere – The Way of Time

This is an amazingly good ambient record. I haven’t been so enthusiastic about a piece of ambient release for a long time. Maybe it’s because in the age of “everyone’s a musician” and “AI generated shit”, it’s so easy to flood the web with cheap drones and low tempo loops and slap ambient on it. Then something like the Etna Sessions, the HYbr:ID series, or this album comes along, and there’s no explanations needed, I instantly feel the difference a real artist and craftsman of ambient music makes.

Lebanon Hanover – Sci-Fi Sky

This is cold wave.

I don’t know that the fact they don’t (can’t?) properly play their instruments (which includes voice) in most songs is form over substance, an aesthetic choice, or just shows that in this genre it’s not the musical prowess that matters. In any case, it gives the album a noisy bedroom DYI feel.

Black Angel – Kiss of Death

For goth rock, there’s this triangulation of post-punk to glam-velvet to rocker-dudes, and I could paint the amoeba visualization for all albums based on their style in this triangle. This one’s the least post-punk, and about equal rock-and-roll and glam. This is not goth to be sad about but one to dance to and drink deep crimson wine from large brass chalices by.