radical face - the family tree: the roots (2011)

menomena - mines (2010)

the fourth lp from menomena due out july 29. i cannot stop listening to this album, early front runner for one of my favorite albums of the year. "tithe" is just flooring.

and some great bonus footage of them walking around paris playing an acoustic set of the song "dirty cartoons" with an old woman hilariously rampaging in toward the end:

wild nothing - gemini (2010)

hammock - chasing after shadows... living with the ghosts (2010)

unintended hiatus is over...onward with the celestial bliss!!!

eluvium - similes (2010)

after going almost three years to the date without a proper full-length release, matthew robert cooper re-establishes himself on similes through new means with the addition of vocals and discernible instrumentation which cooper had previously never experimented with. the vocals are hushed and monotone, vaguely reminding me of brian eno, especially on the second track "the motion makes me last" which is the stand-out track to me after only a couple listens.

this is a shitty rip (only 128kbps) but it will suffice for now. i will re-up a better quality soon

gareth dickson - collected recordings (2009)

'collected recordings' consists of songs from two of his prior albums (solina sea, spruce goose) and previously unreleased tracks. when i was first getting familiar with this album, i would hear certain songs playing on shuffle and mistake them for nick drake songs that i had either forgotten about or had yet to become familiar with. a perfect contrast between gentle finger-picked guitar, dreamy folk vocals, and ambient a-la brian eno or labradford. probably my favorite album of 2009. like a dream you never want to leave.

laura gibson - beasts of seasons (2009)

"gibson wrote these songs in a room overlooking one of the oldest graveyards in portland, and to say these oppressive surroundings colour the subsequent recording is something of an understatement. although it’s probably not the first disc you’d reach for to get the party started, its languid tone rarely becomes overbearing." (drownedinsound)

apologies for the lack of updates and original reviews but i wanted to get this one out there and i'm currently short on time. more soon!