VA "Hour of the Cake"

And now to keep the flame burning a little bit more here i've decided to post a compilation i've made for a radio show i had the pleasure to host for one of the most alternative radios here, Radio Radar. Of course i couldn't play any sludge, doom, death or black metal on a in broad saturday afternoon radio broadcast. Instead i've gathered a handful of some more alternative acts that i quite enjoy a lot. Some are old and others are new favorites So i hope you do enjoy this more alternative selection i've made. And leave a fucking comment below goddamn it! You will be surprised.

Black Tea

The Soft Moon "Total Decay" EP

Released last year, "Total Decay" EP is another freaking collection of cold, weird and hypnotic post punk tracks. "Total Decay" solidifies that The Soft Moon is on its own path, not to be compared. Just listen, hold the shadow of his hand on this journey into the darkness, as he whispers directions through the obstacles, to the light. Buy it here.

listen | dwell in the shadows

Belong

Following the line left with the previous post i now bring you one of my favorite releases of this year, Belong, with their beautiful album "Common Era". This is the first album in five years from this experimental duo. Both the time invested, and the wait, have been well rewarded with this return. "Common Era" shows extraordinary progression from that first album of dense, scorched earth instrumentals, hints of a new direction having been revealed on the EP from 2008. The new material has such common pop elements as songs, vocals and drum machines, but the results could hardly be called conventional and are like little else happening on the current scene. Never heard anything like this.. it's not quite shoegaze, although the songs deliver a thick wall of sound, that is usual in that genre. The songs themselves are like radio transmissions received from another time and place, just as likely to be the future as the past, or even from a contemporary alternate universe. They are both passionate and dispassionate, grey yet technicolor, ghostly and palpable, distant yet immediate, grainy and focused. Upon listening these conceptual contradictions are dismissed with ease, as the recordings reveal that they fit all of these descriptors simultaneously, an extraordinary balancing act. Highly Recommended.

myspace | this is the new era

The Soft Moon

Today I'm in the mood for other sounds besides metal.. today is non-metal day. The Soft Moon is the one-man project of Luis Vasquez, The Soft Moon gives the darkly hypnotic sounds of Suicide, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and Krautrock new life with a stripped-down, lo-fi approach. I found this last year, thru a blog from a musician/designer i follow daily, it was on his Best Of 2010 list, and of all the names he mentioned, this was the only was that was not familiar to me.. so i decided to investigate. And it was love at first sight, or in this case, audition. It was perfect, i passed it into my iPod and when left work to catch the bus it was already dark, it had been raining so the reflections were multiplied by the lights coming from the cars headlights. The decaying city, the dark and dirty subway station... the silhouettes of junkies and prostitutes, the dirty neon lights... The Soft Moon provides the perfect soundtrack to all of this environment. Recommended.

facebook | drugged on the moon