Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)

(b) This guitar solo. Wow. Undoubtedly one of the best ever. Depressing, sad and very bluesy. Eddie Hazel at his best. It took only some inspirational words by George Clinton and the very first song emerged on the fantastic album "Maggot Brain". 

And even this alone is worth the whole album. This doesn't mean the rest of the album is not great. It is a dark record, with very psychedelic and provocative lyrics. An important lesson in Funk, everyone should know.

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Dark Castle - Spirited Migration (2009)

 

(c) This band definitely belongs to my dearest discoveries of the past months. They are quite special in two ways. First, this band is just a man and a woman – and guess who’s singing! More astonishingly though is the fact, that they only use drums and guitars to produce there sound. And let me tell you, it kicks ass! I don’t think there’s another band which is able to pull out such a massive sound with only two instruments. One could ask why they don’t have at least a bass guitar. Well… they just don’t need it. It surely helps that the guitars are tuned down, but the power comes from the riffs itself, not the sound. Together with very special vocals I never heard before, they do some great music!

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Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages (1991)

(b) Jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrocks last album is often considered as his best work. Unusual harmonious compositions, expressive saxophon playing by Pharoa Sanders and Elvin Jones masterly drumming make "Ask The Ages" one of the best free jazz records out there.

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P.O.S. - Never Better (2009)

(b) It's fascinating how well a hip-hop album works, in which most of the instruments are recorded live. And it requires knowledge of working with these instruments. Stefon Alexander, better known as "P.O.S", has this knowledge. The former member of many punk rock bands shows the full range of his skills on this album. A fantastic flow, profound lyrics and diverse character of melody and beats can be found here.

My favorite hip-hop album of 2009. And "Purexed" is even one of my favorite songs of all time. True story!

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Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break (1999)

(b) One of my favorite autumn albums. WYHB is a lo-fi indie-pop/rock record with warming lyrics, a large number of instruments (around 18) and an overall happy mood. I can not deny the  60's influence on this, especially The Beatles and Beach Boys were probably a big inspiration, so you may think you've heard it all before but yet it sounds fresh and new. An exciting album and an essential landmark for the 90's lo-fi wave.

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Withered - Dualitas (2010)

(c) Though mainly influenced by death metal, this album also contains elements of black and doom metal. Thus it sounds quite unfamiliar and fresh. Throughout the whole record we got raw guitars and nice growls which build up the overall dark feeling. You might think this can be said about nearly every death metal album. That might be true, but it’s really hard to tell, how massive and overwhelming their sound is. It seems as if eerie tones and noises are constantly lying underneath. Probably it is just due to the fairly rough production, but it suits the overall sound really well. So, give it a listen and buy this CD, these guys deserve a little more attention!

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Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors (2011)

(c) Fair To Midland know how to create catchy vocal harmonies, in fact some of them are well radio-suited. Luckily the good songwriting and heavy guitar riffing prevents it from being to pop-like. You can feel the joy they have experimenting. As a result, they pull out very interesting bass lines and keyboard parts, always accompanied by great vocals and riffing. This album sounds like Dredg and The Mars Volta collaborated in their best days. Unlike them, I hope Fair To Midland are able to maintain their high level of musicianship in the future.

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Trophy Scars - Never Born, Never Dead (2011)

(c) What we’ve got here is an ambitious work from a quite unknown band. Though they have been active for some time, this is the first record I took notice of them. And I’m happy about it! There are some things I was not certain about at first. Some of the vocals can be somewhat weird on the first listen and I’m not much of a Hammond organ enthusiast, so I listened to this one from a safe distance. But it didn’t take long and I couldn’t help but playing this album again and again. Because eventually you will notice how well these vocals are used and you’ll be stunned by the variety. Together with excellent lyrics, they just complement every single moment. Another standout is their ability to change pace from mellow, bluesy rock to kick-ass sing-along parts. You just get sucked into their unique style, because you don’t know what they will do next, what mood they come up with. Also – and I never thought this would happen – I really loved the Hammond organ. So I can’t help but entitle this a masterpiece, as simple as that.

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Air France - No Way Down EP (2008)

(b) Laying in the grass, feeling the last rays of sunlight on your skin while a warm breeze moves through your hair. You still have work to do but you just don't care right now. This may be the last beautiful day this year, so you just want to enjoy moment.
Swedish electronic duo "Air France" second release "No Way Down EP" delivers the fitting soundtrack for this particular moment.

"Sort of like a dream...."
"No, better...."

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