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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Holy Shit - Stranded At Two Harbors (2006)

(c) Here’s another quite obscure release. This album has its own strange mood to it and to fully appreciate it, you have to agree with it. Thanks to Ariel Pink, the production can be very lo-fi, which really can be a quite drawback. But again, just accept it and try to work through, because some genius vocal lines are hiding behind all the tape hiss and noises. Of course this record is far from perfect, but there are definitely some gems here, especially if you feel comfortable with the lo-fi production. For me this perfectly fits to a laid-back day at the beach. So have an open mind and give it a shot!

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William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops I (2002)

(b) William Basinski is a New York based Ambient-Artist. The day was the 9th September 2001 when he was trying to transfer his experimental 70's music from old magnetic tapes into a digital format. The process went terribly wrong when the ferrite detached from the plastic backing and fell off, destroying the originals and creating something completely new. While listening to his "new" piece of work with a couple of friends on the roof of his appartment, he noticed two planes crashing in the Twin Towers. Therefore, this album is, so macabre it may sound, the soundtrack to 9/11. It's epochal and sad and a truly unique experience.

P.S.: The album-cover is a picture of the events, taken by William Basinski.


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