New Albums of 2009

A Shoreline Dream - Recollections of Memory



Amiina - Re Minore



Amusement Parks On Fire - Young Fight



Asobi Seksu - Transparence



Balmorhea - All Is Wild All Is Silent (Remixes)



Caspian - Tertia



Do Make Say Think - Other Truths



Epic45 - In All The Empty Houses



Giardini di Mirò - Il Fuoco



Jesu - Opiate Sun



Lady&Bird - La Ballade of Lady and Bird



Long Distance Calling - Avoid The Light



Mew - No More Stories



Múm - Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know



Ólafur Arnalds - Found Songs



Port-Royal - Dying In Time



Portugal.The Man - The Majestic Majesty



Portugal.The Man - The Satanic Satanist



Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia



Saxon Shore - It Doesn't Matter



The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away



The Radio Dept. - David



The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead



This Will Destroy You - Field Studies /  Split (Lymbyc Systym)



Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

Jónsi & Alex

Jónsi & Alex began as a Sigur Rós side project around 2003 under the name Riceboy Sleeps. On November 24, 2006, they released their first picture book with the same name as their project. One thousand hand-numbered editions were produced, and only available in Iceland. However, they released a second edition in July 2007, but it was not hand-numbered.

To spread the word of the book's publishing, Somers and Jón held an art exhibition at Gallery Turpentine in Reykjavík, Iceland.In August 2007, they went to Arkansas to hold their first exhibit outside of Iceland. In October of the same year, they held a third exhibit at Melbourne International Arts Festival and were part of the Sequences Art Festival in Reykjavík.

The two have released two singles: "All the Big Trees" and "Daníell in the Sea."

They also contributed the song "Happiness" to the Dark Was the Night charity compilation album produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.  At that time, the duo were known as Riceboy Sleeps.
Their debut album Riceboy Sleeps was released in Europe on July 20, 2009

Download: Riceboy Sleeps (2009)

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Sigur Rós

Parachutes

Frakkur

Bibio

Bibio is the recording name of British music producer Stephen Wilkinson. A resident of West Midlands, England, Stephen Wilkinson developed a passion for experimental music during his time at Middlesex University in London, where he studied “sonic arts”. He developed his own style of music, drawing from contemporary experimental electronica bands such as Boards of Canada, and incorporating field recordings and found sounds. Electronically modified guitar melodies and droning synthesizer sounds are a recurring theme in his pieces, causing many people to label his music as a hybrid of electronica or intelligent dance music and traditional folk music. His music has recently been licensed for commercial campaigns by L.L. Bean and Toyota.

Bibio’s first release on Mush records, Fi, was released in 2004, followed up in 2006 by the release of Hand Cranked, also on Mush. In June 2009, he signed with Warp Records, and in June of that year, released his third studio album Ambivalence Avenue.

Download:



Ambivalence Avenue (2009)

Vignetting the Compost (2009)

Hand Cranked (2006)

Fi (2004)

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Max Richter

Composer Max Richter was born in Germany in 1966 and grew up in the UK. He studied composition and piano at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music and in Florence with Luciano Berio.

He has released four solo albums: Memoryhouse (2002), Blue Notebooks (2004), Songs From Before (2006), and latest, 24 Postcards In Full Colour (2008), a collection of miniatures meant to be used as ringtones.

Download:

24 Postcards In Full Colour (2008)



Songs from Before (2006)

The Blue Notebooks (2004)

Memoryhouse (2002)

Web: MySpace Page, Website

Balmorhea - Remembrance

[vimeo=http://www.vimeo.com/4076405]

.

[vimeo=http://www.vimeo.com/1745080]

Balmorhea

Klimt

Klimt is  a Polish ambient/shoegaze one man band of Antoni Budzinski.

Firstly check their myspace page and listen  "Spowiedz Syren"

Download: Jesienne Odcienie Melancholii (2008)

Web: Myspace Page

The Last Shadow Puppets

The Last Shadow Puppets is a indie band that consists of Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kane of The Rascals and composer/producer James Ford.

Download:

The Age Of The Understatement

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Sumner McKane

Sumner Mckane is a guitarist and composer from Maine. He performs both as a solo artist, & as part of ‘The Sumner Mckane Group’ along with bassist Joshua Robbins, and Todd Richard on drums and percussion.

Download:

North

Night Blooming Cereus

What A Great Place To Be

Two If By Sea

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Ulrich Schnauss

Ulrich Schnauss was born in the northern German town of Kiel in 1977. During his formative years, he came to love a wide spectrum of music, ranging from My Bloody Valentine to Tangerine Dream, from Chapterhouse to early bleep and breakbeat tracks. There was not much opportunity to see his musical heroes in Kiel, so he moved to Berlin in 1996. By that time, Ulrich was already a prolific musician in such genres as ambient and drum and bass, with a variety of pseudonyms. These earlier works soon caught the eye of Berlin electronica label CCO who took him up. Soon his submissions to CCO developed into Ulrich’s first album under his own name, entitled Far Away Trains Passing By. It became an electronic classic; listeners were smitten with the lush instrumentation and the emotional impact of his elegant music. Yet nothing could prepare his growing army of supporters for the next record, A Strangely Isolated Place, which slowly came together in 2001. The album truly displayed Ulrich’s youthful indie influences and established his pedigree as an outstanding electronic composer. A Strangely Isolated Place has become one of those extraordinary and rare occurrences: a record that slowly grows in stature by virtue of its overriding ability to deliver more than the usual arid and academic treatises on the state of the synthesizer.

Download:

Goodbye

A Strangely Isolated Place

Web: Myspace Page

Parachutes - Tree Roots Turn To Forts

Parachutes

Fjord Rowboat

Download: Saved The Compliments For Morning

Web: Myspace Page, Website

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is an indie rock band best known for their heavy yet anthemic music and their tendency to destroy their equipment at the end of their performances (a rock and roll tradition usually associated with The Who). According to the band’s website, the name “…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead” is taken from both an ancient Mayan ritual chant and an Egyptian burial text. Band members have also claimed that they made it up because it sounded cool and discovered the association after the fact.

Download:

The Century of Self (2009)

So Divided (2006)

Worlds Apart (2005)

Relative Ways (2002)

Source Tags & Codes (2002)

Madonna (1999)

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (1998)

Web:

Myspace Page, Website

Jesu

Jesu is an experimental rock band formed in 2003 by Justin Broadrick following the breakup of Godflesh. Jesu's sound is heavily layered and textured, drawing from and incorporating an eclectic mix of influences, ranging from ambient music, post-metal and drone doom, to shoegazing, downtempo and industrial music. Some have described their more recent releases as "avant-pop" and avant-garde doom.

Download:

Pale Sketches

Conqueror

Silver

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible (2007)

Black Session (2007)

Funeral (2004)

Arcade Fire (2003)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Paavoharju

Paavoharju is a Finnish folk musical collective of lutheran Christians formed around two brothers, Lauri and Olli Ainala.

Download: 

Yhä hämärää 

Laulu Laakson Kukista

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Beach House

Beach House is an indie rock/dream pop group which formed in 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The group consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, organ) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboards). Legrand is the niece of french composer Michel Legrand.

Download:

Used To Be (2008)

Devotion (2008)

Beach House (2006)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Detektivbyrån

Detektivbyrån is Jon Ekström, Anders Flanders and Martin Molin, who formed in Karlstad, Sweden in and are now located in Gothenburg. They are making instrumental folky electronic music using vibes, accordions, trumpets, drums and guitars.
Download:

Wermland

E18 Album

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Elf Fatima

Elf Fatima are an atmospheric, Dark Pop/Post Punk, Post-Heavy-Rock-Instrumentalist, Underground band from Hong Kong.

Download:

- Kill All W

- Elf Fatima

Web:  Myspace Page, Website

Melodium

The man behind Melodium is Laurent Girard. He was born in 1975 and lives in Angers, France.In 1999, he contacts the label Tugboat to ask for a cd of one of their bands, Isan. At the same time, he sends some of his own compositions, and receives a kind reply from Glen Johnson telling him to send him other tracks.Glen Johnson sent then the tape to a friend label, Static Caravan, who released his 7” called “Rhythmil”. The same year, Laurent Girard buys a computer and finds it much easier to create sounds.

Download:

Lullabies for Adults (2009)

Music for Invisible People (2007)

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Balmorhea

Balmorhea, pronounced Bal-moor-ay, are Rob Lowe and Michael Muller from Austin, Texas. They list some of their influences as Ludovico Einaudi, Six Parts Seven, Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Rachel’s, Gillian Welch, Max Richter, Arvo Pärt and John Cage
Have shared the stage with such notable acts as Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Fleet Foxes, Efterklang, Helios, Grouper, Tiny Vipers, Human Bell, Slaraffenland, Anathallo, This Will Destroy You, Pattern Is Movement, and Dosh.
Download:

All Is Wild, All Is Silent (2009)

Tour Ep (2008)

River Arms (2008)

Balmorhea (2007)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Giardini di Mirò

Giardini di Mirò is a post-rock unit based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The group formed in 1998, and its members include Jukka Reverberi, Lorenzo Lanzi, Mirko Venturelli, Luca Di Mira, and Corrado Nuccini. Notable acts the unit has toured with include Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Karate, Ulan Bator, and Unwound.
Download:

DIVIDING OPINIONS (2007)

NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY OF LOVE (2006)

PUNK…NOT DIET! (2003)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Her Name is Calla

Her Name Is Calla’s sound brings to mind a raw, stripped back Radiohead with strong post-rock influences thrown into the mix.

Download:

Heritage 2008

Condor and River 2007

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Subheim

Subheim is the deeply personal project of electronic music composer and visual artist Kostas K., a downtempo, experimental venture fusing IDM elements with rich ambiance and female vocals by Katja.
Complex and uncompromising, Subheim’s debut album on Tympanik Audio is full of intricate rhythms, deep reverbs, and bitcrushed sounds, combined with pianos, cellos, and beautiful synthwork. Haunting melodies and distant voices meet complex beats and luring atmospheres to create a unique blend of dynamics and emotion. ‘Approach’ flirts with post-rock and atmospheric downtempo styles, while still maintaining an original sound that is both captivating and inspirational.
Download: Approach

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind (New Album 2009)

The new album of Japanese post-rock band Mono. (Highly Recommended)

Download: Hymn To The Immortal Wind

Mono

Yo La Tengo

The Hoboken, NJ-based unit explore the extremes of feedback-driven noise rock and sweet melodic pop. Prolific and independent, Yo La Tengo have transcended their influences to establish themselves as an institution of the indie community.

Download:

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006)

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2000)

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997)

Electr-O-Pura (1995)

May I Sing with Me (1993)

Fakebook (1990)

Ride the Tiger (1986)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Animal Collective

Animal Collective is a New York City/Washington, D.C/Lisbon based music collective of avant-garde musicians from Baltimore, Maryland. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb), and Geologist (Brian Weitz). Records released under the name Animal Collective may include contributions from any or all of these members; the lineup is not uniform. The band members met in school and started recording together in various forms of collaboration from a young age. Although the band is often classified as psych folk or noise rock, it is hard to define the Animal Collective sound as they often experiment with diverse styles and ideas from album to album. The group also runs the record label Paw Tracks on which they have released their own material as well as material by artists such as Ariel Pink, Terrestrial Tones, and The Peppermints. Paw Tracks’ latest signee is Tickley Feather, with whom the band recently toured.

Download:

Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Strawberry Jam (2007)

Feels (2005)

Hollinndagain (2002)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

The Fiery Furnaces

The Fiery Furnaces are an inventive and often challengingly experimental rock group from Brooklyn, New York. Originally from Oak Park, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — they consist of the brother and sister team of Matthew Friedberger and Eleanor Friedberger, and are currently joined by Jason Loewenstein (Sebadoh), BOB D’AMICO and Michael Goodman when playing live on tour.

Download:

Remember 2008

- Disc 1

- Disc 2

Bitter Tea (2006)

Blueberry Boat (2004)

Gallowsbird's Bark (2003)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Clogs

Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia’s Padma Newsome, both men familiar from their membership in the acclaimed rock band, The National. But don’t call Clogs a side project. Their existence predates The National, and Clogs have released four widely acclaimed albums — a highly melodic debut Thom’s Night Out, then the experimental polyphonies of Lullaby For Sue, the minimalist explorations of Stick Music and 2005’s Lantern.

Download:

- Lantern (2006)

- Stick Music (2004)

- Lullaby for Sue (2003)

- Thom's Night Out (2001)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Skúli Sverrisson

Skúli Sverrisson is an Icelandic bass player and composer, residing in New York City. Sverrisson also plays dobro, acoustic bass guitar, and charango, in addition to electric bass. He is currently music director for Laurie Anderson and tours with her internationally.

Download: Seria (2006)

Dreamend

Dreamend is a Chicago-based shoegazer musical group signed to Graveface Records, whose music is characterized by textured guitar work and prominent drums and percussion. Song styles range from post-rock to bluegrass.

Download:

The Long Forgotten Friend 2008

Maybe We're Making God Sad and Lonely 2005

As If by Ghosts 2004


Stigmata Boy EP 2001

Web: Myspace Page

Stafrænn Hákon

Once described as “frequently mesmerizing, seamlessly interwoven combination of electronica and ambient guitar…” by the legendary Wire magazine. Stafrænn Hákon has indeed through the last 6 years been described as a mix of post-rock, lo-fi, ambient guitar & electronica. The Icelandic born Ólafur Josephsson has been recording music since 1999 under the name Stafrænn Hákon (sometimes stafraenn hakon, stafrann hakon) which has often confused the media, due to the confusing Icelandic origin.


Download:

Gummi (2007)

Kobbi (2007)

Ventill / Poki (2004)

Glussi Christmas 7" (2004)

Í ástandi rjúpunnar (2004)

Skvettir edik á ref (2003)

Eignast Jeppa (2003)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Hood

Hood is an experimental band from Leeds, U.K formed in December 1990. The core of the band features brothers Richard and Chris Adams, joined by various different friends over the years. With influences from New Zealand’s Flying Nun label and Aphex Twin, and stylistic similarities to The Cure, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement and Boards of Canada, their style of music often changes from ambient rock, to glitch to shoegaze.


Download:

Structured Disasters

Rustic Houses, Forlorn Valleys

The Cycle of Days and Seasons

Home is Where it Hurts EP

The Lost You EP

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Jens Lekman

Jens Lekman's music can be described as guitar-based pop with heavy use of samples and strings; the lyrics are often witty, romantic, and lachrymose. His work is often compared to that of Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, Jonathan Richman, and Morrissey.

Download:

- Night Falls Over Kortedala

- When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog

Web: Myspace Page

Mice Parade

Download:

Mice Parade (2007)

Bem-Vinda Vontade (2005)

Obrigado Saudade (2004)

Mokoondi (2001)

Ramda (1999)

The True Meaning of Boodleybaye (1998)

Web: Myspace Page

Slaraffenklang

Slaraffenland + Efterklang

Download: Danish Dynamite Live at Sono Festival 2008

Web: Last FM

The Spherical Minds

The band’s main influences are varied: Steve Reich for his simplicity, the mind-blowing rock of Pink Floyd or the experimentations of Radiohead…The band is always interested in discovering artists from different musical horizons.
Long and ethereal as well as dream-like atmospheres are characteristic of The Spherical Minds. Acoustic instruments such as cello, piano and guitar, are mixed with trip hop -sometimes dub- rhythms, bass and electric guitar.

Download: Fern


Web: Myspace Page , Website

Tortoise

Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to Krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica, and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.
Some have cited Tortoise as being one of the prime forces behind the development and popularity of the so-called "post-rock" movement. Others, however, have characterised Tortoise's music as being heavily indebted to progressive rock

Download:

- It's All Around You

- Remixed

- Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters


- Tortoise

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Sans Arc

Sans Arc is an ever-evolving New Jersey-based project that creates dense, emotional soundscapes that envelope listeners in waves of texture. With an emphasis on background atmospherics, layers of guitars (both electric and acoustic), programmed beats and electronic flourishes, Sans Arc forges a unique sound that is difficult to categorize. It has been called shoegaze, post-rock, emo, indie-rock and ambient in various reviews.

Download:

- When Eye Meets Eyes (2007)


- Ghostlike (2006)

Web: Website

Dntel

Dntel is known for mixing glitch and cut-up electronic techniques with instruments like acoustic guitars, accordions, and symphonies.

Download:

- Dumb Luck - 2007

- Life Is Full of Possibilities  - 2001

- Early Works For Me If It Works For You - 1998

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Lady & Bird

Beguiling and mysterious, the self-titled eponymous debut album from Lady & Bird performed and recorded by French singer-songwriter Keren Ann and Bardi Johannsson of the Icelandic band Bang Gang exists in a unique universe wholly of its own creation. Subtitled “A Children’s Story For Adults,” the ten-song CD is certainly not aimed at the preschool set. Far from it. Lady & Bird tells the story of two curious, disembodied creatures who are stuck in the bodies of a pair of grownups. From selections like Lou Reed’s “Stephanie Says” or “Suicide Is Painless” (alias “The Theme from M*A*S*H”) to the eight delicately haunting original compositions you can catch a glimpse of these two peculiar innocents as their quiet melodies slip between the crack of night and day, and seep into our natural world.

Download: Lady & Bird

Web: Myspace Page

World's End Boyfriend

Download: Xmas Song

World's End Girlfriend

Wonderland Falling Yesterday

The Twilight Sad

Download:

Killed My Parents and Hit the Road

Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Updates

M83

July Skies

Audrey

Amusement Parks on Fire

The Strange Death of Liberal England

Ólafur Arnalds

Parachutes

Helios

Logh

Bang Gang

Eluvium

Eluvium is an ambient project of Matthew Cooper. He is known for blending various genres of experimental music including shoegaze, electronic, minimalist and piano.

Download:

- Copia (2007)

- When I Live By The Garden And the Sea (2006)

- Talk Amongst the Trees (2005)

- An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death (2004)

- Lambent Material (2003)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Efterklang - Monopolist

Efterklang

Stars of the Lid

Stars of the Lid is a band specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt , Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as post-rock artists Talk Talk and Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their music largely consists of beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs.

Download:

2007: Carte-De-Visite (Live Tour release)

2007: Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline (Disc 1)

2007: Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline (Disc 2)

2001: The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid

1999: Avec Laudenum

1998: Per Aspera Ad Astra

1997: The Ballasted Orchestra

1996: Gravitational Pull vs. the Desire for an Aquatic Life

1995: Music for Nitrous Oxide

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Lali Puna

Lali Puna are Markus Acher (the Notwist) and Valerie Trebeljahr. They are from Munich, where they started to make music in 1998. A few years later, after they had created „Indietronics“ as a genre, they had become one of the most important Independent-acts in Germany. All of their albums have been released on Morr Music.

Download:

- I Thought I Was Over That - Rare, Remixed, and B-Sides (2005)

- Faking the Books (2004)

- Scary World Theory (2001)

- Tridecoder (1999)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

James Figurine

Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel and The Postal Service has released a solo album as James Figurine. Tamborello also plays in a synth-pop band called Figurine.
The record started out as an extra melodic, minimal techno record with some sparse vocals, but with Tamborello’s techno-pop tendencies and a handful of celebrity chums like Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis and Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience helping out, you can expect some melodic, indie-rific electronica.

Download: Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake

Web: Myspace Page , Website