Band: Ceiling Spirits | Album: The Bloodwren | Genre: Post-rock | Bandcamp
Hailing from Milwaukee, this classical-influenced ensemble plays a spacey, morose variety of post-rock. Violin and piano weave evocative textures, and the individual passages range from fluid and mournful to jittery and technical. Guitar is minimized overall on this release, but when it shows up, either as a lead instrument or as support, the tones utilized are always a perfect complement to the atmosphere. I often find post-rock to be aimless, but this album does a great job at maintaining focus. The rich orchestration does an amazing job of adding emotional weight to everything as well. The closing drone track isn’t even that bad, though it definitely didn’t need to be 8 minutes long.
Score: 77/100
Band: Gender Studies | Album: Далекий Лиман | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp
Gender Studies is a Ukrainian band that plays a garage-y, jazz-inflected variety of progressive rock. The six songs on this LP demonstrate intelligent and creative writing, catchy melodies, and diverse influences. Slavic folk crops up here and there amid Return to Forever-style jazz-rock and harder-rocking passages.
Score: 81/100
Band: Gosseyn | Album: Eldorado | Genre: Post-rock, Zeuhl | Bandcamp
It was pretty tough to decide on a genre tag for the latest album from this Breton band. It has lots of uncommon scales, chords, and sounds. A buzzy bass clarinet is one of the primary instruments in this band; bouzouki lends an Eastern Mediterranean flavor to the whole affair; and electric piano and synthesizer are often used to create spooky effects. Jazz and folk elements are prominent, and the compositions are tireless. Near the end of the album, things meander a bit more than they need to, but this is still an interesting and unique listen.
Score: 74/100
Artist: Nolan Potter | Album: The Perils of Being Trapped Inside a Head | Genre: Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp
Nolan Potter’s latest release sees him stick to a similar overall sound as his previous record, 2021’s stellar Music Is Dead. Perils has a wonderful, dreamy atmosphere to it, and it’s often evocative of The Beatles c.1969-70. It just doesn’t quite grab me like Music Is Dead, however. The songs are less varied, and that leads to what is not a particularly long record feeling longer than it is. Nothing here is bad, but when taken as a whole, the individual elements don’t do much to complement each other.
Score: 68/100
Band: Sykofant | Album: Sykofant | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp
The debut album from this Norwegian band is a fun mix of spacey progressive rock and loose jazz-rock. They draw heavily from groovy classic rock bands, as well, without being derivative. The blend of complex and accessible is balanced nicely, and even in their more extended instrumental moments, things feel purposeful.
Score: 82/100
Artist: Kevin Wulf | Album: HEARKEN! | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp
HEARKEN! is a frustrating album. Recorded live, it covers a lot of ground. There are 18 songs here, though only two cross the three-minute mark. There are numerous flashes of brilliance that demonstrate what I love about Wulf’s album Dorilton and his single “Faust”. But mixed in among exciting and tense passages are aimless noodling and structureless ambiance. I really think he just needs a bit more patience. If he would simply spend the time to refine his ideas, rather than putting out three releases a year, I’m confident the output would be stronger overall.
Score: 59/100
The Elite Extremophile 