Codeine "Frigid Stars"

Codeine is a band from New York. Its genre is slowcore / indie rock / sadcore. This LP is their first release. Here it is a nice comparison with other bands of similar genres: "Codeine pioneered the slowcore and sadcore subgenres of indie rock, but with a more experimental attitude than other bands in the genre, such as Low, Idaho and Red House Painters.".
The track list is the following:

A1		D
A2		Gravel Bed
A3		Pickup Song
A4		New Year's
B1		Second Chance
B2		Cave-In
B3		Cigarette Machine
B4		Old Things

My favourite tracks are: "D", "New Year's" and "Old Things". It isn't as experimental as some of their other record here.

The song "Old Things" can be heard below:

[upcoming bands] Noiserv

Started playing in 2005, Noiserv is a solo project of David Santos. One of the promisses I see in Portuguese contemporary music, this artist blends many instruments together to create some dreamy melodies. He uses instruments such as: vocals, guitar, melodica, metallophone, bells, synths, acordeon, omnichord, megaphone, effects, toys, musicbox, stylophone and more. His style is certainly unique... alternative, folk, indie are the closest genres I can find similarities with Noiserv's work. He was on the [now dead] portuguese label Merzbau.
Check his myspace here.

-David, live.

Watch him perform live the song "Bullets on Parade":

Harmonic 313 "When Machines Exceed Human Inteligence"

Harmonic 313 is a solo off-shoot of Mark's Harmonic 313 project with Dave Brinkworth, focusing on "Detroit-Style" hip-hop. Its music is smooth and useful if you're into chilling alone or with some friends.
Brinkworth's music is characterised by an omnipresent spine-chilling wobble bass, nice beats (sometimes with kind of high pitches that fit with the music and help shape it) and on some songs, rap can be heard.
The track list is the following:

1.Dirtbox
2	Cyclotron
3	No Way Out
4	Music Substitute System
5	Köln
6	Galag-A
7	Word Problems
8	Battlestar - eLZhi, ,
9	Cyclotron C64 Sid
10	Call to Arms
11	Flaash
12	Don't Panic
13	Falling Away - Steve Spacek
14	When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence
15	Quadrant 3

Try hearing the whole album. The album may not fit sometimes as a whole, due to the songs versatility.However, this can be pointed out as a plus in Dave Brinkworth's career. My favourite songs are: "Quadrant 3", "Dirtbox", "No Way Out" and "Word Problems".
The album was released in 2009 on Warp Records.
This album has 2 parts: the part 1 can be downloaded here and the part 2 can be downloaded here. Just click on the "here's".

Below, you can hear the song "Dirtbox":

Micachu "Jewellery"

This is one of my favourite albums this year, perhaps. "Jewellery"... what an awesome work it is! I love how they can be at the same time a lo-fi band and keep a classy touch constantly in their records. It's Micachu and her backing band, the Shapes... You got to love them! Even Björk loves them!
I first heard of them in 2008, thanks to the Patrick O'Dell's website. They started in August 2008 and released this album in March 9th 2009. This album received mainly excellent reviews. Check these reviews out: Metacritic's, Drowned in Sound's, The Guardian's, All Music's, BBC Music's, FACT Magazine's, The Times' and Pitchfork's. I also advise you to hear this album... It's the debut album of some distorted awkward pop, with some "punky energy" as many critics recall it. It has nothing cliché, it's a new own particular genre, that has made them a hype band with a relevant somewhat-underground indie cult behind them.
The track list of this album is the following:

1. "Vulture" (2:49)
2. "Lips" (1:21)
3. "Sweetheart" (0:53)
4. "Eat Your Heart" (2:20)
5. "Curly Teeth" (2:27)
6. "Golden Phone" (2:43)
7. "Ship" (1:59)
8. "Floor" (1:22)
9. "Just In Case" (2:46)
10. "Calculator" (3:09)
11. "Wrong" (3:35)
12. "Turn Me Well" (2:58)
13. "Guts" (3:12)
    • "Hardcore" (1:33) is an unlisted hidden track at the end of the record.

My favourite tracks are [not in a particular order]: "Golden Phone", "Sweetheart", Eat your heart", "Curly Teeth", "Wrong" and "Turn me Well". What, I just said I prefer almost half of the album? No wonder! It has lots of cool songs on it. The album's lenght is around 31 minutes and 57 seconds.
By the way, last Saturday, this is November 21st 2009, I saw Micachu and the Shapes live at the Loft, here in Lisbon (I also got the opportunity to see a bit of Jon Hopkins show next). It was awesome and what I find more peculiar, is that some of their songs are even more appealing live, like the song "Wrong" for example. I also got the chance to take a pic with them, along with my friends. I'd love to see them live again. Oh, their t-shirts are also original and worth the price! Go grab yourself a Micachu goody!
If you want to hear the album, click here. Hope you like this album.
PS:I'm going to post a live review about Micachu and Shape's performance at the Loft, when I have enough free time to do such thing.


Next, is the song "Golden Phone" which is about suicide, according what Mica said live:

Threshold Houseboys Choir "The Threshold Houseboys Choir Amulet Edition"

Do you like COIL? Do you like Throbbing Gristle? Do you like COUM Transmissions? Do you like Psychic TV? Do you like Soisong? Do you think I'm starting to get boring?
I asked you these questions because a former member of all these bands, Peter Christopherson, decided to create a new project after COIL's end. Threshold Houseboys Choir was the name chosen by Peter. It can be labeled as experimental electronic composition, along with some noise, oriental-ish sounds, etc. Wiki also entitles it as "Post-Industrial Exotica". When performing live, this project evolves to a different stage: videos of some rituals occuring in Thailand, morbid, gore and violent clips along and mind-warping at the same time are added to the performance of Threshold Houseboys Choir. THBC's myspace can be viewed by clicking here.
"The Threshold HouseBoys Choir is a musical guise for Peter Christopherson, announced in 2005 as a follow up endeavor to his former group Coil. Despite the name, it is a solo project which relies heavily on computer generated vocals, of which he is formally credited as the "director." The name was derived from a play on words, combining the terms houseboy, house of boys, boys' choir, and Threshold House.[1] THBC is stationed in Krung Thep, Thailand."

The Amulet Edition was sold on THBC's tour and now can be bought on the official merchandise website, here, or on eBay or Amazon at astonishingly high prices. It comes on a fine velvet pocket, I think, which over 3 cd's.
The track list is the following:
1.Be Happy 16: 12
2.Distonto 23: 16
3.Ikoreek 22: 15
4.The Hangman's Ball 19: 31
5.As X is to Geff 10: 20
6.Khun Cap Taxi 18: 03
7.Lowly Low 13: 42
8.There and Back 5:09
9.The Day Moon Died 15:51

Next, if you want to, you can hear some samples of the songs: "The Day the Moon Died", "The Hangman's Ball" and "Distonto". My favourite tracks are: "Be Happy", "Distonto", "Lowly Low" and "There and Back".
If you want to buy the album go to Threshold House's official website and find some THBC merchandise.
If you want to hear the part 1 (which features the first 4 songs) click here and/or the part 2 (which has the last tracks and the track from the 3rd CD, which is the last one) click here.


"Be happy" can be heard below: