Articles
2009 Ten Favourite Labels
Simon Scott's Navigare
Traxx's 10 Chicago Tracks

Albums
Aerosol
Andrasklang
Aquarelle
Matt Bartram
Bassnectar
Bell Horses
Broadcast & Focus Group
Angus Carlyle
Celer
Ytre Rymden Dansskola
Do Make Say Think
Dorosoto
Isnaj Dui
Shane Fahey
Jan Garbarek Group
Lisa Germano
Rachel Grimes
Halogen
Hellothisisalex
Christopher Jion
P Jørgensen
Leyland Kirby
Klimek
KZA
Elisa Luu
Mountain Ocean Sun
Marcello Napoletano
Andy Nice
Nicolay
port-royal
Rameses III
Sankt Otten
Danny Saul
Simon Scott
Sleep Whale
Susanna & Magical Orch.
Syntaks
Traxx
Claude VonStroke

Compilations / Mixes
5
Crookers
Favourite Places 2
Music For Mathematics
Snuggle & Slap
Sander Kleinenberg 2
Y9

EPs
DJ Bone
DJ Nasty
Duque and Baxter
Filterwolf
Ghenacia & Djebali
Ikonika
Kez YM
King Roc
Vadim Lankov
Lavender Ticklesoft
Lo-Fi Soundsystem
Niko Marks
Seuil
Subeena
Mark Templeton

Matt Bartram: Left To Memory
Drifting Falling

In the liner notes to his second solo release (Arundel, the first, was released in March 2008), Air Formation's Matt Bartram offers the gentlemanly suggestion: “This album will sound best when played loud so please turn it up.” Subjecting oneself to the album's forty minutes of shoegaze songcraft, one doesn't only undergo a thorough excavation of one's ear canals but also experiences a heady and enveloping rush of guitars, programmed drums, and echo-drenched vocals (the gear listed at Bartram's MySpace page includes Fender Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Telecaster & Thinline, Fender Jaguar Bass VI Custom, Guild Starfire III, synths, Farfisa).

In “Keep Behind the Light,” murmured vocals ride a tidal wave of burning guitars in a shoegaze pop style that calls to mind The Jesus and Mary Chain's Darklands, while “Shadows” comes closest to shoegaze in its most classic form. Though the songs typically feature barely-decipherable vocals buried under immense six-string swarms, there are differences in style between them. One could easily imagine “The Difference Day Makes,” for example, re-imagined as a folk song. The plodding “Pylon” likewise could be recast as a ballad of romantic languor, while “3am,” not surprisingly, could be a late-night ballad in another incarnation—all of which is a circuitous way of saying that these are songs first and shoegaze anthems second. Offering brief respites from the intensity, phase-treated guitars criss-cross peacefully in two ambient interludes (“Visions Pt. 1,” “Visions Pt. 2”). Finally, it's a solo recording in the truest sense of the word, with Bartram having recorded the songs at home on his eight track. The sole guest appearance is by Christian Savill (Slowdive, Monster Movie) who straps on his own electric twelve-string for “Twelve String Loop,” a jaunty instrumental trek through rippling fields of guitar distortion.

November 2009