Articles by Ljubinko Zivkovic

Somehow, it all gels together and works to further underscore the message Countless Thousands wanted to convey.

Her melodic sense, the ability to shift tempos, and some excellent vocals, and what you get is some very cool late-night music that shifts from cozy dreams to slight nightmares and back with ease.

Astralseid envisaged and executed Shamanic Love as a set of in the studio improvised pieces, giving them the organic feel and hitting that ritualistic vibe they went for right on the spot.

Hairetis and Harper were able to combine disparate sounds and not so often used instruments to combine into music that is a true joy.

The fact that all the album vocals are in Macedonian could be a blessing – they could allow the non-speakers to appreciate what Stefanovski is actually doing here.

It is War San’s sense of keeping things as uncomplicated as possible and hitting the right notes every time that make ‘Lortbon’ work, and one of those albums that you can resort to whenever you need some peace of mind.

And as the title of the opener here, ‘Le ciel est mou,’ the sky is soft and ready to accept some excellent quirky stuff that Rien Faire has come up with here.

Hadnot Creek keeps on posing hard musical and lyrical questions in a manner that asks for repeated listens.

Son Lux never lose their scope and do not drift into ‘out there’ improvisation but stick to the concept of reaching that balance between conceptual and listenable.

Cryptomeduza presents the electronic/folk combination that actually works and where the two seemingly disparate elements sound as if they should have been together from the start.

Wet Tropics do create a sound that falls broadly in what was named garage-rock back in the sixties, but they also bring it into a dark long tunnel, that keeps on reverberating hours after the trio plugged out.

What we get is ‘real’ gospel roots music that in its sound and spirit is at the same time same as the original, but with a touch of timelessness.

The final result tells us that Seed’s changes of musical colors work, particularly if you are more attuned to the current electronic sounds. Or, if you need a Halloween 2020 soundtrack.

Lauren uses all the ‘same old story’ concept and infuses it with the exact touch of emotion and (musical) side steps to make Vanity Metrics interesting and engaging throughout.

The only uncertainty Because of a Flower leaves you with, in the end, is a question – can Ana Roxanne come up again with another album of such excellence and beauty.

On Memories, Vipid doesn’t try to paint his personal memories with too many, either rosy or dark colors, and makes a good walk over the thin (ambient) ice.

What The Spyrals have done is taken all of these and have shuffled them like a well worked-in deck of (psych) cards and dealt out a set that covers one of the millions of possible combinations those cards can produce.

What Snowdrops come up with on Volutes is a set of nuanced musical images that keep shifting like one of those now almost forgotten kaleidoscope toys you look through, not repeating themselves at any point.

‘Eight Days Across America’ turns out to be some sort of a musical layered cake that keeps giving more flavors as you go along.