Brilliants are a duo coming from Forli', Italy. They born in late 2006 and we already were able to check them on the third chapter of "Some tunes" compilation. Their new EP bring to the attention of electro punk wave fanatics, five tunes (four are new as the main title was into the compilation) where upbeat rhythms, bass line distortions (they use bass guitar as well as a synth for this) and loud vocals are the core of the sound. They sound like a 60s garage punk band that time travelled to years 00 making a stop in the 80s to pee. During that break someone stole them their gear so they picked out synths, a drum machine and a new bass guitar and decided to get acquainted with those times to check some bands. Gang Of Four and Joy Division impressed them but also Bananarama seemed to have few hits they dug. Landing on the 00s, they discovered Daft Punk, Mr Oizo and realized that 80s influenced a lot of bands, also famous ones like Muse. Well, they thought, it's time to plug in our instruments and make some noise...

Sistol is one of the projects (along with Luomo, Uusitalo, Conoco, Vladislav Delay, etc) of Sasu Ripatti and ON THE BRIGHT SIDE is his newest release under this moniker. The eight tracks of the CD show Sasu focusing on upbeat sincopated rhythms, anxious atmospheres (check also the cover which shows a gun made out of medicinal blisters and syringes) and minimal techno structures. Also melody has a big part on the Sistol's musical scheme and even if repetition and sounds alternation is its core. In this way ON THE BRIGHT SIDE sounds more dj friendly (more than Sistol's first album which has just been reissued always by Halo Cyan/Phthalo) and multifaceted.

Aref Durvesh is one of the most active tabla players in the UK and has previously collaborated with the likes of Sting and Susheela Raman. On "Rational Exuberance" he joined hands with bass player and producer Felix Xfile Macintosh from Xkollective and V.U. and the two long-time collaborators created a soothing six track EP of world music downtempo electronica. Needless to say the focus is on tabla patterns (from steady and relaxing to fast and exciting) and deep bass lines, but the addition of vocals (by Aref himself as well as a female guest vocalist), guitar, bansuri and live drums on a few tracks make it a sexy fusion of styles and musical etymology that fans of Suphala, Tabla Beat Science, Karsh Kale and others will surely enjoy. Although it isn't, this stuff (especially come track 6) somehow reminded me of the '90s underground NY drum'n'bass scene and the long jam sessions with dancehall MCs and eccentric guests (that was the first time I saw Kale play), and I suppose that is still very much alive in the UK. I shall go and check it out for myself soon...

Marc Houle grew up in Windsor, Canada, with a Commodore 64 in front of him, new wave music in his ears and Detroit on the other side of Lake Erie. Now, living from Berlin to New York and playing under his own name as well as with the monikers 2VM and Run Stop Restore, he's about to deliver at end of September probably his most personal album. An album titled DRIFT. Born with the aim to give sound to Berlin's winter, the album finds Marc mixing minimal synth techno sounds with an experimental form of New Wave where he gathers layers of delayed clean guitars turning the atmospheres of a snowy sightseeing into sounds using the dance language. Analog synth sounds, drum beats and looping melodies are his tools and I don't know if this is the sound of winter or not, but for sure is a nice way of warming the body and the soul of the listener.

I still haven't reviewed a release that Petit is back with a new one, it says a lot about the prolificacy of this French guy, but on the other hand I invite you to avoid thinking this over-abundance of works get worse release after release. I think the French artist fills the rank of musician like Aidan Baker who's average production has been quite good so far. On this new work Petit keeps following the route of contemporary neoclassic music processed through a laptop, nothing close to Fennez or Sakamato plus Alva Noto or Murcof, just harps, cello, violin, horn, trumpet. All of the instrumentalists involved in the recording have not been processed heavily, the majority of the effects used are reverb, delay and what I think has been a cut and paste re-assemblage of the tracks. As you can imagine there's some soft crackling, some other soft noises to color the final shape of every single suite, but everything has been done with a really gentle touch. If compared to the previous cd of Petit and friends, this one is way more abstract and cold in a spacey way, if Roger Eno and Lanois would assemble a new sonorization for the documentary on "Apollo. Atmospheres and Soundtracks" this could be really close to the result, even if it's much colder if compared to the atmosphere create on that album. Despite its dark profile this work somehow brings in a gentle overdose-experience, according to this comment it partially reminded me of some soft Nurse With Wound hybridized with a more neoclassic aesthetic, but that "floating ashore-feel" is still present and quite strong. The global listening is quite uniform and trippy and even thought not all of the tracks are on the same level the average result undoubtedly goes from interesting to catchy.