ARTICLES
2006 Top 10s and 20s
2006 Artist Picks

ALBUMS
17 Pictures
Angina P
Ateleia
Benni Hemm Hemm
The Boats
Cappablack
Celer
Dead Letters Dead Words
Deceptikon
Deerhunter
Denzel + Huhn
Displayaz
Dollboy
Drone
Eluvium
Emanuele Errante
The Eternals
Fear Falls Burning
Marcus Fjellström
Fonoda
Funkstörung
Goldfrapp
Gyroscope
Robert Henke
James Holden
The Idealist
Anders Ilar
Landing
LCD Soundsystem
Library Tapes
L Pierre
Lullatone
Tor Lundvall
Mad EP
Mahogany
Melodium
Mem1
Daisuke Miyatani
Mole Harness
Momus
Monoceros
Mormo
Mothboy
Original Hamster
Pierson & Horton
Prince Valium
Radical Face
Retail Sectors / Yaporigami
Rylander & Elggren
Scott Solter Plays PIM
Sideshow
Silicone Soul
Skream
Splinters
Mark Templeton
Thread Pulls
T. Raumschmiere
Tycho
Ultre
Virculum
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
AudioArt 03
Cumulous
Dubstep Allstars Vol. 4
Eriksen / Toft / Utarm
Katapult VA Vol. 3
Let's Lazertag Sometime
Mr Geoffrey & JD Franzke
Skagen / Halvorsen / Toft
Tectonic Plates

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Gabriel Ananda
Robert Bardini
DAT Politics
Dead Letters / R. Sundin
Dogmixer
Benjamin Fehr
Fenin
HL
I Make This Sound
Zoë Irvine
Kyriakides and Moor
Lamont & 2tall
Ljud. & Piloten / Kama Aina
Jacob London
Sam Mcqueen
Miskate
Ryo Miyashita & Hiiragi_
[nara]
New Faces
Of / Greg Davis
Charlemagne Palestine
Phon.o vs Litwinenko
Portable
PostPrior
Samarah
Nicholas Sauser & Ditch
Someone Else
Hannes Teichmann
Tractile
Andy Vaz

IMAGES
F.S. Blumm

Gyroscope: Bûche
Abat-Jour/9+6

[nara]: ep
Cell Art

ep features two instrumental post-rock epics by [nara], a double guitar-based quartet formed in 2002. The band's sound might be characterized as Mogwai-meets-Sigur Rós, with tremulous guitars scaling peaks at one moment and settling into ambient calm the next. Each of the largely down-tempo pieces (“Escalade of Unconscious Fear” and “The Pills Arrive on Friday,” 14 and 13 minutes respectively) moves through episodes that are raw, placid, turbulent, and atmospheric but the disc's most memorable moments are those when the guitars swell majestically in a manner that recalls the bowed guitar style associated with Sigur Rós.

On its first major release Bûche, Montreal-based instrumental quartet Gyroscope pursues a less axe-centric direction compared to [nara]. Gyroscope's guitar-and-keyboards front-line allows for a wide range of textures, enabling the group's material to sound alternately spacey and funky. Stylistically, the group gravitates towards intricate, prog-styled compositions (“Épaxilé”) though makes room for an occasional excursion into jazz, funk-fusion, and psychedelia too. On the plus side, Gyroscope's material burns with a raw intensity (“Toutes nos lignes sont présentement occupies,” the searing guitar freakout “Girouette”); on the down side, the group's material could sound fresher. “Le tunnel” is appealingly urgent but a bit too Doors-like to my taste, and “Qui c'est qui a invité l'yâbe?” cops the basic feel of “Moondance” in its first half and sounds too much like King Crimson in its second (Yves Beauchemin does a pretty convincing Fripp imitation in “La ruche” too). The level of musicianship isn't an issue, just the material.

January 2007