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Album Of The Month : January 2012

With a shortage of new releases to tell you about, i’ve taken this opportunity to highlight one of my favourite records of 2011 that didn’t make it into the Insularis Top 40 of 2011.

A Winged Victory For The Sullen

“A Winged Victory For The Sullen” is the work of composer Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie (Stars Of The Lid) and has been released in the UK and Europe by one of the UK’s finest indie labels, Erased Tapes.

The mood here is tender, at times sombre. Over the course of the record, the listener is treated to some truly wonderful moments: warm piano chords nestle amongst haunting ambient pieces and assorted stringed instrumentation.

If your favourite track on Nine Inch Nails’ “The Downward Spiral” is “A Warm Place”, or if you consider the best Bowie tune to be the instrumental “Warszawa” from the “Low” album, then you should definitely give this album some attention.

There’s a lot of offer here for anyone with even a passing interest in Stars Of The Lid, Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Sigur Ros, and i’m pretty psyched about seeing these guys live on their forthcoming European tour.

Buy either the CD or the LP editions here

Lindstrom – Six Cups of Rebel 2LP
SmalltownSupersound

Lindstrom clearly set out for maximum impact with this,his third full length. The epic “No Release” comes at you straight out the block like an unheard jam between Brian Eno and M83, and it only takes until “De Javu” for the beats to kick in, the synths to start soaring and the addictive groove starts to flex with practically every beat.

Killer breaks, funky basslines, trippy vocal effects and glorious orchestra samples all feature in the mix, and i think the biggest accomplishment here is how organic it all sounds. If an electro version of Parliament sounds like a good idea to you, then you really ought to investigate this album futher.

Even the skewed pop production works, perhaps because all the samples are pretty familiar, which leaves the arrangement to provide the albums most adventurous touches. There are a couple of excellent segments of lunacy, but by and large this is a strong album that should single Lindstrom out in a sea of unimaginative electro fakers.

Deluxe 2LP with CD of full album.