The Winchester Club - "Negative Liberty" CD

The second album from a London-based instrumental post-rock act, Winchester Club's driving, swirling rock will be most appreciated by fans of stuff like Explosions In The Sky or the shoegazer set. You know the formula already: tension-building guitars and pummeling drums, double bass players, dramatic dynamism, and moments of lonely quiet interspersed within tumultuous cascades of guitar. There's only 5 tracks here, but they are, after all, lengthy pieces. Witness the 12-minutes of "The Lonely Robot", or the gradual 15-minute build-up of "R.D. Laing (Little Chemical Straightjackets)". They haven't really found their own unique voice yet, but, nonetheless, this is fine work. (Exile On Mainstream)

Winchester Club site

Crone - "Endless Midnight" album

Jeff Caxide (formerly of progressive post-metal bands ISIS and Red Sparowes) returns anew with this project, and it's a continuation of the ambient textures that his former bands experimented with. Virtually gone are the thundering riffage (though it's hinted at here), and the grunted vocals. In fact, Crone is entirely instrumental. But it works beautifully, almost leaving behind the "rock" tendencies completely.

Opening with the Stars Of The Lid-style drones of "What You Dream Of", Caxide explores rich and sonorous soundtrack music. The album's highlight has to be "The Silver Hammer", which begins all lush and ambient, gradually building up to something larger, heavier, and monolithic, finally evolving into a shimmering shoegaze-drone-meets-riff soundscape. Absolutely wonderful! "Cellar Holes From A Lifetime Ago" is a floating set of tones and drones, and the title track is another mellow track that wouldn't be out of place on an old 4AD Records compilation.

More ambient and soundtrack-oriented than his previous bands, Caxide proves he's capable of many moods and textures. "Endless Midnight" is a fine album that shows the future is bright for this progeny/offshoot of ISIS. (Translation Loss)

Isis site

Grails - "Deep Politics" album

Portland, Oregon's Grails are a veteran instrumental outfit who specialize in spacious, moody psychedelic rock. "Deep Politics" is their sixth full-lengther, and it opens with "Future Primitive"-- a moody and textural guitar-scape that brings to mind a dusky Western expanse. It's all very dramatic and cinematic, to be certain. The title track is piano-led chamber pop meets post-rock, full of mystery and tension. "Almost Grew My Hair" is a trippy and evolving psychedelic space monster, dynamically moving from David Gilmour-style rock solos to darker opium den haziness. This is some potent stuff, with the perfect balance of clarity and foggy abandon.

Taken as a whole, "Deep Politics" takes the listener on a journey through foreign lands, natural landscapes, and mind-bending narcotic excursions, all safely and within a relatively concise 47 minutes. Superb work, and all worth exploring. (Temporary Residence Limited)

Grailspace

Grails site