Browse by Label: STILLL (BELGIUM)

Artist:	IMMUNE
Title:	Sound Inside
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 004CD

This is Immune's official debut release on Stilll. Immune originated in Lyon (France) in 2001, and its members are: Jean-Sébastien Nouveau, Martin Duru, Gary Soubrier and Julien Nouveau. It's always easy to compare a band to another, but in this case one can't easily describe the grace and beauty that touch Sound Inside. Magnificent guitars, piano melodies, smooth electronics, strings and drums are melted in a thrilling imaginary score for a sad but hopeful world. Some references that are usually mentioned are Mark Hollis, Sigur Rós, Hood, Arab Strap or Elbow. Immune defines a thin line between post-rock and sad post-electronic pop with its own delicate wave of tenderness that will remind you of all the souvenirs of your childhood or the smell of winter falling leaves in lonesome woods. Simply superb, intimate music mingling with organic sounds.

Artist:	HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS
Title:	Holiday For Strings
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 005CD

This is the debut release by Sweden's Holiday For Strings. The band was founded by Magnus Magnusson and Erik Starre in 2000 and has since had its line up changed to a full, five-piece ensemble for consisting of drums, guitars, singer, bass and various keyboards and effects, all ripe for touring. And the sound? Think the mad guitars of a clean Sonic Youth mixed with the groove and unlimited beats of an alternative Lee Perry or Animal Collective. This band throws infinite melodies, humor, tension and relief like no other. This release slowly becomes unforgettable after its first listen -- catchy without being hip, HFS proves through their rhythms, guitars and vocals, that groove has its place among alternative post-pop, that funky tunes and beats can be perfectly connected to everlasting guitar riffs. Purely and simply outstanding. Mastered by Harris Newman (member of Holiday for Strings, mastering Constellation records) and designed by Hans Seeger (Pulseprogramming, Tortoise).

Artist:	VEDETTE
Title:	Vedette
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 006CD

The Vedette duo are Manuel Stagars and Neil Carlill, two transplanted Europeans now residing on opposite edges of America, and this is their debut on Stilll Records. These are disturbed collages of dirty experimental hip-hop (à la Clouddead), illuminated like stained glass by vividly poetic lyrical rays. Their auspiciously combined talents have created something belonging to a world all its own. Here the tandem takes root in the muddy earth of neodeconstructed pop, where Xiu Xiu serenely intertwines with Captain Beefheart. Composer and vocalist Neil Carlill was a founding member of Delicatessen, who recorded three albums on the UK's Vanguard mid-'90s alternative/experimental music scene. Manuel Stagars is a composer, artist and producer. He has recorded many experimental/ambient albums and has a fetish for cassette tapes, samples, flute whistles, ukuleles, the para-military and Dadaist looseleaf concrete. Combined to produce music from a concrete future. The past is sleeping around right now and being reconstructed by Vedette.

Artist:	BAJA
Title:	Maps/Systemalheur
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 007CD

Baja is a loose collective founded by German composer, musician and sound artist, Daniel Vujanic. It is also a three piece live band. The debut CD Maps/Systemalheur, consists of the 40-minute long "Maps": oscillating between progfolk-postrock, jazz, minimal music and haunting electroacoustics, and the compact, percussive and theme-based "Systemalheur": turning analog and digital sounds into cut-up pop and almost symmetrical, edgy rhythms for 30 minutes. Baja's music has been compared to quite a lot of very diverse artists and genres: composers and musicians like Brian Eno, Terry Riley and John Fahey have been mentioned, also experimental rock acts like This Heat, Harmonia, Sonic Youth and Tortoise. It's not easy to pin down the vivid instrumentalism. Even pop/indie electronica acts like Psapp and The Books have found their way into comparisons while the jazz rock enthusiasts draw charming analogies to '70s fusion works like Larks' Tongues In Aspic or Bitches Brew.

Artist:	BABILS
Title:	The Joint Between
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 008CD

This is Brussels-based quintet Babils' first official album. The Joint Between could be compared to elephants running in a chaotic urban landscape. It's a massive hour of psychedelic influences and disturbed layers of UFO guitars, dreamy bass lines, distorted trumpets and repeated drums. Some addicted audience to the Belgian scene will recognize the Babils founder and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Séverin (aka Silksaw), who has released many projects on notorious labels such as Sub Rosa and Ant-Zen. Some others will simply fall, head-first, into these dynamic and unforgettable rivers of steady melodies. The Joint Between is heavy and dense, loud and hypnotic, but in the end it is a must-have for everyone willing to take extended journeys into their own brightest thoughts. This is infinite, tripped-out heaviness. Babils include: Michel Duyck (UFO guitars), Etienne Vernaeve (drums, little objects), Patrick Bellefroid (bass, guitar), Lukas Vangheluwe (trumpet, percussions) and Gabriel Séverin (voices, keyboards and others).

Artist:	A PERFECT FRIEND
Title:	A Perfect Friend
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 009CD

This is the debut self-titled release from Sweden's A Perfect Friend on the Stilll label. Members CJ Larsgården and Thomas Denver Jonsson's music could be ranked among the quieter moments of Sigur Rós, the icy electronics of Radiohead and the lyricsm of Johann Johannsson. It is more a story to live on its own than a family album, with its very own ways of seducing and choking our hearts. Their homespun mix of electronica, indie, post-rock and folk is a secret ready to be revealed. The album was recorded early summer 2006, partly inside the studio, partly outside on numerous field recording excursions, and the result is eight songs, from psychedelic folk tunes to deep suggestive electronica -- a 45-minute indietronic experience. Sweet pop melodies, purring cats, quacking ducks, glockenspiel and fingerpicked guitar stream through warm layers of organic and electronic sounds. A Perfect Friend is a full introspection into dream lights and slowcore shadows. A Perfect Friend: Thomas Denver Jonsson (glockenspiel, silvertone organ, accordion, electric and acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica, field recordings, handclaps, vocals) and CJ Larsgården (synths, field recordings, various electronics, loops, beats and samples, electric and acoustic guitar, whistle, handclaps, vocals, production and engineering).

Artist:	DE PORTABLES
Title:	Topless Is More
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	STILLL 011CD

Topless Is More aka T.I.M. is the fifth full-length album by Belgium's legendary De Portables, yet it's their debut full-length release for Stilll. It was recorded over a period of almost five years in three different locations. De Portables celebrated their 10th birthday in 2006 with a big sold out concert in the Ghent Vooruit (one of Belgium's finest venues). With amazing past records like Rosegarden and Girls Beware, De Portables have erased the imaginary line between post-rock, humor, pop and electronics. Their concerts have won the reputation of being unforgettable and blasting. The band has arrived at a point of creation where everything is possible; every style can be touched; every note can be held for hours. T.I.M. is an album of mysterious plots and strange twists and turns that leave you with one question at the end: "Who did it? And with what?" T.I.M. is an album filled with songs and stories, social criticism and bad jokes, hits and misses. T.I.M. is an album of familiar surprises telling stories about a drummer lost in the woods, frustrated lovers-to-be on a vegetarian barbecue, malfunctioning doorbells giving electric shocks, a strange Indian intruder, friendly cows in the zoo and random thoughts and philosophies on the nature of songs and making music in today's world. T.I.M. is probably one of the most prodigious albums of the year -- a tempered post-pop/rock storm fuelled with funky beats, unlimited waves of synths, guitars, drums, vocals and twists. It's a hit.

Artist:	COSTA MUSIC
Title:	Lighter Subjects
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	STILLL 012CD

Solo affair by L'Altra co-creator, Joseph Desler Costa. Costa Music enlists the production and composition skills of Marc Hellner (Marriages, Pulseprogramming), the mixing chops of Joshua Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv) and an array of other musicians and collaborators including cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, guitarist Alfredo Nogueira (The Race), pianist Chanel Pease and vocalist Aleksandra Tomaszewska (Aleks and the Drummer). Costa, Hellner and their collaborators build landscapes of intricate and weaving sounds, tangled electronic beats and soaring melodies; the lows are lower; the highs are higher. Chicago/NYC-based songwriter and visual artist, Joseph Desler Costa has released albums with L'Altra for Aesthetics Records and Hefty Records before moving into solo life. Costa has performed throughout Europe, North and South America. Other collaborations include he and Hellner's film score for the Chilean film, Play (Best Picture, Tribeca Film Festival 2005).

Artist:	AMUTE
Title:	Infernal Heights For A Drama
Label:	STILLL (BELGIUM)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	STILLL 014CD

For more than 5 years now, Belgium-based Jérôme Deuson has produced post-folk/electronic music as his solo act, aMute. He has released two albums on the Canadian label intr_version and toured most of the European countries, Canada and the USA. Since 2008, the project turned into a brand new band of four people, now including Samuel Volan (bass), Thomas Venegoni (guitars, keys) and Stéphane Fedele (drums). This is their first release as such. Infernal Heights For A Drama is an album full of introspective songs, psychedelic approaches, yet accessible compositions. Their music draws a thin line between indie-rock, post-folk and electronic, yet none of these genres can exactly apply to the rich array of artistry heard here: loud, roaring, dark electronics, swathes of guitar wash, and echoing, disembodied vocals. Using a wide diversity of sounds and instruments, aMute is now ready for a fuller, fresher start. Featuring guest musicians such as Robert Toher (Apse), Joseph Costa (L'Altra), Mitchell Akiyama (Désormais), Bryce Kushnier (Do Make Say Think, Vitaminsforyou), and Jean-Paul Dessy (Musiques Nouvelles).

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