Midnight Odyssey
Funerals From The Astral Sphere
I, Voidhanger
Street: 10.04
Midnight Odyssey = Drudkh + Alcest + Lustre
There are memories I like to call audible memories—the mind remembers things not just from sight, but also from every sense, smell, taste, and touch. Audible memories strike particular chords with me. Midnight Odyssey’s double album Funerals from the Astral Sphere will imprint one of those audible memories, like hearing wolves howling at the moon in the middle of a remote forest or the complete absence of sound, which in a weird way, could be considered a sound. There’s something beyond special when you first hear a piece of music that alters perceptions, makes that strange organ lodged in your skull start tingling and sending shivers and other sensations throughout your body. The musician/songwriter known as Dis Pater has already made headway with Midnight Odyssey’s Firmament and his other project, The Crevices Below. There is no avoiding the pure fact that when you decide to take on this sonic opus of over two hours of music, you need to be doing nothing else but listening to it. Life is always about the journey, not the destination. To slap a label on this undertaking is difficult; you could call it ambient black metal, but it pushes far beyond any genre. Forget the notion that you think you’ve heard every little bit and piece of what is considered music, this record is a firm and lovely reminder that you haven’t. –Bryer Wharton

Modeselektor
Monkeytown
Monkeytown Records
Street: 10.11
Modeselektor = Claude VonStroke + Deadmau5 + Glitch Mob
Whether you’re looking for a track to vibe to or something to help get the party started, this album has it all. Monkeytown, the third album from Berlin duo Modeselektor, does not disappoint. Variety is something this album doesn’t fall short on, with its different styles, tempos and profuse amount of musical influences throughout. Due to the overflow of talent on the album, Monkeytown left me feeling high off the drug that is Modeselektor. Incredible collaborations with artists like Thom Yorke, Pillow Talk and Busdriver, just to name a few, bring the album to a whole ’nother level. The beats are hypnotizing, the lyrics entertaining and the synths impeccable. My favorite song on the album, “Evil Twin” with its enthralling synths and ensnaring bass, drew me into a world of shuffling warrior robots dancing to save the princess from her evil twin, Palinella. Monkeytown is worth the legal download. –Mama Beatz

New Villager
Self-titled
IAmSound
Street: 08.16
NewVillager =The Eels + Little Dragon
Most music fans immediately gravitate toward the sounds visual/multi-instrumental artists NewVillager are making. A hodgepodge of prog with dashes of funk make for an unpleasant-sounding concoction on paper, but make for a warm blanket of recorded sounds. Ingesting their vision via their videos (highly recommended) results in even more layered experience—as you’d expect from visual guys. These gents have even created their own mythology—a mythopoeia—for the album and the art that accompanies it, involving quests and adventures from their Cocoon House homebase. It doesn’t make a lot of sense on the surface, but who wants an album of just surface music in our disappointing land of washed-out pop poseurs? Fuckheads, that’s who. And most fortuitously, New Villager isn’t made for them or their meat costumes. −JP

Night Birds
The Other Side of Darkness
Grave Mistake
Street: 09.01
Night Birds = Adolescents + Descendents + Agent Orange
Take that burrito doused in Dexter Holland’s hot sauce out of your mouth and log out of your punknews.org account, because Night Birds are here to kick you right in your Menzingers-loving ass. In a world where about a million “punk” groups are trying to sound like mediocre bands from 15 years ago, Night Birds seem focused on sounding like awesome bands from 30 years ago. Following up several excellent 7”s and an equally awesome demo tape, Night Birds’ full-length debut is 22 minutes full of the snotty, surfy (snurfy?), pretension-free punk rock they have become known for. “Neon Gray” and “Landfill Land” are great additions to the band’s thrashy, horror-inspired catalogue, while the re-recorded versions of “Can’t Get Clean” and “Paranoid Times” add a little extra “oomph” and will hopefully inspire new fans to seek out the originals. If there is any justice in the world, The Other Side of Darkness will bring Night Birds the attention they deserve. –Ricky Vigil