Oh man, how do I describe this one from Glasgow's LuckyMe label? Previously, the label focused entirely on hip-hop related releases, but Cool World is a different animal. If you're familiar with any of Strategy's work (besides Music for Lamping), I'd say this release is like that, if Pau Dickow took a truck driver dosage of caffein pills. Intense percussion (real drums) guides the way here with synths and other electronic sounds along for the ride. I'd say it's post rock in spirit, but no one's had the balls to do post rock like this. It shares a chord with also recommended Solar Bears. Perhaps they are the forebearers on a new type of post rock coming from the UK. But where Solar Bears are contemplative, American Men are as extroverted as possible. This is referenced by the (again) remixes by mostly hip-hop producers. Hudson Mohawke and Machine Drum both take cracks at the remix game here, with success. Genre-hopper FaltyDL also takes American Men for a spin, but it's off the beaten path, and Optimum and Ikonika team up for a dubstep variation. Fantastic stuff, and very new and now.

Solar Bears are an Irish duo set to make a big splash, with their debut album coming soon on Planet Mu. The Inner Sunshine EP acts as precursor with four songs and two solid remixes by instrumental hip-hop maestros Lone and Letherette. But this is not a hip-hop record at all. This is some psychedelic, retrofuturistic post rock. The heavily 70s vibe works very well with the nostagic inroads of Lone and Letherette though. Solar Bears sound like the soundtrack to experimental films in the 70s, with guitars next to synths and other electronic sounds, but very much an organic sound. They could bass for a band version of Boards of Canada. The EP shows a ton of promise, but you get the sense that Solar Bears haven't let out their complete bags of tricks yet. Definitely looking forward to the album.

Machine Drum and Praveen team up for this UK garage, dubstep, and house infused project. Not at all like any previous material from either men, this sounds like maybe the two of them have been hanging out with FaltyDL in Brooklyn a lot. Anyways, they're calling this music "lovestep", and these are some great tunes in the vein of the UK garage resurgence you've probably been hearing from the likes of Falty, Joy Orbison, and Mount Kimbie. If not, think of a more club-friendly Burial. All signs point to this being a new project for these men and not just a one off, but you never can tell with Travis, who already has at least a dozen announced projects, only half of which probably will ever get released. But hey, any new material from Travis Stewart is always welcome and typically pretty high quality. Sepalcure is no exception. The vinyl is already sold out, but you can still buy the mp3's from the usual sites.

Before I dive into this melodic and emotional IDM album, I want to talk about the label. Symbolic Interaction is an independent label run by Kentaro Togawa out of his hometown, outside of Tokyo, Japan. Togawa started the label in 2007, and in the last three years released about twenty five albums. I first came across the label upon hearing Rudi Arapahoe's Echoes From One To Another. The following release was by my all time favorite glitch masters Funckarma, Psar Dymog, and then Ard Bit's, Spanon shook me a bit off balance. So, it's no wonder that I'm keeping my tabs on Symbolic Interaction. Now on to Melorman. Antonis Haniotakis is an Athens, Greece based electronic music producer with smooth undertones and clicky downtempo beats, who previously released digital EPs on netlabels, such as Summer Rain, IVDT, and Archaic Horizon. Thus, Out In A Field is Haniotakis' first physical release. His sound is a combination of silky synth lines, hazy soundscapes, and relaxed intelligent percussion. His music is reminiscent of laid back sounds of Boards of Canada, Tycho and Arovane. Hmmm. That should get you excited. Words like 'atmospheric', 'melancholic' and 'cinematic' are begging to find their way into this review, but the music of Out In A Field speaks louder than my words. Personally, I miss music like this. Emotional electronica can not exist without the music that evokes emotion. And on Out In A Field, Haniotakis does just that. Painting a relaxing atmosphere of summer car rides, hammock swings, and morning walks, perhaps somewhere out in a field, with a touch of vocal contributions from Helen Day, Melorman evokes those melodramatic melodies that mellow all the melancholy thoughts away. If you like this sort of sound, be sure to pick up a three-track free digital EP, Expressing Thougths, out on Archaic Horizon. And don't forget to check out Symbolic Interaction's latest release from Melodium, titled Palimpse.

Tame Impala are an Aussie three piece making psychedelic indie rock that's strangely accessible. Maybe it's the Beatles-esque vocals or the occasional hip-hop inspired percussion. Maybe it's just great fucking music. The album plays like a vocal version of Yppah's last two albums if you're looking for a frame of reference. The vocals are totally sublime and work extremely well in this territory though, taking us more firmly into indie rock. Hooks here emerge naturally instead of the "oh shit, it's time for the chorus" moments of a lot of indie rock. The albums flows together and it better listened to as a whole, but there are moments I feel will be on a lot of hipsters' playlists, including the opener "It's Not Meant To Be", the infectious "Make Up Your Mind", or "Expectations", which feels like 60s pop until the psychedelic denouement. Strangely, none of those are the opening single, which is "Solitude Is Bliss" and not one pf the lighlights for me, but solid. One of the better psychedelic records to come my way in a while, and probably the first I'd play in front of friends in a much longer while.

Tanlines is a duo comprised of former members of Professor Murder and Don Caballero. Yeah, I don't see the connection either. But if you liked the former, Settings is a record you'll definitely want to check out. No, it doesn't sound like Professor Murder, but it has that sort of reverence to it. The actual sound is a mix of club sounds and indie pop sensibility. The EP is split between vocal and instrumental tracks, and thankfully both work well and coincide well next to each other. It's hard to pinpoint what it actually does sound like that. I guess you could imagine dance punk five years older firmly entrenched in the Berlin club scene, but listening to Panda Bear and Depeche Mode a lot when at home. "Real Life" is an absolutely killer tune.I hoping this EP is the promise of something more in the future, which turned out not to be with Professor Murder's Rides the Subway EP.

I know nothing about Stephen R. Smith, except that the creatively-titled "III" is his third album under the Khol moniker, and that he is signed to a label I haven't heard of.  "III" is really a magical little album; instrumental lo-fi psychedelic-ish pieces which cover a broad musical spectrum.  I feel like it should have been released on Type Records, it has that "Type" sort of vibe; anyway, definitely check it out.

The excellent Attack9 label seems to have finally awoken from a multi-year slumber; Casino versus Japan's album "Night on Tape" was released two months ago, and now we have this mysterious cassette, first in a series of four from unknown artists.  Three tracks, totaling about 30 minutes, are spread across the two sides; the quality is very high, and the music sounds something like the darkly glowing ambient of Huntington's own "Christmas Lights" mini-album, but somewhat more spectral and lo-fi.  If I had to guess I'd say that Huntingon himself is behind the release, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was any number of artists on Attack9.

A very impressive EP; I'm convinced that Dom will be one of those "Pitchfork bands" once their first album comes out, for better or worse. Drug-addled psychedelic indie-pop music, lo-fi in a charming sort of way; and thankfully none of the songs overstay their welcome. The main thing is the guitar hooks, though; I've had a couple of these tracks in my head for weeks.

Napoli is not Nepal is Germany's Hendryk Bayrhoffer. In 2002, he released a classic genre-hopping album on Shitkatapult called Revolv_er that mixed jazz, IDM, noise, glitch, and instrumentation in a way that was totally new for the time. After Revolv_er though, Hendryk disappeared, finally returning in 2009 with a new album with little fanfare. Well, I'm happy to say the new material is worth the wait. While not as awe-inspiring as Revolv_er (maybe because it never gets as abrasive), Boredom is fully of glitchy, indielectronic compositions that there's something just a little bit special about. The album really showcases the beauty of glitch sounds with their juxtaposition to traditional instruments' sounds. And it still only sounds like Napoli is not Nepal. The project has an aural identity that so few artists reach these days in electronic music. An album and artist that should appeal to a large cross section of fans (IDM, experimental jazz, folktronic), this is one you shouldn't sleep on.