Thisquietarmy's Eric Quach (Destroyalldreamers) hails from Montréal. Paradoxically though, it appears the frozen landscape of the far north of the country has seeped into every crack and pore of his music. However, it is not just physical cold that inspires these eight tracks of ambient dronescape. Running through them is an equally icy glaciality redolent of a sense of utter despair and unalloyed distance and loneliness. Quach's world is one of constant twilight, illuminated solely by the light of stars and aurorae reflecting off a thickly snow-blanketed land.
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In a situation that is not entirely unexpected, the latest album from Steven Stapleton has caused much controversy amongst fans with opinions ranging from it being one of his best to it being one of his biggest turds. Even here on Brainwashed, opinions were mixed with the review 
David Berman and company's latest album retains the witty lyrics and tongue-in-cheek humor from previous efforts and continues the slow gravitation toward sunnier themes. While it doesn't have the immediate impact of its predecessor Tanglewood Numbers, its subtle charms ultimately bring it near that album's achievements.
Our somewhat semi-regular feature covering the newest dance singles goes full-length this week, reviewing new albums by Hercules and Love Affair, Syclops, Girl Talk and Ladytron.
This noise rock trio from Providence, Rhode Island, uses massive amounts of distortion over meaty bass, bruising drums, guttural screams, and squealing electronics to make sludgy music fit for exorcisms. Vicious slabs of aggression make this a visceral yet surprisingly enjoyable album.
Paul Dickow's beat-less excursions share much with his more rhythmic compositions, but unfettered by time signatures his music sounds all the more exotic and mercurial.
Oddly enough only intended for the Japanese market, any fan of either of the projects included here should either be praying for a local label to distribute this, or just go the import route, because both are at the top of their game here. Envy continues their shoegaze influenced post rock sound, while Jesu adopts the more electronic side to his sound that was, coincidentally enough, last featured this well on the split with another TRL act, Eluvium.
On this album, Steven Wilson uses sounds made from Steve Hubback's metal sculptures to make underwater music. Presented in a lavish package that includes a DVD-Audio disc along with a standard CD, a perfect-bound book with photographs, and a sturdy slipcase, it's without a doubt a beautiful artifact. It is a shame, then, that these two tracks don't quite live up to their presentation.
Prolific artists Andrew Liles and Daniel Menche combine forces to tackle the subject of flies. Divided into four tracks named for the stages of a fly's life cycle, Liles and Menche blend their talents in a heady mix of drones and subtle textures, with vaguely melodic underpinnings. The album has enough unpredictability to make it both mystifying and alluring while still playing to the artists' respective strengths.
