Manipulated Vocals

Joe Rainey – Niineta

Style: Post-Industrial Powwow Music, Experimental Electronic

Mood: Communal, Ritualistic, Cathartic, Spiritual, Passionate, Mournful, Epic

Musical Qualities: Chants, Manipulated Vocals, Distorted, Electroacoustic, Studio-as-an-Instrument, Percussive, Noisy

Wet Tuna – Water Weird

Style: Country-Psych, Folk-Funk, Jam Band

Vibe: Aquatic, Summer, Warm, Groovy, Spacey, Laid Back, Playful, Stoned

Musical Qualities: Rhythmic, Atmospheric, Improvisation, Loose, Lo-Fi

Avey Tare – Cows on Hourglass Pond

Style: Psych-Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Acid Folk

Vibe: Aquatic, Ethereal, Peaceful, Hallucinogenic, Reflective, Hypnotic, Mellow, Surreal, Uplifting, Warm, Existential

Musical Qualities: Catchy, Soft, Melodic, Atmospheric, Vocal Fx, Analogue Recording

Günter Schickert – Samtvogel

Style: Psychedelic Tape Music, Loner Kosmische

Vibe: Shadowy, Introspective, Ominous, Nocturnal, Hypnotic, Hallucinogenic, Ritualistic, Raw

Musical Qualities: Tape Loops, Experimental Vocals, Atmospheric Layers, Improvisation, Droney, Repetitive

Holden – The Inheritors

Style: Progressive Electronic, IDM, Microhouse

Vibe: Ancient, Tribal, Ritualistic, Pagan, Brooding, Mythic, Cold, Visceral, Mechanical, Hypnotic, Driving, Epic, Focused, Mysterious, Mystical, Patient, Powerful, Suspenseful, Earthy

Musical Qualities: Repetitive, Distorted, Heavy, Rhythmic, Percussive, Loops, Dissonant, Dense, Instrumental, Pulse, Noisy, Progressive, Field Recordings, Sampling

Instrumentation: Bodhrán (Irish Frame Drum), Synthesizers, Drum Machine, Saxophone, Organ, Chanting, Melodeon (Pump Organ), Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Xylophone, Live Electronics

Björk – Medulla

Style: Art Pop, Experimental Electronic, Trip-Hop

Vibe: Somatic, Primal, Sensual, Passionate, Winter, Ancestral, Complex, Imaginative, Surreal, Heartfelt

Musical Qualities: A’Cappella, Choral Vocals, Experimental Vocals (Throat Singing, Beat Boxing, Manipulated Vocal Production), Studio-as-an-Instrument

The Kni?e – Shaking the Habitual

Style: Experimental Electronic, Post-Industrial

Vibe/Mood: Ominous, Disorienting, Mechanical, Brooding, Chaotic, Colorful, Anti-Capitalist, Feminist, Complex, Cryptic, Dance, Futuristic, Surreal, Messy

Musical Qualities: Manipulated Vocals, Dissonant, Polyrhythmic, Dense, Percussive, Polyphonic, Noisy, Repetitive

Sand – Golem

Style: Kosmische, Ritualistic Folk, Space Ambient, Psych

Vibe: Primordial, Exploratory, Ancient, Mysterious, Swampy, Ominous, Ritualistic, Desolate, Spacey, Floating, Psychedelic, Eerie

Musical Qualities: Atmospheric, Droney

Robert Wyatt – Shleep

Style: Surreal Pop, Imaginative Singer/Songwriter, Prog-Pop, Canterbury Scene

Vibe: Dreamy, Ethereal, Airy, Floating, Surreal, Eclectic, Introspective, Complex, Mellow, Imaginative, Atmospheric

Musical Attributes: Progressive, Melodic, Studio-as-an-Instrument, Active listening, Jazz-Influenced

Ka Baird – Sapropelic Picnic

Style: Psychedelic Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, Ritual Folk

Vibe: Ritualistic, Hallucinogenic, Hypnotic, Earthy, Primal, Psychedelic, Spiritual

Musical Attributes: Electro-Acoustic, Loops, Minimalistic, Sampling

Instrumentation: Manipulated Vocals, Flute, Synthesizer (Moog), Drum Samples, Vibraphone

Spires that in the Sunset Rise – Psychic Oscillations [Review]

Psychedelic electro-acoustics and earthy minimalism from long-running avant-folk group Spires that in the Sunset Rise. The multi-instrumentalist duo of Ka Baird and Taralie Peterson ritualistically loop and layer a hypnotic tapestry of pre-verbal vocalizations, upright bass, flute, saxophone, synth, and autoharp, running each instrument through trippy stereo delays, visually represented by the two minute-apart clocks next to each other on the album cover. While not as witchy or jarring as the their early releases, Psychic Oscillations finds the band as entrancing as ever.

Sunburned Hand of the Man – Fire Escape

The free-form psychedelia and tribal “group therapy” of Sunburned Hand of the Man are in great hands with producer Kieran Hebden (Four Tet)—his dubs and cuts transform their usually lo-fi, meandering jams into something much more immediate, without losing any of their exploratory and spontaneous energy. Recommended for fans of polyrhythmic Afro-inspired percussion, dubbed out production, communal sound rituals, and dense psychedelia.