Bedroom soundscapes, intelligent electronica and folk from local artists Bon Chat, Bon Rat, Gentleforce and Guerre.






Bon Chat, Bon Rat - 'Still Life'



Bon Chat, Bon Rat - 'Map of São Paulo'

It’s 2010. You’re delusional if you think mixing pop, rock, electronica and effects pedals is in any way advancing popular music. Don’t get me wrong, that can be a rad mix of musical elements, but too often I hear bands leaning back giving themselves wristies because they put a synth pad and some pops, clicks and claps, underneath a guitar track rather than bothering to finish writing songs.

Bon Chat, Bon Rat aren’t that band. Their songs are the product of actual thought; their arrangements use the aforementioned instruments, but they’re deployed in a dynamic way that rewards attention to detail. Their tracks never slow down to pat themselves on the back, and the disparate elements create tension, never translating as awkwardly sandwiched together.

Their self-titled debut EP is avaiable for you to download for FREE right now and I highly recommend you do. It’s really good.

myspace.com/bonchatbonrat

--





Gentleforce - 'Oh The Mystery, Oh The Wonder'

I’ve been digging this album so much lately that I’d actually forgotten that I’d not posted about it yet. Gentleforce’s Sacred Space is the latest edition in Feral Media’s excellent POWWOW series. It’s also one of my favourite albums of the year, pulling together all sorts of ambient-leaning electronics into a dense, glacial listening experience.

I struggled with which Gentleforce track would work best when removed from context and placed on a blog at 128kbps. I went with ‘Oh The Mystery, Oh The Wonder,’ partially because – at 6.22 – it’s one of the shorter songs. I suggest you hunt down the album and hear it in its full glory if you're into the above.

myspace.com/gentleforcemusic

--



Guerre - 'Light Between Everyone'

I posted about Guerre only a few weeks back and already he’s supplied a sweet new track, ‘Light Between Everyone.’ This one is a short, tender folk song draped in reverb and layers of fragile vocals and shifts into a dreamy organ coda after only two verses. Really beautiful.




Matt Hickey