Tomoyoshi Date - otoha (2011, Own Records)

Second solo album for Tomoyoshi Date, after "Human Being" on Flyrec, without forgetting two albums with the project Opitope he shares with Chihei Hatakeyama and one with Corey Fuller under the Illuha name.

Born in San Paulo, Brazil, having lived in the USA and now residing in Tokyo, Tomoyoshi Date writes soft and delicate instrumental music documenting peacefulness, quietness, deep emotions and introspective states of mind. 

Bob Holroyd - afterglow (2011)

I have no other example in mind about such a drastic change of style for a musician. If the process was opened on his previous album, "Beachcombing", mostly with the opening track "Glow", on "Afterglow" we are decades, light-years away, with a radically different scenario. 

Bob Holroyd - beachcombing (2011)

Up to now, to be honest, I had strictly no interest for the music of Bob Holroyd, mixing ambient, electronica, new age, fusion, chillout, world music and trip-hop elements into his music. But apparently 2011 is a year of change for him. A change in two steps, with "Beachcombing" opening the year and "Afterglow" closing it.

If one track has got to be reminded on "Beachcombing", it's the opening one, "Glow" which explore in a similar vein the works of artists such as Hammock, Amman/Josh and Josh Varnedore. 

Travels - the sun shines down on me EP (2011)

Three albums, now they are back with a five songs EP. Mona Elliott and Anar Badalov are back.

One cover of Daniel Johnston, "The Sun Shines Down on Me" and four originals of Travels doing their core business. The cover is relatively straightforward and not so interesting. 

Lexithimie - stroll into the shade for a moment (2010, Sentient Recognition Archive)

Lexithimie is the solo project of Alexis Béchu, with releases on Hibernate, Audio Gourmet or Resting Bell. He produces ambient drone music, processing piano, cello, chord organ, digital-recorder, and sine waves sounds.

This release has been conceived around the idea of a "shaded place surrounded by light", with the title borrowed from the book “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad.

Thomas Mery - les couleurs, les ombres (2011, Own Records)

It is a long fight. It's a long trail and the end is nowhere near.

Second solo album for Thomas Méry, but as with his previous EP, "Des Larmes Mélangées De Poussière", singing and playing guitar, he is backed up again by Stéphane Bouvier (bass and clarinet) and Jérôme Lorichon (drums trumpet, waves and piano parts), which were his bandmates on the two Purr albums.

Fennesz - seven stars (2011, Touch)

Four tracks, eighteen minutes, a new EP by Fennesz, nice, pleasant, but not considerable,  it is suble but in the comet tail of his previous works, without unsettling sparkles or breathtaking instants.

Mark McGuire - get lost (2011, Mego)

For someone born at the eve of 1987, Mark McGuire has got already a plethoric discography behind him, solo, as member of Emeralds or through other ephemeral alternate projects. 

"Get Lost" is his third album on Mego. I tried to listen to some of his records previously but never was convinced to explore these completely.

Lawrence English - the peregrine (2011, Experimedia)

Two long drones, each one in three parts,  for a total length of 34 minutes, "The Peregrine", new album by Lawrence English,  is based on a book written by J.A. Baker about this bird of prey.

What seduced him in this book was the focus of the writer on landscape and environment, and indeed as a result, it is also what he explores here, conceiving it as an homage to the book which as his primary influence, profoundly nourished his sensitivity in the process.