Pikara "This Hollow" (Åiö Soundings)

[Name Your Price Download // http://store.aiorecords.com/album/this-hollow]

While this can begin with the style and grace of a circus show ala Gatsbys American Dream-- that sort of spectacle-- it can find itself jus as easily turning into something like an orchestra.    It has piano melodies that can first remind me of a bar in an old western movie but then eventually does turn into the piano as well of something such as Adele because I'm pretty sure I keep hearing the singer sing "set fire to the rain" in the song "Every Glass is the Last".

So this is the third album from Pikara and it makes me sad that I haven't heard of them before now.    These songs are so delicate yet strong at the same time that you don't feel so much like they're going to shatter like glass but rather shatter the glass themselves.    At times it can appear as just a voice (though there are backing instruments, they just sort of take a backseat if you will) and at others it can be an orchestra.

If you are like me and are one of the people who had never heard of Pikara before this album then do yourself the favor of giving this one a listen.   Now I am going to go back and listen to their previous albums as well because I just do enjoy this one that much.

Tropics "Rapture" (Innovative Leisure)

Perhaps one of my best reasons for liking Tropics is because I don't really listen to music like this and of course by my saying "music like this" it implies that other music of this nature exists and for all that I know it simply does not.    There is no good way to describe the music of Tropics using comparisons because there really isn't anything in my collection to compare it with exactly.

Right away I have this pegged as being somewhere between pop and soul.   It has that just overall non-threatening and pleasant vibe to it that I feel puts it somewhere on that pop scale.   Yet at the same time the music reminds me a bit of R&B and as such I can think of this as having soul if not directly being a reflection of soul music.

Between synthwave, new wave and just my banner of being smoov I really have no place to put this percussion filled slow jamz mix that can go from drums to drum machine.    On Spotify, some of the related artists include but are not limited to Giraffage, Com Truise, Mount Kimble, Balam Acab, Sun Glitters, Gang Colours and Shlohmo, who I've admittedly listened to and enjoyed but still don't recall hearing anything like "Rapture" before.

If not for that "it's unlike anything I've ever heard before" tangible, this is going to stand out as one of my favorite albums on 2015 simply because it is that good.    The fact that it is pleasing to the ears just makes me want to listen to it that much more, as it gets stuck in your head but in a good way.   Imagine if you could eat all the candy you wanted without getting sick.

Dreamghost "Everything Is Alright" (Shoeboxx Recordings)

[Name Your Price Download // https://shoeboxxrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-alright]

When I first got the email about a new release from Shoeboxx Recordings via Bandcamp I was hoping that it was going to be Dreamghost and though it is a digital only release I'll take what I can get from this amazing melody maker

These four songs should put you on an electric cloud between their piano and harp riffs that can only be pulled off in this manner by so many artists.    Basically, it's taking something special to do what is happening here without it sounding wrong and Dreamghost is doing just that.

As much as I was pleased with the Dreamghost cassette I reviewed before this I also enjoy these songs which you could be cliche about and say they put you on "Cloud 9", with their uplifting appeal, but I like to think of them more as being on some sort of bliss cloud and, yes, someone should totally make "bliss-cloud" a thing.