Nação XXI (29 Novembro/2007)

Underworld - Boy, Boy, Boy
Unkle - Broken
Parov Stelar - Love
Kenna - Face The Gun
Midnight Juggernauts - Into The Galaxy
Yacht - It's Coming To Get You
Datarock - Computer Camp Love
Plastic Operator - Home 0207
Digitalism - Pogo
The Soho Dolls - The Rest For The Wicked
Emmon - Friends
Kasper Bjorke - Doesn't Matter
Mum - Dancing Behind My Eyelids
Sigur Ros - Samskeyti

Nação XXI (22 Novembro/2007)

She Wants Revenge - Replacement
The Narrator - Breaking The Turtle
Arcade Fire - Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son
The Maccabees - Good Old Hill
The Wombats - Kill The Director
The Editors - Escape The Nest
Art In Manilla - The Sweet Descends
The Ofiice - Possibilities
The Killers feat. Lou Reed - Tranquilize
Goodbooks - Wou'll Never Win
Apparat - Arcadia
Say Hi - Bluetime
Windmill - Tokyo Moon
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Shinichi Osawa - Last Days

Nação XXI (15 Novembro/2007)

Cloud Cult - Thanks
Patrick Wolf - The Stars
Kate Nash - Nicest Thing
Laura Veirs - Wreckoning
Bat For Lashes - Bats Mouth
Cocorosie - Rainbow Warriors
Final Fantasy - The CN Towers Belong To The Dead
Andrew Bird - Plastic Cities
Beirut - Postcards From Italy
Great Lake Swimmers - Where In The World Are You Now
Damien Jurado - A Jealous Heart Is A Healthy Heart
The Finn Brothers - Disembodied Voices
Syd Matters - End & Start Again
Johny Cash - Further Up On The Road
Angus & Julia Stone - Fooled Myself


PS: Dedicated to my GranMa, may she rest in peace!

Apparat - Walls (2007)

For his latest full-length album, Berlin's Sascha Ring has come closer than ever to integrating traditional songwrting into modern electronic sound design. "Walls" is an album that pulls together vocals, strings and dense layers of laptop composition, propped upright by a glistening array of cutting edge beats. After the introductory digital atmospherics of 'Not A Number', the first real indication of this album's direction arrives in the form of 'Hailin' From The Edge', an unexpected move into soulful hip hop electronics. Next up, 'Useful Information' and 'Limelight' show a return to more established Apparat territory. These productions point to the kind of widescreen electronica with which Ring made his name, a reminder that whatever new genres he might experiment with, there's always a strength of technique at his disposal. Recent single 'Holdon' is one of four tracks here to feature the vocals of Raz Ohara, whose presence clearly displaces Ring from his familiar Apparat comfort zone. This track in particular marks a new, more streamlined approach to beat programming, which comes across as comparatively organic in this instance. As the album develops the scale seems to swell : there's an post-rock/hip hop crossover in 'Arcadia', and later on comes 'Headup', which sounds like a shift into miniature stadium rock, complete with swathes of laptop textures only serving to accentuate the epic proportions of this ambitious album. Apparat transcends the downbeat limitations of the incipient form with astonishing grace.

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Nação XXI (08 Novembro/2007)

Ghosts - The World Is Outside
The Most Serene Republic - Sherry & The Butterfly Net
Coldfinger - Dragonfly
Elsiane - Vaporous
People Press Play - These Days
Nouvelle Vague - Israel
Radiohead - Reckoner
The Office - Possibilities
Maps - Back + Forth
The Seedy Seeds - The Little Patton
Alina Simone - Saw Edged Grass
Thurston Moore - Wonderfull Witches
Artic Monkeys - Old Yellow Bricks
The National - Mistaken For Strangers
Pinback - Barner