Mandelbrot Set (not to be confused with [madelbrot set] from croatia) have taken many of the best things about Britain's instrumental scene and combined it into a glorious EP, appropriately titled All Our Actions Are Constantly Repeating. Imagine taking the brute force of bands like Moly and (old school) Mogwai whose focus mainly rests on the construction of a monolithic wall of sound and colliding that at maximum speed into the flawless consistency of a band like UpC DownC or Tracer AMC. The resulting sound is that of Mandelbrot Set, who simultaneously wants to get as loud as possible and make the journey seamless. Throughout 2006 we've had a lot of impressive albums, but few contain the captivating quality to it that was such a powerful presence in 2005 with releases like Caspian's You Are The Conductor, This Will Destroy You's Young Mountain, Yndi Halda's Enjoy Eternal Bliss, or Samuel Jackson Five's Easily Misunderstood. All Our Actions Are Constantly Repeating successfully joins this elite group. Every second of this album excretes "epic," and as the very last drops force themselves out of the band, we are reminded why post-rock is such a blissful experience. When a band is successful in putting all of itself into a piece of art, the music itself is lifted to another level and this transcendence makes it a more powerful and an imminently more important work. You can feel the band in every note and even in between the notes; a strong force is present over the entirety of the cd and this force guides the listener through the album's journey. To me this is what "post-rock" is really meant to be about. Not selling records or making political statements or having cool artwork, but really connecting with the listener on a level that most genres either do not attempt or fail at doing so. For this Mandelbrot Set is outstandingly successful.

Though Mandelbrot Set has already made a strong testament with All Our Actions Are Constantly Repeating, it is showing no signs of slowing down with plans to release a full length album in 2007. All signs indicate that it should be a show stopper.

Mt's Lethologica was a pivotal release for the young British record label MotiveSounds, which has shown itself to be dedicated to the cause of instrumental rock by releasing albums from Let Airplanes Circle Overhead, Capulet, and CtrlAltDelete this year. While all of the label's releases have been good thus far, it appeared like it was getting stuck in a state of similarity and really needed a band to break through to the next level and up the ante for the label, which is extremely important when the label functions as a close-knit family. The responsibility really rested on Mt, and not just because Ben Maxwell has ownership in the label, but due to the fact that they were the most experienced band on the roster. So how does Lethologica stand up? I'd be lying if I said Mt doesn't exceed all of these expectations. I've always been afraid that the band would venture off into "ambient guitar" territory, which would immediately get them them written off as Explosions in the Sky or Pelican clones by much of the music community. Instead, the pedals are kept to a minimum and instead a focus is placed upon guitar riffs, and not of the bone-crushing metallic kind. What are we left with? A very warm sound dominated by fuzzy bass, tumbling drums, and a sharp lead guitar. Were it not for the tremolo and the general intensity of the music, Lethologica might fit nicely into the Six Parts Seven discography due to its reliance on organic guitar-oriented rock music. Compositionally, Mt lays down some complex tunes with impressive use of time signatures and the only track I can find fault with is the "Between Now and Then" for (poor) use of vocals. Otherwise the band is spot on with the short song ("Worms and Coffee"), the middle length songs ("Add Obvious Errors," "Decline Into Shadow," and "Too Many Escape Darwin's"), and the long closer ("Sense of Wonder Still Intact"), which caps off the album with an exclamation mark. This is a true album in the sense that all the songs are about at the same quality and no song really stands out as being outrageously better than the rest. This gives the world a helping of 43 enjoyable minutes of music -- not bad at all.

Mt still have a bit of work to do in order to reach the upper echelon of instrumental bands, but this debut offering is promising and over the band's history we've seen that the band is constantly improving itself and slowly realizing that its dream is well within reach. It would be really easy for the band to give into the tricks that other popular bands have utilized to take a shortcut to relative fame, but it's choosing to stay on the same path and work bit by bit to accomplish what it has set out to do. When Mt finally gets there we're all going to be standing in awe of what it has achieved.

Combining the sounds of Te', Joy Wants Eternity, and Saxon Shore, From the Sky comes across as a refreshing first listen. From the Sky sets its sights on a blazing instrumental rock sound, much akin to Te'. The entirely of the EP is then washed in warm, shimmering guitars reminiscent of Joy Wants Eternity. A dash of keys and glockenspiel with ambient undertones draw a comparison to Saxon Shore, although From the Sky's compositions are not dominated by it like The Exquisite Death Of... managed. The quartet likes things to be short, powerful, and explosive, as the first four tracks of Like Crystal in a World of Glass demonstrate. No time is wasted with meandering solos and masturbatory experimentation; instead these Londoners get to the meat of the material and make it memorable. Each song shows a much different side of the band: compassionate, driven, forceful, and contemplative. The last song of the EP clocks in at just under 14 minutes and does its best Mogwai tribute, swelling to an incredible size, bulging, relapsing, and finally exploding in an blinding finale that gives way to chaotic backwash. Normally I'd take offense to something like this (don't we have enough bands playing tribute to Mogwai, and certainly isn't this pedantry for the band?), but after the four swift punches delivered at the beginning of the EP, this is exactly what the ear needs to hear in order to sleep soundly. Many straightforward rock bands leave something to be desired after blowing through several quick songs and calling it a day, but From the Sky have found a winning combination of old and new sounds to keep this experience original and satisfying.

In the future I would actually like to see this band playing around with more ideas from the Saxon Shore camp and straying from the straight rock approach enough to get a breather. The extra instrumentation adds some subtle beauty to the EP's already impressive sound and I think exploring in that general area could take From the Sky to the next level.

The Site of Future Rome debuts The Site of Future Rome which apparently has a deep appreciation for dolphins. This brief eighteen minute EP contains four songs and begins with "Dolphin Song," which is a 35 second segment of cello over reversed guitar. If you reverse the track it's a 35 second segment of guitar over reversed cello, which could be viewed as a bonus track. This Scottish quintet serves up a post-rock sound that feels familiar to Detwiije in its devotion to orchestral sounding rock. At times the music slides into a more subdued sound calling upon images of Bright Red Paper, but fans of Detwiije should feel pretty at home while listening to the cd. When I first heard about this band it was well advertised that a cellist was within the ranks so I was expecting that the guitar work would be taking a backseat ride for much of the show. To my surprise this was not the case as The Site of Future Rome lets the axes run wild with blistering tremolos, smoldering vibratos, and then adds some cello to keep pace. The three songs on the EP fall around 5 to 6 minutes in length and this is a perfect length for the band's crisp epic compositions. While the compositions are more orchestral oriented, the rock aspect of the band shortens the amount of time you really want to be listening to the song and the band compromises wonderfully. The eighteen minutes come and go in a blind of an eye, but it is eighteen minutes well spent.

I'm curious to see how The Site of Future Rome would handle itself on a full release. The Site of Future Rome really serves more as a demonstration, and although it leaves a positive impression, the band does not exhibit a lot of variety. It would seem natural that in a full release they'd branch off into the land of pianos and maybe bring in a violin for support. This I can foresee as being a winning combination.

The Stasi are not an instrumental band, but if memory serves me correctly, they once played with 65 Days of Static, which warrants me looking into the band. Being from the UK surely helps this out, since bands like Oceansize, Radiohead, Amplifier, and Aereogramme have been making some good music over the years and could be cited as influences on The Stasi. Mixed InGlish is the second single from the band who is taking baby steps to its first album. The title track leads the CDS and starts amidst a fury of chugging riffs before retreating into a calmer presentation where the vocals kick in. I can't remember the last time I listened to song oriented music (It was yesterday -- Oceansize), but I reckon Amit Sharma sounds a bit like Matthew Bellamy when he really wants to. Well, at least before the whole Blackholes and Revelations thing happened and destroyed everything I loved about Muse. The last half of the song breaks away into an instrumental segment that trades the riffs for those smooth ambient guitars we're all fond of and has some fun with the delay pedals. Yeah, it kind of does sound like Oceansize wrote that bit of the song, but they didn't, so we applaud The Stasi. "Riding the Biaxial/I Collect Unwanted Apologies/We Must be Left Alone" begins with a simple arrangement of piano, drums and singing. This all sounds a bit like Muse to me, but after the thundering piano and theatrics conclude The Stasi ride the devastating guitar riffs all the way home. It's quite a nice build up that slowly spreads its chaotic meandering into the entire sonic landscape as anguished vocals float overhead. The final track sees the band doing its best Oceansize meets Radiohead and the intensity is turned down a few notches to allow the ethereal feeling to flow.

The Stasi plans to record a mini album to follow up Mixed InGlish, and I think the results will be pleasing. Although they can't be accredited for being completely original, the band does patch together a lot of the greater elements of the UK's better alternative bands and makes it all look relatively easy. Conceivably you could go out and buy a Radiohead album, a Muse album, and a Oceansize album, or you could invest in some The Stasi and get a good mix of them all. I'd still buy some Oceansize, because they're the best band on the planet, but maybe that's just me.

~Jordan Volz