Loading
Here we have a recent CD reissue of one of the more strange, unpredictable & quirky releases to appear from out of the 1970’s progressive/ psychedelic rock scene. Originally released in 1971 the rather wonderfully entitled Death May Be Your Santa Claus, blended together zany like composition, diverse & crazed vocal performances, bizarre composition twists ‘n’ turns, and a more organ and Mellotron focus.
Here we have a C60 split from two of the longer serving projects from with-in the worldwide walled noise scene. Vomir, is one of the most known projects in the genre- this French project who has been active since 2005; releasing a truly huge body of work. And Quebec based Bleak Existence, who’s been active since 2007.
The late 1960s and early 1970s was probably the most creative and experimental period in the history of both music and film. Alejandro Jodorowsky, Kenneth Anger and Jean Rollin, were but a few of the incredible talents working within cinema at the time. In music we had the Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band and even pop superstars The Beatles were pushing the boundaries to see where new sonic techniques and psychedelic drugs could take them. During this era film and music became almost synonymous bed fellows. The Beatles were at the forefront of those utilising psychedelic imagery to expand on what they were doing in the recording studio with songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, or It’s All Too Much. The resulting films Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine work as signifiers of the future development of the music video. The Incredible String Band made the film Be Glad for the Song Has Ended, and even in America hallucinogenic films, many featuring the involvement of Jack Nicholson, included heavy participation from the likes of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Chocolate Watchband and The Electric Flag on their soundtracks.
Here’s a tape from Phantom Cadaver, presented in suitably sombre grey tones, with red titling. The front cover features a washed out photograph of a house, and that’s really all there is to say! Side A has four tracks, whilst B has two, however, in practical terms it’s rather hard to tell where one track might end, and the next start. The material is homogenous, though, and it’s therefore easy to see the pieces as larger wholes, rather than needing to worry over track divisions. Both sides are unmistakably HNW.
Bow brings together a selection of modern classical/ improvised pieces from this Canadian based composer & percussionist. The seven tracks offered up here move from often angular improvising to lush & harmonic string composition. All making for a release that quite a unbalancing-yet- enjoyable proposition that shifts between skewed ‘n’ soured, majestic ‘n’ lush, and somewhere inbetween the two.
In recent years the interest in throat singing, overtone singing, or khöömii(Mongolian throat singing) has grown & grown. With a project like Russian Phurpa, causing much interest & critical praise with their dark blend of throat singing & dark ritual music. Here we have a nicely presented double CD & colour book compilation, which focuses purely in on Mongolian throat singing- collecting together forty three tracks, from between the years 1954 & 2016.
British jazz-funk-disco outfit, Shakatak, sees the re-release of 1982's classic Invitations via Secret Records. This newly expanded edition features six alternate remixes of four Invitations tracks. A must for any fan, this easy, light, danceable album will get you moving for sure.
Aught offers up two nine minute slices of creative & detailed static texturing/ walled noise from the always worthy Train Cemetery. The release comes in the form of a C20 cassette, and early in 2017- sadly the physical tape is all gone now, but you can still download the release from Hallucination Tapes bandcamp label.
La Jaula De Concentratión 69 severs-up two extremely searing, at times shifting, yet un-complex examples of brutalising walled noise from this Spanish project. This C40 is the fifth release from the project.
This is the third album from Kentish folk rockers Green Diesel, and the follow up to 2014s Wayfarer’s All album. Mixing traditional acoustic folk instrumentation with a more modern electric sound really pays dividends for this vastly underrated band, who represent for me one of the gems of the folk underground. The album was recorded at Roundel Studios with producer Roger Cotton, to whom it is also dedicated, a sure sign of his worth in helping to shape the sound of this beautiful new record. The CD was released earlier in 2017 and is currently available through Talking Elephant Records.
Planning For Burial, the brainchild of Thom Wasluck, present their latest album, Below The house. This is a mix of shoe-gaze, doom, 90s alt rock and drone. It is a return to form of sorts to Planning for Burial’s beloved first album, 2010’s Leaving.
Here we have the first ever DVD release of two ultra obscure SOV ‘horror’ films from the 1990’s. And as the genre goes each film here is fairly rewarding- bringing together a mix of low-grade effects, stilted dialogue-to over acting, 90’s cheese, often wonky/ campy synth scoring, and the odd surprising plot twist.
The 26th studio album from The Melvins arrives in the form of a sonically disparate double LP, the first in the band’s lengthy history. Comprised of the more formally familiar-sounding “Death” (a “proper” Melvins album) and the expansive and experimental score “Love” (crafted for a short film by Jesse Nieminen, which the band also helped produce), “A Walk With Love and Death” also stands as the first Melvins full-length to feature newest bassist Steven McDonald, not counting his four-song appearance on 2016’s “Basses Loaded” LP. The two albums stand in stark opposition to one another and embrace both sides of the Melvins’ aesthetic: tight, metallicized sludge riffing anchored by Dale Crover’s always incredible and powerful drumming, and bizarre, disorienting, occasionally twee “what the fuck” style pastiches of collaged sound and warped studio-as-instrument aural wreckage. As a set, the two records don’t really play off of one another in any meaningful way, but they do offer the Melvins devotee a fairly enormous amount of confounding sound to get lost in.
Here’s a strange little package from See Through Buildings… Two CDRs in a card wallet, housed in a plastic picture frame. The frame itself shows off a drawing by Charlotte Skrobek. So, it’s unusual packaging, and I think the first time I’ve seen a frame used. Both discs are dominated by wall noise, and textural pieces. There are seven tracks, with four long works at 20:01 minutes, and one short one at 5:24.
Anima Nostra is a ritualistic, dark ambient release from Henrik Nordvargr Björkk and Margaux Renaudin. Coming from industrial juggernaut Cold Spring, the duo crafts a thick, hypnotic soundscape that unfolds further with each successive listen. With a prolific catalog already behind him, Henrik Nordvargr continues to add impressive releases to his resume with the likes of Anima Nostra.
VOMIR ::: is a recent C40 from the prolific, always intense & unforgiving French wall noise legend Vomir. Each side of tape features a single slab of seared noise-craft, and each is as punishing & crude as each other.
Monument Filth is the very first release from this Mexican noise project. And it certainly lives up to its title as it offers up seven slices of thick, brutalizing, and grimy noise-matter that blurs the lines between harsh noise, bleak ‘n’ overloaded synth-craft, extremely muffled/ slurred beats, unwell industrial elements, and buried ‘n’ searing-yet depraved vocal elements.
Jacek Doroszenko is an artist active in the area of visual and sound arts. The core of his practice is to treat sound phenomena as a legitimate material of a field of visual art. Soundreaming has been produced through a framework of Artist-in-Residence program at Hangarin Barcelona, Spain. Inspired by location, experience and memory and motivated by the inversion of the traditional roles of photography and sound in the media and art worlds.
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre where one of the more colourful & creative bands to appear from out of the UK in the 1960’s. The project mixed together an often wordy & psychedelic blend of folk & rock, with trippy & theatrical live performances. This recent three-disc set brings together the band's two albums from the late sixties/ early seventies, plus a third disc of demos, live recordings, and BBC sessions.
Placid Faces brings together elements of off-colour post-punk, wonky 80’s synth pop, Garage Rock, Riot Grrrl like vocals, and a keen sense of trying to entertain-yet-unbalance the listener. The Staches are a four piece from Geneva, Switzerland- bringing together two guys & two girls. Placid Faces is the bands second full-length release, after their 2014 debut & a few Ep’s.
Witchfynde are one of the bands who rose to prominence during the heady days of the NWOBHM scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Alongside such luminaries as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Diamond Head, Witchfinder General and Venom, Witchfynde made a name for themselves through their brand of occult tinged heavy metal. The band were formed as early as 1973, recorded their first demo tape in 1975, and released their debut album, Give ‘Em Hell in 1980. This box set brings together that debut and the two albums that followed it, 1980s Stagefright, and 1983s Cloak and Dagger. All three have been lovingly remastered and expanded with bonus tracks, including a BBC Friday Rock Show session recorded for Tommy Vance in 1981.
Cupio Dissolvi sees the most welcome return of this Brazilian project, who summons up a horror themed blend of atmospheric & sometimes progressive walled noise/noise texturing/ANW. This release comes in the form of C60 tape- featuring one track per side of tape- it appeared on Swedish noise label Ominous Records early 2017.
Here’s a smartly designed cassette from Sumbru and Ciel Bleu Et Petits Oiseaux Records, with an inlay printed on nicely textured card, utilising a couple of ancient woodcuts. The release has two tracks, both harsh noise walls, and both around the 20 minute mark - though the tape itself is a C60.
Phurpa is a prolific Russian group that plays ancient Tibetan spiritual music from the Bon religion. They have existed since 2003. This music is characterized by gutteral resonant throat singing in unbelievable low registers, mesmerizing single note chanting separated into odd, asymmetrical phrases. This new double album "Gyer Ro" on dark ambient label Cyclic Law is one of several releases in 2017.