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Chillingly tense ritual ambient project Aeoga was possibly the darkest and greatest of the 'Helixes' collective of artists released by Aural Hypnox, a Finnish label which prides itself on its mysteriousness, very limited runs and meticulous, handmade magickal packaging.
Here’s a split on an emerging label of HNW interest: Hissing Frames. It’s had a few outstanding releases of recent and this is another successful venture. The split links up Robert Ridley-Shackleton - the force behind Hissing Frames and an apparently new practitioner of HNW - with Nightmare Castle - a more seasoned HNW devotee. Both contribute one long track each, both untitled according to the inlay. This photocopied artwork is wonderful: scribbled biro words and lo-fi collage work - it reminds me of ancient tape inlays from the noise “underground” and certainly sticks out aesthetically from the usual HNW fare.
This c60 tape from 2013 finds Nar- the mysterious, densely structure, yet always enthralling walled noise project offering, up two side long ‘walls’ on RRRecords Recycled series.
Willowbrook is a Springfield, Oregon based noise project, whose sound has shifting though HNW, power electronics,harsh drone, and ANW. This CDR/ digital download release features a single track of walled noise.
Swedish death industrial act, Shift, is back with a vengeance on his newest slice of harsh carnage, Altamont Rising. This album comes to us on CD and LP, released by both Cold Spring and Unrest Productions, respectively. Although nothing groundbreaking, Altamont Rising is a harsh, engaging slab of death industrial that should slake any genre fan's thirst.
Frattonove presents Erm, a full-length split CD by international soundscapers Francisco López and Luca Sigurtà. For those unfamiliar, Francisco López is long-running avant garde musician based out of Madrid, known for crafting musique concrète soundscapes. Luca Sigurtà is an italian experimental artist with a penchant for both noise and silence who, along with his solo output, has also collaborated with To Live and Shave in LA, UR, xNoBBQx, and Panicsville.
This recent reissue brings together two full albums from Les Baxter’s 1960’s forays into exotica. Along with a handful of tracks from a Don Tiare album, which offers up covers of some of Baxter’s work. Both the Baxter albums are enjoyable rides into topical & mock ethnic tipped easy-listening, but I’m a little undecided about the quality & the addition of the Don Tiare tracks here.
The Dead End Street Band are a three piece project from North East of England who simmer up a decidedly 70’s/80’s focused sound that falls somewhere between synth bound horror soundtrack, subtle noise tone creep-ness, and eerier semi-industrial ambient tinged tone manipulation. After The Funeral is a CDR release from late 2013, and it features four fairly lengthy tracks that fall between the 15-20 minute mark.
Do you like Deafheaven and Alcest? Do you want to listen to more black metal but the scary screaming is scaring you? Does the idea of one-woman black metal intrigue you? If you answered “Yes” to the following questions, Myrkur may be the band for you!
It’s always nice to finally hear material from a band/project you’ve heard mentioned in reference to other acts you like, and that brings us to the Cd in hand Hybryds Mythical Music From The 21st Century. This was the Belgium bands first release from 1986, and it finds the project mix of ritual ambience, industrial tape loops, weird chanting, and genreal sonic unsettlement at its most primal, strange, disorienting, and surreal.
Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio and cellist Arne Deforce have teamed up for an album called "Hephaestus". On the album, one finds an often tonal yet intensely distorted and abrasive sound which I might describe as "extreme drone". The digital grit of Vainio's guitar and the emotive, quavering whine of the distorted cello meld together in a crisp, burnt mass.
This CDR on Hungary’s 3leaves takes us on an hour long sonic journey through the Art Institute of Chicago. And while the idea of a 60 minute sound recording of a Art Institute, museum, or any form of exhibition may sound like it going to be rather point-less, uneventful, & pretentious … I’m surprised/happy to say, that this is quite a compelling & interesting little trip .
Scant is a Richmond, VA. project that flits between Harsh noise, dense electro drone, walled-noise, and noise ambient- behind the project is Matt Boettke(also of Sex Complex,Widow's Bath & Heartstrung). For this CDR release we get a just over half-an-hour journey into grim & bleak ambience/ANW, which has a very deep aquatic quality to it.
This cdr arrives with the visually striking artwork we’ve come to expect from labels run by Julien Skrobek (Slow Death, Ink Runs Recordings…): simple and effective, yet formal, too. The release has one long track, near twenty-one minutes, of adventurous harsh noise wall making. The artist (if I’m not mistaken) is the same person behind the Velfaerd project - one part of a small group of people who’ve notably been taking chances and risks with the traditional hnw “form”. “Ramt” fits into this fringe tradition beautifully, certainly presenting a risk of sorts, but one which pays off wonderfully.
Ruido Horrible presents a limited edition CD-R by a pair of international noise acts: Thirdorgan and Cacophonic Joy. For those unfamiliar, Thirdorgan is the moniker of Japanese noise artist Akihiro Shimizu and Cacophonic Joy is Rodrigo Ambriz hailing from Mexico. As best I can tell, Ambriz also runs Ruido Horrible.
Olympia, Washington's black metal outfit Wolves in the Throne Room are back with their fifth release, Celestite. This new album is not only their first foray into synthesizer driven compositions, but also the first on their new imprint, Artemisia Records. Building on the synth work laid down for their last album, Celestial Lineage, Celestite shows the Wolves moving from operatic black metal to thick, almost video gamey scores. Judging from what I've read, this seems to be the first in an undetermined number to be released in this style.
I’m a huge fan of splits. If you like both bands, it’s like getting two EPs at once.; if you know one, you get introduced to another (hopefully similar) band; if you’re unfamiliar with either band, it provides an opportunity to check out two new bands at once! Illness and Arkona are two Polish black metal bands who have united under the banner of Godz ov War Productions and Third Eye Temple to release a 7” split due in September.
This is a re-issue of a private pressing from 1979, in a digipak with very simple artwork: track titles, a picture-postcard front cover and a photo of a doctor - Mr Medico Doktor Vibes himself, I assume. I’ve crossed paths with him before - the opening track of “Liter Thru Dorker Vibes” was on an excellent private pressing compilation on Sinecure, but other than that I know nothing about him. Often the story behind this kind of venture is just as interesting as the music itself, but for this review I’ll just concern myself with the sounds.
This compilation "Fire Music, Vol. 1" is something like ESP-Disk's attempt at a beginner's guide for what is undoubtedly among the most unapproachable genres, avant garde jazz. It contains 9 classic pieces by some of the genre's most towering, influential figures, from Albert Ayler to Sun Ra, as well as lesser known greats. The music is generally limited to the original era of experimental jazz in the 60's and 70's.
Rudimentary Peni were one of more unique, darkly surreal & at times down-right-weird projects to appear from late 1970’s to 1980’s Anarcho-punk scene. And to my mind Cacophony was the bands most consistent, unhinged & wholly rewarding album- it mixed together elements of Anarcho-punk, Death rock, Hardcore punk, weird & comically unsettling spoken word elements, Art punk ,and deranged yet memorable song craft.
This split CDR release brings together the work of two of the most creative & consistent figures working in today’s uk/euro HNW scene. We have Small Hours,which is one of the projects of Northampton based wall-maker James Killick, and this projects work focuses in on a fairly progressive mix of HNW & ANW. And then we Southampton based Clive Henry, who also creates an often quite progressive mixture of HNW/ANW.
Hrizg is a name I’ve seen thrown around a fair bit on YouTube, Facebook, forums, etc. so I’m actually pretty surprised that Individualism is only Hrizg’s third album. Like the album title would suggest, Hrizg is a one man band. Not a huge fan of one man black metal, I approached Individualism with a large amount of caution, which was totally unnecessary as the album is an easily digestible piece of black metal.
Spider Tapes presents Internal Voices, a 30 minute tape by German-based harsh noise/HNW act Ptomain. This tape was actually released in 2011, and since then it appears that both the label and artist may be defunct at this point. And such is the life of most noise labels and artists, come and gone is the blink of an eye. Of course, unlike the flash in the pan ephemera that is mainstream music, experimental music is ripe to be discovered and enjoyed many, many years after the fact.
Ostara returns to us with their sixth release, Paradise Down South in 2013. What is Ostara, well it is the musical creation of Richard Leviathan, also know from his project Strength Through Joy. The meaning of the projects name; Ostara is an old Germanic word that meant dawn, but it is also associated with the coming of spring (spring equinox) and the goddess of dawn.