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My first impression of “These Walls Resemble Absence”, suggested it might be “dark ambient”, due to the grainy black and white cover photograph within its gatefold wallet. My initial glance at this, told my brain that it was the crumpled robes of an ancient statue, carved in stone. However, these robes were soon revealed to be simply detritus, piled against a brick wall. But that first “dark ambient” impression actually holds some weight, because, despite the lack of obvious nods to that genre, MUfi.re has created nothing if not a dark ambience.
Tanner Garza is a prolific ambient, drone & noise artist. Actually one of his earliest releases from 2012, "Earthtones" is self-described as an "earth based drone music album". The disclaimer skirts dangerously near cliche, stating "each track is named after a different mythological creature or spirit". Luckily, the trite new age-ism suggested by this description is nowhere to be found in the music.
A Handful Of Elements finds this highly respected percussionist, industrial pioneer, and sound artist offering up an albums worth of slightly seared ‘n’ unsettling dark/ psycho ambience.
Having taken some linguistics classes, I'm familiar with a glottal stop, but Glottalstop is a mystery. What I do know is that Woodsmoke is their/his/her debut and it comes in a very nice (although limited) edition from Tartaruga. Seeing the strange, lonely stone building on the cover gives one a clue to the vibe that Woodsmoke delivers. Creepy woods and near beehive tomb illustrations aren't just for Dungeons & Dragons books, y'know.
This 2013 four CD box set offers up a 2012 live recording of one of Morton Feldman’s most lengthy works. For those unfamiliar with Feldman, he is one of great and most (quietly) dramatic minimalist/modern classical composers of the 20th century. His sonic out put is often slow & quiet music, that’s built around steadily evolving asymmetric patterns. He deals in angular notation as well as moving and deeply sad harmonic dwells and patterns.
Falcon(Ex- Circle) is the new project from the minds behind Finish multi-genre lined locked rock groove project Circle. And with this new project(or new version of Circle?!), they focus in their love of all things synth-laden AOR/ 80’s cheesy rock based, into a debut album that captures the sonic vibe & spirit of the spandex lined & day-glow tipped pop metal/ anthemic brainless AOR.
Southern Lord presents another monster album of archival material from the legendary west coast hardcore outfit BL’AST. In the waning days in the year of our lord 2013 the band released Blood!, an album that contained tracks from the mid-80’s thought to be lost to the sands of time. Still hot off their heels from that release, the BL’AST resurgence continues with The Expression of Power. Released as both a CD (with a 28 page booklet) or a 3 x LP (with extra material), The Expression of Power contains a previously unreleased version of their original full-length The Power of Expression. For those unfamiliar, BL’AST hailed from Santa Cruz, CA and played caustic hardcore punk. They were highly influential, yet unfortunately are often overshadowed by other west coast mainstays like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and the Dead Kennedys.
Mystifier is one of a number of bands that formed at the beginnings of black metal, just a few years after fellow Brazilian bands like Sarcófago, Holocausto, and Vulcano. Like their contemporaries, Mystifier played at a time where black metal wasn’t an established genre, and like the previously mentioned bands, they played an extreme blend of thrash/death and what is now considered black metal.
Sulphur, Tarot and Garden of Luxor are experimental Super-8 shorts made by the British avant garde film director Derek Jarman in the early seventies. Working within limited financial means, these phantasmagorical sequences of astral imaginings lacked a soundtrack, so would be projected in the director's studio accompanied by the sounds from various tapes in Jarman's collection. Four decades later, Cyclobe, the UK's most magical musicians, decided to add their own sonic interpretations to underscore these rarely seen ritualistic scenes: dark figures scrying into mirrors (Sulphur), a magus performing a reading (Tarot) and a confusion of people, pyramids and sphinxes (Garden of Luxor). And, arguably, there's no one better qualified for the job - indeed, Cyclobe's Stephen Thrower befriended Jarman in the early eighties and contributed to Coil's soundtrack of the director's mesmeric love story, The Angelic Conversation, in the mid-eighties.
Concrete is a new HNW project from Germany- it’s all the work of Saarbruecken based Wayne, who is known for his harsh noise project Wormhead, and running the noise/ experimental label Puzzle Records. Monument is the projects first release, and it comes in the form of CDR release that offers up two slices of fixed, dense, and unrelenting walled noise.
This split CDR on Germanys Vomit Bucket productions presents the listener with two twenty minute slabs of thick, fixed & battering walled noise, which is themed around the NASA's missions to Mars. The split takes in two Germany projects- fairly long running HNW/Harsh noise project Ataraxy, and more recent North Germany based UFO obsessed HNW/ambient project Malevolent Alien Being.
Nudo e selvaggio (English translation Wild & Nude) is a two track CDR release from late 2013, and it offers up two slices crude ‘n’ depraved cannibal movie themed HNW from this infamous German project.
This two way split CDR offers up six slices of progressive & creative walled noise from these two respected British & Irish projects. The split originally appeared in late 2012, as a private release by Mr Henry, and as with any release put out by Clive the packaging here has a nicely pro & arty look to it- taking in his house style of 5 or so art cards, which feature texts & artwork relating to the release.
The artist formerly known as Brett Naucke (who is currently known as, um, Brett Naucke) is back with his follow up to last year's The Visitor. Seed is Brett's first release on Spectrum Spools and is available in LP format with artwork by Nina Hartmann. Brett's approach to recording Seed may not sound impressive on paper (or on your glowing screen, for that matter), but after hearing the whole album, it really comes to one's attention. For Seed, Brett used the same patch on his modular synthesizer. The album has a very cohesive feel, which is to be expected because of this approach, but it doesn't get tired or worn, like one might fear.
Cold Spring presents No Closure, a collaborative effort from the legendary Masami Akita (Merzbow) and Scott Miller and Lee Camfield of Sutekh Hexen fame.
If ever there was a black metal band that needed no introduction, it’s Mayhem. So let’s cut to the chase and talk about the first new material from the band in seven years.
Gintas Kraptavicius, abbreviated Gintas K, is an absurdly prolific electronic experimental composer from Lithuania, who operates within the hushed 'lowercase' idiom. "Slow" is one of 6 releases he put out in 2013. It contains 11 pieces averaging 4 minutes each.
Cottonwood Hill is often quoted as one of the most tripped-out, and head screwing records of all time. And it was meant to be an attempt to try capture a LSD trip in sonic form.
Morne Diablotins finds Paris based field recordist & sound artists Rodolphe Alexis offering up near on seventy three mintues worth of bird, amphibian, insects and environment recordings from the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Guadaloupe. With the release posing the question ‘What did the Caribbean islands sound before the arrival of Colombus?’
Live In Wien is a double disc CD that offers up a 2011 live set from this distinctive & sometimes controversial neo-folk project. The set offers a total of thirty three tracks, which cover a selection of songs from throughout most of the projects thirty plus years of existence.
Improvisatory lounge rock trio Astro Sonic recently released this debut album, "Come Closer and I'll Tell You" on Hubro Records, a label which also supplied Bly de Blyant's "ABC", perhaps the closest point of reference for the sound to be found on this disk. Though generally subdued and ambient, this 35 minute album never stays in one place for long, creating an odd pastiche effect by leaping quickly between different chilled zones, in which momentum is very slow or totally nonexistent.
Tunnels of Ah is the new dark industrial project of Stephen Ah Burroughs, former vocalist of Head of David. I've never heard of Stephen nor Head of David, but I've never let that keep me down in the past. Cold Spring gives me an idea by writing that it's "a mandatory release for those who worship at the altars of Coil, Psychic TV, Arktau Eos, [&] Z'EV." I expect a little record label bombast, sure, but mandatory? Luckily, I don't worship at any of those altars because Lost Corridors is pretty dull.
“South Of Hebburn” is a compilation of horror ‘n’ dread fed noise and drone projects from the North East of the Uk. The CDR offers up a track a piece from five different acts, and as compilations goes this is rather consistent & rewarding through-out, where more known & respected names like Culver sit along side lesser known acts like the wonderfully named Transylvania Sex Pest.
“Structural Tendency” is the second full length release from Norwegian ambient project Super Fata. This CD release appeared back in late summer 2013 on Norway’s Origo Sound label, and it offers up six slices of drifting ‘n’ space bound ambient fair.