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Chocolate Monk presents a new live full-length from long-running Ukrainian experimental artist, Edward Sol. I quite enjoyed the last album I reviewed of Mr. Sol, Sun Storm Rampage, so I was much looking forward to giving this one a spin.
Muzikaal Kabaal presents Light Collapse’s Spira Derespive as part of their 3” Gnome Project series. Light Collapse is the moniker of Russian HN/HNW artist Vitaliy Maklakov, a project that has been receiving quite a bit of praise in HNW circles as of late, at least on some of the internet forums I frequent. Along with the fanfare, Muzikaal Kabaal has a pretty good track record in my books for producing quality micro editions, so that’s already two things going for this release.
This recent reissue charts the musical meeting of two of America’s easy listening legends: Martin Denny- composer & key figure in the development of the exotica sound, and Si Zentner- trombonist and jazz big-band leader. This CD release brings togeather a collaborative album from 1962 “Exotica Suite”, & a stand alone Si Zentner release from 1963 “More (Theme From Mondo Cane) ”.
The English Heretic are a mysterious musical & literary collective who investigate occult /horror matters blurring the lines between fact and fiction. The project has been active since 2003, & their sinister/atmospheric sound has moved through: dark Coil like electronics, sampled 1940’s music, darkly psychedelic tinged acoustic & electric guitar song-craft, folk, field recordings & ambience. All tipped with the projects mainly male spoken word elements. Sometimes they release book/ booklet & CDR sets, and at others they release just stand alone cdr or vinyl releases.
“Die Erbin Des Dracula” finds this Italian based HNW project offering up a C20’s worth of pummelling yet atmospherically under-fed walled noise. The release's title translates to “The Heiress Of Dracula”( which was the German title for Jess Franco’s euro sleazy horror classic Vampyros Lesbos), and the cover artwork/ inlay suggests late 60’s to early 70’s euro horror b movies.
Andrea Belfi is a truly unclassifiable musician who has been releasing diverse and subtle sound works since 2001. This album "Wege" is one of two she put out on the Room40 label in 2012. With a long list of studio musicians and influences ranging from post rock to classical to deep listening / new music, it's an ambitious project. The album is divided into 4 tracks, titled A - D. A and B, at 15 minutes each, are much longer than the others.
Here’s another exquisitely packaged release on Altar Of Waste, containing three tracks of HNW from Bad Algorithim. The outside cover is quite spectacular: a garishly hued, Bosch-eque painting; depicting a multitude of flora, fauna and “beings” conspiring in bizarre acts. The inside cover and disc both feature paintings of prehistoric creatures - no real clues as to any meaning or “theme” here. The three tracks account for just over an hour of sound, and all are HNW, with few frills.
Avant garde / field recording artists Tim Olive & Alfredo Costa Monteiro have teamed up to created this album, titled "33 Bays". It's a noisy, textural work full of the metallic sounds of the industrial world that's been split into two parts. It's nice to see an assemblage of field recordings sourced solely from civilization, for a change.
The experimental scene is wide and diverse and filled with so many artists, you're constantly coming across a project you've never heard, and most of the time, never heard of! Usually, though, with a little research, you can find out a bit about the (wo)man/(wo)men/transsexual behind the sound. However, there are times when, try as you might, you end up like an Irishman trying to masturbate on a cold day; you can't find anything. That's where I am with Guillermo Pizarro. I don't know his history, but I now know his Glasswerks release, and I'm very glad to make its acquaintance.
Spectrum Spools presents: Weird Universe, the long overdue full length from Valerie Martino’s Unicorn Hard-On project. Being active in the underground experimental noise scene for a decade now, she has produced a number of cassettes and other micro releases on her own Tangled Hares label and more recently released a split 12” with Container on More Records.
P.O.P stands for Psychology of Perception, and the projects aim is to creating off-kilter & brooding instrumental experiments. I guess sound wise you’d say this was somewhere between: avant classical, subdued noise, quiet ‘n’ angular improv, and brooding soundtracking.
This new double disc release from Cherry Reds’ 1970’s pop in-print 7Ts, offers up the 3rd & 4th albums from The Dooleys- the eight piece Essex based uk family pop band who existed between 1967 & 1991.
“In Search Of The Lost Devine Arc” finds AMT brewing up a more 1970’s rock themed release that simmers up influences like Led zeppelin, more galloping Hawkwind, garage rock, & heady flute weaved psychedelic rock drift , with the bands more chaotic & distinctive brand of space rock.
Missouri based Jute Gyte don’t really like staying in one genre box, over the last few years their releases have dwelled-in & mixed together: progressive ‘n’ unbalancing polyrhythm lined black metal, wonky ‘n’ unhinged IDM/ electronica, doomed guitar work-outs, digital ‘n’ analogue fed harsh noise, and beyond. “Metonym” finds the project very much in a unhinged & unbalanced IDM/retro electronica setting.
A cardboard wallet, with washed out and blurred photography, holds this album from To Blacken The Pages. “Bogland” has eleven, guitar heavy tracks, which will take up sixty-five minutes of your time; unfortunately. As you can tell, I gained very little joy from this cd; but it did cast light on the power of “production”.
Lossmaker is the new project of Luke Wyatt, better known for his eponymous VHS work and as Torn Hawk. While Wyatt uses a similar approach on Lossmaker as Torn Hawk, there are some differences. Are these differences enough to warrant a different moniker?
James Killick (aka Love Katy) & Cory Stand are two of the most controversial figures with-in today’s HNW/ walled noise/ static noise scene. Each has embrace & melded pop music/ pop culture figures into the formal totally dark, negative & Giallo / horror themed wall noise scene. And each has tried to bend & stretch the genres sound with progressive elements & detours into ANW, grey & thin ambience, thick drone & beyond.
This untitled spilt offers up a two walled noise roastings- one from the infamous black bag wearing French master of HNW Vomir, and one from Springfield, Oregon based Earthenwomb. The release comes in the form of a CDR, and each artists presents the listener with a fourteen or so minute slice of unforgiving & ear scalding walled-noise.
Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, BL’AST were a legendary hardcore band. Their first full-length The Power of Expression, is perhaps one of the most influential albums to come out of the punk underground during the mid-80’s. While often overshadowed by other West Coast bands during the time period, most notably: Black Flag, T.S.O.L, the Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, etc., BL’AST were a hardcore juggernaut to be reckoned with. BL’AST displayed a musicality which set them apart from the “thrash till death” mantra that many of their hardcore brethren espoused. In that sense, I always thought BL’AST as being kindred spirits to southern hardcore outfit Corrosion of Conformity.
American harsh noise project Circuit Wound has constantly active since the early 2000s, and it's been ages since I last listened to any of his new material. From what I remember I quite enjoyed his stuff, so I approached this CDr with interest and expectation.
On its first airing, without going to the lengths of looking uptranslations of 'Fall Seliger Geister' or its individual track titles, there is a strong sense of the spirit world breaking through into our quotidian realm right across the release.
“Punishment Will Be Severe” finds Cory Strand in his extreme remixing ‘n’ reconstructing of female pop music mode. The CDR sees Strand (mainly) using “Bossy”- the 2008 dance pop/electro pop single from female Us pop artists & actress Lindsay Lohan, and deconstructing it into: stretched-out psychedelic tinged drone/noise cross-breeds, distant regal drone drifts, distorted & hazed sonic scaping that shifting into intense almost gabba like contractions, and road drill grinding walled noise.
“Hazy Light” is a collection of bleak to laid-back-yet-still- gloomy female led folk songs. The nine tracks presented here are mainly based around melancholic yet harmonic acostic guitar plucking ‘n’ strumming, and Marcella Riccardi’s (Blake/e/e/e, Franklin Delano, Massimo Volume) wordy, pretty yet mainly stark voice. There is some minimal backing on a few track, but mainly this is very much a guitar & voice affair.
“Supreme Nudity” is a CDR release that offers up three 15 minute plus slices of rewarding & darkly imaginative walled noise from this German project. Die Reitenden Leichen has been in existence since 2009, and behind the project is one Matt Nihil- who also runs HNW/noise label Monolithische Aktion, and is in numerous other noise projects such as MX Nihil, The 120 Days, etc.