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“The Hunters In The Snow” offers up four slices of fairly active & changing walled noise from this Scottish based project. The release comes in the form of a pro pressed CDR release, that comes in a clear DVD case which features a colour sleeve, and single inlay sheet.
“Morbid Beginnings” is a two CDR set that offers up four slices of oppressive, dark, tense, yet extremely brutal walled noise. I Watched You Die is one of the projects Dubuque Iowa based noise artists Alex Nowacki(Boar, Phantom Rib, Centuries Behind A Gate, Polyester Pants), and this project has been in existence since 2011, releasing around six CDR & cassette releases thus far. The project has always focused in on low-end, crushing & bleak walled noise.
I’ll start by confessing that ever since my mid-teens, I’ve been a Voivod fan. The three album period which saw them create “Killing Technology”, Dimension Hatross” and “Nothingface”, at the end of the 1980s, marks them as one of the most creative and innovative metal bands ever. In my teens, they were an amazing thrash band; but my older ears hear that they were so much more.
Space: the final frontier. While this is the case for Earth dwelling adventurers, it's not quite the case for musicians. Since the late 60's, musicians have had their sights on the stars and used their guitars and synthesizers to travel there. Space based music is nothing new, but the depth and scope of the universe allows for seemingly infinite ways to sonically interpret one's journey through the cosmos. The latest such journey comes to us from Ken Camden. Ken is a member of the Chicago quartet, Implodes, and this is his second solo effort.
Starting with the beginning of the band in the early 80's, Legendary Pink Dots front man Edward Ka-Spel released a string of solo albums in parallel to the Pink Dots' already prolific output. "Tanith and the Lion Tree", in 1991, was the 8th of these, and the first release not to the contain the words "China Doll" in its title. This Cold Spring re-issue came out last year in 2012.
After a pair of vicious EP’s, Atlanta’s vegan straightedge killing machine Dead in the Dirt return with a proper full-length on the always reliably heavy Southern Lord Records.
This review will start with a disclaimer, and probably continue in that vein to the end. Put simply, therefs very slim pickings here if you donft have a good understanding of German. The cd contains a radio broadcast from 2012, on Deutschlandradio Kultur; celebrating John Cage and in his particular his most famous work 4.33 (for the uninitiated, the piece requires the performer to make no intentional sounds for the duration). The broadcast combines recordings of the piece with soundbites from Cage, as well as further examples of gsilenceh in sound works.
Saltland is the new solo project of Rebecca Foon, a cello player who has previously played with Esmerine, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Set Fire to Flames. Her first statement under this new name is a 38 minute LP titled "I Thought It Was Us But It Was All of Us", a lush and immediately imposing river of sombre art rock sound.
Oh jeez, another "mysterious" band. I dunno, I guess it's interesting that someone can stay anonymous in this day and age, but c'mon. Whatever. I do know, though, that Nihiti is from New York and this is their second LP. Without further ado...
“Death Fetish” is a truly crushing, suffocating & bleak slice of black-as-night walled noise. The just over thirty two minute track on offer here is both tense & oppressive, yet also oddly hypnotic & kind of haunting too.
Over the years there have been many albums claiming to be truly raw & uncompromising examples of blacked metal craft. "Forest Poetry" (which I know sounds more like the title of a nature based folk record) is possible one of the most unrelenting examples of the raw black metal form in existence, and it's truly one of the most stark, battering & unforgiving things I’ve heard.
It’s fair to say that 1995’s “Village of the Damned” is one of the lesser known & respected films made by US cult director John Carpenter. I have very vague memoires of the once or twice I’ve seen the movie over the years, but I do recall been very underwhelmed & disappointed by it. So I approached this recent soundtrack reinterpretation by Minneapolis based HNW/ stark ambient artist Cory Strand, with certain amount of apprehension.
Now in its second edition of 500, Aurora Liminalis is the second collaboration from these East Coast minimalists. Whereas the three untitled pieces produced by the pair in 2003 blended their solo experiments with the Voyetra 8, an analog synth module of the early Eighties, this new release, consisting of a single 45 minute piece, offers no such information on its ingredients nor intent.
Here’s a very smart double cassette compilation on the reliable Worthless Recordings label. Presented in a dual tape box, with pro-printed inlay, inserts and tape stickers, the release’s imagery is all very funereal: skulls, graveyards and decrepit mausoleums. The cassettes contain fifteen tracks, from a variety of projects; some new to me, some not. I don’t feel that there’s any over-riding theme or concept to the collection, so we may as well just go through each tape in turn.
Agarttha is the name of a mystical place in ancient Vedic mythology where the leaders of the Underworld live and control events on the surface of the Earth and now also the brainchild of Italian artist Francesca Marongiu, also of Architeuthis Rex. The title of the album is a tribute to "A Water Which Does Not Wet Hands", a book by Sendivogius, a Polish pioneer in alchemical studies which deals with Jungian archetypes, in particular with the apocalyptic dreams and premonitions of the daughter of one of Jung’s friend , an 8 year old child who dreamed about death symbols and drew them in a small book before dying of an fatal illness.
Four Italian experimental/psychedelic/folk musicians, including Rella the Woodcutter, whose rather sloppy album "The Golden Undertow" did have some kind of woodsy pagan charm, have joined forces for a stripped down drone recording in the self titled debut of the "Eternal Zio" project.
Originally released in 2005 “Live On The Riviera” takes in one of the last performances by legendary free jazz saxophone player Albert Ayler & his band. The disc has recently been reissued as part 50th anniversary of the influential & respected free jazz label Esp-disc.
Extreme metal is at a crossroads. One path leads toward newer sounds, faster speeds, and interesting new themes. The other toward classic sounds refined to play to the modern metalhead. While both approaches are valid, the former seems to trip itself up with the need for speed. Not every new idea works. Thankfully, to quote George Romero, "there's always vanilla."
“Punk Slime” sees the return of this mysterious & unhinged US project. As always this new release is a wonky, off-colour & deranged mixture of various musically styles merged & mixed together to create that distictive & unwell musical sound that could only be Pumpkin Buzzard.
Saturn Form Essence is a space bound noise/drone project from Ukraine, they create moody & dark soundtracks for doomed intergalactic travel, or sinister planet exportations. The project has been going since 2009, and has released around 50 releases, taking in split tape/ CDR releases, and stand alone tape/ CDR releases. Behind the project is Rivne based Pr. Sergiy, who is most known for his ambient black metal/ raw black metal project Moloch.
Uk based Clive Henry is one of the most truly progressive artists working with-in the Harsh noise wall, or static noise genre. Each of his releases is a cleverly conceived & detailed themed journey into textured noise & walled noise matter, that weaves in elements of sound art & field recordings, ambience, experimental texturing, and what ever else he fancies.
Originally released in May 1975, “Warriors On The Edge Of Time” is seen as not only one of Hawkwinds most balanced & consistent albums, but also a space/ psychedelic rock classic. And it’s easy to see why, as even from the first track, there’s a wonderfully feeling of focus, epic yet approachable composition, and imaginative musical texture layering. The rest of albums original nine tracks follow a similar inspired, head expanding & consistent path; making this one of those rare beast, the perfect album.
Editions Mego presents the new album by Korean born cellist/composer Okkyung Lee. Now living in the State’s, Lee has had an interesting career collaborating with artists as varied as: Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, Douglas Gordon, Vijay Iyer, Christian Marclay, Jim O’Rourke, Evan Parker and John Zorn. No doubt influencing the highly imaginative and complex album I have before me.
A simple but professional package, here, from Handmade Birds: a neatly printed inlay card, with introductory notes from Zeh; and a red cassette with on-body printing. The tape contains one long track on each side, both based around recordings of the electromagnetic fields produced by tape machines. Zeh picks up these fields using telephone coil mics, which convert them into audio signals. My small experience of using these mics, has normally resulted in pretty static, crackling drones and hums; so I’d wager that Zeh is achieving his sounds from mixing and layering his multiple tape machines’ fields, as well as eq-ing.