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“The Awakening” is a six disc cd box set that brings' together a mixture of soundtrack albums, and studio albums from the Italian prog/ electronic rock group Goblin. The band are most known for their soundtrack work, and in particular their work on Dario Argento moives, through they have also worked with other directors too. This set brings together four full soundtracks, and two early studio albums.
Three Legged Race is the solo project of Hair Police's Robert Beatty. While I do enjoy the name Hair Police, I have never listened to them. Prejudice comes easy, and I always assumed they were one of the "hip" noise bands like Wolf Eyes. Luckily, I found out about Bobby B's involvement in hipness after my initial listen, and I was able to be impartial. So, with a decent band name and a terrible album title, what wonders await me?
Chris Watson is a familiar name in field recordings, if not the most familiar name. Despite crossing paths with his work on several occasions, this is the first full album I’ve actually heard - and it doesn’t disappoint. Its packaged in a smart digi-pack, with vintage photographs of its subject matter: trains and their journeys from Los Mochis to Veracruz, in Mexico. The ten tracks within “document” this journey, using sounds recorded on that journey.
“Hissi” is the next in the series of reissues from this hypnotic riff based genre shifting Finish project. This is the bands 3rd album, and it originally appeared back in 1996 on Metamorphos records. It showed the bands locked riff sound shaped into a electronica tinged rock type styling, with darts into more carnival themed sound tracking too.
Increasingly musicians are incorporating field recordings into their compositions, where the more traditional, instrument-based rules can be eschewed in favour of exploring the musical properties of the world's rich, natural timbres and irregular rhythms. So it's interesting to find artists coming from the opposite direction to this trend.
Albin Julius Martinek. Reverend Sunlight. Alvin. Herr Fruitcake. The man’s many names and incarnations testify to his now iconic status in the post-industrial world. And a well-deserved status at that, if you think the 45-year old Austrian almost single-handedly spawned two entire sub-genres of underground music in his previous life. Hell, he could fart on a piece of wax or offer an ultra-limited one-sided seven inch for sale at insane prices for a quick Euro and be guaranteed it sells like pretzels. One of which, at least, he has been known to do.
“Kingdom Hearts” is a four C20 box set that appeared back in early summer 2012. It finds Small Hours ( aka Uk walled noise artists James Killick) paying his HNW/ ANW tribute to Kingdom Hearts; which is a series of roll playing console games that mix together traditional Japanese RPG characters & elements with various Disney settings.
“Mercury Kisses” is the 5th release in Sweet Solitude’s 'Shades of Grey' series- each title in this series finds a HNW artist theme their release around a famous murder case, murders or criminal cases/ police work. This release from Irelands Where Is This is themed around the persecution of Gay’s by the 'Lily Law' in 1930's America.
"Architect Of Ruins” was the 11th release in the Infinity series- an identical artwork based collection of releases put out by Uk based Sweet Solitude label. Each volume sees a different worldwide HNW act attempting ambient and experimental forms of walled noise. This release appeared back in late summer 2011.
Jastreb’s self-titled release contains a singular progressive psychedelic track (“Yggdrasil”) that begins with one metal guitar riff repeated for 12 minutes. Sounding like Slayer in slow motion, it’s not a particularly interesting one. Underneath it, an almost inaudible bed of keyboard constantly drones and shifts. This makes the piece slightly discomforting rather than merely annoying, because its subtlety leaves listeners questioning whether they’re actually hearing the changes or simply imagining them to quell the boredom. That in and of itself is a kind of accomplishment.
As I recently re-located to Norway it seems only logical I'm finally reviewing a Norwegian black metal record. Koldbrann formed around 2001 and "Vertigo" is their third full-length amidst a quite vast number of EPs, splits and compilations.
"Centralia" is the latest lengthy ambient opus by veteran group Mountains, who have released a long string albums beginning in the early 2000's. There are 7 tracks, some short at 3 - 5 minutes, others exceeding 10.
‘Brûle mon Âme’ is French harsh noise unit Tourette’s second proper release following on the heels of the particularly well-received ‘Jardin du Sommeil’ CD on Troniks/Iatrogenesis/Antropofago Ateao back in 2009. This two-song, half-hour-long affair is actually the re-issue on compact disc of material available on the now out-of-print Tourette/PCRV split tape and the long deleted album ‘L’Aube’, albeit in reworked form. Released jointly by Minneapolis non-profit tape freaks Phage Tapes and Skeleton Dust Recordings, it also contains new material recorded in 2010.
Here’s a disarmingly simple tape, on Muzikaal Kabaal; with the barest amount of information for us. Basically, we have track titles - “Melkmeisje 1” and “Melkmeisje 2” - and then the front cover; which is a photo collage of a cat pestering a woman with a cockerel’s head, in front of a windmill. So no real clues as to what to expect…
West Coast sound artists Steve Roden and Steve Peters had been planning on working together on a voice-based project since 1995 when they toured with experimental vocalist Anna Homler. Fifteen years later they entered Doug Haire's studio in Seattle and spent three days recording their voices along with a small array of acoustic instruments and other objects to produce this fascinating release.
“Cold Love” offers up a single slice of dense, chilling yet brutal, and compelling walled noise from this highly prolific Serbian project. The release comes in the form of a CDR, and features a single track that comes it at just over forty one minute mark.
This double 3inch CDR split is from late 2011, and it brings together two Belgium based noise projects. The release features a disc a piece from the follow two projects: Goghal- a one man HNW project from Gent, and Kindvriendelijk- a two man HNW/Harsh noise project from Kortrijk.
This newly released double CD recording of one of Morton Feldman’s later pieces is somewhat of a rarity, as it’s actually performed by the originally musicians Feldman wrote the piece for.
“Vampyr” finds Siouxsie and the Banshees founder-member & soundtrack composer Steven Severin re-scoring 1930’s vampire film of the same name. He offers up a compelling & moody mixture of dark ambience, subtle electrioncia beats ‘n’ textures, and genreal dark electronic moodiness.
When looking back at its musical legacy, we might think of Manchester as some sort of rock mecca where working class pub-crawlers, artsy bohemians, and eccentric punks all find fame and fortune...
Panicsville and Evil Moisture have been haunting the world of noise for years with some of the most outright bizarre, composite and interesting releases. I'm always up to listening to new material by these two guys and it's usually a blast.
Forgive me for stating the obvious so soon in the year but it goes without saying that to be fully appreciated, music is best listened to in the right frame of mind. It is a known fact among married music lovers that Norwegian black metal and wedding parties don’t exactly walk hand in hand or that dark ambient festivals usually range among the most boring live events you can possibly wish to attend. This here album, the latest output from US ethereal goth-folk ensemble Unto Ashes on Sam Rosenthal’s Projekt label, is no exception to the rule. But more on that later.
This C90 tape is a team-up between two fairly recent dense ‘n’ deadly US based HNW projects. The tape is themed/based around the classic Lucio Fulci creepy haunted house zombie gore epic House by the Cemetery.
“Screaming for Vengeance” is one of those rare metal albums that managers to mix head banging ‘n’ fist punchy memorable song craft with huge commercial success; with out selling out it’s metal roots. Thirty years after it’s original release the album’s still sounds as punchy, exciting & damn memorable as it did when it was first released. It’s the album that broke the band huge in the sates, it’s also one of Priest's most wholly conist records, and a true 1980’s metal classic.