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Robert Millis is member of Climax Golden Twins, collector of 78rpm records and maker of fieldrecordings. What's considered his first solo-album Leaf Music, Drunks, Distant Drums was a collection of the latter, made in South-East Asia.
Somehow it's a bit sad that the internet—even though far from devoid of its own kind of myths—pretty much ruins any attempt at storytelling or anonymity as an artistic expression. People want to know the 'truth' rather than just go with an interesting story and step outside daily reality for a while.
Hodosan three long tracks are made up of bombarding, bone shaking and violent live drum work-outs that are complex, brutal & offten improvised. And weaved in and out of the near constant drum attacks are singed, boiled and burnt noise scapes.
Alchemical Playschool finds field recordings from around India and Indian music twang meeting the psychedelic electronics and general post industrial oddness of The Legendary Pink Dots muisc.
Cometary orbital Drive is another fine and rewarding example of Acid mother Temples distinctive and one-off sound. With this time around things staying very tied into a spaced Kraut rock type groove, but with the usual quirky and at times bizarre elements and sonic progressions thrown in too.
The House of Flesh once more finds David Reed & his Luasa Raelon project pulling the listener into sinister & dread filled continents of sonic fear. With maybe things going a little more noisy then his last release on Snip Snip records 07's Season of the Witch; but this is still prime death industrial meets blacked ambience of the highest and most horrifying order.
On two 180 grams slabs of vinyl, in a limited edition of 250, comes the first part of a trilogy. The bandname doesn't give away much about the sound of this British threepiece. With the album's title your thoughts tend to go in the direction of something sci-fi.
Future Islands specialize in wonky,often dense yet criminal additive brand of off-kilter 80’s retro pop meets post punk crunch ‘n’ grime. Think a more active, up-beat and positive take on the kind of thing John Maus has been doing over the last few of years. But Future Islands are far from a copy of Maus work; this their debut(after an 7 inch and a few self releases) is an wonderful self assured, well played and distinctive slice of retro wonderful-ness.
This is a 12 inch vinyl split between the organic and clattering noise meets ambience of Hum of the Druid and Fire in the Head's industrialized sample heavy drone and often muffled beat bound attacks.
The San Francisco based duo of Tipsy have been making their own brand of often sampled and turntable based lounge meets beats since 1996; Buzz is their fourth album and first on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label.
Animal Hospital is a one-man project by Kevin Micka, whose music is created using guitars, a room full of effects and electronics. By today's standards, that set-up doesn't sound all that unusual, and of course, it isn't really. But Micka doesn't take the expected route when it comes to the music, and that makes Memory a worthwhile listen. Most of the album is quiet and introspective, but rather than simply creating an atmosphere, there are some actual tunes to grab your attention. You may have to listen intently to find them at times, but they're there. The guitar is frequently very recognisable, meaning it sounds like a guitar, and the effects are used to color the music, rather than hide the artist's shortcomings. Micka is all over the place, style-wise, and despite this fact Memory is cohesive. It was assembled with care over a period of three years, and each segment dovetails nicely with the next. One suspects that a lot of material was left on the cutting room floor, with only the best of the best saved for the listener.
I rather enjoyed the 2006 debut album Ceiling Songs by warming drone maker Ethan Rose; So I was rather looking forward to hearing this his third album. And I have to say Oaks certainly doesn’t disappoint with Rose once more managing to sooth and comfort ones mind and spirit with melodic, often nostalgic and warming drone craft.
As a reviewer you sometimes get the feeling 'promotion' is more a necessary evil, nothing more than a potential leak unto that evil internet rather than a way to put your project in the limelight, which to me seems the whole idea behind 'promotion'.
Barcelona-based experimental musician and poet Ferran Fages' previous album Cançons per a un lent retard was a tour the force on acoustic guitar that demanded quite a bit from the listener, or at least myself.
A tiny cdr (3") in a tiny edition (75 copies) features one piece of a little more than twenty minutes. Nicholas Szczepanik made this to help his partner relax but eventually made him discover something about himself, as mysteriously stated in the linernotes.
Beat Circus boil up a rather potent mixture of junk band music, demented brass band work-outs, flamboyant and often doomy string work, old time jazz colours that have often quite a Jewish feel, sawing folk and the odd hint of off-kilter pop sensibilities. All to make Dreamland a rather pleasing and heady soundtrack for dreams of American freak shows and amusement park of the past, Victorian tragedies and general dark Americana.
Under milk wood sees LSD March return with the most approachable take on their distinctive sound thus far. It finds psyched & blissed-out electric guitar drifts meeting slowed post Velvet Underground riffing. Dabed with wonky and wavering folk and pop sentiments that are all tied together with an quirky and experimental ribbon.
Funcall is the next chapter in improvised jazz four piece The Antripodean Collective’s heady and angler craft. Offering up 5 often lengthy, complex yet at times strangely skeletal and grim pieces.
This collaboration between Angel (which features members of Mum and Pan Sonic) and Strings of Consciousness offers up two lengthy 20 minute tracks of drone craft & atmospheric builds/falls
A wilde Zeit is not the new album from Sturmpercht the masters and inventors of alpine- folk form; but it’s a fairly wonderful and consistent collection of odd’s and ends by the band which comes in near the 80 minute mark & offers up 18 varied tracks.
When glockenspiel is listed among the instruments it's not very likely that things will become rough. Italian indie group Il Cielo di Baghdad indeed aim for more dreamy sounds, full of melancholy.
Filth stands as one of the most effective, perverse and grimly atmospheric yet approachable to none noise-ears work by Italian noise sleazy master Fecalove; so far in his short but prolific career. It finds him mixing in moments of clear vocals, bent yet memorable industerlized electronic beats scapes and a seedy atmospheric edge to his mix of noise and power electronics.
End of Daze is a wonderfully brain frying electro attack which takes in electro-acoustic elements, manic multi-layered electroinca that’s both highly precise and jarring with the odd risers to more noisier overloaded territory here and there too.
This is the next chapter in Displeased records reissue series of old albums by Striborg -the prolific and often avant-garde touched one man Black Metal project from Tasmania. This one brings together In the heart of the rainforest which originates from 2000 & Misanthropic isolation from 1998; both which were original released in very ltd CDR form at the time.