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The Tunnels is a one man project by Nicholas Samuel Bindeman, known for his participation in Jackie-O-Motherfucker. This cd-r is a re-release of a tape, and to the best of my knowledge, it's a couple of years old. The disc is self-released in a tiny edition, and is presumably self-labeled by Bindeman in black marker. This is the third artist associated with JOMF that I've have the pleasure of listening to, who were also at one time on the YarnLazer cd-r label. Honey Owens, aka Valet, and Adam Forkner's White Rainbow both produced very fine and very divergent psychedelic music for the label (and for Kranky Records as well.). Bindeman's music is slightly more "rock" than the aforementioned artists, yet his music is no less intriguing.
Pee-pee brew up a very quirky, often highly tuneful & addictive cocktail of folk/rock, indie pop & lo-fi electronics. Managing to stay gloriously lop-side and wonky yet surprisingly at the same time highly approachable and basically a hell of a lot of fun.
Nada Terma is a rich, exotic and mysterious eastern tinged ambient ride that brings together ethic percussionist Byron Metcalf, Bansuri flutist and Dilruba player Mark Seelig and ambient explorer Steve Roach.
Skellaten is a one piece female noise project from kelso Washington and Pretend 2 B nice is the projects first cdr full length after a few tapes and compilation tracks. And you’ll be glad to know there’s nothing nice or wholesome in here as the title might hint, this is ear melting and pain boring noise all the way.
Prototipos Irradiantes(Radiant prototypes) is a very energetic, body slamming and rewarding mix of noise matter, violent electronica and pumped up old school industrial tone. Often the album gives one the feeling of been stuck inside a vast gone crazy factory as the machinery goes in to spectacular overload.
Scott Kelly is most widely known as a vocalist and guitarist for Neurosis. Last year I reviewed an album by his band mate, Steve Von Till called A Grave is a Grim Horse, which was a mellow album very much along the lines of Mark Lanegan's solo material. Von Till applied enough of his own personality to succeed, by staking his own ground. It seems Scott Kelly has been drinking from the same trough, though he seems reluctant to emerge from his shell. This album owes a hardy thanks to the ex-Screaming Trees frontman as well, and a stiff handshake to Tom Waits. A couple of decent precursors for sure, but it's not evident that Kelly has the passion to compel.
The Paralysis Sect sees UK noise extraordinaire Kylie Minoise pouring out three long tracks of grim, pained, often airless and soured drone craft and suffocating noise pressing. Each track sonically humming of despair, decay and ruin that’s strangely compelling
Oddly enough, the Door sounds a lot like a slightly more esoteric (and motorik) version on the Doors over at least half of its running time. Is the title supposed to be indicative of the direction they're headed? One would assume so. Despite the prominent use of Manzarek-esque keyboard fills (albeit not as obtrusive as Ray's), there's remnants of everything from Neu! to Suicide, maybe even early Royal Trux worked into these bad trip jams.
This extremely limited cd-r of thirty copies is an art edition release with hand painted wrap around sleeves and a vellum bi-fold with lyrics and recording information. The album was originally released as a download only edition by the alternative folk Website Woven Wheat Whispers, which sadly shut down last summer. This cd-r was actually released in 2006, according to Cryptantus Records' Myspace page. Cunnan are Alan Trench, Christopher Patinios and Stephen Robinson of Temple Music with Tracy Jeffery of Orchis on vocals and Julie Brackenbury on violin. Alan Trench is a multi-instrumentalist also notable for his work with Martyn Bates, and also known as the man behind World Serpent Distribution, which also shut down a few years back. He's credited here with Lute, Guitars, Keyboards, Samplers, Synthesizers, percussion, whistles, dulcimer, tenor recorder and, among other things, shadows(?).
Emit's bend, melt and pummel Black metal music and spirit into a very strange, sinister psychedelic and bizarre place. This wonderful yet unnerving and varied disc is a highly consistent and strange collection of tracks from through out the projects 9 year descent into darkness and sonic madness.
This two way split brings together two tracks a piece of hypnotic tinged Krautrock from Expo 70 who come from the USA & Be Invisible Now! from Italy. And for a split release surprisingly this(for most the part) flows rather well as a glorious tripped out whole
And the devil makes three sees Merzbow’s noise textures, boils and scalds mixed perfect and in satisfyingly perverse manner with Porn’s sleazed mix of avant rock meets punk doom chug ‘n’ Splatters.
The Garden is the highly ambitious double 2nd album from Australian six piece prog band Unitopia- that comes off like a mixture of more melodic early Genesis, hints of Yes, American 80’s pop prog, epic yet camp Broadway musical and some world music flavour.
Live At Klub 07 is a Pumped-up, wonderfully played & perfectly recorded live show recorded in Prague last year by Gallon Drunk and showcases wonderfully their distinctive brand of punk meets jazz, psychobilly, garage rock & surf.
Feldaufnahmen I is a jarring, strange, often surreal and disturbing/sinister collection of field recordings collected by the members of post industrial/ experimental collective Column one over a one year period.
Business Lady make wonderful shambolic, caustic, twisting 'n' turning lo-fi punk/ noise rock meets jerky new wave edgers; That’s high with bad attitude, quirky left turns and often psychotic meets comic lyrics.
For already 28 years Birdsongs Of the Mesozoic has been making music and up until now I haven't heard any of it. The group started as a sideproject from the equally unknown-by-me Mission Of Burma. When that band split up the Birdsongs became a full-time band for everybody involved.
After Live and On Air With Guests the Mats/Morgan Band returns with yet another live album. It suits them fine, as their music is typically the kind to catch the excitement of the moment.
This two disk set brings together a selection of two decades worth of work by new Zealand based Clinton Williams and his often barren, lo-fi and melancholy licked take on Electroinca.
This is the third volume of collaborative albums entitled Electronics from the genre bending, often noisy German chamber orchestra Zeitkratzer. This time around there joined by Avant guitarist and noise maker Keiji Haino for a mainly rather subdued(for Zeitkratzer's work) and eerier yet dense and complex journey into dread.
Akumu finds KK Null once more dragging the listening into a heady, shifting and highly effective audio movie for the mind with his distinctive mix of electronica, ambience, noise matter, field recordings & heady cinematics.
People go on and on about how prolific Aidan Baker is, and, of course that's correct. With over forty releases with which he has been associated since 2000, it's undeniable. As with any artist who puts forth a seemingly endless stream of material, it's easy to take for granted the overall quality of his work. And while it's hard to maintain a wide degree of variety for any artist, regardless of the volume of their catalog, Aidan Baker has proven time and again that he's got plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
Touch is a remaster of this early nineties album by this underrated New Zealand Band. It's not what you would call poorly recorded, but it's still quite grimy in that Xpressway DIY vein. It wasn't recorded in a bedroom on a four track though; it was done in a real studio, with overdubs even. The devil-may-care, casual, yet spiky and endearingly unprofessional approach shouldn't work so well under such conditions. Lest we forget the first two Velvet Underground LP's, also recorded in such environs, and very much a blueprint which these folks follow with great enthusiasm.
Asmodai rather nicely alternates between being grim, strange and skull crushingly heavy. Mixing together bone snapping doom dischargers, chugs and crawls; bleakly punked intent, with murky, arty and strange sound making/ guitar scaping, doomy and ritual air with cello and organ weaves and drones and the odd peppering of noise matter.