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Drowned in Lakes take on ambient black metal is very bizarre and unequal with it’s mix of wonky and lo-grade keyboard, blacked surf and cinematic clear edged guitar tones taking centre stage. Backed up by shambling drums, assorted rain/ grim effects and the odd muffled blacked croak.
The Family’s Hot daughter is an manic and deranged rush of an album, the tracks like one sonic heart attack after another mixing together in a derange and chaotic manner death metal, noise, electronics, jazz, avant rock, bent cinematics and everything and anything they fancy throw into the sonic attack on the sensors.
It is with great pleasure and joy that I, N.S. Endebo, a born carioca now living within the American maze, write about this boundary-leaping, barrier-skipping group from Tampere, Finland. My relationship with Candy Cane is fairly old and bloomed by chance, in the unhealthy madness of Soulseek random chatting. Coincidence or not, it so happens that Marko Neuman, CC’s singer, guitarist, leader and spokesman, and I share not only very similar tastes in pop and rock music, but a passion for languages as well. The weird title of this excellent album, Fay-ra-Doowra, is anything but the Portuguese word for horseshoe, ferradura, pronounced by a sun fearing young musician who loves words and their intrinsic musicality. Strangely, this title somehow connects us, and I am delighted to be able to talk briefly about the band that conceived it.
English veterans Paradise Lost are back, this time with a live offering recorded last year in London. It’s been a long road: banished from some circles, unwelcome to others, accused of treason by metal fans, regarded as sellouts for works like Host and Believe in Nothing, credited for the pioneering of the doom/death metal blend that is so fashionable these days, much has been said about the British quintet. Besides having taken its name from the great poem by John Milton and naming this live album after Robert Burton’s literary masterpiece from 1621, I would not attempt an academic analysis of the contents of Paradise Lost’s body of work. Though I am well aware that many of their fans consider singer Nick Holmes a poet, a tormented artist in the fashion of Romanticism, my standards are sharp enough to let me ignore the unfathomable abyss that stands between these two English cornerstones and the cartoonish lightlessness of Holmes’ uttering. To Caesar what is Caesar’s, so I have heard.
Deathconsciousness is the highly enjoyable and addictive double debut album from Have a nice Life who’s sound is original mix 80’s synth pop, Goth electronics, doom, ambient, cold folk, Industrial and Shoegaze indie. Managing to be tuneful and atmospheric, noisy yet soothing and cathartic, epic yet shambolic.
Seelenlicht is the new project from Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R. / Horologium) and Butow Maler (Kammer Sieben) which brings together neo classical, powerful and dramatic folk/ rock mix, electronics and heady often dark cinematic wonder- it sees Southgate's distinctive vocals taking on a larger more varied and modern subject matters away from Herr’s often older literary text and Historically based work.
Nick Cave has presented many different faces throughout his storied career. I must admit that it has taken a long time for his solo material to make a dent in my psyche. Upon the dissolution of the legendary Birthday Party, his Leonard Cohen-esque lounge singer routine felt a bit too mannered and reserved, and though each of his albums boasts at least a few great tunes, Cave to me sounded a touch self-conscious. There are certainly many who will disagree with me, indeed the many who consider Let Love In his best work, and I won't begrudge them their opinion. For me, though, the real turning point for the Bad Seeds came with the release of the sprawling double-disc Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. It may be argued that Cave's music has become more traditional since Blixa Bargeld left the band, and that may be partly true. But it also seems that Cave is freer and more confident than he's ever been, and as this latest album proves, not apprehensive in the least about experimenting a bit.
The tracks on Brain Cloud are based around rich and dense clouds of drone and sustained matter utilizing primal layers of piano and along with the sustained harmonics of voices, violins, horns.
The Maniacal Vale is this Uk Prog Doom metal bands firth album that see’s them weave in more post rock and expansive elements to their sound. But unfortunately to my ears it’s all rather disappointing and in the end a rather tiresome and uninspired ride.
The word Humus refers to any organic matter which has reached a point of stability, where it will break down no further and might, if conditions do not change, remain essentially as it is for centuries, if not millennia. So Humus is a very apt title for the 11 tracks that make up this album with each track concentrating on looped or stuck harmonic element thats mostly repeat on themselves to often captivating and hypnotic effect.
Young Dutch musician Wouter Jaspers calls himself the more or less the 'hardest working man' of the experimental music business as he performs a lot (160 shows last year) and often with the intention to engage with the audience as much as possible.
Early Love Music is a varied, soothing and often highly tuneful mix of traditional/ medieval folk, folk/ rock, prog, psychedelic airs and pop music from the nearly never failing Ahnstern label. This been probably one of the most approachable and normal sounding albums on the label thus far, with also many of the songs been sung in English too instead of the normal germanic singing that features on many of Ahnstern releashers.
Here Marc Almond and Michael Cashmore bring to atmospheric and often tuneful life two poems by Count Eric Stenbock- an 18th century poet and writer of macabre & fantastic fiction who was once called 'drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men'- through he did'nt half write beautiful prose.
This as it titles suggests is the second compilation of Japanese noise on the Austrian Steinklang label, taking in near on 80 minutes and 16 tracks of mayhem and sonic chaos featuring the likes of The Incapacitants, Government Alpha, KK Null, Dissecting table and Aube.
This is a very welcome reissue of this 2002 NWW album that surfaced briefly on World Serpent here it comes with a second unreleased disk of different mixes and one unreleased track.
The excellent Zelphabet series returns for its third volume in the proposed 26 volume series and once again it’s another highly enjoyable collection of experimental and noise matter this time around we’ve got four tracks on offer with one each from Charlemagne Palestine, Chop Shop, Contagious Orgasm and C Spencer Yeh.
Teip is a twenty minute manic, deranged and often surreal pile-up of sound, noise and music by Norwegian composer and noise maker Maja Ratkje.
Sole and the Skyrider band sees sole's distinctive, wordy and sometimes angered rap flow backed by real and dense instrumental textures, along with a return of the organic and detailed sound textures found on last years mansbestfreinds Poly.Sci.187. All to make this one of the most rewarding, varied and clever releasers not only by Sole but by the Anticon label and collective as a whole.
Language without words in a glorious clash of jazz, funk, blues, electronica and world music tones in a often manic and delirious manner, but instead of being like the likes of Squarepusher who’s mix of jazz & electronica often feels a little lifeless and show offish Akai Ikuo really brings the mix to vibrate, fun and atmospheric life.
Where the Moon was Red is a splendid and consistent compilation of dark and ocultic hued English folk that celebrates the work of Cryptanthus Productions, bringing together out of print songs along with exclusive tracks for the compilation all for the cheap as chips price of £2.50!.
This brings together two long live collaborative pieces of sawing, grating, noisy and creative sound matter from two of USA’s most well know, respected and prolific figures in the noise scene today.
Von Himmel self titled album offers up three long slices of rough ‘n’ ready space jam haphazard jazz rock tracks that are encrusted synth and organ weaves/ groans. Often having the feeling like it’s been hooked from deep space covered with space barnacles,ect.
React is an edgy, sometimes darkly tinged and cinematic up beat ambient/ electroinca/ collaboration between US ambient artists Robert Rich and Uk electroncia artists Ian Boddy. This is the third collaboration the pair have done together, with Rich handling MOTM Modular, keyboards, flutes and lap steel Guitar and Boddy Apple Macbook, Pro/Albeton live, sampler & synths.
Motif Volume one is a collection of solo one man guitar pieces by Steve Howe(Yes, Asia, ect) mainly played on acoustic guitars -that’s very down to earth, often easy going, tuneful, playfully and not in the least bit pretentious.