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Strings/ classical elements and metal have always been difficult bed-fellows with often the strings been used as a gimmick with little sonic understanding of how or where to use them, or the metal elements are too underplayed losing their power. Communion is one of the better more consistent and well rounded mix of these two dramatic and sonic powers.
Outwaard finds z’ev submerging the listening in brooding, sinister and dense musique concrete.The three tracks with-in are built from recordings made at a petting Zoo in Kleve Germany,though the way they’ve been manipulated has more in common with horror films than a child friendly atmosphere.
The seven deep, vast and haunting ambient tracks with-in where composed for a video installation that was original performed and built around Rothko Chapel in Texas, which is also the location which modern classical composer Morton Feldman based one of his celebrated pieces around.
This is an extra disk of material and wooden box set that’s an add-on to the excellent original Wilde Jaeger compilation(reviewed here)- the beautiful green stained hand made wooden box fitting the original two disks set inside.
Born to Destroy Amalex is a Molotov cocktail of Death Industrial, power electronics and brooding/ grim atmospherics littered for military/religious dialogue samples.
Mothlite's debut is a mix of more organic Ulver type atmospherics, dark Pink Floyd, jazz, post-rock/ prog, dark psychedelics, modern classical and dank English air. All to make a wonderful rich and darkly tinged filmaticexperience.
Smile is a real Roller-coaster ride of and an album that zooms, slams and ducks all over the place with 3D like production touches. Boris meld their heavy-weight riff power with jap pop, 80’s metal, retro and cheesy sound touches, etc to come up with an album that literally jumps on you, licking you all over the face like an overactive puppy.
At its heart The Philosopher's Stone is a rock’n’ roll album, be it gothic licked, atmospheric and building, tongue in cheek, or just down and dirt rock. Set through out the albums rock crown you find other genre traces such as lo-fi electroinca, world music, dark pop, country & neo-folk.
This is the new sonic manifesto from Halo Manash and the occultic ambient & mysterious Finnish label /collective Aural Hypnox. It finds them striping down of their atmospheric and ritual sound to a very organic and rhythmic base, With much of the album built around gong, percussive and dark ritual tones.
This is my first taste of Beequeen’s quirky cocktail of pop, electroncia, indie guitar strum and female vocals. And I’ll have to say I’m quite taken by the tuneful, lazy and often bizarre air that purveys Sandancing’s sonic Canyon's.
Zelphabet volume B is the second in a series of 26 compilations each featuring sound/ noise/ experimental artists names who start with each conceding letter of the Alphabet- with this edition easily topping the great start of Volume A. Featuring a track a piece from The Beast People,16 Bitch Pile-Up, Black humour, Bob Bellerue.
Journey of a Misanthrope finds Tasmanian black metal /experimental project Striborg offer up an hour and half of grim, creepy and atmospheric visuals to a selection of eight tracks from throughout his prolific discography.
To blacken the pages are a Dublin based hypnotic guitar drone/ doom and dramatic instrumental project of one Paul McAree,which managers stand out from the pile of seemingly similar projects with it's ability to paint effective, varied and compeling sonic mood spaces to get lost in.
Nalle are Glasgow based avant folk trio of Hanna Tuulikki, Chris Hladowski and Aby Vulliamy. This thier second album primal focus is on Hanna Tuulikki distinctive and often bizarre vocals- think a more deranged folky Bjork, or a sinister earthy theatrical whine. To which a strange and dense mix of folk, world music, drone matter, lo-fi electonics & all manner of sonic strangeness is added. All to make a very distinctive brew which through enjoyable can be a little trying a times
Lead Belly or Huddie Ledbetter as he was born is one of the most important and influential figures in American folk and blues history, along with been the first recognised and respected African American singer/ song writer by a wider audience with his first recorded work dating back to 1933. This compilation brings together all of his important and beloved songs.
For those who wondered what the usually highly prolific noise extraordinaire John Wiese has been up to since his excellent Soft Punk from April 07, this monster 4 disk set from his Sissy Specek project shows he’s been very busy and very creative as usual- taking the project off in new and intriguing tangents and experiments.
Just over two years after the release of Black ships ate the sky, Current 93 have reformed their line up and present here four new tracks with a pared down four piece of David Tibets vocals, Keyboards of Baby Dee, Whistling from Rob Sands and the mix and extra audio from Andrew Liles.
Jeffrey K., formerly the farfisa organist for urDog, reportedly spent most of the summer of 2006 in the Arizona desert, where most of this album was recorded. Armed with a four track recorder, a modified Indian Harmonium, his dog, and a Volkswagen van, Jeffrey was apparently inspired by the desolation of his surroundings. He was also inspired by Nico, whose journal he nicked the title for this album. Nico does seem to be an appropriate influence music created in dusty isolation. Not to mention the fact that some of her music includes the harmonium as well.
Live offers up three untitled Starving weirdos tracks/ jams reordered in three different locations across the states- it’s part of Arroyo Subscription Services Series and well worth track down if you’re a fan of the SW.
Einleitungszeit make dense & overloaded, but always atmospheric and nightmarish mix of; death industrial, noise, power electronics with grim cinematic undertones. This is this Slovakia five piece 24th releases in their 14 year career
This is a split between Japanese noise/ sound artist Timisoara and USA noise artist TADM or Two Assistant Deputy Ministers (as he's also know by)who put out an enjoyable full length on Harsh Noise a few years back.This set offers up a mix between woozy almost grim ambient tones and all out head-ripping noise
Eternal noise finds Giffoni creating a more drone based, often surprisingly harmonic and atmospheric album than his normal more noisy and brutal electronic melting and synth overloading focus- though this still has its fiery and overloading moments
The Dreamers finds Zorn in much more populist, approachable and playful mood than much of his recent work, with this possible been the most charming, tuneful and un- motiveless album of his career- it’s just about making entertaining, melodic and beautiful composed and played music.
The Stumps come from a long lineage of Velvet Underground admirers, out of New Zealand. It's hard to see anything close to the Velvets in their sound, whether it be Cale-era insanity or the formalist rock and pop of the Doug Yule era, so perhaps the influence is just a jumping off point. The Stumps will also most likely be compared to Acid Mother's Temple and Les Rallizes Dénudés as well, because there's a ragged psychedelia to these tunes, and that might be a little closer to the mark. The Black Wood is a an all instrumental affair, and its array of sounds belie the fact that the band is a fairly traditional lineup of guitar, bass and drums. It wouldn't be at all surprising if these untitled tracks were totally improvised, and that the album might have been culled from hours of tapes, with the best parts edited cleverly together. It's a good cross between traditional rock instrumentation and barbed, bad trip inducement.