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The rather unimaginative entitled Untitled 1-3 offers up some of the best work either of these two sounds/ ambient artist have ever produced. It mixers together elements of each others work to come up with something very distinctive, earthy and nocturnal- really keeping you well and truly lost-in, and focused on it’s unfolding dank harmonic and mysterious trail for the whole of it’s just over 70 minutes playing time.
6°Fskyquake is an new and welcome collaboration between Stephen O'Malley & Attila Csihar- the audio composition was original designed in 2001 but explored and grown in conjunction with the American sculptor Banks Violette's solo shows during summer 2007.
Zombie Zombie make pulsing, throbbing and locked groove retro synth music come Krautrock with more than a few nods towards the likes Goblin, John Carpenter and late 70’s early 80’s dramatic and horror filled soundtrack music.
The previous release by Fluorescent Grey was a rather hectic affair, you’d find yourself lost in a confusing hurricane of electronic bits and pieces. Robbie Martin seems to have found more balance on his new creation, Gaseous Opal Orbs. Still a lot happening, but there’s a little more air left to breathe.
The blues usually concerns heartache, loss and pain, whether it be inflicted on you by others or that of existence itself. Swedish slide-virtuoso Jimmy Ågren takes a different route. His brand of blues is upbeat, uplifting and vibrant with energy.
Soriah is a performance artist right out of the same neck of the woods as the label which represents him at the moment, Beta-lactam Ring Records. The location: Portland, Oregon. Soriah's known for his ritualistic performances involving strange costumes, and decorated spaces. The spiritual/ritual atmosphere is something that's often difficult to transform to the recorded media, as the visual aspects of the performance play such a huge part. Ofrendas de Luz a Los Muertos is my first exposure to the work of Soriah, and it's an intriguing listen.
Raoul Sinier make old school imd/ retro touched electronica in the melodic mould of say Plaid or Boards of Canada with offten more hectic and manic break beat & drill ‘n’ bass rhythmic attack, with smatterings of guitars and hip hop like sampling here and there too.
Wrath of the Weak make an enjoyable and atmospheric if not particular distinctive or original mix of lo-fi mid-pace black metal, doomy post rock-ism and ambience. Alogon is their second album and first for the Profound Lore label.
Rakennus shows Circle in their live element, rocking, genre mixing and general Circle weird and wonderfulness- the whole hour long recording is taken from last years performance in Charlottesville USA.
True to the albums title Government Alpha takes you deep inside the roaring heart of Oblivion. An inferno roaring, earthquake ripping, tornado smashing sonic melt down of the most ferocious and devastating form.
Polar Nights live brings together near on 70 minutes of noise, chaos,and surprisingly cinematic in places sound attacks. Recorded over two nights at last years All Ears Festival in Oslo.
Bowline gives the listener four tracks of often doomy,stormy and improvised drone works. The projects brings together David Maranha(Organ Eye,Osso Exótico,plus solo work) and Francesco Dillon(Alter Ego, plus various collaborations).
One Hundred Fifty-five’s grotesque cut-up collage cover and artwork booklet suggests this is going to be either plunderphonics territory or surreal cut up tapestry of sound akin to early NWW- but instead we get a collection of often melodic instrumental tracks with a slight back bone of sampled/ cut-up matter.
Aldebaran is plain & simple an industrial / dark ambient masterpiece original released back in 1996, this is its third repressing. And easy to see why this has been so popular as it mangers to balance perfectly slowed industrial rhythms, deep, cavernous ambience & alien tones into a hypnotic & distinctive sonic package, that hardly shows it’s age.
Reverend Beat-man makes foot tapping, shit kicking, shambolick and often quite funny mix of punk, blues, rock ‘n’ roll & country. Having a singing voice & talking tone akin to a mix of GG. Allen, Nick Cave and Jello Biafra – if you can imagine that.
Tau Emerald's debut album is a dense, dirgey, often improvised sounding darkening ritual of primeval folk forged by the female duo of Tara Burke (Fursaxa) and Sharron Kraus, It seesaws between great barren beauty and discordant/ doomy sentiments.
Ancestors are a five piece band from Los Angeles who play a memorable and epic, mid-pace to up-beat mix of 70’s soaked doom, jammed-out rock grooves & psychedelics, with touches of more modern doom and metal here and there. Neptune With Fire is their debut album and the first release on new label North Atlantic sound.
Steven R. Smith is Ulaan Khol, another in a series of his solo guises. He has worked extensively under his given name, as well as Hala Strana, and as a member of Thuja and Mirza. I is being billed as the first installment of the Ceremony trilogy, and it's a stunner, I'm happy to report. I'm most familiar with Smith's work as Hala Strana, which is multi-instrumentalist music performed at least in part within Eastern inflicted modes and scales. Hala Strana's recordings are usually relatively lo-fi and primitive in nature, and seemingly at least partly improvised. This first Ulaan Khol album is a bit of a departure from the Eastern inflected, more folky (for lack of a better term) sounds of Hala Strana.
Summon with electric Sorcery finds the Starving weirdos returning with some of their darkest, unnevering and brain altering material so far. It finds them Moving on and developing their sound, but still keeping the air and sonic taste that makes them one of the most original and unclassifiable projects around today.
This is Aube first new, original and non reconstructing of others work or collaboration in some years- made using synthesizers instead of his usual manipulated sound source. Offering an hour of new sound works in all.
[BaryoGenesis] is another brain melting and psychodelic trip into the audio world of KK Null. Stepping away from the more approachable and structure momentsof his recent Gamma Blaster and back to the deranged sonic rollacoaster ride that takes in electronic, noise, ambient and what ever else he fancies.
This has been one of the strangest concept albums both in execution and theme. The concept is about the collapse of the Roman Republic, which is told in deep mock demon vocals over a mix of synthzised repetitive jazz and guitar synth noderling. You think you’ve heard everything then a bizarre cookie like this pops up and really screws with your head.
The Bees made Honey in the lion’s Skull is the next step in Earth’s evolution- the refining, detailing and making more atmospheric of their trademark and distinctive heavy sound.
This excellent disk brings together three great & varied soundtracks from the late 60’s and illustrates perfectly Morricone's versatility, creativity and real genius as a soundtrack composer.