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Mercy Oceans is the second album by Pantaleimon, a David Tibet-endorsed project which revolving around Andrea Degens. She sings and accompanies herself mainly on an Appalachian Dulcimer and she has help from some of her friends. Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian (and fresh from a couple of collaborations with Mark Lanegan) provides cello, backing vox, piano and glockenspiel, and Baby Dee, another Tibet favorite, adds harp to a couple tracks. Keith Woods of Hush Arbors contributes some fine finger-picked guitar which is tastefully employed and entirely appropriate to the mellow, organic tunes. Degens' vocals are soft and hushed, yet imbued with spiritual longing. The multi-tracked singing is undeniably pleasant and inoffensive. The whispered tone, which is spread throughout the entire album can become a bit confining, because there isn't a whole lot of variety in the tone. But Degens manages just enough in the way of minute variations in the songwriting to keep this album a level above tea-time fare.
Wildlife mangers to mix together field recordings, improvised elements and ambience in a wonderful alien, intriguing, haunting and ultimate hugely compelling packaging. It’s all the work of uk sound artists Justin Bennett who now resides in the Netherlands.
Music heard far off presents the listener with a collection of awkward, muffled sometimes quite touching and feeling songs that sit somewhere between discordant pop, lo-fi electroinca, ragged and brittle guitar scapes, a-drift folk, noise and haphazard junk yard or overgrown ambience.
The River is a reissue of one Basinski most hypnotic, beautiful and evolving works, original released on Rasta Noton in 2002 here it reappears on Basinski own label 2062.
Having rather enjoyed Horizontal mover the first release in 06 on extreme by classical trained pianist, improviser and sound artist Claudio Parodi . I was looking forwarded to hearing his new work, which like Horizontal mover is another tribute to renowned experimental artists this time it’s American improvised and composer Pauline Oliveros.
Blind Cave Salamander debut album is an often shadowy yet elegant mix of atmospheric classical textures, electronics, dark post rock and ambience. Featuring Paul Beauchamp (Gullinkambi) handling Electronics & Voice, Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo(Larsen, XXL, and ( r ) ) on Effects & Electro-acoustics elements, Marco Milanesio (DsorDNE ) Programming, bass and sound design and lastly(but not leastly) Julia Kent (Antony and The Johnsons) on cello and string arrangements.
Chris Connelly has transmogrified over the years from an industrial music guru in the nineties, a contributor to Ministry, Pigface and the Revolting Cocks, to a Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker influenced introspective songwriter. The Episodes finds Mr. Connelly in yet another mood; a sort of cathartic, semi-improvised, over the top campfire music. Purportedly. This music was recorded both in a studio in Chicago and on location at Lake Wandawega, Wisconson.
Pigdaddy stretchers, pulls and bends the Power electronics sound into new & bizarre shapes and forms, With of course a seething brutal/ perverse air to the proceedings but also some surprising humour and quirkiness too.
Gruntwork is a collection of short ‘n’ strange & other worldly tracks that are sometimes quirky, somes noisy and sometimes atmospheric. With a great variation in sound and texture though-out it’s amazing to find out this is made purely from improvisations with voice, microphone, amplifier and a bell and all been produced by one person Steve Fanagan.
Teiji Ito was a Japanese composer and performer who moved to New York at an early age in 1952. Mostly know for his film scores for the avant grade films of Maya Deren, as well as his mixing of rhythmic and instrumental world music elements with-in his often improvised sound. This forth volume of his work from Tzadik deals with two pieces base around the native American Indians music, Shamanism and legends.
This projects name, the albums artwork (which includes a fold out Ouija board) and title suggests this is going to be either dark ambience or ritual base dark industrial grim with EVP elements. Instead this is an often quite a memorable mix of sampled symphonic elements, cinematic electroncia and beat-bound horror scapes.
Schimpfluch Commune Int. brings together the demented sonic minds of Dave Phillips, Joke Lanz(Sudden Infant) and Rudolf Eb.Er( Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck). To give one of the most deranged, Strange and freakish collection of sound worlds ever committed to audio, this been a reissue of the cdr album that came with their 20th anniversary box set, which is now out of print.
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.