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Carl T. Pace aka the Beta Cloud is a self described purveyor of "ambient/noise/doom/shoegaze" music out of New York (somewhere). It's strange to even review this release because it is limited on the level of Organum's early cassettes. The review copy that I received appears to be a part of the general release of a whopping twenty copies (mine is 13/20). There is also an even more limited edition release of ten, which includes six original photographs taken by Pace and is wrapped in black cloth. It appears as though both editions are still available at the time of this review, if the Witchhouse Records website is up to date, so act yesterday if you want a copy.
Sometimes an album comes out of nowhere that blows you away, and for me The Vulture Club's Live Young, Die Fast and Leave an Exquisite Corpse is a prime example of such a sucker punch. I haven't been able to wrench myself away from this disc since I first spun it a couple of weeks ago.
Sistereis carves out an atmosphere that evokes ill fated ocean bound trips, faded photos of long dead loved ones pulled from sea salt depths, and eerier ghost ships cutting their way across dusk purpled skies. It mixes together slow dieing beautiful piano textures, sinister jazzy touches, doomy sea salt bass rumbles and sun bleached modern classical tones. All under washed by creaking, cull call and all maner of eerier noise matter.
Umbilicus Maris whisks the listener off into a vast abounded citadel situated on the deepest ocean floors, lit by fluorescents and sea bound aurora borealis. This is fine ambient craft rippled with watery rhythmic touches & subterranean choir voices to make vast meditative and mystically soundworld to lose ones self in.
This is a reissue of the excellent Sturmpercht’s first album from 2004, never before released on cd, here it gets given a fine package treat with the cd housed in side a wooden slip. The album is wonderfully focused and full formed opening shot- Germanic tongued mixing together with quirky Apline Folk, Neo Classical, ambience, more thoughtful and emotional touched sound craft.
There are two things that set this 80’s slasher apart from the 100’s of Friday the 13th rip off’s that appeared at the time. Firstly it had effects wizard Tom Savini on board who had worked on many great horror films including the first Friday the 13th. Secondly it had a soundtrack composed and performed by prog keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman- who had weaved his distinctive classical infulnce electronics through many of Yes’s most famous moments and become a household name in his own right after releasing a string of concept album in the late 70’s.
Venomous Cumulus Cloud kicks up one hell of a dense psychedelic shifting kaleidoscope of noise. Balancing perfectly the need to be brutal and complex in its texture and use of sound. Simply put this is one hell of a ride, its prime noise on the same level as some of Merzbow's work.
Grand Mutation is a gothic tinged sound strew collaboration between Norwegian noise master Lasse Marhaug and fellow Norwegian composer Nils Henrik Asheim. The album conjures up a heady world of improvised church organ, noise and electronic treatments.
Somewhere on Sadalsuud a woman whispers the mantra: "I have found myself, away from this world". Probably somewhere near the star in the Aquarius constellation, "The luckiest of them all" from its originally Arabic meaning, after which this piece is named.
In a sense this is the antithesis to the Bexar Bexar album I reviewed earlier. That album conveyed the feeling of chilling out on an afternoon, after a burning hot day. This album is more of a chill, but equally soothing.
This third volume in Steve Roach’s series of long form ambient compositions doesn’t just offer up one 70 minute piece, instead it offers up three. With all the three pieces following on from the rest of the series, painting vast and atmospheric sound worlds that often barely move. All three disks are packaged in an arty and impressive large DVD size fold-out digipak.
Submarine offers up a curious very English mix of throbbing & wondering bass lines, Guitar workouts that go from jagged slightly punked, to avant, to deathly harmonic strumming. With the odd slightly dated locked drum patterns here and there. All topped with old wartime voice samples, found elements and spoken word.
Woke On A Whaleheart is Bill Callahan's first album under his own name, after many albums as Smog and a couple as (Smog). A River Ain't Too Much to Love, the last (Smog) album was a mellow rootsy album which dwelled on things domestic through oblique narratives. Woke On A Whaleheart continues many of the themes begun on the aforementioned album, and builds on them, making this perhaps his most poignant album to date
If you find your self enjoying late 70’s to early 80’s soundtracks, the more dated and synth based, cheesy and touched by corny emotional and cutesy air the better. Then you’ll glug down the unlikely and bizzare moniked Porn Sword Tobaccos third album like there’s no tomorrow.
Landing is a small audio treat from Taylor Deupree-clocking in near the twenty minute mark. It finds him stepping away from the snow bound and icy wonder of his last full length the wonderfully Northern- breathing in more of a feeling of spring days, the land coming awake with greenery and gentle hovering butterflies and opening flowers.
Projekt Misanthropia is a trip into noise, myriad of screams and moans, dark devil loving psychedelia, black metal, doomy soundtrack element and all manner of hellish chaos. All Severed up in one 35 minutes brain melting dose.
Following on from the reissue of Sabbat’s second album, this their debut album gets similar treatment. With an extended booklet featuring old flyers/artwork and interviews ect,and extra tracks coming in the form of live version of four tracks from the album.
Japanese Cyberpunk/surrealist & cut –up writer Kenji Siratori is a becoming something of a minor underground celebrities of late, seemly pop up all over the places on all manner of noise and dark ambient related releasers. This two disk set brings together his collaborations with Nordvargr and BSE(Beyond Sensory Experience)- each disk taken in a collaboration a piece- coming with an 80 page booklet of Siratori texts- all inside a illustrated folder .
Prurient’s Aka Dominick Fernow idea of pleasure is unlike anyone else’s-unless of course you have deep psychological problems, enjoy good beatings and are quite partial to the taste of human flesh. Pleasure ground at first pins you to the wall giving you a good battering, before letting you slide down the wall in sorrowful and grim contemplation.
The godfathers of American noise return with an aptly titled offer that celebrates their 33 1/3 years of noisy & puzzling existence. The enclosed sounds are often deeply denser, playful and varied collection of sample and sound element based tracks, with all manner of instrumental and noise matter weaved in and out of it.
Burning Swallows is a new collaboration between Lea Cumming(Kylie Minoise, Opaque and kovorox Sound lable mainman) & John Cromar(Noma, Opaque). It offers up one near on 40 minute track of growing and surrounding suffocating guitar and electronics torture. From the outset the pair slowly press down on your windpipe tightening and tightening their grip as the track progresses, not letting you grasp for breath the track slips away.
Feedlines is a CD-R conisisting of five pieces, all designated only by their track numbers, with blank tracks in between some of the pieces. The purpose of the blank spaces are noted as "silence to discourage continuous listening". This self explanatory comment tells us we are supposed to take each of these (to simplify we'll call them "suites") as their own entity. This pratice is not all that uncommon in the field of improv music or, in fact, lot of music that fits into the "what the fuck?" category of instrumental music.
The Orignal Silence is an improvised rock, cum jazz, cum noise, cum what ever they fancy collective that brings together the talents of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth),Terrie Ex (The Ex), Jim O`Rourke,Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Paal Nilssen-Love (The Thing, Atomic) and Massimo Pupillo (Zu).
Like a Buzzard Chased by crows comes off like a mix of Nick Drake, dank English country side, and odd quirky avant almost Fog like sound turns 'n' turns here and there.