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Volume objects presents the listener with nine separate audio snap shots or sound paintings that mix together environmental recordings, minimalist electronica elements, ambience, subdued guitar and other instrumental elements.
The Burning world is a moody and apocalyptic meeting of neo-classical grander, doomy cinematics, slight techno touches & crunching fuzzed industrial beat work, with traces of distorted singing here and there too. Though hardly the most original thing you’re likely to come across it does manger to conjure up quite a dramatic & enjoyable air.
I’m ashamed to admit this is the first of Colin Potter's solo works I’ve heard, having been so familiar and fond of latter-day NWW- it’s nice to hear one of the masterminds behind some of those classic album sshowing he’s more than capable of crafting an focused, atmospheric, creative audio trip in it’s own right with The sights of the drowned fable.
Drowning the Virgin Silence is the suitably dada-esque name of this project by Richard Vergez, a sometime member of Hoor-paar-Kraat. This nicely packaged CD-R comes in a minimal, hand screened cardstock sleeve with some warped music charts on the cover. He's also a visual artist, and the classy, somewhat surreal cover art is a good match for the music contained within its cover.
Zone’s take on ambience submerges the listener in an strange aquatic and uneasy world where you visit 7 sound rooms with in a vast creaking and slowly flooding asylum- the rooms a-swim with patience battened and bloody possessions, yellowed photos and their clinical records.
South Saturn Delta make nasty & corrupted psychedelic/ improvised rock music that gets burnt, singed and often complete swallowed by roaring noise overloads- think C.C.C.C in moments when they move more towards conventional structure & easily defined psychedelic rock instrumental elements.
Neil Campbell's Astral Social Club project is both a continuation and a detour from the work that he has done with his group acts Vibrathedral Orchestra, Sunroof! and, going way back, the A Band. Campbell's one of those guys who releases boatloads of music each year, and always manages a couple of true gems, yet rarely puts out anything subpar. Neon Pibroch, which is dedicated to the memory of Textile Records founder Benoit Sonnette is one of those gems. It includes three tracks, each of which takes a different approach.
Silver Tongued Sisyphus is a 20 minute EP which is a teaser for a new full length album which is due out in "early 2008", according to the Kranky Records website. Cloudland Canyon is the duo of Kip Uhlhorn and Simon Wojan, a couple of dudes who are obviously indebted to the influence of early Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Temple, leavened with classic pysch touches.
White Rainbow is Adam Forkner, a multi-instrumentalist out of Portland, Oregon. He has kept pretty busy playing music, to say the least. He was a member of Yume Bitsu, Surface of Eceon and World. He's done solo work under the name [[VVRSSNN]], meaning "version" and of course, most recently, White Rainbow. His first release under that name was ZOME, recorded with members of Landing in 2005. 2006 saw the release of BOX, a 5CD plus DVD collection, which you can still pick up at some distro's despite being limited to 500 copies. Prism of Eternal Now is the third White Rainbow CD/CDR album this year. It would seem difficult for an artist to maintain a high level of quality with such a prolific output. I'll admit to being new to White Rainbow's music, so I'm listening to Forkner's music without any preconceptions or expectations.
The cover picture of Rancor keeper is of a humanoid/ octopus headed gowned figure appearing from out of a cave mouths & it fits the musical vibe found inside perfectly. With it’s a mix of primal noise/ sludge guitar music, ritual percussion,blacked chants & bleak unfolds- like hymns to blacked underworlds.
This collaboration between Norse noise master Lasse Marhaug & Argentinean musique-concrete artist Anla Courtis summons up a wonderful oppressive, organic and grey hallucinogenic nightmarish world that sits less in the all out sonic attack territory & more in the creepy suffocating dread connor.
Misericordia make traditional/ authentic European medieval music that thankful for the most part side-steps being stuffy, dry or too academic. With the tracks here sew-sawing between joyful, foot-taping and buoyant to elegant, beautiful and almost spiritual quality about them.
George & Caplin are like a slightly stirred cocktail of ; Broads of Canada nostalgic electronica, 80’s shoe gazing guitar pop, hints of wonky Madchester like groove, folk & country flavours & off kilter slightly geeky pop matter- this is their 4th album.
Vapaa make rather gorgeous, dense and pleasantly smothering psychedelic/ drone/ improve rock slumbers peppered with all manner of other genre traits along each tracks slowly unfolding & dreamy path.
The Tomasz Stanko Quartet have been playing together for some time and have released several critically acclaimed albums, mostly on the ECM label. Their front man Tomasz Stanko possesses one of the darkest trumpet tones in modern jazz, a style starkly contrasted to players like Nils Petter Molvaer who seem to move forward from Miles Davis’ free flowing electric era style playing. Here on Lontano the Quartet showcase their minimal understated moody jazz to full effect.
Kode9 is the owner of Hyperdub records - the label responsible for releasing the music of Burial. Kode9 also releases his own material and here collaborates with Hyperdub regular the audio/visual artist Spaceape who’s distinctive psycho-reggae drawl can be found on many of the labels 12" releases.
Peter Szely is a composer who has done everything from sound installations to sound for public spaces, and, of course standard recordings, such as Processing Other Perspectives. As the title of this latest album indicates, it's a collection of sounds from Szely's friends, which he works into his unique electronica. His cohorts include Thilge's Nik Hummer, "music activist" Wolfgang Kopper,Bernhard Loibner,Martin Siewert, Ulrich Troyer and singer/performer Melita Jurisic.
Burial caused quite a stir in 2006 with their eponymous debut album It’s mix of distorted urban vocals, dubbed out beats and quasi-ambient textures loosely filed under Dubstep (London based urban electronic movement) left an impression of dank isolation in a never sleeping city of ghosts, and was rightly (although slightly surprisingly) awarded the title of album of the year in the Wire magazine.
Gamma Ray Burster finds KK Null blend of electronics, noise and sci-fi psychedelic soundscapes moving more towards rhythmic, less dense and song based work which makes this an easy and enjoyable entry point for the uninitiated.
Visitor Guide: your passport to the Qliphoth finds the mysterious English Heretic once more presenting a collection of mind altering & unnerving sound worlds that mix together uneasy ambience, electronica,field recordings, with slight rock,jazz touches too. Along with linked texts that are a mix of ocultic fact/fiction & UFOology.
Arc of passion is another long form ambient exploration from one of the most respected names in ambient circles Steve Roach. Split over 2 disks taking in over a 100 minutes of music dipping into all sides of Roach’s sound from;deep lush ambience, to electronica beat driven ambient, to didgeridooand tribal percussive laced elements all to make an enjoyable if a touched flawed sonic adventure.
Forestheart is an highly enjoyable, epic, memorable & atmospheric trip into mid-pace black metal craft weaved with elements of atmospheric rock, ambience & folk. This Original appeared in 2005 in cassette form here it is for all to hear in cd form and a rather nice clear vinyl pressing too.
Claws of Light is the second album for this Brooklyn based trio. The Dust Dive's music is minimal, and, well, dusty. The songs have an aged sound which evokes an atmosphere of nostalgia. The band consists chiefly of reverb (as in Fender reverb) soaked guitar, vocals, organ and, occassionally drums, provided by producer, Sebadoh and Fiery Furnaces guy Jason Loewenstein. Muti-instrumentalist Laura Ortman also adds some color to these tunes, mostly evidenced in the form of violin.
Shit & Shines new album is another fine & dandy slab of demented, heavy,noisy and puzzling/fun mayhem. Going from seemingly endless chugging / addictive riff craft, to noise boils, to dialogue and texts over looped rhythms, to all manner of quirky and inside humour driven tracks. Really the best way to try and describe S&S is a British Butthole Suffers, but really you have to hear and live Cherry to fully understand the wonder that is S&S.