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The Nagaraja Movements is this project first released cdr on an outside label, away from their own more art based releasers. It also offers a more conventional musically take on the projects weird ritual/ drone/ sound art music, making this an ideally entry point to the projects unequal and very odd musically world.
With a name like Fuckhead you know you’re not going to be in for an easy or laid back ride. The band are on one- hand are a genre shredding musically entity that melds together; avant rock, operatic touches, electronic overloads, jazz, and noisy oddness. On the other-hand their performance art terrorist whose live shows and video are often bewildering and disturbing, touching on taboo subjects such as insanity, male sexuality with a heavy doses of nudity and visual overload.
This new ep coming not long after Cashmore excellent solo album Sleep England, shows us a different musically side to this talented musician and composer. It finds Cashmore steping way from his guitar and onto using piano and percussion, joined by the instantly recognisable voice of Antony (of Antony and the Johnson) & David Tibet written lyrics and words, along with rich string and brass contributions from others.
This rather splendid box set brings together three albums original released between 2001 and 2003. All three of the albums offer an unique mix of Dark ambience, neo folk, neo classical, noise and looped Germanic march/ beer drinking music, and orator like speakers that drift like fiery ghost in and out of the albums atmospheric fog.
Over the past few years, MV & EE (Matt Valentine and Erika Elder) have released a slew of CDR’s and LP’s in microscopic editions, mostly on their own label, Child of Microtones. Aside from last year’s sprawling double LP/CD Mother of Thousands (Time-Lag), their recordings are not usually distributed to the general public.
Last year black metal didn’t work too well for me and my musical interests drifted off elsewhere. One of the few bands to pierce through still was Paysage d’Hiver, a Swiss band managed to combine a cruel lo-fi aesthetic with melancholy and beautiful ambience. The only member Wintherr turned out to also have another band.
Ensepulchred make grim and noisy keyboard based Black metal, but don’t let the mention of keyboards make you run to the hills as everything here is so fuzzed and distorted to hell- there’s nothing close to commercial black metal about it. It feels like a cross breed between Burzum’s more keyboard laden moments, distorted 80’s synth horror sound track work with a few noise like traces.
Maju is the duo of Tokyo's Sakana Hosomi and Masaki Narita, and this release is not surprisingly their fourth release. The inner CD tray tells us that Maju is Japanese for cocoon. The name suggests that this is ambient music which is intended to create an insular space or "cocoon" for the listener to inhabit.
Viking Metal is thematically confined to lyrics which relate to Vikings and Norse mythology. Suspension of disbelief is required for the listener to take seriously songs about sword battles, written as if they are still being fought today. That said, With Oden on Our Side is a top notch death metal album, which is musically diverse, and surprisingly fairly melodic.
Israelian busy bee Igor Krutogolov has yet another project on his hands which is in many respects the opposite of his band Kruzenshtern i Parohod. The artwork of White is very much what the title indicates: white.
The first part of a promised series finds Steve Roach bringing life to a long form ambient world, that’s built around subtle tones, drones and magic sound shifts. All done with a masters easy and elegance, over the 70 + minutes Roach sucks the listener in deeper and deeper, almost to the point where nothing else exists.
Varcharz is Mouse on Mars' first release for Mike Patton's Ipecac label. Following their most pop oriented effort, Radical Connector, this album is more jagged and hard edged than anything they've ever done.
Modified toy orchestras do just as their name suggests they make quirky electrioncia, all via the use of modified electronic toys. Making an album that is memorable, odd and fun.
Collection brings together a 7inch split between Wiese and wolf eyes, along with the tow very ltd American tapes cdr from 2003/04. All digitally re-mastered by Wiese in colour inlay from the original artwork. More than just a fan curiosity, this stands as some of both parties best work as collaborators and solo entities.
Ichinomiya’s innoxious artwork hardly gives away the ring noisy endurance testing that lays within. From the covers hazy picture and the album other artwork, you’d be forgiven for thinking this could be an ambient sound world, but there’s really little ambient about the slow moving and piecing atmosphere on offer here.
This is the first time ever release for this Franco Micalizzi soundtrack from an obscure Italian erotic drama from 1974. Not surprisingly it nods towards Morricone’s and other film composers work of the time, but offers up its own collection of memorable and atmospheric musically themes.
Far voyage from a placid island is a mix of sinister and pentrating drones and often darkly surreal horse play. Making you unsure whether you should be distrubed/ creeped out or chuckling long and darkly to ones self, While this unfolds it's sonic treasure
Milenasong paint a quirky mix of folk, country, indie, lo-fi electroncia with avant shades on to a warm and often cluttered canvas of an album. Making this a rewarding, atmospheric, playful and haunting first full-length from this one woman German project.
Flipped out bride brings together two feedback drenched, noisy and offten cold guitar sculptures from Sonic youths guitarist. I’ll have admit I’ve never been a huge fan Of sonic youths work, but I have quite enjoyed their forays into other project like Text of light.
Bracken's debut album finds Anticon further mining a mix of downbeat indie and Electronica, Really severing all ties with their Hip-Hop heritage, though I guess you could say that some of the beat work still has glancing hip-hop traits. Weather or not you’ll enjoy this, comes down to how far you’re willing to follow the label further off the path.
Belgian musician Dirk Serries takes an approach for this project Fear Falls Burning that is different from his other electronic/ambient project vidnaObmana because guitar is the tool for creating drones and slowly evolving ambience.
Kairos is a wonderfully varied and rewarding musically ambient and visual treat. Offering up a DVD of Roach's rich soundworlds joined by mystically and psychedelic visuals. All beautifully edited together to make a captivating and flowing visual trip, plus a second audio-cd of the 70+ minute soundtrack.
77 sound objects is just as it’s title suggest, the first 22 minute track manipulates and sculptures with 77 sound objects, to make a dense & often explosive sound world that’s some where between; electro acoustic, Musique concrète, noise and ambience. Then tracks 2 through to 77 users the unedited pure sound files, with the gaps in-between the tracks as part of the composition.
Exit in Grey are a mysterious duo from near Moscow, who meld together droning layers of guitar sound, field recordings and sound emanating from analog devices. Nameless droplet seems to paint a world where natural has taken control, a place between realities. Like slipping into the zone world of Andrei Tarkovsky Stalker or walking in the silence of a long dead city, trees towering above buildings.