Loading
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.
The Scientific Contrast is this pairs debut album that offers up 12 shots of charming,tuneful and retro electronicia, which brings to mind a more naive, less threatening, and less sampled based version of Boards of Canada.
This plush if a little bulky three disk digipak set brings together the whole of the The Inmost Light trilogy which features some of David Tibet’s most accessible work, As well as some of his most difficult and layered work too. Featuring an all star cast and regular collaborators such as Michael Cashmore, Steve Stapleton, Lilith Stapleton, John Balance, Nick Cave and Shirley & Dolly Collins.
Crimson Umbrella presents two densely percussive journeys into grim & slowed black metal craft, cum dark space kraut rock. A devil rising ritual & black psychedelic tinged slab of atmosphere and calling to beyond the gate.
Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters is The Twilight Sad’s debut album. This Glasgow four piece mix together social aware often grim lyrical content sang in distinctive Scottish tones, with pounding and tuneful indie gitar work & accordion pump, with bleack pop and folk traces. Making a sound that is quite distinctive & memorable that stays rewarding for most of the albums running time.
Barco do Vinho is rather a bizarre concept album with songs about boat driven wine production in Northern Portugal 100’s of years ago. Which is told with an equally strange musically pallet by the two contributing projects Allerseelen & Sangre Cavallum- they mix together Neo folk, industrial electronics, Almost Resident's like avant-grad moments and progy/ soundtrack traces.
Jewelt Galaxies/Spirit Shambles is a compilation of two earlier small pressing CD-R's released on Root Strata and Foxglove respectively. Spekk has tastefullly packaged this re-release in an oversized gatefold case, with serene artwork which reflects the nature scene that the enclosed music evokes.
Fun From None offers up several visual snapshots from both 2004 & 2005 No Fun noise festivals in New York. Featuring live work-outs from a total of twenty acts/ artist over the two DVD set including the likes of Wolf Eyes, Jazkamer, Carlos Giffoni, Hair police and Double leopards to name a few.
The Absurdity of Symbolism is the new slice of surreal, ever morphing sound world that is Hoor-paar-Kraat. It finds Mr Mangicapra & his Grim sound Dr’s melding more guitar textures into their sound, following on from the excellent Nagaraja Movements from early this year, but in a more progressive and varied manner.
Vomit Orchestra is a project that is at odds with ones perception of them. Firstly their name suggest some sort of tacky Carcass clone. Secondly their puzzling artwork which is made up of old soft-core female pictures, out of focus matter and slight occultic learning’s- leaves you unshaw quite what to expect.
Moles is the first audio fruit of sound artist Adam _ is aka Michail Adamis, it offers up five road/ Tunnel making sound based tracks. That go from echoched purring, to machine idleing drones ,to often quite complex tapestry of different drill and machine tones.