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How many artists can say that they have been at the cutting edge of contemporary music over seven decades? Not many that’s for sure, one however is the musique concrete pioneer Pierre Henry. From his first work Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul with Pierre Schaeffer to his more recent concrete orchestral work Dracula, Henry has consistently brought new things to what is still a marginal and highly challenging genre.
Once upon a time say 25 years ago or so, I would listen transfixed to my Mother or father reading me a bedtime story. Then I’d drift off to sleep my thoughts full of daring princes, dragons and bean stalks. The Golden Morning breaks seems to have encapsulated that feeling of fairy tale wonder perfectly .Every time I play it, it drags me into the past and doesn’t release me until it’s last sweet bars.
Japans Susumu Yokota has with his last few releases forged himself a reputation as a producer of some of the finest ambient music since the golden age of Eno in the late 70s. Releases such as 2001s Grinning Cat and most of all 1999s Sakura defining Yokotas sunning blend of minimal electronics , fast cut-up samples and manipulations.
Staubgold only releases interesting and / or challenging albums, so I’ve come to expect nothing but quality. However it was a surprise to see that their most recent release is the fruit of the work of a group of political activists.
With relatively little fuss or press, Current 93 have released their first single of new material off the forthcoming album Black ships ate the sky. Much water has passed under the bridge since the bands last full length album, the minimal and deeply personal Sleep has his house. One of the most fundamental changes being Tibet’s name change to David Michael. However the first few spins of At sunset black ships ate the sky reveal little has changed in his philosophy on music or lyrics.
You know the feeling when you just wake up and for a moment, you’re not sure where you are? For a moment everything seems half formed, sluggish and unreal. This is much like the feeling of Bohren & Der Club of Gore’s new album.
Hanne Hukkelberg’s debut album is a wonderful mix of playfulness and real emotion. Her voice varies from powerful jazziness, to angelic highs through to soothingly sweet.
Max Easley and David Toop are two improvising musicians in the field of contemporary electronics and composition. Toop has had a long and distinguished career as a musicologist, authoring the critically acclaimed books Ocean of sound, Exotica and Rap attack. His most recent publication is Haunted weather. Max Eastley is better know as a creator of sound sculptures for art installations, and has displayed his work across the UK and abroad.
A lifetime to endure the illness, the three men clad in white salute you with their scary instruments to instill fear on your mortal souls promising to heal you via the megalomaniac sounds of Ulver’s fifth full-length album: Blood Inside.
Chris Brown is a composer working in the field of Electro-acoustic and computer based systems. He has release one other CD on Tzadik, 1995s Lava. He also teaches composition and electronic music at Mills College in Oakland, and studied under Sonics arts Union founder Gordon Mumma. The said Lava release was a single epic Electro-acoustic piece, here however he presents six works spanning his twenty year career.
The Peppermints are ugly, mean and messy. That’s what they play punk music and blaspheme our Lord Jesus, and the Holy, oh so Holy Bible.
Last year I went to a liveshow by this Hungarian band and there they finally won me over. I knew their two CD’s and I liked those, but music like this not really designed to be canned, it’s a pale shadow of the real thing. Although here in Holland chances are small you get the full flavour of a Hungarian gypsyparty although there always will be a few immigrants that come from the country that the band is from and who’ll burst into dance.
It’s been five long years since Esoteric released their last album Metamorphogenesis. In that time many acts have come and tried to dethrone them from the top of the Funeral doom pile, Void of silence, Shape of despair, Evoken. But none have been able to match the vast, epic apocalypse of sound that Esoteric are capable of producing. This their fifth album, the first to get a full international release, through Seasons of mist is a return of sorts to the more introspective and bleak atmospheres of their classic third album Pernicious Enigma. The sound is full, clear and awesomely powerful, but as opposed to the vast landscapes of Metamorphogenesis, this album has a far more internalised rage.
Akuma no Uta is part of the Rock side of Boris’ music. Because of that, it’s not the western fans’ most favoured record. A shame, because it rocks like few albums have rocked in recent years.
In the world of contemporary music, hypes follow each other faster than Europe can say "No!" to thenew constitution. I would not be surprised if, following hot on the heals of the stoner rock hype,the interest of the general public would be shifting towards doom metal. The recent success of Sunn O))) concerts in Belgium and The Netherlands surely hints at this. As with all hypes, one has to look at the originators to find fresh, new ideas - leaders, not followers. In this respect, ASVA scoresmuch better than a lot of bands who will follow in their wake, for one of ASVA's founding members is Stuart Dahlquist of Sunn O))) and Burning Witch fame. Dahlquist has brought in some otherluminaries, like John Schuller (Master Musicians of Bukkake), B.R.A.D. (Burning Witch), andTrey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle).
It’s always very nice to hear from good friends after a long period with no news. They tell you everything is fine with them, maybe that they have had a baby or something. After quite a while, Ill-Bosstino from everyone’s favourite Japanese hiphop act Tha Blue Herb gave me such news with the new compilation of his label.
As I pointed out in my review of Electrelane's sophomore album The Power Out elsewhereon this site, I did not think that the band had fully realized their potential at that time yet.This raised the stakes considerably for this, their third release. My expectations have only beenheightened because The Power Out has grown to become a favorite around the house, and has beenpretty much on constant rotation since I wrote that review last December.
Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins have collaborated on numerous projects, including John Zorns The Bribe and Mori’s B Side soundtrack CD. This however is the first full collaboration between these two new music pioneers. Parkins making her name being one of if not the only electric harpist around and Mori with her unique and highly requested drum machine and electronics style.
I’ve always been a sucker for horror influenced metal, and when it’s done well it can be great creepy fun. Necrophagia have always been about fusion of extreme metal and Horror and here they’re at the top of the game.
Death Ambient is another one of these improvising new music groups that the artists on Tzadik have a habit of forming. This one consists of Kata Hideki on bass, Fred Frith on Guitar and Ikue Mori on her customary drum machines and electronics.
Thanks to compilations of Turkish beat and garage music called Turkish Delights and Hava Narghile I was put on the trail of the Turkish progrock of the seventies. Barış Manço reportedly has a legendary status in his homeland and has been making music since his 15th in 1958. In 1975 he released this gem, a futuristic progressive rock album where the odd meters aren’t odd, but firmly rooted in the tradition.
Raging Speedhorn, they look like a bunch of small-time thugs, local hooligans who should not be able of much more than unashamed brutality. If you think that way, well, guess what… You’re right.
When a name like this one is associated with a musical project rather than with some new chemical medication, you probably expect a rather robotic kind of electronic music, some very cold techno influenced ambiences.
Few acts of today love repetition as much as Pharaoh Overlord. It’s like the band had been brought together to form a new cult to the God “Moreiwantmoreofthesameriff” (Mesopotamian divinity).