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Saroos try and mesh together electro beat scarps with a hip hop vibe and indie Emo guitar melodies. Coming out on Notwist's Alien Transistor label that co released the Amazing 13 & god album with Anticon last year. Were 13 & god managed to meld these genres in a concise, well sculpted and edgy way, sadly Saroos too often miss the mark.
Indian Jewellery’s Debut album is a juddering, off kilter stew of careering lo-fi indie, come punked up guitars. Married to churning and grimy synthesizer work and crude electronics. Making a wonderfully shambolic and psychedelic incrusted masterpiece.
Agents at Midnight is the First release from this Jazz/ noise duo of : Ed Chang, who bends and frays and brutalises his saxophone and Ed Howard who is in charge of electronics and Harmonica abuse. All making a captervating and brutal mix of sounds, falling in improvised jazz sates some times and at other times in skin burning noise state, sometimes both at the same time.
This is my first experience with the wonderful dense and almost airless sound of To Live and shave in La. Their sound really is audio over load of the truest form- sounds, melody, voices and singing come at all angles, quite what it all means I’m unsure, but it certainly keeps one attention and works as great delirious audio acid trip.
Satisfy the dog seems to be the first depraved audio noise fruit of Two Assistant Deputy Ministers , All the work of it the work of Mr Jason Soddy. It’s a jerking and crashing trip into crushed audio partials, which are bonded into looped and rhythmic clusters, all with a rather morbid smile to the whole proceedings.
Human animal sees Wolf eyes taking a more atmospheric and dread filled take on their sound; making an album that’s full of shadowy shades and tints of blood reds. Where their last full length release on Sub pop Burned mind, felt like a brutal and crazed audio hammer attack with slight breathers. Human Animal feels like been caught in some hellish dungeon unsure what lies in wait for you or possible awaking tied to a table unsure how you got here and all you can smell is blood and decay.
Nuit Du Plomb is a fine slice of ambient electronic beats scapes, full of wonky melodies and hazy ambient drifts. Original conceived as a soundtrack to a reading of German expressionist writer's Hans Henny Jahnn novlet The Night of Lead, but don’t let this put you off this is not a deep concept album. It’s very approachable and consistent collection of tracks.
At its best moments Ceiling songs evokes a beautiful heady melodic wonder. Leaving the listener literal press at the ceiling of ones listing space, wanting to escape into the deep blue wonder and drift into cloud patterns.
Electrice is Christina Carter second album on Kranky, it’s a hypnotic,beautiful and haunted trip into a landscape of barren desert drone folk. All of the songs are played in the same key and using the same guitar tuning, giving the whole album a vast drifting melancholy landscape.
Live In Geneva Finds Merzbow working in a longer form than usual, with the near on hour long track taking up all of the runtime here. Building from sinister beginnings to a crash nerve- jangling walls of noise. With-in the hours playing time, he takes us lots of places texturally, so boredom never sets in.
Choking on Grave soil is Black Sand Desert (Detroit’s Greh Holger) first full cd release, though he has released a few cdrs and some vinyl before. The cd offers up two tie you’re self to ground, stand-storm ear- burning trips into audio torture.
Symphony #2 Elementalities is a very sleek hellish take on noise, built around endless layers of clattering percussive. Almost feeling like an audio painting of a descent into hell it’s self. Religious connection and feeling of damnation appear again in the apocalyptic bible like texts, in the 12 pages booklet that comes with the cd.
Chi L’ha Vista Morire? (Who Saw her Die?)is a wonderful lost Morricone Soundtrack that primal uses child choirs to beautiful and often chilling effect. The films a 1972 Aldo Lado Giallo thriller set in and played out around the unsettling filmed Labyrinth streets of Venice.
Worms of Sabnock Debut album offers a different turn of the whole black metal sound, Sure they utilize the common elements like grim riffing, demon growls, female vocals.But add to them some usual elements, like experimental turns, l clear vocals and more straight ahead rock moments , but the biggest surprise of all is: Flutes, yes Flutes. And they really work well, placed over the dark riffing and on the more darkly mellow moments.
Variations for Piano and tape music seems to echo it’s cover artwork- the cover picture is of bleak, but beautiful costal village and the surrounding coastline. The middle of the photograph is out of line with the rest. The music is just the same -a set of melodic piano notes are taken out of their original setting, then looped and sculptured with- like a few seconds film re -running endlessly, with each new revolution it takes on a new context and beauty.
Husk seems to hover in an English autumnal rural dread, it emits the smell of decaying plants, potent rotting of fungi. It brings to mind abandoned rusting and decaying corrugated steel farm buildings, walks through moss slippery forest as dusk is just ushering in. odd animal calls that sound like human screams echoing across crisp night air.
The Happy Electropop Music Machine finds electronic, tapesplice-innovator and Moog-popster Jean-Jacques Perrey, joined by the talented musician and retro-obsessed Dana Countryman. The two create one of the most fun and happy albums you'll have come across, in a very long time: it literally jumps out of the speakers shouting 'be happy, smile!'
American composer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Wiley, who lived in Europe for some time where he recorded a self-released cassette named Songs From The Hamster Theatre, inspired by a lot of musical styles. When he moved back to the US he formed this band to perform these pieces.
Nina Nastasia On leaving, is an enchanting collection of tuneful folk tinged singer song writer songs, that utilizes acoustic guitars and gentle heart-warming piano gold. Embellished ever now and then with haunted string work. Each song plays out its own perfect painted lyrical tale, of broken love, secret affairs, small town’s ups and downs.
F.I.D (Fur Is Dead) followers the lead of the recent Minazo Vol 1, the tracks are coated in defined melodies and ultra noisy denser textured ambience, the use of guitar feedback taken to a new sculptured level. Each track here is very different, not staying in one set of sounds, which makes it a wonderfully balanced double album, standing as one of his best releasers of this year.
This new collaboration between Mr Wiese and Gerrit does exactly as its titles suggest, it literal disappears. A surprising turn of events for a noise release really, but this is all about balancing of silence and noise and the build up and down of both elements. To brain melting, body disorientating effect.
Leafcutter John aka John Burton is a member of UK avant-jazz outfit Polar Bear where he adds his field recordings and electronic touches to their modern sound. The Forest and the Sea is second solo album and is far removed from anything he has done with the jazz group. No saxophones and very little drumming, the album lurks in that area that has been given the unfortunate title of Folktronica. Pointless categorisations aside this is an intriguing and beguiling record.
As a child I was fascinated by falling snow, I’d watch from our houses largest window.The heavy flakes spiralling and drifting down, altering the everyday landscape into a wonderful white almost glowing world. Northern recaptures this wonder and the beauty of slowly falling snow perfectly. Influenced by Taylor Deupree move from New york City out into the US country side, at winter time. Its endless rewarding and soothing music that relaxes, but not enough to sleep- just in case you miss an elegant and enchanting sound texture.
Coins and crosses is the eagerly awaited full length debut from UK composer Ryan Teague. It follows on from his critically acclaimed EP Six preludes. That record mixed electro-acoustic techniques, electronics and romantic orchestrations into an epic melting pot, this full length album ups the ante further.