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Jonathan Coleclough is one of a group of musicians currently working with electronic or electro-acoustic drones and releasing their work on labels like Ircdistribution, Twenty Hertz, Crouton and Anomalous records. Andrew Chalk, Colin Potter and Keith Berry being three other close associates. This release on Anomalous is for me one of the defining releases from this group of artists.
I’m happy and I’m singing and a 1, 2, 3, 4 is a classic album of electro acoustic music from Jim O’Rourke released on Mego in 2001. It features three tracks all fairly long and all displaying O’Rourke’s unique style of composition and textural work.
Brad Lubman is a conductor of new music, and has conducted works by Stockhausen, Boulez, Cage, Zorn and whole host of other composers. This is the first ever release of his own music and showcases electronic and electro-acoustic music spanning several years.
Beauty is all around us, in every nook and granny of our existence. You just have to look for it, see things with fresh eyes. Minima Moralia seems to highlight the beauty of the mundane and make it sparkly so bright, but the sound is often touched by a fragile sadness.
Final is Justin Broadrick’s first musical project, long before he became known and connected with the name’s Napalm Death, Godflesh and Jesu. 3 is the projects new release, spanning two disks. Taking in a whopping 124 minutes of experimental soundscapes of grey to pitch black ambience, mixed in with drone like elements.
Cacoy’s Human is Music is a wonderful,lush and laid back mix of: glicty electronics, hip hop beats, tuneful child like air, jazz and pop. This is a reissue of the album from 2003- that was unavailable outside of their native Japan, until now.
Otomo Yoshihide is sometimes described as the Japanese John Zorn. This despite his most often employed instrument being the Guitar rather than the Sax. This reference probably came about due to Yoshihide’s huge array of projects, groups and range of material, much of which involves free jazz improvisation.
A mystical, desolate journey into the depths of the darkest soul of man. That’s how I would describe this album. Esoteric’s forth album, is a tour de force of apocalyptic power and dynamics. Taking references from right across the spectrum from Swans, Neurosis, Old school industrial and the cream of the funeral doom scene. As soon as you press play it hits you with an impenetrable wall of sound, vast, epic riffs, and dissonant harmonics. Only three tracks but clocking in at over 45 minutes.
Given the near four year gap between Mutter and their last album Reise Reise it was something of a surprise to see the follow up being release just over a year later. From the first blasts of Benzin it’s clear that the band are continuing where they left off, with lead heavy riffs, and their trademark soaring choruses.
East West Blast Test’s second album: Popular music for unpopular people, brings together angery guitar work and a hardcore edge. Along with genre pick and mix that dips it’s toe in the waters of : off kilter easy listening, 80’s funk and a Resident's like take on World Music and lots of other bizarre stop off's along the way too.
Crime and dissonance is a darkly heady psychedelic audio chocolate box, full of twist and turns. Taking in Morricone’s less know and experimental soundtrack work from through out the 60’s and 70’s.Making an alternative and surprising look at one of the great soundtrack composers.
It is just over a year since Jhonn Balances untimely death from a fall at home. Since then there has been little or no activity from Threshold House apart from the promise of a full realised album based on work Coil had been developing over the last two years.
Earlier in 2005, Dan Abrams released Chessa on 13k under his Shuttle358 moniker,one of the best albums of the year . This autumn, he came back under a new moniker: Fenton. His album, Pup, sees the light of the day on the ever-so-good Japanese label Plop.
In two years of existence, via quite a few high profile shows as openers as well as some seemingly “slaying” shows on their own, Capricorns have made quite a name for themselves in their native Albion. These three men, involved at one point of time in Dukes of Nothing, Iron Monkey or Orange Goblin, were being expected by a lot of people to release a killer album.
Given the fact that Sunn O))) originally started as an Earth tribute band, it is logical that Earth mainman Dylan Carlson would find a home for the group's continued existence on O'Malley and Anderson's Southern Lord label. Many would have expected Earth to continue in the vein of their now-classic Earth 2 album, released on Sub-Pop back in '93, and at the time alienating many Sub-Pop fans who did not recognize anything they liked in Earth's lengthy guitar/bass drone workouts, which always seemed closer to minimalist 20th century composition than to the three-chord patented garage rock that Sub-Pop used to release.
Tod Dockstader is one of early electronic music’s pioneers, creator of seminal 60s works like Eight electronic pieces and Quartermass he is regarded as one of American electronic music’s founding fathers. Here he teams up with feedback composer David Lee Myers for the second time after their frog and marsh sound manipulation project Pond.
John Zorn seems to be pumping out more and more of his classical and chamber works than any other style at the moment, this is his third in just over a year after the superlative Magick and the slightly off kilter but no less explosive Rituals.
Imagine if you can a Halloween party peopled by rather tacky looking Dracula’s and werewolves. On the stage a surf/ jazz band are playing along with Perrey And Kingsley. Fronted by a sort of grimly erotic female dancer who sings and moans every now and then, right can you picture it? good, because that’s what Messer Chups – Crazy Price is like and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
The debut CD of this band was on its way to become Buckethead's own Chinese Democracy (although the much rumoured Disney album also applies, Kaleidoscalp might've fulfilled that obligation to John Zorn which may mean it will never materialize). Anyway, what reportedly delayed this album so much was Buckethead's fear of singer Maximum Bob.
It's been a while since the King Crimson guitarist released a solo-album. Love Cannot Bear is a collection of Soundscapes recorded in various places in the U.S. People who are waiting for Fripp to play some 'real guitar' or Exposure - The Sequel can stop reading, because 'it's one of those New Age albums' again.
Like all great Ambient music, When the detail lost its freedom, is about creating feelings and environments that you live those feelings in. But of course like all great art it’s subjective. what one person may get out of it, is completely different from what another person gets out of it.
Grizzly Bear’s Horn of Plenty is a real rough diamond of an album. It seems to be instilled with, wide eyed emotional honest and almost a cave like production quality, that adds to its considerable appeal. This is a reissue of the album, that originaly came out last year on the US lable Kanine Records. Here It’s been reissued ,along with a remix disk on Efterklang new label Rumraket. And it certainly is a promising first release from the label.
Esmerine consist of the duo of Bruce Cawdron and Beckie Foon, known for their work with GSBE, Set Fire to Flames, Silver Mt. Zion etc with various other contributions from members of those acts. Aurora is their second full length release after their debut If Only a Sweet Surrender to the Nights to Come be True.
They say you can never judge a book (or album) by its cover, but in the case of Black one you certainly should. It’s a haunting black and white drawing of a mass of tangled branches, that if you look deep enough in you can surely make out other faces and shapes. It illustrates perfectly the inner audio darkness that churns with sinister undercurrents.