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This is not the kind of music you might have come to expect from the Norwegian Jester label. First of all it’s not a Norwegian artist and secondly the music does not contain any electronics. Anthony Curtis is improvised and organic, music played by acknowledged virtuoso’s at their instruments like Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel and Mike Keneally (ex-Frank Zappa, Beer For Dolphins).
Last time we heard from Opeth was with their Damnation album, the second part of a two album set which saw them divide the two main aspects of their sound. The acoustic prog folk of Damnation next to the heavier and rawer Deliverance. Since then they have changed labels, released a well received DVD, and toured the US.
During 2004 Virgin records began a project re-releasing some of the most important records in modern music. Virgin records was in it’s hey-day (probably the late 70s) a label and chain of record shops that was very much at the forefront of cutting edge sounds and new music. Nurse with wound even had most of the pressing of their first five albums bought up and sold by Virgin along side the more obvious punk protagonists of the time. Along with all this was Brian Eno and his series of minimalist electronic records. Perhaps the attention he received from Virgin was more down to his reputation in Roxy Music (that’s the Glam rock outfit) than any light bulb above the head moments from Richard Branson, but never the less it gave him the opportunity to expose the world to a sound and genre that has become one of the most familiar in popular music.
VVM test records, a label that requires a certain sense of humour and of course at least a passing interest in the genre of dark ambient/noise. This debut release by the Caretaker is a quite unique blend of the said style and old 1920s/30s ballroom music. VVM pride themselves on rehashing old music into a new and grotesque form, but for much of this overdriven, reverb soaked oddity they have in fact created a rather fascinating and highly enjoyable record.
The three piece combo erm... Three Piece Combo are hailing from Oakland, California and make a form of instrumental rock with influences ranging from prog to jazz. They make instrumental music because, without a singer, soundchecks are much easier.
Babyflesh are a Norwegian power electronics / death industrial act who have previously only released one Cdr via Slaughter productions, although they say they have been in existence since 1996. Their debut is a typically harsh mix of repetitive rhythms and distorted electronics combined with some guitar work and nihilistic vocals.
At its heart One Way, It's Every Way is a glorious sunshiny pop/folk album. That brings back fond memories of The Birds and their Ilk. But with an electronic backbone, that’s rich in invention and replay-ability.
Picture the scene if you can, something has gone very wrong. The world as we know it has been sucked into a hellish apocalypse.
France is the biggest market for hiphop and R’n’B in continental Europe. Yet most of their local bands inspire laughter rather than awe.
A fair quantity of African artists caught the public eye over the years. However it seems like it’s only now in 2005 that some genuinely African music is breaking through the alternative music scenes, getting rave reviews from people who only were into laptopism, hiphopism or nouveau shoegazing guitarheroism no later than yesterday.
Rituals is a long form composition following on from other Zorn chamber works like Aporias and Chimerers. Here he employs a wide range of instrumentation and objects into what he describes as an Opera for exploring the drama of rituals. These include wind machines, grave digging and an owl!!
It's been very quiet for quite some time around the Norwegian atmospheric rockers The Third And The Mortal. A collection of EP's and rarities was released (the rarity being the Japanese bonustrack to In This Room called Elephantine Waltz, so I skipped that since I have all the EP's) and earlier this year Project Bluebook, which is more interesting for collectors.
Firstly let me say that I used to be a huge FLA fan. Hard wired and Implode are still pleasurable to listen to, and Tactical Neural Implant is quite possibly the finest record the EBM genre has, or ever will produce. However since said Implode album Front Line Assembly main man Bill Leeb has focused his attentions on the far more lucrative and derivative Delerium project. (Yes that’s the one that birthed the Silence single and it’s never ending deluge of remixes) As a result FLA has become more of a occasional side project, no longer drawing the bests efforts of Leeb and for this album his old partner in crime Rhys Fulber. Their last effort Epitaph was a decent if lightweight effort that had little in the way of punch or new ideas. On Civilization however FLA have change their sound dramatically but sadly the result is less than inspiring.
Angelo Badalamenti, Astor Piazzolla, Goblin, Art Bears, Burzum, Tom Waits, Antioch Arrow, King Crimson, Bach and Univers Zero are among their influences, claim Miasma & The Carousel Headless Horses from the UK. Their Myspace page lists even more bands they like.
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.