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Artist: Aluk Todolo Aluk Todolo are a recondite creature. Part okkult black metal fiend and part snide kraut menace. Somehow the doppelganger works and Finsternis proves for a second time there is brilliance in the absence of light. Dry, spare percussion grievously mines the scrapes, shrieks and shimmer of mutated guitar and bass. Finsternis is the German word for eclipse, mimetic of cyclic elements, phases and unphases, endless rebeginnings, broken circles and perfect circles. A dangerous, noxious coil of all things black. - -
Artist: GOG GOG is the musical device of guitarist Michael Bjella. And Mist from the Random More is a raw, psychedelic platen. An opaque, finespun paragon of heavy. Built around a lengthy track recorded live at KFJC, Mist becomes a hallucinogenic chimera of drums, guitar, keys and FX pedals that soothes and batters with the same hand. Pressed in a heavy, black paper sleeve screen printed with white ink. Illustration by John Rockwell. - -
Artist: Olivier Dumont Olivier Dumont is ancillary to the noise he invokes. A conduit for what the sound requires. Enshrined in a mass of cables, amplifiers and lo-fi tape equipment Dumont is lead to places of insane genius. Living in Holes and Disused Shafts was cut from hours of demo material and the finished recordings bear the scars of the avulsion. Gritty and confrontational. - -
Artist: Calcination Calcination is the first stage in the process of alchemical transformation, the administration of heat until a given substance is reduced to ash. It is often symbolized by sulfuric acid, a powerful corrosive that eats away flesh and reacts with all metals except gold. In sociological terms, the fire of calcination represents turning to dust/life and death. Antoine Chessex (Monno) and Ktho Zoid approach their music similarly, burning through dense layers of sax and guitar. Amplification, feedback and reduction are applied until an impenetrable resin remains. - -
Artist: Guillaume Gargaud French improviser Guillaume Gargaud offers a recording of incisive sound, exposed through the glass of guitar and electronics. Subtly weaving dark sinew with touches of mysticism, She reveals a fabric threaded with beauty, malaise and acrid whispers. An unnerving and august collection of songs. - -
Artist: RST New Zealand’s Andrew Moon has spent the past decade plus as RST, finding the one thing the electric guitar was truly meant to do - make a holy noise. Somewhere between the hum of the amplifier and the vibration of untouched strings lies electricity's nervous system. Sound reduced to its cold essentials. Unsettled waves sluiced through luxuriant effects and delays. The gristle of the electrical grid harnessed and reconfigured as exquisite ostinato. - -
Artist: Final Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Ice, Painkiller, God, Jesu) is an iconoclast, a destroyer. Whether by scourge or more subtle measure he is unafraid to loose the blood of infidels. Final, the apotheosized nomad. Shifting, flowing, ascending. A life’s work. Dead Air takes hold and abducts the last of your breath with cruel ceremony. The most austere Final recording yet. - -
Artist: Sum of R Switzerland’s Sum of R is Reto Mäder (RM74) and Christoph Hess and Roger Ziegler (Herpes Ö Deluxe) constructing/deconstructing sound in ways that infest and cloud the interior of the mind. The implements: electronics, bass guitar, piano, drums, harmonium and Lenco turntables. The science: deep pulsations, organic drones, melodic feedback accompaniment, vinyl loops, analog sound sources, reversed audio, haunting vocal treatments. The sum: a living, breathing organism that sustains varied levels of function without ever losing its holistic unity. Presented in a heavy black matte sleeve printed with silver ink. Includes silver/black fold out insert. Photography by Rik Garrett. - -
Artist: The Stargazer's Assistant David J. Smith (Guapo, Miasma & The Carousel Of Dead Horses) releases a second set of recordings as The Stargazer's Assistant. Following The Other Side of the Island on Aurora Borealis, Shivers and Voids is a union of instrument, voice and tape. A soundtrack waiting for the right film to accompany it through the dark. Sweeping, intricate, sometimes ominous, yet always exuding a warmth of emotion. Ancient forests, vast plains, billowing clouds, rusted metal hulks, wet rock walls, lights flickering in darkness. The Stargazer's Assistant reveals all this to us. - -
Artist: Klangmutationen Klangmutationen are arcanum manifest. Atrocious relics summoned from great depths. Old secrets bound in reverent mouths for fear that their utterance will spoil the object itself. Hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the underground musicians reference early recordings on FMP, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Solmania and the Takayanagi/Abe axis of Japanese free music. The black reverb and bleak ambience of the first audible intonations presage the ire that is to come. A dark, baleful recording, Schwarzhagel is the sound of a spirit falling past its own life after death, forever. - -
Artist: Nadja Trembled has returned, triumphantly. Released by Utech Records [046] in the summer of 2006 on limited cdr. The principal live recordings from Toronto have been remixed/remastered and include a rare performance of Swans "No Cure for the Lonely." The core of the release, though, is “Tremble”, a cascading improvisation of drift and atmospherics revealed to audiences on an occasional basis. The track is telling of the fluidity with which Nadja create and why the band has become so highly regarded. “Breakpoint” and “Corrasion” complete the set. Exclusive material has been added in "Stays Demons" and a second version of "Tremble" recorded by Scott Slimm in Philadelphia. Illustration by Justin Bartlett. The ultimate document of Nadja at their most electric and empyreal. - -
Artist: Heavensore The forsaken mother has birthed a godhead. A triune declaration of intent rich in the beliefs of the Tabula Smaragdina and Solomonic Magic. Asmodai/Sammael reigns as the king of impurity spreading his blackened sovereignty like so much tar upon the heart of man. And as all things were by the contemplation of one; so all things arose from this one thing by adaptation. - -
Artist: Runhild Gammelsæter Runhild Gammelsæter (Thorr's Hammer, Sunn0))), Khlyst) releases her first solo recording. The purpose was to create something organic – sound with and about life. A lonely thing, like life, arisen from void. Stillness and a microphone, vocal chords. An idea, thoughts, a goal. Sounds of cycles of life and death, birth and cessation, described with terminology from physics, chemistry and biology. Creating by amplifying an infinitely small idea – creating an Amplimer, an Amplicon. Amplicons are pieces of DNA formed as the products of natural or artificial amplification events. Like evolution, giving rise to animal forms with ability to reproduce and die. Amplifying from a minute non-tangible idea something larger which may be experienced with the auditory sense. In physics, matter creation is the appearance of elementary particles in physical processes; the opposite of annihilation. Amplicon see Gammelsæter as a creation operator, increasing the number of particles in a given state, taking the operation necessary to amplify ideas to sound. Mixed by Tore Ylvisaker of Ulver. - -
SOLD OUT Artist: Skullflower Desire for a Holy War is mayhem piled on top of mayhem piled on top of squalls of caustic feedback. Furies spitting oaths of shrouded vengeance from ancient tongues. Plague riders dealing death on mounts of venomous ether, hooves pounding the wild earth. Matthew Bower may have reached a watershed with last year's Abyssic Lowland Hiss (Heavy Blossom) but it is with Desire for a Holy War that he has come to conquer. Never has Skullflower sounded so severe or remorseless. - -
Artist: Suzuki Junzo Japanese singer/guitar player Suzuki Junzo (Astral Travelling Unity, 20 Guilders, Overhang Party, Miminokoto) weaves an improvised country blues/folk music with touches of acid and psych. While performing and recording mostly as a solo artist, he has collaborated with Hiroshi Hasegawa, Tabata Mitsuru and Kawabata Makoto. Pieces for Hidden Circles is a recording of the highest order evoking spirituality and devotion unrivaled. A campaign to a world of solitude, each footfall and gust of wind resonating to the heavens. ____________________________________________________________________ -
Artist: Tabata Mitsuru Japanese sound artist Tabata Mitsuru (Boredoms, Zeni Geva, Acid Mothers Temple, 20 Guilders, Leningrad Blues Machine) is a musician who has claimed his solo voice and skillfully hones it with each release. Lumrapideco (speed of light) is a collection of spaced-out electronics, bleak feedback and sedate guitar passages. Sometimes oppressive sometimes heart stirring, it is never less than magnificent._____________________________________________________________ -
Artist: Zaïmph Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards, Hototogisu) rears Zaïmph's vile head once again on La Nuit Electrique. A raspy, delicate instrumental passage begins like a crippled music box. Elegant and soporose. Blackened guitar and amplification apprise the rest. Acrid feedback hangs in the air and vocal modulations clot inside dark rivers of current. The night electric.____________________________________________________________ -
Artist: Sachiko Japanese vocalist and instrumentalist Sachiko (Overhang Party, Vava Kitora, Kosokuya) looses a second, white-hot solo release. Her brilliant debut You Never Atone For on There/Musik Atlack rode gilded wings straight to the heart of the psych sun. The journey continues with Kunado. A tincture of Taj Mahal Travellers, wispy oscillations and lysergic vocals bathes the recording in delicate atmosphere as Sachiko's sonic attack leaves vicious and harrowing results. A listen not soon forgotten.______________________________________________________________ -
Artist: James Plotkin James Plotkin unveils his second solo release in as many years. Indirmek presents two distinct facets of his musical work. The first track, Afyon (opium) lies closest to Plotkin's trademark drift. In essence, a guitar track stretched to limitless possibility. An elemental fury contained, dissected and entrusted to a NYC audience for their consideration in the spring of 2007. Amfetamin (amphetamine) is a second recording from NYC, performed in the fall of 2006. The track is considerably more immediate. It's allure can be credited to Plotkin's use of electronics to invoke raw sound and shape it as he sees necessary to fit a given context. The track speaks a multitude of languages in succession and simultaneously.______________________________________________________ -
Artist: Joshua Convey Vacant Integument is the debut release from NY resident Joshua Convey. Sharp, spiky overtones rattle four skillfully assembled tracks. Each gritty frame is lined with a delicate array of guitar, harmonica and electronics. Quiet drone hums along as melody slowly reveals itself amongst carefully placed shards of raw feedback and noise. Not since Kaoru Abe or Masayoshi Urabe has the harmonica been used to such magnificent effect. Vacant Integument is a singular and resonant work that deserves all manner of praise. ____________________________________________________________________ -
Artist: Daniel Menche Crystalline drones and sacred incantation. Nectar procured from golden fruit. Shimmering resonance channeled through dream. A most anticipated return to form for Menche. Breathtaking purity of sound. Wolf's Milk is a triumph of immense magnitude. ____________________________________________________________________
Artist: Knell First release from French guitarist Johannes Buff. An attempt to disect the methodology he explores with guitar. Using a single sound source and unprocessed field recordings Knell invoke rich beauty and obsessive melodics. A luminous patina reveals vague, underlying threat. Drone as a catalyst of frequency and time. Nothing to understand through listening, only to gaze. ____________________________________________________________________
Artist: The Skull Defekts The Year of the Skull. ____________________________________________________________________ Artist: Half Makeshift Aphotic Leech is the first movement in a series of ever changing modes which make up what Half Makeshift has slowly become. A bath of heavy drone and bitter piano chords strewn over top of subtle glitch work and manipulated percussion, Aphotic Leech trades malice for despair and shuns any probable hope. Created in November of 2006 from austere piano pieces, string fragments, a live percussion specimen and other various arrangements, this piece grew to be much larger than originally intended through a series of long manipulation and thought processes. It engulfs the body in a thick black sludge only to dissipate at once, become a reborn substance and finally drain itself leaving a small fragment lingering after it expires. ____________________________________________________________________ Artist: The Vulture Club "The guitar is not dead. It is still humming and I believe in it. Copper wound is copper wound, today and yesterday. Magnets are magnetic, today and yesterday. Wood is wooden, today and yesterday. Electricity is electric, today and yesterday. These things shift in their own time and on their own basis. They are not forced and in my own capacity, I do not force them. The editor's role is Advocate. The rattle you hear, that is the energy and the idea. It is not all mine and it is not all theirs and it is not all yours. But it is all ours." ____________________________________________________________________ aaaa Artist: Shawn Greenlee Nysa represents a compendium of turbulence and singularities. The sound for drunken states on mythic mountains. A studio reshaping of several live performances with custom computer programs, gestural input devices, and circuit-bent electronics. It was assembled throughout 2006 in Providence and mixes human aktions with the performance systems: Needles(s), High, Maenads, and Augur. Each system utilizes a physical approach for exploring the hidden and creating the esoteric with digital audio. Hands move and draw across circuits and codecs. Oscillating cryptographs emerge as sonic divinations, interpreted by an ecstatic body. Interference reveals noise beneath noise. ____________________________________________________________________ Artist: Lasse Marhaug Hailing from the land of the rising snow, Lasse Marhaug has become one of the most commanding and respected sound artists in Norway. As a musician and composer he has contributed to cd, vinyl and cassette releases for labels throughout Europe, Asia and America. Aside from solo work, Marhaug contributes to several ensembles including Nash Kontroll (iDEAL) and a large Jazkamer unit (Smalltown Supernoise) with black metal legends Enslaved. Having collaborated with artists from varying fields of musik (Sunn O))), Aaron Dilloway and Maja Ratkje) Marhaug's reach extends into musik for theatre, installations and video. ____________________________________________________________________ Artist: James Plotkin James Plotkin began his musical career as the guitarist for metal band OLD with vocalist Alan Dubin. The two would cross paths again under the guise of Khanate. In the interim Plotkin would become involved in projects ranging from guitar bent soundscape and grind to free improvisation. His body of work spans format and label, recording for Avant, Hydra Head, Asphodel, Earache, Southern Lord and Archive among others. Whether writing, performing, or producing, his output has been invariably unique and extreme. |
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