- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Originally issued as the fourth LP in the limited edition box set Tandoori Dog, Jerusalaam follows Jaagheed Zarb, the title disc, and Libya Tour Guide with a CD reissue; finally, the long out-of-print box has been completely reissued. Again the increased space of its new medium has allowed unreleased material from the original tape to be included. This time, however, the extra material is neither alternate versions of Tandoori Dog material nor new songs intended for those releases; the two extra tracks here, clocking in at near 15 minutes and just under 8, make up unused material from the Return of Black September sessions.
The contrast, even for someone with as wide a range as Muslimgauze had, is stunning. The original Jerusalaam fits in with much of Bryn Jones' classic work, with a heavy emphasis on hand percussion, bass-heavy distortion, sharply clipped loops, and the seething his of static. The two otherwise unnamed Return of Black September tracks, however, follow that album in taking a much more cleanly digital feel, with many of the elements Jones usually uses present but in more stripped down or even mechanized forms. The relatively clean pulse of these two longer compositions serve as a refreshing contrast next to the hand- and tape-made feel of tracks like "All the Stolen Land of Palestine" and "Hessian Bag of Camel Parts," an invigorating reminder of the breadth and vitality of Jones’ work even now.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Unsurprisingly for an artist as prolific and strident as Bryn Jones was, the flood of material he sent to labels and compatriots was not always carefully categorized. Also, sometimes he would be so eager to release material that if things didn’t happen fast enough he’d just send in another tape. And that circumstance is how you wind up with a fascinating oddity like Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Staalplaat has previously released, in 2002, the Muslimgauze album Sarin Israel Nes Ziona. While continuing to sort through and release the material Jones left behind with his death in 1999, the Mohammad Ali Jinnah tape was found to have significant overlap with that now out-of-print album, but only to a certain extent. 6 of the 15 tracks on Mohammad Ali Jinnah match up with material from the earlier tape (which included 20 tracks), but when Jones resubmitted this tape he also included extended mixes of 4 of the tracks from the original album ("Imam Fainted," "Yousif Water Pipe Habit," "Opulent Maghrebi Meze," and "Indo Muslem Atlas") as well as five entirely new compositions. The result is a fascinating re-setting of some of the music from that underheard release.
Whether Jones preferred one arrangement to the other is sadly lost to us, but listeners now can appreciate a wholly new experience with the material herein, even if some of the material itself is previously released. And the new tracks are fascinating, even by Jones' usual standards, whether they’re the grinding, obsessively focused percussion workouts "For Larger Iran" and "Burnt Pages of Ali Jinnah Koran" or the cryptically distant likes of "Cold Turkey." Paired with classic tracks like the bass-distorted, Middle Eastern boom bap of "Kurds Eye View" and the furtively head-nodding "Zahir Din, Cabdriver of Zind" the result is a release unlike anything else in Jones' discography.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Last Signs is Eli's first solo release since 2012's Catching Net (PAN Records) and explores a very different side of his
unique acoustic universe. One in which the macrocosmic percussive collisions of his earlier work give way to a gradual
unfolding of dub-influenced rhythmic constellations. Eli has described Last Signs as his response to playing in club
environments over the last few years; an attempt to negotiate a delicate balance between the materiality of his acoustic
instrument and the hyper-mediated sonic ecosystem of the club sound system. Coming off like an inspired synthesis
between Scientist and Xenakis, Last Signs of Speed is a truly unique work by an artist at the height of his
powers.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Ideologic Organ is proud to present the brand-new recordings from The Necks, the legendary Australian trio who excel in bypassing musical cliche whilst exploring and extending the practices embedded within improvisation, jazz, post rock, ambient, minimal, and textural, ‘sound based’ music.
The latest document from this long-running ensemble, Unfold, presents itself as a double LP, with four side-length tracks. A deliberate absence of numbered sides hands a substantial swatch of participation over to the listener, allowing her to navigate his own path through the soundscape at hand. The shorter length of the vinyl format, far from being a constraint upon the members of the ensemble, instead offers them a more compact horizon to contemplate, wherein the distance travelled is recalibrated to more immediate and dynamic textural concerns. The immediacy of "Rise" confirms this new path, as the mournful tones of Lloyd Swanton's bass swirl around Chris Abrahams' crystalline piano motif, with Tony Buck's percussion steering proceedings into enlightening free-jazz territories. "Blue Mountain" cuts a swathe through the sonic undergrowth, with soul organ, rattling percussion, whistles, and loping sound-waves all vying for the foreground. "Overheard" retains a sublime melancholic aura as the percussion and keyboards simultaneously embrace and fall apart, whilst "Timepiece" skips along as a gentle gesture of further possibilities. Exactly how The Necks conjure their particular magic - as deceptively simple as it seems - whilst always moving forward, is anyone’s guess, but Unfold proves yet again that rules and schools are to be broken and re-formed into patterns and frameworks unlike those we know.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Editions Mego is proud to publish the third release by Sendai. Comprised of Peter Van Hoesen and Yves De Mey, Ground and Figure presents the duo reside in a more economic framework which allows the sound and rhythm they produce more room to shift, swirl and swim the circumference of the audio spectrum. Moving away from the twitchiness and anxiety of the earlier output Ground and Figure is a vast spacious journey from a duo in full control of their chosen path.
Throughout Ground and Figure abstraction and rhythm weave amongst each other in such a sly manner that the resulting tension in the conflicting elements presents the listener with a hypothetical high-tech elastic percussive grid. A thudding, pulsating, shapeshifting ambient beast is summoned by these two creators working as one.
This is machine music. This is hypnotic disorientation. This is an immense ambitious and refined world of sound and rhythm. This is the work of two producers who continuously try to top up their skills.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Mute announce the release of two boxed sets from
Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk:
Richard H. Kirk – #7489 (Collected Works 1974 – 1989)
Sandoz – #9294 (Collected Works 1992 – 1994)
Richard H. Kirk – #7489 (Collected Works 1974 – 1989) is an 8-CD boxed set, collating Kirk’s solo work from 1974-1989.
Walking a tightrope of experimental and dance floor themed electronic music, Richard H. Kirk’s solo work precedes his output with Cabaret Voltaire and his releases continued alongside the band’s output. Cementing his reputation as a pioneer of electronic music, this box set amply proves Kirk’s inventiveness and sounds as fresh now as it did otherworldly then.
#7489 includes the 2CD Earlier/Later album as well as the newly re-mastered albums Disposable Half Truths, Time High Fiction (2CD), Black Jesus Voice, Ugly Spirit and an album of rarities Super Duper Soul.
Sandoz – #9294 (Collected Works 1992 – 1994) is a 5-CD boxed set collating the melding of African sounds with European electronic music, the mission statement of Richard H. Kirk’s alter ego, Sandoz.
These works date from 1992-1994, the box includes the 2CD Digital Lifeforms (Redux), the longtime unavailable and newly re-mastered Intensely Radioactive and Dark Continent albums and an album of rarities Runs The Voodoo Down.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
No Way In celebrates Joe Colley's return after a self-imposed hiatus from creating music. Colley was last spotted in 2012 with his Lonely Microphone LP on Italy's Senufo Editions.
No Way In is a further exploration of Colley's terrain of internal dilemma, mental stress, paranoia, and the pessimistic contemplation of one's fate. This could be a soundtrack to distract one from these thoughts, or it could be the trigger that stirs such things.
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
6-CD boxed set containing a series of digital-only releases selected by Sonoris records.
All selections remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Boxset contains:
- May 1
- February
- The Whole House
- Tannenbaum bonus tracks
- Bolero Muter
- Crooked Abode
- The Sea Wins
- Equinox
- Shut In(Bonus track)
- Earrach ( Part 1)
- Middle of Nothing(Part 1)
- Mithering The Skiving Gorm
The box will be released in January 2017.
More information can be found here and here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
"A brand new collaborative work from Mica Levi (aka Micachu) and Oliver Coates. "Remain Calm" showcases both musicians’ background in classical composition as well as their restless impulse to blur the boundaries between contemporary genres, from grime to techno to drone. There’s something very specifically British about the compositions, the soundtrack to a supermarket car park on a rainy weekday afternoon, whilst ghosts of pirate radio flicker in and out of earshot from passing cars. Shades of Iannis Xenakis, Aphex Twin, Burial and Scott Walker’s film music are suggested in certain passages, but the sum of its parts are a very singular soundworld and a stunning piece of work."
-via Experimedia
More information can be found here.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
There is a distinctly lo-fi theme that runs through Colin Blanton's (ant'lrd) newest release. The three lengthy pieces are all nicely covered in a light haze of noise and distortion, but it never fully obscures the beautiful melodies and motorized rhythms that lurk beneath that scratchy, decaying surface. Instead, that element of dirt and grime enhances what it covers, resulting in an album that wonderfully blends the raw with the delicate.
The first moments of "Hood" were immediately captivating to me via low tuned drum machines and pleasant melodies underscoring the restrained surging feedback.There is a clear edge of dissonance throughout its nearly 11 minute duration, but the simple melodic progression is the focal point.Blanton continues to add new elements to the mix, fleshing it out in depth and complexity.The final transition is into a massive wall of humming distortion that makes for a fitting, chaotic deconstruction of what all preceded it.
"Kasuisai" is at first similar, leading in with the noisy hum of a guitar amplifier and a low fi beat box clattering away.Blanton sculpts the noise and feedback into abstract, yet clearly structured shapes as he slowly brings in more conventional guitar sounds, again acting as a great melodic counterpoint to the static.What almost resembles an organ appears as well, generating a rapid melody that is repetitive but hypnotizing.As before, the piece eventually transitions into an expanse of metallic scraping and rattling dissonance, echoing away in a lo-fi universe.
The low rumbling of a guitar amplifier also becomes an ambient expanse to open the lengthy "Msdass".However, the overall sound of the nearly 20 minute piece is different compared to what preceded it on the first side.Shimmering, warm layers of static and distortion are cast out, chaotic but not loud or ugly.Instead it becomes a multitude of sweeping, inviting waves of sound.While at times overt guitar-like tones glide through the misty mix, it never becomes the primary focus.
Blanton uses the extra time to build the composition more slowly, layering in more and more noisy elements.It becomes an almost fully sustained wall of noise, but not a harsh one, that continues to be warm and inviting, even as the conventional structure seems to fall apart.As the piece moves on, the overall sound becomes one that is more skewed towards the low end of the frequency spectrum.On the whole, the song is less about the obscured melodies from before and is instead a sustained cloud of drowsy, somnolent noise that lulls far more than it roars.
The lo-fi sheen that covers Sleep Drive may serve to blanket and blur the melodies that Blanton creates, but his natural ability of restraint is a significant asset, keeping the harsher moments dialed back enough to never overshadow the more conventional melodic passages.But both elements are essential, because that gauzy fog that surrounds the entire records creates a captivating narcotic haze that makes this an extremely memorable, inviting record that is just obtuse enough to sound unique, without drifting into pure formlessness.
samples:
 
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
One important lesson that I have learned over the years is that promising-sounding collaborations between experimental music artists are almost always disappointing, as the resultant releases tend to be half-baked edits and reworkings of improvised jams that occurred when all the musicians involved happened to be in the same town for a day.  Consequently, it was a delight to discover that this trio of Aidan Baker,  Andrea Belfi, and Erik Skodvin feel like the exact opposite of that. While this second full-length for Miasmah was admittedly improvised over the course of a couple days in Berlin, Palace is the work of a band with both strong vision and razor-sharp focus. Of the three artists involved, Palace is most similar to Skodvin's solo aesthetic, but these deliciously tension-filled and slow-burning reveries easily transcend the sum of their parts.
Given Erik Skodvin's degree of involvement, it goes without saying that Palace is a very "Miasmah"-sounding album, though he personally tends to weave his shadowy and cinematic soundworlds with a much lighter touch than some of the label's other artists.  In fact, the brilliance of this album lies in the incredible extreme to which all three participants take that lightness of touch, as the trio manages to conjure up a menacing series of gathering storms in such hushed and minimal fashion that a single picked note feels like a splash of color and a kick drum feels like a seismic event.  That is not to say that there is not much happening–quite the contrary, in fact.  Rather, B/B/S/ make  a gloriously simmering stew of bowed cymbals, hollow-sounding tom accents, creaking strings, brushed snares, strangled harmonics, and hovering oscillations.  On the album's arguable centerpiece ("Butcher Note"), for example, the central motif is just an unpredictably quavering oscillation and a three-note loop of plucked strings.  Gradually, however, Skodvin"s ghostly swells of guitar moans and shimmers harmonically build the piece into a considerable more complex and evocative affair as Belfi's drums skitter and clatter in all the right places.  For his part, Baker adds a visceral edge with some wonderfully gnarled bow work without ever veering into bombast.  There are also some crackling low-end electronic textures triggered by the drums, which is yet another nice (and subtle) touch.
For the most part, the rest of Palace sticks very closely to that template, which is fine by me, as it proves to be a surprisingly fertile ground and the smallest variations make a significant difference.  On another one of the album’s highlights, "Navel Oil," Belfi’s rapidly brushed cymbals sound almost like ominously shuffling maracas, while Baker simply maintains a steady one-note throb beneath Skodvin’s languorous and hazy Ebow solo.  Eventually, Skodvin builds up to playing actual notes, but they are so processed that it sounds like his solo is fighting to emerge from underwater. I especially appreciated that scrapes and string noises played just as prominent a part as the actual notes. Elsewhere, "Linber" boasts a rare clean guitar theme, but it is processed to give an illusion of a sickly, slightly out-of-tune afterimage.  Later, the trio allow themselves to open up a bit for the comparatively explosive "LA Mom," which is basically a wild drum solo beautifully embellished with roiling, swooping, and chirping guitar noise. Amusingly, it is followed by a piece ("Solo") that is literally a drum solo, but a rather welcome one, as Andrea Belfi comes very close to stealing the show all over the album.  I actually went back and investigated the band’s excellent 2013 debut (Brick Mask) and found that it is primarily Belfi’s evolution as drummer that spearheaded the trio’s impressive transformation into what they are now.  Skodvin and Baker are just as great and unconventional as ever, but it is largely Belfi’s departure from structured rock grooves that pushes Palace to a higher plane than its predecessor.
While there are a couple of aspects of Palace that could arguably be perceived as flaws, it still feels like an absolute monster of an album and a huge creative leap forward from where I am sitting.  One possible critique is that it errs a little bit on the overwhelming side as a double album and the inclusion of a drum solo normally screams "filler." That is not the case here, as I would be very hard-pressed to name any song that deserves the ax.  Rather, it just means that there is a lot to absorb and that it will be a pleasure to do so.  In fact, I am only just recently beginning to appreciate the glory of the epic closer "Combuh."  A more apt critique is that Palace is considerably less muscular than the more conventionally "rock" Brick Mask, but I think Belfi's quieter and more restrained playing is perversely even more explosive than it was before.  Granted, he was unquestionably louder back then, but the unpredictably organic and seething interplay with Skodvin and Baker here is considerably more compelling dynamically.  To my ears, Palace is a quite a staggering performance from to start to finish.  This album totally blindsided me, as I went in expecting some interesting improv and was instead gobsmacked by a volcanic tour de force of unresolved tension.
Samples:
 
Read More