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I absolutely loved Jakobsons' last solo album (Darwinsbitch's Ore), but her many collaborative releases since then have varied quite a bit in both style and quality.  Recently, however, she has been on a definite hot streak, as both Myrmyr's Fire Star and the Espvall/Jakobsons/Szelag album were pretty amazing.  Glass Canyon does not quite keep that impressive momentum going, but there are enough flashes of inspiration to make it an intermittently satisfying effort nonetheless.
In characteristic fashion, this album marks the beginning of yet another new direction for Marielle: prominent use of synthesizers.  Unfortunately, I cannot help but find that exasperating, as synths are very much in vogue these days and their ubiquity is definitely wearing on me.  I am not some sort of crazed Luddite or anything, but a considerable part of Jakobsons' appeal for me was due to her organic intensity in a field so rife with laptops, synths, and artificiality.  As a result, Glass Canyon is quite a bit less distinctive than most of Marielle's other efforts.  Also, some of the more aberrant pieces just seem jarringly out of place: "Dusty Trails" sounds like burbling, candy-colored neo-krautrock and "Crystal Orchard" resembles a Futurist Aaron Copland (not a compliment).  It is hard to comprehend how they wound up sharing an album with something as slow-burning and menacing as "Shale Hollows," which is probably the album's finest sustained piece.
Fortunately, several of the album's other dark pieces are quite good too.  In particular, I loved the moment in "Albite Breath" when the thick, quavering synths give way to a mournful violin coda.  It is probably among the most moving passages in Jakobsons' entire oeuvre, actually.  A few great songs do not quite salvage the album though–Glass Canyon is ultimately too uneven and too simple to burrow very deeply into my psyche.  Part of that may be by design, as Marielle deliberately set out to make a stripped-down album in order to focus on the textural contrast between violin and synthesizer, but I do not think that she allowed that impulse a sufficient gestation period: too many of these songs are lean on strong melody and place too much faith in the appeal of buzzing, throbbing, and oscillating.
Normally, I would describe this sort of album as "a transitional effort," but Marielle's whole career has essentially been one unending transition and it is entirely possible that her next release will bear no resemblance to this at all.  I suppose occasional misfires are an inevitable occupational hazard that comes with constant reinvention and restless evolution.Although I suspect much of my disappointment may be due to my unrealistically high expectations and my subjective bias against analog synth textures, I think I can safely say that this does not rank among Jakobsons' best work.  Existing fans will no doubt enjoy a few pieces, but the merely curious should go elsewhere.
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The original idea of this project was to allow musicians from different scenes (but who shared common ideas) to work together. In this case, a development of two pre-existent duos.
Quite often musicians from different sonic languages can be seen being put together, trying to push the artists to develop unexpected works. Vainio, Drumm, Dörner and Capece have mainly strong points in common, that have been executed in different contexts. The music map is generally divided into categories that are determined by it's most evident and often banal elements; if it has beats or not, if it is quiet or loud, if it has raw material or a carefully worked aesthetic. These four musicians have been working using all the previous elements, but these elements did not determine the music, they were used at the service of deeper ideas related to time and perception. How the sound of our environment can become music, how can music be attractive without telling a story, the work of sound in it's extreme: noise, granular and delicate, digital, electronic, instrumental extended techniques, preparations. Kevin Drumm and Axel Dörner started working together in the late 90's as part of a trio with Paul Lovens, As a duo they released an influential album on Erstwhile Records. Vainio and Drumm met in 2005 in Australia, both as part of the touring festival What is Music?. Even if both musicians declared to have a great time touring in Australia, they did never played together. Drumm's and Vainio's music is often compared by critics. Capece has released a duo CD on L'Innomable label with Axel Dörner and a trio one with Dörner and tubist Robin Hayward on Azul Discográfica label from New York. Dörner and Capece worked in several projects together, including a residence with Keith Rowe working on "Treatise" by Cornelius Cardew. Mika Vainio and Lucio Capece have released together the album Trahnie- an album they worked for three years on, and also did several concerts as a duo.
In May 2008 the quartet made a 6 days residency and concert at Vooruit, in Gent, followed by a 5 concert European tour, that took them to Venice. In 2011 the group played at Konfrontationen Festival in Austria. In the meanwhile Capece and Vainio have been part of the Vladislav delay Quartet. Capece has played, and toured with Kevin Drumm in a trio with Radu Malfatti and Dörner has played with Drumm in a trio with Paul Lovens, at the Meteo festival, in France. The recording in Venice is a multitrack one. It was mixed by Capece with minimal edits, basically panning and volume adjustments.
The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, pressed on 140g vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with photos by Traianos Pakioufakis & artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas.
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Impossible Symmetry is the third full length record by Helm, the project of London based artist Luke Younger. It marks a new chapter in the artists' canon as it's his first to be informed by live performance rather than studio experimentation. The recording and engineering was primarily a solo venture, with some technical assistance from John Hannon on a few tracks. Most of the compositions were created out of ideas / improvisations that were conceived in a live context and then fed back into the studio work. The album was recorded over the duration of a year in London with source material culled from acoustic sound sources in a similar methodology to his previous album Cryptography, whilst also simultaneously incorporating more extensive use of electronic elements and moments of rhythmic dark ambience recalling the outputs from early Coil and Cabaret Voltaire to even Traversable Wormhole's industrial minimalism.
Helm is Luke Younger - a sound artist and experimental musician based in London, working with a vast array of revolving instrumentation and abstract sound sources. Younger's compositions build a dense aural landscape that touches on musique concrete, uncomfortable sound poetry, noise, and hallucinatory drones. His most last LP Cryptography, presented a five-part suite of expertly rendered electro-acoustic study which uses processed piano, Casio MT-40, cymbal and broken guitar strings. Younger creates a world where these instruments morph into spectral rust, a shimmering klang swims alongside passive noise and the relationship between acoustic and electronic derived sounds forms a solid foundation. This sound is steered through a melange of fringe territories: glacial drone meditations, reconfigured gamelan clusters, and howling walls of organized feedback, all coalesced in a post-industrial fashion with a commitment to homemade exploratory zeal. For the past ten years, Younger has also performed extensively in Europe and the US with Steven Warwick as pioneering avant-drone duo Birds of Delay.
The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, pressed on 140g vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with photos by Traianos Pakioufakis & artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas.
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Twenty years after its initial release, the debut Sugar album remains one of my favorite albums of the 1990s as well as one of my favorite rock albums of all time. After establishing himself as an accomplished singer/songwriter with two solo albums following the breakup of seminal Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould launched Sugar, now brought back to life through an exceptionally amazing package by Edsel out now in the UK (and an okay version due from Merge later this month).
Edsel
1992 was an exciting year for music: in 1991 hair band domination was put to an end thanks to grunge and techno, resulting in the explosion of independent labels worldwide. The Salem Massachusetts based Rykodisc was hardly known for breaking new rock bands, but had plenty of open distribution avenues thanks to the Bowie and Zappa catalog reissues. On the other side of the pond Creation were shoegazing experts, but not recognized so much for American post-punk. Somehow Sugar worked for everyone all around as Bob Mould spent the previous years working with major labels Warner Bros. and Virgin Records, both which had no clue what to do with him. By the end of the year NME voted Copper Blue as album of the year, and while it may not or may not have been my favorite of the year, depending on what day I'm asked, it was at least in the top five (probably along with Meantime, Doppelganger, Souvlaki, and Peng!).
Hüsker Dü was becoming more popular as a legend than they actually were during their existence (stadium rock mega-groups like Nirvana and Pixies frequently cited them as main influences) and Mould had won the critics over on his own, most particularly with 1989's introspective debut solo album Workbook. I got to see Hüsker Dü at 14 during their final tour at the Student Union Ballroom at UMASS Amherst. Three years later I couldn't get in to a Bob Mould solo show at Bill's Bar in Boston (I hadn't turned 18 yet), but these weren't huge places, Mould hadn't made a breakthrough connection with the mainstream until Sugar.
In all actually, this was a new approach. The songs were fresh, catchy, and the hooks were epic. Additionally, there were sounds never heard on Mould's prior projects: synths, various samples, and odd non-musical noises in transitions between songs. Most importantly, the "band" aspect played a much greater role than most people probably give it credit for: with other people mixing the album with Bob and playing in the band, other characteristics were new, especially the vocals. No longer were Mould's vocals buried deep beneath the distortion of his thunderous guitars, for Copper Blue the vocals were clear and exceptionally present. No fans were lost, as far as I remember. No energy was gone from the Hüsker Dü days nor were the lyrics any more uplifting than Mould's solo albums, despite Bob's claims he had excised his demons on the solo records.
Singles with undeniable hooks like "Helpless" and "Changes" were lyrically dark, despite the springy pop melodies. Additionally, it sometimes sounded as if Copper Blue was a tribute to the bands that Mould helped make, with Mould either consciously or unconsciously cashing in on the bands that Hüsker Dü influenced. "A Good Idea," in particular, could have easily been a Pixies tune, and, now with Pixies out of the picture, who was going to stop Mould?
Copper Blue was the right album at the right time that hit all the right spots. It opens with the brooding "The Act We Act," which sounds like a heavy and gruesome way to open a pop record, but lyrically it's not nearly as sad as the rest of the album's themes of murder, disease, and destructive heartache, especially the words in the spritely sounding perfect pop (breakup) tune, "If I Can't Change Your Mind." I was working at Tower Records at the time and Bob's sexuality was at least widely known amongst the fans, but I still don't buy that all of the songs are about his alleged breakup with Grant Hart.
I parted with my copy of the original version in the limited copper package with the Polaroid to spring for this version and I do not regret that decision. The remastered sound is fantastic, surprisingly making the album sound meatier than it previously was. Edsel has reintroduced the album in the UK, remastered as a 2CD+DVD package. Disc 1 contains the album and B sides, disc 2 was recorded live at the Metro, Chicago in 1992 and the DVD includes the promo videos as well as some TV performances and interviews. I think it's better to hear the B-sides in the context of the year instead of collected on the previously released Besides compilation. For those in the US, fear not, the DVD is playable in our machines. The accompanying booklet contains a scrapbook of photos and tour posters and tons of dialogue from all the band members, Alan McGhee of Creation, and Lou Giordano, the album's engineer.
I almost held out for the Merge version but was put off when I learned that the Merge versions would not include the DVDs. Furthermore, the Merge version of Copper Blue tosses in the Beaster EP, which sounds completely out of place when listening in the context of Copper Blue, despite being composed and recorded during the Copper Blue sessions. While I enjoy Beaster on its own merits, it is simply too dark to be played as part of Copper Blue. Beaster and File Under: Easy Listening are also now available in deluxe packages from Edsel in the UK, and the cost is actually not that expensive when ordering direct from some of the international megastores (they will remove VAT when orders are made outside of Europe).
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After establishing himself as an accomplished singer/songwriter with two solo albums following the breakup of seminal Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould launched Sugar, creating perhaps one of the best albums of the 1990s with this monstrous debut, now brought back to life through Edsel in the UK and a half-rate version due from Merge later this month.
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Artist: Steven Severin
Title: Vampyr
Catalogue No: CSR170CD
Barcode: 5 06017495408 5
Format: CD in textured card sleeve
Genre: Dark Ambient / Neoclassical / Soundtrack
Shipping: 5th July
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Following on from 2010's 'Blood Of A Poet' (CSR135CD), Steven Severin presents the third score in his 'Music For Silentes' series. Acclaimed solo artist and founder member of the legendary Siouxsie And The Banshees, Severin presents a mesmerising score, heightening appreciation of the surreal and enigmatic nature of the original work.
'Vampyr', Carl Theodor Dreyer's unsettling tale of fear and obsession, finds its aural counterpart in Severin's textured score; a synthesised, highly atmospheric soundscape drawing the listener rhythmically into the story.
Shot with a silent film aesthetic despite being within the sound era (and a year after Lugosi starred in Universal's 'Dracula'), 'Vampyr' is an alternative take on the cinematic vampire, creating an intense, nightmarish atmosphere that haunts the mind.
Presented in a textured card sleeve with artwork by Arban.
Tracks: 1. Through A Glass Darkly | 2. Allan's Theme | 3. Upon My Death | 4. Shadow's Play | 5. They Are Murdering Him | 6. (Intersection) | 7. Giselle's Theme | 8. Leoné Summoned | 9. Leoné Smiles | 10. Bloodwork | 11. Poison / Aftermath | 12. (Intersection) | 13. Phantom's Journey | 14. The Apparition | 15. The Mill
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Artist: NDE
Title: Kampfbereit
Catalogue No: CSR164CD
Barcode: 8 2356650742 0
Format: CD in jewelcase
Genre: Death Industrial
Shipping: 5th July
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The legacy of misantrophy, a life of brutality, the aftermath. The second album from mysterious Belgian act NDE is finally here. Now a solitary enterprise, 'Kampfbereit' rings in a new era of isolation and desolation. Gone are the Martial elements from 'Krieg Blut Ehre Asche' (CSR110CD) and instead the listener is engulfed in claustrophobic Death Industrial turmoil. The music is the focus here. Use your imagination while listening to it.
Tracks: 1. Untitled | 2. Untitled | 3. Untitled | 4. Untitled | 5. Untitled | 6. Untitled | 7. Untitled | 8. Untitled | 9. Untitled | 10. Untitled | 11. Untitled | 12. Untitled | 13. Untitled
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Probably the Italian trio’s longest release, while still clocking in at under a half hour, this 12" EP brings some excellently grimy punky rock music, with a good helping of bizarre tape loop noises and electric outbursts. With a familiar, but fresh sound, the worst thing is it simply is too short.
"Dead Mice" begins bluntly enough with dirty bass and pounding drums cutting in violently, with heavily effected and double tracked vocals coming in.With the rapid, thrashy pace and snarling voice, there are shades of Psalm 69 era Ministry without the sampling and metal clichés.However, there is soon a drastic shift into a slower, prog rock vibe complete with flutes and strings.The slower, more elegant sound and complexity is the polar opposite of the balls out rocking first half, and shows clearly how much this trio can mix up their sound."Eat Sons" goes back to the opening of the previous track, a sparse, but effective punky piece of noisy repetition.
The other sprawling track, "Zum," begins on a foundation of sparse, ghostly loops and simple basslines before a rather delicate guitar line comes in, building the song up more and more into a robotic, kraut-ish groove that is just as quickly dispatched with a noisy outburst.The components come together again, locking into a rather conventional, but extremely effective hard rock tinged rhythm.The expansive, driving rhythm stretches out for the remainder of the track, with a lot of electronic experimentation and loops going on all around, making a great counterpoint to the head nodding metallic chug.
The biggest limitation to me is that there are just three tracks on here, with a lot of variation and diversity packed into them.His Electro Blue Voice manage to rock out very well, but without adhering to boring clichés, and also manage to play around with a lot of experimental effects and sounds while still staying grounded.This is the type of project that is simply screaming for a full-length album, which I would personally love to hear.
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All too often these compilations of long-buried, unused material are an inevitable disappointment, consisting of songs that should have stayed hidden or alternate takes that add little to any artists repertoire. However, this is Can, and material from their strongest era, so I came in with higher expectations than I normally would, and these expectations were exceeded. Much of the material on here is as strong as anything that was put on their classic albums of the era and is absolutely essential.
Anyone with a passing knowledge of Can and how they worked at this time would realize the potential that was here.Rather than going into the studio with traditional "songs," most of Can's earliest albums were just culled and compiled by bassist Holger Czukay from studio improvisations.Essentially, every classic Can album was formed from the same raw material that make up this set.Here, the pieces were collected and edited by keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, as opposed to Czukay, and his son-in-law and collaborator Jono Podmore, and both do a more than respectable job of selecting the best bits.
I was particularly happy that the Malcolm Mooney era of the band gets a fair bit of coverage here.While I am going to jump on that same train as everyone else who has a familiarity with Can and say their masterpiece is Tago Mago, I still think Monster Movie and Soundtracks should get a bit more recognition than they do [hey, my pick remains Ege Bamyasi - Jon].Not many bands can work with two polar opposite vocalists:Damo Suzuki's multi-lingual, often wordless and understated vocals could not be more different than Mooney's off-key, boisterous American voice, but with Can both worked.The Mooney-era tracks on here are mostly great, although "Waiting For The Streetcar" is a bit too heavy on his pathological, mantra-like repetition of precious few lyrics that it becomes an endurance test at over ten minutes.Shorter songs like the dangerously funky "Midnight Sky" and the sinister, disembodied "When Darkness Comes" shine from his contributions.
A few pieces would have fit on Soundtracks as well:the long instrumental "Graublau" pairs the archetypal Can groove with fragments of shortwave radio, adding in an even more notable dissonant element to a band that always pushed the envelope.In terms of pure experimentation, the spectral ambience of "Blind Mirror Surf" and "Evening All Day" are early excursions into the formless sounds that shaped the likes of "Peking O" and "Aumgn" a few years later.Surprisingly, "Oscura Primavera" is a delicate, gentle piece of music from a band that always seemed to have a slightly raw edge to it.
The Damo era is fully represented as well."Bubble Rap," albeit rather skeletal, could have fit on any of the albums from when he was in the band."Dead Pigeon Suite", another soundtrack piece, starts off a bit too close to hobbit-y prog rock with its flutes and carefully plucked strings, but when it reveals itself as an especially vigorous variant on "Vitamin C", all is forgiven.Another suite of different pieces is "Messer, Scissors, Fork and Light", with its taut rhythm and Damo vocals could have been perfect on Ege Bamyasi, though here it is especially noteworthy due to some protracted drum soloing from Liebezeit.Drum solos are usually cheesy, pretentious, and unwarranted, unless your name is Jaki.
A frustrating, but inevitable caveat with a release like this are tracks that are simply too short."Godzilla Fragment," a two minute snippet of a dramatic jam session climax screams to be extended, though according to the liner notes, this was all that appeared on the tape.The chunk of "On The Way To Mother Sky," a piece that obviously evolved "Mother Sky" also feels too short overall.
In a recent interview about this set, Schmidt has claimed that this will be the extent of the archival releases, with the possible exception of additional live recordings being issued.Based upon the performances included, that alone is an attractive proposition.In their manner of using studio material as a jumping off point, the originally three-minute "Spoon" gets an extended 17 minute workout, in a similar vein to the version on the 40th anniversary issue of Tago Mago from last year.Live takes of "Mushroom" and "One More Saturday Night" also vaguely recall their "proper" forms and take off in their entirely own unique direction.A number of tracks, "Abra Cada Braxas," "A Swan is Born," and "Networks Of Foam," especially, are also live improvisations without any studio reference point.Listening to this set for the first time without the liner notes handy, I did not even realize this until the polite applause at the end.
It should be noted, however, that the title of this set is a bit misleading, because there are two tracks that slip in from the band’s maligned later period."E.F.S. 108" (another installment of their Ethnological Forgery Series) and "Barnacles" date from 1976 and 1977, respectively.The latter, featuring Czukay replacement Rosko Gee on bass, actually makes for a decent, though comparatively one dimensional take on the disco era that is a bit flat in the context of the set, but by no means a bad track.
If this is truly it for the Can archives, then it is a bittersweet release, since what is here is so brilliant that I greedily want to hear more [hey, what about all those singles version and B-sides? - Jon], but I would much rather hear Can end on this high note instead of a two disc compilation of Karoli tuning his guitar eventually making its way onto the market.Although, I would still love to see that legendary 12 hour session of "You Doo Right" that was paired down to the 20 minute album version see the light of day, especially given that today’s DVD-A/BluRay/FLAC technology could present it in its full, uninterrupted form.However, a large part of me thinks it is probably best to stay in its unreleased, legendary status…much like the bootlegged six hour workprint of Coppola's Apocalypse Now, the actuality may taint the legend.If nothing else, we should have some unheard live material ahead of us.
But for the here and now, The Lost Tapes is an absolutely essential document to anyone with even a passing interest in Can.While there are a few weak moments, the bulk of what makes up these three discs could pass for any of their best studio albums easily.Coupled with the detailed liner notes, track-by-track commentary by Schmidt, and deluxe packaging, this one is a no-brainer, and I highly doubt any such collection of archival material from any other artist will come close to this zenith of a release.
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With Eleh having cemented themself as perhaps the modern minimalist, their split LPs have become a fascinating journey into the genre’s old guard such as Pauline Oliveros and Ellen Fullman as well as platforms for newer artists like Sun Circle, and in this case, Duane Pitre. As usual, Eleh’s hardcore analogue drones are well matched by Pitre’s feather-light just intonation harmonics. Both sides reflect different aspects of minimalism’s past without being pale shadows of those earlier pioneers. In fact, Eleh and Pitre demonstrate that despite a bloated market filled with crappy drone acts there is still plenty of life and room for invention in minimal music.
"Empty Summer Endless" at first seems like a return to the smooth, almost subsonic bass drones that Eleh had been exploring on their first few releases. However, occasional flutters of higher timbres and midrange tones reveal the continued experimentation with acoustics that have become more and more central to Eleh’s music. Time stands still as subtle and delicate waves gently disturb the air and Eleh’s music pacifies with its alien aesthetic. Eleh takes the same foundations as Eliane Radigue’s Trilogie de la Mort and constructs a miniature excursion into the void. There is little in the way of colour here, this is pitch black drift through the night sky.
Pitre’s side of the LP is the sound installation version of his work Feel Free (previously reviewed by our own Anthony D'Amico in April). In contrast to Eleh’s side, this is a kaleidoscopic excursion into harmonics as Pitre uses a scale in just intonation to form an almost living piece of music. Where Eleh moves in straight lines and gradients, Pitre moves in ever-changing vectors and discrete changes in spectra. A touchstone for this (aside from Pitre’s own albums) would be Catherine Christer Hennix’s Electric Harpsichord with its prismatic clusters of evolving patterns.
Compared to the album version of Feel Free (played by an ensemble), this software-driven variant should sound skeletal but, even reduced to just a computer generating patterns from sound files, Pitre’s work remains vibrant and really does feel free. Granted, the full sound from the main album is missing but here the precision and the clarity of the piece’s backbone are captured in sharp focus. It is dazzling and sounds both tremendously complex and deceptively simple at the same time, almost like a molecule of DNA. It is too bad this is not on CD as I would love to hit the repeat button and listen to it forever.
 
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This unusual release is the fruit of a three-year project in which Valles sampled, manipulated, and collaged material from Nonesuch's '60s and '70s avant-garde heyday.  Drawing upon the work of luminaries such as Charles Ives and Elliot Carter (using the original vinyl, naturally), Damian has woven together a crackling and vibrantly textured drone opus that doubles as an inventive (if unrecognizable) homage.
The first movement begins promisingly with a loooong, slow fade-in that gradually becomes a grinding, enveloping roar.  In fact, it is possibly the best part of the entire album–not because there is drop in quality afterward, but simply because it is so dense, complexly layered, and absolutely crushing.  It is impossible to determine what the original material could sounded like, as it basically sounds like a hundred string instruments slowed way down and pitch-shifted into unrecognizability.  The brilliance lies in the details though, as there are all kinds of stutters, scratches, and swells amidst the maelstrom that transform that single, massive chord into a sumptuous feast for the ears.  Ultimately, it all fades away again without evolving into anything more, but that works just fine: mesmerizing me for over ten minutes without any overt melodic or rhythmic movement at all is an impressive enough feat by itself.
The rest of the album adheres to the same template, as each piece seems like Valles froze a massive orchestra (or perhaps several) mid-note, then stretched, looped, and layered that instant into a roiling ocean of sound.  It is a pretty bizarre aesthetic, as the movements are all pretty simple and static on a large scale, but beautifully alive and insanely complicated on a smaller scale.  Equally important is the fact that this is not one of those albums where intense, focused listening is required to unearth its true beauty: Nonparallel is a massive, rumbling, and grinding steamroller of a drone album.  There are occasional moments where Damian softens to allow some shimmering, atmospheric touches, as he does in the third movement, but they are easily balanced out by crescendos that sound like an abattoir full of bandsaws or haunting swoops that sound like giant metallic birds.
The only possible downside to this album is that Valles was perhaps a bit too successful in transforming his source material, as anyone who is lured by its premise and hoping for recognizably detourned snatches of 20th century classical music will be thoroughly thwarted.  I do not fall into that category though, so I see Nonparallel as an unqualified drone masterpiece.  Damian deftly avoided all of the pitfalls that could threaten a project like this (a bloodless, academic feel; jumbled, incoherent collage; winding up with something that sounds like every other goddamn drone album; etc.) and then exceeded my expectations even more.  I have rarely heard anything drone-like that demands extreme volume like this album.  Valles did not spend those three years in vain: this is a gutsy, gritty, and bad-ass effort in all respects.
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