- Rob Devlin
- Albums and Singles
Thalia Zedek is a true original, with a voice hewed by years on the road fronting aggressive outfits, her musical stylings born out of influence but still uniquely hers. Her latest is a dynamo: a strong step forward on a new label and a powerful piece of work overall.
Recorded at the godspeed-famous Hotel2Tango in Montreal, these songs represent the natural coagulation of the performer to her backing band after two years of touring. The album was recorded and mixed in eleven days, utilizing only analog recording techniques, so there was little room for error. It appeared not to make any difference, as the core group plays seamlessly, with a force that defies description. Zedek's voice is in fine form, as usual, and the musicians drive on without reservation as she digs deep within to pull out some refreshingly honest and personal subjects. Since the dissolution of Come, Zedek seems to have delighted in taking chances here and there, displaying a willingness to explore or stab towards something besides pure bombast. On these songs, the explosiveness starts to win again, as the mournful instrumentation grows in volume and density, and her cries rise to meet it all. "Ship" starts the record in a slower vein, but it is not to last, as the song suddenly shifts into a modified shuffle, with plaintive suggestions to one about how to proceed with life. Everything slows at the end again, almost as a release: with these words off one's chest, the calm returns. But each song returns to plumb the same territory, with slower somber moments being blown away by the strength and weight of the music and the words that follow them, right up until the shrieking distortion of "Hell is in Hello." Even when it seems like it's been sung by Zedek before, even earlier on the same album, all is forgiven as it is still a pure, raw and honest performance. Most of all that is Thalia Zedek's mark: she is herself, through and through, and that invitation into her innermost thoughts is getting more and more dangerous and thrilling as the years go on.
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- Albums and Singles
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Kites, "Royal Paint With the Metallic Gardener From The United States of America Helped Into an Open
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- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/kites-royal_paint.jpg)
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/images/songs_of_norway-despite_the_cloak.jpg)
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- Albums and Singles
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- Albums and Singles
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- Taylor McLaren
- Albums and Singles
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- Albums and Singles
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- Taylor McLaren
- Albums and Singles
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Troum's final part in their Tjukurrpa series comes with its own warning right in the title. Those familiar (and fond of) the powerful drones this German duo is famed for might be taken aback by the prominence of both rhythms and pulsations all over the record.Transgredient
From the opening "Ignis Sacer," the percussion takes the center stage, with a harsh and abrasive loop. Throughout the disc, the rhythmic loops get decreasingly harsh, lending more to the open drones the group is known for. Like the first two in the trilogy, part three was recorded over a period of time, which may account for somewhat of an uneven sound between tracks in comparison to last year's Siquan.
The firt two tracks go on painfully long and are sadly lacking in a depth I have come to expect from Troum due to a sound that is primarily in mono. By track three, "Saiwala," the rhythms have become less piercing but provided by pounding drums in a very Non/Death In June vein. However, at least Boyd and Doug knew how to end a song quickly (at this time the tracks are going on way too long).
It isn't until the fourth song, "W√°ian / Moys," that the music truly connects with me by the inclusion of faint vocals by a girl named Nina and a motioned progression that is quite the opposite from the somewhat painful first three tracks. It's at this point a good stereo separation also takes place. Slight pitch bends and thunderous echoes are hypnotic and warmly welcomed. Time seems to stand completely frozen.
True melodic movement comes through in the haunting follower "Reigen Taumelnder Geister," the reverse rhythms of "Wheaio," and mystical moonlit midnight music of "Airpeins." Perhaps some of the Eastern themes present could be a nod to Muslimgauze or Rapoon, or the group is getting ready to score an epic. Either way, for a disc whose opening half I completely hated, it surprisingly goes out fantastically well.
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