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The late morning autumn sky is grey, at least as much of it that can beseen past the tops of the tall buildings. People walk by in slowmotion. A bird hangs in what looks like suspended animation, waiting topounce on the next piece of bread somebody drops or a knish that fallsfrom a moving cart. The collaborative record between Connors and Grubbsisn't a pretty walk in the fields, it's the sound of a dark, urbancityscape. It's also a bit of a juxtaposition. While there's certainlyno rules either collaborator always follow, I'm typically used todissonance from David Grubbs' solo work and soft flowing motions fromLoren (MazzaCane) Connors. The instrumental live in the studiorecording of Arborvitaeopens with soft, flowing piano chord progressions provided by David andharsh guitar tones from Loren. (Additionally, the titles suggest aspringtime theme, but I get a completely different feeling.) As thedaylight comes to an early end, so reflects the mood of the album. Bitby bit, the brightness fades. Half-way through the disc, on "The Ghostof Exquisite," both are playing guitars and feeding off each other'sbleak tonality. By the end of the album, the cold night has fallen."The Highest Point in Brooklyn" features the return of Grubbs on piano,this time, with a much more uneasy, uncomfortable rush, played upagainst the distorted abrasive notes of Connors' guitar, restless anddirty. In fact, at some points, Connors sounds like he doesn't evencare if the instrument cords even come loose from his guitar. The roomsounds, probably picked up by the piano microphone, are those of twopeople getting a little antsy in their chairs. Intentional or not, it'sa subtle hint at a tension, yet by the end of the piece (and thealbum), the calmness has returned. The night has grown as quiet as it'sgoing to get in a city that doesn't sleep.samples:
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Since their creation in 2005, The Skull Defekts have taken their base of classic rock with massive guitar riffing, and infused it with their interest in circular composition, drone, tribal music, Indian ragas, '60s minimalism, and experimental music from numerous ages. The band's lineage is nearly unparalled amongst their peers with members having served time in Union Carbide Productions, Kid Commando, Alvars Orkester, Satan Power, Oceans of Silver & Blood, Anti Cimex, Cortex, Trapdoor Fucking Exit, 8 Days of Nothing, and countless others. Their collaborations are no less notable with members working with Pan Sonic and Mats Gustafsson. Peer Amid, their third "rock" album, finds the band augmenting their line-up with a new fifth member, Lungfish vocalist Daniel Higgs.
Recorded at The Dustward Studio in Stockholm by Stefan Brainstrum, Peer Amid is their strongest effort to date. The arena-sized riffs of "No More Always" seep with an undeniable swagger, briefly catapulting the bands cyclic riffs into a frenzy. The intensity of "Gospel of the Skull" is driven by a tension created by the push and pull of Higgs vocals and mostly restrained guitar. Some may be familiar with this song as it was performed with a full symphony orchestra as part of the Gothenburg String Theory series that also featured the likes of Jose Gonzalez and El Perro Del Mar. The guitar lines of "Fragrant Nimbus" would make an apt soundtrack for a retro action movie on their own. When coupled with the foreboding words of Daniel Higgs, things rapidly move in another direction, fraying and shattering as his warnings become more explicit. The combination of Higgs' lyrics and singular vocals are the perfect foil for The Skull Defekts myriad of talents. Peer Amid is a rock record, made by musicians who have always reveled in exploration, and made for a head that can accommodate the 360 degree turn.
The Skull Defekts are:
Henrik Rylander (Drums // Electronics), Joachim Nordwall (Guitar // Vocals // Analog Synths), Jean-Louis Huhta (Percussion // Effects // Electronics), Daniel Fagerstroem (Guitar // Vocals // Electronics), and Daniel Higgs (Vocals // Various Instruments).
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Artist: Machinefabriek
Title: Vloed
Catalogue No: CSR138CD
Barcode: 8 2356649932 9
Format: Digipak
Genre: Drone / Guitar Ambient
Shipping: 29th November
'Vloed' is a collection of (slightly edited) live performances, recorded between 2006 and 2008 in Amsterdam and Den Haag.
"All performances find Machinefabriek in fine form, offering up thick billows of warm guitar shimmer, fluttery staticky ambience, and at one point some uncharacteristically heavy super distorted metallic guitar, but here, it's not so much metal as simply a mighty drone, thick and throbbing and super intense. There are long stretches of near silence and super minimal high end drone, glimmering slow building crescendos, squalls of distorted choral buzz, warm whirring metallic reverberations, shimmery and dense black dronemusik, all the stuff we love about Machinefabriek" (Aquarius).
Beautifully remastered with a 20-minute bonus track, 'Vloed' captures the immersive live experience of a Machinefabriek concert.
Presented in a stunning matt digipak with modified artwork.
Tracks: 1. Allengskens (18:03) | 2. Drifjgzand (13:16) | 3. Vrijhaven (21:12) | 4. Vloed (22:08)
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Artist: Various Artists
Title: We Bring You A King With A Head Of Gold
Catalogue No: CSR100CD
Barcode: 8 2356649942 8
Format: Jewelcase
Genre: Traditional Folk, Dark Folk, Ballads
Shipping: 29th November
The follow-up to our award winning Folk compilation "John Barleycorn Reborn" from 2007. 34 tracks and 146 minutes of music from the best of current British Folk artists.
The raw green of spring is burnished through midsummer into the baked golden crust of August, the headlong vigour of new growth slowing, ripening into a sagging, fecund fullness. Crows wheel low over a cornfield, inkblots spilt on the wide blue sky, their ragged cries cracking the drowsy haze of high summer. Cornstalks rustle and whisper secretively, heads nodding sagely in the light breeze, spread resplendent over the land like the bushy sun-bleached beard of Barleycorn himself, basking in the afternoon heat. The image fades, dispersing into the ripples of Mimir’s black mirror, and now the harvest appears as the radiant blonde braids of gentle Sif, Norse goddess of the corn, ever-faithful wife of Thor, patroness of fidelity, of promises kept. Again the mirror ripples, and now the corn forms the mane of a magnificent horse, surging over the earth, alive with energy, bearing the memory of innumerable harvests past and the promise of harvests yet to come, past and future radiating out in all directions from this perfect, poised moment of completion. It’s time to reap. (Simon Collins)
Tracks: Disc 1: 1. Barron Brady - 'Earthen Key' | 2. Laienda - 'Little Drummer Boy / Anvil' | 3. The Rowen Amber Mill - 'Blood And Bones (Ciderdelica Mix)' | 4. Tony Wakeford - 'The Devil' | 5. Kate Harrison - 'England' | 6. Drohne - 'The Hooden Horse / An-Dro' | 7. Corncrow - 'The Cutty Wren' | 8. Sproatly Smith - 'I Shall Leave You There' | 9. Tinkerscuss - 'Black Sarah' | 10. Cerunnos Rising - 'Hear It With My Heart' | 11. Mama - 'The Fool Of Spring' | 12. Magicfolk - 'Green Man' | 13. Wyrdstone - 'Lost At Ty Canol' | 14. Emil Brynge - 'Devon Dream' | 15. Kim Thompsett - 'Lords And Ladies' | 16. Dragon Spirit - 'Always Be Ours' | 17. Philip Butler And Natasha Tranter - 'Jack The Mommet' | 18. Touch The Earth - 'Ancient Landscapes'
Disc 2: 1. Relig Oran - 'Ye Mariners All' | 2. Autumn Grieve - 'Within Hollows' | 3. Ian McKone - 'Searching For Lambs' | 4. John Parker - 'Manningham Blues' | 5. Rattlebag - 'The Tyburn Sisters' | 6. The Fates - 'The Song Of The Fates' | 7. The Hare And The Moon - 'The Three Ravens' | 8. The Kittiwakes - 'Lynx' | 9. Venereum Arvum - 'Robin Sick And Weary' | 10. Telling The Bees - 'Fithfath' | 11. Richard Masters - 'The Wind Knows' | 12. Demdyke - 'Mother Carey's Chicks' | 13. Beneath The Oak - 'Oh Earthly Man' | 14. Sedayne : Sundog - 'A Wee Brown Cow' | 15. Ruby Throat - 'Swan And The Minotaur (Troubled Man)' | 16. Jennifer Crook - 'Ribbons Of Green / The Dream Waltz (Live)'
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On this single track album, Tommi Keränen, who is also one half of the infamous Norwegian noise duo Testicle Hazard, throws down a bit over a half hour of heavily dynamic electronic noise that destroys speakers with the best of them, but with a level of complexity and variation that many other noise artists seem to ignore.
Immediately the track launches into heavy, raw buzzsaw tones and layers of phased sound constructed atop of it.While it starts out loud and messy, it continues to build even further until the foundation can barely sustain all of the noise that it supports.There are brilliant balances struck throughout:piercing, pure sine waves with short blips of unidentifiable sonic trash; monolithic concrete slabs of noise with rapidly undulating and changing passages.
While the static noise tends to be a dominant feature throughout, it never becomes overbearing, with a constantly cycling crowd of hyperkinetic squelches, overdriven crunches and buzzing passages to balance out the pure feedback.There’s also a healthy selection of bent and mangled pure tones in there to counterbalance the mess.
The biggest change is apparently about 13 minutes in, where the track is pulled apart into some sporadic tones that sound like spastic techno breakdown moments, along with spots of ultra high frequency high pitched frequencies that are reminiscent of the interstitial bits between songs on those extremely early Whitehouse albums.This is only a brief respite, if you could even call it that, before it goes full bore into rising and falling noise tones for the remainder of the album.
Keränen has succeeded in crafting an album that retains the best qualities of the harsh noise scene (and its many subcategories) without really demonstrating any of the annoyances.There isn’t a sense that the recording is extremely loud in order to just be "extreme," but it retains the cojones one would expect from a noise album.The dynamic selection of sounds and changes in structure keep it varied, and there’s enough variation in here to possibly even pique the interest of non harsh noise fans.Those who covet their Alchemy Records collections and Macronympha tapes will still be all over this too though, so it has hardcore cred as well.
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With its hushed synthesis of traditional instrumentation and lightly processed field recordings, Monocoastal follows along recent trends of Seaworthy & Matt Rösner and Taylor Deupree's works on the 12k label. They're carving out a niche that is alien, but familiar, and is as complex as it is sparse, weaving the recognizable with the unknown.
From the carefully treated textures on the disc to the washed out Polaroid photo on the cover, this album is one of taking the familiar and using it to build something entirely new.A recurring motif of the disc is one of water and the coast, unsurprising given that it was Fischer’s movements up and down the west coast of the USA that inspired it."Wave Atlas" marries water droplets that echo forever with hazy, warm melodies."Monocoastal (Part 1)" is all weathered, gentle tones that seem to come from every direction, mixed with subtle birdsongs.The sound becomes more complex when what resembles a shimmering layer of accordion and glassy ringing bells are added, but it stays fully restrained.
"Wind and Wake" has an underlying bed of sound that constantly rises and falls like the undulations of the sea, with a looming melody that enshrouds like a fog, surrounding the entire song with a delicate digital accompaniment."Cascadia Obscura" also mixes some seemingly recognizable sounds with unknown ones, where wind chimes and vibrating tension lines set the stage, only to have the piece closed with sharp strummed guitar notes or the scraping of scissors.
That obscurity when it comes to the sources of a sound is what makes this album so captivating.Fischer's careful use of found sounds and field recordings coupled with a very light touch when it comes to processing goes a long way.The sounds are left pure enough to seem natural, but twisted in such a way as to resemble something entirely different, but never to a point of pure abstraction. This, coupled with a careful use of low fidelity elements give a rustic, yet alien quality to the sound.
In the latter moments of the album the tone begins to change, with "Shape To Shore" adding lower register, almost bass guitar like notes that lean more towards the melancholy side of emotion, and the stuttering, glitchy elements of "Between Narrow and Small" add a bit of discord and chaos, while still retaining the haunting beauty of the rest of the tracks.
Like other recent works on the label, Marcus Fischer is showing an extreme skill in creating sounds that seem to have their source in the natural world, but ones that are nearly impossible to identify.The delicate, decaying beauty of these textures and tones should not be missed.
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Chicago's Locrian have actually been a bit less prolific this year, really only releasing two brilliantly cohesive albums, Territories from earlier this year (originally on LP, now available on CD), and the upcoming double disc The Crystal World. Other than those, they've been relatively quiet, even with the addition of full time percussionist Steven Hess. On this split with New York's Century Plants, they continue their emphasis on abstracting the concept of "metal", with each band taking different approaches, but achieving a common goal.
Century Plant's two pieces veer more towards the psychedelic, while retaining a darkness that fits well with the Locrian material on the other side."Fading Out" pairs string bending guitar improvisations with distant, cavernous clattering and a smattering of random found sounds.While the opening is sparse, the latter segments layer on a mass of ambient textures and more overt guitar work.
"Delirium" has a lighter feel to it, with soaring tones that feel more ebullient than anything else on the album with tape echoed outbursts occasionally snaking through.A darker industrial squall guitar sound eventually becomes the focus, sucking the light from the piece slowly but surely.Straddling the line somewhere between black metal and noise, the track takes on a sound all its own.
The Locrian half of the LP feels more in-line with their work from a few years ago as opposed to their recent output of more song-like pieces.This is especially notable with "On A Calcified Shore," with its high pitched, sharp tone and droning bass lingering in the background.As it builds, it becomes a hazy realm of echoing, reverberated guitar tones with the occasional shrill passage jumping out.It’s definitely more droney than their recent work, but it is a great slasher flick soundtrack.
"Omega Vapors" has the same tense, nightmarish sensation going for it, but instead of echo and feedback it's more of simple synth melodies and repetitive, two note guitar sequences that lead the way, creating an almost carnival like atmosphere, but a very evil one, with menacing guitar feedback and layers of synth rising up from the muck to eventually swallow the entire track.
I’m not sure if all copies feature it, or only ones direct from the label, but there was also a CDR included with the LP of all four tracks remixed by Rambutan (one of Century guitarist Eric Hardiman's side projects).The tracks essentially are pulled into a more electronic, experimental based field as opposed the more guitar heavy originals.The balance between original and new is nicely struck, and the four pieces are a different take on the original works.
With both bands working in similar, but different ways on the deconstruction of heavy metal guitar sounds, the two halves of this LP compliment each other nicely.Even though it is a split release, rather than a collaboration, there is a strong sense of unity between them.Between the more spacey Century Plants side and the sinister Locrian half, it’s a wonderful album of variations on a theme.
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As enjoyable as Robert Haigh's albums have been, they never seemed to capture that same aching beauty of his classic albums from the '80s (both under his own name and as Sema). This latest album changes all that. The delicate touch and fragile melodies, which defined his best work, are both present. Sombre without being dour, reflective without being depressing, this represents Haigh's finest work in years.
The album begins sombrely with the title track; slow and nocturnal it sets the pace and the mood for the album. Like most of Anonymous Lights, this initial piece is short (only this and one other piece last longer than three minutes). Each tune is a vignette full of moonlight and dead calm. The influence of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy is obvious throughout but Haigh's unmistakable compositions could not be confused with scores from either composer. The likes of "Fugitive Moonlight" gently dances like light rain, as hypnotic as the natural sound but full of a supernatural magic and evoking the melodic powers of Satie and Debussy without aping their respective styles.
Elsewhere, "Berlin Kino" shows Haigh's superb ear for melody as he crafts a stunning constellation of notes over the pitch black of a repeating rhythm on the lower keys. The album's title and the starry quality of the notes both here and on pretty much every other piece on Anonymous Lights give the impression of being an observer, either a traveller gazing at a distant city or an astronomer casting their sight down the body of a telescope into the infinite heavens. This idea comes through strongest during "Moon Blue Crooks" which also incorporates the sound of a wind gusting through the music giving the feeling of in an old house, ear against the wall listening to a haunting (or haunted) piano as the weather beats the outside of the building.
At the end of Anonymous Lights is a lengthy piece, "Book of Fixed Stars," which evokes the same ghostly feelings as were present in the grooves of those old Sema records. Over the course of the piece, Haigh takes simple building blocks of melodic clusters and puts them together in cryptic, beautiful ways. The already slow pace of the album freezes and almost reaches a stop as Haigh lets each note form fully and ring; the reverberation blurring into the next note and creating a transfixing audio painting.
To call this music beautiful is an understatement. Blixa Bargeld once said that "arms would not be able to stretch as far as necessary
to form an adequate gesture for beauty." I like to think that Haigh has managed to form that gesture through his playing, stretching his arms along an infinite piano keyboard to create a true artistic representation of beauty at its purest.
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CONTENTS :
Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock
'Artuad, Aktionkunst, Abreaction and Eb.er' : texts by Alice Kemp, accompanied by new drawings from Rudolf Eb.er, and a detailed 'Aktiongraphy'.
The Broken Flag Story
An extensive indepth interview with Gary Mundy, covering the career of Ramleh, the complete output of his legendary Broken Flag record label, and also featuring new interviews with the artists responsible for those releases, including: Maurizio Bianchi, Unkommuniti, Mauthausen Orchestra, Satori, Controlled Bleeding, Irritant, JFK, Mauro Teho Teardo ( M.T.T.), Con-Dom Sigillum S, Agog, Giancarlo Toniutti, Vortex Campaign, Le Syndicat, Krang and many more, plus unseen artwork and photographs.
No Fun
Festival curator Carlos Giffoni talk about the New York festival's past, present and future, and covers his work with the No Fun Productions label.
The Politics of HNW
The Rita's Sam McKinlay talks about the obsessive nature of the harsh-head. Includes a list of Sam's essential Wall Noise picks spanning the past two decades. An excellent introduction to wall-riding.
30 Years of The Haters
G.X. Jupitter - Larsen provides a personal history, as well as a delineation of his ideas, methods, and tricks accrued over three decades. The inside story from the man who has made entropy his life's work.
Putrefier
An interview with Mark Durgan, covering his twenty years in the UK's wilderness, from Birthbiter's heyday to the present-day. Includes reminiscences from Andy Bolus about their infamous duo project, Olympic Shit Man !
Sewer Election
Sweden's loudest, Dan Johansson talks about his music, ideas, art and running a tape label. Interview by Mikko Aspa of Grunt.
Zone Nord
An album -by- album look at the discography of this retired French noise legend, including brief commentary from Mr Zone Nord himself, Jean-Luc Angles.
Apraxia
An interview with Patrick Barber, the man behind the label. Covers the output of this legendary label who released Blowhole, Prick Decay, Small Cruel Party and others in the early 90's.
Cheapmachines
An interview with London sound-sculpter and all-'round sonic chameleon Phil Julian.
Climax Denial
An interview with this Milwaukee-based Power Electronics lecher, including an album-by-album analysis.
Alien Brains, Storm Bugs and Anti-Messthetics
A study of the non-careers of two early eighties UK outfits that were very much connected. Includes input from some of the key players, plus lots of vintage artwork.
Interchange
A look at this influential UK fanzine from the mid-80s, plus an interview with its creator, John Smith.
Tunnel Canary
G. X. Jupitter - Larsen tells us about his first memories in Vancouver of this volatile bunch.
IDES
An overview of the primary output of this American tape label, and an interview with its owner, Nicole Chambers.
Classic Albums
A regular feature dedicated to both indepth analysis and memories of overlooked but not forgotten gems from yesteryear. Issue #1 features articles on The Lemon Kittens ( We Buy A Hammer For Daddy ), XX Committee ( Network ) and RJF ( Greater Success In Apprehensions & Convictions ). A collection of thoughts and interviews, including an exclusive interview with ex- XX front-man, Scott Foust.
Opinion Columns
A regular feature from a rotating pool of participatory players with the music they ponder. Includes John Olson ( Wolf Eyes ), Andy Ortmann ( Panicsville ), Mikko Aspa ( Grunt ), Steve Underwood ( Harbinger Sound ), Hicham Chadly ( Nashazphone ), Jonas Kellagher ( Segerhuva ), C. Spencer Yeh ( Burning Star Core ) and Mark Wharton ( Idwal Fisher ) amongst others. Covering artists including Masonna, Vomir, and The Black Phelgm, and ranging from Bizarre Uproar all the way to Christian bluegrass music !
Extensive Reviews Section
Covering output from Ahlzagailzeguh, Angel of Decay, Astro, Bizarre Uproar, Blod, BT.HN, C.C.C.C, Cloama, Craniopagus, Jason Crumer, D.D.A.A, Dieter Muh, Thomas Dimuzio, Emaciator, Fckn' Bstrds, Dino Felipe, FFH, Fire in the Head, Carlos Giffoni, Griefer, Haemorrhaging Fetus, Hair Police, Hair Stylistics, Halthan, Russell Haswell, Haters, Hum of the Druid, Idea Fire Company, Illusion of Safety, Irgun Z'wai Leumi, IRM, Jazkamer, Jazzfinger, G.X. Jupitter - Larsen, K2, Zbigniew Karkowski, KILT, Koeff, Graham Lambkin, Lazy Magnet, Mammal, Mania, Daniel Menche, Menstruation Sisters, MNEM, M.O, Mutant Ape, Nerve Net Noise, The New Blockaders, Nihilist Assault Group, nmperign, Oscillating Innards, Prurient, Putrefier, Raglani, Richard Ramirez, Redglaer, The Rita, RJF, Damion Romero, Romance, Secret Abuse, Shift, Sissy Spacek, Spine Scavenger, Sharpwaist, Sickness, Skeletons Out, Howard Stelzer, Sudden Infant, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Third Door From The Left, Asmus Tietchens, Treriksroset, Tunnel Canary, Whorebutcher, John Weise, Wilt, Wolf Eyes, XX Committee, C. Spencer Yeh, Jason Zeh and many more.
Back Cover artwork by Richard Rupenus ( The New Blockaders ).
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Eliane Radigue / Pauline Oliveros / Yoshi Wada / Sun Circle
"Attention Patterns"
release date: November 26, 2010
catalog#: IMPREC263
format: 2LP & Booklet
LP1:
Side A - Eliane Radigue: Biogenesis
Side B - Pauline Oliveros: Accordion and Voice
LP2:
Side A - Yoshi Wada: Reed Modulation
Side B - Sun Circle: For Yoshi Wada
Booklet Contents:
Interview with Eliane Radigue by Maxime Guitton
Article by Charles Curtis about his collaboration with Eliane Radigue
Interview/Article with Pauline Oliveros by Che Chen
Sonic Meditations by Pauline Oliveros
Interview with Yoshi Wada by Che Chen
Interview with Sun Circle by Che Chen
Attention Patterns is a 2 LP set featuring new and archival compositions by Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue, Yoshi Wada and Sun Circle, as well as a 48 page booklet containing interviews with the composers and related texts. This release brings together composers with shared affinities for long, slowly unfolding durations and unconventional, harmonic approaches to tuning. Each has contributed a full LP side to the compilation. Edition of 600.
Pauline Oliveros’ “Horse Sings from Cloud (Encore)” is a live performance from 1977 that finds her at her most distilled, performing alone with her justly tuned accordion and voice. Eliane Radigue’s electronic work “Biogenesis,” from 1973, uses her ARP synthesizer and recordings of human heartbeats as its main constituents and is the only piece included on the LPs that has been previously released. Sound artist and instrument builder, Yoshi Wada, appears with “Reed Modulations,” a new work for harmonium, audio generators and bagpipe, made in collaboration with his son, Tashi Wada. Greg Davis and Zach Wallace, better known as Sun Circle, have contributed “For Yoshi Wada,” an ecstatic and fitting tribute with its oddly tuned free reed drones and percussion.
The accompanying booklet includes several of Oliveros’ “Sonic Meditations”—verbal scores that formed the basis for her concept of “Deep Listening”—and interviews with Radigue, Wada, and Sun Circle, as well as an in-depth article on collaborating with Radigue by cellist Charles Curtis. Attention Patterns was compiled by Che Chen (whose other outings as anthologist have included the no longer extant, O Sirhan, O Sirhan, a zine that counted Henry Flynt, Bruce McClure, Sir Richard Bishop, Sublime Frequencies, Jessica Rylan, Animal Collective, Deerhoof, Jorge Boehringer and others among it’s featured) and is a co-release between his new imprint, Black Pollen Press, and Important Records. Two LPs, 48 Page Booklet, Letter-pressed Sleeves.
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San Francisco's Barn Owl have always been underground music chameleons, shifting skillfully between ominous drone, distorted amplifier worship, and all the various places in between, but their first album for Thrill Jockey extends that schizophrenia a bit too far for my taste. Fortunately, while Ancestral Star may not be a completely coherent whole, it at least sounds quite good while it is missing the mark.
Ancestral Star begins with Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras making an oddly melodic foray into doom metal with "Sundown," patiently allowing the sludgy power chords and ringing arpeggios plenty of time to decay and feed back.Unfortunately, "Sundown" is still more notable for being a microcosm of everything that is exasperating about much of this album: a cool motif is presented and explored, but it ends too quickly to amount to much and too bluntly alludes to another artist's work (it is impossible to find a review of this album without a mention of Earth).Ancestral Star sounds like the work of several different pretty good bands, but only a few of them are allowed to stretch out and accomplish something memorable.Two- and three-minute running times are a great idea for catchy, structured songs with strong melodies, but drone-based music takes time to suck the listener in.Barn Owl, more often than not, fail to allow their songs proper time to unfold here.Obviously, their previous albums had some short songs too, but they felt more like thematically linked song suites–Ancestral Star feels much more compartmentalized.Also, I want Barn Owl to sound more uniquely like Barn Owl.
If I didn’t know anything about this duo's previous work, I would probably not be as harsh on them.However, I like From Our Mouths a Perpetual Light quite a bit (Conjurer, too, albeit to a lesser extent) and had rather high expectations for this album which were not met.Of course, there's still certainly a lot to like.For one, Ancestral Star definitely sounds much clearer and more immediate than any of the band's other albums, as one of the perks to signing with Thrill Jockey was getting to record in a professional studio.Also, Barn Owl seems to benefit greatly from the presence of guest musicians like Marielle Jakobsons (Darwinsbitch), The Norman Conquest, and the duo's bandmates from their Portraits side-project.Having other people involved definitely seems to draw out Evan and Jon's best work, particularly Portraits' contribution of bells, singing bowls, and non-traditional percussion to the spooky, ritualistic drone of "Incantation."Unfortunately, "Incantation" only lasts 1:58, which makes me want to scream and shake somebody by their shoulders.
Barn Owl can be an excellent band when they force themselves to hold a mood and allow ideas to fully unfold and progress, such as with the roiling distorted drone of the ten-minute title piece–more of that would've been wonderful.Unfortunately, Cominiti and Porras seem to be intent on expanding their palette rather than getting deeper and more focused.I suspect that practically anyone can find something to like about Ancestral Star, but that few will find it very satisfying.
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