After hearing Titania,I was eager to know what Michael Turner could do by himself. Angelmarkis his solo project that consists of various electronic flourishes, sixand twelve-string guitars, both electric and acoustic, piano, andpercussive elements. Angelmark is produced so that the aura of the album has the same infinite feeling as Titania,the instrumentation, movements, and attitude are unique. Many of thesongs are pastoral sounding and recall the beauty of a sun-struckprairie while others emit a cool glow that paints a full moon above thecold air interrupted only be the tops of the tallest and most jaggedtrees. The most stunning moments on the album manage to mix somber andhopeful themes together without being overwhelming, but there are othermoments when the music feels like a funeral procession. Some of thesongs, such as "Wave Upon Wave" sound as if they are lacking somethingand the thought springs to mind that perhaps Mandy Cousins could'vedone something with these songs that Turner cannot do alone. Withouther voice, some of these tracks sound a bit too synthetic and they losesome of their emotional appeal. On the other hand there are tracks like"Light-Splintered Eye" and "Like Places We've Been" that manage to walkthat blurred line between a funeral shroud and the brilliance of thesun. The latter is a particularly haunting duel between acoustic guitarand a horn-like synthesizer part that seeps and crawls through thecracks in the walls as if it were after something very important andvery hidden. The swirling of guitars and keyboards meshes in someplaces and at other times borders a bit on the predictable. Angelmarkdoesn't quite hit the same soft-spot that Turner's other project did,but there are some undeniably fine songs to be heard on this disc.
Two new shows just for you. We have squeezed out two extended release episodes for this weekend to get you through this week. They contain mostly new songs but there's also new issues from the vaults. The first show features music from Rider/Horse, Mint Field, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Anastasia Coope, ISAN, Stone Music, La Securite, Bark Psychosis, Jon Rose, Master Wilburn Burchette, Umberto, Wand, Tim Koh, Sun An, and Memory Drawings. The second episode has music by Laibach, Melt-Banana, Chuck Johnson, X, K. Yoshimatsu, Dorothy Carter, Pavel Milyakov, Violence Gratuite, Mark Templeton, Dummy, Endon, body / negative, Midwife, Alberto Boccardi, Divine. Cow in Maui from Veronika in Vienna. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images! |