On this first release in nearly 2 years, Finnish artist Sasu Ripatti allows a greater amount of his former life as a jazz drummer to enter the fray, offsetting the digital ambience and chaos of his work with a greater sense of the organic, bringing with him Lucio Capece on reeds and Craig Armstrong on piano. The result isn’t quite the jazz trio sound the lineup would suggest but certainly a more natural sound than other releases in the Delay discography.
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The duo of Susanna Wallumrød and Morten Qvenild are finally back with a new album but with some disconcerting stylistic changes. While there are still a handful of excellent songs strewn about, the "magical" moments are now locked in a mortal struggle with "early Sarah McLachlan-esque" ones (made infinitely more confusing and improbable by the production involvement of Deathprod's Helge Sten). I fear for where this project is headed.
Christina Carter's music has been compared to Jandek's lately, but that analogy goes only so far in describing what she does. Her style is bare and equally ghostly, but unlike her Texan brother's output, Carter's music on Lace Heart is immediately approachable and tranquil. Each song is a sigh of yearning and contemplation but the hypnotic strumming of her guitar and the power of her voice generate a heavy and sensuous undertow.
Just 21 years old at the time of this recording, this preternaturally gifted Aussie composer has unleashed a striking and assured debut that draws upon influences from somewhat “difficult” modern classicists such as George Crumb and Alfred Schnittke. Unexpectedly, however, Gardiner largely eschews the complexity and overt experimentation of his precursors in favor of pared-down elegance and melodic simplicity (albeit with some darkly dissonant harmonies).
This sprawling, oft-fascinating limited edition double album of live collaborations features some rather surprising detours from Erik Carlson's previous work. As all of the pieces were composed specifically for performances at Providence's Cormack Planetarium, most of those detours lead towards some appropriately space music and krautrock-influenced places. Carlson, ably assisted by an array of like-minded experimentalists, seems quite at home outside the confines of his usual sound and continues his recent string of impressive albums.
This release collects two songs from a 2007 collaboration between two of the most prolific and unique artists to emerge from the doom metal milieu. That union, needless to say, held (and holds) enormous potential. While this is not the absolute monster of an album that I had hoped it would be, many flashes of brilliance and inspiration still manage to burst through the slow-motion, shambling doomfest that resulted.
Retaining the sense of minimalism and drone that the label has put itself at the forefront of, Horseback forgoes the dark creaky sounds and quiet moments to instead crank up the amps into full on stoner rock mode. Sticking to repeated mantras of Sabbath inspired grind, there is a sort of kinship to the likes of Loop and Spacemen 3 in approach, even if the sound is much different.
Justin Broadrick had previously stated that this album was going to be a return of the more "organic" Jesu sound, and compared to everything since Conqueror, it by far is. Consisting of a single 18 minute piece, Infinity feels much more in league with some of the more melancholy Godflesh work, and especially the first Heart Ache EP. Any naysayers that say the man has gone soft won't feel the same way after this one.
Matt Elliott is an expert at covering his music in melancholic dross. This approach is very fitting for Failing Songs, as the subjects explored through his lyrics are not the most uplifting. Furthermore the instruments used have piquant old world flavor, recalling a time when extended families relied on making music together as a way of escaping the dreariness of life. These songs of failure focus on humanities shortcomings and the steady downward decline of civilization. It's perfect for a time when the evidence of human failure is everywhere to be seen.
On cool summer mornings along the Pacific, clouds will roll in from the sea and blot out the sun, suffusing the land with a luminous gloom. Like an overcast day, Desolation Wilderness envelopes the listener by obscuring the outside world. In New Universe, the group blends a wide range of instruments and voices into wavelike masses of hazy rock and roll, evoking the loneliness and grandeur of a deserted coastal highway.
