Given that the drone/doom supergroup Khanate has officially dissolved, there are a slew of similar artists aching to seize that slow, tar covered crown of grimy sludge metal, and Trees do a pretty good job of imitating the aforementioned artists. The problem is, does the world really need more of a style that shamelessly goes nowhere?
Give us an hour, we'll give you music to remember. This week we bring you an episode with brand new music from Softcult, Jim Rafferty, karen vogt, Ex-Easter Island Head, Jon Collin, James Devane, Garth Erasmus, Gary Wilson, and K. Freund, plus some music from the archives from Goldblum, Rachel Goswell, Roy Montgomery. Rubber ducks and a live duck photo from Matthew in the UK. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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As a collaboration between Telescopes founder/consistent member Stephen Lawrie and Vibracathedral Orchestra's Bridget Hayden, it bares little direct resemblance to the former's past work in rock oriented shoegaze and the latter's drone soundscapes. Instead it is a chaotic noise infused work that could shred the speakers with the best of them. Closer inspection, however, reveals that at the core, both artists show their pedigree, and that's what sets this apart from other similar records.
Methadrone is New Jersey-based Craig Pillard, and Sterility is his third album recorded under that name. Sterility brings us eight exquisite examples of the grungy and oppressive bass-heavy dronescapes, augmented by acoustic guitar and vocal elements, that Pillard has made the trademark of Methadrone. Never has doom and darkess been encapsulated so appealingly.
For their second release, FSS has resurrected a 1987 album by this Dutch trio. This was actually their second album, with their debut LP, Hartgore, oozing into the light of day in 1986. The trio, made up of drummer Danny Arnold, guitarist Pieter De Sury, and bassist Marij Hel, further perfected their mean, muscular, and down’n’dirty sound only a year on from that on this second platter. Now, 21 years later, it gets a welcome re-release in the form of a digital download as well as a limited edition vinyl LP.
Here's a self-released EP from a duo delivering on the promise of their self-titled debut. The title track, which could teach Milan Kundera a trick or two about how to deal with philosophical questions in a populist style, has made my musical year.
This is the first time Poland’s Zbigniew Karkowski (currently based in Japan) has released a collaboration with America’s Damion Romero. Both artists have a huge (and often overlapping) list of former partners in crime so it was probably inevitable that they would cross paths. It is a good job they did because this album is one of the best noise albums of the year. Although noise is probably a poor description of it: non-musical, alleatoric experiments in mood being a bit more precise. This is not an exercise in deafening sound but an exploration of low frequency sounds and moving a lot of air with a speaker system.
The debut album from Nashville's Sub-ID combines electronics with jazz and hip hop sensibilities. Their blend of acoustic and electronic instruments is seamless, effectively blurring the line between the two. Yet despite the high production values, too often the songs themselves lack distinction and instead settle for a generic middling of their influences.
Blending concrete sounds with electronics and homemade instruments, the success of Anakrid's latest album hinges on its unpredictability. New, strange sounds lurk around every corner, ready to subvert expectations by adding a spontaneous rhythm, dropping the volume, or the arrival a sudden arrhythmic crash. The result is a frequently bewildering yet thoroughly entertaining recording.
