After a prolonged absence, Italy's Eidvlon re-emerge into the harsh light of day for the first time in seven years with Idolatriae, a heavy trove of dark mutterings and arcane rumblings extracted from the deepest recesses of both the human psyche and the dankest caverns of earth.
Hotter than July. This week's episode has plenty of fresh new music by Marie Davidson, Kim Gordon, Mabe Fratti, Guided By Voices, Holy Tongue meets Shackleton, Softcult, Terence Fixmer, Alan Licht, pigbaby, and Eiko Ishibashi, plus some vault goodies from Bombay S Jayashri and Pete Namlook & Richie Hawtin. Solstice moon in West Midlands, UK photo by James. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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The late period Elvis sideburns that Albin Julius has been sporting in recent photos do not seem to be simply an aesthetic selection: he has fully embraced the cult of rock and roll. Although vestiges remain, he and the rest of the band have pushed away from the neofolk and avant garde martial trappings of the past into their own semi-perverted form of rock music.
The Room40 label is quickly establishing itself as a touchstone for oblique, esoteric electronic experimentation. So on first glance, this album's cover art of a flower seems somewhat out of place among the austere design and digital graphic manipulations. It is, however, a very appropriate image given that beyond all of the digital processing and trappings, what lies beneath the layers is a subtle, beautifully melodic work that retains the innate warmth of the acoustic instruments that form the source material of these tracks.
Every time an Earth album is released I maintain that it is a contender for being their best work. This is no exception. Taking their country sound even further south, this album sees the music take on a vibrant and colorful life of its own, a step away from the monochrome bleakness of Hex. Like the Biblical reference of the album's title, the imposing muscle of Earth's music has brought forth sweetness.
This is the final part of Nicolai Dunger's autobiographical musical trilogy, following on from the first two releases in 2005 and 2006, both of which are confusingly titled A Taste of Ra. In more ways than one, this last installment is probably his most adventurous musical exploration yet.
According to the label, this band was formed by writer/film-maker Philip Mullarkey to create music for and perform live with his art/film project Box. The artists, who have collaborated with the likes of Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble, Fantomas, Melt Banana and Kronos Quartet, among others, met without any planning or preparation and simply improvised together over the span of two days. They must have been a natural fit with one another, because the tracks presented here come together as a well composed suite of out there space rock/free jazz tracks rather than the live-to-tape improvisation that they truly are.
Guessmen nail fat pop choruses to rowdy dancefloor organic/digital hybridised belters, cementing them into their weird rag and bone musical world. With an alleyway lyrical eye for demented characters this trio pilot the line between cartoon, narratives and character pieces. Helmed by characters with sharp collars and bloody knuckles, their chip-and-pin medicine show molarises genres till only the vitals remain.
At first reference, this could easily end up pegged as a Pan Sonic side project, given that Ilpo Väisänen is one of the three members of Angel, but the music itself does not paint itself in that way, and other than the use of some textural electronic elements has no auditory connection with his other band. Don't take that as a slight against this project at all, it just an entirely different animal that, unfortunately, opens with a misstep that isn't disastrous, but isn't a high point either. The remaining three quarters, however, more than make up for it.
It would be fine by me if Belong were to repeat the lush distortion of their debut October Language forever. Instead, on Colorloss Record they turn down the bass a little and add lots of vocals that they process just shy of oblivion. All of which creates a feeling similar to listening to A Hard Day’s Night through your teeth.
