Using motors and various pieces of metal, the sculptures of New Zealand artist Len Lye not only move but also emit strange sounds. Lye choreographs twisted sheets of metal and whirring surgical steel into compositional forms that belie their apparent randomness. No mere dusty museum pieces, the sounds his kinetic works produce are every bit as unearthly and unsettling as anything created electronically.
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When I saw the latest incarnation of Current 93 in performance last June, I made it a point to personally tell David that it was by far my favorite lineup and show that I had ever seen of the group, and I meant it. This album is perhaps the most anticipated Current 93 release ever, and it is easily one of, if not, the best.
The irony of Vol. 2 of the Exchange Session is that, even though the three songs are longer, the music is far more controlled, composed, and tighter, as opposed to the improvisational and somewhat looser sound typically associated with long pieces.
As one half of Birds of Delay Steve Warwick makes dirt sediment peppered petroleum noise. With his solo Heatsick project it’s all about exploratory drone, hitting every frequency on his way through. From a growling rusty Harley opening that builds and quickly plummets, scrambling for a handhold, this continues its hi-energy search for the full twenty minutes.
On this four song EP, Tartufi finds a safe formula and sticks to it. Unfortunately, the formula only succeeds on the first song and makes clutter of the others. "Midnight Tracks" has it all—the back and forth fuzzed guitar interplay, the dual vocals, and the multiple changes in direction. The song is performed well, though it’s somewhat standard fare. Those that follow are essentially more of the same.
An original Hook & Hastings tracker-action (non-electric) pipe organ originally constructed in 1881 owns the entirety of this record. The chanting, reminiscent of what Native American and Indian chants I've heard bend space-time, revealing an ether of energy and ideas coursing beneath the visible spectrum. Performed live, this album sounds more like a ritual than a product; it is a distinct and meditative experience that pounds down the doors of the visceral and floods the extended world with a pure, white light.
This is another outstanding emission, the best to date, from the increasingly obviously talented Black Sun Productions collective. With the help of draZen there’s a process of musical distillation going on that sees Massimo and Pierce channelling a sound that’s definitively theirs.
Yay, more prog-punk from Ft. Thunder; this stuff never gets old!Wizardzz features the bassist from Lightning Bolt playing drums and Rich Porteron some retro-futurist keyboard strata, playing into a miniaturized, cartoonversion of L’Bolt doing abbreviated Yes-ian sci-fi vista burners.
Looking back on her fascinating but uneven back catalog, it struck methat the pixie-ish, world-weary chanteuse known as Little Annie "Anxiety" Bandez has pretty much always been at themercy of her producers. Throughout her career, the one constant hasbeen Annie's voice—that smoky, Marianne Faithful drawl andsardonic, campy delivery—but the sound settings in which her vocalshave been placed have been wildly variable, depending upon the producer.
Om isn’t looking to approximate thebombast of their father band Sleep. Although Sleep made at least one epic-length stoner metal anthem, Om triesto jump right for primordial spiritual minimalism, composing albums from 20minute undulant bass and drum dirges, ridden by bassist Al Cisneros’ chant-singingof nonsense adjectives and Tolkienian compounds that are luckily not loudenough in the mix to rise into meaning.
