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15 February 2009

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Albums and Singles

Using E-bows (probably) and sculpted feedback, this guitar-based drone duo from Grenoble, France have achieved a masterful balance between womblike bliss and disquietude. This is an understated and obscure gem.

Peasant Magik

This cassette-only release consists of two very similar sounding ambient-drone pieces (perhaps two halves of the same piece) built upon what the label describes as "expertly crafted, drifting guitar feedback. Ranging from Sunroof!-esque shimmering skree to glacial amplifier buzz." It certainly is glacial, no argument there. As for the skree, I am not entirely sure. "Skree" is something of a pseudo-word that is not clearly defined, but I believe in this case it means an insectoid hum. That is equally apt.

Both pieces are based upon a sustained pure, wavering tone and a low drone, and slowly swell and ebb as additional tracks of feedback and hum wash in and out. It never becomes harsh, but abrupt noises intermittently stumble into the mix (backwards chords, radio noises, some vaguely sinister rumblings deep in the mix that may be mangled speech) to keep things from being totally predictable or one-dimensional. Listening to this album is not unlike (I suspect), lying in a field surrounded by crickets whose comforting whine is weirdly shifting in subtly psychedelic ways. Every now and then a darker or harsher tone breaks through the cricket hum, threatening to shatter the nocturnal idyll and remind you that there is an ugly world waiting just outside, but it is always overpowered by your helpful acid-cricket pals almost immediately.

Guitarists Pierre Faure and Thierry Monnier display a striking and egoless command of nuance, control, and patience throughout. The World Upside-Down never escalates, incorporates other instruments, or really changes mood. It just floats. Endlessly and hypnotically. At least, it does if your cassette player automatically flips tapes. Otherwise it only floats hypnotically for two twenty-minute stretches.

This is the first Peasant Magik release that I was exposed to. I have historically not followed the cassette-only noise genre too closely (even after being blindsided by the amazing Natural Snow Buildings). However, I have since heard some other releases from this label and they are also pretty unique and intriguing. This is still my favorite though. It is a shame only 99 other people will be able to share my experience (as it's limited edition to 100).

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14 February 2009

Matthew Spencer

Albums and Singles

Anyone who has ever run a label, booked a venue, or reviewed a record knows what its like to be overwhelmed the volume of music vying for your attention. Between day-jobs, time-out, and catching some shut-eye, there isn‚Äôt enough time in the day to give every artist out there exposure, regardless of whether they deserve it or not. Faced with that dilemma, Cardboard Records decided to err on the side of generosity in the process of compiling this double CD.

¬†

Cardboard

Billing scene-makers alongside basement-dwellers, this compilation aims at representing the current music underground as whole. A quixotic goal perhaps, but the sheer volume of artists (57 in total) gives a good overview current experimental rock. Though most of the songs on the compilation are previously unreleased, many of the more familiar bands opted to throw an album track. For instance, the Fuck Buttons contribution is just a truncated version of "Ribs Out" which appeared on Street Horrrsing.Yet for those small disappointments, completists looking for and exclusive track by their favorite band won't all be disappointed. My highlights include Gowns' mournful ode "What if not You" or Shooting Spires' cover of the Bad Brains tune "Sailn' On."

Thrown in with these prominent names are dozens of groups seemingly pulled at random from anonymity. Nice as the gesture is, the unknown bands contribute most of the weak tracks on the compilation. Whether Fat Day or Mr. Baby deserve obscurity is a decision that Cardboard has handed over to the listener. I'm flattered that they assume so much patience on my part, but some editorial restraint would have made the compilation flow a lot better. Listening through the whole thing can be a frustrating exercise, depending on your ability to take wild jumps in genre and recording fidelity. Over just a few tracks, the CDs will cycle between atonal drone music to political punk to folk music to noise rock.The songs are arranged alphabetically by artist name, preventing any sort of thematic cohesion. While listening to the completion, I often skipped forward in search of something better.

Though the intention behind Love and Circuits is good natured, the quality of the tracks varies too wildly. Camaraderie is great behind the scenes, but hard choices need to be made once you think about an audience. As much as I like Cardboard Records, I think some thinning would have made this compilation a lot better.

14 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

A series of improvisations based on the sea, Low Cloud Means Death sees guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, percussionist Kevin Corcoran and accordionist, pianist and general musical mastermind Christian Kiefer engaging in some sparse instrumental dialogue that falls somewhere between Morton Feldman's glacial compositions and the patient interactions of Henry Threadgill's Air while maintaining a subtle, near folksy chordal palette.

Digitalis Recordings

If the ocean is indeed the inspiration here then this is an awfully loose interpretation aside from the track names. Where the ocean is an intimidating force whose scope is vast and untamable, this work is actually quite intimate and delicate in feel. Each sound is given ample space to make itself known before the ever-present silence (maybe this is the oceanic representative...) makes clear its presence once more, infusing the work with an atypical warmth and physicality rather than its standard role as an evoker of tension.

The lengthy "Drowned Arch" opens the disc by setting up its loose and relaxed sonic environment. Kiefer's piano trickles its notes about with clean flourishes that ring in near classicist drama while Akiyama's guitar floats beneath with angular, folkloric storylines somehow simultaneously reminiscent of Loren Connors and Derek Bailey. Given that the approach of the group is as spare as it is, Corcoran's percussion is often limited to brief punctuations and soft textural statements, a task which he approaches delicately and with a fine ear. Despite its length, the work has the same sense of drifting mobility as the rest of the album.

There is a near lazy approach here, never rushed or alarmed but always steeped in strange dissonances and eerie sonic spaces. "The Vision Ship" sees Kiefer pumping his accordion to create a voluminous, undulating drone for Akiyama and Corcoran to dabble atop on. The song's ship makes itself apparent in the form of slow wooden creaks that are perhaps a bit obvious; conversely, these are wholly submersive sounds immediately and easily associated with that very specific sonic moment, and the trio keeps the sound from becoming trite with their continuous interactions atop it. Kiefer's accordion improvisations around the creaks are as odd and intriguing as anything on here, often sounding nearly electronic.

While minimal improvisation has surely been done before—often with mixed results—this trio seems to have found their own angle on it. It is refreshing in these experimentally fertile times to hear a group doing something of this ilk without electronic assistance, a quality which allows for maximum control and instantaneous response times. The result is an intimate and, apparently, oceanic affair. Let's just take their word on that if it creates music this good.

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14 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Culled from recordings discovered by member Klaus Freudigmann, this disc represents a crucial bit of evidence in the lesser known manifestation of Kluster. Recorded live in 1971, Vulcano sees the trio of Conrad Schnitzler, Wolfgang Seidel, and the aforementioned Freudigmann engaging in far more experimental electronic excursions than their counterparts, Roedelius and Mobius, would ever delve into.

Important

The concert is, as near as I can tell, a continuous improvised work, though the label makes the wise choice of splitting the work into 23 short tracks, each of which bleeds into the other effortlessly while still managing to present individual ideas within them. This is clearly a carefully appreciated sonic artifact.

That said, the work's continuous nature allows for the band to take their sound into pockets that fit well in this format; one minute the piece is filled with metallic synth attacks, and the next it submerges into echoing vocals and the hum of telephone wires. While this schizophrenic approach is often disastrous however, Kluster have the curious creativity and improvisational prowess to prevent the work from being crushed under its own weight. With ample space left between most of the proceedings, every sound becomes its own piece as it slides out across the room. The textural richness of each sound is given its due, allowing the whole to remain absorbing and interesting throughout. One can picture the trio hunkered down in wonder as they manipulate their homemade gadgets, only to be met with a sonic environment that appears as exciting to them as to any audience that may have been present.

It is this sense of genuine experimentation that pervades these recordings and makes them so exciting. Light percussive taps appear only to be supplemented by flute meanderings and mumbling synthesizer lines. Swampy decrescendos slip downward into static fuzz. Gentle whispers ride among circuit-bent punctuations before looped vocals decay across barren industrial soundscapes. This sort of brave, even reckless interplay fills the entire performance with strange and intriguing delights that remain unique, even by today's standards.

Perhaps Kluster's strength lies in their distinctly German stance. Far enough removed from the Haight-Ashbury scene, Kluster was able to partake in a musical realm that was open to those working in the relatively flowerless environments that they did without losing any of the social implications of a fully improvised electronic music. Pulling as much from Don Cherry as Karlheinz Stockhausen, the work represents a critical piece of German music at a time when the country was filled with it. That Schnitzler's Kluster remains as overlooked as it does can hopefully be remedied by loving and deserved reissues such as this.

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13 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Artist: Sistrenatus
Title: Sensitive Disturbance
Catalogue No: CSR108CD
Barcode: 8 2356647112 7
Format: CD in jewelcase
Genre: Black Ambient / Industrial
Shipping: Now

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Blurring the lines between Dark Ambient, Industrial and Noise, Sistrenatus storms forth, shifting between oppressive aggression and unsettling atmospheres. "Sensitive Disturbance" is the third offering from this now legendary Canadian act, whose debut "Division One" was issued on Cold Spring in 2007. An aural journey through the urban decay of abandoned factories, scorched landscapes and underground passageways. "Sensitive Disturbance" is an abrasive rendition of the industrial revolution in its darkest phases.

Tracks: 1. Disrepair | 2. Frequency Contamination | 3. Rusted Earth | 4. Echoes From The Past | 5. Slow-Wave | 6. Lost Transmission | 7. Forgotten

\n This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.coldspring.co.uk

13 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Artist: Bleeding Heart Narrative
Title: All That Was Missing We Never Had In The World
Catalogue No: CSR106CD
Barcode: 8 23566471325
Format: CD in digipak
Genre: Orchestral / Avant-Garde
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Reissue of the stunning debut BHN album from spring 2008 (Ltd x 200). Working with a constantly evolving autumnal orchestra of layered cellos, repeating piano melodies, hushed vocals and mutant textures of sound and noise, Bleeding Heart Narrative has constructed a unique, haunting and compelling album. BHN is the work of sole composer, artist and producer Oliver Barrett, working in the live spectrum as a septet. Presented in a digipak with the new and exclusive bonus track 'Blueskywards'. We can't recommend this highly enough!�

Tracks: 1. BHN | 2. As If Yearning Was All And More Than Enough | 3. Black Glass | 4. Braids And A Necklace | 5. Blueskywards |
6. A Nest | 7. This Is The World Before This Is | 8. Discovering Abandoned Houses | 9. Nothing Is Out In The Yard
10. Though Your Feet Have Left Footprints | 11. Finding The Door | 12. Lillian Gish

\n This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.coldspring.co.uk

13 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Artist: TenHornedBeast
Title: My Horns Are A Flame To Draw Down The Truth
Catalogue No: CSR106CD
Barcode: 8 2356647092 2
Format: CD in digipak
Genre: Guitar Drone / Doom / Dark Ambient
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The TenHornedBeast rises again. Five new compositions from black ambient / doom overlord Christopher Walton - three remixes / expansions / contractions of songs from the debut album "The Sacred Truth" and two totally new pieces that are in a similar style to this dark masterpiece. Walton has stripped some of the songs to their bare bones and allowed them space to breathe again. This album is all-new but continues the atmosphere of the debut and can be considered a companion piece. Presented in a matt-laminate, spot-varnished digipak.�

Tracks: 1. Ruins Son | 2. Black Wals Rusing / Black Stars Falling | 3. My Horns Are A Flame To Draw Down The Truth |
4. The Sword Was Our Pope | 5. Fenris Wolf

\n This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.coldspring.co.uk

13 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Artist: Anni Hogan
Title: Kickabye
Catalogue No: CSR99CD
Barcode: 8 2356648862 0
Format: 2CD in jewelcase
Genre: Murder Ballads, Funeral Pop, Experimental
Shipping: 30th March 2009

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From her early days as a legendary Batcave DJ, through her work wth Marc Almond (Marc And The Mambas, Willing Sinners, La Magia), Anni Hogan is one of the true geniuses of the alternative scene. A composer, songwriter, arranger, producer, promoter and DJ, she helped to shape the sound of the 80s.

In a musical career spanning three decades she has worked with many successful artists in a variety of capacities. As a DJ she performed with artists including: Soft Cell, The The, Einstürzende Neubauten, Test Dept, Japan, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Adrian Sherwood. On Piano and Keyboards she has performed live and in studios all over the world with artists including: Soft Cell, Simon Fisher Turner, Nick Cave, Paul Weller, Barry Adamson, Lydia Lunch, Zeke Manyika, Sex Gang Children, Yello, Caged Baby and of course Marc Almond.

Cold Spring is proud to present her debut release expanded and brought to the public for the first time on CD.

"Kickabye" features some of the leading lights of the alternative scene: NICK CAVE on 'Vixo' (exclusive to this release), MARC ALMOND on 'Burning Boats', FOETUS, BUDGIE (Siouxsie And The Banshees) and GINI BALL amongst others.

The first CD is the original "Kickabye" EP (produced by Jim "Foetus" Thirwell), plus 10 extra tracks from the same period.

The second CD is also tracks from the same period. 'Blue Nabou' features YELLO. Production by BARRY ADAMSON on 'Hopes And Fears', 'Wasting Time', 'Senseless', 'A Place To Belong', 'Everything We Do', 'Self', 'The Story So Far' and 'Each Day'.

This digitally remastered work contains new and exclusive versions of 'The Frost Comes Tomorrow' (originally released on "The Stars We Are" by Marc Almond), 'The Hustler' (originally released on "Mother Fist" by Marc Almond), 'Blood Tide' (originally released on "Violent Silence" by Marc Almond), 'Margaret' (originally released on "Untitled" by Marc And The Mambas).�

08 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Born out of improvisations and a drawn-out postproduction, this album could have been an overworked mess. Instead, this is one of those occasions where slow and steady wins the race. After four years working together, these three collaborators have created a serene collection of gentle music. Fragile melodies and ghostly atmospheres are balanced by blissful jams, all coming together to make a truly remarkable release.

Mosz

The three pieces on the second disc (one of those neat 3” CDs embedded in a 5” CD) were assembled from raw group improvisations, each member of the group making one piece each. It does not say in the sleeve notes who has assembled which track but judging from the amount of glitchy computer noise, “Tau” is the work of Fennesz. It could very easily fit on to one of his solo albums but is not the most captivating work of his I have heard (provided it is him!). “Me Son,” on the other hand, has a very different feel to it. The electronic treatments are kept to being background texture and the instruments are left clean. It is not a million miles away from Autistic Daughters (Dafeldecker and Brandlmayr’s band with Dean Roberts). The end result is a nice, clear rock improvisation that is packs large amounts of joy into its five minutes.

These three pieces were then taken, re-edited, augmented, changed and processed over the course of four years to give the album’s title track, a long and spacious piece that little resembles the raw materials, much like the ingredients of a cake are very different from the cake itself. New additions, such as Brandlmayr’s piano and more guitars courtesy of Fennesz, add further flavour to the piece. Large spaces of silence punctuate the delicate and largely sedate musical passages; the mood of the piece is a million light years away from its volatile title.

Considering the length of time it has taken to create these two discs, it is unlikely that there will be another release soon but the depth and accessibility of these four pieces will entertain me for a long time. Till the Old World’s Blown Up and a New One is Created is a wonderful aside from three excellent musicians, showing themselves in a different light to usual and creating beautiful music in the process.

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08 February 2009

Creaig Dunton

Albums and Singles

This odd little multicolored 7" record puts these two relatively young projects together, and demonstrates just how diverse the so called "noise" scene can be. While both mix elements of contemporary drone, Locrian layers and moulds sound into structured chaos, while Katchmare focuses on simple, singular sounds to create an oddly toned piece of noise.

Pilgrim Talk

The Locrian track "Drosscape"” first begins with bass drone and modulated guitar feedback, building tension before dark, clanging sounds and processed screams stab sharply into the track, followed by a traditional wall of electronic noise and guitar pedal abuse that straddles the more subtle underpinnings, taking what was once a guitar drone track into harsh noise territory. Just as some headbanging loop-centric elements begin to really dominate the track, it immediately drops to complete silence.

The Katchmare side sticks with stuttering overdriven noises, early on resembling the loping chug of an old lawnmower before amping up into the traditional overdriven harsh noise style, but rather than sustaining the blast, it begins to uncomfortably cut out, fade to silence before roaring back in, or get chopped up into tiny delays of sound that lead me to question when the track was going to actually end.

If I had to pick a side, it'd go to the Locrian one because it has a wider array of sound and a more dramatic build, but Katchmare's track is a good piece of raw noise crunch that sometimes is just needed to aid in digestion and clearing off shelves, so it is by no means ignorable.

08 February 2009

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Originally released a bit over ten years ago, this third (and final) album from the Sutcliffe Jugend side project had always been one of the lost masterpieces, as far I was concerned. It was the most fully realized work of dark, anger fueled hate rock that the band put out, and ranks up there with the best work of somewhat similar bands like Swans, Godflesh, and Big Black. Time has been kind to the disc, which sounds just as powerful and forceful today as it was upon release, and now it is much more widely available.

Relapse

Long before starting with Brainwashed, I used to run a personal site that did music reviews, which transitioned to a short-lived webzine. After my review of the first album, Mindshaft, bassist Gary Kean sent me a copy of this album upon release, which was on his Purity label. By far, I received more comments and emails about this disc than anything else I reviewed at the time, mostly asking where I got the album. Finally, Relapse has reissued it with three extra tracks, which are culled from the Completion disc of demos and unreleased tracks.

Bodychoke’s previous albums were great, but still somewhat flawed: Mindshaft was too tentative, and Five Prostitutes was too sprawling and uneven. Cold River Songs, on the other hand, was a fully realized album that incorporated many different elements, yet felt like a cohesive work. The first two tracks alone exemplify this: "Control" opens with a barrage of pure, raw guitar noise that wasn't far removed from the contemporaneous Sutcliffe Jugend work, which segued into cello, then pummeling drums, and screamed vocals from Kevin Tomkins.

The next track, "Cold River Song," is a much longer ten minute piece that opens with some gentle guitar before the drums kick in, the track remaining a contrast of clean guitar and cello, but at the same time blown out noise bass and guitar. Structurally it builds in tension, the calm vocals throughout most of the verses are punctuated with the screamed choruses. It all builds to a crescendo that is first eerily calm, and then unhinged and violent, before closing beautifully.

"Your Submission" is another track that emphasizes this duality: it focuses initially on cello, unconventional guitar sounds over a quiet rhythm and the calmer vocals of Paul Taylor before the track explodes into screams, rapid fire drums, and pure guitar noise. The chaos carries over into "Victim," which has a cello lead over guitar squall and tribal drumming.

The penultimate track (on the original album) "Ideal Home" is perhaps the most significant departure here. Not only does it remain a slow, reserved track driven by cello and bass, but also represents the most drastic differences lyrically. Most of the album is thematically linked to general themes of misogyny and murder of the libertinage sort, but rather than similar bands (noise or otherwise) singular focus, here it is the insecurities and weaknesses of the fictional criminal(s) that are the topic. Original album closer "Aftermath" is another dramatic, mostly instrumental piece that meshes careful restraint with dissonant squall to great effect, but remains second to the 16 minute feedback behemoth "The Red Sea," that closed Five Prostitutes.

The three bonus tracks here are obviously drawn from the same sessions and would have not been out of place on the original release. "White Light Killer" is a rapid-fire rhythm track lead by distorted bass that blows out into raw noise at the choruses, structurally and conceptually similar to "Control," but it still stands on its own. The level of polish on this demo makes me think it may have been intended for the rumored album on American Recordings (yes, Rick Rubin's label) that was never finished, and the band disintegrated. "Woman Unkind" is a contrast between extremely sparse instrumentation and quiet vocals and sheets of jagged noise guitar, and its thin lo-fi production is a strength rather than a weakness. "Trial" feels like a companion piece to "Victim," its early Killing Joke like drums, distorted bass, and cello mixed with Paul Taylor's screaming vocals.

While the disc is purported to be remastered, I am skeptical. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, because the original issue sounded, and still sounds great. The bonus tracks have a general roughness to them, which is not surprising given they were originally demos. Relapse's presentation, however, leaves something to be desired. The inclusion of the full lyrics is a definite bonus, and it is always reassuring to know that my interpretation of the words wasn't too far off, but the art design smacks too much of trying to market it as "metal" and “extreme." The faux crime scene black and white photography and bold, block fonts aren't as pleasing as the original pressing's black and white cover painting and sparse layout.

It's nitpicky, but my love for this album would no doubt lead me to pick out flaws. For the average person, none of this will matter, because the music is the most important element, and that is entirely spot-on. The more important thing is that this album is once again seeing the light of day, and hopefully it will not remain as unknown and unappreciated for the next ten years.

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