Taiga Remains - Wax Canopy
(Digitalis Industries ACE015)
CD
Alex Cobb of Taiga Remains is also the person behind the Students of Decay label which, if your at all familiar with it, should give you a fair insight into just where he's coming from with the music on Wax Canopy. Cobb's music is a shimmering glaze of guitar-sourced drone, a fuzzed-up, coruscating kaleidoscope of colour and light with the ability to initiate a gentle shift of perceptions. It's deceptively simple and surprisingly joyous. This isn't an album born out of night time somnambulism but of searing heat and white light. It's fun to listen to (which isn't something you get to say about too many drone albums) and even more so if you crank the volume up a little and really embrace the blissed-out, burn-up of it all.
Tamaru - Figure
(trumn T01)
CD
This set of bass guitar improvisations has at it's base (please excuse the pun) a strict doctrine as outlined in the accompanying notes. Tomaru's setup, through it's simplicity, allows him to fully control the overtones coaxed from his delay drenched bass sounds.
There is an inherent problem in single instrument composition in that it often suffersd from a dearth of available sounds unless one is willing to overdub, something which Tamaru's strict minimalistic improvisational style precludes.
Figure is a little one-dimensional in places but equally the control and finesse displayed is quite something to behold. His tones are pristine and the music moves with a stately grace.
My minor reservation aside this is an interesting and worthwhile foray into improvisational minimalism.
Tate and Liles - Without Season
(Twenty-Hertz THoo8)
CD
I suspect this collaboration had to happen just to get that awful pun of a name out of the way. Here Darren Tate and Andrew Liles create several soundscapes that mix drones, field recordings, and acoustic instrumentation. The slowly evolving drone of 'Part I' builds until the bird, insect and water sounds, that threaten to swamp it completely abruptly cease leaving only the naked drone. 'Part II' sees us back in the bayou being serenaded by Japanese hillbillies (which reads like the plot of an eighties slasher sequel). The next two parts settle us into the warm embrace of the pure drones that these two do so well on their own whilst 'Part V' brings an accordian into the mix for what almost, but not quite, turns into a song. At various times this album reminded me of both Volcano the Bear (a seemingly random approach to instrumentation) and Nurse With Wound (a seemingly random approach to everything) but fortunately what we have here is far more than the sum of it's, maybe not influences but, contemporaries. Tate and Liles are both skilled enough to stamp their own collective identity onto the proceedings producing an album that I suspect will be haunting my player for some time to come. Well worth a listen.
Darren Tate - Reveal
(Fungal 024)
CD
in an earlier review i described Tate's music as having "the feel of a 1950's sci fi movie about it", a lazy description but one that is exceedingly apt. Tate's droneworld is one of electronic pulses and throbbing tones. It conjures up visuals of Metropolis-esque static electricity generators or the Krell Mind Booster machine from Forbidden Planet, all very good things in my world. Reveal opens with a seemingly impenetrable and monolithic wall of sound that hits you like a feather duvet. Half-formed melodies, mal-formed washes and un-formed whispers coast over a series of stately, fluid, sinuous drones. Never pushy or forceful this beautiful and translucent music pours out of the speakers, moulds itself to the shape of the room and surrounds you and caresses you until you can literally feel it flowing over your skin.
Darren Tate - Ghost Guitars
(Fungal)
CD
This is a side of Darren Tate that I'd previously been unaware of. Less introspective, less psychedelic, less drone-based and far more wilfully obtuse than anything I've heard by him before. (Early) Nurse With Wound style rhythms, overlayed with guitar crashes, scrapes and strums, alternating with electronic tones and rubbing against a nonchalently disconcerting accordian all merging into one great and glorious whole.
Darren Tate - Edition
(Fungal)
CDR
There are certain musicians whose work hits you like no other, where every new thing you hear by them instantly becomes your new favourite. Well, here's one of mine.
Edition opens with a tone that grabs your frontal lobe and squeezes before Tate fragments perceptions by introducing and gently layering a bewildering array of sounds. Tate's music exists in a tidal flow of sound. Wave after wave slowly roll out of the mix. Chasing, overlapping, merging or crashing against one another before receding. As ever there is a physicality present in the music, it has a density that belies its delicacy. Tate's sound palette is forceful and insistent yet also subtle and sinuous. Edition is a disorienting, invigorating and metamorphic listen.
Darren Tate - Organ of Seeing
(Fungal)
CDR
I have to admit to a considerable level of bias when reviewing new albums by Darren Tate as he's a friend. I've recently collaborated with him on an album (The Moon As A Hole) and also released one of his albums (Small Worlds) through the Quiet World label. Organ of Seeing is his follow up to that very fine album. Here he continues his exploration of the keyboard and the guitar approaching each instrument in ways that are both unique to him and exquisite to hear. Scattered guitar figures and a variety of amorphous flickers add speckles of colour and light to Tate's cosmic drones. Organ of Seeing has a cohesion that belies the individuality of each of it's constituent tracks.
Darren Tate - Another Sunday
(Fungal 028)
CDR
Darren Tate's place in the pantheon of UK drone acts has long been assured by his collaborations with the likes of Andrew Chalk (as Ora) and Colin Potter (as Monos) but it is on his solo work that we get the closest look at the aesthetic that drives this unique musician. Darren creates an intensely physical form of drone music. Often when listening to his compositions you can almost feel the music impacting, caressing and bathing your skin. His sounds have a presence like no other. This time however he's mixed things up a little. On 'Another Sunday' Darren has foregone his trademark drones and field recordings (apart from on the final track) and instead has adopted the loop. Another Sunday swirls and tumbles it's way through your perceptions and is decidedly more psychedelic than the majority of Darren's releases. My only complaint would be the inclusion of track 4 (which essentially is 5 minutes of field recordings) seems slightly extraneous but equally it is a nice earthy comedown to what is a trip of an album.
Darren Tate - Moon Lit
(Fungal 29)
CDR
A shiny new two track cut from Tate that marries an early slice of effects and field recordings to a brand new pulsating loop. The from the vaults track is waaaay too short but shows that Tate has left the door open for a return to his more angular and dissonant roots. Track two is the psychedelic and decidedly trippy Tate that we here at WWR love as he overlays and contrasts a smorgasbord of pulses, scratches, blips and rumbles to fine effect.
You'll need to be feeling rich though because Moon Lit is anything but cheap. It exists in a miniscule run of 40 numbered copies and each comes with a framed and unique watercolour landscape. Worth every penny.
Darren Tate - Black Beauty
(Locus of Assemblage MASS22)
3" CDR
What looks to be the last of the Locus of mini-Assemblage series for a while at least sees the addition of the ever reliable Darren Tate to the roster of featured artists. Throughout it's run this series has produced many gems and so it's fitting that it ends with an absolute corker. This is Tate at his most mesmeric, creating multi-layered harmonies from pure tones. Recently Tate has been exploring the more psychedelic reaches of his oeuvre and with each release he pushes further into the stratosphere.
Darren Tate - Reflections on a Ceiling
(Fungal 31)
CDR
For the last 18 months Darren has been in the midst of probably the most productive period since he began sending these strange artefacts into the world. Reflections on a Ceiling is the latest of these and seems to show Darren returning to the abstracted soundscapes of his earlier work (as heard on the recent re-issue of Promotion on Twenty Hertz). He seems to be re-evaluating that aspect of his music and finding new ways of exploring it. RoaC is less drone driven than recent work. It's there but it's only one part of the whole as greater prominence is given to his unique take on field recordings and his guitar. There is a maturity to these recordings that show an artist that is in a constant dialogue with his instruments and his music. He has developed a sound that is very much unique to him and is all the better for it. Another fabulous release from this excellent artist.
Darren Tate - A Strange Artifact
(Fungal 032)
CDR
Now it has to be said that Darren makes some of the most remarkable drone music of anyone working in the field but of late he has put his longform tendencies to one side and re-embraced the abstractions that characterised some of his earlier work. This very limited re-issue of an obscure cut from 2004 is a case in point. The sound is dominated by environmental samples and Tate's brutally primitive squeezebox and sleepily haphazard guitar. Over the course of the album Tate traverses a variety of terrains - all of them slightly purple and a bit squidgy (like a warm Stretch Armstrong) but which fit really well inside your head. Always recommended.
Darren Tate - When An Insect Visits Your Window
(Fungal 035)
CDR
As many of you no doubt already know I have a close working relationship with the erstwhile Mr. Tate. At the time of writing we've made three albums together (with another on the way) and I've released one of his albums through Quiet World. I even designed the sleeve for this album. So, with all possible bias put aside here goes.
For me Darren is at his best when he's utterly absorbed in his two favourite toys, his guitar and his keyboard - especially his keyboard. When he really gets into the depths of his synth he pulls out some truly mesmerising sounds as is fortunately the case here. Darren has produced an album worthy of any of the early 70's kosmiche pioneers. His guitar makes an occasional appearance but it is the pulses and swoops of his electronics that carry the ambience towards the stars. His choice of sounds walk a narrow line between being horribly dated and supra-contemporary, luckily in hands as capable as his it is the latter that comes to the fore.
It's been too long since he last put out any, widely available, new music (there have been a few unique albums produced for Art Into Life in Japan) and it's a joy to hear his beautifully psychedelic sounds once again.
Tetragrammaton - Elegy for Native Tongues
(Subvalent Records SBV001)
2CD
Tokyo free music trio Tetragrammaton create a brutally uncompromising cascade of sound. Drummer Nobunaga’s often unrelenting drum patterns driving the music as Cal Lyall’s guitar and TOMO’s hurdy gurdy & sax wail, soar, honk, clang, buzz, humm, squeak and squeal.
This nicely packaged double CD features the trio in the studio (disc 1) and live (disc 2) and in both cases it’s pretty extreme stuff. The studio disc is, I think, probably the more satisfying as they take several opportunities to turn down the fire and allow the music to simmer for a moment or two before once again returning to full blaze.
I like the obdurate nature of the music but I must admit to finding these recordings a little one dimensional (and tiring) although a lot of that is down to the sound. By half way through the first disc I was physically craving some bass. Everything is pitched in the mid and upper range. I fully accept that the bass isn’t the most dynamic of instruments and this is fiery music but for me that extra element would have raised this from being a good album to being a great album.
The Boy - Beat
(Mousikokinima :(Mavres) Trihes 002)
CDR
Greek musician and film-maker Alexander Voulgaris here constructs a series of tangled and restless glitchscapades mixing together malformed melodies with arrhythmic beats. Whilst parts of this album create a distinct and absorbing soundworld it is hard to fully embrace when one realises that what Voulgaris has done is create a set of simple songs and then reversed them all so they play backwards. If he'd tried this with one song I could understand it as an experiment but with five songs (the whole album) it sounds one-dimensional and ultimately a little boring.
Theo - Encouragement
(Ingue Records)
CDR
Fabulous little post-rock ep of guitar & drums (along with a battery of effects) all played live and simultaneous by one lonely (but very clever) chap from Worcester in the UK called Sam Knight. Musically it's very reminiscent of the woefully under-rated Ganger with it's math sensibilities and looped melodies. It's melodic and hypnotic and utterly deceitful in it's apparent structural simplicity but that is purely down to Knight's skill in his craft.
Regardless of the fact that it's a one man band what you get here is simply astonishingly good. The only part I have issues with is the ugly synth sound on tracks 3 and 4 but I can accept that when the rest of the music is this good.
I am truly gob-smacked by how good this ep is. Buy it now before it's gone forever.
Three Strings - 3s - Second
(etlefeucomme_net label / 003)
MP3
Released as a download on Belgium net label Et Le Feu Comme, ‘3s - Second’ is a set of improvised explorations from Norwegian Musician Terje Paulsen using primarily an acoustic guitar and an un-named ‘old folk instrument’ both of which have been reduced to only three strings. Different techniques, equipment and strategies have been used to augment and manipulate the sounds of these instruments. I really liked the other Paulsen release I’ve heard (Landform - see elsewhere this issue) but this is even better. He operates in a tightly controlled soundworld with not a single note misplaced or superfluous. In less talented hands I would find this to be a fairly tedious proposition as I like my music to retain the hap-hazard feel of a human hand guiding it. Paulsen though has created a simply stunning set of diverse improvisations - sometimes amorphous, oft-times ambiguous and always ambitious - that I will be returning to again and again.
throuRoof - Whale Bones
(Sentient Recognition Archive SRA 006)
CDR
Slow build dark drone album from this Italian sound-maker that mixes ominous tones with occasional forays into echo laden almost ritualistic drumming. I generally find this sort of portentous music to be either quite tedious or un-intentionally funny but Throuroof manages to completely avoid the second of those pitfalls while skirting around the edges of the former. There are parts of this album that are allowed to continue way too long to maintain my interest but fortunately when they do change it's always in a worthwhile direction that pulls me back into the embrace of the music for a while at least before that too stays past it's welcome. Of the two tracks it is the second that is for me the most successful, it's mid-pitched tones overlapping and tripping through their journey. It's a far more ambient excursion than the first and one that is genuinely engaging and immersive.
An album that is very much recommended for it's second track but with reservations about the first.
Tidal / Peter Duimelinks - Ablution
(Alluvial Recordings)
CD
Having once more (second time this year) managed to infect my computer with a virus I'm writing this review into a battered red notebook and so have no information to give you on just who or what Tidal or Peter Duimelinks are and is. They may well be one and the same person for all I know.
The single 20 minute track that makes up Ablution is founded on a post-industrial tectonic rumble upon which is layered a host of rubbed and raw sounds, some identifiable, some not. It's gritty textures are well chosen and interwoven with a delicate touch. Ablution doesn't really do anything that is unexpected or new but I suspect that's not the point. It's a nice little album, or maybe that should be EP, that offers a thoroughly enjoyable way to while away 20 minutes.
Tigers Jaw - Belongs to the Dead
(Summersteps Records Handmade SUM-HM 003)
CDR
I don't listen to a lot of pop music these days. There was a time when it was all I listened to but that was a while ago. These days I treat it more as a sort of sugar addiction. Every now and again I get the uncontrollable urge to binge on something soft and sugary. It's a craving that must be sated. Usually I go straight for 'Slanted and Enchanted' or '...Comforter Collector' era Grandaddy or maybe an early Flaming Lips or two. There are others, played less often, loved slightly less but loved nonetheless. Today I'm going to add Tigers Jaw to the list. The flaws are quite profound. The muddy production renders much of the instrumentation flat and lifeless but the song writing is concise and massively happy. On the wrong day 'Belongs to the Dead' would be a diabetes inducing dose of sweetness that would make my teeth ache. On the right day, in the right place, it's perfect pop music.
Giancarlo Toniutti - Qwalsamtimutkw?Italuc'ik (And Now He Almost Did Make
Himself Into Hemlock Needles, It Is Said)
(Alluvial Recordings A27)
CD
Definitely the album I was most looking forward to hearing in this months pile of seedees, Toniutti's beautifully packaged album on Alluvial Recordings is a tour-de-force of experimental simplicity. Composed on a 'Rattle-Harp' (a self-built bowed, long thin wire construction), Toniutti's recording was originally conceived as an accompaniment to an exhibition by Luisa Tomasetig. As such it does, I feel, suffer slightly by the absence of it's visual counterpart as for vast swathes of the 59:59 runtime the static-minimalism that characterises Toniutti's work is very static and very minimal. During these parts I found my attention wandering away from the music and also the workaday sounds of life continuing around me rendered chunks of the composition inaudible.
When the stars align however and the world is quiet and the attention is focussed this album fully reveals itself. This isn't an album about change this is an album about stillness. Change is there but in a less-time conscious way than the norm. It usually takes the form of vague speckles of sound that briefly alter the landscape before it returns once more to it's former state.
It must be said though that I did find the minimalism on display here to be a somewhat punishing listen. I don't think this album will be making regular visits to my player but in the course of writing this review it's been played more than half a dozen times and each time I've appreciated it's subtleties more so who can say for sure.
Tortured by Turtles - Vilnius Qui Dort
(Gun Cums Gum)
CDR
Crazy Lithuanians with what seems like a mountain of instruments and noise making devices producing a fairly joyous and cacophonous mash-up of styles, sounds, melodies, rhythms and beats. This manages to be simultaneously serene and psychotic through an intelligent and wilful juxtaposition of ideas. It's easily the strangest thing I've heard this month and also, potentially, the best.
Tricorn & Queue - Continual Passage
(Stunned #17)
Cass
The curiously named Tricorn & Queue is by far the most accessible of the 3 releases on Stunned Records that are featured in this months Wonderful Wooden Reasons. They confidently straddle the blurry line between psychedelic experimentation and free-form abstraction and produce some sumptuous music. Their forte is very much in the cascading almost-melodies upon which they build their compositions before hiding them behind smoke and mirrors that gives the music a blissfully oneiric quality.
Scott Tuma - Not for Nobody
(Digitalis Arts et Crafts Editions ACE010)
CD
I've been doing Wonderful Wooden Reasons for a few years now and over time it became clear that certain labels are an almost sure sign of a quality release. Faraway Press is one, Die Stadt another but for sheer scope of vision and excellence of music nothing comes close to Digitalis Industries. So far this year, four of the best albums I've heard have been released on this label. Finding a Digitalis envelope on my doormat in the morning puts a spring in my step for the rest of the day.
Apparently Scott Tuma is a bit of a legend in his own quiet way having previously released a couple of solo albums as well as being part of Souled American and Boxhead Ensemble. Personally, I'd never heard of any of them so this album came as a spectacular surprise. Being stylistically very similar, Scott Tuma's music is the beautifully stoned to the Dirty Three's beautifully drunk. It is entrancingly haphazard, each note feels meticulously strewn. The music sits down next to you and keeps you company for the best part of an hour (or more if you press repeat). It tells you stories and makes your mind soar and your heart sing.
I love this album.
Twenty-Hertz Drone Series #'s 1 - 10 (but not #6)
(Twenty-Hertz)
CD-R
The earlier numbers in this series have been out for quite a while now but as I only bought my copies quite recently and as they are all still available from the label (I checked) what started out as a review of #10 is now a review of, almost, the entire series. So, with a deep breath, here we go.
First up is label boss Paul Bradley's contribution which is a nice enough start to the series but feels quite tenuous and ultimately doesn't really go anywhere. Colin Potter arrives with #2, the first of his two installments. Shimmering and sparkling aren't adjectives that are usually given to drone works but both apply here. It shifts gear several times over the course of its 23 minutes and it's all rather wonderful. Potters second appearance follows with #3's collaboration between him and Phil Mouldycliff. A wonderfully cavernous feel to the track, complete with the sounds of dripping water, serve to make this an altogether more orchestral and grandiose release than the others. Darren Tate's offering brings us back into the light with his superbly controlled mid-range drones. Whilst Tate's contribution has the feel of 1950's sci fi movie about it, Freiband (which, if memory serves, is a Vidna Obmana side-project) offer the sound of pure outer space. Piercing sinewaves and deep, dark spacey drones serve to make this not only one of the more unique sounding in the series but also one of the best. For some reason #6 has been deleted so it's on to #7 which absolutely floored me. Andrew Liles is fast becoming one of the most talked about UK drone musicians and on the evidence of this it's a reputation well deservered. Crystal clear, tightly controlled and utterly sublime. Next up is Cheapmachines with an altogether more industrial sounding contribution. This is a much harsher take on the drone which is very welcome but, as with #1, there's not really enough happening to fully keep my attention for the duration.. If you really want to see what this guy can do go to his website and download the stunning 'Lamina' you won't regret it. David Wells enters the fray with #9 taking everything up a notch with his top-end digital fractures played against a constantly evolving backdrop of differing textures from 'organ drones' to 'wave noise'. For big chunks this is drone in name only but it is rather good. Finally we get to #10 which I've read (in Vital I think) is to be the last of the series. If this is true then Irr. App. (ext) provide one hell of a finale. Huge great tidal waves of drone surge from the speakers replacing the understatment of many of the others in the series with pure unashamed bombast. This is fab and it knows it but that's cool because this is by far the best of what is a pretty good series.
Ubeboet - Spectra
(Twenty Hertz TH017)
CDR
Con-V label head Miguel Angel Tolosa here conjures a series of beguiling and palatial ambient tone pieces. Gracefully unfurling sounds form a billowing tapestry upon which Tolosa gradually and patiently constructs his breathy and disconcerting soundscapes. At a cursory glance it's easy to dismiss these pieces as being slightly insubstantial but listeners willing to take the time and effort to immerse themselves in the pool of sound will find layers and nuances to absorb and explore.
Ubeboet - Albada
(Locus of Assemblage mass19)
3" CDR
Miguel Tolosa once more emerges from behind the Con-V label to adopt his Ubeboet persona for his contribution to Locus Of's mini-assemblage series. Each teeny-weeny CDR in this series is a treasure trove of delight for drone enthusiasts and this is no exception. Tolosa takes the listener on a diving sleigh ride of sound, pulling and nudging the sounds into a bewildering array of shapes and puzzles that he then forces us to negotiate. His primordial roar cossets and buffets and pounds and submerges sounding very much like the soundtrack to all the documentaries about volcanoes I watched as a kid. You can feel the power and the ferocity contained within these sounds but the simple and organic way in which Tolosa handles his material allows it to maintain a naturalistic cohesion that is often lost in recordings of this type. Hugely recommended.
Mirko Uhlig - The Nightmiller
(Mystery Sea MS47)
CDR
I'm ill so I think it might just be the medication talking but Nightmiller sounds to me like a great job title.
'Who are you?'
'I am the Nightmiller! Beware my finely-ground floury wrath!!!'
Mirko Uhlig's Nightmiller however is a lot mellower than the one in my head. His is more the painterly sort, delicately mixing his palette of only the warmest of hues to create a sumptuously warm landscape into which to travel.
To continue with my painting metaphor, Uhlig works with long, steady, confidant brushstrokes. His colours clear and precise. At no point does this work feel spontaneous but instead there is an aura of meticulous planning in this display of masterly technique. If this description makes 'The Nightmiller' sound dry and unwelcoming then I apologise because it is neither of these things. While it is true that the immediacy of more unstructured or improvised music is absent the sheer quality of what has been crafted in it's place more than makes up for it and makes Nightmiller one of the finest drone albums it's been my pleasure to hear this year.
Mirko Uhlig - Supper
(AFE II2LCD)
CDR
In case it hadn't been noticed before I really do love a good drone. One note stretched to infinity is pretty much my aural nirvana (although I am also very partial to a good acid-fried freak-out) and so the drone stuff I get sent does tend to be listened to with fairly eager ears, the other stuff too but, if I'm being totally truthful, my day definitely perks up if a parcel lands on my mat by someone I know is also partial to making minimal use of the notes available to him or her. This is particularly true when it's by someone I know is going to produce something wonderful. Mirko Uhlig's subtle, shadowy, rolling drones first crossed my path via his 'Nightmiller' release on Belgium label Mystery Sea. Supper continues where it's predecessor left off. It's a stunning album of tightly controlled tonalities slowly winding a meandering path to it's chosen destination. Nothing you can do will hurry this album along. If you give it too much focus it seems to slow down almost to a complete halt. It's best to just relax into it and allow it to carry you along. Uhlig introduces new sounds, colours and textures with such calm dexterity that often it is impossible to notice their arrival until you are utterly caught up in them.
As before, this is a stunning album that you should seek out post haste.
Um Fall Am - Things Went By
(Split Femur Recordings SFR009)
CD
Guitar seems to be the instrument of choice for releases on Split Femur. The three albums I've heard have all taken this most over-used of instruments and presented it in interesting and arresting ways. Um Fall Am is the musical identity of a London based chap called David Cooper who lays his warm and gentle folk-styled instrumentals over a river of field recordings. Occasionally things hover dangerously close to twee new-ageishness (track three's pairing of a slightly insipid guitar melody and birdsong) but on the whole the quality of Cooper's musicianship and his ear for an interesting sound hold him in good stead making Things Went By a cosy and comfortable duvet of an album.
Well worth a listen.
Underjordiska - Dystert Vilse
(New Age Dawn / Stellar Auditorium Productions)
CDR
Dahl from Underjordiska is angry! There's a vein throbbing in his forehead, his eyes are wide and staring and he's gone a bit purple. He's angry! Angry! Angry! Angry! And demonic! Grrr! Snarl! Grrr! You can tell all these things because he's shouting. He's shouting a lot and he's doing it with loads of distortion and quite quietly in the mix so it sounds more evil. And really dated. I thought people stopped doing this sort of comedy devilry years ago. It's a tired old horse that's been worked to death, flogged, revived as an evil zombie horse, then worked and flogged some more before being left to rot in a field (an evil field). It's a tired and hackneyed musical cliche but I thought it had been given up on mostly because it sounds crap!
Right about now you're probably asking yourself 'I thought he didn't write about albums he didn't like. What happened to the 'no slagging stuff off' rule?' Well, it's not been forgotten, or ignored, because behind the vocals is some really nice music. A Branca like swarm of buzzing guitars that create a dynamic and restless gothic drone that would have lovers of bands such as Skullflower dropping to their knees in worship at the altar of Underjordiska. If they can get past the vocals they probably still will be but personally I couldn't.
Underjordiska & Spectral Lore - Split
(New Age Dawn / Stellar Auditorium Productions)
CDR
It's a very different sounding Underjordiska that opens up this split album to the one that appears on his own New Age Dawn release. Throughout that other album I was wishing he'd shut up and go the instrumental route but this really isn't what I expected would happen if he did. His 32 minute contribution here is probably the polar opposite of that other release. Gone is the furious guitar abuse an in it's place is a sedate and stately melodic drone piece. The muddiness of the mix means that full immersion in the soundworld is difficult but his deft ear for noise, melody and composition means that this is an engaging listen.
Spectral Lore offer more of the same but accompany it with a nastier, grittier edge. Theirs is a slow-wash drone music drenched in an acidic cocktail that has, in places, corroded their drones into a rasping, ragged, beautiful grind. In other places their drones are billowing and malleable although, as with the previous track the muddy mix does spoil things a little. There is a minor glitch around two thirds of the way through the track with the introduction of some new instrumentation which serves only to burst the carefully modulated ambience but things are soon back on track (please excuse the pun) and things are wrapped up nicely.
Underjordiska's solo album I recommended with reservations. This split album I'm just going to recommend.
Unimother 27
(Pineal Gland PG 001)
CD
The problem with repetition in music is that it can go one of two ways. It's either going to be tremendously irritating or simply tremendous. Luckily, this is the latter as Piero (Ranalli) opens his cosmic excursion of an album with a series of overlapping strums and plucks. This is followed by a good old-school krautrock workout which is where Unimother 27 seems most content. A slight over-reliance on the synth means things do occasionally get a little too prog for my tastes (primarily track 4) and some of the playing (mainly the bass) is a little leaden but generally this is good, solid psychedelia in the vein of Popol Vuh or Ash Ra Tempel. I think the addition of some other musicians would enliven the music giving it a looser, jam-based edge than it currently has but I'll always have time for psychedelic rock music that's not afraid to abandon riffs for a little cosmic freeforming.
Unimother 27 - Grin
(Pineal Gland PG003)
CDR
Piero Ranalli's Unimother 27 (I wonder what happened to the other 26?) is a one man band psyche-prog project with the emphasis this time far more on the prog than it was with his self titled release that I reviewed here the other year. In the early part of 'Grin' there is less of an edge to this release as he seems to be holding his compositions under tighter reign which is a shame as it was the Krautrock style freeforming that I really liked the last time out. As the record progresses however it just gets better and better. The compositions loosen and take on a life of their own rather than mimicking the prog of the past (which surely is a contradiction in terms).
For me this is an album of two distinct halves and I suspect that will be the case for other listeners also. I'm really not a fan of straight prog - in all honesty it irritates the hell out of me - and the first two tracks here are very prog but when the musicianship that comes with it is married with a genuinely exploratory spirit (as is the case of the latter half of this album) then I'm all in favour.
Uton - We're Only In It For The Spirit
(Digitalis DIGI052)
CD
Uton first came to my attention via the exuberant praise of Darren Tate who for the past couple of years has been mining the Finish underground for aural gold. Jani Hirvonen's Uton (here joined by J.P. Koho) has been, for me at least, the stand-out find of that search.
On 'We're Only In It...' the pairing conjure up a set of enchantingly dark psychedelia that mixes drones and acoustic instrumentation with nebulous noise. The music is rarely content to remain static for long, it's forward momentum propelling it through a myriad of permutations almost all of which are as unexpected as they are obvious. It's an entrancing listen that has been a nightmare to review as I keep drifting off into it and forgetting to write anything until the sudden stop at the end jars me back into awareness.
V/A - Altered Neurologycal Function Vol.1
(R.o.N.F. Records RNF-030)
CDR
Spanish dark-noise label R.o.N.F. have travelled the world in order to populate this slick compilation album and it's quite a line up. There are a number of familiar names here alongside some interesting newcomers.
From the USA, Darph / Nader (which I just noticed I had mistakenly written as Darth Nader) open proceedings nicely with a deep and dark soft focus grind. Fellow Americans Ctephin follow this with an almost symphonic composition of soaring tones and hissing menace. A very nice five minute visit to Spain in the company of Tzesne and their rolling loops and insistent drones and then it's back to the USA with Mystified for a driving drone piece that melded very nicely with the drilling coming from my next door neighbour. Next up is the also drill friendly C_utter (from Spain) whose swooping voices are a little too old hat for my taste (the drone is nice though). Back to the USA for Death Trance who have melded some misleadingly gentle upper register tones with a speaker killing tectonic rumble. A visit to The Netherlands with Kristus Kut brings proceedings back to a low and slow almost industrial grind. Norway's Swamps Up Nostrils continue the low-key approach with a short but sweet somnambulant dark ambient construction as do Americans Flat Affect. The sole UK representative Project Horsed create a very nice loop based psychedelia before Norss (Netherlands) returns to earth with his subterranean dark-drone. The ickily named Americans, Flower of Flesh & Blood take a more noisily digital approach full of eardrum rupturing high frequency waves and grimy swooshes before Spaniards, No, end the journey with a noisily apt track of (what I think is) guitar noise and singing.
Most compilations are pretty hit or miss affairs and there are a couple of tracks here that didn't really move me but when all's said and done there are way more hits here than there are misses and if you are interested in exploring some new names in the dark-ambient / dark-noise genres then you'd do a lot worse than checking this out.
V/A - Bluesanct Mixtape 2008
(Bluesanct)
CDR
I'm not 100% sure why I'm writing this review as you can't actually buy this album. It arrived accompanying the Caethua album 'Village of the Dammed' from a label (Bluesanct, obviously) I'd not come across before. It's intended as a label taster for reviewers and lucky bastards like myself. I've not heard of a single one of the 13 bands that make up the runtime but my god it's an absolute corker of an album.
Now compilations are always a mixed bag. The chances of you liking every track on an album of this sort is always going to be slim but I'm hooked by the lot, some very much so but I'm not going to single anyone out as their all worthy of a mention. I should probably give you some pointers as to where it all is musically. I think maybe the more gently psychedelic of the American indie bands especially people like Low, Songs Ohia, etc, there's a bit of acoustic folkiness and some vague allusions towards low-key country americana.
So, why am I writing this review? I think I'm writing it for the reason I started Wonderful Wooden reasons in the first place which was to be a pointer towards music that was interesting, exciting, fun, worthwhile and underappreciated. Well here's 13 cases in point on one disc and they're all worth the effort of tracking them down. Bravo Bluesanct.
V/A - The Corwood Variations
(Summersteps Records Handmade SUM-HM 001)
CDR
Right, first off let me just say that I have no idea who Jandek is! There I've admitted to my unhipness. Sure I've heard the name and seen a photo of some skinny guy dressed in black at a gig in Glasgow a year or two back but that's it. Never heard a note! Not a one! Nothing! Nada! Zip! Zilch! Sweet F.A.! Equally, I've only heard of one outfit (Burning Star Core) on this companion disc to Summerstep Records two Jandek tribute albums and I've not heard anything by them either. So, fresh ears.
If the first 4 tracks are any indication then this Jandek chap produces fey-keyboard-bluesy-indie 'n' roll-droney-experimental-lounge jazz. I'm confused! I'm enjoying myself but I'm confused. Like all compilations this is a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the indifferent. Being a tribute album its main appeal is always going to be with fans but if like me you're a complete novice there's still plenty to enjoy.
V/A - Drones since before the dawn of time: M. I. Compilation Vol. 4
(Musically Incorrect Records)
CD-R
I’m moving house at the moment and I’m spending all my time sorting through the debris of having lived in the same flat for ten years. Earlier I was boxing up my books and playing, very loudly, was this album. It’s big and noisy and droney and I thoroughly enjoyed it. To this point I’ve not even looked at who’s on it and I don’t really care because it was perfect for the moment.
It's now a month later, the books are unpacked and I've finally got the time to sit and listen to the stack of seedees that has gathered over xmas and the new year. The album opens with noisemongers Grey Park whose 'Hundred Years Old' gets things off to a riotously noisy start before Skullpture enter the fray with three, untitled, tracks of their own particular brand of harsh guitar improv. Flutwacht's 'Course of a River' is 13 minutes of pounding noise whilst Am's two untitled offerings are at first glance a more 'traditional' and 'musical' beast, until that is the razor sharp wall of guitar noise puts the lie to that idea and they follow it up with their superb Throbbing Gristle style second track. Half Mile Down continue the old school industrial feel marrying vague phasing noise with assorted boops and swoops and Crossbred meld their eerie effects with some vaguely middle eastern sounding melodies, think the opening desert sequence of The Exorcist as soundtracked by Coil. A damn fine album that you really ought to hear.
V/A - I, Mute Hummings
(Ex Ovo EX001)
CD
I find compilations really hard to review! Mainly because you want to give everyone on it an equal shout but that's not always possible or particularly recommended. Often some of the tracks are a bit crap so you try to avoid writing much about them because it's not big or clever to slag someone off but equally if you write nothing then it's like you've ignored them or written them off as being beneath comment and that's probably worse.
You feel you have to discuss the pacing of the album but that usually feels forced because compilations aren't organic like single artist albums. The individual tracks often have little in common (especially with experimental music) except some vague thematic link that's often been imposed by the compiler. Then you have to sound knowledgeable about the bands on the disk most of whom you, at best, have a passing familiarity with or more commonly have never heard of. All this and a limited number of words to do it in.
Fortunately what we have here falls mostly on the happy sides of the above complaints. 'I, Mute Happenings' is a 9 track compilation to launch this new German label. The line-up is impressive, the music more so. Dealing mostly with etheric, somnolent and narcotic sounds Ex Ovo have brought together an impressive array of musicians who display a refreshing lack of uniformity in their approaches and their sounds. From Keith Berry’s slowly unfurling wash to Dronaement’s LP crackle melded with drones and chirps. From Paul Bradley’s immersive, crystalline tones to Fear Falls Burning's slowly strummed guitar and Richard Lainhart’s choral keyboards. There are others, all worth a mention, but this review is already too long, While some moments do fall a little flat others are vibrant (often in the same track). It’s an intriguing album, nothing particularly stands out but it’s a good showcase for an interesting new label.
Compilations, often a bitch to review but sometimes a joy to hear.
V/A - Koji Tano Tribute
(Steinklang Industries)
Download
A 10 disc box set of tracks donated in tribute to the late, Japanese noisey chap, Koji Tano (of MSBR). Yeah, I know what you're thinking, '10 disc box set!?! I can't bloody afford that!' and 'How did you get one of those? Are you made of money?'. Well, the important facts to notice here is that it's a free to download box set and there is no box in the set. The 158 tracks that make up this project were all donated in the two week period following Tano's death and they provide, in a manner of which i'm certain he'd have approved, a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable snapshot of the world's noise scene. There are a few of the more recognisable names here, Emil Beaulieau and KK Null, but this is the realm of the deep underground and consists of, in my case, around 152 bands I'd never heard before. It's as though Xmas has arrived 2 months early.
Luckily the nice SI people have split them into seperate zipped cds for ease of downloading (CD07 wasn't working when I tried but hopefully that will be fixed soon). What we have here is one very big album. Rarely does an individual track stick it's neck out and demand your attention but equally it never fades completely into the background. For me it's the tracks utilising more 'organic' sounds that engage my full attention where the majority offer a more digital edge to their compositions. I'm struggling here as I'm loathe to pick out individuals from the mass because really it works best as a whole. That's not to say the tracks all sound the same, in fact, quite the opposite. There is a huge range of, well, noises on display here as we run all the way from sheets of ear-scraping feedback to delicate wind instrumentation via detours into glitch, dark ambient and industrial territories. It's easily worth the time it takes to download as well as the time it takes to listen to for that matter.
V/A - Lost In Translation
(Verato Project)
CDR
4 way split compilation featuring Kenji Siratori, Goghal, Torturing Nurse and Fever Spoor. 3 of these I'd heard before but Ghogal are a new prospect but knowing what the other three do means (noise and lots of it) I can make a fairly good guess as to what they'll sound like and I'm right.
Lost In Translation is a pretty homogenous affair. No one act stands out from the others but all deliver an engaging variety of shrieking maelstroms of electronic noise. I liked it. Not sure why. I got magnificently pissed on cheap red wine last night and woke up today without a hangover or a care in the world so I suspect that may be a factor but, fuck it, I'm declaring today Shrieking Noise Day and this album can be it's theme tune.
V/A - Radical Turf presents: Hello Future
(Radical Turf RT303)
CD
I really don't know what to write about this. It's so far outside my normal listening parameters that I'm pretty much at a loss for words. My first impression is that the title seems a bit of a misnomer. To my ears this isn't so much a salute to the future more a homage to sounds past. There are a plethora of synth tones on display here that have been evidenced on albums for, at least, the last 20 years. Equally though many of those self same tones have a pedigree unmatched in electronica and are used here with aplomb. The occasional foray into hip hop and drum & bass, some impressive beatwork and a unity (but not uniformity) of sound make Hello Future an intriguing play.
Various - R.I.N.O. an international compilation
(Roil Noise RNOCDR071)
CDR
Compilations drive me insane. Not in the listening process but in the reviewing one. You see a lot of this album was, in my opinion, awful. Power electronics and muscular noise workouts of the type that makes my bowels itch. Some of it was astoundingly mediocre and some of it was really pretty damn good. The bad ones I'm not going to name because to do so would really suck, the mediocre ones I'm not going to name because that would be rude and the good ones...well...I'll happily name them. Android in Motion vs. Ghoul Detail, Ctephin vs. Elser, Cull, XDUGEF vs. GDR, Tada, Opium Farmer & Sturclub. Why these? Mainly because they're all going their own way to some extent and that's always interesting to hear.
Interesting but not essential.
V/A - Sarah Dear Sarah! Spacemen Don't Live On Mars
(CREAMcropzine 2006e)
CDR
Right here's the situation. Compilations, love listening to them, hate reviewing them. Regular readers will be well aware of this as I've ranted on many an occasion on this subject. Compilations, particularly punk compilations, are always a mixed bag in terms of both quality and style. Actually I'm going to rephrase that. Compilations, particularly good compilations, are always a mixed bag in terms of both quality and style. And this my friends is what we reviewer types call a damn fucking good compilation! Slightly battered singer / songwriter tunesmiths (Richard Burke) stands shoulder to shoulder with angular noisecore outfits (One Louder) whilst inordinately happy pop bands (Hypermarket - they even whistle) queue up alongside punk rawk groups (Cosmicdirt). And that's just to name 4 of the 19 bands featured.
The only artist I'd heard of on this entire album is H2S and that's only because I got one of his albums in the same envelope as this one. Not everything was exactly my cup of tea but none of them were bad songs per se they just weren't really my thing so I'm not naming names. Nothing made me hit the skip button, most are pretty good and at least half had me grinning like a loon.
V / A - What Pleasing The Lord Looks Like Marriage: Extreme Noise…And Terror
From Japan & Israel
(Heart & Crossbone HCB-020)
CD
Wrapped by that very odd title is a compilation featuring 4 Israeli and 4 Japanese purveyors of extreme music. Like all comps it’s a series of highs and lows. The general gist of this one seems to be slow and sludgy with some real dodgy generic bronchitis vocals - Ryokuchi, Cadaver Eyes, Zenocide - or total noise (with or without added shouting) - LietterSchpichDiet, Poochlatz, Remesh, Neverless - or both - MONEYI$GOD.
Some tracks I liked more than others. Some bits of tracks I liked more than others but with this sort of stuff the chances are that my choices would be entirely different from yours. I’d be surprised if this ever hits my seedee player again but it was fun to listen through and if noise or doom is your bag then I’d be surprised if you didn’t find something to your liking here.
Veliu Namai - Pasiklyde
(Perineum #26)
CDR
Now this one really came as a surprise. I think I was expecting bass heavy dark ambient rumble from this Lithuanian musician and instead I got the gentle meanderings of slow Angelo Badalamenti-esque synth compositions.
One man band Veliu Namai (the name means 'The house of souls') is an interesting prospect. He obviously has a real knack for putting a composition together and the early part of the album is very fine indeed but as it progressed I found my interest waning. It's certainly not because his compositions deteriorate it's simply because he doesn't alter the mood. The same air of distracted melancholy is maintained for the entirety of the album and I found myself getting very bored indeed - I just can't take this much navel gazing in one sitting. Split over two albums or simply adding some other ambiences to the mix would have raised this album from being merely listenable to being highly recommended.
Velveeta Heartbreak - I Shot The Invisible Man / Secret Beach Boys Fans
(Semper LoFi Recordings SLFR0001)
7"
If there's one way of getting on my good side before I even start listening to your record it's to send it on vinyl. In particular 7" vinyl. I love 'em! Always have, probably always will. A true design classic that'll never be bettered.
Most of the music I listen to isn't very well suited to the format. The drone music that takes up most of my ear-space takes place over times more suitable to ice-ages than 7" run-times. Velveeta Heartbreak (or Michael Bowman to be more precise) makes music that is perfectly suited to the format. Short, concise, pop songs that shimmy out of your speakers like sonic smiles. Of the two tracks it was the b side that made the bigger impression as it's the slightly stranger and looser of the two which is exactly how I like my pop (and my women but that's probably more info than you need). Summer music on a sunny spring day, life should always be this good.
Viosac - You Are Planning To Enjoy The Apocalypse
(VATS2)
CD
These Canadians, who are more commonly known by the unwieldy name of 'Violence and the Sacred', have produced an album of two distinct halves. The first is dominated by disjointed Korg synthesizer compositions which I found to be hugely tedious, to the point that I'd pretty much decided not to review the album. Overly insistent cavalcades of bleeps and boops have never been of particular interest to me. Luckily I persevered though as on track 5 the album suddenly unfolds to reveal hidden depths. The Korg is restrained (but ever-present) and it is joined by a wider variety of sounds and instrumentation that allow the music to breathe and to grow.
I'm still not hugely taken with the album but I do think that fans of the less intense ends of experimental and industrial music will find something of interest here.
Vopat - Lathe ep
(Inam Records 26)
3" CDR
Vopat - Call To Them
(Public Guilt PGL006)
3" CDR
Terrific pair of instrumental post rock ep's on little teeny cdrs. They both have much to recommend. Lathe is the more melodic of the two with an almost pop sensibility peeking through in places (the opening of track 2) but in general this music places itself squarely to the left of centre and isn't afraid to change direction on a whim.
Call To Them is the more muscular release opening with some pretty fiery Mogwai-esque guitar abuse that falls into a more mellow excursion before it gets all dark and heavy and full of shrieking guitars on track 3 (one day I'll learn to look at track titles).
I must admit that at no point have I listened to either ep in isolation and so they do kinda blur into one album in my mind and I have to say it's a damn good album. So, my recommendation would be...please, for god's sake, don't buy either one of these ep's! Instead, invest your money wisely and buy both of these eps.
(inamrecs (AT) yahoo.com)
(VxPxC) - Chinatown Nose-Cut
(Dead Sea Liner 11)
CDR
Part dada-ist circus music montage, part industrial soundscape, these unwieldy named Americans have produced an album that Throbbing Gristle would have been happy to put their name to. The instrumentation is buried in the production morass but the ideas are very much to the fore. Occasional dirge-like vocals do strain my attention a little but they are few and the music is generally carried along by a willingness and a wilfulness that is to be admired.
