Label: Central Control International Format: CD,LP Not so much a supergroup as a superhighway-connected collective, mostly based in the south of France, Strings Of Consciousness delight in melding acoustic instruments with electronics, sliding one over the other and processing the former with the latter. The results could be messy, or could be described as extremely hallucinatory soundtracks to that imaginary collective headtrip movie which everyone who composes this sort of music seemingly contributes […]
Label: Vivo format: CD Featuring guest musicans (or sound carriers as Damo Suzuki prefers to refer to his collaborators) from Rovo, Ruins and the legendary Hoppy Kamiyama of God Mountain records and Optical*8, The Fire of Heaven at the End of Universe was, as its subtitle indicates, recorded live at Tokyo’s UFO Club in March 2006. The recording quality is good, if very live sounding and lacking in […]
Dingwall’s, London 15th May 2007 It’s been a while since The Young Gods have appeared in London, but they’re back at last, in support of their new album Supeready/Fragmenté. Dingwall’s turns out to be a good choice of venue, allowing for a capacity crowd but without getting stiflingly overstuffed with people. Support band Shy Child are a duo of a drummer and synth player, the latter playing standing up […]
Bush Hall, London 11th May 2007 Bush Hall is a strangely grand venue for A Hawk And A Hacksaw to appear, all faded burlesque glamour in the plaster cherubim and beneath the voluptuous chandeliers. Given Jeremy Barnes‘ reinvention and re-imagining of a multitude of folk styles, the image conjured by his music is perhaps more one of rustic dances and Eastern European taverns, but since ultimately his music […]
Corsica Studios, London 2nd May 2007 Looking like refugees from several different bands who all met up in a jail cell after a drunken night gone horribly wrong, it’s north London’s finest pirate bar band Owlls, and they really should be playing in Tortuga in the 17th Century rather than Elephant & Castle. But no matter; by the time they’re a couple of songs in you feel like […]
Label: Very Friendly/Adaadat Format: CD/LP Fox Mulder described Bach as having a genius for polyphonic composition. That’s all well and good, and yes it’s all very clever stuff, but there will always be some people who feel that Bach just doesn’t rock enough. DJ Scotch Egg redresses this balance and gives the classics a hardcore noise work over … on a Gameboy, that low tech favourite. The results sound […]
Ether 07 Queen Elizabeth Hall London 3rd March 2007 Christoph Heeman opens proceedings as special guest at the debut London performance of Nurse With Wound as part of the Ether 07 festival. His solo presence onstage, lit by sweeping blue light projections, is not the most engaging of performances visually, but the drones and surges of electronic tones he coaxes from a small assortment of devices soon swell […]
Label: Domino Format: 3CD Remember when it was all the rage for everyone to do an Eno and describe their music as being soundtracks for movies that didn’t exist? (Barry Adamson, In The Nursery – I’m looking at YOU). Not sure if The Third Eye Foundation (aka Matt Elliott) ever made the same claim for his music, but if he didn’t, then I will, and will go further […]
Label: Mute Format: CD/Ltd. ed. CD + hardback book As far as I know, no-one since Stockhausen has attempted a major re-interpretation of the national anthems of the world, and anyone but Laibach would be foolish to try it. There’s little sign here of the triumphalist bombast of “The Final Countdown”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” or “Leben Heisst Leben”, which is surprising given that some of the most notorious imperial […]
Label: 13th Moon Format: CD Alien Sex Fiend were always a strange beast. A lo-fi Electro-Goth Punk band fronted by a demented Alice Cooper obsessive with a scatological sense of humour, they were a bit of a pie (probably a poo pie) in the face to the Goths’ sucky-cheeked solemnity, but still they lapped it up. Odd, yet strangely exhilarating, and quite unforgettable as a live experience, though […]
Label: Mute Format: CD,2LP As purposely obscure and enigmatic as ever, Laibach‘s return to the world of record releases and live shows steps up the pressure they bring to bear upon the listener’s expectations of what this most uncompromising of groups might actually intend and ultimately mean. Presented in German, English and occasionally Serbo-Croat to thumping beats of an orchestral Techno bent, WAT kicks off with one of […]
– Iranair Inflight Magazine – Red Madrassa – Jebel Tariq Label: Muslimim Format: CD – Arabbox Label: Soleilmoon Format: CD –In Search Of Ahmad Shah Masood Label: Nexsound Format: CD Recent months have seen the continuing flow of Muslimgauze releases slow down considerably – given that it is now five years since Bryn Jones‘ untimely death, this is hardly surprising, but that it has taken this long is […]
Faust Pages, paperback 208pp A labour of love from start to finish, this book is both a personal and theoretical analysis of Faust‘s music in their classic era. Andy Wilson‘s detailed track-by-track commentary for each album and assorted other releases are insightful and rarely dry. Instead, he riffs on the music as much in an emotional and political context while clearly outlining the group’s sometimes larger than life […]
The Ralfe Band; The Destroyers; Guillemot; The Paetbog Faeries; Salsa Celtica; Sild; Cheltenham, UK 2nd-4th June 2006 Lying in the green heart of the Cotswold valleys is the small town of Cheltenham, where the remains of the emerald giant Wychwood Forest stands. This had been a site for forest gatherings and folk ceremonies until the 1850s when the land was sold to the Navy, so there is special […]
London 29 May 2006 Drones, reedy and thin, waft out in layers of rolling minimal bliss. They increase dutifully in number and density until the Empire is suffused with them, Alexander Tucker switching pedals and setting up loops of harmonic intensity, nodding like a monk at prayer into his devotional music. The huge bass tone which emanates from his acoustic guitar is a wonder to behold, though from […]
The Garage, London 18th May 2006 In a Garage not exactly rammed to gills for a sold-out gig, Lightning Bolt – positioned as ever in a corner on the floor instead of taking to the stage – open their set with a looped low fidelity rhythm which soon wavers into loudness sliced by stabs of tuning-up sounds. An emergent chug struggles foal-like into unco-ordinated yet groovesome earshot, and […]
The Spitz, London 21st April 2006 Akron/Family are not from Ohio, nor are they apparently related to each other. They are also sometimes Michael Gira‘s band Angels Of Light. Tonight at The Spitz they might be themselves, though along the way they play up a storm of other identities, genres and musical forms. The band are also somewhat hirsute, though not at this stage in their UK tour […]
Sunrise Label: Ektro Format: CD Alotus Label: Klangbad Format: CD Operating at the junction between hard rocking metal and psychedelic space exploration groove melodramas, Circle‘s sound is certainly enveloping in a total manner with nods to the Kosmische sounds seeping across the other side of the Baltic Sea to their native Finland for the last three decades or so as well as the leather-clad tomfoolery of Judas Priestand the single-minded starship thrum of Hawkwind. Alotus opens and closes […]