Recollection GRM De Natura Sonorum seems an impossibly private affair. It feels a little like spying on an old guy as his mind is going and he’s trying to make sense of his belongings, looking at them with old-new eyes, touching them and trying to match the creases, smiling faintly because maybe that person in that clipping might be someone he once new, had a muscle memory of, […]
Album review
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Thrill Jockey Did you know, in this age of budget-slashing and diversion of science funds to the military, that America actually has a SECOND space programme? While Commander Hadfield‘s been channelling Bowie on the International Space Station, and that Japanese dude’s been trading witty bon mots with his robot (yeah, Google it, it’s true, and we DO live in the future), it’s been toiling away at its own […]
Sireena Sireena Records seem to be in the process of reissuing a lot of the old Sky Records release from their back catalogue. This is a lovely-looking edition with original artwork and a booklet with lots of pictures as well as the lyrics, plus a complete run down of all the beautiful old equipment used (which is great if you’re a bit of a synth nerd like myself), […]
Parallax Sounds I’ve seen Acid Mothers Temple numerous times and checked most of their incarnations: those skull-scribbled morays and splintered overlays leaving you blissfully skewed on their satisfaction guarantee; and I’m glad to say this latest offering continues the fun in a erotika of vintage sc-fi and vooming accents, twisting your melon in blurring hooks of vox.
Zoharum This is a classic slice of electro acoustika. A lovingly chaotic fusion of talents from Anthony Donovan, Matt Chilton, Will Connor – and joining forces for this release composer and audio hacker Schuyler Tsuda. The Latin title Sui Generis roughly translates to ‘of its own kind’ and the improvised clatterings and purrings here certainly don’t shy from the fact. The album’s , finger paint your head in […]
Trost Anyone who loves the sound of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, while understandably being put off by their repertoire should check out Steamboat Switzerland. I saw the group live a few years ago and was mightily impressed by the sheer power of their Hammond organ, bass and drums line-up. Possibly more like Egg than ELP to be fair, but also considerably more elemental than any of the UK […]
Sosumi The Ruts were sort of our local punk band, coming originally from Anglesey, but apart from the “In a Rut” single, my punk friends and I never really got them and considered them heavy metal… which as about the worst thing you could be back in 1979! Of course in retrospect they were not really much like heavy metal – it was probably just that they could […]
Overground Who would have guessed all those years ago that there’d still be a strong UK punk scene in 2013? John Robb has been in the midst of it since the very beginning and The Terror of Modern Life shows that he’s not lost an ounce of his energy since then. All the more impressive that he has also recently revived his former gnarly noise combo The Membranes […]
One Little Indian The press release (and CD booklet) draws our attention to Morrissey‘s endorsement of The Woodentops. What’s not mentioned is that although he raved about their debut single “Plenty,” he had already publicly withdrawn his endorsement by the second (or was it third?) single, dismissing the group as has-beens. This three CD set lets us decide for ourselves whether or not he was being a little […]
Frattonove Some apocalyptic but imaginative futurists have posited that mankind will morph into a species of boneless jellyfish, once we leave the protective epidermis of Earth’s gravity well. Artists, musicians and sound designers face a similar dilemma, with a nearly infinite amount of possibilities available to even the cheapest project studio. Therefore the challenge presented to the would-be sound sculptor is one of limitation and self-control. On Erm, […]
Zoharum It’s always good to come across a record which is packaged differently. In the case of Source of Vectors, Zoharum have made the effort to do something different, if not outrageously so – there’s a pleasingly hand-produced quality to the thick fold-out card sleeve, which also bears no particular relation to the size of the CD contained inside. Released as Chapter VIII of the Into Your Hands […]
Cave12 Recorded live in Switzerland in September 2011, Killer_kipper‘s wheezing blend of electronic loops and musique concrète reveals Norbert Möslang at his most single-minded and oppressive. Juddering bass offers little in the way of an ordinary rhythmic foothold, and the scraping, grinding sounds of whatever he’s making scribble like a particularly grating shard of broken glass on the face of what could be metal, might be circuits (bent […]
Bureau B Serious fun to be had here, sock puppets and all. Der Plan’s slick cabaret of strangeness is all over the place, eerie cinematics jutting up against cheesy trips to the German equivalent of Blackpool amusements. Take an eyeful of that gaudy cover for Die Letzte Rache and you instantly know boredom is gonna be in short supply – that plasticined comicbook aesthetic, the singing eels. Yep, […]
x2 Listen 1: Wahey, new Pet Shop Boys! [listens a bit] Wahey! Pet Shop Boys! [scratches] Wahey. Hmm. [more scratching, rolls fag] Is this… uh… well, albums aren’t necessarily the best format for pop. [wanders off] Popjustice.com – probably the only place that talks about pop seriously without going all Paul Morley/ “I’ve got a crit theory degree but no actual liking for women/ gay folk” – has […]
Dirter Promotions This oozes intelligence, and to be honest, there’s always been plenty behind everything Ralf Wehowsky (RLW) puts his hand to, even if it’s often accompanied with lots of head scratching for his listeners. Whether you think he’s poking the fun or stroking its beard with satisfied rigour, he’s there, being significant, a seeker, never fully satisfied, fraying that strait jacket of Western music with an alternative […]
Monotype Okay. Let’s get the press over with; as a press release, this is actually pretty sweet: Given the bleak times we find ourselves in today, Cascone felt that another (he’s referencing the 50 years of Sunshine DBL on Silent) tribute to Herr Hofmann was in order. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first LSD trip, a batch of etheric lysergic soundscapes were contributed to this project […]
Editions Mego COH intrigues because he seems to go elsewhere into the light. Most elsewheres are darkness-bound, content to continue stirring the ambient-stew given to them by their industrial ancestors (so many have made a cuckold of Lustmord) but COH’s music . This release is perhaps the most beautiful yet and works like a prettier, more sophisticated cousin of Rustie; both make music from cut class, COH’s shapes […]
