Bristol 1 December 2017 Tucked in to the stage edges, Modulus III were a threesome of dual synthesizer drums and the rub of a cello, they cruised through some lovely motorik hypnotics. Musically siphoning their inspiration from a multitude of ports, but safely jutting out of entrapment, they notched up plenty of fireworks.
Michael Rodham-Heaps
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Bristol 23 November 2017 Drastically redefining notions of jazz, Bristol-based Calcine Quartet were a textural pleasure. Dominic Lash‘s double bass shovelling, Matthew Grigg‘s crumbled fret skutters sending the speakers into spasms. A gravelly diesel chug, breaking ranks in a ping of overspilling metal melded to the rusty hinged squeal from Rebecca Sneddon‘s sax.
Transgredient Stretching from the Maeror Tri cassette years to the present day Troum incarnation, Drone Records founder Baraka[H] and Glit[S]ch have created some of the best drone work on the planet. First experienced their taste for the infinite through the excellent Tjukurrpa trilogy and have been partial to their wares ever since. Here dark ambienteers Raison D’etre have joined forces with the German duo for their follow up to […]
Mute Marking four decades since Throbbing Gristle gave the world industrial music and a sharp shock to the system that made the punk rock scene exploding around them seem tame and backwards-looking by comparison, Mute are releasing anniversary editions of the band’s key albums. The Second Annual Report That splash of cover’s corporate blandness gives you little idea of the dirty pearls actively seeking your disapproval inside. 1977 […]
Aphelion Editions EP/64 is the band, a threesome of drums, electronics and vocal abstracts from Nick Janaway, Dan Johnson and Dali De Saint Paul. This tasty artefact documents some mighty fine live action, the date of which is betrayed by the Roman numerals of the title.
Front & Follow Ten years after its inception, Front and Follow‘s roster has grown up to be a very interesting beast indeed. Straggling left-field electronicia, folk and avant-pop, fostering strong recurring returns from Kemper Norton, The Doomed Bird of Providence and Sone Institute whilst always pushing further afield
Editions Mego An exquisite corpse figuring the familiar Edvard Graham Lewis and Thighpaulsandra, UUUU make for a interesting fusion. Matthew Simms, guitarist and singer for the lo-fi curiosity It Hugs Back and drummer Valentina Magaletti, who once played with Bat For Lashes, but is best known for her dapplings with prepared percussion in Tomaga are the unknowns here
Tak:til Years ahead of its 1981 timestamp, Jon Hassell‘s Dream Theory in Malaya was inspired by Kilton Stewart essay about the Dream Tribe of Malaya (now Malaysia) called the Senoi – a people whose equilibrium was based on dreamtime.
Dais Intended as a psychedelic thoroughfare that cures you of time, if only for its duration, this was one of Coil‘s many crowning glories for me. Along with the Spring Equinox EP “Moon’s Milk”, it opened the floodgates towards a richness that is still sorely missed, even all these years later.
Play Loud! After last year’s Gestrüpp, this intriguing artist is back with a compilation of teasing flavours. Trampelpfadnomainroad is a collection especially compiled to synchronise with her seventy-fifth birthday and an exhibition of her life’s work at Städtische Galerie Traunstein in September 2017.
LCR After the excellent atmospherics of Medusa’s Bed, Ms Lunch returns, this time on the other side of the mixing desk for her second excursion with violinist and noise-maker Mia Zabelka. The mistress of the strands, Lydia’s pulling this baby round as producer and joint composer
More Than Human Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe conjures some extraordinary shapes here, a tangle of strange and mystical hieroglyphics that tingle, zone you elsewhere. Nothing lingers too long, everything remains elusive, dissipated on fractured suggestion, the timbre itch of random voltages painting strange immersive mirages inside your skull.
London 12 August 2017 Téléplasmiste appeared through the crowd, all leper bells and bagpipes, before standing behind their modular bookcases like spiritual telephonists bending a self-help guru’s words into slurring stutters
Klangbad Refreshing to have so many fluid points at play, this could have easily drifted in a altogether singular direction – gone all-out sinister rolling those doomic dice – but instead HJ Irmler and Carl Friedrich Oesterhelt tease us with a classical anarchism that isn’t affixed or preconceived.
Bureau B They may have slipped out of the Neue Deutsche Welle limelight sometime ago, but this surprise newbie from Der Plan hits back with that familiar quirkiness that gave us “Du Bist Es Nicht”, “Gummitwist” and the sublime “Space Bob”.
Dais / Sacred Bones Allegory And Self Ahhh, “Godstar” was a surprise back in the day, a light and airy departure from the Crowley curves and noisy exorcisms that had nailed the first two Psychic TV albums. Further Throbbing Gristle fan head-scratching ensued, more so when it hauled the operation completely overground
Trinity Community Arts, Bristol 8 July 2017 On a roasting Saturday, a beautiful day in July, the wonderful Trinity Arts community centre hosted the juggernaut that was the fourth Bristol Psych Fest. Squeezing two dozen bands into one day on two stages was quite a feat to attempt, but seemed to go incredibly smoothly.
Aphelion Editions Straight from the cultural antenna of Aphelion Editions comes this intimate sonic experience, tonally chased in whirlpooling vibrato.