Brilliant and tragic are both words that perfectly capture the the vibe of snarky new wave poppers Art Brut, whose latest full length continues to explore a world of jaded hipsters and bittersweet loneliness, of Peter Pan complexes and of misplaced childhoods, of drinking, partying and rocking, of football and Axl Rose. Axl Rose? Well this is Art Brut after all, whose sound is classic modern new wave power pop, think Maximo Park and the Killers and Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys, but whose secret weapon is vocalist Eddie Argos, who more speaks than sings, and who is fucking hilarious, talking shit, confessing deep dark secrets, talking gigs and jazz and rehearsal spaces and girls and yeah Axl Rose. Simultaneously snotty and self important, self deprecating and confessional, Argos has such a way with words, whether it's lamenting the fact that they only play for nine minutes, have two songs and are "working in a genre you don't understand" on "Clever Clever Jazz" or proclaiming "I want to give the world the finger, with the exception of my favorite lead singer" on "Axl Rose", or how awesome it is to have ESP on "I Am The Psychic". Goofy, silly, energetic, caffeinated, hooky as hell, these guys are tough to resist, which is why we gave up trying a long time ago.
Despite the title of Art Brut's second full length, this doesn't seem a bit complicated at all. And although their singer Eddie Argos still sounds like he could very well be Mark E Smith's smartaleck kid brother, the trademark sneering cynical tone is softened by lighter, more juvenile topics -- "Sorry if my accent's flawed I learnt my German from a 7" record." and "People in love lie around and get fat. I didn't want us to end up like that." Ho ho! No shortage of jaded, sardonic witticisms, but unlike the pointed vitriol of Mr. Smith, Art Brut isn't tackling any big issues or aiming to lower the socio-political boom on anyone any time soon. No rallying cries here, their lyrics are more self deprecating and defeatist -- "Life is what you make it, and I made mine a mess." But while the vocals might be exuding an apathetic shrug, they get roped into the good times, uplifted and fueled by the band's crunchy guitars and snappy drumming. Super tongue-in-cheeky London pop.
BACK IN STOCK! We thought these the cds in Charly's fantastic reissue series of stuff from the French free jazz label BYG/Actuel were gone forever, but lo! here they are again. Dunno what's up, but get 'em while you can. This classic AEC disc features Lester
Recorded at Studio Davout in Paris on August 12, 1969. Released last year on CD with another amazing document "A Jackson In Your House", this reissue restores the original gatefold artwork and is pressed on 180 gram vinyl. LP only for now...
Originally released in 1973 on the Atlantic label, 'Bap-Tizum' is highly regarded as one of the finest moments in the vast output of the Art Ensemble. Recorded in 1972 during the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, this dynamic performance is a testament to the brilliance and intensity of the group. Not just for jazz heads, the AEC intertwined elements of African funk, tribal rhythms and
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Recorded in France in 1970, 'Les Stances...' features all the Art Ensemble regulars (Bowie, Jarman, Mitchell, and Favors) but holds the distinction of featuring two new members, drummer Don Moye, and more strangely, Bowie's wife Fontella Bass, a fairly successful soul singer. That sort of explains the unique sound of this recording, soulful vocals AND lyrics alongside the traditional Art Ensmble sound.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!
The Art Ensemble's approach to improvisation is far more sparse and delicate on "Reese And The Smooth Ones" than many of their other releases, although not neccessarily less complex. Much room is given to spare, individual instrumental expression, in which the Ensemble sretch far outside their primary instruments to include whistles, marimba, banjo, gongs, bells, steel drums and more. Recorded in Paris in 1969.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!
There's thankfully more than a few labels whose reliable track record and special aesthetic makes us ALWAYS interested in what they're putting out. Several examples: EM Records, Hapna, Ektro, Holy Mountain, Paradigms, Lampse, and Andee's own tUMULt (of course). Also among those "likely essential" labels is Italy's Die Schachtel, an outfit that either digs up the most wonderful Italian experimental obscurities from the '70s or presents the most intriguing new underground bands from their country, always in super-snazzy packaging. Unfortunately, 'cause so much of their output is so great, it's tough for us to keep up with 'em all, but here at least is a review of our of their more recent gems, a cd reissue of an unusual 1980 record by what was a young Italian group called Art Fleury, who played shows with the likes of Area and Henry Cow and was right there on the cutting edge of politically and musically radical avant-prog, Rock In Opposition sound-making... This album of theirs, the title of which means "The Places Of Power", was apparently conceived as an imaginary soundtrack of sorts, and it's indeed quite soundtracky, you could imagine this being the score to a very arty, serious and suspenseful Italian film. It's a sonic collage that effectively deploys skittering percussion and tape-splicing studio fuckery, instrumental prog bombast and jazz improv freedom, the proceedings often infused with moody textures of glitch and crackle, visited by musical cues or voices set amidst radio static, as if sampled from a random spin of the dial. This is very much in keeping with the sounds of modern-day Die Schachtel acts like A and Christa Pfangen, and their colleagues 3/4hadbeeneliminated. We're also reminded of AQ faves Village Of Savoonga, and to several of Art Fleury's contemporaries or near-contemporaries like Faust, This Heat, and Nurse With Wound. You probably get the idea: recommended!
This cd comes packaged in a oversized cardboard box, inclosing a booklet with liner notes along with a poster of the album's black & white cover graphic of a clenched fist. By the way, while six tracks are listed, there's only five actually indexed on the cd, implying that two are run together... thus we might not have gotten the titles of our sound clips right (i.e "e=mc2" might be "La Morte Al Lavoro" actually).
Bay Area sound artist Art Lessing is one prolific d.i.y. fellow. Each year without fail he releases at least one cd-r of his living room recorded aural creations, and we've got his latest one. His musical roamings know no boundaries freewheelin' from neo-folk rambles ("Plastic Couch") to buzzy space rock ("Badly") to hazy contemplative minimal guitar resonance ("Tinkle Star") to Ween-ish pitch-shifted fuckery ("Moe The Slow"). Likewise, his battery of instruments includes many unconventional homemade implements. Ooooeeee, this is a strange one and it draws customer queries each time it's played in the store.
Local art pop outfit Art Museums know that a really great pop song can and maybe should be less then two minutes long, yet still be filled with so much punchy sonic style and flare. With "Dancing With A Hole In Your Heart" they have crafted one of the best 88 second pop songs we have heard in ages. It makes us think of early Magnetic Fields covering The Vaselines, in other words pure pop perfection!
The other two songs are no slouches either, in fact they are as strong as anything that was on their great full length debut, Rough Frame. This makes us excited for what a new album would sound like, as they seem to only be getting better with time... except we think maybe they just broke up, if so, bummer!
Sometimes it's easy to take the musicians who live in our city for granted. We see them around all the time, lots of them shop in the store, so the mystique and mystery that you usually have with bands from far away doesn't really exist. So when we found out that our pal Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Thuja, Blithe Sons) and Joseph Alper (Skygreen Leopards, Whysp) had begun a new off-kilter pop project we were thinking, "cool we're sure it's going to be good", but holy fuck, once we actually put it on we realized it was GREAT! And if we didn't know the folks involved it's the kind of listening experience that would have sent us right to the Internet to Google all the names of the players involved, to figure out who the hell these guys were, and even more importantly, what year this weird pop record was actually from!!
Art Museums use primitive 4-track recording techniques with equally rudimentary drum machines which serve as the perfect tools for their totally endearing, catchy yet understated songs that sounds so innocent and carefree and definitely harken back to the classic C86 days.... For sure looking to The Television Personalities and such as HUGE influences, but borrowing and paying homage to their pop forebears in such an incredibly fresh and vibrant way. These are the kind of songs that just keep growing on you and getting further and further under your skin on repeated listens. Like the best Chris Knox songs or if The Shins went way lo-fi and covered early Guided By Voices. Or Belle and Sebastian getting their XTC on, in like a lone lazy afternoon. Art Museums have created that rare recording, a pop album that is smart and rewarding yet also just so damn fun to listen to. An absolute must have!
Of all the lo-fi left-field pop records that have come out in the last few years, the debut by Art Museums really has stayed with us and remained so satisfying listen after listen. So were stoked to get two brand new tracks. We actually got to hear the A side several months ago when we first saw the awesome video, directed by former AQer Kerry McLaughlin. That song, "S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G." is a quick blast of C-86 inspired glory. The B side "Feel Like Dreams" is more of a warm burner somewhere between The Chills and Television Personalities. We've been flipping it over and over as both songs have already gotten deep under our skin. So good!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Classic first album finally reissued on cd with bonus stuff on a second disc!
Conceptually, this record seemed destined to be right up AQ's alley. The next Conet Project?! Maybe not...Recordings made in natural environments, using only pre-historic instruments; magnolia leaf rattles, ribbon reeds, slate slabs, bamboo stalks,
Brilliant dark chamber prog Rock In Opposition.
Brand new disc from this long-running Belgian art-rock orchestra. Just as creepy as any of their early '80s chamber rock classics, "u.B.I.Q.U.e" is a "symphonic poem" for guitars, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, tuba, drums, and samplers. The samplers bring in an 'industrial' vibe that synchs up with the album's inspiration, the works of cult sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.
Hailing from Poland, Artefactum is a project self-described as 'female esoterica' by the sole member, Merissa d'Erlette. Throughout her handful of releases, she's wrapped her dark ambience and occasional neo-classical sounds in the traditions of alchemy and hermeticism, pushing toward the more baroque ends of the Cold Meat Industry catalogue. Here, Artefactum offers a suitably mysterious set of recordings for the much-lauded Drone Records series of singles. Wordless vocals haunt the halls of these two recordings, as they form dark shadows that flicker alongside ghostly fragments of orchestral samples and bowed metallic drones. Rhythms from hand drums pulse in time with dark rumblings on one of the two tracks, creating a murky, moody atmosphere worthy of being the music of a secret society ritual of your choice. Limited to 300 copies with decoupage artwork and sewn shut with a pink ribbon.
We are so excited to see this incredible score to one of our all time favorite films finally issued on vinyl. Long unavailable in any format, the electronic scores that Eduard Artemiev created for Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's fantastic and meditative seventies sci-fi films Solaris, Mirror and Stalker are some of the most incredibly moving and brooding soundtracks we have ever heard. So much so, that the movies would not have had such a deep emotional impact without them. This original 1972 Solaris score (not to be confused with the later eighties re-recording, also being reissued on another label) in particular is eerily contemplative, full of chilling electro-acoustic drones, romantic Bach organ fugues and dreamily ponderous passages wrought with field recordings, gongs, and ghostly choruses, that are both beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
Solaris can be seen as the Eastern European counterpart to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, as both films are meditative existential ruminations on the metaphysical schism that divides human and alien understanding. Based on Stanislaw Lem's 1961 novel, the film centers on a space psychologist Kris Kelvin who is sent to investigate the mysteriously stalled progress of a space expedition sent from Earth to study the strange planet Solaris. When he arrives, he finds the three person crew oddly isolated from each other and the station in disarray. The mystery deepens when he awakens the following morning and sees his late wife (who killed herself years ago) asleep beside him. It seems that the planet Solaris is actually a sentient life-form that is using the passengers' past memories as a means of communicating with them. However, not understanding what consequences may come about when confronted with uncanny manifestations of painful memories from the past, the planet's attempt at making contact with the expedition causes the crew to become emotionally dysfunctional and self-destructive. In Tarkovsky's multi-layered narrative, no amount of space travel can separate us far enough from the past that continually haunts us.
In 17 movements, Artemiev's score is centered on Bach's "Choral Prelude for Organ in F Minor" as a recurring theme. The mix of classical and electro-acoustic music underlies the visual set design of the space station which also features oddly enough, reproductions of Old Master paintings, in particular the 16th century series "The Months" by Pieter Bruegel The Elder. The confluence of past and future motifs in the film as well as the score is startling effective allowing for an uneasy ruminative moodiness on the nature of time. The frigid electronic passages give voice to an oceanic planetary presence that is absolutely awe-inspiring beset in harrowing timbres that calm and intensify in subtle slow-moving waves. Only Tarkovsky can make windy wild meadows, foggy woods and tumultuous oceans feel so unfamiliar and freakishly alien. The second side opens up to more dreamier and stranger sonic passages, including a theme based on Kelvin's dead wife Hari that is beautifully haunting with a short choir interlude. From there, that leads into a snippet of Russian folk-song, and field recordings of birds, dogs, voices and gongs, with eventually both the Bach organ pieces and the cavernous electronics intermixing more and more intensely together with epic results.
Comes beautifully packaged with 3 variant covers featuring different film stills (sorry, we can't guarantee which one you will get!), and a full color booket of static shots from the film. Another win for the increasingly amazing Superior Viaduct label. Essential!
We were admittedly confused by the simultaneous releases of Russian composer Eduard Artemiev's scores for Andrey Tarkovsky's iconic film Solaris on both the Miurimir and Superior Viaduct labels (not to mention Invada's upcoming lp release of Cliff Martinez's score for the Soderbergh remake). We made the Superior Viaduct reissue Record of The Week a few weeks ago, and that record was from the original score, recorded in 1973. We understood the Russian label Muirimir's reissues (which also include a separate Stalker/Mirror soundtrack release also reviewed here), to be Artemiev's late eighties re-recordings of the original scores. Artemiev wanted to have his soundtrack music available and the original tapes were supposedly lost, so he re-recorded the scores using modern equipment, as the original synths used for the film scores were no longer available. We usually tend to frown on such re-workings, as often the new recordings pale in comparison to the original, but in this case, particularly with the Solaris score, these are tracks that have never before been released on vinyl and they sound amazing. While there is some crossover between the Muirimir and Superior Viaduct releases, the Muirimir focuses mainly on music in the original Solaris film that was not included on the Superior Viaduct release. These tracks have a much more pulsating sci-fi quality to them that differs from the alien concrete droniness of the original score, and paints a more complete picture of the film than just the Superior Viaduct release alone.
Music from Tarkovsky's later films, Stalker and Mirror also get a conjoined release with re-recorded tracks from each film filling up an lp side. The Stalker score might just be our favorite of Artemiev's recordings. A mix of epic alien ambiance and pastoral psych melodies of flutes, and guitars. It evokes a more intense version of Popol Vuh's iconic scores for Werner Herzog. A perfect accompaniment to Tarkovsy's existential and brutalist spiritual journey that seemingly borrows from The Wizard of Oz's dual worlds of black and white and color, but suggests a more creepy pre-Chernobyl vision of a toxic colorized environment. The two long tracks that cover the music from Mirror, (a film we can't even begin to explain, you must see it for yourself) are collages of themes that mix nostalgic classical melodies with intense squalls of industrial ambient noise. The sound ebbing and flowing in dreamy, hazy patches like beautiful yet painful memories. Both scores come highly recommended!
We were admittedly confused by the simultaneous releases of Russian composer Eduard Artemiev's scores for Andrey Tarkovsky's iconic film Solaris on both the Miurimir and Superior Viaduct labels (not to mention Invada's upcoming lp release of Cliff Martinez's score for the Soderbergh remake). We made the Superior Viaduct reissue Record of The Week a few weeks ago, and that record was from the original score, recorded in 1973. We understood the Russian label Muirimir's reissues (which also include a separate Stalker/Mirror soundtrack release also reviewed here), to be Artemiev's late eighties re-recordings of the original scores. Artemiev wanted to have his soundtrack music available and the original tapes were supposedly lost, so he re-recorded the scores using modern equipment, as the original synths used for the film scores were no longer available. We usually tend to frown on such re-workings, as often the new recordings pale in comparison to the original, but in this case, particularly with the Solaris score, these are tracks that have never before been released on vinyl and they sound amazing. While there is some crossover between the Muirimir and Superior Viaduct releases, the Muirimir focuses mainly on music in the original Solaris film that was not included on the Superior Viaduct release. These tracks have a much more pulsating sci-fi quality to them that differs from the alien concrete droniness of the original score, and paints a more complete picture of the film than just the Superior Viaduct release alone.
Music from Tarkovsky's later films, Stalker and Mirror also get a conjoined release with re-recorded tracks from each film filling up an lp side. The Stalker score might just be our favorite of Artemiev's recordings. A mix of epic alien ambiance and pastoral psych melodies of flutes, and guitars. It evokes a more intense version of Popol Vuh's iconic scores for Werner Herzog. A perfect accompaniment to Tarkovsy's existential and brutalist spiritual journey that seemingly borrows from The Wizard of Oz's dual worlds of black and white and color, but suggests a more creepy pre-Chernobyl vision of a toxic colorized environment. The two long tracks that cover the music from Mirror, (a film we can't even begin to explain, you must see it for yourself) are collages of themes that mix nostalgic classical melodies with intense squalls of industrial ambient noise. The sound ebbing and flowing in dreamy, hazy patches like beautiful yet painful memories. Both scores come highly recommended!
Finally, the original scores of Andrei Tarkovsky's films Mirror and Stalker get a proper reissue. We previously listed the eighties re-recordings of this soundtrack music on Mirumir a while back, but this Superior Viaduct reissue is, dare we say it, far superior, filling out the Mirror score with some of the nostalgic Russian folk music and classical elements that the other reissue lacked.
The Stalker score, short as it is, might just be our favorite of Artemiev's recordings. A mix of epic alien ambiance and pastoral psych melodies of flutes, and guitars in metallic acidic washes. It evokes a more intense version of Popol Vuh's iconic scores for Werner Herzog. A perfect accompaniment to Tarkovsky's existential and brutalist spiritual journey that seemingly borrows from The Wizard of Oz's dual worlds of black and white and color, but suggests a more creepy pre-Chernobyl vision of the transformative magic of a toxically-charged colorized environment. Mirror on the other hand is an uncompromising headlong dive into a darkly magical past of longing, regret and the unreconcilable effects of memory. The music, brooding and intense, full of liturgical ambiance and an unsettling sense of nostalgia, punctuated by old world folk tropes and romantically distant classical fugues weighs heavy. Both scores, as well as the films they accompany are beautifully powerful and deep, and come highly recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Russian electronic music composer Edward Artemiev is certainly best known for his film soundtrack work, especially his scores for famed director Andrei Tarkovskiy's weird and beautiful, avant-garde sci-fi films like Stalker and Solaris from the 1970s. Artemiev's synth music & orchestrations are appropriately moody, ranging from blissful and serene to the quite eerie and ominous... Previously his soundtracks were available as very expensive Japanese imports (now super hard to find, if not entirely out of print), so we were happy to be able to finally track down and stock this Russian disc compiling music from three of Artemiev/Tarkovskiy's most sought-after scores. Four tracks from Stalker, seven from Solaris (including a Bach piece arranged by Artemiev), and one from Mirror. Plus, the composer's grandiose 1989 "Dedication to Andrei Tarkovskiy" is the final, nine-minute track on this disc. Late news: Byram is convinced that these are re-recordings of the original film scores done by Artemiev in the late '80s, not the original (presumably lost) tapes. Still, quite nice.
Yeay! We have a new pop crush on our hands. Arthur & Yu come from the Pacific Northwest and offer up some delicious and classy timeless tunes that are so perfect and summery. Arthur & Yu is actually the work of Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott. Together they follow in the footsteps of such luminous duos as Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra, making beautiful music both breezy and subtle. Like the more twee and dreamy early moments of Belle & Sebastian or the smart sweetness of Camera Obscura covering a Vetiver song, Arthur & Yu have found themselves a perfect place alongside pop's elite with this debut. We'll be sitting on the porch sipping fresh lemonade for the rest of summer with this one spinning on the stereo. So nice!
Reissue of the second album by this '70s Italian band (follow up to their "Tilt: Immagini Per Un Orecchio" reviewed last list) and it's another slice of Mahavishnu/Crimson style prog.
Snappy Italian prog-rock originally released in 1974 on Cramps records. Reminiscent of King Crimson or even Henry Cow, Arti & Mestieri move between light and jazzy-but-frenetic riffs to heavy blues influenced prog. Using a very well rounded out line up of
We carried a split release some time ago by this Minneapolis band and SF's Linedotstar (see our review for the details)... and quite a cool one it was! On the opening track "2 In 24" on their latest cdep Fun Is Near, Artifact Shore initially seem to be continuing on with their prickly post-post-rock blend of noise abrasions and aggressive rhythms. The very next song however reveals other facets of the band's scope. The title track flows a bit smoother and more melodious, gently fuzzy and maybe even a bit shoegazerish, but still with periodic bursts of distortion. And so these five tracks progress, gradually from fervent sharp insistence into drowsy near-poptronic stuttery dreaminess.
Landscape Removal is a split release between Minneapolis band Artifact Shore and Bay Area solo artist Linedotstar. You get four tracks apiece. Be forewarned, the pale green blue hued cover doesn't really offer any indication of the sounds contained within. The cd begins with a blast of abrasive industrial noise from the former. Artifact Shore's four tracks are propelled by a stormy rhythmic undercurrent and bristly effected angstful male vocals. Linedotstar's aural offerings are considerably more gentle composed of stuttery electronics, guitar samples, airy drones and wispy melodies. Quite a contrast of dark and light, imposing solid masses and soothing vaporous ephemera.
With a name like Artificial Brain, and a record title like Labyrinth Constellation, when coupled with the crazy seventies van / alien war / D&D / Frazetta style cover art, you knew this was gonna be some sort of epic metal, but we were even more pleased to discover it was in fact a twisted strain of complex sci-fi death metal, gnarled and blackened, obtuse and avant, sorta like Nocturnus crossed with Portal, the sound shifting constantly from blasting, thrashing metallic crush, to grinding, confusional psychedelic metallic chaos, to tranced out black-drone-buzz, intricate and proggy, and furiously mathy. This NY horde features dudes from technical death metal outfit Revocation and and pre-Castevet death-grind combo Biolich (who we LOVE but never managed to review anything by), and really in a way, the band math adds up perfectly to Artificial Brain, a dizzying onslaught of death metal murk, and blackened math metal, sci-fi grind, laced with all sorts of subtle sonic flourishes, cool swirls of shimmering harmonics here, lush layered almost shoegazey moments there, but all settled amidst a blurred and smeared soundscape of impossibly frantic blasts, roiling clouds of monstrous Deathspell style black-buzz churn and furiously fluctuating fields of lumbering stop/start math metal lurch. Fucking fantastic. WAY recommended for fans of Portal, Wold, Dodecahedron, Timeghoul, Gorguts, diSEMBOWELMENT, Abyssal, Cremation, Mitochondrian and other purveyors of twisted, outsider, avant death metal murk.
Easily the most high concept Celebrate Psi Phenomenon release so far, Evaporation is one 47 minute track, assembled from numerous 'sound paintings' based on the concept of, obviously, evaporation. But evaporation in all facets of the world and our lives, the change from one state to another, changes in thought and behavior, everything. All contructed and recorded by Danish composer / sound artist Slavek Kwi, Evaporation is a subtle sonic world constructed from microscopic sound events, as well as everyday sonic intrusions, wind and conversation and clinking silverware and splashing water, but all subsumed into the whole, a vast expanse of gurgling electronics, crystalline shimmers, muter blips and bleeps, rumbling reverberations, ringing overtones, and all manner of miniature sound, interrupted halfway through, but only briefly, by a thnderstorm of rainlike sound, which quickly recedes as the piece resumes its barely there sonic metamorphosis. Definitely requires close and active listening, but for the listener who IS willing to lean in close and explore Artificial Memory Trace's slowly evaporating world, the reward is quite delicate and subtly beautiful. SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
This first release from local black metal horde Artificium Sanguine was a pleasant surprise. Well, as pleasant as a spiked gauntlet to the gut can be. We were a little skeptical with such a joke-y title, after all, how grim could it be? Well, pretty grim actually. Very lo-fi, and buzzy and hyper blown out, this recording manages to capture the fury and majesty we've witnessed Artificium Sanguis struggle to exude live. Which isn't surprising, since black metal has never really existed as a live experience anyway. It's all about the home recorded misanthropy, spread by word of mouth, cd-r and tape trading, and Ye Olde Demo Taype (I chuckle/cringe even typing it) follows in well worn frosty footprints. While not quite as fucked up and dementedly genius as San Franciso black metal legends Weakling or any of the local scene's current one man bands (Leviathan, Crebain, Draugar, etc.), this is pretty fierce and dark, channelling the spirt of Bathory and Celtic Frost through classic Norwegian black metal and into something properly head banging and soul crushing.
First off, let me just say that Artimus Pyle is one of the best person's-name-as-band-name ever, second only to Lynyrd Skynyrd (and oddly enough, the real Artimus Pyle just happened to be a member of L.S.). Pounding furious crusty grind from this Bay Area super group (featuring members of What Happens Next?, Fuckface, Los Rudiments...). This posthumous cd collects most if not all of their of their recorded output.
After recently making two recent offerings on the REDACTED label into Records Of The Week (REDACTED and REDACTED), we figured we oughta review a couple other kick ass REDACTED releases that somehow slipped under our radar. One of those is a collection of lost tracks from a REDACTED teenage synth / electro-pop duo, with the unlikely name ARTIST 11, whose REDACTED lp originally released in REDACTED is a synth nerd holy grail.
The tracks here were recorded around the same time as REDACTED, but were only rediscovered in REDACTED, and include a mix of unreleased tracks and reworked versions of older songs. And the sound definitely seems right at home amongst the current crop of synth retro-revivalists, in fact, if these guys weren't so obscure, you'd swear some of the synth kids today owed much of their sound to these two. But unlike much of the brooding Carpenter / Goblin worship these days, a lot of the music here is fun and playful, even kind of goofy, it is after all a couple of teenagers with 2 synths, a drum machine and a 4 track, just check out opener "REDACTED" with its woozy vocodered vox, bloopy bleepy percolating synths and skittery drum machines, or the krautrocky "REDACTED" which sounds a little like Kraftwerk gone haywire, with some bizarre sampled voices, and a deep dramatic main vocal.
There's also a strange cover of a German children's song, with lyrics by Kurt Weill, which sounds like the guy who plays organ in the mall, all cheesy easy listening organ and shuffling rhythm underneath weird sing songy vocals and twisted music box melodies.
And while all that playful goofiness is occasionally balanced by tracks like "REDACTED", a dark, brooding, slightly sinister, slab of soundtracky synth creep, the record seems to spend most of its time pulsating through autobahn like expanses of sleeky synthy futurism, and groovy electro-synth, pop weirdness, the songs super varied, and featuring a surprising array of vocalists, and vocal styles, which gives the record a distinctly twisted outsider vibe. Killer stuff, and definitely recommended for the legions of aforementioned retro synth revivalists out there.
Pressed on 180 gram green vinyl, housed in super striking silver on green jackets, and LIMITED TO 600 COPIES, each on hand numbered. Sold out at the label, so these are the last copies we'll be able to get.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A while back we reviewed a compilation of early REDACTED experimental music called REDACTED, that documented the lively scene there in the sixties and seventies, from playful goofy sound manipulation, to austere soundscapes, hand built instruments, vocal experimentations, freaked out avant rock and more. A pretty amazing document, that unfortunately seems to be unavailable lately.
Not long after we reviewed it, a REDACTED label contacted us with an entire album from one of the artists on the comp, by the name of ARTIST 02. To be totally honest, at the time we couldn't remember who was who and which tracks were ARTIST 02's, since by that time the comp had been gone for a while, but we figured that folks loved that comp so much that a whole record by ARTIST 02, regardless of which tracks were theirs would be amazing.
So we got the discs in and they looked amazing, gorgeous eight panel silkscreened sleeve, with totally confusing but eminently readable liner notes from REDACTED, and two front covers depending on which way you held it, since it compiled two different sets of pieces. We decided to listen to REDACTED first, two pieces, one from 1962, one from 1968. The first track begins with ARTIST 02 repeating a single word over and over. And over. And over. Well, weird. Skip to the end of the first track, still repeating that same word, over and over and over. Okay, we'll go to the second track. Hmmm. Same word. Over and over. Obviously being 'performed' live as you can hear throat clearing and seat shifting and foot shuffling. Wow. 13 minutes of the same word, repeated over and over in a deadpan monotone. Slowly shifting in pitch and inflection, but very, um. similar. But stick with us, after those tracks, which have now grown on us quite a bit, this becomes a super cool, super weird, and totally primitive turntablist / plunderphonic / mashup record. The majority of REDACTED, the pieces that make up the second half of the disc, is manipulated vinyl lps, 78's, 7"s, all tweaked and affected and fucked with. A series of smokey jazz records are slowed way down, pitch shifted up and down, up and down, warbling and wobbling, woozy and dizzyingly soothing, like listening to old jazz 78's through a funhouse mirror, melodies stumble clumsily into each other and pile one on top of another, jostling to return to some normal speed, some semblance of regular jazz, but continue to weave drunkenly, seasick and sleepy, drunken and druggy. Not all that different than stuff we've heard Kid Koala and other modern turntablists do which is pretty amazing. Then: a looped snippet of piano and a weary vocal singing "I'm Alabama bound" over and over, a seemingly endless loop, until the words stop making any sense and become nothing but strange melodic concepts, and then the voice riffs its way out of the loop, the effect similar to when a massive drone finally ends, there's that moment where the tension is finally relieved. Later: a record of thirties boogie woogie is scratched and skipped and looped and becomes a skittering, hypnotic, jumble of female vocals and jaunty horns, all sort of bouncing and hiccuping and skipping, creating strange rhythms and melodic fragments.
Probably the most compelling and amazing piece is "REDACTED", where multiple versions of "I've Got You Under My Skin" are played simultaneously, piled atop one another, seemingly at random, performed at different tempos, in different keys, sounding a bit like a random round, until all of the singers sing the word 'reality' at the same moment, and which point the song starts to loop and repeat and blur, becoming a confusing collage of multiple 'reality's. Literally.
This REDACTED black metal horde features the rhythm section of another BM band we reviewed a while back, and ARTIST 03, much like that band, offer up the same sort of classic Nordic sounding grim black buzz, right out of the gate, their cold atmospheric black metal reminding us of Satyricon, the production tight and slick, but the band have a definite flair for the ambience, creating dark creepy intros and outros, but unlike the usual wolves or wind or rain, it sounds like a seaside, or a harbor, the sound of lapping water, distant foghorns, deep rumbling tones, laid over what sound like field recordings, evoking some serious haunting dread before exploding in a frenzy of lurching super dynamic, mathy start / stop black blasting. Other tracks introduce what sounds like recordings from beneath the surface, a gurgling shimmer wrapped around rumbling pianos, and distant drones, again leading directly into some amazing blasting blackness, tight and heavy and epic, as much as we love raw and primitive and lo-fi, hearing a band this fast and furious sound this tight and heavy never gets old, and these guys DESTROY. Total depressive melodic black buzz majesty.
The record finishes off with a 16 minute sprawl of awesomely complex, gnarled, drone laced doomic black metal, that shifts from lurching crunch and stutter, to loping almost sea sick waltz, peppered with mysterious samples, totally intense and mysterious, eventually drifting into a soundscape of creaking ropes, plucked steel strings, the sound of waves and wind, a mournful seaside lament, the haunting sounds of sea and sky and storm.
Latest release from REDACTED's REDACTED, this one from the mysterious ARTIST 04, which when you realize that ARTIST 04 is in fact REDACTED himself, doesn't seem so mysterious after all. (But now it is!!)
REDACTED, who previously performed as REDACTED, still performs as REDACTED, used to run the REDACTED label, and who also plays in REDACTED, seems to have returned to his ARTIST 04 moniker to create something a bit more minimal and dark. Far removed from the collaged and looped heaviness of REDACTED, the doomy blackened crush of REDACTED and the blissed out cacophony of REDACTED, ARTIST 04 here occupies a space much more abstract, and when we said minimal and dark, we meant WAY minimal and WAY dark.
The record starts out so hushed we had to crank the volume to be sure anything was going on, but once we did, we were quickly enveloped in a dark swirling low end fog, a rumbling whirring creep, that almost sounds like an even more abstract minimal Bohren. Around this amorphous bassy drift, float random sounds, breaths, footsteps, all manner of ambient noise, but be prepared at about 8 minutes, if you have the volume cranked, you're gonna want to dial it back quick, before your speakers blow and the vibrations send everything crashing to the floor. A thick swath of rib cage rattling bass, warm and thick and loud, but loud in the way only extreme low end can be, felt more than heard, and so it goes, all manner of tones and drones, layered and intertwined, unleashing more low end overtones. It's at about 21 minutes in, when all that low end is joined by a strange soft cacophony of chiming tones and mysterious textural scrapes, those sounds too are soon blurred and smeared into another layer of deep dark shimmer, the final 8 or 9 minutes find the low end receding, leaving a strange collage of percussion and fragmented melody, skitters and scrapes, creaks and chimes, all slowing down and slowly fading out.
Wow. not at all what we expected, but we like it, A LOT. Reminds us of Thomas Koner or Organum, in fact ARTIST 04 seems to fall right in between the two, a mix of bowed metal and clatter and clang, and deep subterranean resonance. Super dark and gorgeous and hauntingly hypnotic and...
EXTREMELY LIMITED. We got about half of the extremely small pressing, and if past REDACTED releases are any indicator, these will no doubt disappear quick, and it's unclear whether we'll be able to get any more or not...
Lots of radiophonic blorp, orbital bleep, and weird science are to be found on ARTIST 05's solo lp REDACTED. ARTIST 05 ranks amongst the more prolific members of the REDACTED experimental scene, starting out in the heavy-drone trio REDACTED and moving onto the Vangelis-esque progressive electronic outfit REDACTED and the spasmodic DIY electronics of the REDACTED. REDACTED follows the retro-clad affairs of REDACTED, but his modular synths are dialed into a more cerebral, more academic approach to electronic music, with swarms of spiralling oscillations firing at every conceivable trajectory. ARTIST 05 gives the impression that he's set all of his careening, spiralling sounds in motion and allows them to crash into each other with regularity, as if they were all toy robots and remote control cars banging together. The violence of this atonal, electronic cacophony is all comedy, recalling the most playful explorations of Conrad Schnitzler in the '80s and the most angular / obtuse productions of Oneohtrix Point Never.
A stellar follow-up to 2010's REDACTED on REDACTED, REDACTED from this local REDACTED drone duo, REDACTED and REDACTED, aka ARTIST 06, finds theses two with an even more focused and nuanced dynamic sensibility. Of course that sensibility centers around REDACTED's classically trained koto playing, which plays a large part in ARTIST 06's overall sound, but here that element is really given ample room to stretch out and breathe. Instead of being merely one component in a layering process of cascading shifting dronescapes, the high relief sound of the texture of strings, the slow growing lyrical motifs and the solemn resonant pauses between phrases set up the pieces as they bloom into delicate shimmers and then oceanic swells of drifting unsettled moods. Pushing the momentum along on the first track, "REDACTED" is the loping bass pulse of REDACTED (REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED), that has us surfing waves of sound before settling into a swirling miasma of crystalline tones and airy phases. Taking us to the final track, "REDACTED", the longest track at 20 minutes is set up by a long introduction of gorgeous and breathtakingly spacious koto playing that like falling leaves in gusts of winds unfurl into bellows of sky high cloud drones, gathering and darkening in fields of rich pulsating grey thunderous tones and then watercolor washes of blissful ambiance, the storm cleared and fading away, set to awaken in some far-off place. Beautiful!
Is there no end to the wonderful musical mysteries REDACTED has to offer? We sure hope not. Whether it's demented black metal, crushing doom sludge, freaky forest folk, or shimmery pop, REDACTED never disappoints. And now you can add, ultra minimal outsider solo guitar to that list.
ARTIST 07, who we know absolutely nothing about, and Google searches also reveal practically nothing, other than the fact that he is REDACTED years old, is less of a "guitarist" and more of a guitar explorer, a guitar experimentalist. Falling somewhere between the abstract scrabble of Derek Bailey and the moody minimalism of Loren Connors, ARTIST 07 crawls all over the guitar, spending as much time thumping the body, scraping the bridge, and coaxing all manner of buzz and rattle from his guitar as he does either picking or strumming. The opening track is a strange percussive soundscape, punctuated by an awesome deep reverberant buzz drenched throb, as well as some fragmented chunks of slide. While all around these almost-melodies, lurk tons of black space, and all manner or subtle shuffle and accidental squeaks and creaks. Later on, some deliberately stumbling strum becomes a harmonic drenched melody, lurching and stuttering along a very abstract path. Elsewhere the guitar is rubbed to create strange whispery ambience, notes are hurled violently from the guitar, left to flutter to the ground, where they are sprinkled with glistening flurries of harmonics. Lots of angularity and atonality, but their are bits of delicate beauty tucked amidst the twisted and convoluted guitarscapes.
A strange strange record. Not beautiful in any sort of typical way, but damaged and difficult and in that musical obstinance, quite lovely indeed. Fans of Bailey, Connors, Taku Sugimoto, Fabrice Eglin and of course Keith Rowe as well as other atypical six stringers will find much to explore and enjoy...
Sprawling double disc of self described 'other planetary field drone' from this mysterious REDACTED duo featuring members of doomsludge heavies REDACTED, avant noisemakers REDACTED, and grey metallers REDACTED, one disc of collected tracks, the other disc a 'collaborative' collage put together by ARTIST 08, and made up entirely of an unreleased collaboration between the now defunct REDACTED and the also now defunct REDACTED, but more on that in a second.
The collected tracks disc, gathers up various jams from the last few years, all of them hushed and minimal and mysterious, strange dronescapes of abstract ambience and microscopic events, field recordings and performances, long stretches of creak and whir and thrum and rumble, laced with mysterious voices, fragments of melodies, a sound somewhere between the free forest clatter of Avarus, the ritualistic black abstraction of Abruptum and the free sonic exploration of A Handful Of Dust.
Long streaks of feedback, overloaded mics, monstrous howls, low end crumble, whirring layers of glitch and hum, washed out hazy shimmer laid over murky sonar mumbles and muted clatter and clank, doomy crumbling rhythms pulled apart into sprawling industrial blurs, all smeared into creepy hushed black ambient drifts, and groaning, creaking, whispery abstract free noise minimalism.
The second disc, finds ARTIST 08 assembling somewhat similar sounds, but using only a recording of REDACTED and REDACTED from 2006 as source material, and according to the liner notes: "pots, pipes, a clay skull and a wooden tube". And it sort of sounds like it. Sort of. Ultra minimal, abstract and ambient, stretches of what sound like alien field recordings give way huge heaving swells of crumbling buzz, squalls of roiling blacknoize splinter into full on drum freakouts and blurred drone jams, deep cavernous rumbles explode into jagged shards of hissing static and beastly vocal mewling, gorgeous blown out swells of chordal whir dissipate into chiming metal-buzz minimalism, these lengthy bursts of sonic energy, which actually don't sound all that messed with, more like they're just straight up recordings of those two bands rocking out, but those blowouts are all separated by short interludes of barely there shimmer and hazy muted drift. Killer stuff. On bad ass REDACTED label REDACTED, and most likely crazy limited...
The posthumous debut from (and, thus, swansong of) REDACTED's most cult black metal act, ARTIST 09. Despite their REDACTED, non-forested, non-wintry origins, ARTIST 09 was a band capable of destroying the best Scandinavia has to offer (as we witnessed upon two occasions, when ARTIST 09 had the honor of opening the REDACTED shows by Norweigans REDACTED and REDACTED, and proceeded to make both bands look like punk rockers in comparison! ARTIST 09 were so much more epic and intense). All this without any of the ignorant posturing or hackneyed corpsepaint of their peers.
Ghastly, anguished vocals and bloodchilling keyboards combine with dual trebly buzzsaw guitars and inhuman trance inducing drumming to create an atmosphere of utter grinding grimness. ARTIST 09 draws upon '90s black metal in the Norwegian tradition (especially the raw and primitive likes of Darkthrone, Burzum and Immortal) and then creates uniquely fucked song structures of epic length (20 minutes per, in some cases).
And, like the best music, ARTIST 09 also transcends genre. In some ways, REDACTED possesses elements that can be considered akin to the avant garde, experimental creations of the Swans, Skullflower, Steve Reich, or even Yoko Ono. Imagine an extensive, utterly mesmerizing Hermann Nitsch piece, composed for black metal band.
It's a suffocating soundscape of riffing and drone. Subterranean satanic art rock that equals metal. Nihilistic, depressive and never ending.
Featuring REDACTED formerly of REDACTED as well as drummer REDACTED from local death metallers REDACTED (R.I.P) and REDACTED. And of course, REDACTED of...well, REDACTED. (And REDACTED / REDACTED / REDACTED / REDACTED) REDACTED black metal maniac/death rocker extraordinaire. ARTIST 09 is largely the result of his devotion to black metal dementia.
We are not engaging in baseless hyperbole when we say: this should be crowned black metal album of the year. Any year. EVERY YEAR! FOREVER!!!! Seriously. Essential.
