Oh, shiny pretty electronica! There's a lot of Styrofoam around AQ these days -- his newest album Nothing's Lost (which features some collaborations with Benjamin Gibbard among other folks), last year's I'm Here To Show Something's Missing, and this split Japanese tour cd with likeminded labelmates Isan and The Go Find (although strangely the front cover doesn't list The Go Find's band name with the other two). You get three tracks from Isan and two each from Styrofoam and The Go Find. Have we said the bands' names enough yet? Nope! Isan's contributions are chiming musicbox-y tracks (one of which is a cover of the old traditional Japanese song "Akatombo"). The two Styrofoam numbers are covers of Lou Barlow's "Think (Let Tomorrow Be)" and Elliott Smith's "Between The Bars". The latter proves that Styrofoam's Arne Van Petegem can sing just like Smith. It's totally Elliott Smith-meets-Notwist. The Go Find's gentle pair of tracks nestle in nicely between the others. This gathering actually serves as a pretty accurate sampler of the Morr Music label's unassuming electronic pop sounds.
From the same label that brought us the most recent record of dark apocalyptic folk from Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, comes this gorgeous bit of dreamy folkiness, recorded in an old stable in Belgium, Isbells create a lush softly strummed folky pop that reminds us of both Bon Iver and Iron And Wine. Mainman Gaetan Vandewoude has an impossibly gorgeous crystal clear voice, and has crafted the perfect musical backdrop for that voice, adding just the occasional bit of slide guitar, gentle horns here and there, scattered percussion, and spidery bits of extra melody, but for the most part, needing nothing but an acoustic guitar and his voice, the songs surprisingly lush, most warm and sun dappled, but occasionally, slightly dark and dreamily dramatic.
This is fast becoming a new favorite. Just listen to the sound samples, if you're anything like us, you'll be immediately smitten. So good!!
If you're a fan of the sadly defunct pagan British doomsters Solstice - whose final recording, New Dark Age, was one of the best metal albums of the '90s, or ANY decade (you can read our review of last year's reissue elsewhere on our website) - you should be chuffed about this.
A few years ago, former Solstice leader Rich Walker (who runs the cult Miskatonic Foundation label, and also now plays in Pagan Altar) assembled a triumphing true metal supergroup called Isen Torr, dedicated to 'Anglo Saxon Battle Metal' exclusively. The band featured, in addition to Walker on guitar: vocalist Tony Taylor (Twisted Tower Dire), Lovecraft-lovin' guitar whizz Perry Grayson (Falcon, Destiny's End), bassist Oliver Zuhlke (Ritual Steel), and drummer Martin Zellmer(Ritual Steel)...
They released a vinyl-only, limited edition 10" ep in 2003, and nothing since, possibly 'cause Walker hails from England, while Taylor and Grayson are Americans, and the rest of Isen Torr hail dwell in Germany. So, what's this then? It is, at long last, the compact disc version of that 10", including both epic songs/sides from the vinyl, "Mighty & Superior" and "The Theomachist", plus a bonus third track, a fairly different, instrumental demo version of the latter. 26:06 minutes total.
Written by Walker, musically these songs do sound sorta like Solstice, except for being rather faster and more Maiden-y. And in comparison to Solstice, Tony Taylor's high-pitched vocals are a bit more generically metal. But the lyrics are straight up Solstice. An example: "Through an undulating sea, Of proselyte harlequins/An empyreal harbinger, The hellae maleficent". That's typical Solstice vocabulary right there. Like we said, fans will be chuffed, likewise anyone into majestic, mighty and superior metal as well. Too bad this ep was never followed-up by the rest of their proposed trilogy of 10"s... On the other hand, we're glad the band didn't stick with their original old school insistence that their music would never, ever be released on cd...
A new self-released solo album by this lovely SF singer/songwriter, Kate Isenberg! If you like your pop music dulcet. pretty and downright easy on the ears, Isenberg's spartan voice and guitar numbers are so for you! Charming!
A fantastic new lp from the female half of freak folk duo Natural Snow Buildings, Solange Gularte, but once again, like pretty much everything NSB related, this lp was WAY too limited, it's already sold out, we got way less than we ordered. So fair warning, we'll probably run out in a heartbeat, and we will not be able to get more. Which is a huge bummer, because this record is quite lovely, and definitely deserves to be heard by more than the handful that will actually get their hands on it.
Like past Isengrind records, and much like some of the Natural Snow Buildings material, Gularte conjures up gauzy folky dreamscapes, sun dappled and shimmery, swirling clouds of distant buzz, spidery tendrils of gentle guitar melody, spread out lattice like, woodwinds flutter, definitely raga like, but washed out enough that at moments the sound is nearly ambient, while at others, the sound is more akin to some sort of Appalachia, Gularte's vocals wordless and ethereal, the steel strings buzzing warmly, the best moments where those two sides mesh, guitars strummed gently over crooned angelic vox, all over a hushed sea of layered fuzz, mesmerizing and hypnotic and dreamily druggy.
Most of the second side is spent droning and buzzing, but even the most minimal and abstract stretch is infused with subtle sweet guitar, and muted percussion, spectral vocals, and all manner of slowly unfurling melody. So gorgeous.
And again, crazy limited, already out of print, so act fast fast fast... and be prepared for us to say sorry they're already gone...
The Snowbringer Cult was a double cd originally released way back in 2008 on the Students of Decay label, and was the first proper cd release from French bedroom drone-psych-folk epic from Natural Snow Buildings, the boy/girl duo of Mehdi Amaziane and Solange Gularte, that double cd included a NSB full length, as well as an album from each of their solo projects, those being Isengrind and Twinsistermoon. That double cd is finally available again, but has also been reissued on vinyl for the first time, with each of the three parts being released separately as its own record.
Natural Snow Buildings have been a band since WAY back in 1999, toiling quietly WAY underground, and over the course of the last decade plus, have only really released a handful of records, and in the first 6 or 7 years, they only managed 4 cd-r's and two tapes, the total number of copies of all 6 of those releases hovering at about 250. That's insane! At the time we couldn't help wonder how a band with such a small catalog, that has reached so few ears, could generate so much fanboy freakout?! But that's precisely what happened. And thankfully, and perhaps surprisingly, in the case of NSB, and the two solo offshoots, the hype does not seem unwarranted. The freaking out more than merited. The music of Amaziane and Gularte is definitely something special, much more than the usual generic fx laden droned out abstract cd-r floor-core that seems to be constantly flooding the scene, this duo write actual songs, and create gorgeous soundscapes, they mix raga-like psych with fluttery folk, deep drones with pristine pop, weaving it all together into something spectacular.
The Isengrind record begins with some deep dark ambience, huge shimmering streaks of ominous sound, like an orchestra tuning up in a cave, drawn out into warm washes of dronelike sound, processed choral vocals, and wheezing accordions. That intro gives way to a buzzing Eastern style raga, lots of percussion, shakers, bells, hand drums, buried beneath a shimmery smear of thick coruscating buzz, a sea of sitars, with Solange's vocals soaring ghostlike over the top. The next track is a dark folky drift, a simple melody, fluttering flute, more abstract percussion, definitely reminiscent of Avarus and other Finnish forest folk, but somehow more ethereal, and genuinely folky. The rest of the Isengrind tracks drift from spectre like folk, simple strums soaked in reverb and wrapped around ethereal vocals, to more raga jams, Indian style buzz filtered through a fractured folk sensibility, to haunting cinematic ambience, abstract soundscapes rife with streaks of feedback and wheezing chordal whir, disembodied strum, mysterious vocals and sporadic percussion, tribal, primal, primitive and raw, but still dreamlike and lovely.
As we commented in our review of the now out of print Laurie Bird cd-r from French bedroom drone-psych-folk duo Natural Snow Buildings, it always surprises us how bands with nothing but a MySpace page and a cd-r or two, can generate so much hype and excitement. It seems to be a common occurrence these days, with some bands even getting real live major label record deals purely on the strength of the handful of tracks on their MySpace page.
To be fair to Natural Snow Buildings, they have been a band since 1999, toiling quietly WAY underground, and over the course of the last 9 years, have only released 4 cd-r's and two tapes, the total number of copies of all 6 releases hovering at about 250. That's insane! How does a band with such a small catalog, that has reached so few ears, possibly generate so much fanboy freakout?! But that's precisely what happened. But thankfully, and perhaps surprisingly, in this case, the hype does not seem unwarranted. The freaking out more than merited. The music of Natural Snow Buildings is definitely something special, much more than the usual generic fx laden droned out abstract cd-r floor-core that seems to be flooding the scene, this boy girl duo write songs, and create gorgeous soundscapes, they mix raga-like psyche with fluttery folk, deep drones with pristine pop, weaving it all together into something spectacular.
So here we have the very first proper cd release (others on the way, reissues of several of their various way-too limited cd-r's) from Natural Snow Buildings, bundled with an extra disc, featuring a whole record from both NSB members' solo projects, Twinsistermoon, whose last disc we reviewed recently, and Isengrind, the project of Solange, the female half of NSB.
Isengrind's half of disc one begins with some deep dark ambience, huge shimmering streaks of ominous sound, like an orchestra tuning up in a cave, drawn out into warm washes of dronelike sound, processed choral vocals, and wheezing accordions. That intro gives way to a buzzing Eastern style raga, lots of percussion, shakers, bells, hand drums, buried beneath a shimmery smear of thick coruscating buzz, a sea of sitars, with Solange's vocals soaring ghostlike over the top. The next track is a dark folky drift, a simple melody, fluttering flute, more abstract percussion, definitely reminiscent of Avarus and other Finnish forest folk, but somehow more ethereal, and genuinely folky. The rest of the Isengrind tracks drift from spectre like folk, simple strums soaked in reverb and wrapped around ethereal vocals, to more raga jams, Indian style buzz filtered through a fractured folk sensibility, to haunting cinematic ambience, abstract soundscapes rife with streaks of feedback and wheezing chordal whir, disembodied strum, mysterious vocals and sporadic percussion, tribal, primal, primitive and raw, but still dreamlike and lovely.
Mehdi begins his side of the disc, with a sound that perfectly compliments Solange's (and make it obvious why the two work so well together in NSB), long drawn out glimmering high end tones, draped over a dark minor key folky strum, and simple percussion, while Mehdi's feminine sounding falsetto soars over the top, all infused with some sort of freaky folky Wickerman vibe. Gorgeous and haunting. That track is followed up by a short chunk of perfect dreamfolk, simple folky strum, and Mehdi's crystal clear vocals, ringing out, pure and impossibly high, if you didn't know better you might think this was some rare track by some lost seventies female folkie.
And so it goes, tracks weaving back and forth, from warm washed out blissy dreamy dronescapes, to simple stripped down folk, often the two sounds drifting into each other, cross pollinating, the folk songs short and seemingly serving to separate the longer sprawling expanses of drone and shimmer, the two sounds dramatically different, but somehow complimenting one another perfectly.
So what happens when the two join forces, becoming Natural Snow Buildings? It would be way too easy to say that the sum equaled the parts, that if you took the sound of the two halves of the first disc, it would equal the whole of the second. There is certainly �some- truth to that, but it's not math, it's magic. Alchemy, musical sorcery, these are sounds not numbers, and thus are governed by forces far more magical and mysterious than physics or science. The two together join spirits, their natures become entwined, they draw from one another, each offering the other part of their soul, rendered in music. The results are truly divine. An assemblage of sounds, deftly woven into expansive shapes and hushed mystery, landscapes of drone and shimmer, of cinematic wonder and dark introspection. Some tracks are super abstract, layered near static drifts, longform movements that sonically evoke other lands, other times, the past long forgotten, the future not yet experienced, other tracks are wheezing sun dappled Appalachia, but turned inside out, the chords and notes seemingly drawn inward, toward the speakers, the vocals breathless and mournful, all laid atop a thick swirl of distorted riffage, other tracks are fragmented folk, all murky blurred piano, backwards guitars, heartsick melodies, wrapped in a thick gauzy production, smeared into snapshots glimpsed through eyes brimming with tears. Other tracks are space rock writ small, minimal dirges, drone jams, chanted vocals, strange stuttery percussion, and glorious buzzing guitars, culminating in the final track, which begins much like the others, all hazy and dreamlike, vocals ethereal, guitars spare and skeletal, until unexpectedly the band lock into some serious droned out space rock. A serious dark and druggy looped riff, a la Spacemen 3, Hawkwind, Loop, anchored by a simple pounding thudrock rhythm, driving intensely through swirling clouds of FX and warm whirring ambience, a seriously dense, propulsive krautjam, that just so happens to hide a soft drifting pop shimmer underneath, and while the track rocks with a surprising intensity, it's precisely what's underneath that turns the jam into something resplendent.
Gorgeous packaging, a fancy 4 panel gatefold digisleeve, with super striking original artwork and liner notes all drawn by Solange.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!!
Back in 2007, this female Japanese singer-songwriter (and improvisor, too) made a cd with Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, called Slip Beneath The Distant Tree, that we really loved. Experimental pop/prog, which included covers of Genesis, This Heat, Soft Machine, and several classical composers. Eiko's multi-instrumental skills were impressive, and her sweet voice appealing - we said then we were curious to hear more from her.
Apparently the ubiquitous Jim O'Rourke is a fan too, and probably had something to do with Drag City releasing this new Eiko Ishibashi solo outing, her vinyl-only domestic US debut, which he produced and also plays on. It's a dreamy set of songs, what Drag City calls "a progressive sci-fi pop album", and we can see why Eiko is apparently already kinda "big in Japan". Her gentle, whisper-ish vocals grace songs that swell with elegant yet jaunty piano melodies; there's tight chamber pop orchestration in back of it all, with rhythms that can get prog-propulsive, though this is definitely more light and airy of an affair than the more mathematically-minded music she made with Yoshida. Quite nice indeed.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
White Heaven singer's solo album.
We sold so many of these when we made it Record Of The Week a while back, and everyone we know who bought a copy freaked out and declared it one of their new all time favorites, and for good reason it's an amazing, mind blowing, tripped out chunk of pure sonic inspiration. It's strange and beautiful and weirdly heavy, and proggy and tribal and it's funky as all get out. Well, we managed to get a final batch from the label, it's now sold out NEVER to be repressed, so if you missed out on this the first time around, you got yourself one more chance, don't blow it.
It's no longer out of the ordinary for a rock band to look beyond rock for inspiration. Or a jazz band, looking to expand their sound. It definitely makes sense as musicians are generally constantly striving to explore, to open their minds, their music, searching for unique instruments, new ideas, new sounds, even looking for something much more ineffable, something more spiritual. Psychedelic rock bands have typically looked East, The Beatles are probably the prime example of a rock band looking to India for musical AND spiritual inspiration. But on a much smaller scale, modern music develops and expands by incorporating new influences, the more 'exotic' the better. So for years, we could watch bands do just that, incorporate new instruments, sitars, tablas, whatever, alternate tunings, Eastern scales. Jazz musicians on the other hand, tended to look to Africa for inspiration, the tribal drumming, the vocal chants, all found their way onto tons of amazing records, amazing in part because of what they borrowed from the African music that was their genesis, as with many many discs by the Art Ensemble, Coltrane, Don Cherry, etc., etc.�
So if all this borrowing and influence is so commonplace, what's the big deal with this disc, a deluxe reissue of a rare 1972 LP entitled Uganda, by Japan's strangely named Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo? Well to begin with, imagine a Japanese jazz drummer in the early seventies, so obsessed with African music, that not only are his records already rife with African influences, but he eventually travels there, and proceeds to play with local musicians, collects indigenous instruments, and returns, driven to realize the record he knows he must make, Uganda, a record that manages to sound like African music, jazz and psychedelic rock, while sounding like nothing else. Ishikawa teamed up with fellow percussionist Larry Sunaga, a bassist and guitarist, and a saxophonist, who instead of playing sax, composed all four lengthy pieces here, the results are amazing. Dense, dizzying, abstract and tribal, fuzzy and tripped out, long stretches of solo hand drum percussion, furious acid fuzz freakouts (courtesy of guitarist Kimio Mizutani, from Love Live Life+1, People, and other freaky Japanese '70s psych units), chanting and handclaps, all woven into an expansive, sprawling divine chunk of out there Afro-fuzz-psych-jazz-rock divinity.
Take the first track "Animals and Dawn", nearly 12 minutes long, and over those 12 minutes, the song veers and drifts through about ten distinctly different sounds and styles, all held together by the relentless African drum jam that runs through all four tracks. Beginning with what sounds like some strange low end synth buzz, those drums kick in, intense and hyper rhythmic, amazingly recorded, so on headphones it sounds like drums are all around you. That buzz, pulses and undulates beneath the frenzied drumming, and this goes on for almost 3 minutes, which is when some wild super distorted acid psych guitar swoops in, jagged and freaked out, spitting out soaring wah wah drenched buzz, before the bass joins in and the drums coalesce into a more recognizable groove, and the band nails it, heavy, slithery proto-metal, churning and pounding, eventually locking into a super technical prog workout, and then dropping out completely, again leaving just the drums, which are soon joined by hand clapping, and chanted African style vocals. Finally, for the last four minutes or so, the band unwinds a groovy jazzy prog workout, still underpinned by those same rhythms, but now the bass carries the groove, letting the guitar go wild, wild psychedelic leads all tangled up in great strange shapes over the groovy rhythm below. Eventually, the song is swallowed up by effects, reverb, delay, echo, as if the band were playing on some huge elevator, as we sit on the surface, listening as the band slips further and further into darkness. Holy shit. If this were a $30 single, that track alone would make this essential for folks into psychrock, proto-metal, free jazz, avant African music or really anyone into strange and fantastical sounds.
The second track, "Asking For Love", once again begins with African drums, the two percussionists, offering up wild tangled beats for nearly two minutes, until in swoops a weird synthy buzz, which quickly transforms into a seriously Led Zep worthy riff, the drums a strange counterpoint to the distinctly rock and roll riffage, and the vocals soaring and shouting, but this kick ass riff fades out only after a minute, and we're back to more dense drumming, Mesmerizing and hypnotic, locking into incredible grooves, veering off into off kilter time signatures here and there, but always returning to that groove. This continues until about one minute from the end, when the bass and guitars explode in a buzzing psychedelic freakout, the drums mirroring the intensity of the axes, locked into an ever expanding supernova of blown out sound, until the furious explosive finish. Whew.
Track three (on the original, the start of side 2) "Battle", begins with some straight up jazz prog, angular and complex, the drums and guitars locked tight, the whole thing convoluted and intricate, stopping suddenly after 30 seconds, at which point an African thumb piano plucks out a delicate music box melody, while in the background, other strange instruments scrape and thump and honk, eventually blossoming into a full on Afro-jam, the drums pounding away, male and female vocals, call and response over the mesmeric beats below, but again, this only lasts a few minutes before switching gears and launching right back into the angular prog that opened the track. This happens a couple more times. Long stretches of abstract percussion, plenty of buzz, and rattle, melodies played out on mysterious African instruments, separated by brief blasts of that �buzzing tangled prog, which is exactly how the track finishes off.
The closer, "Pygmy" begins with a groovy walking bass line, a cowbell heavy almost-funk rhythm, eventually some acidic wah wah guitar, and suddenly we're in some serious seventies, Blaxploitation soundtrack style jazz funk, the bass a constant presence, that groove irresistible, the vocals soulful, the percussion still busy and intense, beneath the more static rhythm driving the songs. The guitar and vocals get all tangled up, the vocals more sort of scatting, the guitar offering up jagged shards of high end, or unfurling soaring psychrock leads, the bass and guitar locking into step right at the end, for one final super tight psychprog finish.
It almost seems ridiculous to describe each song in detail, as that's only part of the story. All four tracks work together, leading into one another, offering up bits from pervious songs, giving up little sonic hints as to what might come later, and it's not just the arrangements, it's the feel, the mood, the vibe, and while mere description might make some of the songs sound schizophrenic, flipping back and forth from part to part, some parts lasting only a few seconds, nothing could be further from the truth. The composition here is as deft as the performance, the arrangement is simultaneously free and abstract, yet, tight and composed. The songs breathe and open up, drift and wander, but never seem to lose their direction, and the grooves ever present, even if on the surface the band seem to be drifting though inner space.
Uganda is truly unique, freaky and far out for sure, but most definitely an essential chunk of jazzy, proggy African Japanese psych rock bliss, organic, expansive, epic, rhythmic, space-y, proggy, heavy and funky!! If you've got Julian Cope's Japrocksampler book, you'll find it in his Top 50 list of Japanese psych essentials, right above the debut from Flower Travellin' Band.
As with all Tiliqua releases, gorgeously packaged. This one is housed in a full color miniature box, printed front and back, with a Japanese style obi of course, and inside extensive liner notes in both Japanese and English, with tons of photos. And it is limited of course, not sure how limited, but judging from how quick past Tiliqua releases fly out of here, better to be safe than sorry. And this is actually the first in a new Tiliqua series called Distorted Oriental Sensory Perceptions 1969-1978 focusing on "Obscure Japanese Psychedelic rock artifacts." We can hardly wait to see what they dig up next... there's a lot of others on that Japrocksampler list we'd love to hear...
First new record in six years from Toshiaki Ishizuka, a veritable underground drum legend in Japan. Having founded Japan's first radical political punk combo Zuno Keisatsu, as well as having played and recorded with Kan Mikami, Keiji Haino, Masayoshi Urabe and many others, you might be expecting some sort of super intense deconstructed psychrock drum damage rhythmic workout, but Ishizuka's solo percussion recordings are of an entirely different stripe. No blown out psychedelia, no punk rock pound, no splattery free jazz freakouts, instead, Drum Drama, Ishizuka's third record of solo percussion, is just that, dramatic, a dark and dreamy series of slow shimmering soundscapes, as much, if not more, about texture and mood than rhythm. The drum kit here is only a part of Ishizuka's palette, spread out in a very un-drum kit like manner between wide open expanses of huge gong swells, chiming bells, bowed metal, wood blocks and tinkling chimes. Incredibly deep and physical sounding, a slow burning series of drones and shimmers. Drum Drama contains three brand new tracks, as well as two redone pieces from his long out of print debut, but they flow perfectly. An organic drift of midnight ambience, punctuated by strange bits of percussive filigree, but spending most of its almost 40 minutes drifting through deep dark cavernous expanses of sound.
Huge low end reverberations underpin delicate drifting bells, all the sounds given ample time to spread out and flutter into the ether. All woven into moaning minimal melodies constructed from dense overtones and subtle shimmer. Here and there twinkling high end sparkles surface, super percussive skitter wraps around super melodic tom fills, occasionally sounding kind of like a super slow abstract free jazz "Wipeout", but played by the Starfuckers... just drums, spread way out across the soundfield, with some serious stereo panning, the fills swerving from one speaker to the other, a dizzying dreamy soundscape of percussive melody and strange rhythmic texture.
Elsewhere, the drones morph subtlely into super affected free jazz splatter, over a dense cacophony of clanging metal and industrial clatter, very kitchen sink with bits of cutlery, tea kettle scraping and all manner of shuffling and clinking and rumbling amidst smooth resonant muted drum fills.
The second half of the record is an even more subtle wash of undersea shimmer, thick rumblings build to propulsive percussive overload, just about as psychedelic as a room full of drums and pieces of metal can get. The record fades into a barely there drone, the hiss of the tape and the analog recording almost as loud as the simple subtle rhythmic shadings....
Hard to believe a record like this is the work of a drummer. And that there is even a drum kit involved at all. Shimmery percussive dronescapes, bowed metals, reverberating gongs, rolling metallic balls, little squalls of splattery free jazz shuffle, bits of martial drumming all woven into a lovely and zen like exploration of a dark and mysterious world of rhythm and sound. So good.
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We dug the latest record from legendary Japanese drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka so much (we made it a record of the week in fact!), that we decided to track down more of his music, and managed to get a bunch of copies of this, 1999's In The Night.
Ishizuka is a legend in the Japanese underground music scene, having founded Japan's first radical political punk combo Zuno Keisatsu, as well as having played and recorded with Kan Mikami, Keiji Haino, Masayoshi Urabe and loads more.
But when he is behind the kit, armed with an arsenal of percussion and noisemakers, he is less of a drummer and more of a sonic alchemist, a soundscaper even, using the drum kit in very un-drummer-like ways. Most of In The Night is ambient, percussive, dreamy and abstract, but not necessarily rhythmic in the strictest sense of the term. Although at the same time this record is nothing BUT rhythm. Dense swirls of cymbal sizzle, brief squalls of tom toms swell and then fade, little bursts of tribal freakouts are underpinned by dizzyingly minute splatters of hand drums and cymbal crash, drums are rubbed and scraped, strange textures become near drones, hyena like chatter is somehow coaxed from drum heads, thick washes of metallic sound spreads out from vigorously beaten gongs, tiny melodies are plucked out on tinkling chimes, random bits of percussion lope and stutter, subtly intertwined with cymbal swish and strange resonant rumbles, even some occasional chanting vocals. One track does in fact feature Ishizuka seriously rocking the kit in full on freaked out free jazz mode, but even going for it with sticks, he still has a strange and subtle mastery of the kit. So cool. Essential for drummers, and the drum obsessed, but haunting and mysterious enough for anyone into dark droning rhythmic abstraction...
Not strictly a Secret Chiefs record, Ishraqiyun is the Chiefs' "neo-Pythagorean electro-folk" side project, which essentially consists of the non-rock based music the band routinely perform live, in non-Western tunings, and on non-Western instruments. But they're not played entirely straight, with most of the tracks sounding a bit like Master Musicians Of Jajouka by way of Don Caballero, with lots of bowed buzzing strings, tabla-like percussion, Eastern rhythms, a serious world music / international folk vibe, but then wedded to wild mathed out drumming, and swoon some cinematic strings, the arrangements intricate and the sound exotic, some mutant strain of math-prog-world music maybe?
Ishraqiyun for this debut recording is made up of various Secret Chiefs past and present, including Eyvind Kang and Ches Smith, and of course led by former Mr. Bungle weirdo and SC head honcho Trey Spruance. All the songs are exclusive to this record, although many have been performed live over the years, and anyone who's seen SC live, will definitely recognize some of the tracks here, and recorded they're just as mesmerizing and hypnotic, sprawling world-folk grooves, lush and layered and psychedelic, the sound like some alien Sublime Frequencies release. The title track is apparently the first recorded composition to feature Spruance's "evolving system of musical ideas patterned upon the specific geometrical relationships found in certain polyhedra and the tessellating patterns from which they are derived" Phew! And while maybe understanding what the heck that means might give you an insight into the mad musical genius at work here, it's not a requirement to dig these sounds. Not at all. And while most of the record is as described above, buzzing strings and will percussion, often wound around fierce propulsive proggy drumming, some tracks, like "Base Phive Futur Cossacks" mixes in some of the band's avant garde tendencies, some moments harkening back to the WTF? days of Mr. Bungle, others the band's obsession with John Carpenter style soundtrackiness, with sounds cutting in and out, swirls of mutated samples, thick buzzing synths, weird blurts of baroque pop, all draped over a woozy world music framework, and what at first sounds chaotic and on the verge of collapse, quickly becomes one of the record's highlights. And while the next two tracks (including the epic 16+ minute title track) dial back the weirdness, and deliver more whirling dervish folk prog and brooding hypnotic world music psychedelia, the final track gives us one final taste of that weird international synth-prog space-psych exotica, this time with even more synthy swirl, wild splatters of piano, blown out, distorto psychedelic guitar buzz, plenty of studio fuckery, wild edits (and if not edits, some impossibly dexterous playing), all in a swirling sonic tangle that has to be some of the most seriously dizzyingly next level, psychedelic, avant prog, faux world music we've ever heard!
Super limited new lp from the duo, Isidore Ducasse, which is Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Root Strata, Tarentel, etc.) and his ex-Tarentel partner Trevor Montgomery. Named for the 19th century French poet better known by his pen name Comte de Lautreamont, this unit was originally formed to create the soundtrack for a Western, and while the film never materialized, the eventual soundtrack, this record right here, works just fine on its own, being darkly evocative and well able to conjure up visions of some lost West in the minds of the listeners.
Definitely mining territory similar to groups like Earth and Barn Owl, the vibe is dusty and windswept, desolate and dreamlike, opening with chiming melodies, delicate and hushed, over soft swells of tape hiss and amp buzz, the record slowly unfolding as a series of hazy, shimmery drones, all moonlit and washed out, peppered with languorous twang, streaks of warm fuzz and deep low end thrum. Stretched out atmospheres that drift from lush layered buzz, to soaring string like majesty, swoonsome melodies surfacing amidst slow swirling clouds of soft focus distortion. There are moments where the record veers into way more abstract territory, with the duo capable of conjuring up some sweet cosmic dronemusic or more minimal abstract drift, and those moments definitely have their place, and do evoke some fantastic and mysterious tableaus that no doubt play out in whatever imaginary western these sounds now accompany, and there is enough of those sounds that this will no doubt hit the spot for those into drone/drift minimalism, but the core of the record remains a dark twang flecked drift, a dreamy, otherworldly ambience, a slo-mo avant country drift, that will no doubt appeal to fans of Barn Owl, Earth, Scenic, Morricone and the like. So nice.
Pressed on 140 gram vinyl, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
Ok, vinyl nerds! Isis freaks! Slowpoke cd-r collectors, gather round, set your credit cards on stun, make a little space on that record shelf of yours, you've got yourself a lucky break, one more chance to pick up this super rare, long out of print live Isis tour cd-r, not at some ridiculous eBay price and no longer on cd-r even! Woo hoo! The kind folks at Troubleman have reissued that cd-r as a special limited edition double gatefold lp, with a cool red on red print, so beautiful, limited to 1000 copies worldwide and probably out of print by the time you read this. We got a whole bunch, but odds are once these are gone we won't be able to get more. So don't blow it again. 03.19.03 was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 19, 2003, and sounds fantastic. This set just so happened to be recorded by aQ customer / Swedish radio sound engineer Helena too! Small world... Heavy, droney, dreamy avant math metal of the highest degree. Very recommended as with all things Isis, and again VERY VERY LIMITED!
On your marks, get set, order!!!
That's pretty much the way it's gonna have to be with this one. Those of you slow on the draw might as well mosey on over to eBay and take out another mortgage on your house, cuz that's definitely where you'll have to go in a couple days when these are gone gone gone. The latest ULTRA LIMITED release from the kings of moody majestic instrumental math metal ISIS, 12.17.04 (aka Live 3) is a massive double lp (pressed on thick clear vinyl) housed in a thick blue gatefold sleeve and contains a 4 sides of gorgeous live ISIS, dreamy, heavy, moody, mathy, epic, heavy, majestic... we could go on. Needless to say, if you're a fan you're definitely gonna want one of these.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES! Half on white vinyl, half on clear. Pretty sure we got all clear, but if you somehow get a white copy consider yourself lucky. And DO NOT ask for a particular color. Or for multiple copies, both of those requests will be ignored, sorry...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Subtitled: Visual / Aural Fragments And Excerpts 2001-2005. That means, if you're an Isis fan you'll be buying this, we're pretty sure. But actually, it's also the sort of thing that might turn you INTO an Isis fan, if you weren't already. Check it out -- a selection of live performances, seven individual songs filmed at various venues 'round the world in 2001 and 2005, plus a full 70+ minute live set captured in Australia last year. The full scope of Isis's blend of crushing heaviness and mesmerizing post-rock beauty is on display here, much of it professionally shot and edited. Totally arty and moody like we'd expect from 'em. Even the dvd menu and chapter title screens are works of art.
Besides the live footage, the music video for "In Fiction" is also included, along with miscellaneous extras like a discography and photo gallery. Plus a 20 page dvd booklet with liner notes, art, graphics, and even lyrics. Pretty sweet. Heck we don't really think you can call yourself an Isis fan if you don't get this, eh? So, pick this up and ready yourself and your DVD player for a devastating dose of the dark, dynamic, precision post-metal that you've hopefully already experienced Isis delivering live in person (if you haven't, all the more reason to invest in this).
It's weird to think of Isis as a real band. And by that we mean, the sort of band that plays arenas and makes videos and you might see on MTV if MTV played videos anymore. And we've been fans for so long, it's sometimes difficult to get a handle on just how popular they are. And they are HUGELY popular. And rightfully so. They rule. They are one of the metallic post rock elite. Straddling the sounds of Mogwai and Neurosis, mixing the two into their own potent brew. We've yet to be disappointed by an Isis record, and we predict we won't be anytime soon. But we were surprised by some of the tracks on their most recent full length. How much they've evolved, and it's never more evident than on "Holy Tears", easily the most epic, and weirdly enough commercial sounding track we've heard from them. All clean vocals, barring a few monstrous bellows, and long stretches of moody meandering; hearing this, it's no surprise that Isis toured with Tool. This is the sound of a real rock band. An arena rock band even. It's an awesome song, but not nearly as feral and crushing as other tracks, which makes it the obvious choice for a single. That said, the heavy parts here are still MUCHO heavy, but even when the band is at their heaviest here, it's still melodic and dare we say, accessible. There's a live version of "Holy Tears" too, which is pretty cool, but probably the track that most folks will be after is the Melvins / Lustmord remix of "Not In Rivers, But In Drops", which takes the original, and seems to strip away all the guitars, replacing it with a layer of buzzy murk, and takes some of the vocals and process them into something super alien. The drums remain, still tribal and heavy, but the whole track is rendered hauntingly barren, mysteriously muddy, fuzzed out and druggy, almost dubby at times. The guitars return later, but even then they're buried under layers of blurred buzz and wrapped around super loud industrial percussion. The vocals are let loose to howl wildly over just drums, before everything coalesces into a final blow out of roiling crumbling guitar, fuzzed out bass, and a chugging feedback drenched finish. Fucking awesome. Would love to hear a whole Isis record remixed by those guys (and we bet it might just exist already).
Also added on as a bonus is a gorgeous video for "Holy Tears", a super stylized slow motion shot of a body falling from a building, haunting, abstract, so creepy, cutting to black as he hits the ground, then revealing some beautiful and intense shots of veins and organs and fetuses, like some Max Aguillera Helweg photos come to life. Before finishing off with some ultra fucked up footage of the jumper's face 'on impact'. Cool!
What can we say about Isis that we haven't already said at this point. They are the masters. The Lords of epic, brooding, slow burn, metallic post rock majesty. And rightfully so. Every record has managed to push forward, exploring new territory, without losing what it is that makes us like them so much. Which is tough to do. But Isis make it seem effortless.
Sure, you can blame them for the recent glut of mediocre moody epic math rock. But it's really not their fault. Everytime a band happens upon a 'new' sound, a sound that is dramatic, and exciting, a sound that captures the ears of jaded music fans, well, undoubtedly in the wake of that band will follow an army of wannabees.
But Isis remain unfazed. They sit within their castle, atop a mountain of mighty riffs, and sharp craggy melodies, gazing down from the heavens. Free to do whatever they want with their sound, even if it pisses off the masses, especially if it pisses off the masses.
So with In The Absence Of Truth, Isis have again redefined and reassessed, resulting in a new record that is distinctly less metal, and much more moody and expansive. Lots of tribal drumming, crooning vocals, the metallic chugs aren't huge back-breaking riffs, instead they are part of the sonic landscape, contributing to the texture almost more than the overall heaviness. Where Isis were once worshippers at the altar of Neurosis, they have now pretty much entirely shed their Neurotic trappings and emerged butterfly like to display their new shape and blindingly resplendent colors. Rare is the heavy band that is as adept at crafting epic soundscapes, creating tension and weaving elaborate sonic tapestries as they are at crushing and pounding and pummeling, but Isis are definitely that rare band.
However, don't be misled by all this talk of mood and ambience, a lot of In The Absence Of Truth is very heavy, and is quite metal, vocals howl and downtuned riffs crush, drums pound and the bass throbs, the band transforming into a swaying lurching metallic behemoth. BUT, these huge bursts of metallic might are placed with care, used sparingly, the way a writer judiciously doles out his exclamation points, each blast nestled between lengthy sonic explorations and slow meandering moody mathiness, resulting in a super dynamic and entirely captivating slab of subtle heaviness.
OK, now Isis are getting in on the confusing multiple version thing, but, c'mon, you know you love it!! This is the fancy imported Japanese version, on Daymare Recordings, of the most recent Isis record In The Absence Of Truth. Not to be confused with the domestic version on Robotic Empire. This is of course incredibly limited, the ones we have are on either clear, or red vinyl, and which color you get will be COMPLETELY RANDOM, so please DO NOT request a particular color. Nice thick gatefold jackets, printed inner sleeves. These are super expensive, they're imports, they have almost the exact same artwork as the domestic version, except for a Japanese style obi, and obviously the colored vinyl. But knowing you Isis fans, you'll probably want both this one AND the Robotic Empire one, and why the heck not, it's a fucking kick ass record:
What can we say about Isis that we haven't already said at this point. They are the masters. The Lords of epic, brooding, slow burn, metallic post rock majesty. And rightfully so. Every record has managed to push forward, exploring new territory, without losing what it is that makes us like them so much. Which is tough to do. But Isis make it seem effortless.
Sure, you can blame them for the recent glut of mediocre moody epic math rock. But it's really not their fault. Everytime a band happens upon a 'new' sound, a sound that is dramatic, and exciting, a sound that captures the ears of jaded music fans, well, undoubtedly in the wake of that band will follow an army of wannabees.
But Isis remain unfazed. They sit within their castle, atop a mountain of mighty riffs, and sharp craggy melodies, gazing down from the heavens. Free to do whatever they want with their sound, even if it pisses off the masses, especially if it pisses off the masses.
So with In The Absence Of Truth, Isis have again redefined and reassessed, resulting in a new record that is distinctly less metal, and much more moody and expansive. Lots of tribal drumming, crooning vocals, the metallic chugs aren't huge back-breaking riffs, instead they are part of the sonic landscape, contributing to the texture almost more than the overall heaviness. Where Isis were once worshippers at the altar of Neurosis, they have now pretty much entirely shed their Neurotic trappings and emerged butterfly like to display their new shape and blindingly resplendent colors. Rare is the heavy band that is as adept at crafting epic soundscapes, creating tension and weaving elaborate sonic tapestries as they are at crushing and pounding and pummeling, but Isis are definitely that rare band.
However, don't be misled by all this talk of mood and ambience, a lot of In The Absence Of Truth is very heavy, and is quite metal, vocals howl and downtuned riffs crush, drums pound and the bass throbs, the band transforming into a swaying lurching metallic behemoth. BUT, these huge bursts of metallic might are placed with care, used sparingly, the way a writer judiciously doles out his exclamation points, each blast nestled between lengthy sonic explorations and slow meandering moody mathiness, resulting in a super dynamic and entirely captivating slab of subtle heaviness.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We only got a handful of these, so odds are they will be gone quick, as the last volume disappeared in the blink of an eye. This long in the works vinyl version of the now out of print cd is finally available, but not for long
There was a time not so long ago, where the idea of mixing metal with post rock was a unique one. The thought of taking massive slabs of downtuned heaviness and mixing 'em up a bit with some moody rhythmic bits or some angstful angular bits was just a flight of fancy. A whole slew of metal bands influenced as much by Slint as Neurosis? Hardly. Well, here we are, 2008, and you pretty much can't turn around without bumping into a post rock metal band, or a metallic post rock band. Which is okay, cuz it's a sound we can definitely get behind, in fact we've been championing that sort of stuff for ages, maybe even before it had a name or was an actual musical movement. Isis were definitely one of the first of this new breed of metallic post rockers, and as such continue to hone their sound, push the boundaries and give all those young whippersnappers something to shoot for. The last proper full length was epic and majestic. A deft Neurosis / Godspeed hybrid. Expansive and majestic, but controlled and precise. Some folks have labeled it intellectual metal or something similar, but for us, it's just heavy, and complex, cinematic and gorgeous kick ass rock. In addition to proper releases, Isis have released a series of live recordings, capturing the band live, where, not only do they sound slightly heavier, and a little bit more loose (a good thing), they also stretch out, and let the songs breathe, let riffs repeat, add parts, even improvise, from dark moody drones to blown out space jams. It's awesome to hear a band at the top of their game, a band who seem to be all about control, let loose and just rock (or drone or shuffle or whatever). Live Selections 2001-2005 is the 4th live release so far, and collects material from 2001 through 2005, including on air radio performances, as well as live shows from the Troubadour, CBGB, the Middle East and more. Of all the live records, this is probably the loosest and weirdest. The songs sound great (of course) but the band takes way more chances, parts are twisted and stretched out, long parts turn into epic jams, there's even a lengthy improv / jam loosely inspired by Nirvana's "Endless Nameless". The songs sound fantastic, epic, soaring, heavy, brooding, beautiful, great recordings, amazing sound, essential for Isis fans for sure.
But the packaging, wow! Custom letterpressed gatefold jackets, really minimal and quite striking, we have the HONEY colored vinyl, a sort of translucent brown, limited to 524 copies, we only got about 10 of those, so act fast...
There was a time not so long ago, where the idea of mixing metal with post rock was a unique one. The thought of taking massive slabs of downtuned heaviness and mixing 'em up a bit with some moody rhythmic bits or some angstful angular bits was just a flight of fancy. A whole slew of metal bands influenced as much by Slint as Neurosis? Hardly. Well, here we are, 2006, and you pretty much can't turn around without bumping into a post rock metal band, or a metallic post rock band. Which is okay, cuz it's a sound we can definitely get behind, in fact we've been championing that sort of stuff for ages, maybe even before it had a name or was an actual musical movement. Isis were definitely one of the first of this new breed of metallic post rockers, and as such continue to hone their sound, push the boundaries and give all those young whippersnappers something to shoot for. The last proper full length was epic and majestic. A deft Neurosis / Godspeed hybrid. Expansive and majestic, but controlled and precise. Some folks have labeled it intellectual metal or something similar, but for us, it's just heavy, and complex, cinematic and gorgeous kick ass rock. In addition to proper releases, Isis have released a series of live recordings, capturing the band live, where, not only do they sound slightly heavier, and a little bit more loose (a good thing), they also stretch out, and let the songs breathe, let riffs repeat, add parts, even improvise, from dark moody drones to blown out space jams. It's awesome to hear a band at the top of their game, a band who seem to be all about control, let loose and just rock (or drone or shuffle or whatever). Live Selections 2001-2005 is the 4th live cd so far, and collects material from 2001 through 2005, including on air radio performances, as well as live shows from the Troubadour, CBGB, the Middle East and more. Of all the live records, this is probably the loosest and weirdest. The songs sound great (of course) but the band takes way more chances, parts are twisted and stretched out, long parts turn into epic jams, there's even a lengthy improv / jam loosely inspired by Nirvana's "Endless Nameless". Cool.
Heavy and droney and epic and of course SUPER LIMITED!
Packaged in beautiful black on brown letterpressed sleeves with insert/linernotes and sealed with a little mosquito sticker.
This one barely needs a description, fifth in the ongoing limited series of cds documenting the Isis live experience. This one from way back in 2006 when the band was invited to play the All Tomorrows Parties Don't Look Back series, where bands play classic albums in their entirety, so for Isis it was Oceanic, a killer record for sure, although the liner notes point out that they weren't really sure about doing it, seeing as that record was not that old at the time. Buy they went for it, and in the liner notes discuss how they arrived to play their classic Oceanic set, not nearly as prepared as they thought they were, so some tracks, at least in their estimation were smooth and perfect, and others were on the verge of collapse, but as an objective listener the whole thing sounds pretty excellent, heavy, and majestic and moody, sprawling and proggy and heavy as fuck. There's a reason these guys rule the post/math metal roost. For sure a little loose, but in some ways some of these songs sound even better that way. And live engineering courtesy of Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, etc.) probably didn't hurt either.
Gorgeous packaging as always, letter pressed green on green 6 panel sleeves, in a plastic envelope sealed with a sticker. Not necessarily the place to start for Isis newbies (that would be Oceanic proper), but hell, this sounds nearly as good as the studio version, and would definitely have us hankering for more, certainly essential for Isis fans, and as always, somewhat limited...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Aaron Turner has had his hand in many of AQ's favorite metalcore albums, whether releasing them through his Hydrahead imprint (Neurosis, Sunn, Cave In, Coalesce, Atomsmasher / Phantomsmasher, etc.) or doing artwork for them (Agoraphobic Nosebleed) or making the music himself on 'em through his continuously impressive projects Isis and Old Man Gloom. Isis' second album "Oceanic" is quite possibly the strongest work to date for Turner. That is quite a feat considering how great those Old Man Gloom albums were. Where Turner shaped Old Man Gloom into an uncompromising drone 'n' grind outfit that speculated upon the sci-fi themes of alien-monkey hybrids, Isis is a bit more straightforward in tightening up the complex orchestrations of Neurosis with a whip-smart pop sensibility. Don't let the 'pop' of Isis fool you; "Oceanic" is a brutal album of dynamic metalcore that sculpts its propulsion by intertwining huge chugging riffs and counterpointed rhythms into the band's already massive percussive pummel. Isis' use of those grinding riffs is so hypnotic through its monochromatic distortion that when the band works up to a chord change (which can take 3 or 4 minutes to get to), it becomes a catastrophic pop hook as the New Pornographers, Get Up Kids, or Pinback but just super fuckin' heavy and aggressively dramatic. As the album unfolds, an emo vein to Isis becomes apparant, in part due to the reliance upon urgent minor keys and Turner's scream-against-the-void-or-maybe-just-my-parents vocals filled with rage and angst. Isis have also employed the talents of Maria Christopher of the Relapse post-rock band 27 on one the album's later tracks "Weight", where her breathtaking vocal mantra is the perfect harmonious complement to Isis' crushing dissonance. This track matches the only other well-executed arrangement we've heard for female vocals in a metalcore song found on From Autumn To Ashes' "Too Bad You're Beautiful." Yeah, this one totally rules.
This is hardly a tough sell. AQ faves Isis, the 'indie rock Neurosis', masters of the metal meets post rock pummel, with a flair for epic emotional song writing and capable of tempering their fist-in-your-face brutality with gorgeous melodies and strangely tranquil post rock passages, remixed and reinterpreted by an impossibly perfect lineup that reads as if they were handpicked by us! (Or you!) Fennesz, Thomas Koner, Venetian Snares, James Plotkin, Dalek, JK Broadrick, Tim Hecker, Speedranch and more! Most folks have already leapt out of their seats and tossed this puppy in their shopping cart, and we can't blame you. But for those of you who need a more in depth look, here's a track by track synopsis.
Disc One:
Fennesz offers up his immediately recognizable glistening sun dappled digitization, dreamy and otherworldly.
Ayal Naor of the band 27 delivers a version that is pretty true to the original but with some extra production tweakery and effects fuckery.
Thomas Koner unfurls a crumbling militaristic nihilistic drone, with creepy whispering voices, industrial whir and claustrophobic ambience. So good.
James Plotkin's version of "The Other" is all dreamy and melodic, with backwards drums, and isolated vocals, and plenty of deconstructed riffs and melodies, smeared into warm ambient noisescapes
The first of Tim Hecker's two takes on "Carry" is a wash of shimmering guitar, stretched into an epic thrum, a pulsing throbbing swirl of overblown guitar with minor key melodies buried underneath.
Teledubgnosis (featuring Ted Parsons of (Prong, Godflesh, Jesu, Swans) offer just what you'd expect, a modern dub version, with everything stripped away except the vocals and the background ambience.
Mike Patton adds his particular damage to "Maritime" turning in a super tweaked version with bizarre vocals, lots of random sound effects and loads of studio weirdness.
Disc Two:
Venetian Snares spits up a bizarre mix of dubbed out drums, super stereo panned guitars, isolated growly vocals, and reverb all over the place. Almost like a King Tubby / Lee Perry metal dub!
Tim Hecker's second version of "Carry" is a dense landscape of churning whorls of fuzzed out guitars, and warm whirls of ambient blur.
The Oktopus (aka Dalek) turns "False Light" into an industrial hip hop jam, with buzzing analogue synths, and the original's howled vocals careening from speaker to speaker. Like African Head Charge meets Neurosis.
Speedranch isolates the female vocals and douses the drums in massive reverb, and then chops the song into new shapes with hypnotic cd skipping riffs. Definitely the coolest, least annoying thing Speedranch has ever done!
The mysterious Destructo Swarmbots' track is a murky subterranean trawl through underground caverns and bottomless pits of droning rumbles and minimal distant melodies.
And JK Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu) takes on "Hym", staying pretty close to the original, adding his machinelike rhythms and turning the majestic midtempo metal of the original into a lost Godflesh / Jesu track, which is most definitely a good thing.
Admittedly, when we first heard Isis, it was like we had discovered another Neurosis. The similarities were striking, the downtuned sludge, the massive riffs, the earth crushing epics. But there can be only one Neurosis, and Isis were quick to figure that out, gradually embracing melody and mathrock as much as metallic bombast. The result was a divine melding of Neurosis and Godspeed You Black Emperor. On Panopticon, Isis move even further from their crusty metallic forbears, becoming much more contemplative and measured, subtle and melodic. Roiling waves of minor key metal-crush do still bookend most of the tracks, but the emphasis is on dreamily seasick waltzing post rock intricacy. Minimal and massive, melancholy and and cinematic, you could definitely imagine that this is what it would sound like if a band like Tarentel decided to make a 'metal' record.
The tracks here are all epic and mesmerising, slow burning post rock workouts that build and build and build. Lots of clean vocals too, a definite Alice In Chains vibe here and there, which is not at all a bad thing. Many of the songs slowly devolve into Loop-like psychedelic jams, guitars to oblivion. And it's sonically divine. Isis still get lumped under the metal umbrella, but this sounds much more like a rock band, an experimental heavy rock band who just happen to like their guitars loud and who at the drop of a hat, can whip out a riff that destroys all comers!
Fronted by Hydra Head honcho Aaron, Isis were always The indie rock metal core band, fusing their pummelling metallic crush with plenty of Slint-isms, making them the perfect band for Allan and Andee, who are always saying, 'I don't understand why that post rock band doesn't just play metal'. On this, their newest ep, Isis do get heavier as well as a bit more varied. Half the songs
Post metal heroes Isis may be long gone, but their legacy looms large, in the hundreds (thousands?) of bands they inspired certainly, but also in the fans they left behind, dedicated FANATICS who continue to worship at the altar of Isis, and no doubt anxiously await any sonic scraps left to be repackaged and offered up to the hungry hordes. And while we're tempted to suggest that this most recent collection, a double disc AND dvd, is only for those particular fans, this collection of demos, rarities and remixes spanning the decade from 2001 to 2011, is pretty goddamn great, and really anyone into post metal, experimental heaviness and/or metallic post rock, Isis fan or not, might wanna check this out, it's the rare sort of odds and ends collection that could easily win over new fans for sure.
The first disc (first half of the 3lp set) is mainly demos spanning the whole decade mentioned above, and thus early version of tracks that would end up on various records proper, some recorded in studios, others in practice spaces, but sound quality varying quite a bit, from raw and urgent, the vocals way up in the mix, to less heavy and more abstract, glimmering and glistening, slow builds to big bombastic metal crush, and still others super lo-fi, rehearsal boombox style, but even those sound pretty great, the sound you'd hear if you were seeing Isis in a tiny club. Overall though, the songs sound great, not sure how different they are, but as a whole, it makes for a pretty great Isis 'album', especially the epic closer "Grey Divide", which KILLS.
The second disc (or second half of the 3lp set) though is really the reason to get this. Starting off with Isis' version of Godflesh's "Streetcleaner", which the band manage to pull off, right down to the machinelike rhythms and jagged guitars, which leads right into their cover of Sabbath's "Hand Of Doom", crazy drum heavy mix, but still pretty bad ass. There's a couple remixes, including the genius reimagining by the Melvins and Lustmord of "Not In Rivers, But In Drops", which adds electronics and noise, and all sorts of woozy warped atmosphere. Then there's Thomas Dimuzio's remix of "Holy tears", which recasts the original as something much more washed out and murky and darkly psychedelic, and almost ambient industrial. There's the brief ambient title track, then the two tracks from Isis' split with the Melvins, both of them progged out metallic crushers, and finally, a gorgeous, surprisingly lush acoustic version of "20 Minutes / 40 years" that is exactly what you'd imagine Isis would sound like if they ever got to do an MTV Unplugged.
Both the cd and lp versions include a dvd with all the band's videos, the cd housed in a swank 8 panel digipak, with a big booklet, the lp similarly. Absolutely recommended for Isis obsessives obviously, but as mentioned above, as good a place to start for newbies, as any of their albums proper, and listening to this (and these guys again), it's not hard to see why so many bands aped their sound, cuz even now, all these years later, it still sounds pretty fucking amazing.
After flirting with mainstream success, and a more mainstream sound, it sounds like Isis have finally gone and done it. Which is not at all a bad thing, they've slowly been drifting that direction since day one, doing their best to shrug off the 'Neur-Isis' stigma that has dogged them since the beginning, and like any band, gradually expanding their sonic scope, looking for new sounds, new directions, trying to find a way to make music exciting and fresh, while still keeping true to the vision of the band, no matter how much that vision has changed.
Thus comes Wavering Radiant, easily their most fully realized record yet. Tighter. More concise. More about songs than sounds and textures. Lots more clean singing. Overall less heavy and more, well, poppy for lack of a better word.
Isis have finally made the transition from rulers of the underground, now existing in a strange place, for them at least, the mainstream. Playing arenas, getting written up in Rolling Stone and Spin, playing shows with HUGE bands, rockstars even, and the sound sort of reflects that. Or maybe more accurately, their shifting sound pushed them in that direction. It's not at all hard to imagine these songs in an arena setting, or even hearing them on modern rock radio, we're reminded of Tool a lot of the time, epic, sprawling, chugging churning minimal metallic grooves, hooks everywhere, but often draped over obtuse riffage or brooding post rock pound, but thankfully, Isis are not nearly as dark as Tool, they're still heavy, but the heaviness is more measured, more controlled. In fact, the bellowing 'metal' vocals are almost a distraction a lot of the time, and we never thought we'd say this, but we almost wish they would ditch them entirely, and pursue their pop muse, continue to create well crafted metallic post rock, but push even further, they are well adept at creating heaviness out of un-heavy elements, just check out album closer "Threshold Of Transformation", an epic slow burning build, that just keeps ratcheting up the tension, layered guitars, crooned clean vocals, might be the best jam on the record.
If you've been with Isis since the beginning, nothing on Wavering Radiant should surprise you, it's more like a distillation of what they'd been aiming for all along. It's probably not heavy enough for the Isis fans who still count Celestial or Oceanic as their favorites, the crushing chugs are few and far between, but for the rest of us, it's a pretty great balance between the Isis of old, and whatever it is they're poised to become. And the more we do listen to Wavering, the more it reveals a band at the top of their game, and the more it reveals ITSELF, as a record that will most likely grow on even the most jaded of ears....
So what do you get when you take a band who specializes in grand and epic, super sweeping metallic post rock epics, and put them in a studio with another band who specializes in grand and epic, super sweeping metallic post rock epics? Yeah, it's sort of a trick question. The answer in case you weren't able to figure it out on your own, is: grand and epic, super sweeping metallic post rock epics! Not really a surprise then. But who cares really. If that's your cup of tea, then drink up, this will for sure hit the spot.
These two monsters of metallic post rock got together for the In The Fishtank series and whipped up these three songs, and if you're a fan of either band, you'll pretty much need this. The first track sounds a lot more like Aereogramme, brooding and slow building, loping minor key math rock, that shimmers and shuffles, eventually joined by soft vocals, while the drums get more and more affected and dubbed out. Track two is a lot heavier on the Isis, and we do mean heavier. A chugging juggernaut, slithery slow crawl, with reverbed vocals and chiming melodies, and huge howled choruses. The final track is back to the mellower side, slowly drifting guitar shimmer and droning ambience, soft swells of melody and drums way up in the mix, super dubbed out, the whole thing sounding like some sort of post rock dub version of a Sigur Ros B-side. Nice!
Islaja is pretty much our dreamdate... 'cause after all, doesn't the collective AQ personals ad state that we're really into Finnish forest freak folk? And gentle late night moodiness? And heartbreakingly beautiful, breathy vocals, sung in a language we don't understand? Droning yet melodic psychedelic soundscapes? Yep, we're swooning over here. We even think it's kinda cute that young miss Islaja (aka Merja Kokkonen) is flipping the bird on the album cover! But, we're a little jealous of the shirtless dude standing next to her, that must be her partner Jukka Raisanen, who along with Kokkonen herself plays the music heard here. We also have to contend with Thurston Moore (hey, he's a married man), who has stepped in to arrange Islaja's first domestic release on his Ecstatic Peace label, after three wonderful previous releases on the Finnish label Fonal that had us (and presumably Thurston) swooning when we all first heard 'em.
This new Islaja is just as good as any of those. Actually, Blaze Mountain Recordings is a live album, featuring versions of some songs originally found on Islaja's Fonal releases (like "Pete P" from Ulual Yyy), performed with perhaps even more intimate magic. This collection of songs is as dreamy and drowsy sounding as you'd expect, full of twilight melodies and chiming abstraction.... and sorta sounds like the Jewelled Antler folks on a dreamdate of their own with the lovely Islaja. Delicate and mopily relaxed, or sometimes dark and sinisterly nervous, always with the restraint of small sounds (some played on toy instruments?) that allow Islaja's singing (a bit Cat Power, a bit Bjork) to carry the day. Swoon swoon swoon, our hearts are yours Islaja.
It's no secret we have a deep love of so many of the sounds that come from the Finnish underground, and Islaja is one of the most golden treasures to come from that magical region. It's been over three years since we've heard new material from her, but with artists of this quality, whose songs are so meticulously constructed, we totally understand and appreciate that it takes a good deal of time to create a new album. And man oh man was the wait worth it, as Keraaminen is her most bold, up front, crisp and riveting work to date. Her earlier songs were very much buried in layers of rustic dirt, muddied and mysterious, but with her mystical sounding voice cutting through the fog. But now she has reached a place where she is confident and assured enough to strip away the excess layers while maintaining such gorgeous and evocative atmospheres, and her voice sounds as powerful, and alluring as ever. While previous outings have found her being compared to Bjork, that comparison maybe seems more apt here, as on this record she is able to use her voice as such a strong instrument conveying such striking and mesmerizing emotions. And for people who haven't heard Islaja before but love folks as haunting and varied as Zola Jesus, Fever Ray, Beth Gibbons, Jane Birkin, Brigitte Fontaine, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, and Jarboe, we imagine you'll probably fall very much in love with the sounds on this record. We definitely have!
Recorded in locations all across the globe, in Helsinki, Berlin, Grand Popo, and Hong Kong, this is an album that transcends both geographical and musical borders. We've loved all her albums and this one has grabbed us from our initial listen and we've been listening to it multiple times a day since it arrived, and this will probably be a record that pops up on several of our year end favorite lists too!
I'd be reluctant to identify this as quote unquote Finnish Folk Music if there weren't a family of bands making a similarly spirited music in Finland these days. Such folks include Kemialliset Ystavat, Pekko Kappi, Avarus, Kiila, Keijo, Anaksimandros, Uton, Markus -- all living in different cities yet, like a family, sometimes meeting up for a holiday in a rustic cabin to join forces. Islaja is perhaps the most pastoral and lovely member of this family, her voice confidently evoking an underground wilderness of pine and birch, shadowy lakesides, twisting footpaths and mandalas in wool and moss. The instrumentation is sparse, delicate and full of shadows, melodic clouds shaped from accordion, plucked strings, mouth harp, horn, piano and purring electronic atmospheres. The playful mood and sensitivity of these songs brings only one other artist to mind...Brigitte Fontaine (especially the album Incendie� and her other collaborations with Areski). It is worth mentioning too that the beauty of the Islaja's music, like many of her Finnish contemporaries, is fleshed out by the artist's own drawings of fantastical trees, beasts and runic patterns, completing Islaja's first release as a document of flourishing imagination. [That was a guest review by Jewelled Antler's Loren Chasse, who just returned from a trip to Finland, among other fantastical places.]
Oooh, as if that recent Lau Nau cd on Locust wasn't enough (it wasn't -- fantastic female-fronted Finnish free-folk albums are few and far between and we'll take all we can get!!), then here's the brand new second album on Fonal from Islaja. Chances are if you're a dutiful AQ customer you're already hip to her, as we've been selling her debut album Meritie pretty steadily since it came out last summer. Sweetly haunting and gentle, Islaja's music represents the loveliest extreme of the aforementioned Finnish free-folk underground, her music not quite so freaky and fractured as that of countrymen/colleagues like Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat. More dreamy than difficult, Islaja's music reminds us a bit of Greg Weeks' psychedelic folk outfit Espers...with her singing, also Brigitte Fontaine and maybe Tara Jane O'Neil. Her delicate vocals, whispering like a mother to a child, lilting and layered, backed with bells, accordion, acoustic guitar, melodica, samples, percussion, piano... So very nice.
On her first two records, Finland's Islaja completely swept us off our feet and delivered us to an enchanted world of mystery, warmly wrapped in delicate layers of a unique beauty that just doesn't come around that often. Definitely reminiscent of Brigitte Fontaine's experimental leanings or maybe what we imagine Bjork might sound like stuck deep in a Finnish forest.
With her latest outing Islaja has done it again! She's conjured up a handful of songs that immediately begin to melt into your consciousness the roots going deeper and deeper with every listen. With the subtle addition of horns and electronics to her already dense and seductive sound, Islaja shows once again what a unique vision she possesses. Imagine Patty Waters joining White Magic at a late-night seance... Ulual YYY is like sinking into some warm dreamy state, eyes clouded with wisps of smoke until everything becomes a hazy blur. You're not sure where you are or what to do, but you are absolutely sure there is no where else you would rather be than deep inside Ulual Yyy's alluring and mystifying world. Highly recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Two new songs by two of favorite Finnish artists. They couldn't be more different, but this reminds us of why we love and have such a soft spot for split 7"s. Groups that sound nothing alike but share geography or friendship with each other. And with the increasing price of making vinyl, split 7"s are truly a labor of love and such a sweet token, as really its quite impossible to make money from them. First be forewarned as it will become obvious that the single was labeled wrong and the side that says Islaja is TV-Resistori and vice versa. TV-Resistori give us more of their upbeat totally fun synth pop that if we didn't know better we'd think they were another great Japanese pop band. And a new song by Islaja is of course something to rejoice about. Tiding us over until whenever her next album comes out, her track is so lovely and will for sure get you standing up every few minutes to reach for the needle to hear it over again and again.
It's been a while since we've heard from either Woburn House or Klabautamann, two German post rock / metal combos we dig big time, who both share various members, and count themselves as part of a loose musical collective. Some of those shared members also do time in another group called Island, who while hewing much closer to the sound of Klabautamann, mix in enough meandery post rock and minimal shimmer and skitter, that it's easy to make the Woburn House connection as well.
We've been meaning to list this for a while, as it came out last year, and is a collection of the band's first two demos, originally released in 2004 and 2005.
Island's sound is a bit tough to describe. Folks familiar with the two above mentioned bands might be able to suss it out generally, but Island are indeed a strange beast. Slipping from Opethy folk flecked epic metal, to dense convoluted math rock, to soft shimmery ambience, to lurching classic metal, to almost doom, each song here tends to stray into two or more of those sounds, but each definitely has a distinct mood.
Album opener "Journey Through The Jewel" sounds like classic melodic black metal, Opeth, Dissection, that sort of thing, with descending arpeggiated melodies, dense chugging riffs, and some fluttery folky breakdowns, where as the follow up "River Source", could almost be Polvo or Pitchblende if it weren't for the blackened vokills, the arrangement very nineties mathrock, with indie sounding melodies melded to cool arrangements and crunchy metallic riffing.
The record shifts fluidly from mathy to metal throughout, from hooky and almost poppy to convoluted and progressive, the vocals too, shift from clean croon to harsh howl, often pairing the harsh vocals with the more indie sounds and vice versa, the result is something that should definitely please fans of Woburn House and Klabautamann, as well as folks into the current crop of less grim, more poppy blackness, a la Amesoeurs, Alcest and the like.
Late '70s Swiss prog rarity, complete with Giger cover art. For fans of ELP.
Montreal's The Unicorns return from the dead as Islands, a little sadder, and perhaps a little wiser. Their sound is more grown up and less lo-fi than the quirky rambunctious pop of The Unicorns, but just as eccentric and humorous as witnessed on such songs as "Don't call me Whitney, Bobby", and the bizarre indie hip-hop of "Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone" featuring rhymes by Subtitle and Busdriver. More obsessed now with rebirth than death, the songs are longer, tighter and complex, full of hooks, melodies, and weird and innocent charm.
Turtable/sampler artist Otomo Yoshihide and sampler/sine wave technician Sachiko M. (both from Ground Zero, and who are also recording as Filament) are joined by percussionist/electronics guy Ichiaku Yoshimitsu in this new, very original trio. I know we talk a lot about something we perhaps inaccurately refer to as "minimalism" around here, but this recording is HYPER minimal, alternating between near-inaudible rumble and glass-shattering sine wave squeal, interrupted only by the very, very occasional digital crapout. This, their second album, was mixed by the guy from The Homosexuals!
Really nice packaging here -- the all-white embossed digipack is utterly gorgeous and tactile and very appropriate for the Zen-like simplicity of Japanese trio ISO's music. ISO consist of Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, and Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, all of whom are probably familiar to followers of the Japanese underground improv avant garde, with Otomo of course being the best known. Unlike the mayhemic turntable/sampler cutups of his former outfit Ground Zero, or the free jazz with which he's also identified, here Otomo and co. concentrate on the minimalist soundscapes typical of the emergent "onkyo" genre. It's subtle, barely-there electronics and percussion, enhanced by the ambient sound of the place where this was recorded, outside in a 500-year old temple garden. Apparently the members of the trio were positioned where they couldn't see one another, and it's hard to understand how they were able to hear each other either, unless they were playing at volumes much louder than what seems appropriate for playback at home. Yet the centrally located stereo mic has captured a oneness of sound, a delicate performance that is truly beautiful, not boring. Less stark and harsh than his Filament duo with Sachiko M, but more minimal than his larger Cathode ensemble, ISO is one of our favorites of Otomo's many projects and we're happy to have this 40 minute live document!
Pretty much any avid reader of the AQ list should be familiar with Andrew Chalk, one of our favorite modern masters of the minimal drifting drone. A while back we received a cool little 3" cd in the mail from a mysterious group called Isolde, which we later discovered was in fact a duo, Andrew Chalk and his sonic foil Robin Barnes. And as you might expect, that disc quietly and completely blew us away. Dense swirls of shimmering sound, dark and ominous crystalline and delicate, some of the best and most interesting dronemusic we'd heard in a while for sure.
But a 3" cd is hardly enough, it just whetted our appetite for more. With drones, and dark ambience, you want the sounds to stretch out forever and ever (or as long as recording media will allow) so that brief twenty minutes while still glorious, only hinted at where these guys could takes us given enough time...
So finally, here we have the brand new full length from Chalk and Barnes, 3 tracks, 50 minutes, the shortest clocking in at 14 minutes, the longest 20. And everything we loved about the first one is present here as well, but as one might expect, with the extended track lengths, the sounds are allowed to stretch out, drift further, each song an epic minimal journey through a series of wondrous darkly dramatic otherworlds. But unlike the 3", On Waving And Drowning is not all whisper and shimmer, occasionally Isolde manage to build their intimate sonic events into massive squalls of crackling static, roiling black clouds of thick corrosive guitarnoise and thick wall-of-sound grrrrr, reminding us of Birchville Cat Motel quite a bit. But these eruptions are surrounded on all sides by massive expanses of soft focus tranquility. A subtly shifting tableau, small sounds and epic soundscapes gradually dissolving into each other, fading in and out, layer after layer of sound shifting and slithering, creeping and crawling, deep still pools of barely there sound, shards of blue tinted moonlight, distant flurries of washed out staticky hum. A stunningly rendered drone world of dreamy drift.
Totally gorgeous packaging. A maroon cardboard digisleeve, on thick textured paper, printed in metallic silver, inside the gatefold, a beautiful full color image affixed to the sleeve. Like the music, understated and divine.
A tape version of these recordings came and went in 2005, pressed in an edition of 30 copies. So, perhaps like most of you, we didn't even know this thing existed until Robin Barnes (one half of Isolde and proprietor of the Penny Poppet imprint) offered us this album. It's got a different title and different artwork, but we'll trust that it's the same set of recordings. The other half of Isolde should need no introduction. Andrew Chalk has long been at the very top of our list of favorite drone composers and sound artists for many, many years now. Big thick harmonic drones of the dark and sublime variety are what we have come to expect from Mr. Chalk; and the other recordings we had been able to acquire from the Isolde duo certainly delivered on that aesthetic. But this one is considerably different. Here, Barnes and Chalk augment their narcoleptic guitar picking with little more than the gilded halo of spring reverb and some uneasy sounds situated well into the distance. The two use plenty of space between their abstracted clusters of guitar pluckings, which only barely give hints to avant-blues strategies, even more abstracted than early Loren Loren Mazzacane Conners or the quieter Keiji Haino solo offerings. Vapor trails of sustained sound linger around these simple notes, occasionally merging in a placid drone more in keeping with Chalk's more well known sensibility. Somewhere in the distance, something bellows like a pack of wolves, which immediately makes us think Dead Raven Choir; then it percolates like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop or even like a snippet of EVP. This makes for a really excellent recording, although something of a detour for Chalk. Limited to a mere 300 copies.
This is the second release from the enigmatically titled duo Isolde, made up of AQ faves Andrew Chalk and Robin Barnes. Fans of Chalk and his work in Ora and Mirror will find much to love here. Two brief transmissions of chiming reverb drenched guitar, shimmering steel string buzz smoothed out into streaks of silver and grey, strange woodblock percussion scattered throughout like stones tossed into a tranquil pond. Hovering, haunting, reverberating, melodic fragments, tinkling plinks amidst an abstract swirl of ominous glimmers and muted glints of metallic resonance. So nice. Comes in miniature 3" jewel case, with gorgeous hand made inserts, and signed by both Barnes and Chalk. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES and we only got a handful!
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