Brand new recordings from Senegal's legendary Orchastra Baobab. The group, which got its start over 30 years ago, had a huge comeback with the reissue of their 1982 release "Pirate's Choice". It seems that the global attention the band received via this trip to the vaults inspired the band to reform, tour, and finally, to cut a new album of songs. Those fearing a watered down, world beat shadow of the band's legacy should sigh a heavy sigh of relief. "Specialist" could well have been recorded 20 years ago as much as it was several months ago. It's nice to know that the grubby little paws of Peter Gabriel and other homogenizers of music still can't destroy everything. Orchestra Baobab still stick to the same instrumental arrangements: airy & echoey electric guitars, deep & warm bass, saxophones, drums (along with congas, maracas & timbales) and vocals. The Latin influence in their rhythms and melodies is still ever present and, thankfully, they still opt for a live sound in their recordings, as they have since their earliest recordings. A fine return from a great band.
Formed in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Orchestre Ethiopia took on the task of bringing traditional Ethiopian folk sounds back into the limelight at a time when modern music ensembles were at the height of their popularity. However, rather than simply performing traditional songs for a wider (and eventually international) audience, the Orchestre's sound was unique as it took elements of a number of different folk traditions and mixed them up into a joyous, celebratory blend of Ethiopian cultures. The group itself was as diverse as its musical inclinations: it was initially assembled and led by a series of Americans including an ethnomusicologist and a Peace Corps worker (although it found a native leader in 1966 when Tesfaye Lemma took over leadership) and its membership included singers, dancers and musicians from a diverse array of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The result is a sound that falls squarely between the two styles that the Ethiopiques series has done such a remarkable job of documenting: Orchestre Ethiopia weren't a traditional folk group, nor were they a modern groove ensemble. Instead, they played an inspired pastiche of traditional sounds in a very modern way, never committing to one particular sound or groove.
Although Orchestre Ethiopia released two LPs between 1969 and the group's disintegration in 1975, the majority of the tracks included on this disc are previously unreleased archival material - a fact which is reflected in the less than stellar fidelity of the recordings. However, the lack of polish adds a wooly, mysterious air to the music, and further emphasizes the group's outsider status. For all of the reasons above, this latest installment of the mighty Ethiopiques series has quickly become a favorite of the aQ staff, and it includes the extensive liner notes, personal essays, and archival photographs that one would come to expect from the fine folks at Buda Musique. Whether this is the first Ethiopiques cd you pick up or the 23rd, the fact of the matter remains: this is a brilliant, gorgeous and haunting collection of music from the golden age of one of the world's most culturally rich regions. Essential!
In a word, wow. That's how our review of the debut, 2012 Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere release wrapped up, after several gushing paragraphs. Let's cut to the chase and simply open this review the same way; in a word, wow!
This 2nd Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere double cd set is their 2nd Aquarius Record Of The Week, and that was an easy decision to make. Nobody else out there sounds like this, 'cause nobody else out there thinks this BIG, and combines all these elements so perfectly - experimental electronics, improv jazz, avant-classical choral music, chamber rock, modern minimalism, pulsating krautrock beats, progressive symphonics, ambient drone, and much more� Possibly you could liken the OUA to a 'big band' version of Norway's Supersilent, just possibly, to get started. Aptly named, this Orchestra is a large scale project, and it's no wonder, so far, that they always make fully-packed double disc sets.
Led by Martin Archer (who appeared on another recent aQ list with the latest from the avant-industrial Combat Astronomy project, of which he is part) and Chris Bywater, the UK's Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere is indeed a large ensemble, the multi-instrumental Archer/Bywater duo (organ, electronics, electric piano, saxophones, clarinet, synthesizers, samples, percussion, voice, electric violin, etc., etc.) joined by a half dozen additional musicians bringing in everything from electric bass to flutes to glockenspiel, that core unit then further augmented by the participation of various satellite groups with which there is some overlap of personnel: the 20-person Juxtavoices chorus, the La Garotte String Quartet, and The Divine Winds.
While the first OUA album took several years to complete, this one came together in a shorter span of time, constructed from edits of live improvisations, and is no less impressive for that. It's mysterious and moody, as well as active and dramatic - when the Juxtavoices get involved, look out!
The first disc begins with "Dominant Growth Direction" - a powerful intro that zooms and whooshes with such physical heft, heck it should be used for the Dolby THX they play in the movie theater before the movie starts. That's followed by the beautiful, haunting grooves of "Paratacamite"; more atmospheric even is the next track, "Bilateral Coordination Activities Are Calming", featuring field recordings (birds, water) woven in among the drones and woodwinds and percussive sounds. Next, "Modus" is a glitchy avant-funk fusion jam, like some sort of electric Miles meets This Heat hybrid, with a definite David Shire "Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3" suspense soundtrack vibe as well. Want some even more out there 'band math' from this review? Skip ahead to disc one's blissfully grooving 14+ minute finale, which we're thinkin' sounds like a spaced out Oren Ambarchi/Augustus Pablo collaboration!!
Ok, but we can't go on describing this track by track, even briefly. That's not even all of the first disc we've covered. You want to read an even lengthier OUA review, look at our last one (and we do have a few of those sets back in stock, by the way). There's a lot here, and all of it is awesome, you get the idea.
And the thing is, for as vast and sprawling as these discs (and each track on 'em) are, there are no missteps. It's tight like that. So tastefully, cleverly crafted. It's compelling, intriguing, and evocative; ambitious but never over indulgent, never taking any wrong turns. Always on point. Or at least, that's what we think, what can we say, this just brings together a lot of sounds we like, we're hearing echoes of everything from Circle to Alice Coltrane, from Supersilent to Lumerians, from 3 Leafs to Terry Riley (just to drop a few names) and does it so dang well, and uniquely. Can we say wow, again?!
As soon as we heard this the massive and mesmeric sounds found here on the debut from the Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere, we knew it was Record Of The Week material! And while it's the record of our week (and many weeks to come, we imagine), it was three years in the making, a grandiose accomplishment involving the efforts of around 40 musicians and singers.
The British new music ensemble responsible for this sprawling double cd has an appropriately evocative name, they are in the business of generating clouds of sound from on high, and they are indeed a sort of Orchestra, certainly a lot of musicians on a lot of intruments making a BIG sound, the actual core group of the UOA itself comprising only five folks, but they're augmented by a string quartet (the La Garotte String Quartet), a woodwinds ensemble (The Divine Winds), and a 25 person avant-garde choral group (Juxtavoices).
Together, the UOA and friends create a hybrid akin to 20th century classical chamber music meets propulsive krautrock meets '70s cosmic jazz (some parts, like the ten minute track "Coherent Backscattering" that closes the first disc, remind us of the wonderful Alice Coltrane With Strings album World Galaxy, complete with what sounds like varispeed tape manipulation)� But it's probably most heavily influenced by the work of modern minimalist master Terry Riley in particular - imagine portions of the Riley/Cale album Church Of Anthrax heavied up by a psychedelic stage band, with tons of synth and electronics amidst the strings and horns and percussive skitter. Other comparisons we could cite include the Swedish sixties psych groups Parson Sound/International Harvester (also big Riley fans), some large prog jazz rock ensembles of the '70s, like Keith Tippett's Canterbury based Centipede, and krautrockers Out Of Focus (circa Four Letter Monday Afternoon), as well as various underground free drone ensembles of more recent vintage.
The two part, twenty-plus-minute "Seen From Above" early in the first disc is really worth the price of admission alone, a tour de force that sums up the glories of the OUA without revealing quite all the secrets that you'll encounter elsewhere on these two densely-packed discs (77+ minutes disc 1, 76+ minutes disc 2, no wasted space in other words, you get your money's worth!). The piece is full of droning deep rumbles that resolve into strong bass pulsations, graced with gorgeous organ tones, and dramatic drum rolls and cymbal crashes.
But the next track, the 10 minute plus "The Opposition Effect" is equally impressive, getting even heavier with the krautROCK elements, and brings the Juxtavoices to bear as well, with some intense vocal chant that reminds us of the aforementioned International Harvester.
And so it goes, and goes, the UOA at times bombastic and heavy, at others more hauntingly subtle and murmuring, with squeaks and mumbles, like an orchestra tuning up, in a murky sonic miasma. Much of this is stirring & cinematic, with parts that remind us of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and experimental Norwegian "death-jazzers" Supersilent too. The latter especially on disc two, which opens in an even, ah, moodier mood, the sound ever more abstract and ambient on "An Open Vista Is Revealed", followed by "He Died Before I Could Get My Revenge", which begins with shimmering jittering electronics and stumbling drums. Towards the end of that track, the Juxtavoices ensemble is employed to provide a bed of buried, layered and effected vocal snippets on the subject of the track's disturbing title (giving both a "hearing creepy voices in your head" and "overheard noisy cocktail party conversation" vibe at once). On both discs, the Juxtavoices talents are used judiciously in ways that really put this over the top in the sheer weirdness dep't., really letting it all out in feral, primal form amidst the murk of disc two's closer "Their Dark Presence Stretches Through The Void".
Oh, and eventually of course the krauty drum propulsion kicks in on this disc as well.
Essentially, the UOA take krautrock derived, pounding rhythmic hypnosis a la Circle, and combines it with the symphonic majesty of something like another recent aQ Record Of The Week, the reissue of William Sheller's glorious Lux Aeterna, if you can imagine that, or (if you've ever heard it) Richard Youngs' pseudo prog-rock Ilk project taken to Magma-like orchestral extremes.
At the core of the UOA, is English composer/improviser Martin Archer, also a member of The Divine Winds, and organizer of Juxtavoices. He's a quite prolific musician, who runs the Discus label that put this out, and we should really review more of his releases in future. Previously, Archer's name HAS appeared on the aQ list as a key member of crushing industrial doom/free jazz prog outfit Combat Astronomy, much loved by us; he's also the fellow responsible for the Saint Agnes Fountain album from about ten years ago, a clever hoax that purported to be an early '70s recording from a fictional female Japanese minimalist composer named Masayo Asahara (and if you liked that Martin Archer alter-ego as much as we did, you'll totally dig the UOA, they seem to share a lot of the same sonic inspirations).
Martin, we're impressed. And this couldn't be more up our alley, as you can perhaps judge by the artists we've attempted to compare this to. In a word, wow.
Groovy, baby! Are you a filmmaker making a movie about sex kittens on the moon? A crime drama with rocket ships and ray guns? A documentary about swinging space aliens building the pyramids? Or just daydreaming about such subjects? Well, have we (and Omni) got the totally fab, pre-fab soundtrack for you!! Swank futuric funky jazz loungey freakbeat electronic grooves perfect for any kitschy exploito-flick you could imagine, pounded out by a band led by composer Peter Thomas, whom perhaps you know already as the man responsible for scoring Raumpatrouille (Space Patrol), a classic German '60s sci-fi TV show. His "in-kraut" stylings on many, many other soundtracks have earned him a cult following.
This exuberant disc consists of prime Peter Thomas stuff, material recorded in 1970, released as an obscure library music lp in 1975, and never before released on cd, until now! Remastered, from the original master tapes, and expanded with 4 rare bonus tracks, this features 16 tracks in total, most about 2-3 minutes in length, each categorized variously as either "Beat", "Electric Beat", "Strong Beat", "Rock Beat", or "Fast Beat", for what it's worth. They've ALL got bombastic beats, along with brassy horns, sizzling synths, fluttering flutes, and occasional wordless vocals... Any TV commercial or film project that was wild enough to made use of this library music would sound pretty hip, considering that the players in the Orchestra Peter Thomas included close associates and/or members of krautrockers Amon Duul II and Brainticket... Oh, and on lead guitar, Vampyros Lesbos co-composer Siggi Schwab!
Definitely another awesome Omni find. Packaged with informative, photo-illustrated liner notes, where you can read about PT's one of a kind "Tho-Wi-Phon" synthesizer, among other interesting things.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Another fantastic African artifact, this one, the first in a six part series, and as the title suggests, these tracks were recorded in 1970 as part of the First Biennale Of Arts And Culture For The Young. Orchestra Regional De Mopti, was a state funded group, who performed nationwide, in festivals and competitions, their sound incredible, lush and celebratory, looped guitar figures, fluttering flutes, lots of horns, wild drumming, call and response vocals, the music infused with emotion and passion, the sound trancelike, droning and hypnotic, many of the songs lock into super mesmeric grooves, the guitars tangled and gorgeously gnarled, minor key and slightly melancholy, but simultaneously exuberant and effusive, the vocals skipping wildly over the darkly meditative music underneath, while those songs are dark and dour, unwinding and unfurling like lost ballads, others are upbeat and bouncy, danceable even. The band really are incredible, it's hard to pick out just one element, the guitars slip from wild and spidery, to jangly and major key, to woozy and understated, the horn section almost sounds like a marching band, but their playing is so soulful, funky and groovy, and the vocals, slipping from chantlike murmur to mysterious hushed croon, to wild and nimble tongue twisting wail, these sounds, and these musicians are just beautiful and moving and so passionate. Definitely one of our new Mississippi faves, and already dying to hear more. Anyone into Ethiopiques, Sublime Frequencies and the like will dig this big time!
With almost each release now, Richard H. Kirk offers us a new pseudonym, although he's still best known for his collaboration with Stephen Mallinder in the legendary industrial / electronica outfit Cabaret Voltaire. Purportedly rediscovering classical music and
We've all got our old favorite records that maybe we haven't heard in a while, but it only takes a few bars of the lead-off track to immediately bring it all back and make us wanna dust 'em off again... This was the case when a special order was recently placed for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's 1983 album "Dazzle Ships"- �a seeming direct follow-up to Kraftwerk's 'Radioactivity'�- featuring shortwave radio broadcasts, chiming synth lines, speak-and-spells, and earnest, emotive vocals. Take tracks like the bouyant "Telegraph"- it's pure synth-pop goodness, combining an innocent exuberance with considerably more weighty, dark subject matter. An overlooked experimental electronic pop gem, this album is full of wonderful songs and sounds, courtesy of�core members Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey.�In a time when 'the '80s' are seemingly everywhere - and frequently in the most watered-down, cliche forms - it's nice to catch a few quality moments with a brilliant, good old friend. FYI: Jim thinks 'Organization' is way better, but this is definitely OMD's most exploratory moment.�Features the extended remixes of Genetic Engineering and Telegraph and those singles b-sides.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark may forever be known for their '80s pop classic "If You Leave" which graced the Pretty In Pink soundtrack, but the band's first four records stand at the vanguard of British synth-pop. Unashamed by their influences from Kraftwerk and Brian Eno (especially Another Green World), OMD were keen on experimenting with electronics, synths, and drum machines in a new wave / pop context with a knack for the melodic pop hook to offset their mechanical plonk and bleep. Where The Human League were exceptionally coy with their ironic embrace of consumer culture (making their platinum clad singles all the more confounding), OMD were romantic at heart. Even the references to 20th Century warfare (i.e. Dazzle Ships, Enola Gay, The Messerschmidt Twins, Bunker Soldiers) find the band lyrically transposing the languages of love and war. Bittersweet at times, but never grim!
The eponymous record was the debut for OMD, released in February 1980. The single from the album, "Electricity," was a corker, a remake of a song from an earlier EP released by Factory. Here, it's a ridiculously catchy song with plenty of Man-Machine overtures in its crisp rhythm and plunky electric piano melody. With its sweeping tone-bend melodies and gliding electronic rhythms, "Bunker Soldiers" is one of those templates that had been emulated by almost every minimal wave project from 1980 to present. This cd reissue contains two versions of "Messages," with a single version fleshing out the tinny melodies with a springy Peter Hook inspired bassline... but no matter which version you're talking about, it's still fantastic. There are a few bonus tracks tacked on to the original program, including the spectral dirge "I Betray My Friends" and a cover of Velvet Underground's "Waiting For The Man" which is cute but unnecessary. Regardless, it's totally great to have this album back in print again, especially in the ongoing revisionism of minimal wave, synth punk, and new wave romanticism.
We nearly wore out our copies of the first volume of singles and jams from the amazing Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, a previously little known but highly prolific Afro-beat group from the tiny western Africa country of Benin. Now they're one of our top favorite groups! The Analog Africa label was practically founded on their discovery and other groups who recorded for the Albarika Store Label and its elusive producer, Adissa Seidou. That discovery yielded enormous riches. Over 500 tracks from this legendary group in its many incarnations were unearthed, nearly half were recorded for the Albarika Store Label and this collection focuses on that period. The previous volume was a collection of singles from smaller labels that the band made on the sly while Seidou was out of town. All lo-fi recordings often only using one microphone for the singer as well as the band. The recordings on this collection were made with higher quality recording equipment, and while the songs here have less of that urgent funk made by a band on the run, they are much more composed, varied and altogether stranger. Some of this is in fact seriously nuts! Lots of fuzzed out and wah'd guitar, layers of distorted percussion, horns and spacey organs. Though there are tracks that continue the Voudon funk vibe of the first volume, tracks like "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me" bring some head-boppin' Go-Go garage stomp, while tracks like "Gan Tche Kpo" are mind-melting Afro-psych. Others have more Latin flavor similar in vibe to Konono No.1's infectious dance rhythms, which makes sense as the OPRDC are one of the featured groups on the latest Honest Jon's comp, Africa Boogaloo (reviewed elsewhere on this list) that traces the influence of Latin rhythms on West Africa. The Analog Africa Label has yet to disappoint, and if you liked any of the labels other releases, or are new to this group/label, right here is a fine place to start!!
One of our favorite cuts from the recent African Scream Contest compilation was from the Benin based Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Contonou, a stellar Afro-funk collective that in various line-ups recorded over 500 tracks between 1970-1985. This is part one of a planned two volume release, this one focusing on a prolific string of singles released on various private labels between 1972-1975. As the story goes, the band were signed to a major African label and recorded at a high quality studio (which will be the focus of the second volume), but while the label head was away on business, the band would take matters into their own hands, recording various singles for small independent labels, often at people's homes with only one microphone for the singer and the band in a close semi-circle behind him. The sound quality with such limitations is actually quite amazing and really displays the group's tight -knit musicianship. Like Fela Kuti's legendary band, the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou deal in heavy James Brown inspired Afro-funk, but more centered on guitars and organ than the horn section. This is one of the best and most consistent anthologies of West African music from a single group we've seen in these parts all year! Highest recommendation!
Not sure what to say about this legendary Afrobeat outfit that we haven't already. We first discovered Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou via the amazing African Scream Contest compilation, and ever since, we've become a bit obsessed, playing the first two collections to death! This long in the works THIRD collection, gathers up still more recordings from these aQ faves, culled like the other collections from nearly 500 recordings, the tracks here have never been issued outside of Africa, and like those past installments, display one of the funkiest bands around, recorded mostly for small labels, and often with just one mic in the living room of friends' homes, but the sound, and the songs, so catchy, and groovy and funky, wild funky-drummer drumming, killer horns, whirring organs, emotional vocals, the sound big time beholden to James Brown, and often displaying the Latin music influence on West African music at the time as well. Fuzzed out and funky, most definitely psychedelic, groovy as all get out, infectious and irresistible, any one who dug the first two comps (and/or loved African Scream Contest), this one's a no brainer. So great! And like all Analog Africa releases, gorgeously packaged, the cd in a digipak, with a huge booklet, featuring lyrics to all the songs, tons of photos, the digipak and the book housed in a heavy slipcover!
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
We've been swamped with a barrage of new Mississippi releases, all of them amazing, including this, a gorgeous bit of music from Mali, from the Orchestre Rail Band De Bamako, a sun dappled bit of Latin/Cuban influenced African jazz recorded in 1970. Orchestre Rail Band De Bamako were one of the most popular bands in Mali, melding Afro Latin jazz with traditional African music, incorporating Western instrumentation, mixing horns, and soaring vocals, electric guitar and African percussion into a truly unique sound. Fronted by legendary vocalist Salif Keita when this album was recorded, the Orchestre Rail Band De Bamako had a constantly shifting lineup, launching the careers of many famous performers, and they continue to perform today. But this 1970 recording might be their most famous, and perhaps their best, warm and lush, the vocals so beautiful, and the instrumentation and arrangements gorgeous, the sound so evocative it almost transports the listener right back to seventies Mali. Dreamy and divine.
As with all Mississippi releases, packaged in a nice thick full color jacket, no insert this time, just the original liner notes reproduced on the back of the sleeve.
Thus far Mississippi Record's bread and butter has been seriously deep blues and gospel compilations, with the occasional pre-war Hawaiian tune or Balkan folk ensemble. However, with the reissue of Orchestra Regional de Kayes, originally released in 1970, and the sterling soon to be re-pressed Lipa Kodi Ya City Council comp from a few lists ago, Mississippi is finding a bit of flexibility in their catalogue, with no drop in quality whatsoever.
In 1960, after Mali won Independence from France, the government specified that each of the eight regions of Mali be represented by an orchestra comprised of, naturally, their very best musicians. The orchestras convened once a year from 1962-68, and subsequently every other year until the mid-eighties, to determine who was the best. This record documents a portion of the repertoire performed by the Orchestra Regional de Kayes, representing a region in the northwest of Mali bordering Senegal. It is their only recording, and was originally released in the Barenreiter-Musicaphon series. The bulk of the songs are renditions of traditional Mande folk songs, interpreted in the context of Mali's burgeoning modernity. And now, with a bit history under our collective belts we feel more justified in saying casually� holy shit, this is beautiful.
After a few listens, it comes as no surprise that we are listening to players that were determined most officiously and perhaps ridiculously, to be THE best. Sit with that for a moment... THE BEST. What comes as a surprise, therefore, is how soulful, sensitive and lyrical every performance is. Though technically flawless, the musicians' chops are always employed in service of taste and spirit. The guitars alone are worth the price of admission, and are deployed in a seriously vast and nuanced manner; sometimes darting through the mix with insect-like dexterity, other times languidly careening across the chorus with zen-like patience, and most often threading their way adroitly to a soft spot between rhythm and melody, tradition and innovation, in which the players freedom is found in a limitless palette within and through the manipulation of convention. And in this way, the guitar playing is always very musical, but also lyrical and mimetic, as though the players are talking to you, or hinting at some emotional quantity embedded in the form. And that is just the guitars!
The vocals are also fantastic, with plenty of excellent call and response dynamics between a lead vocalist and a chorus. A few of the tracks feature lead vocalists that spill untamed and urgent phrasings that harken to recent Aq fav Omar Souleyman, and also hint at the kind of rabid flows some of us have come to love in the grime explosion. However, most of the vocals are more soulfully paced, and sometimes a bit mournful and bluesy. Needless to say they are all very moving performances. The vocals are also supported by some gorgeous and syrupy accompaniment from an array of wind instruments, and a terrifically spare but present percussion ensemble. Something particularly exceptional in this collection compared to some of what we've heard in the Ethiopiques series, and more recently with the Nigerian Trilogy on Soundways, is the sense of space and continuity. This is one band, in one room, and as a result there is a sense of atmosphere and spaciousness that makes the record effective. Rather than a survey of style, it is an invitation to inhabit a space that is entirely elegant, and lyrical. It's hard to believe that it has taken this so long to find re-release, so don't miss this limited opportunity to gain a fleeting glimpse into a truly powerful and nascent period in Mali's musical history.
Once again, not to be confused with the old sceamo band THE Orchid, but yes very much to be confused with BLACK SABBATH, that's their schtick as it were, this Bay Area based doom metal act now offering up their debut full-length album after a four-song ep that we considered almost a guilty pleasure because of how much Orchid sounded utterly, EXACTLY like Black Sabbath. That's what they do, and they do it damn well. There's been other bands who emulate the Sabs, of course, that's the whole "doom metal" genre really, but Orchid sound more like Sabbath than even, say, Iron Man, sHeavy, or Sleep on Sleep's Holy Mountain!
The vocalist's version of Ozzy, though, is maybe more of a malevolent one, he comes off like Ozzy with a grimacing, evil edge. Riff wise, it's Iommi all the way. Really, every moment here sounds like it's been lifted of an old Sabbath lp, but rearranged/rewritten into Orchid's all "new" Sabbath songs. They can't complain about us saying that, that's obviously their intention, to recreate the Sabbath vibe circa 1970-73 as closely as they can, becoming Earthly vessels of sheer Sabbathiness, originality be damned. "Black Funeral" here for instance, seems to channel Sabbath's "Hand Of Doom"... but without quite (quite) crossing the line into outright plagiarism. Pretty much all the other songs on Capricorn can also be mapped to their vintage Sabbath templates, it's almost like you're listening to an alternate universe Sabbath album that never existed.
All right, so we've established that it would be impossible to write a review of Orchid's album without referencing Black Sabbath. What else is there to say? The musicianship is excellent, the production heavy and '70s sounding, with psychedelic synth embellishment and other droning eerie atmospheres (see "Planet Caravan", we mean "Albatross") - and of course catchy riffage that rocks mightily when the band is going full-bore, as on "Eyes Behind The Wall" and "Down Into The Earth" among others. There's absolutely no duds among the nine songs here, we're digging 'em all, and we think all fans of heavy retro occult metal like Blood Ceremony and Witchcraft will likely enjoy these too... as well as, of course, Sabbath fans, especially if you've worn out your actual Sabbath records and want a fresh dose.
The Church Within has done this up in super-deluxe packaging - a heavy duty four-panel gatefold sleeve, adorned with art painted by Orchid's singer. We hear rumors of an even fancier, but way more expensive, limited leather bound book version, but this will do for us! Nice.
We listed the standard version of this heavy slab of stoner doom riffage from SF heavies Orchid back in April, and while that version is still available, we managed to get just TWO copies of the super fancy deluxe version, which comes in a super swank oversized faux leather sort of hardcover book, like some ancient necromantic tome or something. Same music as far as we can tell, but all with even fancier packaging. Here's what we had to say about the record when we first listed it:
Once again, not to be confused with the old sceamo band THE Orchid, but yes very much to be confused with BLACK SABBATH, that's their schtick as it were, this Bay Area based doom metal act now offering up their debut full-length album after a four-song ep that we considered almost a guilty pleasure because of how much Orchid sounded utterly, EXACTLY like Black Sabbath. That's what they do, and they do it damn well. There's been other bands who emulate the Sabs, of course, that's the whole "doom metal" genre really, but Orchid sound more like Sabbath than even, say, Iron Man, sHeavy, or Sleep on Sleep's Holy Mountain!
The vocalist's version of Ozzy, though, is maybe more of a malevolent one, he comes off like Ozzy with a grimacing, evil edge. Riff wise, it's Iommi all the way. Really, every moment here sounds like it's been lifted of an old Sabbath lp, but rearranged/rewritten into Orchid's all "new" Sabbath songs. They can't complain about us saying that, that's obviously their intention, to recreate the Sabbath vibe circa 1970-73 as closely as they can, becoming Earthly vessels of sheer Sabbathiness, originality be damned. "Black Funeral" here for instance, seems to channel Sabbath's "Hand Of Doom"... but without quite (quite) crossing the line into outright plagiarism. Pretty much all the other songs on Capricorn can also be mapped to their vintage Sabbath templates, it's almost like you're listening to an alternate universe Sabbath album that never existed.
All right, so we've established that it would be impossible to write a review of Orchid's album without referencing Black Sabbath. What else is there to say? The musicianship is excellent, the production heavy and '70s sounding, with psychedelic synth embellishment and other droning eerie atmospheres (see "Planet Caravan", we mean "Albatross") - and of course catchy riffage that rocks mightily when the band is going full-bore, as on "Eyes Behind The Wall" and "Down Into The Earth" among others. There's absolutely no duds among the nine songs here, we're digging 'em all, and we think all fans of heavy retro occult metal like Blood Ceremony and Witchcraft will likely enjoy these too... as well as, of course, Sabbath fans, especially if you've worn out your actual Sabbath records and want a fresh dose.
The Decibel magazine review of this, as if rising to some self-imposed challenge, did not once mention Black Sabbath, somehow. We can't do that. Orchid sound like Black Sabbath, to a ridiculously plagiaristic extent. There's other Sabbath clones out there of course but these guys maybe go a little too far. They're good at it, though, so this new album is once again a guilty pleasure. But we do have to call BS on the idea that Orchid is anything more than a Sabbath rip off. Rock and roll is built on rip off tho, so we're not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. But if they ever did an album that sounded like Sabbath without actually using actual Sabbath riffs and whatnot we've be pleased and impressed.
Uh, can you say Black Sabbath? 'Cause that's about EXACTLY what this new band from San Francisco sounds like, same vocals, same chugging sludgy riffs, same swinging groove, same apocalyptic hippie vibe, even moreso than other bands also on The Church Within label that admittedly have Black Sabbath as a major influence (Lord Vicar, Lord Of The Grave, Seamount...). Courting confusion with the screamo punk band Orchid, they're naturally named after a Black Sabbath song (amusingly, one of those acoustic-y guitar solo numbers Tony Iommi liked to do now and then amidst all the heaviness, "Orchid" appearing on Master Of Reality). You don't get "Fluff" like that here, though, it's all about the heaviness and rockin' doominess. And it IS super heavy, and super Sabbathy, make no mistake. Maybe TOO Sabbathy... They've got mega riffs that Iommi might come asking for back someday, those unmistakable incantatory Ozzyish vocals, and an authentically Sabbathy sounding production, all of which puts 'em in the same camp as Sabbath worshippers Sleep (circa their Holy Mountain album), sHeavy, Iron Man, etc. We're reminded of Trouble too, though they were never quite such copyists. So, not too many points for originality, none at all really, but plenty for verisimilitude. And, we can't help it, we're sorta suckers for this, being the huge Black Sabbath fans we are, this scratches that itch, y'know?
So, this ep from Orchid comprises four songs you could throw on after listening to Vol. 4 or Sabotage and, if you squint your ears a bit, consider hitherto unreleased Black Sabbath "bonus tracks" (which all Sabbath lovers know are in very short supply). Of course we'd be even more impressed with 'em if they'd somehow managed to write truly 100 percent NEW songs as good as Sabbath's, rather than what's closer to pastiche, but that's easier said than done, and it's still a fun listen if you want to hear a shockingly similar Sabbath sound-alike, fun too trying trying to figure out which specific Sabbath album/song each Orchid song is emulating, which isn't too difficult really... "Into The Sun", despite its "Into The Void" like title, reminds us more of "Symptom Of The Universe". "Eastern Woman" has a Technical Ecstasy feel, we think, while "Son Of Misery" sounds more like the first album Sabbath. And "No One Makes A Sound" is primarily in the style of stuff on the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath LP, with a bit of an "Iron Man" interlude in it too. You won't believe it's NOT Sabbath, that should be their slogan.
We will say, though, that we hope they add a little more of their own flavor in the future, 'cause when we saw 'em live the other day (opening for the Pentagram/Ludicra/Slough Feg show) they seemed a bit... well there's no nice way to put it... like posers. They had the '70s look, the vintage gear (well except the bassist wasn't playing a Rickenbacker for some reason, WTF dude, get with the program, what would Geezer think?), it all seemed a bit too calculated, not really "real" enough, and without anything of their OWN in the mix it they might as well have just played actual Sabbath covers, rather than the cleverly rewritten Sabbath songs it appeared they were playing. That said, listening at home, we can't help but enjoy this ep quite a bit, the worshipful spirit of the thing comes across better here somehow! Like we said a while back in our WhiteBuzz review, sometimes you want more of a certain band's sound, and if another band can channel it too, let 'em! And we ALWAYS want more Sabbath... Orchid obviously feel the same way.
By the way, it's funny that we originally found out about these guys 'cause they're on a cool German label that we order from, even though they're a local band!
Orchid has to be the best of all the emo / screamo / math metal / hardcore bands around. Or -were- the best, they seem to have hung it up recently (some of the guys went on to form the brilliantly monickered Bucket Full Of Teeth). Furiously heavy, super dense sound, HUGE guitars, killer riffs, impossibly complex songs, and somehow with all that going on they manage to be one of the catchiest heavy bands EVER. Not poppy or hooky exactly, but every convoluted riff, every unlikely memory sticks in your head like crazy. When people salivate over bands like the Locust and the Daughters, as much as we like those bands, the Orchid totally crush them, heavier and catchier and weirder (without being gimmicky). Hard to explain exactly why this stuff is so good, it just sounds so fucking huge and heavy, all the best parts of punk rock and metal wrapped up in a big spiky fiery ball of pent up aggression and musical brutality. Often referred to as chaotic emo grind, and we're not sure we could come up with anything better or more accurate. Totality collects all the long out of print seven inches, splits and compilation tracks, all on cd for the first time. Packaged in a cool silkscreened red jewel case.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another brief blast of hate fueled fury from Norwegian black metal horde Orcustus (which just so happens to feature folks from Gorgoroth and Enslaved!). This is grim "anti human, anti life, true Norwegian black metal". Old school, buzzing squirming blackened thrash a la Sarcophago, Possessed and all that sort of stuff. Heavy and hateful, fuzzed out and fast as fuck. We only got a handful of these, limited to 1500 worldwide, on Southern Lord, you know the drill -- once these are gone, they're most likely gone for good, so act fast!
People give us a lot of shit for overusing the word 'buzz', but when you're describing black metal, very few words truly represent just exactly what it is about black metal that MAKES black metal what it is, yeah, it's riffs and blast beats and voKILLS, sure, but c'mon, without the buzz it would be, well, something else entirely. Plus you try and write almost 3000 reviews every year and see how many other words for buzz you can come up with.
Anyway, this is the first proper full length from this already legendary third wave black metal super group, now a duo featuring the mighty Dirge Rep on drums (he of Gehenna, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Aura Noir among others) and Taipan (from Norwegian thrashers Amok), but having previously included members of Gaahlskagg, Borknagar, Carpathian Forest, Krypt, Deep-pression, Desekrator, 1349 and others.
This current duo offer up some seriously TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL, if those words get you going, then stop right there and add this to your cart, love Gorgoroth and old Emperor and Darkthrone and that sort of thing, not blasting or furiously fast, nothing especially fucked up or far out, more just pounding and thrashing and buzzing, black black black metal. Some killer riffing, awesome epic melodies and creeped out ambient bits, frantic chaotic drumming, classic sounding old school black metal vox, harsh and raspy, all wound around total vintage sounding classic Scandinavian blackness. Lots of hooks buried beneath the layers of buzz, and as mentioned some CLASSIC black riffs, every listen we dig this more and more, But then it's a sound that we, and we're pretty sure lots of you, are total suckers for. So if you're in the mood for some pure grim frosty kvlt old school black metal, this is definitely it.
Incredible cover art, haunting and artful and a bit garish, with a thick booklet, mysterious artwork and lyrics. Cool.
Finally available on cd, the previously vinyl-only debut lp from former Harry Pussy guitarist Bill Orcutt. And as we mentioned in our review of the lp, don't be expecting a blown out noise record, instead, this is solo guitar, Orcutt's take on Fahey, although his take is decidedly more twisted and chaotic and idiosyncratic and NOISY. The cd version features a bunch of bonus tracks not on the original vinyl (but more on those later)...
When we first got the lp in, we couldn't keep it in stock, we kept having to postpone reviewing it in fact, 'cause every time a new list Friday would roll around, we'd discover that we had sold out again and would have to wait for Orcutt to drop off more records, when the same thing would happen again. We finally got enough to list and review and they blew out of here, and again, we'd sell 'em as fast as we could get 'em in, until finally there were no more to be had.
Thankfully the cd version is less limited and should ne a wee bit more available. But now you're probably asking yourself, what's so great about this, why have they been flying out of here? Maybe it's 'cause this was picked by the editors of The Wire as number 3 in their top 50 albums of 2009. Or maybe 'cause so many AQ customers have an unhealthy obsession with the seminal underground '90s no wavey noise rock outfit that Orcutt used to abuse his guitar in, the notorious Harry Pussy. But this is pretty far from the skronk and spazz of HP. Well, it's still noisy in its way, but what Orcutt is playing here on this solo guitar album is "the blues". In an "American (very) Primitive" style. That's right, it's kinda the Harry Pussy version of John Fahey or something. Totally tangled, out there improvs from a guy who's really really feeling it, you can tell.
His steel string acoustic guitar is only strung with four strings (missing the two in the middle, apparently, who needs 'em) and it's recorded up close and personal, played in a choppily percussive, and definitely emotive way. Appalachian angst that's sometimes stark, the background hum or tape hiss somehow somber, but mostly crowded with energetic bluesy bursts of notes spilling all over themselves, punctuated by occasional yelps and hollers as the spirit moves him. Imagine an agitated, ADD old timey outsider artist on Mississippi, also part Tetuzi Akiyama, part Jandek...
Sure, there's some folks who might bring out the hoary old argument that "I could play like that too". But they didn't, and Orcutt did, and we're digging it! Definitely for fans of avant electric guitar freakouts - even though this is all-acoustic!
The cd version tacks on six bonus tracks, two from a 7" single we never even saw (or heard) and 4 unreleased tracks exclusive to this release, and if anything, the extra tracks are alternatingly more melodic and pretty, more intense and frenzied, but they all sound cut from the same fucked up, outsider psychedelic guitar freakout cloth. So awesome!
Huzzah! The former guitarist for '90s underground noiseniks Harry Pussy is back with a 2nd full length solo lp, his guitar strings once again all in a tangle - maybe six of 'em, but probably less, last we checked he had dispensed with the A and D strings, 'cause he plays a (repaired) broken-necked vintage acoustic that couldn't take the strain. Of course, the way he plays it, we'd think it wouldn't be safe with even one string...
2009's critically acclaimed A New Way To Pay Old Debts was crazy popular, a proverbial hotcake of a seller here, and fans of that record won't be disappointed with this equally emotive follow-up. Wild Bill brings the urgent, alien Appalachia, this album a noisy-as-acoustic-can-be "blues" freakout that's, as we've said before, both frantic -and- focused. Chaotic, tumbling, yet trance-inducing in its intricate intensity. There's also some calmer respites from his sturm-und-drang (strum-and-dang?), like the stark, hushed "Heaven Is Closed To Me Now".
Orcutt throws in some wordless vocalizations here and there, getting properly glossolalic at times, which only adds to the "outsidery-ness" of the proceedings - and also conveys even more authentic feeling. This is one dramatic, raw, real record; while this might be what we like to call "fuckery", he's not fucking around. Fans of such folks as Japan's Kan Mikami and Tetuzi Akiyama, Jandek, and of course spiritual "American Primitive" mentor John Fahey (imagine John Fahey meets Derek Bailey!) should find this speaks to them in a language that can't be faked. And non-fans, or not-yet-fans? Well at first blanch you might find this tough going, but stick with it and see if it doesn't stir something in your soul.
Currently gatefold vinyl-only, compact disc version to follow in a few weeks. And by the way, nice Stevie Ray Vaughan pick collection on the cover! Rolling in his grave, no doubt...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Harry Pussy guitarist Orcutt takes a stroll on his own. Fans of that band's punk-skronk sound will approve.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Avant guitar slinger Bill Orcutt, formerly of legendary noise terrorists Harry Pussy, returns with another lp-only offering, a starkly handsome one sided, one song record on crystal clear vinyl, documenting a performance from his recent tour of New Zealand. Anyone who heard Orcutt's limited (and sadly out of print) A New Way to Pay Old Debts lp can look forward to another slab of atonal neo blues performed in a frantic but highly focused way on a battered old acoustic with only 4 strings. Orcutt's runs up the fretboard also come off a bit like strange ragas as the strings resonate and sustain almost like a sitar at times. Though performed in front of an audience, there is a spaciousness to the recording that takes on almost cosmic proportions and works perfectly with Orcutt's guitar work, which sounds huge and menacing but also strangely melodic. Way Down South takes on a weird trancey quality, and one can only assume that Orcutt was definitely "in the moment" here. But unlike so many bands and solo artists now, who rely extensively on loops, pedals, and all kinds of electronic fuckery, this shit is stripped to its essentials - I mean, can you really get more basic than an acoustic guitar? - and ably performed by a guy who can simply shred balls. Way recommended, and not surprisingly, limited to 300 copies!
We haven't listed 'em all (yet), but here's one of the more outstanding recent entries in the Stormspell label's ongoing "Red White and Heavy" series of obscure '80s metal demo anthologies (previous faves of ours in the series include Max Plank, Aerian Rage, and Detest). Ordained Fate were an American band, from the Midwest (Wisconsin/Illinois), and this collects their early demo tape tracks, circa 1986-1990. Press play on track one and almost immediately you'll sit up and take notice, that singer has some pipes! Super high pitched screams, and guess what, the singer's a girl! Female-fronted underground '80s speed metal shreddery, kicking ass on so much of the female-fronted "occult rock" making the rounds today. Hell yeah! Whoops, sorry, we should say heck yeah. 'Cause Ordained Fate were in fact an anti-occult, CHRISTIAN metal band. ("Our vision is to be used by the Lord at His timing and in His will only, using the talents given by Him to glorify Him and sharing our hope to the unsaved, entertaining people as that is what the Lord has gifted us with.") Gifted and talented is right. Ordained Fate, or Cryptic Axe as they were originally known, back in the earliest of these demo days, were a powerful sounding band, both musically and in the sheer sincerity of their delivery. They MEAN it, when they sing it. One thing you can't knock Christian metal bands for, the best of 'em anyway. Their convictions make for some impassioned listening, that even the atheistically inclined can appreciate, we think.
And, further setting Ordained Fate/Cryptic Axe apart, not only was their singer female, but also the guitarist and bassist, too! The only guy in the band the was drummer (married to the guitarist, by the way). How often do you hear a mostly all female Christian metal band? Probably not very often! More importantly, they're really good.
The cd booklet includes rare photos and detailed liner notes - which explain, that, strangely enough, the band formed before the members became Christians, then one by one they found the Lord and turned into a Christian band.
For fans of Powers Court (especially Powers Court!!), Sacred Warrior, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road, and other arcane '80s acts both secular and saved...
We've had a couple things on weird Italian metal/doom label I, Voidhanger before, but we got those from the artist (Blizaro/John Gallow). Now we finally did an order directly with I, Voidhanger and got a bunch of other amazing cds, most of 'em really bizarre black and/or death metal bands, like Spectral Lore, Howls Of Ebb, and Inconcessus Lux Lucis. Look out for us listing those at some point soon. But the first of 'em that we wanted to review is the the eponymous debut from The Order Of The Solar Temple, which is a bit more along the lines of the Blizaro/Gallow stuff, very '70s and '80s influenced, eccentric occult rock/metal.
A Canadian band featuring the former singer/guitarist of doomsters Funeral Circle, The Order Of The Solar Temple are super bombastic and over the top, hard rockin', melodic metal madmen. They really go for it, putting their poppiest, cheesiest foot forward on the album's lead-off track, "Fallout Woman", which sounds something like a baroque version of The Cult (who, hmm, did a song called "Fire Woman", right?). But it's more like The Cult meets The Darkness, it gets crazy with the vocals. Bold move, but we love it. Elsewhere on the album, they're really more Blue Oyster Cult than The Cult, and in fact perfectly cover a BoC classic, "Dominance And Submission" later on. Oh, and one of their originals is called "The Cult (Of Rock And Roll)". With the catchy BoC influence evident, there's moments here (particularly on final track "The Order") that will certainly remind one of Swedish sensations Ghost, who also dig that Cult. But The Order Of The Solar Temple are more bizarrely metal, more anything goes, more freakin' rockin' than Ghost, making us think also of everything from Paul Chain to UFO, Reverend Bizarre to some of the more metal moments from Circle and their side projects - in fact, if you like Pharaoh Overlord's Out Of Darkness or the Falcon (Ex-Circle) album, you should definitely dig this.
Basically, when this is cranked up, it's simply hard to deny. Definitely turning into a surprise hit amongst the aQ staff, that's for sure!
An exceptional album from this Swedish dark ambient outfit (featuring Tomas from Archon Satani) whose thematic usage of bondage and religious / occult imagery is done much better than the run of the mill Goth-with-a-sampler ensemble. Ritual chants, Sol Invictus-inspired angst-filled guitar strum, and monstrous washes of darkness invoked from the abyss.
Brand new 7" of grim buzz from two mysterious Swiss black metal bands, neither of which had we ever heard of, and neither of which feature members of any other notable bands. Switzerland is of course the home of Paysage D'Hiver and Darkspace and Enoid among others, so we had high hopes for these two hordes.
Wacht begin the proceedings with what almost sounds like a metal Star Spangled Banner, a sort of twisted guitar intro that soon gives way to a furious murky raw buzz, the drums and bass (if there is any) lost in a storm of relentless riffing and howled anguished vokills. Some killer riffs lurking in that roiling blackness, and the drums do leap out here and there, but for the most part it's like a heaving black cloud of sound, dense and hypnotic.
The much less simply monickered Ordo Infandorum Rituum Occultus (or OIRO for short), offer up their own bit of frosty grimness, a much more stripped down buzzing blast, pounding almost D-beat style rhythm, grunted vocals, raw and old school, but with some strange stuff lurking in the details, maniacal screams, some cool gnarled riffage, layered guitars, that seem to drop in and out, giving the track a sort of dizzying vibe, at times almost like a more stripped down straight ahead Deathspell Omega.
Definitely laves us dying for more from both bands, and as is always a good sing with a single, we've found ourselves flipping this over constantly and listening to both sides over and over again...
Debut blast of doom-ed orthodox blackness from this SF horde, a furious, and epic squall of frenzied guitars and furiously blasting drums, of demonic vokills, soaring melodies and grim ambience. This is another one of those records that ditches all of the experimentalism and avant-this and post-that of much of the metal we dig, and still pushes all of our buttons, offering up something true and pure, something beholden to the classics for sure, but with a sound that takes those varied influences and melds them into something pretty fantastic, moody and emotive, passionate and majestic, the sort of creeping blackened doom and depressive black buzz that we never get sick off, the songs slipping easily from frantic and furious, to lumbering and anguished, usually in the same song. Plaintive mournful melodies, draped over doomic dirges, drift right into explosive blasts of black buzz, inexorably linking the two. The fact that these guys are equally adept at both, only helps seal the deal. The sound too is a big part of it, managing to sound both raw and primitive, lush and expansive, infusing the brittle buzz of black metal with some serious doomic heft, and shading that melancholic doom with swaths of dark black miserablism. And beyond that, these guys can actually write a song, with many of the melodies here, the sort that end up stuck in your head for days. All of the songs here are pretty great, but the closer, the epic 12+ minute "By His Unflinching Hand", might be the best of the bunch, certainly the most unique, ditching much of the blackness in exchange for something moodier and more epic, the song lopes and meanders, the guitars unfurling darkly, the melodies mournful and melancholy, strip away the vocals and you'd be in serious Neurosis / Isis / Godspeed territory, a smoldering slowbuild epic of the highest order, one that creeps and lumbers, offers up some blackened skitter, before a cool super dynamic, stop/start passage, that we wish would have gone on WAY longer, and which leads into the haunting coda, all whipping winds and acoustic guitar, bleak and somber and the perfect finish to a pretty fantastic record.
The Oregon Painting Society is a collective from Portland which features Matt Carlson of Golden Retriever, Birch Cooper and Barbara Kinzle (both of The Slaves and The Greys), filmmaker Brenna Murphy, and Jason Traeger. During a frenzied three year period, OPS presented peculiar happenings through elaborate installations of discarded materials reconfigured into weird electronic instruments. The images of Cruisn' - an installation / performance at the Appendix Project Space in 2010 - shows the five members wielding very strange objects, including a couple of black corncobs with connected to a salvaged folding table by way of guitar cables lending to the impression that these corncobs might be acting as some sort of theremin. Then there's a small wood-panelled platform covered in light switches and dimmers that one of the members is flipping off and on; and there's also a loom which seems to be grinding a large stick; and somebody wearing a low-rent Stellarc cybernetic suit whilst balancing on a bale of hay. The imagery is weird yet compelling in the deliberate low-rent / high-tech approach to hand-crafted instrumentation, and this tape is a documentation of the five performing on these objects.
So what does it all sound like? Circuit-bent boards, broken consumer electronics, malfunctioning amplifiers, and electronic-sound-kits all rewired into a huge tangle of spluttering noise, sick-tone, and static. Think David Tudor trying to work out what he did with all of the janky gear that Nautical Almanac scraped together from thrift stores and the basements of antiquated electronic stores. All of the blistering, scabrous, polydactyl blurts of 4-bit electronics are improvised into grotesque swarms that aren't all that far from the later Matthew Bower explorations of free-noise through Sunroof! Wild and wooly for sure, and you bet this is limited!
According to Metal Archives, one of our favorite go to sites for metal info, there are at least 150 metal bands from Bulgaria!! Which is pretty amazing considering that Orenda are, as far as we know, the first Bulgarian metal band we've ever heard.
Anyway, they may be from Bulgaria, but they sound Norwegian, or maybe Polish. On the surface this is furious buzzing black metal, not midtempo, but not really blasting either, just a super fast sort of harsh buzz. Relentlessly pounding drums, droning buzzy riffs, harsh vocals, but beneath the layers of buzz in each song, lurk all manner of strange melody and fucked up sonic weirdness.
It's hard to explain exactly what it is that makes these songs stand out, it's pretty subtle, whether it's some cool seasick guitar melodies weaving back and forth beneath the surface, or some sort of bell chiming in the distance, or a stretch of feedback that sounds like the warning beep of a backing up truck, or mewing cat-like vocals, but more often than not it's just the structure of the song, the interaction between the main riff and the second guitar part, that allow unlikely harmonies to surface, giving the songs a strange emotional resonance that isn't immediately noticeable.
Plus it helps that the riffs are killer, wrapped in a thick buzzy production, the relentless buzzing blackness peppered with blazing bursts of double kick drum, some super sludgy stretches of black doom, even some unlikely poppiness. Definitely recommended!
The welcome return of these Bulgarian black lords, after their Back In The Grave debut from last year. And of course, after Back In The Grave comes The Funeral, an equally bleak and buzzy masterpiece channeling the sound and spirit of classic Norwegian and Polish BM into a swirling, droning black mass, a�funereal hymn�as furious and fuzzy as it is relentless and harsh.�
Four long tracks, two black blasts, bookended by two midtempo buzzscapes, and as with Back In The Grave, the sounds on The Funeral are�super dense and thick, the guitars a weird lush, lustrous shade of black, churning out a cursed lament, while above�the fray, vocals gnash and howl, a cracked hellish croak, way up in the mix, like some monstrous beast soaring above the roiling blackness below. But this is not just raw kvlt black metal, the riffs here are strangely fluid and warm, emotional and intense, with an�almost sort of gothy vibe, like a way more buzzy and blackened Khold. And within Orenda's�black forest of buzz, cool melancholy melodies lurk everywhere, haunting arpeggiated guitars, and strangest of all, super dramatic, almost cinematic sonic swells, sounding a lot like some black metal Morricone. Even when the band is blasting at a furious clip, the chords are ultra complex and the various strands of melody tangle and intertwine in strange and unlikely ways, with the band often slipping back into a completely mesmerizing, seasick lurching black lope, but always lacing their blurry blackness with stretches of haunting ambience draped gauzelike over the black blasts and complex post rockisms buried within.�
Perhaps most famous for his 1937 cantata, Carmina Burana (whose "O Fortuna" is the go-to score to represent medieval horror and fascist power in film), our favorite Carl Orff works are actually the musical exercises he developed with Gunild Keetman for educating young children. Developed in the 1920's and popularly known as "shulwerk", or "schoolwork", the music is elemental and combines movement, singing, playing, and improvisation. Often played on what is known as "the Orff instruments": glockenspiels, xylophones, metallophones, drinking glasses, violoncello, bells, cymbals, drums, and the triangle, but also plenty of hand-clapping, knee slapping and feet-stamping, the exercises were largely rhythmic and percussive in nature and were designed for instructors to tailor the material to the students specific needs and playing levels. Instructors were also allowed to add popular children's songs and rhymes from their home-country to the repertoire. Translated from the German by Margaret Murray and performed by the Chorus of the Children's Opera Group, The Speech Ensemble from the Italia Conti School, and The Instrumental Ensemble, this Trunk records reissue was originally released in 2 lp editions in 1958. Most songs are under a minute for a total of 85 songs (for this reissue, the lp version has been distilled to 48 tracks on a single lp, but you get 'em all on the cd version)! This UK version features many nursery rhymes like "Pat-A-Cake" and "Tinker-Tailor", but also has some old British folk songs lincluding the very oldest song "Sumer Is Icumen In" and some creepy ones like "The Witch Scene from Macbeth" and "Tommy's Fallen In The Pond", that give some of the singing a spooky feel. But it also hearkens back to a seemingly lost time, where music education for young children was a serious endeavor available and encouraged for everyone. Delightful!
Self-proclaimed "The Elite Splatter Junkies Digest"! This is the debut issue of a new death/gore oriented music 'n' movies fanzine, that's entirely hand-written (a la Galactic Zoo Dossier). What a lot of work, it's incredibly painstakingly done, with elaborate hand-drawn art bordering each page as well - there were literally hundreds of man-hours devoted to this issue (read the intro, it took 2 years and we believe it!!).
Bands interviewed include Morbus Chron, Nocturnal, Asphyx, Cianide, Grave Upheaval, and Impetigo, among others. Equally wholesome is all the content pertaining to exploitation cinema, with tons of reviews of cult horror classics. And then there's the comix, lots of sick stuff there too. Particular features of note: "Confessions Of A Teenage VHS Bootlegger", "Colinoscopy's Top Ten Japanese Hardcore Bands", "Leather Women And Steel" (an article on '80s swords & sorcery flicks)�
Definitely read this in good light, and/or with a magnifying glass, if you want to not strain your eyes too much. Perfect bound, (very) black & white, 116 densely-packed, hyper violently entertaining pages. Published by the fine folks at Hells Headbangers, by the way.
These Young Canadian gals are hitting that '80s wonderfully dour British rock pop sound (The Smiths, The Cure and The Church... oops, they're Australian) right on the mark. And I (Cup) totally love it! No, it's probably not anything you haven't heard before, but it is very very good... particularly notable and impressive when you find out that the five gals are only in their early twenties. Yes, they do indeed have a big ol' Hammond organ as one of their instruments, however the guitars and vocals are what defines the band's retro sound. Lead vocalist Katie Sketch possesses a depth of expression that's much broader, seeming much older, wiser and world-wearier than her years. So strong and emotive, think a young female Morrissey. And as a fitting counterpart, Debora Cohen's lanky guitar tone is straight-up Johnny Marr. Hindered only by some rather stiff drumming (unfortunately not quite on par with the rest of the band's level of composure), Grab The Sun is packed with moody, yet super infectious songs like the lead-off track "Brother" with its punchy, youthful girl gang sing-a-long chorus, "Sinking Hearts", the very Smiths-y "A Sudden Death" and the great album-closer "Memorize The City". Oh yeah, and FYI: If this band already seems familiar to you (apart from their decidedly retro sound), it might be because you saw them a couple of years ago opening for their Mint Records labelmates New Pornographers.
After Vancouver's dourest rainy day pop darlings The Organ decided to call it quits a couple of years ago - much to the chagrin of retro Brit swagger lovin' melancholics everywhere - the gals got back together for one final recording session before going their separate ways. The results are the half dozen songs that make up this posthumous release. As with their highly lauded and beloved debut album 2004's Grab That Gun, Thieves captures the still fresh-faced quartet's sullenly brooding, distinctively Smiths-leaning, catchy melodies. By the way, yes, this was released late last year, but it took a little while to get a hold of them. better late than never, we think they're well worth the wait! A wistfully downcast, bittersweet treat.
Pre-Kraftwerk cosmic hippy krautrock classic now re-issued on (probably quite limited) vinyl.
