Naked On The Vague - Poltergeist Palm 7"

Skulltones, 2008

Though the duo is sometimes on the edge of "ooh look at us we're Australia's weirdest band look at how weird we are," there's thankfully nothing like that going on here. This is more on the side of tastefully edgy (well to these tastes at least) than willfully opaque and excessive art punk. Haunting urgoth post-punk industrialist moves, sounds worthy of both Siltbreeze's most angular, some kind of Sacred Bones underground side, or way back on Broken Flag during Mundy's Toll project. Thus on like-minded Skulltones. Haven't heard much else like this from the pair, it's a solid shortie for this kind of sound.

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Ain Soph - Kshatriya

Misty Circles, 1988

Esoteric ritual musick from the legendary ltalian group's most fertile era. Hallmark of classic ritual pseudo-industrial work ala old Sigillum S, Zero Kama, and Capricorni Pneumatici. Neoclassical in intent, these are mysterious chorales for the monad, hymnals to pan and other Thelemic currents. Minimal operatic female voice, organ, chant, subtle electronic hums. Bow down in praise to the flash of light that is the guitar/overloaded tone in "Monsalvata" for it is the light of the throne of the ruler of the world.

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Lovesliescrushing - CRWTH (Chorus Redux)

Line, 2010

A reworking and rearrangement of the classic-but-hidden shoegaze act's seminal Chorus album, composed entirely of treated voice. Deeply subtle, ethereal and way above the fold, plenty worthy of a modern big-deal experimental/ambient label like Line. Makes you wonder why the original was so prone to disappear, but Projekt with its ugly lack of quality control seemed to have a way with burying its good artists in dust. Emotive, hazy surrealism like the best moments of Grouper, only it's a bit more of a baroque, levitated chorus, with the ornamental polish and ice-dusting of digital electronics, both old and new. There's vastly more to behold in sounds like these than the next new flavorless laptop guitar album.

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