ENOCHIAN TAPESTRIES, INC.

Himmelfahrtstag

2012-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Dolorian - Voidwards

2012-01-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Wounded Love Records, 2006

An oneiric transformation of the familiar tropes of doom metal, from the Finnish Helixes Collective (Halo Manash, Arktau Eos, etc.) associated act. Also not coincidentally harkening from the land that brought some of the most significant reformations of the genre in acts like Thergothon & Skepticism. Ostensibly the first project of the collective, although I.Corax may have a small claim to that. Voidwards sees them in a particularly near approach to the collective's usual improvised ritual ambient work, with particularly Helix-ish song titles (i.e. "In The Locus Of Bone," "Raja Naga - Rising"), mystical lyrical content chanted in the same whisper-croak style seen in Arktau Eos' rare vocal pieces, and a shared amorphous, ululating, nigh-improvised aural haze, albeit amplified by resonant, nay even psychedelic, metallic guitars that remind of the midrange sound of the classic doom-death band dISEMBOWELMENT on entheogens. I have been hunting for some dark metal that matches emotional intensity with creativity of composition, and outside of Corrupted and unearthing the late drone metal group The Angelic Process' Weighing Souls With Sand, this album has hit spot on for me.

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Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit

2012-01-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

Nostaliga Darkrain, 2011

Highly recommended end opus of this incarnation of the Japanese "doom" masters. Their playing has never been more epic, more emotive, move evocative. Beyond excellent and probably one of the best albums not only of 2011, but of at least the past 5 years.

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Tropic Of Cancer

2012-01-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

The Dull Age/ Victims 10" (Downwards, 2009)

Be Brave 10" (Downwards, 2011)

The End Of All Things (Downwards, 2011)

The Sorrow Of Two Blooms 12" (Blackest Ever Black, 2011)

Tropic Of Cancer is the groovy UK duo of Camella Lobo & John Mendez producing some bleak noir wave and minimal post-gaze auras that works in the general framework laid down by recent Suicide-revisers like Dirty Beaches as well as being a stripped down version of re-wave operators like Blank Dogs and Gary War. Tastefully minimal but not devoid of feeling, works because just enough seems to be going on. For slow motion dancing in the black lodge.

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P.J. - M.F.C.S.J.

2012-01-10T16:51:00.001-08:00

Recontextualized sacred music recorded live in the eponymous church, from sometimes film composer and founder of the increasingly astonishing Subtext label. Minimalist electro-acoustic classical musick that distills the unequivocally holy acoustics of many a Christian church and cathedral, reminds much of Arvo Pärt, but with the subtle electronic edge of Jacaszek or Roly Porter. Ends with a beautifully sombre string flourish.

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Allseits - Hel

2012-01-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

Cyclic Law, 2009

Underrated guitar-based orchestral dark ambient project from the sometimes extra live ⅓ of Troum. Very much in the vein of the parent band, but as one can infer from the album/track titles this is more a heavy journey to the nethermost regions of Norse mythography, where no transcendence is found, only the furthering low tones of abyss upon abyss. One of the most chthonic pieces of dark drone since Lustmord's Heresy.

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Best Of 2011

2011-12-31T22:00:00.001-08:00

My verdict is still out on whether I like top-10 lists or not, but there were some real standouts this year that I thought merited special mention:

Full Lengths:
1. Roly Porter - Aftertime
2. Grouper - A | A: Dream Loss/ Alien Observer
3. Barn Owl - Lost In The Glare
4. Prurient - Bermuda Drain
5. Burial Hex - Angelic Gematria
6. Dirty Beaches - Badlands
7. Demdike Stare - Tryptych
8. The Haxan Cloak - The Haxan Cloak
9. Stare Case - Lose Today
10. Andrew Chalk - Violin By Night

Singles/ EPs

1. Massive Attack vs. Burial - Four Walls/ Paradise Circus
2. Grouper - Water People
3. Salem - I'm Still In The Night
4. Prurient - Time's Arrow
5. Demdike Stare - Elemental - Parts 1 & 2
6. Sean McCann - The Sky Is Filled With Incredible Wishes
7. Laurel Halo - Hour Logic
8. Björk - The Crystalline Series (Omar Souleyman Remixes)
9. Andy Stott - Passed Me By
10. Burial - Street Halo

Honorable mentions (some of these are totally excellent in their own right, but only missed the cut by a wee bit). In no particular order:

Balam Acab - Wander/Wonder
Kangding Ray - OR
Kreng - Grimoire
Zola Jesus - Conatus
Jacaszek - Glimmer
Six Organs Of Admittance - Asleep On The Floodplain
Natural Snow Buildings - Waves Of The Random Sea
Natural Snow Buildings - Chants Of Nifelheim
Higuma - Pacific Fog Dreams
Jon Porras - Undercurrent
Evan Caminiti - When California Falls Into The Sea
Juv - Juv
Peaking Lights - 936
Andy Stott - We Stay Together
Leyland Kirby - Eager To Tear Apart The Stars
Sean McCann - The Capital
Simon Scott - Bunny
Kaboom Karavan - Barra Barra
Fourth World Magazine - The Spectacle Of Light Abductions
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
*AR - Wolf Notes
Hauschka & Hildur Gudnadottir - Pan Tone
Brainworlds - *****
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From The Stairwell
Matthewdavid - Outmind
Death Grips - Ex-Military
Christina Vantzou - No. 1
Deaf Center - Owl Splinters
Robedoor - Too Down To Die
Vatican Shadow - Kneel Before Religious Icons
Burial Hex - Book Of Delusions
Burial Hex - Eschatology I
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen
The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Fills This World
Nate Young - Stay Asleep (Regression Vol. 2)
Shataan - War Cry Lament
Arizmenda - Without Circumference Nor Center
Innercity - Boy In Forest Trying To Hotwire The Earth
James Ferraro - Far Side Virtual
James Ferraro - Condo Pets
Grimes/ D'Eon - Darkbloom
Genocide Organ - Under-Kontrakt
Emptyset - Demiurge
Kuedo - Severance
BJ Nilsen - Vinyl
Chelsea Wolfe - Ἀποκάλυψις
Ela Orleans/ Dirty Beaches - Double Feature
Holy Other - With U
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
Barn Owl - Shadowland
Ekin Fil - Language
Skullflower - Fucked On A Pile Of Corpses
Alberich - Psychology Of Love

Enjoy 2012 before Quetzalcoatl or something starts eating the planet in December!!!

Stare Case

2011-12-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

Stare Problem (American Tapes, 2010)

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Lose Today (De Stijl, 2011)

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Ash From The Burning Log Coated Tape Heads Vol. 2 (American Tapes, 2011)

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Apologies for the long hiatus, but life has been particularly lifelike recently. Stare Case is Nate "THE HATE" Young and "Inzane" Johnny Olson, 2/3 of Wolf Eyes, producing some dead wino funk and totally 'tarded creeper jazz. Skeleton porn. Like a mellower Graveyards or Olson's Handicapper Hornz project meets Demons or Young's recent solo electronics translated into bass. Young's über-depresso vox burble up on top from the tussin'd out basement fog with clear intent to permanently damage yr mind. This, along with Nate's recent solo work, has got me back into the Wolves after quite a long break, and they're once again producing some of the year's solidest jams. Dig it.

Burial Hex - Angelic Gematria

2011-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Blackest Rainbow, 2011

Master Ruby reports in chants of pale light from the nadirs of the heavens. Cannot recommend this work enough, his austere from-the-occult-to-the-ecclesiastical angle approaches the same kinds of realms as recent Xela, only with a more firmly blackened root; with hollow whispers from the corners of vast cathedrals and great organs ringing from the mouths of the saints' agonies. Moves on the latter track into black romantic synth work akin to a more Goblin-ish version of his work seen in tracks like "Go Crystal Tears." Brilliance.

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(thanks to The Radiant Now for the original post)

Consumere Electronics - Nobody's Ugly

2011-10-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

No Fun Productions, 2007

Mentioned in the previous post. Sideways digitized power electronics/ drone from Philip Best's (Whitehouse) solo project. Demonstrates once again that Whitehouse and their closest ilk are about much more than producing the highest-possible-volume screechfest. Would like to think this album set the precedent for the new kind of PE seen in Yellow Tears, Halflings, etc., but it really seems everyone was arriving at digital-laptop-collage feedback hybrid sounds on their own around 07-08 and on.

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Sutcliffe Jügend - The Fall Of Nature

2011-10-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ground Fault Recordings/ Hospital Productions, 2008

A 58-minute single track piece that explores Tomkins skills at crafting thick, dissonant ambience, moving towards the familiar shredding power electronics by the end of the track. The ambient half reminds of the intense digital atonalities seen on Consumer Electronics' (Philip Best's project) Nobody's Ugly album, but more complex and layered, not unlike some Kevin Drumm work, with the sharp uncompromising edge of noise and the density of peak drone work.

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Bodychoke - Cold River Songs

2011-10-19T22:25:00.001-07:00

Purity, 1998/ Relapse 2009

So far in my experience, when guys from decent power electronics acts turn rock, they rock OUT, i.e. Skullflower, Ramleh, Dominick Fernow's umpteen projects. Bodychoke, the 90s side project of Kevin Tomkins (Sutcliffe Jügend, ex-Whitehouse) is no exception. Hidden away for some reason, I unfortunately participated in its underrating, as I have often put Sutcliffe Jügend on the side and focused more on Whitehouse as the purveyor of high-quality vileness, a status SJ does not deserve as I am finding I like quite a bit of Tomkins' material more for sheer atmosphere and pro viciousness. Bodychoke was his rock fugue and continued his integrity; what you've got here is noise rock heaviness that's somewhere between old school Skullflower tactics (or moreso rock-era Ramleh), with an almost Swans-level sophistication (the celloist is amazing), lyrics schizophrenically going between Michael Gira and Oxbow drugged-up suicide crooning, and when it gets romantic (this usually means there's a knife in somebody's head) it even sounds kind of like a psychopathic Fields Of The Nephilim. The atmosphere is as thick as his main solo project, the themes as twisted, but a little more introspective (i.e. no "I never met a woman who didn't deserve to die"). Absolutely magnificent stuff, this is their magnum opus but the other two albums, Mindshaft and Five Prostitutes are not to be missed.

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The Human Quena Orchestra - A Natural History Of Failure

2011-10-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

Utech, 2010

Ultraheavy sequel to The Politics Of The Irredeemable by the doctors of electro-sludge. Full-on intense negativity beneath the wonderfully grim cover art.

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Muslimgauze - Gun Aramaic

2011-10-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Soleilmoon, 1996

I put out a request on Last.fm for albums similar to Eye For An Eye and this was one of the replies. Spot-on, I was very pleasantly surprised, a real standout in the vast discography, thick Palestinian ghetto atmospheres permeate, the string drones and distorted sample on "Oil Prophets" (both tracks) is a real gem.

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Wingdings - I-III

2011-08-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

I: Return To Earth (Outer Limits Recordings, 2009)

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II: Zarathustra's Puzzle (Outer Limits Recordings, 2009)

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III: The Symbol Of Infinity (Outer Limits Recordings, 2009)

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The ongoing adventures of Bruce Muscle find his supposedly peaceful return from chilling with the intergalactic party dudes in the Bro-Zone violently interrupted by lysergenetic vistas of brainjuice-sucking Transmedia™ kaleidoscopic prisons: WHO KILLED FLUFFY BUTTERS? Doom II chaingun vengeance is found in the new VHS holographic weapon, Ripper Fleshers®, but only with the help of Thrash® energy juice (energize now with the Kenner™ Metaphysical Effects® Playset!) and Innerspace guru and Soul Vision pioneer, Rom Dos, can he seek to destroy the all-encycling computer mind now consuming VIRO CITY. Hey dude, where's all the babes & beer?

Diminishing Shrine Recycles

2011-08-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

JAMES FERRARO - DIMINISHING SHRINE RECYCLES from OLDE ENGLISH SPELLING BEE on Vimeo.

Descend into holy valleys of subcortical color only to be murdered by some trash humping mutant 'burb hunters...

Brainworlds

2011-08-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

** (CocoArt, 2009)

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*** (Sonic Meditations, 2010)

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**** (Hooker Vision, 2010)

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***** (Sonic Meditations, 2011)

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Com Truise - Galactic Melt/ Fairlight

2011-08-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

Galactic Melt (Ghostly International, 2011)

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Fairlight (Ghostly International, 2011)

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More recent synth work that's broke above the herd to my interest. This is totally spot-on production instrumental electropop with professional post-dubstep level mixing decks. It refines the best elements of the more rhythmic side of the earliest still-analog electro sound, and while, yes, this is a blatantly retro exercise, and such a good one that the guy earned a lucky spot on the Tron: Legacy remix disc, the difference here is the hardcore intent on making it sound great. And that it does.

Laurel Halo - Hour Logic

2011-08-07T00:57:00.001-07:00

Hippos In Tanks, 2011

Halo creates a deeply personal synth vision that here seems to merge the Kraut-sequenced post-Oneohtrix field of hauntological electronics with some of the compositional flavor and rogueness of early-90s IDM & ambient techno; AFX, Autechre, especially The Orb. Her vocals are an entirely different story, somewhere between a parallel-universe 80s android diva and the even more lovely lingual bloomings of 4AD chanteuses like Elizabeth Fraser. What comes to my ears is far beyond the monotony that's turned me off to the new new age synth movement in recent days, a sound that despite its obvious 20-year old bin digging doesn't sound like an exercise in weak retro fashion; instead it's daringly ethereal and futuristic electronic music.

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Troum, Asianova/Voice Of Eye, S.Q.E., Ure Thrall - Actualization/ Excrement Of Old Dreams

2011-07-28T00:19:00.001-07:00

Discorporeality Recordings, 2009

The joy and magick of pure creation, the emergence of the ineffable manifestations of rigpa, from a few of the world's most illuminated seekers of transdimensional sonics.

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Thomas Köner - Teimo

2011-07-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

Barooni, 1992

Good 320 CBR rip of what I am pretty sure is the 1992 copy of the arctic ambient master's classic album (not the 2010 Type vinyl reissue [remaster?], if anyone has a good, V0 or better, mp3 rip of this please hook up). Almost never able to draw myself too far from his best work in Nuuk, but after listening it to death I recently discovered this too to be one of his best. The title track in particular is a beaut'. Enveloping as always.

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Lunar Abyss Deus Organum

2011-07-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

Snovenidie (BioSonar^Labirint, 2006)

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Snegopad (BioSonar^Labirint, 2009)

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Bereg Teploj Vesny (Vetvei, 2009)

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Huonus (BioSonar^Labirint, 2009)

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Tuntury (Aquerellist, 2009)

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Geologorazvedka (BioSonar^Labirint, 2010)

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Homespun shamanic ambience from the obscure and underrated Russian act. Reminds of the deeply organic approach of Alio Die, but with the improvised, natural sporadicness of peak electro-ambient COIL work. Speaks of a deep Karelian undercurrent, harkening back to the days when pagan Slavs and Uralic shamans shared the same fungal-forest medicine cabinets. Wonderfully alien yet grounding work, whose genuine nature shows from the homemade cover art to the unpretentious yet daring soundforms within.

Aderlating Megapost

2011-07-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Nectar Of Perversity Springs From The Well Of Repression (Shadowgraph, 2009)

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Dood (Devotional Hymns, 2010)

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Nekrasov/Aderlating Split (Chrome Leaf, 2010)

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Devotional Hymns (Shadowgraph, 2010)

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Dying Of The Light (Self-Released, 2010)

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Spear Of Gold And Seraphim Bone Part One (ConSouling Sounds, 2011)

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Bastardized blackened dark ambient from a side project of Maurice De Jong (Gnaw Their Tongues/ De Magia Veterum). Flourishes of percussive chaos still mar the caverns with horror, but the running-beserk-with-a-meat-cleaver psychotic guitar frenzy of his other projects is replaced here with a ritual drone/ black noise sound that's like Nordvargr/MZ.412 updated to the 21st century. So far my favorite project of his.

Teeny Bopper - Condum Dump/ Perverts

2011-07-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Condum Dump (Self-Released, 2008)

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Perverts (Accretion Disk, 2007)

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Positively vicious work from a member of Yellow Tears of a more traditional vocals + analog electronics PE type. Shit seethes in your subconscious. Gave me nightmares of some kind of mercenary archæologists somewhere in Vietnam being attacked by shamanic priests whose faces are rotted to the bone.

Raionbashi - Kollekte

2011-07-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hanson, 2006

A1 Untitled Edith
A2 Buildin
A3 Ein Jodler
Featuring – Frau Kutzke
A4 Noch Ein Jodler
Featuring – Frau Kutzke
A5 Bockflöte
A6 Tar
B1 Untitled Soot Pt.1
B2 Magical Blah Blah
Featuring – John Wiese, Michael Barthel
B3 Untitled Ergh
B4 Open Coffin
B5 Blöt Rain
B6 Ursuppe

More digital collaged filth in the vein of Yellow Tears from the torturkammer of a one Daniel Löwenbrück, only this slab of gooey plastic is of a particularly disorienting, bizarre kind, from a guy who has made his ways around the more creative ends of the international noise underground (John Wiese, Twig Harper, etc.)

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Yellow Tears - The Pissmop/ Don't Cry/ The Cult Of Yellow Tears

2011-07-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

The Pissmop (Hospital Productions, 2008)

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Don't Cry (Hospital Productions, 2009)

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The Cult Of Yellow Tears (Hospital Productions, 2010)

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unclean. Unclean. UNCLEAN. WASH HANDS WASH HANDS WASH HANDS.

Absum - Purgatoire 2007-2009

2011-06-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

Crepúsculo Negro, 2010

Black Twilight affiliated monolithic blackened drone, though nowhere near as weak as the usual Nortt-type funeral doom. Short but dense work, not the kind of sound the guy could work in forever, but a great one-off tape nevertheless.

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Utarm - Minus The Divine

2011-06-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Turgid Animal, 2009

Gorgeous agony from the one-man project. Vocals as plague-ridden and tortured as Khanate, The Human Quena Orchestra, or Gnaw Their Tongues, across a funereal landscape of ascending spires of blackened drone. Actually very comparable to The Human Quena Orchestra, only less monotonous, and taking much more from blackened/ funeral doom. But the same kind of almost Skullflower-ish beautiful painful layered drone.

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Voltigeurs - Voltigeurs

2011-06-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Turgid Animal, 2009

I dunno shit about Matthew Bower's personal life, but something must have gone seriously awry (I don't mean this is a bad thing) after he stopped recording as Sunroof! Because since then he's gone OUT, and has been carving and diving and climbing into the farthest reaches of mind/ space/ darkness. Voltigeurs is him and Skullflower live violinist/ additional drone scryer Samantha Davies. I thought this was released this year, but lo and behold it's been sleeping for two years. It seems on some level to proceed from or (more likely) be concurrent to his piece on the White Medal Split (that I posted here), in that kind of layered, tonal drone that's a wee bit less ear-piercing and feedback-warped than works like Circulus Vitiosus Deus, and certainly wayyyy less of that than Strange Keys to Untune Gods Firmament. Definitely as great as Circulus (still for me the pinnacle of Bower's work with the psychedelic modal blackened drone thing) and in spots almost better. The improvised ritual with Davies seems also to have a little of the wandering amorphousness of Hototogisu or Skullflower's recent live releases, but doesn't fall into the realm of total formlessness, his Mirag-derived metal raga ascensions and descensions are still majestically carving out the abyss here. Brilliant as always and looking forward to more from this collaboration.

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Glossolalia - Gold In The Throat

2011-06-19T23:58:00.001-07:00

Crépusculo Negro, 2010

Layered one-man BM project affiliated with the solid Black Twilight Circle. Workings of raw but supremely exquisite quality, don't miss this one! Short, but as good as Arizmenda. Vacuous atmospheres sublimating burning mountaintops, sluices of lighting cursing the earth below.

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Paysage d'Hiver - Kristall und Isa

2011-06-19T17:59:00.001-07:00

Kunsthall Produktionen, 2001

If you're into this kind of stuff, chances are you've heard this. So I won't say too much. For the casual BMer who got pulled into this stuff from Xasthur/Leviathan, you should like this more. Paysage d'Hiver as whole is the pinnacle of ambient-atmospheric whatever black metal. Fucking brutal beautiful eternal coldness. No seriously, permafrosted.

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Andrew Chalk - Violin By Night

2011-06-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

Faraway Press, 2011

Getting this out of the way before I go to some more blackish posts. This is Andrew Chalk at his most beautiful, different, but beautiful. And if you're an avid listener of his you know that means a hell of a lot. What surprised me was the rawness of some of the effects. Some of it is closer to his recent keyboard work where the canvas is of vaguely discerned clods of earth & water. Yet nothing prepares you for the violin epic on Side B. Tearjerker, yeah I'm a mush. Well I always have been, why should I apologize for that. Oh yeah.

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Ekin Fil - Language

2011-06-14T13:53:00.001-07:00

Root Strata, 2011

Wonderful Grouperesque sleeper tape from Istanbul-based Ekin Fil (and she receives the Liz Harris stamp of approval too). Not too samey, though as a certain urban majesty and some diverse electronic touches come around. But overall just a sheer beauty of hushed deep echoing vocals and droning strums.

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Henry Flynt - You Are My Everlovin/ Celestial Power

2011-06-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

Edition Hundertmark, 1986

Thick slab of Appalachian infinity from the cognitive nihilist anti-music musician. His musical output is by no means refusist gobbledegook, but rather free interpretations of formal, earthy musical forms and is truly a joy to behold. Still surprises these ears this was from so long ago, you got a good chunk of the sound of solo Kawabata Makoto, Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra, and pretty much everything GHQ does is straight out of his songbook.

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Kreng - Grimoire

2011-06-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

Miasmah, 2011

Grimoire finds Caudron deeper further into shattered jazz and hallucinogenically distorted ur-Lynchian sonics. Has more of a focus on concatenating individually standing compositions into a pseudo-narrative album structure, somewhat removed from the slow nocturnal drift down desolated motel halls of the L'Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu. Another direct strike for Miasmah and another good omen for 2011.

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Barn Owl - Live On WFMU November 2010

2011-06-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

This second piece from a live set of the dual-headed drone god finds them in a particularly instrumental mood, with more on the deep Crazy Horsing riff/melody and less on the terminal OM (but there's still a healthy dose of that, of course!). Almost certainly the best I've ever heard them, except when I actually heard them live. Thanks to WEHAVENOZEN for the original post.

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The Haxan Cloak - The Haxan Cloak

2011-06-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Aurora Borealis, 2011

Well I'm off of the hate noise/power electronics binge here for a bit for this well-cross-pollinated orchestral doom project of a one Bobby Krlic. Fertile explorations of haunted winter chamber musics, digitally crumbled strings, acousmatic percussive collapses, and nigh-apocalyptic vocal lamentations. One of the best so far of the year.

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Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Boutanger Moor/ No Escape 7"

2011-06-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Boutanger Moor (Basement Tapes, 2007)

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No Escape (Static Caravan, 2008)

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Two more bulky slices of jagged amoebic disfigured sonic evil (or something) from my permanent noise gurus. what these guys do with vocals (and just about everything) is mindshattering.

Mania - Armed To The Teeth

2011-06-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

PACrec/Troniks, 2008

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Koufar - Enemy/Legacy / Haiawan/ The Purity Of The Cedars

2011-06-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

Enemy/Legacy (Universal Tongue, 2009)

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Haiawan (Small Doses, 2009)

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The Purity Of The Cedars (Topheth Prophet, 2010)

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Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory

2011-06-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Earache, 1994

"War is the highest occupation of man." - The Judge, Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

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EX.ORDER - Corporate Control

2011-05-26T21:27:00.001-07:00

Power & Steel, 2007

DEKLASSIFIED DOKUMENT

Genocide Organ - Remember

2011-05-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

Tesco, 1997 (2007 Reissue)

:VIVE LA MORTE : VIVE LA GUERRE : VIVE LE SACRE MERCINAIRE:

AKTION T4
UNIT 731

Randy Greif & Robin Storey & Nigel Ayers - Oedipus Brainfoil

2011-05-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

Disc 1 - Randy Greif & Robin Storey - Nail Of Pious Bride

Disc 2 - Robin Storey & Nigel Ayers - Perfidious Albion

Disc 3 - Nigel Ayers & Randy Greif - Build A Poison Fire

Soleilmoon, 1999

Wonderful, mystical three disc collaboration from three well-established underground artists; Randy Greif (known for his Alice In Wonderland 5-disc set), Robin Storey (Rapoon, Zoviet France), & Nigel Ayers (Nocturnal Emissions). Follows generally in the vein of the liminal, looped & textured styles of this particular strand of post-industrial ambience. Warm & amniotic but by no means flavorless latter-new age monotony.

Prurient - Trapdoor/ Answer To God

2011-05-23T17:23:00.001-07:00

Trapdoor (Hospital Productions, 2005)

Answer To God (Hospital Productions, 2007)

Two small but poignant bits of seething electronics from the king in red and black.

"Out, out brief candle!" - Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5

Alberich - NATO-Uniformen

2011-05-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hospital Productions, 2010

Vanguard of the new industrial elite who co-opt earlier forms and turn the eyes of weaponized power electronics away from sexual perversion into the realm where the sheer passion of righteous ideologies drives man to violence, a realm far more tangible and frightening because of its deep embedding in accepted "morality."

Manuals 1+2
Manuals 3+4
Manuals 5+6
Manuals 7+8
Manuals 9+10
Manuals 11+12
Manuals 13+14
Manuals 15+16

SUFFERING IS MEANINGFUL

The Grey Wolves - Blood And Sand

2011-05-19T13:05:00.001-07:00

Cold Spring, 2002

THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES WILL BE FOUGHT ON THE ASTRAL PLANE

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Sunburned Hand Of The Man - No Magic Man

2011-05-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Manhand, 2004

Desert serpent dreams on desert shoreS

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YES

Muslimgauze/ Les Joyaux De La Princesse - Under The Burka/ Terrorisme Islamique

2011-04-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Athanor, 1997

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Muslimgauze - Eye For An Eye

2011-04-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Staalplaat, 2001

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Vatican Shadow - Byzantine Private CIA/ Kneel Before Religious Icons

2011-04-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Byzantine Private CIA, Hospital Productions, 2010

Kneel Before Religious Icons, Hospital Productions, 2011

Dominick Fernow's (Prurient/Hospital Productions) cryptic hyperreal martial synth project, as if someone applied the "hypnagogic" surrealistic smear process to the darkest of evening news, terrorist reports, Arab cell phone camera revolution footage, degraded recordings of military tribunals. "Inspired" by the shooting at Ft. Hood in 2009 by US Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan (portrayed on the cover).

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Voice Of Eye - Vespers

2011-04-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Cyclotron Industries, 1994

Tidal wisdoms.

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Monks Of The Dip Tse Chuk Ling Monastery, Dharamsala - Sacred Ceremonies - Music Of Tibetan Buddhism

2011-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Fortuna, recorded 1989

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(EDIT: link fixed, sorry)

Troum - Mare Idiophonika

2011-04-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

Tourette, 2010

Aquatic Resurrection.

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a sidereal kind of lifestyle...

2011-03-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

Experimental 1/2 Hour - Episode XI: Grouper from Experimental 1/2 Hour on Vimeo.

It Is Thee Key To Thee Temple

2011-03-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Teebs - Ardour

2011-02-04T13:10:00.001-08:00

Brainfeeder, 2010

Another fresh wax masterpiece from Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label, this takes the new beat sound into smoother, warmer, analogue ambient zones, i.e. less 8-bit arpeggios & angular clips, and more chimes, dusty drums, & Chain Reaction submerged aqua background pads. Massively chill stuff, it'll envelop you.

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iTAL tEK - Midnight Colour

2011-01-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Planet Mu, 2010

I've taken a sidestep from trying to dissect the endless flood of drone/synth/lofi psych bands into the current stream of fantastic beatmakers that I had all hopped off of a half year ago. I'm talking the brainy, thick, multitalented stuff; Flying Lotus, Teebs, Ras G & their ilk, some old & new Ninja Tune faves (the boxset that rules), and the current crop of post-dubstep norm-challengers, like this iTAL tEK album, Mary Anne Hobbes' Wild Angels compilation, Jamie Vex'd's positively illuminated EP, Starkey and the like. I had dismissed this album at first because I still expected them (and myself) to be able to squeeze some more testosterone from the thick bassy noise and aggressive jungle references, but now that my tastes have matured I'm ready to get into this new sound. It does take alot of cross-fertilization, it seems, from stuff like Flying Lotus & Ninja Tune, it's a civilized sound, edgy but not overwhelmingly masculine, jazzy, atmospheric, and avoiding the dub monotony that plagued early dubstep. Here's to the future, I hope you dig it, I know it's another transformation of my taste, but hey all that psychedelic drone, save a few consistent greats, has been getting old too to these ears.

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Julianna Barwick - Florine

2011-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Self-Released, 2009

Wonderful little EP from an artist who revels in that new kind of sacred minimalism created only by voice and sparse accompaniment. Think Grouper, Inca Ore, Xela's better recent works, etc. Only here there is more of an anthemic, worded, gospel-like glory. Positively in rapture here. Full LP, The Magic Place, is forthcoming on the Asthmatic Kitty label.

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Rhythm & Sound - Rhythm & Sound

2011-01-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Rhythm & Sound, 2001

Seems like all the bloggers in my clique have been outing their secret minimal dub / techno obsessions recently. Here's one of my personal favorites, one of the most solid, consistent, but still interesting compilations of ye olde Basic Channel crew. Nobody quite tastes as smooth as these fellows if I don't mind myself saying. Pure frosty cold dub tech beats. And Savage fucking hypnotizes on "Smile." BO!

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image test

2011-01-17T11:48:00.001-08:00

Marcia Bassett & Helena Espvall - Lapidary

2011-01-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Altvinyl, 2010

Amorphous & gorgeous bioluminescent twilit forest ascensions from two of the most powerful & skilled women of the movement, Marcia Bassett (aka Zaïmph, ov Hototogisu, GHQ, Double Leopards, etc.) and Helena Espvall (Espers, Fursaxa's band, Ghost collaborations, etc.). Inverted rainbows of emotional charges, nightside of eden but neither blackened nor charred, more sensual, liminal, and romantic. The sort of sprawling tactile-yet-ethereal drone sculpting we've come to expect from Bassett's best solo work. For focused, in-depth listening.

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Mandatory Monstrous 2010 List

2011-01-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

//From the Camp NO FEAR Bunker buried deep within the Costco parking lot, Gila Bend, Arizona 1/4/11. The soundtrack to when we re-conquer the surface will be Umberto - "Prophecy Of The Black Widow" and it shall rule. //

Sun City Girls - Funeral Mariachi (out with a bang, not with a whisper)

Faun Fables - Light Of A Vaster Dark (finally took a break from raising little Edda to put the songs on record that I've fallen in love with live already twice by now. "Sweeping Spell" and "Hear The Grinder Creak" were like my mantras at work even before this came out.)

Master Musicians Of Bukkake - Totem 2

Daniel Higgs - Say God (there god is - there is god: there god is not - there is god)

Hype Williams - Do Roids And Kill E'rything/ Untitled/ Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, And Start Gettin Real (haters will hate but pro-lazy hypno-hop brings the gold in my book)

Neil Young - Le Noise (really fucking crazy that he could pull out something as good as Crazy Horse, solo, almost more than 30 years later, but then again he ain't just another fucking Bob Dylan "People may find this hard to believe, but I only really care about the music, that's it" - NY)

Bernardino Femminelli - La Montaña Del Capricornio

Dirty Beaches - Night City/True Blue/ Golden Desert Sun (kid is just positively amazing and pulls your heartstrings like none other than Alan Vega or Ian Curtis without saying a particularly audible word)

Broken Water - Whet/ Broken Water Cassette (really Whet is the best, but both releases create such perfect Oregon swamp fog bud-fused burnout early 90s high school vibes, it's the meeting of genres and punks and minds that should have happened back then)

Forest Swords - Dagger Paths (accompanied so many wide open window lone-ranger cruises through the Sonoran desert and Tucson's ghettos. a total psychedelic art-anime western)

James Ferraro - Feed Me/ Night Dolls With Hair Spray (finally becoming the rock star from another galaxy he always wanted to be, Unarius finally found him! it's so wonderful)

Outer Limits Recordings - Julie/ I Need My TV

Zola Jesus - Stridulum/ Valusia (finally becoming the cute gothy pop star from next door she always wanted to be)

Gary War - Police Water (only 4 songs but even better than all of Horribles Parade, keep 'em coming)

Salem - King Night (guilty as charged. but if it makes you feel any better, I thought the Levi Fader fort fiasco was horrible as well. and all other witch house is terrible. period.)

We Like Cats - We Like Cats (cat dub 4-EVER)

Dire Wolves - Jams And The Giant Peace (people could just fart out jam sessions like these forever and I'd be happy)

LA Vampires meets Zola Jesus/LA Vampires Featuring Matrix Metals - "So Unreal"/ Psychic Reality/ LA Vampires Split (I never really liked Pocahaunted at all, ever, so I experienced their end as kind of a blessing, but Amanda's side projects are blowing my mind these days; Vibes, as well, was good. Bethany's Best Coast is ok too but a far cry away in quality/originality. and sorry, Sun Araw still sucks)

Donato Epiro - Supercontinent (like a massive playhouse of mangled psychedelic toys in a Jim Woodring kind of way, Stunned continues to kick ass despite releasing the occasional turd)

Sean McCann - Fable Shop/Fountains/Open Resolve (continues being a nonstop genius)

Bill Orcutt - A New Way To Pay Old Debts (normally not into something this deep into free improv, but this just carried me right from the beginning. I've got blisters on me fingers!!!)

Scorn - Refuse;Start Fires (just so fucking brutal. "Take Someone's Eye Out" makes we want to go all mecha in the desert rescuing illegals from the US Army District 9 style)

Fursaxa - Mycorrhizae Realm (why ever listen to anything else she's made, this is just too beautiful)

Cyclobe - Wounded Galaxies Tap At the Window (not as maximal as earlier stuff but this is definitely the soundtrack to opening the horrible non-euclidean doors of reality with blasphemous chaos rituals)

Moon Wiring Club - A Spare Tabby At The Cat's Wedding/ the whole Ghost Box Study Series (these guys continue to bring what Boards Of Canada promised us, albeit in a different cultural form)

Games - That We Can Play (the rejected soundtrack to Tron Legacy's original incarnation: Tron 2D: Digital Beach Party)

Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (still not as heavily into this as Rifts, but the self-titled track is just too good a song to not mention this. not to forget the thousand TR-303s retro noise-assault bookends to the album)

Cloudland Ballroom - Blues From The Sun/ Split w/ Sundrips (best of the massive synth crop this year, the Sacred Phrases & Fadeaway Tapes labels are shaping up to be something great. Cloudland Ballroom [edit] is from Ireland of all places, too. all those Sundrips tapes were cool too, but there's nothing much to say about them)

Chrome Wings - Time Patterns (more explosive goodness from Stunned)

Golden Retriever - 2 (so fucking magical. for once this kind of space-jazz-modal-synth stuff delivers what it promises, best thing since Ariel Kalma or Terry Riley's Poppy No Good And The Phantom Band)

Vibracathedral Orchestra - Joka Baya (the astrological infinite concert continues ad infinitum, on and on)

Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here? (listening to this on the way to Cape Canaveral to see a space shuttle launch is positively unforgettable)

Barn Owl - Ancestral Star (more underwhelming than I had hoped, and certainly not as good as Evan Caminiti's last two solo records, but still glorious in its own understated deeply heartfelt way)

Yellow Swans - Going Places (released in 2009 originally I know, but reissued in 2010. another fucking amazing final album)

Woods - At Echo Lake (took me a while and some maturing to get into this stuff, but this is wonderful holy campfire hippie summer camp music)

Honorable Mentions:
Skullflower/ White Medal split

Skullflower - Strange Keys To Untune God's Firmament (still pretty meh compared to Circulus)

Sleep ∞ Over - Sleep Over/ Outer Limits (is this witch house? because I guess I still have no fucking idea what that means, whatever, this is still pretty decent)

Earth Station - Control Belief

a whole slew of random synth/drone releases that didn't make the cut on Digitalis Ltd, Housecraft, Stunned, etc.

Ancillary bizarre crap that I'm afraid to admit:
Haus Arafna - You (really weird considering I was wayyy into this stuff in high school, but they just came back to perfect the formal power electronics-meets-minimal synth with severe amounts of goth on this one. not too much electro like the last November Novelet album, but not Subliminal or some death industrial horseshit either. makes up for the fact that Maska Genetik called it quits with music)

MIA - MAYA (super mainstream I know but I had to have some cheery anthem to throwing molotov cocktails at border patrol trucks here now)

Die Antwoord - $O$ (shut up I know, shut up shut up shut up can't hear you lalalalala)

Rewind Selecta!!:
Silver Bullets - Free Radical (cannot believe this slipped by me last year, mind. is. blown.)

the whole Ghost Box label

CoH - Above Air

Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls

Outer Limits Recordings - Foxy Baby (helll yeaaah motherfucker)

Discovery Zone:
Ghost Box
The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud (had a really bleak period in the middle of the year where I got way into them)
that black metal is becoming irrelevant
Julianna Barwick
Gary War
Hype Williams
Herz Jühning
Geneva Jacuzzi - Lamaze
Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
Mount Vernon Arts Lab
CoH
Night People
that Stunned is actually a pretty great label
Dirty Beaches
getting way more into Harappian Night Recordings & Neokarma Jooklo Trio
Factums

ok that should cover at least some of it...BOOOM 2011!

Dirty Beaches - Badlands

2011-01-04T01:07:00.000-08:00

Zoo Music, 2011

Guy rides around on a flying motorcycle, around the Pacific Rim. Has a girl who kisses him on the cheek in every town. End of story. 1959.

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Low Light Situations - Office Romance

2011-01-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Not Not Fun, 2010

Where's Laura Palmer?

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B.Y.O.B.O.B.

Dead Luke - Cosmic Meltdown

2011-01-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

Night People, 2010

Been in and out of the 'lo-fi' type tape stuff for the past few months, but this is a solid win. Former Zola Jesus collaborator (in bed and in music), here's some astral synth-punk jams kind of like a low-key Gary War but not really...serious solo action on this one.

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Dr. Frank-N-Furter's Christmas at Leather Daddy Motel

2010-12-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

1-900 NIGHT DOLLS HALLOWEEN PROMO SPOT from OLDE ENGLISH SPELLING BEE on Vimeo.

The Parrot's Romantic Dream Mirrored in the Shade of the Coconut Tree

2010-12-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Pacific City Nitelife Vision Band from Thea Von Harbou on Vimeo.

Silver Bullets - Free Radical

2010-11-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Stunned, 2009

One of the best psych-rock neo-kraut knockers of the past couple years. Way into the Faust's "Krautrock"/ Neu!/ ur-Vibracathedral boogie-beat ad infinitum trance style. Way better than their recent release on Stunned, too.

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Edgar Froese - Aqua

2010-11-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

Brain, 1974

Hidden synth gem from the golden era, from the heavy-mustached Tangerine Dream founding member. From just before Phaedra, so you kind of know what to expect. Sequenced analogues, mellotron, dreams of futuristic oceanic habitats, the mysteries within the Earth itself.

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Dire Wolves - Jams And The Giant Peace

2010-11-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

Stunned, 2010

Totally zoned-in kraut/free jams from the band with both a great name and an even more awesome album title. Grooves in the vein of Magic Lantern/ Eternal Tapestry (spec. way better than Eternal Tapestry, and not as epic as Magic Lantern) with that kind of wonderful Stunned tru-lazy stoned living room just-made-for-the-hell-of-it vibe. One of the most vibrant of their crazy psychedelic rainbow collage covers too. Rocks.

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Klaus Schulze - Timewind

2010-11-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

Brain, 1975

One of my personal favorites (along with the classic debut Irrlicht) of Klaus Schulze's early kosmische synth works, this was also his first as far as I know (and thus one of the first albums ever) to use a sequencer. What you have is a nacent, minimal dark version of the old orchestral sound heard on classic Tangerine Dream albums like Phædra and Zeit. There's a certain kind of unrepeatable majesty to what these artists were doing back then, something about early digital vhs effects, massive synthesizers, orchestral training, virtuoso keyboard playing, and cosmic themes, that no amount of modern mimicry can recreate.

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Outer Limits Recordings - I Need My T.V./ Julie 7"s

2010-11-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

Olde English Spelling Bee, 2010

Outer Limits Recordings is the current main project of Sam Meringue, of Explorers/Matrix Metals/Yoga fame. A far cry from the first incarnation of Outer Limits Recordings, the less rotten-supermarket back alley graffiti and more surreal Vegas strip nightlife version of James Ferraro's Lamborghini Crystal seen in Foxy Baby, this is less post-Skaters 70s-90s metacultural archetypes and more accessible freak pop in the vein of Ariel Pink or R. Stevie Moore. While I would have thought I was more inclined for his more instrumental, submerged sounds, this is just too fucking great a combination of weird & catchy, like painful, infectious catchy. Not to mention every instrument Meringue touches still turns to golden magickal tools of TV-god invocation. What makes matters even better is that he created videos for all the tracks from both 7"s (and check out his youtube channel for more). Oh how I love this man. IMO both 7"s are great, but the shit really gets magical with Julie b/w Plastik Child

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"you don't have to kill just to be happy"

CoH - Love Uncut

2010-11-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Eskaton, 2000

CoH, the Russian word son for "sound" (or according to most sources, just the Latin letters COH), is the electronic "post-pop" project of one Ivan Pavlov, a Sweden-inhabiting Russian ex-pat. A major collaboration with members of COIL, and released on one of their house labels, this 4-track EP bridges the gap between the borderlands of academic electroacoustic/noise music given on labels like Mego and Touch and COIL's purely magickal sonics. Reminds heavily of Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil-era COIL, choice cuts include Steven Thrower's positively alien digital invocations on "Prayer For Russell," and Jhonn Balance's drugged-out psych-ward screams on "Health And Deficiency: Love's Septic Domain," referencing the only other track (eponymous "Love's Secret Domain") where he is really this far out in the self-induced madness of magickal possession. CoH is glorious in his ability to imbue heavy digital electronics from the fringe with the deep warm ichor and stink of the human soul, a tact rarely seen outside of COIL.

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Aeoga - Coav

2010-11-14T15:18:00.001-08:00

Aural Hypnox, 2004

"To exhaust mind and body in order to obtain a condition of non-consciousness and thus receive, realize and create material based on both primal and absent vision."

Spare-ian scryings of the inner orb through dark absorption of excitatory states. One of the most shamanic outings of the Helixes Collective.

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lost in the desert.

2010-09-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

We LIke Cats - Proper Eats

2010-09-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

Marriage, 2010

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come, be a plant.

2010-09-03T22:38:00.001-07:00

Barn Owl - Light from the Mesa from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Sean McCann - Fable Shop

2010-08-31T14:24:00.000-07:00

Cylindrical Habitat Modules, 2010

The McCann Man gets real subtle on this one, with buried subconscious tones and melodies covered in lantern dust, various bells and whistles not of this age, invoking antiquarian surreal spaces. The kind of delicate touch with guitar-based drone manifestation rarely seen outside of Stars Of The Lid. Once again demonstrating he's a pro.

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Prince Rama - Shadow Temple

2010-08-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

Paw Tracks, 2010

Normally bands which look like this (Indian Jewelry, Pocahaunted) get on my nerves. But somehow these crystal clutching weirdo youths stumbled upon a crazy awesome sound. It's like a Hindu-mantra-themed minimal synth Master Musicians of Bukkake, with Gang Gang Dance/ subverted Lisa Gerrard vocals. Mantras and Vaishnava holy music given the intensity of the American psych underground, drummed ad infinitum to the sound of lightning and kraut-synth flourishes.

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Vikki Jackman - Of Beauty Reminiscing

2010-08-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Faraway Press, 2007

Lonely, minimal, and nostalgic piano ambience from wife of David Jackman (Organum) and collaborator with Andrew Chalk, appearing on his Goldfall album. Carries the same kind of pale, eroded haze of subconscious acoustic memory as Chalk's best work solo and with Mirror, etc. Pure beauty.

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feel your body

2010-08-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Svarte Greiner - Penpals Forever (And Ever)

2010-08-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

Digitalis, 2010

Revamped and reimagined version of the Penpals Forever cassette previously released on Digitalis. First side is remastered pieces of the original tape, second side is entirely new. Brighter and more technical than the original, but still the kind of subdued horror/depressive noise/ dark ambience you'd expect from his post-Knive work.

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Burial Hex - Fantasma Di Perarolo

2010-08-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Brave Mysteries, 2010

Pinnacled death invocations and ghost inhabitances recorded high in the Italian alps on a 300 year old possessed organ. It must remind of Soriah's seminal Chao Organica in A Minor, another piece of deep pipe organ improvisation diverted away from the gaze of god, towards misty shadows and the demonic majesty beneath. Hail his majesty of the blood vial.

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Naked On The Vague - Poltergeist Palm 7"

2010-07-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-02T22:37:00.001-07:00

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)

2010-07-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

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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the beatification of moths as symbols of those who have left us

2010-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Youngsbower - Relayer

2010-06-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

VHF, 2004

Collaborative project between Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Sunroof! etc.) and Richard Youngs. Sound is the closest thing to the videogame electro-kraut seen on Sunroof!'s Cloudz, though much more shiny and polished. Some of the overtone guitar warp seen on Bliss shows up as well. Youngs' vocals are nowhere to be found which is great because for some reason his voice really gets on my nerves. What he instead brings is a shiny electro-acoustic flourish and looped & layered cascades upon cascades of banjo and other acoustic touches. The album is probably best summed up by the third (and best) track's name: "Iridescent Hoedown." Get on down.

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Our Love Will Destroy The World - Stillborn Plague Angels

2010-06-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Dekorder, 2009

Fried space metal and blackened void-scryings from Campbell Kneale's newer solo project. Really moving further and further into his version of darkside Matt Bower with this work. Negative bliss.

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Zaika - Live At The Church Of The Friendly Ghost

2010-06-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

(no cover art found, sorry)

Yod Tapes, 2008

Zaika is the psychically intermingled duo of Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Marcia Bassett (Zaïmph, GHQ, Double Leopards, Hototogisu). What they make is the kind of perfect tuning-in psych droneout that you'd expect from each other's solo work. A really full sound of pedal-sustained feedback modes. Pure electricity.

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Birchville Cat Motel - Four Freckle Constellation

2010-06-23T08:35:00.001-07:00

Conspiracy, 2008

One of Kneale's last albums under the BCM moniker until he changed to the (vastly more appropriate, imo) Our Love Will Destroy The World. Moves into more complex and thought-out compositional territory than the usual maximal/minimal layering technique. Not as shining-sword black metal as tracks like "Chi Vampire" or the pre-eponymous "Our Love Will Destroy The World" or releases like Bird Sister Blasphemy but there are some doom-drone moments reminiscent of his Black Boned Angel project. Everything is still soaked in that practiced satori assault of high pitched tones that break your mind and make you do things like hear the overtones in refrigerators and air conditioners as glorious zen musick. Distinct lack of those forward-carrying rock drums & riffs he sometimes uses too. One of his most composerly offerings for sure.

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Another Dimension Of Music

2010-06-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

Master Musicians Of Bukkake - Totem Two

2010-06-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Important Records, 2010

The follow-up to their 2009 opus Totem One moves into deeper, darker territory. Less gamelan, less rocking out but far more focus on orchestration and intensity of drone ritual. Phenomenally powerful atmospheres and transformations, in "Bardo Chonyid/ Master Of All Visible Shapes" a super-heavy orchestra of percussion, massive horns made of bone, and doom-drone feedback announce the arrive of the thousand-headed god of gods, his light then cascading in shimmers of raga guitar upon a mountain-sized temple throne infested with jungle. "Perde Kadirma" is a ceremonial feast of ney, baglama, and heavy drums recorded in Turkey performed with an improvisational flourish I haven't really seen outside of peak Don Cherry/Trilok Gurtu work (see next post). "The Heresy of Origen" is a Biblical epic of organ, harmonium, and synth in a sort of Klaus Schulze/ old Tangerine Dream mode fit for scenes of massive exodus and tribulation. "Coincidental Oppositorium" continues the semi-orchestral vibes with a cinematic and emotional string + brass piece, themes for the miracles and mysteries found on the desert voyage. "The Crystal Reformation" psychs out in a kind of short Sunroof!/Skaters drone freakout. "Patmos" ends the album with a glorious full-band piece with vocal harmonies above an uplifting string orchestrale, in a sort of sacred upward movement similar to some of Popol Vuh's most sheerly beautiful moments. Kind of like the way sunnO))) ended Monoliths & Dimensions with the uplifting "Alice." I want to kind of go on parade saying these guys are now my favorite band, but they really gotta change their name before I can do that :P

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Tuluum Shimmering - Ascent To The Spirit House

2010-06-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Short but powerful tape of melted tropical-shaman-themed bliss & jam, from a UK-based former Housecraft/ Cloud Valley mainstay. Only heard two tapes of this guy but it is wickedly solid work, good as (and in the same general stylistic vein as) Sean McCann or Xiphiidae. Great sleeve art on all his stuff too. No info on label/year.

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Bear Bones, Lay Low - Vallée De Dith

2010-06-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

(K-RAA-K)³, 2009

Been getting way into the Belgian sound recently; Silvester Anfang/ Sylvester Anfang II, Ignatz, this and the whole (K-RAA-K)³ nexus. Not to forget Dolphins Into The Future and the ilk too, but new new age synth stuff has been in the background to the rough & tumble psych rockers the last few days. Guys sure know how to jam for such a notoriously underwhelming country (from what I can tell the rumors are unsubstantiated and just a product of mainline Brit arrogance). Actually a few countries known for little great contemporary music, i.e. France, have demonstrated sublime underground acts recently (well maybe just Natural Snow Buildings). Nothing of course like the constant stream of material pouring out of the US and UK. And Belgium did have Front 242 (shuddup they count for me). Anyways who cares about port of origin, these are some solid psych-drone tunes with a kind of tack that's somewhere between really stoned Neu! tracks and Steven R. Smith. Some Sunroof!-style sunshine arpeggios here as well. A lovely mind-bender.

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Re-Ups, etc.

2010-06-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

More fixed uploads, re-upped and tested, links updated in the original posts too. BJ Nilsen himself requested that I take his Invisible Cities down, as much as this kind of thing irritates me I have to oblige, as well Defeat disappeared off mediafire without any such request, so I deleted the post. Apologies but I would not enjoy this blog being shut down, not in the least.

Irr. App. (Ext.) - Dust Pincher Appliances
(apologies btw for the m4a, but I can't find a better rip and it would only fuck it up more to convert it to mp3)

Sean McCann - Lower Decks

p.s. No obvious/shameless plugs for your band here. I may be interested if it relates in some way to a music maker/technique/taste on display here, but I won't tolerate petty "Can you plz put up some of my Blablah kthx." Comment will be rejected, go advertise somewhere else.

And I felt an infinite scream running through nature...

2010-05-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas, Pussmonkeys!!!

2010-05-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

James Ferraro - Feed Me (Muscleworks Inc, 2010)

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Jim Ferraro - On Air (Musclworks Inc, 2010)

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James Ferraro - Pixarni (Summer Headrush, 2009)

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WELLCUM TO NIGHTMARE STREEET

Kemialliset Ystävät - Harmaa Laguuni

2010-05-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Secret Eye, 2008

Underrated tour-only sequel to 2007's Untitled album. The ancient bog poppets rise to sing their songs, rife with algae-rusted paisley. Pentagonal kites blot the sky with night and day. Bizzarre paper owls stare through glowing eyes from holes beneath the waters. Sometimes like Robert Lowe playing his synth to Vibracathedral putting their instruments through Black Dice's effects, but in the land of no TV sets. But mostly it's just KY and they are them and if you know them you will love them and you will love this.

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