04 March 2017

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Albums and Singles

As we embark on a new year more characterized by fear and uncertainty than hope and optimism, a chronic shortage of dissent can be detected in the artistic community amidst a harrowing socio-political climate. Yet the Salford-based collective Gnod have wasted little time in kicking against the doom and disquiet with everything at their disposal.

"It seems like we are heading towards even more unsettling times in the near future than we are in at present." reckons Chris Haslam of Gnod. "2016 is just the beginning of what I see as the establishment’s systematic destruction of liberalism and equality as a reaction to the general public’s loss of faith in their system."

Charged by this outlook, Gnod's new album, Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine represents a hitherto uncharted level of antagonism and adversarial force for the band - an artistic statement as righteous, fervent and direct as its title. which far from being an echo of an anarcho spirit of yore, denotes a record firmly entrenched in the psychic terrain of 2017.

"On the surface it could almost seem like there's no political art movement out there to oppose what's happening, but there is - we know there is”'adds the band's Paddy Shine. "Maybe that movement is struggling to find its voice as a cohesive whole right now but that will change. It has to change."

Fueled by their militant drive and unyielding ardour, Just Say No… refracts Gnod's harsh and repetitive riff-driven rancour through a psychotropic haze of dubbed-out abstraction, with Paddy’s incendiary vocal delivery to the fore.

Just Say No… sounds like a record only Gnod could make - a band fiercely independent, never comfortable in one place artistically for any duration of time, always with their co-ordinates set on uncharted territory and the next challenge ahead, and delivering a monument of ire and iconoclasm.

Releases March 31, 2017 on Rocket.

04 March 2017

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Albums and Singles

Ecstatic's stunning split release between Maurizio Bianchi, godfather of the Italian industrial noise scene, and Abul Mogard, the much loved and hyperstitious synthesist, conjures a spellbinding testament to the transcendent and transportive energies of electronic music.

Although appearing to starkly contrast on the surface, both artists' work patently shares a lust for the suggestive abstraction of raw current and its pareidolia-like capacity to generate rich and uncanny emotional responses from the end user.

On the a-side, Maurizio Bianchi serves the obfuscated, coruscating atmosphere of "Nervous Hydra," a 17-minute piece of sunken, desiccated harmonic structures and warped greyscale tones rinsed with ET radio signals and distant percussion that recall the sound of embers landing on tinfoil or snow. It evokes the experience of being caught in a quietly raging whiteout with only a dying fire for company, or equally a sense of subaquatic, amniotic serenity prior to being evacuated into a much colder world.

In that piece’s tempestuous wake, Abul Mogard brings a sense of soothing, glacial calm with "All This Has Passed Forever" on the b-side. For 16 blissed minutes, Mogard spells out a nostalgic fantasy in creamy strokes of Farfisa organ and Serge modular recorded at EMS studios, Stockholm, and later combined with field recordings to elicit a wistfully widescreen paean to his days on the workshop floor accompanied by the harmonious drones and cacophony of heavy machinery.

Out now on Ecstatic.

04 March 2017

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Albums and Singles

Folk unit originated in the Swedish underground Enhet för Fri Musik -- featuring members of Sewer Election, Ättestupa, Neutral, Makthaverskan, and Blod - continually re-inventing what music is about through free improvisation and lengthy folk meanderings.

Embedded in the ever exciting Swedish underground scene Enhet För Fri Musik continues the quest for innovation numerous legendary Swedish bands started during the '70s, Pärson Sound, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Arbete Och Fritid. Taking the ideas of communal music craft and experimentation, on this album the group comes to a unique combination of Jandek-like atonal guitar, organ, tape effects, field recordings, saxophone and Sofie Herner's amazing loner voice running over it. Adding another inspiring document to the world of open-minded music.

Releases March 21, 2017 on Aguirre.

27 February 2017

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If there has been a running theme throughout Jon Mueller’s career, it would be his exploration of the intersection between sound and spirituality. He has tackled both largely in abstract interpretations: he is a multi-instrumentalist, and has delved into themes and imagery from a multitude of religions and spiritual practices throughout his career as an artist. dHrAaNwDn (Hand Drawn) is perhaps among the most fully realized examples of his passions, however. A stunning double record set, the audio is culled from six hours of improvised percussion performances recorded live in the Shaker Meeting House of Albany, New York, exemplifying not only Mueller’s adeptness at performing, but his ear for recording and capturing environments as well.

Rhythmplex

The Shakers are a distinct sect of Christianity that began in the 18th century of England and soon moved into the United States.Their emphasis on religion as a tangible experience (something to be physically experienced), their ascetic, anti-materialistic and celibate lifestyle largely kept them as a small group throughout, and to this day there are only considered to be two active members of the religion.The building in which Mueller recorded was constructed during the Era of Manifestations, a peak point in the Shaker religion in which "spirit gifts", often taking the form of art, were given between members.An intentional design of these Meeting Houses was for them to be large structures that magnified the singing and dancing elements of the Shaker faith.In some ways this building resembles a gymnasium but with a more specific construction, and with its historical structure and design, it made for the perfect venue for Mueller to record in.

The four side-long pieces that comprise dHrAaNwDn are, superficially, very simple.They are recordings of Muller playing four drums live within the space.There were no overdubs made, and very little in the way of processing or effects, in fact the only obvious example is the opening moments of the second part, in which the rhythms are filtered to a hollow, intentionally thin sound.Beyond that, all of the color and timbre of these rhythms is shaped by the recording environment itself.A deep rumble opens the first piece, with a barreling, bassy galloping rhythm.The sound is massive and thunderous, and Mueller’s playing transitions frequently, emphasizing the physicality of his performance.There almost seems to be melodies that emerge, largely psycho-acoustic effects from the resonance and echo of the walls of the Meeting House.

The second part may begin with some gentle ringing bells, but soon it is a leviathan of booming, singular beats that forcefully cut through the mix.Here his playing is especially dynamic, shifting from thinner midrange sounds to complex, nuanced polyrhythms that echo brilliantly within the space.The third segment has a massive, parking garage like reverberation to it, with Mueller accentuating the piece with some extremely hard kick drums that feel like a kick to the chest, and never relenting until the piece devolves into an almost tonal blur of sound.

The final part of the album is at first more tone-heavy, with the drumming initially less sustained and more tribal in nature.The echoes and reverbs again create pseudo-melodies from the drums, and the patterns shift, perhaps the most dynamic and varied of the entire work.Towards the conclusion of first call and response styles between two of the drums, and then it concludes with some improbably hard beats for the closing moments.

Much like his last album Tongues the overall production and sound design of dHrAaNwDn is astounding and much credit has to be given to Fred Weaver, who recorded and engineered this album, and the mixing assistance by Shane Hochstetler. Mueller’s recording session culminated with a public performance later that bright, sunny afternoon that I was thankfully able to attend (a luxurious deluxe edition of this record features that performance on cassette).While any sound reproduction medium would be unable to fully capture the full sound of the Meeting House and physical nature of Mueller’s playing, this album gets pretty damn close.The thought of four album sides of solo drumming may not seem like everyone’s cup of tea (and it may not be), but the conceptual themes and nature of these recordings makes them so much more than it seems on the surface.Muller recently stated that he questions if the music for him may be secondary to the experience playing and hearing gives, but in this case, the album stands extremely strongly on its own, regardless of when or where it is being heard.

Note:To honor the artist's request of keeping this music out of the digital domain, no samples are being provided.However, elements of the album can be heard in this preview video.

27 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor’s legendary Sutcliffe Jugend project has alternated between periods of being extremely prolific, followed by utter silence ever since its inception. Their first albums as SJ appeared in 1982, one of which was the legendary 10 tape We Spit On Their Graves, then no new material for 14 years. The pattern has repeated ever since, though admittedly not to the same extremity. S L A V E S, a six CD release, capped off a busy 2016, preceded by three other full length albums. Sprawling is an appropriate term, but it is very well developed, varied, and also makes clear that Tomkins and Taylor have no intent of staying in that narrow box most associate with the project.

4iB Records

SJ are one of those "old guard" power electronics projects that have been always associated with the genre, as well as its clichés.Of those early bands (and I am thinking of Whitehouse, Ramleh, Consumer Electronics, etc.), SJ were always the largest purveyors of the psycho-sexual violence aspect of the scene.Unlike many of their followers, it was always something they did very well, but it was also very much a polarizing facet of their work.

Neither that, nor the project's penchant for brutal walls of harsh noise are prominent on S L A V E S, however.While there are undoubtedly harsh moments to be heard across these six discs, usually in the form of distorted guitar squall or processed electronics, the duo always place them tastefully within the other elements.Sonically it is perhaps most akin to 2012's Blue Rabbit, without the paraphillac violent lyrical content, and a smattering of Tomkins and Taylor’s solo projects, which have been in general more freeform and experimental.Given that most of this set is based on studio improvisations (culled from sessions dating back to 2012, that freeform approach shines through.

S L A V E S is conceived as the soundtrack to a non-existent theatre project, with each disc representing a different movement, and the sounds on the album roughly corresponding with that.For example, the most traditionally SJ sounding material is largely present on the first disc, Theatre of Cruelty.The opening piece "With a Cold Heart" leads off with strings and grandiose gothic drama, it sets the mood for the remainder of the disc, punctuated with processed guitar and piano.The subsequent "Woe Betide" is the only moment where Tomkins’ vocals are obvious, in the form of a disconnected randomized mantra of "Description/Destruction/Instruction/Inscription" as pulsating guitars surround.Much of the background is noise, but in a less than harsh approach to come across more as ugly rather than violent.

Theatre of Tragedy (Disc 5) is also one of the more dissonant discs, with a different mood."Her Blood in My Veins" has Taylor and Tomkins leaning into harsher noise territory with its careful feedback and sustained drone, but never to the extent of their previous works.While "Found in Dark Minds" is mostly gentle guitar and string accents, the two blend in their trademark guitar squall tastefully in the background.The scattershot shards of noise heard on "A Life Yet Lived" mixed with what may be heavily processed voice drifts more into conventionally dark ambient, and the closer "Crushed Until Breathless" has a surprising warmth despite its title and pervading bleakness.

The other discs follow similar patterns, but the mood seems less consistent throughout.For example, the broken musical structure and synth heavy sound of "Evolving Sores" on Theatre of the Absurd is not that far removed from vintage Dome, while "Pipe Machine Crooner" on the same album is rumbling and rhythmic static, with added shards of noise, resulting in a skeletal, almost clinically clean approach to power electronics.Then on Theatre of Innocence, "The Golden Age of Innocence (Part 4)" is all heavy thuds and wet, harsh electronics, while the previous part is gentle bowed strings and a lush, almost nautical buoyancy.

At nearly six hours of material, Sutcliffe Jugend's S L A V E S is a lot to take in, even considering it is not as riddled with the harshness and violence (sonically or lyrically) of much of their other work.However, its diversity, and focus on improvisation is its greatest strengths.I found this unpredictable variation a major asset, and what places it amongst their strongest works in their 35 year career.While I do think trying to take it all in on one marathon listening session would be a bit masochistic, approaching it as conceptually intended (as a lengthy work with distinct segments) made it a unique and fascinating suite of sounds.

samples:

• Woe Betide
• The Golden Age of Innocence (Part 3)
• Evolving Sores

 

26 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

Jacob Long’s newest recordings under the Earthen Sea moniker deepen his compelling synthesis of shadowy rhythms and opaque atmospherics, drawing on the most potent qualities of melancholic ambient and dub techno. An Act Of Love follows 2015’s Ink, released via Ital’s Lovers Rock imprint, and was inspired by internal tribulations and the experience of exploring an empty nocturnal metropolis. Careful waves of tones drift and decay; beats materialize and pulse across twilit landscapes; a noir mood reigns.

Given Long’s background as bassist for revelatory tribal-punk trio Mi Ami, An Act Of Love showcases a musician in the midst of transcendent redefinition, crafting an immersive language of texture and motion.

From Jacob Long:

"This record was made over the course of the most emotionally difficult and stressful year in my life thus far. As such, it is both a reflection of that experience and also something that gave me space to begin working through issues to see a way forward, to a better place both psychically and physically.

An idea that was also central to my thoughts while creating the album was the concept and reality of being out in the city at night, wandering around a large urban area after dark – the contrast of empty streets but with life still going on all around, and the openness and possibilities that can bring. This music I was making was an attempt to capture that feeling."

Out now on Kranky.

26 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

High Plains is the duo of Scott Morgan and Mark Bridges. Morgan, based in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, is predominantly known for his drifting, textured soundscapes released under the pseudonym loscil. Bridges is an accomplished, classically trained cellist residing in Madison, Wisconsin. The two met in Banff, Alberta while they were simultaneously there on residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2014.

They first collaborated when Bridges contributed cello parts to Morgan’s generative music app ADRIFT, recorded in Seattle in 2015.

In early 2016, the duo embarked on a collaborative set of compositions in the oxygen-thin air of Wyoming, spending two weeks holed up in a refurbished school house in the town of Saratoga, where this album was recorded. Inspired by Schubert’s "Die Winterreise" and the rolling landscapes of their surroundings, the collaboration culminated in a collection of recordings that evoke a shadowy, introspective and dizzying winter journey. Cinderland takes cues from classical, electronic and cinematic musical traditions but is mostly a product of the rugged, mythic landscape; vast and sprawling with a wild, uncertain edge.

The recording was made with a portable studio and all sounds were sourced on site, most notably from Bridges' cello, the resident Steinway D piano, and field recordings collected from the local soundscape.

The results are a site-specific, wide scope view of the high valley terrain the duo worked in, a mix of analog and digital, neoclassical and modern electronic sounds, a complemental series of tracks to become absorbed in, a truly deep listening experience.

Our March 10th, 2017 on Kranky.

26 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

In recent years, my expectations of what a new Lawrence English album might sound like have gotten increasingly blurry, as he has an admirable tendency to explore new concepts and collaborations that lure him far away from the classic drone fare that initially put him on the map.  Cruel Optimism is arguably a return to English's more straightforward drone work in some ways, but it feels like quite a corroded and scorched return, which certainly fits nicely with English's somewhat dark conceptual inspiration.  Needless to say, it is a characteristically fine album and quite a distinctive one as well, evoking a kind of bleak orchestral grandeur flourishing amidst crumbling ruin and decay.

Room 40

Cruel Optimism takes its title and some of its inspiration from Lauren Berlant's book of the same name.  I am sure Berlant’s book would be quite hard to succinctly summarize even if I had read it, but English was most fascinated by how she addressed trauma, observing "it was a jumping off point from which a plague of unsettling impressions of suffering, intolerance, and ignorance could be unpacked and utilized as fuel over and above pointless frustration." Wresting beauty from a plague of unsettling impressions is not an easy task, but English had plenty of help from a slew of talented collaborators including Mats Gustafsson, members of Swans, Chris Abrahams from The Necks, and a full choir (Australian Voices).  On paper, a drone artist teaming up with (almost) a couple dozen vocalists, trombonists, pianists, and saxophonists sounds like a perfect recipe for a wildly misguided and overblown mess, but most of the contributors are only present in simmering and understated form.  In fact, it almost sounds like English made two albums: the first was a sweepingly dramatic quasi-symphonic epic, then the second (and final) one was an obliteration of that material.  Aside from the uncharacteristic brass and choral textures, Cruel Optimism sounds a lot like an unusually dense album that English could have made on his own (given enough time...and maybe a trombone).

That said, however, density is definitely one of Cruel Optimism's defining characteristics, as is its stark and foreboding mood.  There are occasionally lulls and crescendos, but Cruel Optimism mostly feels like a sky choked with slow-moving black clouds with only the merest flickers of sunlight breaking through.  Or perhaps like a creeping flow of unpredictably bubbling magma.  The latter image is most strongly evoked by the album’s glorious centerpiece, "Object of Projection," where an elegiac procession of lush synth chords is enhanced by surging washes of hiss.  Another stand-out is the brief "Exquisite Human Microphone," as Gustafsson's subdued and throbbing sax drones unexpectedly erupt into erratic brass swells amidst a drifting haze of strangled howls and processed piano textures. I was also quite fond of "Somnambulist," which builds to a wonderful crescendo of roiling hiss and buried guitar shimmer.  For the most part, however, Cruel Optimism feels like ten variations upon a single dark theme rather than a suite of individual songs. Unsurprisingly, that aesthetic choice has both advantages and disadvantages.  On the one hand, the whole album blurs together into a somewhat monochromatic and glacially unfolding reverie without much in the way of dynamic variation or melody.  On the other, Cruel Optimism feels achieves a kind of bleakly monolithic majesty.  Now that I say that, it belatedly occurs to me that this album is kind of Lawrence English's own Monoliths and Dimensions.

As striking as it is, trying to assess how Cruel Optimism fits into English’s oeuvre is a somewhat tricky endeavor, as I do not think it is quite on the same level as his best work if judged by strictly by "entertainment" considerations such as beauty, listenability, or immersiveness. Viewed as an artistic statement, however, Cruel Optimism is quite a bold and focused move forward.  For one, it is both distinctive and devoid of any obvious outside (musical) influences: it does not sound like a traditional Lawrence English album and it certainly does not resemble anyone else either.  English could easily keep revisiting familiar territory and probably churn out a wonderful, yet straightforward and unchallenging, drone album every year.  Instead, each of his recent albums has felt like an artist restlessly stretching and pushing the boundaries of his aesthetic and some of those experiments work better than others.  To its credit, Cruel Optimism leaves the comfort zone much farther behind than most.  Lawrence English is clearly not a man who is content to repeat himself at this stage in his career.  He is also not a chameleon:  all of the expected Lawrence English tropes are still in place here, but they are presented in almost unrecognizably scorched and blackened form.  That might not be the easiest and most satisfying way to experience English's vision, but this is not the easiest and most satisfying time to be alive and Cruel Optimism is a compelling honest and artistic refraction of that reality.

Samples:

• Exquisite Human Microphone
• Object of Projection
• Somnambulist

 

25 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

Disorder marks a few milestones for the band Growing; it is their ninth full length release, in the fifteenth year of their band as well as their first record in almost six years. Though this is their first record in quite some time, this by no means a reunion record. When asked, Joe DeNardo stated "We never 'stopped' doing Growing, it's just that it was tough living on two different coasts. We work kinda slow so I think it just took us a while to adjust to how to make it work with the distances. As Kevin kind of built up his home studio in Olympia over the years, it got to a place where we couldn't NOT use it for Growing - it's such a great isolated spot to hunker down and chisel out some tunes. "

With an entire country between them, Kevin Doria has been focusing his energy on his Total Life project, releasing a handful of releases and touring with Fuck Buttons, GodSpeed You Black Emperor and a host of others. DeNardo has spent the last few years making various music-themed films and performing under the Ornament moniker.

At first listen one may be tempted to refer to this as "return to form" for the band: sonically heavy side-long pastoral excursions being a hallmark of their earlier recordings. But Disorder stands more as a refinement of Growing's evolving sonic palette, employing dissonance as liberally as harmony, delivering the listener's ear to a rather unsettling 'comfort zone'. The effect could be stated as one of submersion. "Kevin's TOTAL LIFE records and live set really inspired me to take a look at a much simpler setup." DeNardo went on to suggest: "I don't think I succeeded necessarily, but the way he maximizes his sound sources really blew me away. And I think it affected what I was recording for Ornament, and so when we got to jamming for the record, it sort of evolved from that. We recorded to 4 track reel-to-reel, it was a pretty minimal setup. It seems like a heavy record to me, these slow, subtle shifts that feel like a bad trip sometimes."

Disorder is neither revival nor bookend for Growing. Over their fifteen year career they've issued records on Kranky, Troubleman Unlimited, The Social Registry and Vice Records; they've touring with the likes of Sunn O)))), Hot Chip, Fuck Buttons, Animal Collective & Gang Gang Dance and have played on five of the seven continents. Disorder is another mile marker on the long open road, both figuratively and literally, Growing have been traversing for years.

Out March 10, 2017 on Important Records.

20 February 2017

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Albums and Singles

Texas duo Steel Hook Prostheses are a decade and a half into their career of blackened electronics and malicious noise, and with each new release they continue to find new spins on their intentionally desolate and unpleasant sound. Calm Morbidity is a consistent, yet diverse record that does different things and goes in varying directions, but never loses focus, and also never lightens the mood.

Malignant

One asset that SHP has specifically is John Stillings.Besides the work he does under this moniker with bandmate Larry Kerr, he is also an audio engineer and mastering technician, and that technical proficiency shines through the murk on this album.His production gives a depth to these ten pieces that contributes significantly to its distinctive sound and feel.This, and the wildly varying production used on the largely unidentifiable vocals keep each piece sounding unique from one to the next .

On a song such as "Cyclopia," Stillings and Kerr mix a bit of everything:chugging machinery, gargantuan crashes and an uncomfortable electronic buzz form the bulk of the sound.With the duo throwing in a grinding, laser gun like burst of synthesizer, the structure changes from minute to minute."Deep in the Marrow" is another wide array of sounds, from echoing brittle electronics to bizarre noisy outbursts.The vocals, heavily processed to a guttural, ugly mimicry of human voice has a spoken word delivery, but not at all decipherable.

"Cancer Maiden" is another diverse mix of rumbling synthesizers and abrasive electronics, with bizarrely organic sounds appearing throughout, covering a lot of different territories, all blackened.For "Stranguary," the duo employ surging synths and blasting noises to make for a structurally solid power electronics work, with bent vocals and a strange, unsettlingly quiet ending.At times the sound almost dabbles into the more conventionally musical:"Hand of Glory" (surely a nod to the Ramleh classic) is built from an almost melodic sequencer progression, with heavily processed vocals taking center stage.As a whole there is a greater sense of structure as for as conventional musicality goes, but one that is aggressive and unrelenting.

The mood may be a bit stiff on Calm Morbidity, but Steel Hook Prostheses manage to do a hell of a lot of diverse things within that rigidly morose framework.The vast sonic array utilized, from violent ranting to depressive plods are wonderfully punctuated with a complex mix of electronics and noise.The production and technical side of this album are what makes it really shine, giving an exceptional depth and variety to the record, resulting in a disc that reveals more and more as the dirt and grime is brushed away.

samples:

• Cyclopia
• Hand of Glory
• Stranguary