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Vinyl reissue of Carter's 2008 "standards" album.
"Masque Femine should be regarded as a total work - much like a film, a ballet, a building, or, an altarpiece - rather than as an album of individual songs. And, its fundamental subject should not be understood to be romantic love."
Cut and mastered by Rashad Becker at D&M.
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Since his first live performances in 2002, Sean McBride, aka Martial Canterel (who also performs as half of the duo Xeno & Oaklander), has crafted his electronic sound in a peculiar intersection between avant-garde and pop. Merging the influences of the first wave of relatively unknown minimal electronic bands in northern Europe, and seminal industrial noise bands such as Throbbing Gristle and SPK, with the smoothly stylish songcraft of early British New Wave, Martial Canterel records and performs using analogue synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines exclusively, molding electricity to fix the action of music creation in substance. The mastery of his composition technique, a second nature of harmonic complexity, along with a unique talent for melodies, enables him to manufacture gems of extreme noise pop, making use of all its unexpected ingredients.
Gyors, Lassù marks an important milestone in the evolution of Martial Canterel's music, progressing far beyond the cages of "minimal synth" and embracing the noisier qualities of its sound with a renewed urgency, a kind of thickness embodied in multiple layers using only eurorack, Serge and Roland 100 modular systems at his disposal and flushing out the entire session in one take. Sine waves are rendered into walls of guitar-like noise on songs like "And I Thought," while the stretching out and liquifaction of what were once very precise pointillistic staccato synth arpeggios are marshaled into layers of violent bliss on "Gyors/Lassù." The analogue labor and the density of sound highlight the character of continuous performance of the music, where the intertwining of the artist and his work is profoundly material in its quality. As in a modern embodiment of the potter’s wheel…the hands, the texture of clay, with ceramic material. Translated lyrically and conceptually, music performance is for time what travel represents in space, and Gyors, Lassù is the sonic rendering of McBride's wanderings between Hungary ("Bulvàr," "Budapest II") and the South of Italy ("Teano"), between vibrant rhythmic structures and melancholic instrumentals, balancing its bodily intensity with abstract experimentation against the regression of the modern listener.
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Starting as an imprint solely for Perc's own productions, Perc Trax has grown in recognition and confidence each year since its first release in 2004. This year Perc Trax celebrates its tenth year of existence, during which time it has released over seventy vinyl singles and six albums, hosted showcases as far away as New York and Tokyo and recently spawned the Submit and Perc Trax Ltd. sublabels.
To celebrate a decade of releasing music, Perc Trax looks to the future, releasing eleven brand new tracks from a mix of Perc Trax regulars including Truss, Forward Strategy Group, Sawf and Perc himself and names new to the label such as Clouds, Happa, Kareem, Drvg Cvltvre and Martyn Hare. These new tracks will be released as three separate vinyl EPs and will also form part of a 2xCD album. The first disc containing the new tracks, whilst the second disc is home to Perc's first commercially available DJ mix.
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Mysterious techno operative makes shock return with debut album Butterfly Effect.
Demdike Stare have released the debut album from Shinichi Atobe on their DDS label.
Atobe only has one previous record to his name: Ship-Scope, a dubby and emotive techno 12-inch that came out on the Basic Channel sublabel Chain Reaction in 2001 (that one remains highly sought-after online and was one of FACT's "25 Best Dub Techno Tracks of All Time"). He hasn't been heard from since, but some sleuthing by UK duo Demdike Stare has unearthed a full album's worth of new and archival material from the Japan-based producer.
The album is limited to 600 vinyl copies. The vinyl, CD editions, and digital version are out now.
(via Resident Advisor and FACT)
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Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello are creators of mythology. Their mythology renders a series of acoustic spaces, haunted by narrative and hinting at happenings unseen, but certainly heard.
With Fable, we are presented with their second duet. It chronicles three years of intermittent audio communications in search of new collaborative approaches. The results focus on the pair's joint interests in modular synthesis, field recordings and the blurry boundaries between acoustic instrumentation and electronics. The album's multiplicity of sources creates a weaving and at times overwhelming collage of materials that coalesce with considered intent. Its palette, whilst diverse remains focused and as the album progresses themes of arrhythmic percussion, electronic-like field recording, prepared piano and vintage synthesis begin to take form.
Like the photography of the cover, these musical pieces bare witness to time, they exist in the moment, but are formed outside of a sense of singularity. Their textured qualities and intricate variations are evidence of an iterative production methodology that invites a depth of listening. A pondering and the intended goal that one may hear or even see their own internal spaces, haunted by a cast of sonic characters.
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Every once in a while, a record comes along in which the title perfectly encapsulates the music contained within. As a bass/guitar/drum trio, this Norweigian group approaches their instruments with the intensity that noise artists do with their massive batteries of guitar pedals. While I can actually hear the instruments these guys are using, it is assembled so roughly that it might as well be a noise record, and a glorious one at that.
Brute Force seem to come from the European school of jazz that was pioneered by Peter Brotzmann, in which the traditional instruments of the genre are used, but played with a force and intensity that makes it stand apart.The only moments where this nearly 30 minute piece seems to relent is when the players may be trying to catch their breath. Beyond that, it is a continuous and sustained roar that was captured at a live performance.
The breakneck drums and percussion of Ole Mofjell keep the performance moving at a whiplash pace.Concussive, machine gun like tempos occasionally drift from traditional drumming into more improvised realms:I swear I heard keys jingling and metal banging but I could be wrong.Atop this bassist Egil Kalman and guitarist Karul Haugland Bjorå take turns battling it out, with both of them attacking their instruments with a ferocity that makes the sounds they are producing almost unidentifiable.
Occasionally what sounds like a clipped guitar note or bass vibration slips through, but for most of the piece they each end up in an intermingled roar of noise.It does not sound like this is due to any effects, processing or electronics though.The sound and feel is that all three are simply playing with such force and intensity that the sound comes out so mangled.
Due to the sheer volume and density of the performance, this is one of the more physically exhausting records I have heard in recent years.While it was a thrill and experience, once it was over I welcomed the silence and was in no hurry to listen to anything else.This is a heavy record, and the lack of melody or subtlety throughout only reinforces how brute force this truly is.
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As the final full length release to be released by Clay Ruby under his Burial Hex moniker, The Hierophant is an appropriately dramatic tombstone for the enigmatic project. Esoteric shades of noise and blackened metal color the middle portions of the record, bookended by two gloriously perverse, almost pop songs that standout as both baffling and utterly compelling.
It is these lengthy opening and closing songs that really grabbed me most of all with this record."Winter Dawn" may begin with dramatic, flowery synths and electronics, but when the chiming electric guitar and deep, thudding drum machine appear early on, it becomes gripping and catchy.Once Ruby's vocals appear, the song begins to feel like a brilliant slice of post-punk synth pop, with shades of most of the artists of that era, but never really resembling anything but Burial Hex.
The 15 minute conclusion to the album, "The Most Foolish Son is Always the Oldest One," first has Ruby leading in with violin over cricket field recordings, a mood that is quickly shifted once the beat and synth sequence drop in.From there the song evolves into an oddly upbeat and poppy number with some slight neofolk and goth flourishes, and even a hint of psychedelia.With his voice channeling Nick Cave in a superlative manner, the piece builds to a sweeping conclusion that is a fitting climax for the album, and likely project as a whole.These two pieces feature Nathanial Ritter and Troy Schafer of Wisconsin contemporaries Kinit Her, with Schafer contributing the string and brass arrangements throughout the entire album.
The three pieces sandwiched between these two are in no way lacking, but work on a different, more experimental level."Final Love" has Ruby retaining the synthetic programmed rhythms from the preceding "Winter Dawn," but with guttural vocals and dark, metallic noises throughout.Clay lightens up a bit once strings and piano sounds appear in the song's latter half, but it never really lightens and instead stays foreboding throughout.
The title song, sitting as the centerpiece of the album, draws more from the dramatic and dissonant parts of the album more so than the song oriented moments.Again, growling demonic vocals appear amidst walls of electronics and dramatic expanses of violin, and never does a concession to pop music arise."Never Dying," on the other hand, embraces minimalism and subtlety.Over a bed of evening field recordings (the same ones that lead into "The Most Foolish Son…") he works in delicate piano and whispered vocals.It sticks to this structure for most of the piece, but with the understated nature the piece conveys a different style of intensity, one that seems ready to burst out maliciously at any moment.
I am not sure what Clay Ruby's post-Burial Hex plans may be as far as music goes, but based on the strength of the opening and ending pieces of this album, I sincerely hope he goes for something more traditionally oriented.While the more experimental and abstract moments of The Hierophant are excellent, it is on the other two that I caught myself especially captivated by that sound that manages to be both musical and non-musical at the same time.Memorable, yet unlike anyone else, they make for an intense shine on an already brilliant record, and one that closes Burial Hex's existence appropriately.
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Synapse-scorching occult-industrial-prog-noise-folk from the strings of Matthew Bower and Samantha Davies.
Churning mantras and drukpa elegies for two erased darkside tree limbs: that of the Draconian in Khem, and of Drax Priory in West Yorkshire, which together with Bhutan are the Dragon Lands. The twilight language of flowers is spoken and wolves are raised, finally, Kali dances. For fans of Bathory and Popul Vuh.
Comes in a deluxe 6-panel outsized double-digipak with a 16-page booklet.
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"Ruins was made in Aljezur, Portugal in 2011 on a residency set up by Galeria Zé dos Bois. I recorded everything there except the last song, which I did at mother's house in 2004. I'm still surprised by what I wound up with. It was the first time I'd sat still for a few years; processed a lot of political anger and emotional garbage. Recorded pretty simply, with a portable 4-track, a Sony stereo mic and an upright piano. When I wasn't recording songs I was hiking several miles to the beach. The path wound through the ruins of several old estates and a small village.
The album is a document. A nod to that daily walk. Failed structures. Living in the remains of love. I left the songs the way they came (microwave beep from when power went out after a storm); I hope that the album bears some resemblance to the place that I was in."
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I was completely floored by last year's blackened drone/doom metal epic You've Always Meant So Much To Me, so I was very eager to hear how J.R. Robinson could possibly follow such an out-of-nowhere tour de force. As it turns out, he chose to follow it by essentially doing much the same thing…again. I was initially a bit disappointed by that, as Then It All Came Down is not as immediately striking as its predecessor, nor did it ambush me with any real unexpected twists. Once I listened to it enough for everything to fully sink in, however, it gradually dawned on me that this latest effort is just as spectacular in its own right: Robinson may have revisited his previous formula, but he also found several new and crushingly heavy ways to improve upon it.
As he did with his previous opus, Robinson again assembled a murderer's row of Chicago's finest noise and metal luminaries to ensure that Then It All Came would be as mesmerizing and scarily heavy as possible.Much like David Tibet, J.R. seems to have a distinct knack for drawing an eclectic array of personalities and talents into his orbit.There are a couple of ambitious changes and unexpected guests this time around though, as well as a compelling overarching concept: the piece is based upon a Truman Capote essay about underground musician/Manson-associate/convicted murderer Bobby Beausoleil, mirroring his gradual descent from a talented, hedonistic youth into beaches, girls, and motorcycles into much darker and more occult waters.The pre-fall part of Beausoleil's story is conveyed through lushly beautiful drones mingled with chimes, Siren-esque chanting from a trio of female vocalists, and wonderfully roiling acoustic guitar from Ryley Walker. All of that is rich with intended meaning and relation to moments from Bobby's life, of course, but the more important thing is that it sounds amazing– particularly when Walker's intricate, cascading guitar work churns with increasing aggression beneath the drone haze as the piece builds in intensity.
Around the 10-minute mark, however, the piece wobbles a bit, as Leviathan's Wrest turns up for an croaking Black Metal-style invocation that seems a bit too cartoonish and heavy-handed for me as a non-Black Metal fan. However, Robinson quickly rights the ship with the appearance of a melancholy string quartet riding an ominous, throbbing drone. While the actual music is quite beautiful, the real magic is how the piece seems to organically flow like a bleary, ritualistic dreamscape. Nothing ever feels completely real, as there is always something billowing, pulsing, or swelling around the periphery to disorient me. Eventually, the piece predictably erupts into a doom metal crescendo, which is (again) not my favorite thing in the world, but it is executed brilliantly once it fully coheres. In fact, it eventually rivals Walker's playing as one of my favorite parts of the album, as the drums lock into a stumbling slow-motion groove and all hell breaks loose, as the sludgy down-tuned chords are enhanced with all kinds of processed howls and smoldering electronic wreckage.
There is some falling action after the apocalyptic metal crescendo, but the meat of the album is essentially the gradual transition from sublime drone heaven to charred metal ruin.The album's flaws exist only in a completely subjective sense, as extreme metal croaking and howling vocals are just not for me anymore.Even so, however, I suspect that those moments were absolutely devastating and spine-chilling in the piece's original context, as it debuted with a moonlight performance in Chicago's Bohemia National Cemetery last year (presumably the perfect place for blood-curdling, inhuman howls to make a startling impact).Ultimately, I think I still prefer You've Always Meant So Much to Me, but Then It All Came Down inarguably boasts similarly brilliant vision and execution.Although some parts did not resonate as strongly with me this time around, Robinson went much bigger, much deeper, and much darker, compensating for the rare weak moments with some alternately rapturous and brutal high points.
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Locust's latest album is a definite anomaly, as Mark van Hoen and Louis Sherman depart from van Hoen's usual distinctive and production-heavy strain of hallucinatory electro-pop to ostensibly pay homage to '70s electronic music (sort of).  The result is an array of atypically loose and sketch-like soundscapes that retain Mark's love of processed female vocals, but veer away from the (imaginary) dancefloor and into more abstract and cinematic territory. It is certainly a pleasant listen, recalling at times Piano Magic, an alternate soundtrack to Donnie Darko, and some of Vangelis & Jean Michel Jarre's better work, but it is ultimately a bit less substantial and satisfying than some of Mark's other recent efforts.
Locust open After the Rain with the lushly melancholy piano and synth reverie "Snowblind," which sounds very well like it could have been plucked straight from an imaginary Vangelis album, but it is generally quite hard to figure out which specific artists Locust are drawing their inspiration from at any given time.  I was initially quite surprised that the album veered more towards the more mainstream Jarre/Vangelis axis of '70s electronic music than the far hipper (and heavier) Berlin School until I gave the matter some thought and realized that it was highly unlikely that a 13-year-old Mark van Hoen was scouring record bins for the hottest Cluster and Klaus Schulze albums in 1979.  I am sure that those albums were around (Mark grew up in London), but they probably came later in his musical development.  Also, given van Hoen’s documented early love of Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream, I was puzzled to see almost no apparent shades of either on display.  Rather, After the Rain mostly sounds like a nostalgic and vaguely hallucinatory recreation of all the electronic music a '70s teenager would have experienced through film soundtracks, albeit one with all the dark, dramatic, or weird bits filtered out to leave only a melancholy dreaminess.
That is where the Donnie Darko comparison comes in (though it would probably make van Hoen wince), as touches like the bleary minor key arpeggios and sighing wordless female vocals of "To Lonely Shores" sound like they belong in a horror film that is not quite a real horror film, but some sort of half-remembered Romantic fugue state.  Whether or not that this the richest creative vein on the album is certainly up for debate, but such pieces (like "Sorrow Stays") are definitely the ones that stay stuck in my head after the album has ended.  Sherman and van Hoen also cover a lot of other stylistic ground over the course of these 12 fairly short songs, however, touching upon sci-fi damaged chamber music ("Downlands"); thick, fuzzy "early science documentary"-style analog synth tones ("Signals"); spacey, flange-heavy drone ("Under Still Waters"); and even a piece that sounds like a proto-Locust emerging from a Tangerine Dream-meets-John Carpenter chrysalis ("Won't Be Long").
I am not sure that I would necessarily say that After the Rain has any serious flaws, but some aspects of it certainly make it a bit of a hard sell.  For example, it is a Locust album that does not particularly sound like Locust, nor is it even remotely as impressive as something like 2012's The Revenant Diary.  Also, many of the songs are around 2-minutes long, making it feel like a collection of incidental pieces rather than a significant statement.  That said, however, van Hoen brings quite a bit of his usual rigor and perfectionism to the table despite his dramatic change in both direction and process (he eschewed his usual elaborate production in favor of the looser, simpler tactic of recording "live"): this is an intelligently sequenced effort that flows and segues fairly seamlessly between disparate motifs and I rarely get the sense that Mark and Louis are merely improvising.  More importantly, Locust managed to do something quietly amazing with After the Rain: they managed to make a foray into the current wildly overcrowded retro/synth-worship scene that does not sound like anything that anyone else is doing.  While I do not think anyone looking for a new Locust album will necessarily be delighted with what they find here (it is likable, but not exactly Locust), I suspect this album may find some traction with a new generation of synthesizer fans and deservedly expand van Hoen's audience a bit.
 
 
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