Bablicon are a Chicago-based trio of curiously monikerd multi-instrumentalists: 'Blue Hawaii', Marta Tennae and 'the diminisher'. This is their 3rd album, apparently conceived as a double album, tracks 1-6 under the "The Cat That Was a Dog" title and tracks 7-15 under "a Flat Inside the Fog". Most songs are rooted in piano composition, which all 3 members play, but vary widely in style and additional tone coloration: voices, various basses and saxes, electronics and all sorts of percussion and other odds and ends like theremin, melodica, 'friendly bird tinkles' and 'electric ghetto duck'.

'The Lovers' first appeared on LP in 1984, side one was recorded at aconcert earlier that year while side two were all new tracks recordedlive for VPRO Radio in Holland. When the CD was first manufactured in1991, both tracks from the "Curious Guy" 12" single were included.While the disc is often not considered to be a truly bonafide LPDalbum, it contains some of my favorite LPD songs. The four songs fromside one had only ever appeared on compilation cassettes (if anywhereelse). The excitement about the band's current lineup can be observedsimply by the volume of material that surfaced in that year (whichincluded both 'The Tower' and 'Faces in the Fire') and here they wantedto treat the older tunes to a newer live arrangement. Side two startsand ends with the timeless emotional, violin and piano heavy classics"The Lovers" parts one and two. It also features the entertainingclassic, "Flowers for the Silverman" right in the middle. Thefeverishly catchy "Curious Guy" is cute and always a crowd-pleaser andthe disc ends appropriately with the complex 11½ minute opus"Premonition 16". Bonus bits for the new reissue include a restoredcover (which includes all five faces through the flowers), printedlyrics and a thumbnail for the 'Curious Guy' 12" release inside thetray.

samples:

• The Lovers (part one)
• Premonition 16
• Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... (live)

'Island of Jewels' on the other hand is one of my least favorite LPDalbums. Recorded and released in 1986, it was the first full-lengthalbum recorded with Edward living in Holland and the rest of the groupliving in England. Incidentally, the album seems fragmented andunconnected, while the production seems rather sterile and thin. Theband sounds like a group of musicians not paying attention to eachother, all clamoring for attention without letting each other'sinstruments have a life of their own. It's somewhat painful to listento as the songwriting really isn't bad at all. Songs like "The Shock ofContact" and "Jewel in the Crown" would probably have benefitted from acompletely different recording approach. This reissue is probably oneof my favorite improvements on the other hand. The back cover has beenadopted from black and white images from inside the original gatefoldLP issue, photos have been included as well as lyrics—none of whichwere on the original PIAS CD release.

samples:

• The Shock of Contact
• Tower 6
• Jewel in the Crown

This disc is the latest in Atavistic's "Unheard Music Series" of CDreissues of rare and otherwise unavailable improvised music LPs. Itpurports to be a reissue of two LPs from 1980 and 1981, originallypublished on the Y Records label, which was better known for itsrecords by punk/dub groups like the Slits and the Pop Group. Inreality, the disc contains not even a full side of the "DoubleIndemnity" LP (a total of twelve minutes, to be precise), all the musicfrom the "Imitation of Life" LP, and twenty minutes of previouslyunreleased piano and cello duos by Beresford and Honsinger,respectively.
The best stuff on here is the first two duo tracks, quite tasteful iftypical for free improvisation, but I can't say any of it is goodenough to recommend purchasing the disc. The duo's tendency towardssilly clowning overshadows otherwise inventive improvisation and marsmost of the tracks, leaving lots of great moments but no great completepieces. The short tracks taken from "Double Indemnity" are acacaphonous flurry of notes, crashing fists of piano, and dramaticshifts in mood and texture. However, Honsinger's ridiculious speechesabout salad dressing and declarations like "Do you think it's allright?" and "What does it mean, anyway?" seem to be apologetic at timeswhen the music finds an uncomfortable space which would have beenstronger if left alone. Why he makes animal sounds, or referencesmusical styles like film music and military marches, or lapses intojokey yelping right when an improvisation is getting good is beyond me.
Nowhere is this more distracting than on the tracks taken from thequartet LP, which I was excited to hear because of the inclusion ofKondo from before he added that wretched delay-pedal effect to histrumpet. Aside from the sections in which someone (hard to tell who isto blame for this) beats out a galloping 4/4 beat (why??) or when themusicians do the obvious and lazy gimmick of trading a melodic lineback and forth (surely the players are better than that), there areintense sections here that work for minutes at a time. Then someonemakes opaque quacking noises through his fluegelhorn, or plays"Revelie" or scales, or recites film dialogue, and the music becomes sogrounded that it cannot get back up.

 

samples:

• check www.atavistic.com

Charly McLion's musical career has extended over three decades and manygenres including rock and blues bands, Algerian Rai, commercial workand most recently, electronic. "The Nature of the Universe" is his solodebut and the 2nd release from Aachen, Germany based KingfisherRecords. McLion, born B?hel, composed these eleven 5 to 7 minuteinstrumental tracks with samples, guitars and keyboards. His music isof a Hearts of Space, electronic new age flavor that at times recalls"A Momentary Lapse of Reason"-era Pink Floyd and the solo work offellow German Michael Rother (ex-Kraftwerk, Neu!). Pretty piano andkeyboard melodies, mellow guitar soloing and accompaniment, lightprogrammed bass and beats and dramatic, sweeping waves of synthresonance are the primary modes of relaxation. Everything isintentionally easy on the ears and unobtrusive, just simply happy toslowly soothe. "Eye In The Sky" introduces a bit of EBM funkiness tothe rhythm while "Sunshine" drops a female vocal sample and bit ofSpanish styled acoustic guitar. Nice. With the sometimes staggeringamount of experimental music I listen to, it's good to put on somethingas straightforward yet enjoyable as this every now and then.

 

samples:

• Black Hole
• Eye in the Sky
• Sunshine

The title of the seventh cut, "Hassle Free Harmony", serves as anexcellent summation of the album in its entirety. Marc Bianchi returnsunder his HSH moniker with 'Manic Expressive', a release that iselegant, yet mellow and uncomplicated. From the three-minute stringarrangement of the opening track to the sweet and wispy vocals on "TheRinging in My Ears", the album blends an extensive assortment ofmusical sources, both organic and electronic. Melodically, the songsare aural decoupage: it's as if Bianchi gives the listener a sonicslide show, displaying bits and pieces of his favorite tunes by otherartists ("Dear Prudence" immediately springs to mind). The result,however, does not give the impression that these outside sources havebeen plundered, but rather form a charming homage. The juxtaposition ofan orchestral ebb and flow with subtle mechanical beats, hypnoticambient atmospherics and glistening guitar is handled with dexterity.Even when the otherwise humble songs surge with drama, Bianchi neverallows them to run amok. The orchestra pit warm-up that opens the firsttrack signals what is to come: the artistic and stylistic developmentof HSH since the previous effort, 'Home Is Where You Hang Yourself'.Break out the electric blankets; 'Manic Expressive' is perfectlistening for curling up in a warm bed on a snowy morning.

 

samples:

• Lydia
• Polar Opposite
• Hassle Free Harmony

Stichting Mixer is a 2-year-old foundation for minimal electronic/acoustic music, it's goal "to start and stimulate initiatives which encourage the encounter between sound and other media". Its recorded output, from knowns and unknowns alike, is released through the Mixer label. This disc is the first release on CD, limited to 500 copies.

This full-length CD shares only a tiny amount from the 12" released earlier this year which bears the same name. (For my praise of those four songs from the first side, see issue 31 from this year.)

With only a single and a few collaborations out this year, Chicago's Locrian have been rather quiet, with this being their first (and so far only) full-length release of the year. The Clearing both recalls their earliest, noise-addled drone work while still looking forward to their current unique take on metal/prog/kraut rock.

Recorded inside a 100-year-old Washington state church, this duo of Japanese residents Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, utilizes the natural reverberations and ambience of the space in which it was recorded to craft a melancholy, emotional work that uses electronic and acoustic instruments together seamlessly.

Carsten Nicolai's latest album returns to the themes and concepts that he explored on 2008’s Unitxt (which has been reissued in a limited, artist edition to mark the release of the new album). Combining the ideas of a universal language, repetition and the relationship between data and sound, Nicolai has come up with a stunning collection of electronic music that bridges another one of the gaps between audio and visual art.

Industrial Records’ reissue series begins with the album that set the tone for a short but potent career. The group’s first album (mischievously titled in order to make people go looking for a non-existent First Annual Report) is a master class in subversive anti-music that still packs a punch. Remastered and released as an LP and also in an expanded CD edition; all the gory details have been put into sharp focus, reanimating the still warm corpse of Throbbing Gristle’s glory days.

Twenty years into Tom and Christina Carter's rich partnership, it has become next to impossible to identify outside reference points in their work. Charalambides exists in its own universe—insular, curtains drawn. Exile, their first release in four years, begins with "Autumn Leaves," a wordless prelude of Tom's austere guitar playing, setting the tone for the band's most laser-focused album since 2004's Joy Shapes.

Paul Gough's latest album borrows its title from a line in Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker, a dystopian novel where humanity regresses to a primitive, semi-literate state in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.  That reference seemed perfectly apt to Gough, as The Oansome Orbit drew much inspiration from meditations on loss, isolation, and disconnection.  Fertile themes for great art, certainly, but it was already pretty much a foregone conclusion that a new Pimmon album would be a noteworthy event: Gough has been making wonderfully complex and distinctive abstract soundscapes for more than a decade now and he only seems to get better with age.

This is the long-awaited reissue of Mehdi Ameziane's incredibly scarce 2007 solo debut, which was previously only available as a self-released CDr edition of just 30.  Naturally, both Twinsistermoon and Natural Snow Buildings have evolved and blurred together quite a bit over the last four years, but at the time of its original release, these raw, fragile, and eerie pieces were a dramatic departure from the less distinctive drone/post-rock that Mehdi and Solange Gularte had been releasing.  While I definitely believe that Mehdi's work has only become stronger over the ensuing years, this remains a unique and mesmerizing highlight in his voluminous discography.

Just as I begin to become burned out on Kawabata Makoto and the rest of his musical family, some flash of genius on their part pulls me back in. Most often, this is in the form of a live performance that sets me up for another year or so of worship. In this case, it is a reissue of a long out of print and glorious live album. Documenting the group during a tour of America and Europe in 1999, the classic line-up tear through time and space with some of the finest psychedelic rock to grace any stage at any point.

Amid a string of releases from Kompakt this fall—including Total 12 and albums from Gui Boratto and Walls—comes the label's crown jewel of 2011, Axel Willner's third full-length as the Field. Looping State of Mind holds up to Willner's impressive back catalog, and features several of his most fully realized songs to date.

This companion release to this year's stellar Ravedeath, 1972 draws back the curtain to unveil what Tim Hecker compositions sound like before they are properly ravaged, carved up, and reassembled.  As it turns out, they still sound remarkably good: some depth and power is understandably lost, but the increased clarity and intimacy makes that seem like a perfectly acceptable sacrifice.  Naturally, the target audience for Dropped Pianos is primarily those who already know and love Hecker's work, but these stripped-down piano sketches are strong enough to transcend their skeletal status and stand on their own.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to finally grasp exactly what was so special about Nathan Amundson's work, as it is very easy to lump Rivulets in with '90s slowcore bands like Codeine after a casual listen.  That "casual" part was my mistake, as work like this demands complete attention to reveal its true depth. We're Fucked took five years to fully gestate and it sounds like it, as Amundson painstakingly distilled his songs to their very essence, leaving only naked honesty and restrained, but unflinching intensity.  The best moments are quietly devastating in a way that would be impossible if the songs were any less stark and glacial, as Nathan makes damn sure I don't miss a single word.

Aaron Turner was pushing the boundaries of what was "metal" during his time in Isis, and his side project work, such as Greymachine and House of Low Culture, has done this in an even more dramatic fashion. After a slew of split and collaborative releases, many with Mamiffer (a project spearheaded by Turner's wife Faith Coloccia, who also plays here), Poisoned Soil is perhaps his first true "album" as HOLC in nearly a decade. That period of collaborating with others has paid off, as the album is a complex one that showcases Turner’s strengths within a tight, focused approach.

When Bermuda Drain came out earlier this year, Dominick Fernow was knowingly releasing a highly polarizing album. Bringing in things like melody and rhythm is a cardinal sin for the noise scene, and the rest of the record was simply too harsh for the beat oriented crowd to digest. In a way, this companion EP is more reined in, keeping the melodies in beats in some tracks, and allowing the harshness to dominate others.