England's Eden Maine might appear all bluster and bark from first look: a blood-red album cover and song titles which hit on everything from Satan to homicide to strongly-worded exhortations not to breathe. It seems a little bit contrived and postured. But once past the introductory wispiness of "Solstitium," Eden Maine's bite becomes painfully apparent. And yet the bark persists. |
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England's Eden Maine might appear all bluster and bark from first look: a blood-red album cover and song titles which hit on everything from Satan to homicide to strongly-worded exhortations not to breathe. It seems a little bit contrived and postured. But once past the introductory wispiness of "Solstitium," Eden Maine's bite becomes painfully apparent. And yet the bark persists.
5894 Hits
Instrumental band Ten Past Seven have been a take them or leave them band whenever I’ve encountered them live. On disc they are a different beast: complex song structures with strong metal, jazz and post punk influences make for a fascinating and fun listen.
9137 Hits
An unhealthy infatuation with American music might earn someone a reputation for tunnel vision, especially with all the different kinds of music in the world. The blues and jazz (perhaps two of America's greatest treasures) have escaped to other shores, though, and there it sounds as foreign as anything an oud or a gamelan could produce.
8917 Hits
Musically the best thing this standard quartet has to offer is a cover of a Dead Can Dance song. Thematically, the band makes broad, misconstrued statements that make Michael Moore look like a moderate in the lap of Rush Limbaugh.
8979 Hits
This double live album is another impressive release from Keiji Haino. For this concert he was joined by Sitaar Tah! (a twenty strong sitar orchestra) and a throat singer by the name of Fuyuki Yamakawa. It’s as good as it sounds.
14562 Hits
Ex members of Windsor for the Derby contribute to this pretty little single, the first from their debut album Fear Is On Our Side: the result is a number catchy enough to have me singing along even though I can't find the lyrics to the song anywhere.
9294 Hits
This mystic, free rock crap really loves to wander without going anywhere. Three and four minute songs end up sounding like ten minute excursions in the name of ambivalence or pure wanksterism and songwriting is sacrificed for "exotic" arrangements and instruments. First Nation try to blow that stereotype out of the water on their debut and they come damn close to outright embarrassing everyone around them.
6330 Hits
For the most part recorded live in Vienna, this album is a consolidation of Nurse With Wound’s most recent output into one piece. The results speak for themselves; the different resources integrate with each other perfectly to give an exceptional piece of music.
12023 Hits
Recorded in one day, then processed over three years, here is an orgasmic maelstrom. Transmitting as much calm unease as bewildering force, Aufgehoben's third release is beautifully fleet-footed, intensely musical, tantalising ugly and almost tangibly sexual. As if a winged piledriver were coupling with a steel drum, in a furnace.
9917 Hits
This album is a collection of deceptively simple, melodic songs performed on electric guitar and bass by the composer and player who has worked his singular magic on so many of Current 93's most memorable records. Cashmore makes use of a minimal instrumental palette to create a suite of haunting melodies that seem stuck in some hazy, half-remembered, sepia-toned corridor of memory.
15395 Hits
IDM mutated when Four Tet took over and turned some of the cold energy related to that genre into warm, fuzzy, sunshine-born tones. Now I know that cold minimalism still thrives in some corners of the world, but there's really no reason to settle for extremes when nice mediums like this exist.
9708 Hits
Maintaining a consistent level of excellence during improvisational collaborations is a difficult task. Sometimes even when the musicians and the audience find the results cathartic, they don’t always translate well to recorded media. Unfortunately, After at Once is one of those instances.
6856 Hits
Despite a clear admiration for the ambient tradition, some irksome excesses such as sonic squiggles and skittery noises mar the intrinsic beauty of this composition.
6741 Hits
This live CD-R (recorded who knows where) is yet another powerful example of how the Sunburned bunch turn potential chaos into coherent jams. The word ‘shambles’ seems to lazily follow this collective around for some reason, but they always spend more time being melodious than they do rambling.
6071 Hits
My only exposure to Three Lobed Recordings was the Davenport disc, an absolute oddity of found sound recordings and story telling. Pete Nolan (member of bands like The Magik Markers and The Vanishing Voice) is writing that style of music his own way, with sullen guitars and analog equipment enough to give Lustmord an erection.
6428 Hits
Although their name implies aspirations both dark and esoteric, this Australian brother and sister duo instead create an album that's surprisingly inviting. By avoiding any form of indulgence, their hypnotic songs are oddly comforting, if not calming, while retaining enough strangeness to make their approach fresh and inspired.
6838 Hits
This is the third tribute album to surface since Jhonn Balance passed on. Produced by Dutch radio station Kink FM, it is a mixture of artists who knew and worked with Balance and artists who have no relation to Coil whatsoever. Some of the songs are fitting tributes to the man but others are an insult to him and his art.
8490 Hits
This is the best musical recording Rjyan Kidwell has ever taken part in. Collaborating with seven other players including both members of Nice Nice, Actual Fucking is an achievement. Unfortunately the lyrics and singing get so bad sometimes they're painful to my ears.
14552 Hits
So many bands are incestuous that using a term like "supergroup" seems meaningless more and more. Nick Castro's third album utilizes the likes of Joolie Wood, Jon Contreras, Brian Dyson, and B'eirth. All in all, representatives from Current 93, In Gowan Ring, Damo Suzuki's Network, and Cul de Sac make an appearance, but the recorded outcome of this gathering is less than super.
9001 Hits
This is the second in Fovea Hex’s Neither Speak nor Remain Silent series. It is a logical continuation from Bloom but it is more dramatic and beautiful than its predecessor. Clodagh Simonds, the centre of the Fovea Hexverse, has outdone herself this time; it is truly an astonishing work.
10601 Hits
