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Emptylight and Hed Nod/Hushush gather 15 exclusive 'dark hop' cuts for this 75 minute compilation. Artists include several names I was already familiar with - Mick Harris, Ocosi, Su8m3rg3d, NOS, Dijislov and Not Breathing - and others that are new to me: The Dustmite, Zero ID, Shinitaika, Olivier Moreau, Silk Saw, I-drik, Montagnn, Larvae, Turn and Alien Radio Station. Most all of them do relatively the same thing, here at least, with beefy Scorn styled head nodders.
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The debut album of ex-Blue Airplanes member Hazel Winter is a blues-tinged, distortion-wracked set of ruminations on bad times and uncomfortable intentions. Winter's voice shifts from cracked whisper to murderous wail, evoking Portishead's Beth Gibbons and PJ Harvey. Coincidentally, perhaps, Put Away the Sharp Knives features the contributions of Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and Harvey producer and collaborator John Parish.
It's been nearly threeyears since the last full-length album from the Michigan-based Windy& Carl, but the duo have hardly been inactive in the meantime.Along with the album released in 1999 as 5 Way Mirror with GregGasiorowski and various performances including every year's Terrastock,the couple have also been operating their own Stormy Records musicstore full-time. Thankfully a new album manages to surface capturingtheir signature sound of drifting guitar effects, drones and occasionallow-volume mix vocalizations from Windy. I'm almost left wonderingwhere the missing album is as their evolution from 1998's 'Depths' isan incredible leap. 'Consciousness' begins simply with a beautifulswirling glistening guitar melody from the opener "The Sun." The albumcontinues on with a mesmerising "Balance," a sligthly altered versionof "Trembling" which appeared first on 'Brain in The Wire Disc A.'Here, the almost indescribable shaking hum combined with warmundertones conjures images in my mind of traveling on a train throughautumn foliage with the sun strongly blaring in my eyes. I'm nearlyfloored by the almost real string sounds both in that song and thealbum closer, "Resolution", that once again I regret not being intoillegal substances! The rest of the songs show an impressive display ofspace and composition, molding the sound into a serene daze, buildingthem up and then letting them fade at the perfect time. Songs like "TheLlama's Dream" are almost too gorgeous for words to even describe, withan intense wash of sound blanketing the warm bass tune driving the songforward. 'Consciousness' might be one of those albums which could beused as ambience for many low-intensity activities, but the duo'smastery of subtleties results in a blissful experience from listeningat loud volumes in dark rooms.
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