Rocket Recordings There will be many howls, and here’s one of the first out of the blocks. Gnod can meander, at times (and I like their meanderings), but here the rage is palpable; this is a headbutt into the side of a fast-moving machine. Hawkwind on double-speed, ditching the mushrooms for Brown Acid and amphetamania.
Monthly Archives: March 2017
28 posts
Play Loud! This is my kind of record, each track dedicated to its own side, a satisfying slab of uninterrupted evolution to burrow into, to savour. A completely live recording (and film) that shimmers plenty, full of the essential Velcro that pulls you straight into that open-ended fray
London 28 March 2017 Tonight, the rather beautiful Hoxton Hall is packed to the rafters with people all here to witness a rare solo performance of Richard Barbieri. The hall looks like it’s more used to hosting Jacobean theatre productions
House Of Mythology It’s all in the trails. In a recent, small-scale, study carried out by researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, participants took LSD and carried out a number of tasks. The experimenters documented the experiences and noted that tasks that required linguistic and semantic application seemed to be particularly affected
Tip Top Well, this is quite a riot. Renowned experimental library musician The Man From Uranus has teamed up with 8-bit chiptune artist and fan of Gameboy and Commodore 64 sounds, Jellica, to produce an LP using as many duck-sounding synth noises as they can find.
The Barbican, London 21 March 2017 The tickets. We purchased them, they came. Who are they? Explorers in the further reaches of experience — demons to some, angels to others. We bought the tickets, they came. Now we must come with them and taste their pleasures.
Intravenal Sound Operations I wanted to start this out avoiding the clichés that plague writing about Diamanda Galás — “banshee” &c — but there’s a problem. There’s an analogue between how challenging her work is and how challenging writing about it in a non-facile way is. It requires a pretty expansive vocabulary.
By Norse Wadruna are something pretty unique in the world of extreme music. Formed in 2003 by Gorgoroth‘s Einar Selvik, they are possibly the truest expression of all things Norse currently available in popular music form. A million miles from the awesomely campy Viking histrionics of Turisas, Wardruna offer a far more measured, esoteric and respectful take on Nordic history and culture.
Lower Floors Music This newbie from Wolf Eyes is taking the dark broodiness that defined 2006’s Human Animal to new claustrophobic highs. Gone are the headache-inducing colours of the past in favour of something more nefarious.
Telegraph Harp Sanguinaria canadensis, or bloodroot, is a perennial flowering plant native to the north-eastern United States. The root and the juice of the root are characteristically red and has been used medicinally, but is highly toxic.
Riot Season Sublime monsters, idle, learned, sick of ancient gold, their ships akin to ancient caravans, taking their treasures to Kazhann. Their museums are their temples. Their parks, the entire planet. Philippe Druillet – Chaos Superior Venus consists of two monumental planet building tracks that take you into the beyond
Substantia Innominata Creaky, scraping, spinning tones and the sound of rolling objects on metal; ominous drones and fragrantly uptilted shimmers abound, horns and moans, whirrs and clicks
Westworld …as I always say, anyone who looks at the Fall track-by-track, rather than the correct way, which is as one discrete body of work – is, no pun intended, a fool. Tobi Blackman, Dictionary Pudding When I was doing my masters, there was a seminar several times a week where the phrase “what is at stake with [x]…”
Kscope OK, I’m going to have to admit this from the very start that Richard Barbieri is one of my musical heroes. I first saw Japan live when I was sixteen, they were the soundtrack to my teenage years, and Richard’s wonderful synthesizer work was a massive part of that soundtrack.
4AD The Serpent’s Egg (1988) The Serpent’s Egg was a solemn secular experience for the most part, seeking sanctuary in the monastically sparse, a warm cathedral backing to some prized vocal action, Lisa Gerrard‘s phonic phoenix of a voice glinting Byzantine.
Zoharum The second instalment in Zoharum’s Circuit Intégré series brings together a trio of electronic artists from the Polish musical underground, each providing three pieces in turn for the compilation.
Consouling Sounds The very definition of slow-burning, Dead Neanderthals‘ début release for Consouling Sounds draws out what at first listen seems like an introduction over half the length of the CD’s single track and across the whole of one side of the vinyl edition.
Mottomotto Masselys are a Norwegian supergroup of sorts with members coming from Salvatore, 120 Days and whalesharkattacks. This supreme meeting of minds has resulted in the most affecting romp through the last forty years of leftfield western music, its eclecticism only matched by the wealth of ideas.