четверг, 17 ноября 2011 г.

DDb Interview Series (1010) - Inner Islands


I want to thank Braden for his patience and time and cool answers.
Please visit his label's web-site here - Inner Islands.

1.
Your web-site is totally green. Does the color mean anything? Because it is so green, you know…

There’s no real meaning to the color of the site. Green just has a nice feeling to it.

2.
‘Inner islands’… These words somehow remind me a childish feeling when I could escape to my own inner world where I had a wood with a lake and a cave with a monster… What correlations did you originally see in the label’s name?

The name is a reference to Antelope Island, it’s a magickal island on the great salt lake. It’s a special place to me. Inner Islands is also a reference to self-exploration.

3.
How did you start the label? Is it like a family business? What is that primordial thing that pushes you doing things?

Well, I used to run another label called Magic Goat Music. As my life and creative process began to change, Magic Goat no longer felt like the right thing for me to be doing. Inner Islands developed naturally out of my personal changes. In a sense it’s a family business, I’m very close with all the artists involved with the label. While I run the label, Sean (gkfoes vjgoaf, Ashan) has made a lot of contributions to help keep the island afloat. I feel that what we are doing is really unique, I am very careful to only release music that is very special to me, music that holds space for openness and realness with ones self and surroundings. I do this label mainly because it feels right.


4.
Advise us a splendid book, awesome tape and freakiest film.

Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, Divine Songs by Alice Coltrane, I’ve heard that Klingon porn is pretty freaky.

5.
Let’s dig into the catalogue! Tell about your favorite gems and how they’ve appeared.

Honestly I feel strongly about all the releases on Inner Islands. Each album holds an important part in the catalogue. If I was to single one out it would be the album Presents by Nearone, it was recorded by Sean and Rosa while they were WWOOFing. It super minimal compared to some of the other releases on the island, which allows for a lot of extra space for the listener to sink into.

6.
Next question I will ask to every person in DDb interview series.
What have changed in independent music world with the developing and spreading of the Web?
Any positive improvements? Any negative repercussions?

I feel like it’s very easy for people to record and release music these days without being to passionate about it. It doesn’t take much to record an album on your laptop and put it out on tape or bandcamp. Because of this I feel there are a lot of people making music not because they are particularly driven to say or express something from within themselves, but rather just because they can. I’m not saying this is bad, but it just makes for a hell of a lot of albums being released all the time. It’s kind of overwhelming to navigate through all that’s happening. On the other hand the ease of recording and releasing music does help passionate individuals with limited recourses get their vision out to the world. Just like everything else there is pros and cons.

7.
What would definitely put you off in a demo? Do you receive lots of submissions?

I get a few demos a month and I really appreciate people sharing their music with me. I’m looking to work with sincere people, so impersonal submissions turn me off a bit. You can tell when someone knows nothing about the label or if I’ve just received the demo as a part of a mass email.


8.
Describe a perfect party! And don’t forget about the music…

Well, I’m not the best at socializing in a party situation, so dance parties are my favorite. Recently I went to a dance party were my friends Stag Hare and Andy Cvar played tunes for hours. Stuff ranging from house, early disco, hip-hop, rocksteady etc… It’s easier for me to dance than chat it up with strangers. Generally though I enjoy just chilling with a smaller group of close friends over a bunch of people I’m only casually acquainted with.

9.
Seriously, what is the hardest thing you stumble against running Inner Islands?

Getting people to listen to the music. ;-)

10.
What’s next?

The last WYLD WYZRDZ album will be released early next year along with the debut from Ashan. I also have an album finished for my new project Coyote Dreamer that will most likely be released through Inner Islands. Other than that, I’m hoping to connect with some new artists to work with on the island.

11.
Do you see any new music schools in the contemporary independent music world? What is that going right now that could have possible become either a tradition or a poignant reminder in the future? Or do we have a constantly growing chaos everywhere?

I’m not sure really, I pretty much just listen to the Grateful Dead.

воскресенье, 6 ноября 2011 г.

Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier - L'Enfant Sauvage LP - Aguirre Records 2011

Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier - L'Enfant Sauvage LP


Now I know that this record is a drug. And now I know that I should have started with small dozes. However I did inject the whole thing at one time... Penetrant vocal pulled apart my chest and then my heart. Now it seats there among the cut veins and  glimmering blood bulbs. All doors creep and shudder because of all the ghosts which could have visited me... ever... Now I need to find a talisman to protect myself from them. The good thing is that I know how to get it. My love is the talisman.

Buy this LP from Aguirre

Zac Nelson - Towards Your Own Worlds cassette - Field Hymns 2011

Zac Nelson - Towards Your Own Worlds cassette


This is a gift. This cassette is many-sided, flexile, romantic and smart. Fuck, I wanna marry this cassette. 6 beautiful tracks each of which is a singular world, an insular tradition. While listening to it you travel on different levels of perception. At times you are frightened, at times you are downing in a noisy magma, sometimes you see tropical dreams, sometimes you're just loving. This tape is a gift, a real gift for those who are tired from anything o pretty much everything.
Buy the cassette from Field Hymns

Rapoon / Mykel Boyd split 12" - Somnimage 2011

Rapoon / Mykel Boyd split 12"


Side A. Blundered electronics live inside, always inside.. Tasty beat discovers territories and invents discoverers. Robotic walk (Larkin, save us..) stops, then begins again. Low, fidgety corpuscular habits are gained on the birth day. Nothing to do here. Side B. Organic product is the future. Our kids will never understand our patience. Letters are falling in the sea. messages in the bottles are clogging up the post officer's desk. He's always drunk. people strangely meet each other.
Unconditionally true, mature and intelligent sound!

Released by Somnimage 

Nova Scotian Arms / Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Crystal Anniversary LP - Aguirre Records

Nova Scotian Arms / Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Crystal Anniversary LP


 On this beautiful LP Grant (Nova Scotian Arms) and Rachel Evans (Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) deliver the most crucially eccentric and hard-hitting examples of their music work. Disperse synth ejaculations mollify rapid glances and hand waves. Obscure melodies cover the body of the Earth and the earth of the Body with a blessing tissue. Sounds effervesce and collide with star ceilings. Elder planets sympathetically look at us and hold out stardust hands inviting to a family picnic.
Masterful and splendid!
Buy from Aguirre.   

Félicia Atkinson – The Driver LP - Hibernate 2011

Félicia Atkinson – The Driver LP


Well, at long last I have this beautiful record on my turntable. I seat in the kitchen having a cup of coffee and listen. And I am becoming aware.. of.. This amazing woman hasn't made anything like this before. Sure. Not in terms of the sound but in terms of an atmosphere. I seat in the kitchen staring at the cup of already cold coffee and listen to the silence because the side A has ended a few minutes ago. My wife turns the disc. And I am starting to become aware.. of..
 Each note is a syllable or a point. Each phrase is a leader, an activist. Each paraphrase is a hidden pitfall for a romantic plot. Animals are aware of it.. And I am becoming...

Released buy Hibernate.   

Philspectre Cassette - Already dead tapes 2011

Philspectre Cassette


I am a small fish living in a small can. I am blind and I love Cocteau. Oh, yes, especially portraits, you know.. Water.. W-a-t-e-r... Well. W A T E R. That's a vital thing. For everyone. And I say you, water is what I need on a day-to-day basis, you know. WATER. Whyforgodsakeifeelshame??? Now it's abrupt.. Like the most things we do or care of, or look for, you know. w_a_t_e_r. The life had begun, you know. In a noise. No sounds. Just noise, you know. Just water. A vital thing.

Buy this tape from Already dead tapes.
 

Charlatan - Equinox LP - Aguirre Recods 2011

Charlatan - Equinox LP


Look at that guy. He's doing his chores. He's thinking about big legendary move. A move worth of a heroic saga. He's eating a sandwich. He is a good person. He will finish college next year. He needs to think about the future, ha? Look at that guy. He prefers cold north weather. He's not looking up. He feels up. He loves cycling.
Clouds move fast. People run fast. Time runs fast. Set your watches. Feel up.
This is the music for remembering. This is the music for remembering things one had never known. This is music for opening. And if you laugh, I will laugh with you. 

Buy the LP from Aguirre.

Problems That Fix Themselves/micromelancolié 'Fractures' Split Cassette - Already dead Tapes 2011

Problems That Fix Themselves/micromelancolié 'Fractures' Split Cassette


 The title of this tape perfectly describes the contents. A listener finds oneself in the very center of the space ship's engine system. The cosmic liqueur streams into one's blood. Metal tendons, buckets and shimmering lamps dance static dances and wink through the wrapped gauze. Harsh noises and trash electronic fall over nebulosities, then fall asleep. That sleep is nervous, unstable. Small tune heads rest on IDM callosities...
Buy the cassette from Already dead tapes

воскресенье, 30 октября 2011 г.

Giant Claw - “Tunnel Mind” cassette - Digitalis 2011

Giant Claw - “Tunnel Mind” cassette


These freaky funny ala 'Supermarket in California' flowers look brutal at the second glance, ha? And I do understand the disgust one can feel to this tape though I do understand how one can like this disgust. Wow! Stop rising, flower! Emerging electronics raisin is yet wet and full of juicy moonlight. The rebelling spirit of 60s and then 80s with all those post-s and neo-s and then Ed Wood's movies and Italian zombies.. whahh.. all these pictures and smells... aren't they freaky funny? Aren't they freaky fast-minded and dramatic? Aren't they worth contemplating suicide i. e. leaving this pink planet and approaching the red east hiding in all those black holes which really start their lives under your own nails. Check you hands.
Buy this phantasmal dystopia created by amazing Keith Rankin from Digitalis.    

Innercity – Boy In Forest Trying To Hotwire The Earth cassette - Not Not Fun 2011

Innercity – Boy In Forest Trying To Hotwire The Earth cassette


I have already told about my love to Innercity several times. Now I have one more big reason for my big love. This great tape was recently released by one the best-known US label Not Not Fun. Two long tracks of shimmering synth topping flavored with perfectly quiet and calm tropical beats gently throw you faceup and fondle with balky sunny paws. Each sound hurts. Each sound tells you that you are not in a right place. Each sound tell you that you are happy in a wrong place.
released y Not Not Fun

Lee Noble - Horrorism LP - Bathetic records 2011

Lee Noble - Horrorism LP

 I don't know why but this record is totally romantic for me, though certain tacks and titles try to put another feeling into my mind I can't stop perceiving it as a simple beautiful and very powerful romantic story. Yes, surely it deals with somehow (oddly!!!...) all aspects of one's life the main oscillating line still points the heart. I am not going to flatter but this LP, this romantic fountain of discreet emotions is now the top-1 this year for me. Ten tracks (last track is fucking best music piece for the last decade!...) open up as a sick-hearted flower-bud. Well. I also can't get rid of one allusion. Have you read 'Sometimes a Great Notion'? Pretty much the same feelings. Genius!
Very highly recommended.
Released by Bathetic records.   

Cloudland Ballroom – Infinite Mind Cassette - Sonic Meditations 2011

Cloudland Ballroom – Infinite Mind Cassette 


Here we have another music gift from one of the best contemporary synth masters - James . Moore. Two long pieces cover the analogue tape packed and released by J. Wright's Sonic Meditations. The fist track begins as a soundtrack to a bit scary drama or psychological crime story. This music forces one to keep an eye on details and wait for unsuspected turnovers (mind takeovers though..). Starting from the middle sound scenes start to remind Clint Mansell's works and one inevitably moves to the chess desk - time to take responsibility for moving the figures of subconsciousness. Side A is more unstable. This is the music of the path-breakers from the medieval times. Cold, dissonant, mint. Look forward, pals...
Buy the cassette from Sonic Meditations.     

понедельник, 10 октября 2011 г.

DDb Interview Series (1009) - Love Cult / Full of Nothing


I want to thank and hug awesome guys from the WARM Karelia, Ivan and Anya for their help, patience and time!


1.
You have such a pejorative name for a label! Why so? When did you start the project?

Ivan: This one is a mighty and glorious name for a label, I think. "It's true because it can't be". Full of Nothing does not mean absence. It suggests an enormous amount of something. Mystical and sacred micro-world. My mind and my heart belong to that world. The world of 'maybe'.

Then there's the abbreviation "fon" which we use for our catalog numbers, it means both "feedback" and "background" in Russian. And another short name "fono" which connects with "phono" jacks and the general sound term... Isn't that just lovely? Also, there's this kind of music that says million things without a single clear phrase. Sometimes a tape loop awakens more emotions in me that a thousand well-composed symphonies.
The label was launched in January 2010. The name had come to me 5 years before that.

2. 
On the contrary, the name of your music project is really positive. Tell about the history of Love Cult.

Me & Anya both participated in Kawrelia Soul Collective, then joined MAAAA for their "Burning Kukkovka's Cock". But we really wanted to try to make something together, just the two of us. That was in mid-2009.

3.
How often do you quarrel speaking about music stuff?

Anya: We never argue. On the contrary - when we jam we come up with many new ideas. And we always try them out. Usually it leads to moving furniture, opening up the piano and looking for weird sound sources... I always feel this childish longing for adventures! Like building a treehouse or making hiding places.


4.
Why cassettes?

Ivan: We are so tactile, we just need something to touch and feel. Vinyl and tapes have this different aesthetic and exceptional design capacity. One can't put a tape into iPod so there's intimacy to music. Tapes sell well and CDs don't sell at all here.


5.
You guys are doing so many things: Love Cult, Full of Nothing, Novoe Tsarstvo, design, organization of tours and local gigs etc. Where do you find time for all of this?

Anya: There are never too many favourite activities if you are able to organize them in a harmonic way. I've been working with kids in a museum for the past year. Good half of my free time was dedicated to it. It's totally opposite to what we do with Ivan. One needs a recharge. And the resting turns into another activity. That's how we both stay interested and dedicated, whatever that is we're doing.

6.
One could have stumbled across Love Cult show at so many places already in Russia and Europe. Can you tell a bit about some special impressions?

Anya: There are special places. There are warm and giving places and there are those which smell of rot. The last tour with Woodpecker Wooliams and Golden Cup was amazing (the Russian part)! I can't thank Ivan enough for putting it together. That trip changed me a lot. I'm not sure whether it was Luca who said that "you're going somewhere to simply play a few shows but you find yourself coming back with new friends and unbelievable experience which turns you inside out".

Ivan: I was very inspired by Istanbul. Turkish culture, music, language - all was a huge revelation to me. We watched Chris Corsano play in a stellar club called "Bedroom", got a chance to chat, too. What a moment! The show we played was after a few months of hibernation. Semi-improvised, very powerful. I sang and cried.
One-of-a-kind Creepy Teepee festival in Czech!
Gigs in Vinius and Saransk were great, we're happy there are recordings of those on the web. Deep vibes, recpectful audience. And of course, the last tour. The Russian gigs were so inspiring! Woodpecker Wooliams and Golden Cup are outstanding musicians and people. Everything we do is for such people and such moments.



7.
Tell which part of label work is:
The hardest?
Most joyful?
Most boring?

Anya: Ivan takes care of the hard work. He's the manager. He makes stuff happen, handles all relations with musicians etc. I'm not of much use in organization. The rest of the work varies... The most boring part is dubbing tapes. It's funny that we can't listen to the releases after hearing them 50 times. It's always different with artwork. One day the design idea comes in a moment, the other time it takes ages. But all these little things bring me so much joy and inspiration! It's not just about spreading the music - it's an endless chain of relationships with amazing people. The only downside is Russian Post, ha ha.

Ivan: The coolest part of running a label is listening to cool music. The shittiest - listening to shitty music.


8.
Next question I will ask to every person in DDb interview series.
What have changed in independent music world with the developing and spreading of the Web?
Any positive improvements? Any negative repercussions?

Ivan: Every music era is unique. I just can't understand all the whining and internet cries about the music industry and all. Anyone can make whatever they want nowadays! We're living in a truly great time!

9.
What music did you like or were intrigued by lately? What would you recommend?

Ivan: Lots of hours worth of listening to my first free psych love - Vibracathedral Orchestra. Also insane amounts of Sunroof! and Hototogisu, and Excepter. The latest Current 93, previously unheard "Jaybird" from Sunburned. Tapes from Stunned. Pretty great noise-rock from Scarcity of Tanks and Sea Scouts. Steve Gunn and Gunn-Truscinski Duo, Suishou No Fune, Velvet Underground, The Beatles. Folk compilations: "Give Me Love: Songs Of The Brokenhearted - Baghdad, 1925-1929" & "To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings from Istanbul". Woodsist catalog: Woods, Spectre Folk, White Fence... Many albums from my friends, mainly Woodpecker Wooliams and Ous Mal. Hip-hop and dub. Constantly all Full of Nothing releases.

Anya: Lately I find it hard to listen to music that demands lots of attention, that doesn't have enough images and mood inside. I've been leaning towards more straightforward and accessible music: Rachael Dadd, Woods, Woodpecker Wooliams, Ducktails, Matrix Metals, Egyptrixx, Niggas With Guitars, Big Boi, Games, Grimes...


10.
What should we expect from Love Cult and Full of Nothing in the future?

6 new tapes are coming up on Full of Nothing: M. Geddes Gengras, prayer / Nathan McLaughlin, Preslav Literary School, Polypus Acephalous, Banana Pill, Suburban Howl. There are already some clips at Soundcloud!
Just finished a new tape with Love Cult, called "Averter". Lots of chanting on that one, like we did on the last tour. Slowed down piano loops, kantele. It'll be out in Autumn! Can't name the label at the moment. ;)
Sacred Phrases are going to release our collab with Turkish drone cutie Berk (I Create Soundscapes). The project is called Teenage Magic. The material is similar to Love Cult but with synth, ghostly flute and a pop 'song'.
Working on tracks for several compilations, split 7" with MAAAA and next tape (for Digitalis Ltd.)

Links for checking out:
http://www.lovecult.tihiiomut.ru
http://www.fono.tihiiomut.ru

Photo credit: Woodpecker Wooliams


воскресенье, 9 октября 2011 г.

KWJAZ - KWJAZ LP - Not Not Fun 2011

KWJAZ - KWJAZ LP


Here comes a new jewel produced by always amazing Not Not Fun label. This time we have an opportunity to believe in futuristic fairy-tales artfully and nattily told by a San-Franciscan musician Peter Berend. Two long tracks, each side long, present a cadre of small music adventures full of anarchic lo-fi side-walks, alcoholic races, soap-box grotesque and romantic guitar/synth tremolos. Uniquely fresh and uniquely diverse album. Highly recommended.
Buy this record from Not Not Fun.   

Merzbow · Dead Zone CD - Quasi Pop 2011

Merzbow · Dead Zone CD


I am really sorry but I am not gonna add anything to this:
'The multi-billions trasinternational concerns think we want more and more cars, computers and mobile phones. For offering all these crap to us for cheap, they need more and more cheap energy. They want nuclear power plants which are powerful and good in making money, but this technology is extremely dangerous for the people and for our planet. To get a cheap plastic junk today, we are agree to kill our child's future today. We have already had two colossal nuclear disasters in only last 25 years: Chernobyl (Ukraine) in 1986 and Fukushima (Japan) in 2011. There are lots of information everywhere about the sas consequences of both and do we really need more proofs?'
Buy from Quasi Pop

Seven that Spells - The Men From Dystopia 2LP - Beta-lactam Ring Records

Seven that Spells - The Men From Dystopia 2LP


Ho-ho, this record by Croatian psycho-kraut rock band became my favorite in their catalogue. Five really long sound pieces couldn't be named as tracks or songs. They can be more referred as endless wastelands that are getting discovered by a group of happenstance enthusiasts. Truly improvisational mood delivered by fluctuating guitar stretches and low but rigid synth stabs is accompanied by the righteous guitar of Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mother Temple) who had a hand in this record. This music reminded me of the Van Sant's film 'Gerry'. No conversation, the whole world empty.
Buy the record from Beta-lactam Ring.

воскресенье, 18 сентября 2011 г.

Flotel - Valence cassette - Chemical Tapes 2011

Flotel - Valence cassette


I hear crowds knocking at my door. I do hear that satire and see those coins falling out of the pockets. Kow-towing walls do not save the refugee... Abrupt dramatic chorus accompanies one to the inner worlds where one has to fight against what mirrors return to him. That is a silent fight. No cries and no blood. This is all about spirit and it's sound vibrations.
Music for salvation. In all senses. Intelligent and splendid.
Buy this cassette from Chemical Tapes

Mohave Triangles - Smoked Mystics Cassette - Chemical Tapes 2011

Mohave Triangles - Smoked Mystics Cassette


Here's one of the recent tapes from Chemical Tapes label. Two lengthy tracks by Mohave Triangles take control over the noise explosions and reverse them onto the expectation surface. Glittering synth crystals divide and peel from the abstract ettles and grounds. Their hypnotic and impulsive flight seems endless. Maybe it is?
Buy the cassette from Chemical Tapes.   

воскресенье, 4 сентября 2011 г.

Mo Kolours - EP1: Drum Talking - LP/cassette - OHM/Sweat Lodge Guru 2011

Mo Kolours - EP1: Drum Talking LP/Cassette


This was a real surprise for me. The record hardly contains anything except for the percussions sets and vocal manipulations. But it sounds really fantastic! Clear but at the same time rough melodies, hip-hop oscillations, mesmerizing vocals and unstable diverse beats occupy my mind and make me smile. Maximum joy with minimum materials. Thumbs up!
Music for cycling. Buy from either OHM or Sweat Lodge Guru.  

суббота, 3 сентября 2011 г.

THE DREAMS - Morbido cassette - Yerevan Tapes 2011

THE DREAMS - Morbido cassette



Did you know that the guys from the beautiful Avant! label have just launched a new tape label? No? Then you must check this out. Their first release is undoubtedly one of the best records this year. A duo from France, The Dreams come up with twelve songs on their first album and hit the mark! Their music is fresh, dancy, ambitious, honest and fucking awesome! I can hardly classify the style precisely but if I've had to use only three tags I'd have said they're making a real dark wave-reggae. However this tape is so ripe for surprises! Dub collisions, lo-fi synth melodies, greasy guitar, amazing vocals and perfectly measured dollop of noise craziness.
Can't stop listening to it. Highly recommended, i. e. a must!
Buy from Yerevan Tapes

ZARASAI - PLACE MUZIK cassette - Sangoplasmo records 2011

 ZARASAI - PLACE MUZIK cassette


Wanna communicate with apparitions? This tape will help you.
New collab project from Anton Lukoszevieze and Arturas Bumšteinas presents to you some real spiritualistic experiences recorded on this tape. Profound and frantic soundscapes open all the secret chambers revealing mighty powers which distort the space and time. Longish kanklės sounds tumble over rasping electronic loops casting away big dark globules of vibrating sound emulcio.
Buy the cassette from Sangoplasmo records

Expo '70 - Radiance cassette - Further Records 2011

Expo '70 - Radiance cassette


Cracked and restless synth pulsations fulfill the stifling rooms of you mind. Breathless thoughts rush through them as a bureaucratic caravan of overlooked dreams and overheard confessions. In each room you find the same golden sphere of your hibernating consciousness. You traverse over boundaries. One of the rooms contains an answer. But the dream is too short to find the right one.
Splendid tape!

пятница, 2 сентября 2011 г.

Varropas / Rainbow Valley - Split Cassette - Jozik records 2011

Varropas / Rainbow Valley - Split Cassette


Here comes a split between a duo from Finland Varropas and UK-based project Rainbow Valley. Both act in the field of synth music while using quite different approach. On the side A one becomes a witness of a calm prayer of a tired person. This music is totally descriptive and uses very simple structure however managing to draw one's attention to each sound as if to the importance of each second of the life. Side B is occupied by less dormant material. Trembling free-wheeling sound pieces create a heart-pounding atmosphere. While exploring three different stories each of which shows really hysterical mood along with definite melodiousness, one is now left without a story-teller and starts to dream up his own world... 
Buy the cassette from Jozik records.  

Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier “Discovering Mathematics 2” cassette - No Kings 2011

Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier “Discovering Mathematics 2” cassette


Another great tape from the great No Kings. Here Félicia Atkinson presents five lengthy plays constructed from amorphic and undulating sounds. Monotonous voice tells a story without the beginning and without the end. Ethereal words and vibes fall down into the water and dissolve in it making no rings. It seems that this music can exist singularly and autonomously in any circumstances and conditions. But nevertheless, one can hardly miss some kind of romanticism in the mood of the each track. Physical tricks telling about love and hope. Impressive.

Guanaco ± ‘Ardea Cinerea’ cassette - Sweat Lodge Guru 2011

Guanaco ± ‘Ardea Cinerea’ cassette


Well, I didn't like this tape when I heard it first time. Actually, I still don't like it. But - I am listening to it again right now and will listen again for sure. And I think there's nothing strange about such situation. Something attracts me in this music. Something calls me into the scary unpleasant places. This is just a trick of subconsciousness. Low ambient fibres show the way without even touching you, they just dance in front of you without even looking at you... This annoys you and you're starting to chase them, again without even thinking about the proper reason why you're chasing them. And when they disappear you feel disappointed. You feel that you have to experience this one more time...

PIĘTNASTKA - DALIA cassette - Sangoplasmo records 2011

PIĘTNASTKA - DALIA cassette


This tape by from a talented composer Piotr Kurek reminded me of some recent Anne Laplantine's recordings made for some net-label or something. The same approach and I think quite similar attitude. As for me this material is about the childhood how it looks for an adult. Sometimes fun, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes grotesque. Lucid melodic synth and simple rhythms will inevitably charm you and force to search for old photographs. Recommended!
Buy from the young but always good Sangoplasmo records.  

Banana Pill / Timothy C Holehouse split cassette - jozik recods 2011

Banana Pill / Timothy C Holehouse split cassette


This wonderful tape opens with unstable bitter guitar chords produced by Helsinki-based duo. As far as the flat story gets developed we can hear a blues harp and teremin-like ambient sounds which deliver a feeling of a really cold and sad mood of the North. On the side B we discover some less melodic but more diverse sound that actually is a collage giving us a chance to see many different images seen by one pair of eyes during the day. Morning, lasting dream, hot coffee, empty street, over-peopled tube, lunch, bothering work-mates, barroom, evening, clock that you should check with so that not to miss the telephone call. Patient, intelligent music.
Buy the cassette from Jozik Records

понедельник, 29 августа 2011 г.

Aguirre Records - Promo Mix

Hey dudes!
Check out the promo mix from the Aguirre Records aired on NTS on the 17th of August 2011
Just click the image above.
Tracklist:
Stellar Om Source - Grace I
JD Emmanuel - Evening Devotional
Charlatan - Tetrahedron
Panabrite - Atoll
Sean McCann - Unfolding Angels (excerpt)
Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Censer
Pulse Emitter - Pangaea
Innercity - Opiate Vague

воскресенье, 14 августа 2011 г.

Robedoor - Too Down To Die - Not Not Fun 2011

Robedoor - Too Down To Die LP


Ho-ho, here's a new 4-track gem from LA-based Browns' syndicate Robedoor. Synth molecules are gone troppo while faded vocals troweled on the booming beats draw the plangent guitar meditations as a magneto. What we have at the bottom line is a melodic and a bit nervous, pushy and junkie medley that never stays in a dormant state but takes different shapes and forms, pretty eerie and yet unseen...
Fascinating!
Check this out soon on always great Not Not Fun records.   

Thomas Buckner, Edyta Fil, Ilia Belorukov, Alexey Lapin, Juho Laitinen - Bewitched Concert

Thomas Buckner, Edyta Fil, Ilia Belorukov, Alexey Lapin, Juho Laitinen - Bewitched Concert CD



This is a really bewitched concert. Five musicians meet under one roof to present to you aboriginal sound rituals.They call forth dangerous demons who take you away into perilous labyrinths. A listener goes backstage on Earth's mechanics just like a young man in Dostoevsky's 'The dream of a ridiculous man' cruising over his own dream and stumbling across essential arches.
One of the best improv records this year. 
 Buy from Intonema

Edward Sol - Tasma Gang Bang - taqueOt 2011

Edward Sol - Tasma Gang Bang


Many thanks to Artem for sending this material. 
Here comes the latest noise opus from Ukrainian experimentalist Edward Sol. Only one track. 5:25. Masses of bestial sounds which could have been easily used by Pasolini in his films 40 years ago. Break-neck, violent, sexy. Highly recommended!
Buy from ~taqueOT.

Mario Gonzalez’s ‘SUEISFINE’ cassette - Already dead tapes 2011

Mario Gonzalez’s ‘SUEISFINE’ cassette

I want to thank Josh for sending this great tape.
When I first heard this record I thought it was too polished. Mario Gonzalez managed to create a work that shows a perfect sound on every stage of its progress. And that's amazing. Each move is measured, each turn is calculated, each note is in a seemingly one-shot ideal place. Broken electronics and prolate sound waves move under the guise of trip-hop analytics in quite unshaped directions and that puts the whole thing in a field of controversial collisions. At times dance, at times experimental stuff, always ambiguous...
Buy the cassette from Already dead tapes

понедельник, 8 августа 2011 г.

Mattress - Lonely Souls cassette - field hymns 2011

Mattress - Lonely Souls cassette


Oh, my friends know how i usually hate vocals.. It makes no sense for me when someone tries to talk to you and play music at the same time. First music, talk afterwards. But there are exceptions, no surprises. The man behind 'Mattress' (oh well...) is a master. His voice rapaciously corbonadoes the sound as a ship plows the waves. Stunning! At the same time it incidentally turns subtle and even tender. Greasy and at times lo-fi synth plot gives a broad picture of slightly meditative electronic and dance stuff that harks back into 80s.
Splendid work!
Buy from Field Hymns

Hobbledeions / Sugar Sk*-*lls “Secret Fugue Machine” cassette - No Kings 2011

Hobbledeions / Sugar Sk*-*lls “Secret Fugue Machine” cassette


I can hardly understand how so limited edition of so fascinating cassette couldn't have been sold out yet. First side by Hobbledeions presents a long piece of heavily puddled beat fragments mixed with urban soundscapes and frantic/abstract tunes pleached with oscillating trip-hop lines. On side B Sugar Sk*-*lls daintily play in penny-plain 8-bit games contriving to reach some kind of high-stakes drama. really amazing and breathtaking!
Highly recommended.
Buy from No Kings.

суббота, 30 июля 2011 г.

ALDO BECCA [2011] WHNZ:30:DYSTO

Aldo Becca - Dysto


I can't say much about this work because I think it has nothing to do with words. I think that it really proclaims something contrary to the narrative field. This work tries to handle with some emergent and, I suppose dangerous things and objects. It can lead you to places where you'll simply forget that you can speak. Well, maybe it can't. Paralyzing strings smell with mist, guitar sounds cause air vibrations, crackled electronics reveal abstract signs and images around you.
Really confusing work. Take your stand.
You can listen and download the whole thing at WHNZ blog.

JD EMMANUEL - Ancient Minimal Meditations LP - Aguirre 2011

JD EMMANUEL - Ancient Minimal Meditations LP


This LP record is a re-issue of JD's cassette released an AMM.
What can I say? This is classic. Thin gracefully convoluted needles smoothly pierce the skin and inject some sweet mixture made of ripe aglint synth berries. The sound approaches slowly and in cold blood. However there is still a hint of a feeling gnawing at the back of my mind - why can't I predict the very next move? Incredibly thoughtful, pragmatic and at the same time elusive work.
Wanna become invisible? Grab this record from Aguirre.

Bitchin' Bajas/ Faceplant - split 12'' - Bathetic records 2011

Bitchin' Bajas/ Faceplant - split 12''


I have to admit that there are a few labels that I love most. And Bathetic is one of them for sure. I really love everything they do, each release, each new tape or record, each cover art. Their recent output - slit 12inch between Bitchin' Bajas and Faceplant is not an exemption. Each project delivers quite a different sound but both manage to converge to the similar conceptual lim. Bitchin' Bajas appear here as masters of fresh synth opuses. Deep engaging waves blow up stifling room and precipitate mind mutations. Faceplant (Aaron Coyes from Peaking Lights) presents two fantastic orchestic songs. Both tracks drive me crazy: beatiful drums, juicy bass, unostentatious synth - everything is in right place and in right proportions. Really perfect release.
Absolute glee! One of the best records in 2011 so far.
Buy from Bathetic.

STAG HARE "Spirit Canoes" CD - Hands in the dark 2011

STAG HARE "Spirit Canoes" CD


Anticipating a vinyl release on Inner Islands we have now an opportunity to check out four new songs by amazing Stag Hare released on CD by Hand in the dark records. Hippie-style meditations open up with all their friendly atmosphere welcoming everyone to join the airy round dances. Lovely percussion, sheer blithesome guitars, transparent vocals and everlasting sounds of nature make their job and and make one forget oneself completely. Lovely, lovely work!
Buy from Hands in the dark.

понедельник, 25 июля 2011 г.

The Philly Crawlers – Ethnic Pants - Already dead tapes and records 2011

The Philly Crawlers – Ethnic Pants CS


Ha, this is perfect. Howling guitars, summertime vocals, lo-fi confused drums and beautiful climactic synth unite under this caressing forgiving sky and make you send unfettered smiles to people around. And not because it's hilarious - it's not! - but because it's life-asserting, yeah. Music like this proclaims that everything is possible simply because one always gets what ane really wants like a stalker near the golden sphere. Music like this proclaims that one more attempt is always worth trying. Music like this -  proclaims.
Music like this tells you, See you tomorrow.
grab a cassette from Already dead tapes

суббота, 23 июля 2011 г.

Stellar Om Source, LRJ Martens & Ada Van Hoorenbeke – Aguirre records 2011


I want to thank Pieter for sending me 4 recent records released on his amazing label Aguirre records.

Stellar Om Source - Heartlands Suite LP


If I am not mistaken, this LP is a re-issue of a CD released some time ago by another one of my favorite labels Ruralfaune.  9 tracks - 9 pure synth compositions. Each following opus seems like a logical continuation of the previous one.  I’ve even got a feeling that it would be right if the album would somehow start over again after the last track has ended.  There is an obvious idea of loopback action stated in this work. Adroitly enweaved sound shows beautiful evenness and certain thaumaturgics usual for foundational stories.  Great stuff!
  
LRJ Martens & Ada Van Hoorenbeke - Eternal Landscapes LP


This record consists of two long pieces and reminds me of Takeshi Kitano films. Atavistic abstract flows collide with sounds of nature and create a substitutable reality of slow distilled  country-life. Mix of folklore and floristic ideas inaugurates a Young Conjurer of waterfalls and mountain-picks who controls tendinous substance of any relation. The sound perfectly describes a monotonous work or, even better, a process of telling beads. Very intense, tapping music.

Buy both LPs from Aguirre records

суббота, 16 июля 2011 г.

Jurgen Muller - Science Of The Sea LP - Digitalis 2011

Jurgen Muller - Science Of The Sea LP


This fantastic record was waiting for me too long.. At long last I've uploaded it into my player yesterday. And now I understand that I have to write about it, I have to talk to someone about it, I need to listen to someone talking about it. But there is only silence in my head, the silence that stops when I push the Start button again. It's too beautiful to call it beauty. It's too preterhuman to describe it in words. Just listen to it, OK?
You can get it from Digitalis' distributors and I think you can find a download link somewhere in the Web.

starcircleanatomy - cold / path - debacle 2011

starcircleanatomy - cold / path CDr


I can easily imagine this music played with no instruments and even without human presence. It's so incredibly independent and a bit aidless. Long corridors contracted from some alive moving tissues lead you somewhere and change your way in all impossible directions making you feel pleasant featheriness. Hardish drones, tree axis electronic loops, mitigated beat lines amalgamate into a fairy galactic concerto. Really awesome.
Buy from Debacle records.

Adderall Canyonly, Boron - Fieald Hymns 2011

Two more recent tapes from Portland-based Field Hymns records:

Adderall Canyonly - The Ascension of St. Diamond and the Battles of Oxtest Cassette


Hey, honestly I'm fed up to my back teeth with................since we’re caged in small stifling rooms running down the greasy slope like cut off a-clenched fists, stumbling across ancient bones, gaining and kicking habits, blowing up rocks and mountains, never stopping unless one had shown how and was trusted – 
with straight faces and cagy eyes we are trying to foresee a benign radiance, taking and dropping things, taking and loosing chances. The fields of our research never contain anything of what we are currently looking for. It seems no one had ever gained a thing… and everyone is now behooved to be a donor for a derogatory chorus of the last song of the planet…
You must get this cassette by all means! It's now in my this year's top5. 

Boron - Aria Statica Cassette



I like the rotten tendons and nerves of the half-living outdoors shown in this tape. I like how the morning silhouettes in people’s talks and gestures shown in this tape. I like how the shadows dissolve in blinkered windows shown in this tape. And I love how tenderly these songs erupt through the massive walls.
Dominant rhetoric exercises from Boron. Beautiful.

Grab both cassettes at Field Hymns.  


 

Solar Ocean - Unknown, unsigned, untitled CD - ~taqueOT 2011

Thanks to Artem for sending this stuff.

Solar Ocean - Unknown, unsigned, untitled CD 


This businesscard cd-r was recently released on great Ukrainian label ~taqueOT. It contains only one track which is 6 minutes long. Here Solar Ocean (who has already appeared in ~taqueOT catalog) continues to ensue the same traditional line. Long pulled spirals of sonic substance infest the air. The sound thoroughly extracted from the dungeons where the foot may tread almost smells with magic or, to put it better, with places where magic has been a normal state of things. The track ends but you still can hear it for some time.
Mesmerizing!
Buy from ~taqueOT.