• Music

    Various Artists – Paroxysm: A Benefit Compilation For Leslie Keffer

    August 24, 2022 - By 

    Paroxysm: A Benefit Compilation For Leslie Keffer Unfortunately, there is no way to embed into the website in the normal way, so please click on the link above to get a taste of some of the bands contributing to this noble cause.  From our friends at No Part Of It Records: Leslie Keffer began making noise music with radios and vocals in 2003. Since then she has toured a good amount, and collaborated with key figures. Activity had to slow down when Keffer’s symptoms of epilepsy accelerated to the point of her being unable to work. She has been trying…

  • Music

    Viul & Benoît Pioulard – Konec

    August 18, 2022 - By 

    A Strangely Isolated Place provides us with a fine pairing. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “With an immediate arresting aesthetic, grounded in saturation, decay and distortion, tracks such as ‘Returning Clear Voice’ or ‘Flaxen’ reflect some of the duo’s more textured work – a hazy mist of life unknown in a city’s uncharted times. Konec’s storyful and engrossing moments come with a confident posture, such as the unforgettable bellowing of ‘Catalune’ or ‘Construction Worker Smoke Cycle’ or the swirling, haunting ‘Canon’. “

  • Music

    Various Artists – Nyarlathotep – A Tribute To Howard Phillips Lovecraft

    August 13, 2022 - By 

    Eighth Tower Records never disappoints!  Each compilation they put out is so well put-together that the themes fit the subject material perfectly!  This one is, of course, no exception.  It is a paean to H. P. Lovecraft, perhaps America’s foremost horror and science-fiction writers.  At least to my taste, Lovecraft is second only to Edgar Allan Poe. The comp features artists like Kirlian Camera, Gerstein and T.A.C., so rest assured that the quality is exceptional.

  • Music

    Ophtalmologist – Julius Vernus Explorator

    August 5, 2022 - By 

    It’s quite a rare thing for music titles, especially instrumental tracks, to actually match the music produced.  A case in point was a four-album noise release whose name I happily forgot trying to reference a classic of literature.  No need to embarrass the artist or the writer, but it seemed that the choice of subject wasn’t appropriate for the music (at least to my humble ears).  This is not such a case.  Ophtalmologist is the artistic name of Theodoros Hernandez, a Greek-Mexican composer who might be working out of France. He specializes in what I would assume is ambient drone,…

  • Music

    Ilir Lluka – Twelve Years of Nihilism

    July 25, 2022 - By 

    Ilir Lluka, a composer out of Tirana, Albania, is one of the best active experimental musicians in the Balkans.  He works in the mediums of electroacoustic music, electronic, drone and sound art.  From his Bandcamp site: The title of Ilir Lluka’s new digital album “Twelve Years of Nihilism” refers to his period of creativity and musical productivity of Ilir Lluka. The artist considers himself a realist but agrees that his feeling of pessimism about mankind can somehow come close to the semantic concept of the nihilist when regarding it from the object of inspiration point of view. The four tracks…

  • Music

    Various Artists – The Dystopian World of J​.​ G​.​Ballard

    July 15, 2022 - By 

    Our dear friend Raffaelle Pellezza has curated another masterful compilation of dark ambient music focused on the British writer J. G. Ballard.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “In April 2009, J. G. Ballard died at the age of 78. By the end of his life he was recognized as one of the greatest British writers of the latter half of the twentieth century. The acclaim his work has garnered stems from its unsettling ability to describe the present in collision with near but unexpected futures. His narratives operate according to the temporalities of car crashes, epidemics, and physiological shocks. The…

  • Music

    Savvas Metaxas – Music for Dance Performance

    July 10, 2022 - By 

    Greek experimental composer Savvas Metaxas has scored music for a choreography project that sounds more like a very relaxed version of electroacoustic music.  It’s sumptuous headphone listening, I have to say.  From his record label Noise Below’s Bandcamp site: “Savvas Metaxas’s music for the choreography/action ‘who knows where time goes – potential destination #1’, slightly modified for this release without losing the sense of experiencing its first steps and its ongoing development, making the listener feel like they are participating in the action. With a cover photo from Sofia Tolika’s amazing ‘mundus’ photobook, that toys with stasis/motion, and artwork by…

  • Music

    Tewksbury – Brutes

    July 6, 2022 - By 

    Douglas Tewksbury is an ambient musician out of, I believe, Canada.  I am quite impressed with the spacious and elegant nature of his music.  From his record label, HushHush’s Bandcamp site: “‘Brutes‘ serves as a follow-up Tewksbury’s debut album ‘Paths.’ Released by the boutique Dutch label Geertruida Records in June 2021, Paths signaled Tewksbury’s initial intersection of music with his full-time work as a professor and researcher. Currently teaching at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York with a specialization in the media’s role in interpreting and affecting the debate on climate change, Tewksbury’s academic work has taken him on travels…

  • Music

    Liang YiYuan (梁奕源) – Those That Die In A Dream. A twenty years retrospective

    July 2, 2022 - By 

    It boggles the mind that our friends at Unexplained Sounds Group continue to scour the earth for the best ambient music around. From the label’s website: Liang YiYuan was born in Wuhan (China, 1977), and now living in Lijiang, Yunnan Province. He painted in his early years, and later turned to make music. So far, he has published more than twenty albums, frequently using instruments such as guitar, yangqin, violin, guqin, bawu, and showing a natural attitude to unconventional playing techniques and original timbre. He also creates music for films, plays, modern dances, architectural and environmental scenes, and exhibitions. “Those…