Tag: Dark Ambient

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Gadi Sassoon – Multiverse

Gadi Sassoon is an Italian sound designer and composer whose latest release comes from the venerable Los Angeles-based record label A Strangely Isolated Place.  I had only heard one track of his work before, this coming from ASIP’s 2020 Compilation.  Though impressive, it didn’t prepare me for one of the bleakest experiences I’ve had listening to ambient music I’ve had since, perhaps, mid-period Lustmord.  If you listen to this album on headphones, be forewarned: the sounds will reverberate in your bones for a while afterward, and I say this as a compliment.  The tracks swell and disperse in a way that reminded me of the final sequence in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

If this is Gadi’s first album, I’m definitely planning on following up with future releases and reviewing them here.

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Noisesculptor & God Cancer – Wanderers In The 4th Dimension

Noise music is something you are either passionate for. or you loathe to the depths of your soul.  I say this because too many artists not only sound far too similar, it almost sounds like they insult the audience by turning on a vacuum cleaner and try to call that “music.”  It’s trash, nothing more.  That trick only worked once with Duchamp, and all his followers merely pose, tarnishing anything good in art.

However, there is another angle to noise.  That of the sculpted, patiently crafted sturm und drang which allows for musical or cinemtic influences to further enhance their compositions.  This is what we get from our old friend Per Najbjerg Odderskov doing business as God Cancer, who are collaborating on this album with Noisesculptor, an artist from Germany who has his own impressive pedigree.

Expect harsh 50s B-movie-style soundtrack influences, lo-fi cassette rumblings and rather precise and engaging composing on each track.  This is how noise should be done.

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HIEMIS – La Chose

Gradual Hate Records has had a stream of excellent releases this year, but this album by HIEMIS, an artist out of Spain, is the best of the bunch.  This is dark, gothic (in the original sense, not the bad makeup sense), ethereal and would compare well to artists who made their mark with labels like Projekt Records, Cold Meat Industry or 4AD (think Dead Can Dance).

What pleases my ears the most is the heavy, almost liquid-like sound that resonates so deeply in my speakers that I feel like I’m inside of a cave enjoying almost pure isolation.  It’s quite a magical, meditative release, and I look forward to hearing more from HIEMIS in the future.

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Various Artists – That Sounds Greek To Me | Apr 27 | Muses & Sirens

First, a debt of thanks goes to Dimitris Tsironis who took the time to send me this compilation for review.  His label, 1tracktape, is doing a great service exposing Greek experimental and avant-garde music to the world, and the quality of this compilation is superb.  What’s more, the label is unique in that it releases albums every New Moon and (most of) Full Moon dates.  I can’t say I’ve heard of any other labels maintaining such a specific schedule, so each moon that pops up will be an opportunity to check out what new releases Mr. Tsironis has in store for us.

What is pleasant about the album is that it doesn’t stick to one format.  One can hear electroacoustic music, ethereal music bordering on gothic (think Dead Can Dance), offered by Death Of Codes.  Field recordings and ritualistic music reminiscent of 1980s and 1990s cassette culture about here.  It’s a label definitely worth exploring.

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trajedesaliva – Ultratumba

It’s so nice to see new music come from Galicia, where my paternal ancestors hail from. trajedesaliva are from Vigo and seem to be influenced by dark ambient, ritual music and post-Industrial soundscapes, though it doesn’t try to overwhelm the listener. Something I really liked about this album is that it sounds, in parts, like 1970s Kosmische Musik (think of Tangerine Dream in their 70s prime), which makes this unique among darkwave or dark ambient bands.

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Štefanec feat. Legrand – Eternity

Perhaps a new genre of music has commenced with this release – that of monastery synth, rather than dungeon synth.  Though there is little information available on either Štefanec or Legrand, Kalamine Records provides some notes via their Bandcamp site here:

Štefanec and Legrand (Croatia) started their collaboration back in 2017.
After two years, they are releasing their first joint album Hope, for the record label HDR Limit.

In 2020, the album Pjesme iz bunkera was released for Croatian label Slušaj najglasnije publishing house.

May 1st their third joint album Eternity is released on Kalamine records.

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Destruktionsanstalt / Cyanosis – Split

For those of you, my friends, who were avid readers of my previous blog, A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music, among the musicians I was proud to champion was Destruktionsanstalt, whose works were featured at this link.  I’m pleased to say that Per Najbjerg Odderskov has a fresh release under that monicker, splitting it with a project which is new to me in Cyanosis.  The first two tracks from from Destruktionsanstalt, and unlike many noise bands, there is a nearly surgical focus on both tracks.  The pummeling noise fest has a vibe utterly indebted to the masters, especially early period-Throbbing Gristle and a name not mentioned enough these days, Maurizio Bianchi (M.B.), whose work always reminded me of the more frightening side of documentary, clinical music of the experimental variety.

Cyanosis was a pleasant surprise for me.  Not quite as noisy, the track they offer is crunchy, yet has a cinematic air to it.  I look forward to learning more about them.

Much respect to Marbre Negre, a newer label out of Reus, Spain, which specializes in dark ambient releases.  They’ve left quite a good impression.

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Schloss Tegal – Musick From Madness

Schloss Tegal have a storied history in post-Industrial, ritualistic and experimental music.  The duo of Richard Schneider (based in Prague) and MWBurch (based in New York) developed a body of work on their own, drawing from some extremely dark places, as well as collaborating with musicians like Aube from Japan and the American experimental music composer John Duncan.

Our friend and colleague Raffaele Pezzella is releasing and has remastered these cassette recordings and unreleased tracks into a very coherent album.  To learn more about the history of the band, and how this collaboration came to be, consider going to the Schloss Tegal Bandcamp site.  The story Raffaele spins is quite brilliant.

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Toni Dimitrov – Live at SlovoKult literARTour 2020

Composer, radio presenter, label owner, philosopher and old friend Toni Dimitrov has released a new album on the ever-interesting Kalamine Records.  Here are some of the details regarding the release, courtesy of their Bandcamp page:

Performance at SlovoKult literARTour 2020 in Gevgelija, as a part of Bosh Festival. SlovoKult literARTour is a small international festival of contemporary art, text and poetry, taking place in Skopje and Gevgelija, Macedonia and Berlin, Germany.
www.slovokult-literatur.de
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Coagulant – The Typhonian Experiments

Coagulant hail from Uruguay, a country not known for a deep experimental music scene.  This release, however, should attract attention to those who enjoyed those ritualistic post-Industrial music cassettes of the 1980s.  There’s a heavy B-movie soundtrack vibe to this release mixed with electroacoustic music.

Quite enjoyable.