• Music

    Noisesculptor & God Cancer – Wanderers In The 4th Dimension

    May 22, 2021 - By 

    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…

  • Music

    HIEMIS – La Chose

    May 20, 2021 - By 

    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…

  • Music

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

    May 10, 2021 - By 

    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…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Anthology Of Experimental Music From China

    May 8, 2021 - By 

    I don’t do top-ten lists, and I don’t ever plan on doing that in the future, but things can change at any moment.  Still, if I had to nominate a favorite record label at this moment, there’s no doubt it would be Italy’s Unexplained Sounds Group.  Each compilation is a tour guide of experimental music from select parts of the world.  This one is near and dear to me, as China was and shortly will be my home for quite a while, and Raffaele Pezzella does yeoman’s work documenting what is happening in the Middle Kingdom experimental-music-wise. Here are some…

  • Music

    Schloss Tegal – Musick From Madness

    April 18, 2021 - By 

    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…

  • Music

    Lance Austin Olsen | Terje Paulsen – Nattinsekter

    April 1, 2021 - By 

    Though I am familiar with the great experimental musician Terje Paulsen, I have not yet heard the works of Lance Austin Olsen, and I’m impressed with this pair’s use of field recordings and instruments into one organic whole. From Lance Austin Olsen’s Bandcamp site: Nattinsekter (night insects) developed from my ongoing graphic score A Night On The Veldt, which references my childhood in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and the many times I was out at night with my father on the veldt listening to the nocturnal soundscape. The sounds from the veldt have continued since the beginning of time and will…

  • Music

    Steven Severin – 23 Wounds of Julius Caesar

    March 15, 2021 - By 

    Today is the Ides of March, once a day of celebration during Rome’s peak (and a deadline for settling debts), now remembered as the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar.  Former Siouxsie & The Banshees bassist Steven Severin makes available his ambient experimental work commemorating the event.

  • Music

    JOHN 3:16 – Tempus Edax Rerum

    March 12, 2021 - By 

    Our friends JOHN 3:16 come at us with less an audible listening experience than a sheer sonic pummeling.  Take for example Part I, which sounds as though the ghost of Cop/Greed-era Swans was under more control, a more musically apt, and put through the gothic/post-punk music grinder.  Part IV goes into something more ethereal, dark, something between a horror movie and spaghetti-western soundtrack, with vocals provided by Caroline O’Neill / Rasplyn.  The band always impress, but I wasn’t quite ready for this one.  A very pleasant surprise, indeed.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Mailbox Records: Music for Another Sky

    February 24, 2021 - By 

    This collection of ambient music is curated by British record label Mailbox Records.  From their Bandcamp site: About this release: This compilation has been put together in order to raise awareness and/or raise money for the UK charity, Refuge. This means 100% of proceeds from all sales will go to them (after the standard deductions from Bandcamp and PayPal). It was 1971 when Refuge opened the world’s first safe house, so this year marks the 50th year they’ve been helping women and children escape a life of abuse and violence; the first to make the point that violence in the…