• Music

    Jelena Glazova – Bardo Thodol (Eliane Radigue Tribute)

    November 8, 2021 - By 

    I came to the work of Latvian noise musician and composer Jelena Glazova originally through her collaborations with the legendary Russian noise maestro Alexei Borisov. This four-track album is a paean to the work of French soundscape artist and composer Élaine Radigue, perhaps the foremost sound composer operating today.   Glazova used processed voice, her laptop and controllers to sculpt these works.  They were recorded and mastered in Riga between 2016 – 2019.  The drones wash over the ears magnificently.

  • Music

    Lezet – Tactile

    October 16, 2021 - By 

    Our dear friends at Kalamine Records have surprised me with yet another fine release.  This album comes from the project Lezet, which is the working name of my friend Igor Jovanović. It is fair to say that this is true experimental music, or perhaps it’s better to call this sound art.  The album is, as Igor puts it, “an album of assorted sounds made in mic’s physical interactions with various surfaces and other accidental sounds recorded during these interactions.”

  • Music

    Lonsai Maïkov & New Orthodox Line – Sobornost

    October 9, 2021 - By 

    Breton musician Thierry Jolif (who records as Lonsai Maïkov here) is a fellow Orthodox who also happens to make boomingly dark experimental drone music.  It’s quite something to hear both worlds collapse into each other so violently, but if I could trust anyone to pull of such a feat, it is him. This is an EP’s worth of music, time-wise, but genres covered include ambient, drone, noise, darkwave and there are spoken word elements which tie the album together well.

  • Music

    JOHN 3:16 – Yoldath Aloho

    September 26, 2021 - By 

    I have to catch up and see what has been going on with our friends at Alrealon Music.  This release is two tracks of a horrifying soundscape that conjures up images of characters like Pinhead from the classic horror movie Hellraiser.  Though the movie had no effect on me (I grew up watching far better horror movies from Spain and Italy), the music JOHN 3:16 (perhaps my favorite, and certainly the most hopeful, verse in the Bible) conjures up left me feeling slightly uneasy.  Disturbingly enjoyable.

  • Music

    Maryam Sirvan – Feast On My Body

    September 19, 2021 - By 

    We have to wait eight more days to hear the complete work, but given the two tracks Maryam Sirvan has made available, this will be worth the wait.  There were two artists which came to mind while listening to the tracks over and over – Tim Buckley at his most experimental, and ‘Dogs Blood Rising‘-era Current 93.  This should be seen as an electroacoustic album, and would compare very favorably to those artists like Bernard Parmegiani who could depict a hellish landscape in what some wrongly think is an academic medium.  This album is truly that weird, and it sounds…

  • Music

    Xerxes The Dark – Soundtrack To The Blind Owl

    September 8, 2021 - By 

    I feel a bit silly admitting this, but for some reason, I thought I had Soundtrack To The Blind Owl previously.  Iran’s foremost dark ambient composer Xerxes The Dark has been active for many years now, and is part of a pretty amazing scene developing in one of the least likely places on Earth.  Then again, with the Internet, I am expecting mind-blowing post-Industrial music to pop out of Togo or Burkina Faso eventually. To the music.  There are six tracks of ominous drone on this album.  This isn’t a typical drone or ambient album, however.  Xerxes expertly mixes in…

  • Music

    Controlled Bleeding – Songs From The Drain

    August 16, 2021 - By 

    Controlled Bleeding were one of the few bands who could glide from genre to genre easily.  They were comfortable working with EBM, harsh noise and experimental music, and would even appeal to some elements in the goth-rock crowd, but this particular album stood out as their magnum opus for me.  Paul Lemos, the one constant member of the band, sculpted beautifully minimalistic guitar playing which sounded almost like avant-progressive rock, while the late Joe Papa (of eternal memory) would let his vocals soar, especially on the track Red Stigmata.  My favorite album by a criminally underrated band. For a more…

  • Music

    SHAPER – More Remixes

    August 8, 2021 - By 

    Every now and then, a crunchy, loud, nearly abrasive (but pleasantly so) release is needed to shake me out of having too much calm in my day.  Our dear friends at Porto Alegre’s finest experimental label, The Church of Noisy Goat have released another heavy release full of rough post-Industrial sound remixed and chopped into oblivion.  It features friends and those I admire, such as Bode, SRVTR, Wilfried Hanrath and RAUPPWAR among others.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Gudelnaya Polyana – Solar Systo Togathering 2020

    July 30, 2021 - By 

    Good music and good new labels are easy to find if you apply yourself.  Zhelezobeton is not a new label, per sé, but a lot of the bands they work with will be new to listeners who don’t normally follow what is happening in the Russian sphere of influence. This compilation is three hours of live recordings made by a variety of artists, including, intriguingly, an ensemble of 12-year-old noisemakers.  The future, judging by the standards of this comp, is in secure hands over there. Also interesting is where this compilation was put together.  It was held on the experimental…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Unexplained Sounds Group – 7th Annual Report (Mid Year Edition)

    July 28, 2021 - By 

    Our dear friends at Unexplained Sounds Group release consistently good ambient, post-Industrial and noise music compilations.  As we have reached the mid-point of 2021, Raffaele Pezzella and company have released what they (rightly) deemed to be the best of the year to this point.  From their Bandcamp site: Unexplained Sounds Group 7th Annual Report (Mid Year Edition) is the Summer edition of USG’s Annual Report series that comes out every year in December, to showcase the best 2021 experimental and avant-garde music. It includes veteran composers alongside younger but equally talented musicians from all around the globe. All musicians here…