• Music

    Linnea Hjertén – Nio Systrar

    January 29, 2024 - By 

    From Linnea Hjertén’s Bandcamp site: “Born from the synthesis of Swedish folk melodies and ritual ambient, Linnea Hjertén’s debut album “Nio systrar” (‘Nine sisters’) is a wordless invocation of primordial energy – a psychoacoustic gateway to altered states of consciousness. Each of the nine tracks brings us deeper into the cycle of spiritual death and rebirth, stripping away the old to make way for the new. With a musical maturity far beyond her years, Hjertén channels the ethereal beauty of Dead Can Dance, the spellbinding chants of Kari Rueslåtten, and the minimalist Nordic atmosphere of Forndom. […] With an expansive…

  • Music

    My Brother The Wind – Once There Was A Time When Time And Space Were One

    September 12, 2023 - By 

    This post is dedicated to my dear brother in music, Shane Beck, because he turned me on to this magnificent band.  My Brother The Wind is something of a supergroup comprising of Nicklas Barker of Anekdoten, Makajodama’s Mathias Danielsson, and Magnolia’s Ronny Eriksson & Tomas Eriksson.  The music is a bit less metal-influenced, and more in the tradition of Swedish progressive and psychedelic rock.  It’s dark, mellow, and if you’re more into Pink Floyd’s deeper psychedelic excursions (not the famous stuff, but the weirder), you’re going to appreciate these guys.

  • Music

    From the Mouth of the Sun – Valley of the Hummingbirds

    August 11, 2023 - By 

    Lost Tribe Sound has another release featured this week!  This one pairs two leading composers, Dag Rosenqvist & Aaron Martin, working together creating a filmic masterpiece.  The music is tense, influenced by everything from classical music to ethereal.  From the press release: “American and Swedish composers Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist came together in 2011 under the name FROM THE MOUTH OF THE SUN. Their first album Woven Tide was released by Experimedia in 2012 and they returned in 2015 for their second album Into the Well. In 2016, three pieces from Woven Tide played an integral role in David…

  • Music

    Various Artists – GRAMMOFON​-​MISSIONEN – A Selection of Swedish Jesus Music 1967​-​1982

    July 15, 2023 - By 

    As a practicing Eastern Orthodox Christian, this Jesus music might be a subject I know a little something about, though my normal preference is more Byzantine, Arabic or Slavonic and dates back to at least the 5th Century rather than the 20th.  Still, give mad respect to Subliminal Sounds for digging up all these odd Christian psychedelic gems and putting them into one stunning collection. For those with a bit more coin to spend, there is a book/magazine package that runs for around US$70, and it looks to be well worth it.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Meticulous Midgets 2023

    May 25, 2023 - By 

    Our beloved friends at Russia’s finest indie music magazine, Meticulous Midgets, has released their annual compilation of weird experimental, lo-fi and avant-garde music. Featured artists include Russia’s own Assembly of Honey, the Italian ambient sound sculptor Marco Lucchi and Latvia’s Ш​у​м​и​л​о​в Б​о​р (Shumilov Bor) among a host of talent worldwide.

  • Music

    noemienours – The Dry Path

    July 18, 2022 - By 

    It’s hard for me to make out the influences of this album, but I can say with certainty that listening to this rather weird album was a pleasure.  From noemienours’ Bandcamp site: ““The Dry Path”, noemienours’ 5th LP, developed around a Gobi Bear narrative of barren edge conditions as an access point to supra-natural realities, is definitely a turning point in the noemienours discography, notably because of its introduction of harpsichord in the noemienours instrumentarium, but also because of its recourse to a widened approach of its lo-fi musical approach, by creating a new musical form somewhere between Swedish post-black…

  • Music

    Digre – The Way of a Pilgrim

    April 24, 2022 - By 

    Minimal synths, plinking and plonking keyboard, a gothic air, a mention of the Orthodox work The Way Of The Pilgrim, and dedicated to the memory of St. Olav the Holy Martyr-King – that was enough to perk my interest in the band Digre. The notes on their Bandcamp site makes them sound like fascinating people doing an interesting project and will be shared on the holiest of days in the Orthodox calendar.  May your day be calm and peaceful.

  • Music

    Fontän – Svett / Bekçi

    November 2, 2021 - By 

    Sweden’s Höga Nord Rekords always produces some from psychedelic rock, but this 7-inch singe from Fontän is a kraut-y scorcher. Fontän hail from Gothenburg, the home of the label, and they produce two solid slabs of fine psychedelic fuzz with a gently grooving drum beat, dubby bass, loads of echo and electronic effects, and some impressively clean production for the genre.  The single will be out on November 26, 2021.

  • Music

    Taphephobia & IDFT – Kandu

    October 24, 2021 - By 

    For the Halloween season, our friends at Reverse Alignment Records (now run by the Unexplained Sounds Group Empire) out of Sweden and Italy have released an album which has roughly the same spirit as such post-Industrial/dark ambient musicians as Lustmord or Steve Roach.  Taphephobia is the brainchild of Norwegian composer Ketil Søraker, and on this album he is joined by the Iranian sound designer Behnoud, working on this album as IDFT. The tones one this album are long, sweeping, and as bleak as black water pouring out of a nightmare.  Perfect for the season.

  • Music

    Various Artists – New State Of Flux

    July 7, 2021 - By 

    The second release from Raffaele Pezzella’s Unexplained Sounds Group’s latest acquisition, the magnificently dark Reverse Alignment record label. This is a different affair from yesterday’s compilation, which was more extreme in sound.  New State of Flux doesn’t have the same reach in terms of geography, but it covers music which is more focused, more intense, and gives a feeling of being part of a film-noir soundtrack.  Of particular interest to me was the piece done by Vongoiva called Palovankka, which you can hear below. Well done, as always.