The legendary goth-rock band And Also The Trees have been around since 1979, and are still recording elegant post-punk music that is richly produced with acoustic instruments, drones and electronics. Fine listening.
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Well done, Found Object! The tracks on this album remind me of some of best synth-pop bands I grew up with in the 1980s. Though Tangerine Dream is referenced as an influence, I hear something different – Kraftwerk, Blancmange, a more instrumental Depeche Mode or Soft Cell seem to be popping up as influences as I listen through. Really, a joyful album.
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This collaboration between Los Angeles’ The Gaslamp Killer and Britain’s funkiest band, The Heliocentrics, is one of those lucky finds you stumble into every now and then, and I say this as someone who isn’t too big a fan of hip-hop. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “The stars would align a few years later, as The Heliocentrics would go on to tour with the GLK Experience as his backing band. This laid the groundwork for a monumental collaboration that was recorded at Quartermass Sound Lab, and would take many years to complete. The resulting album is a testament to the…
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The Land of Yrx are (were?) a charmingly weird band staffed by members of Audion, perhaps the most important magazine of my youth. The Freeman brothers would wax on about albums I wouldn’t have the chance to hear in full until I was in my 20s working at a record shop, but their description of said albums always piqued my interest. The most curious releases were ones released by friends. The Land of Yrx was mentioned a few times, and this was the first time I had the pleasure of actually hearing one of their albums in full. This one…
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The legendary Audion Magazine has a new (well, new to Bandcamp) edition out, and included with it is about 1 1/2 gigabytes of tracks from albums reviewed within. They were my first doorway to progressive rock, and I am forever indebted to them.
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Words fail to describe the beauty of this release, even if it is an acidic beauty. Harae are a band run by beloved friends, and both innovative musicians in their own right. Combined, however, they have made magic, especially if you like a harsh wall of noise cascading over you like molten steel in an industrial factory. The vocals are frightening, which works seamlessly with the music. It’s a harsh but rewarding listen. I cannot wait to hear more from them! For those of you who prefer a hard copy of the release, you can order a mini-CDR edition from…
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The legendary Lustmord has a new album which releases on March 15, 2024. Judging by the one track currently available to sample, this will be a creepy, heavy album with all the horror of watching a Bosch painting melt while on acid. This will be that deep.
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Prepare yourselves for January 19, ten days from now! The legendary Scanner (Robin Rimbaud in real life) has a new album out, “…a tribute to the early 1960s library music culture, applying crude techniques of electronic composition, using a mix of hardware and software. It explores a kind of musique concrète, electroacoustic character, in an otherworldly cinematic fashion.” This will be a departure from his more experimental work, and should be a joy to listen to. It will be released on Alltagsmusik, “a new label to release Scanner albums.”
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Castles In Space are a label whom I just stumbled into over the past few days, and I’m liking what I’m hearing from them a lot. This particular piece of hauntology comes from Jonathan Sharp, a composer who is, like me, a child of the 70’s. He split his time between Cumbria and London, and the music reflects his memories of those years long gone by.
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Never, ever did I expect this artifact of Beat weirdness, cut-ups and free improv to get reissued, but then again, how many record labels are as brave in their choices as Wewantsounds is? From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Brion Gysin’s cult avant funk album produced by Ramuntcho Matta in the early 80’s. The hugely influential Gysin who, with his friend William Burroughs, was revered by the likes of David Bowie, Brian Jones, Laurie Anderson, Genesis P-Orridge, is accompanied here by Matta – on his return from a two-year spell in New York – and French…