ULAAN KHOL
As Ulaan Khol, Steven R. Smith has planned a maximalist three-part suite, 'Ceremony.' In the first installment of the trilogy, I, the tone is overwhelming bleak as the pieces (all untitled) caterwaul, moan and crumble. Dripping with basement doom, Ulaan Khol's cosmic histrionics emanate with the raw essence of White Light/White Heat jettisoned by Harmonia's amorphous drifts.
As Ulaan Khol, Steven R. Smith has planned a maximalist three-part suite, 'Ceremony.' In the first installment of the trilogy, I, the tone is overwhelming bleak as the pieces (all untitled) caterwaul, moan and crumble. Dripping with basement doom, Ulaan Khol's cosmic histrionics emanate with the raw essence of White Light/White Heat jettisoned by Harmonia's amorphous drifts.
La Catacomb
La Catacomb, purloined from a great abyss of uncertainty, is finally among us. The fourth album proper from Steven R. Smith’s blisteringly psychedelic “power trio” guise, La Catacomb languished for a few years awaiting release from this label & that before landing at Soft Abuse HQ. La Catacomb is the perfect follow-up to Ulaan Khol’s Ceremony trilogy, offering more smoulder than flame, more rumination than provocation. Smith's meticulously-crafted heavy drones & dirges have rarely sound…
III
III is as immediate as a truck with failed brakes crashing through your living room wall. The third and final installment of a trilogy entitled Ceremony, its opening moments rage and wail, with distorted guitars pulling out in front of the drums like hellhounds that have slipped their master's leash. But this isn't a mono-dimensional freak-out. Smith paces himself, pulling back into brooding drones and pensive picking before lashing out once more. As befits a journey that's taken three di…
II
All heavy with warmth & mystery, Ulaan Khol returns with another round of vertical incantations aimed at the heavens. As Ulaan Khol, STEVEN R. SMITH (Hala Strana, Thuja, Mirza) creates dense tapestries that revel in the eternal & infinite. The bursts of tones & grip on formal structures can compare to the best of Hototogisu or Handful of Dust, though filtered through an ample dose of Ash Ra Tempel. Supreme while discreet, these songs carry a sense of unnerving calm & optimistic gloom, often with…
I
Steven R. Smith has had a hand in creating some of the most compelling & singular instrumental psychedelic music of the past ten years. As Ulaan Khol, Smith digs in deep with a palette of drums/guitar/organ to craft a monolithic & expansive freeform, feedback-heavy atmospheric din that bonds the disparate realms of Fushitsusha & High Rise with Popul Vuh & Flying Saucer Attack. Smith has planned a maximalist three-part suite, Ceremony. In this first installment of the trilogy, the tone is overwhe…