Super Sale 2024
The Mineral Victim
After a lengthy silence, Chora’s Ben Nash came back recently with an album made entirely on his computer, and now here’s another one which seems to have been made with a combination of computer and guitar, carving out slow melodic soundscapes with glassy, patient drones, disembodied voices and a whole variety of tones which swell and recede for quite an ominous, organic-sounding psychedelic thrum.There are two lengthy pieces on here, on the first side there’s ‘From 80 Fathoms’, which is quite sp…
Valedictorian / Exoskeleton
Valedictorian/Exoskeleton, Dan Friel’s first release for Thrill Jockey, contains two brand new songs, as well as the first ever remixes of his music. “Valedictorian” opens the EP with a burst of adreneline, pure pop filtered through a layer of noise. “Exoskeleton” is more mysterious, with bursts of Friel’s overdriven synths coming in and out of focus over a steady pulse. The first remix is a dancefloor ready take on “Exoskeleton” courtesy of Moss of Aura, the solo project of Gerrit Welmers, one …
Joining the queue to become one of those ordinary ghosts
Koboku Senju, meaning something like a Selection of Dead Trees', is the quintet of Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Martin Taxt, Eivind Lønning, and Espen Reinertsen. Akiyama and Nakamura, on guitar and no input mixing board respectively, have long been two of the leading improvisers from the Tokyo scene, and Lønning, Reinertsen and Taxt, on trumpet, saxophone and tuba respectively, are three young and active improvisers from Norway with an increasing reputation for their adventurous yet matu…
Mf
Last year, Bill Orcutt of 90s gnarly Miami noise group Harry Pussy blasted the bejesus out of blues with a beat-up guitar and blew us all away with How The Thing Sings to get a spot on our favorites of 2011. Now, Orcutt’s buddy Mark Feehan, who frequently played spastic guitar for Harry Pussy, is releasing his first solo record, MF, with old Harry Pussy promoters Siltbreeze Records. Feehan’s independent work is somewhat similar to Orcutt’s acoustic binges of raw Americana, but it echoes louder h…
Les Conversions
Since I’m a self-professed Decimus fan I get the special treat of reviewing both of his Kelippah label’s offerings today. First was the confrontational creepscapes of his collab LP with Tom Carter, and now I’ve got this one by Les Conversions, which is either a supergroup or a stripped down version of NNCK depending on how you look at it. Either way it’s an impressive trio of No-Neckers Pat Murano (Decimus himself), Dave Shuford (D Charles Speer, Rhyton) and Jason Meagher (Coach Fingers, Black D…
Translations 01
Material Study 01 (Sand) is a recording from a stereo hydrophone buried under the sand in a lake. Standing on top of the transducer, holding the MiniDisc recorder in my hand, and monitoring the feed with a pair of in-ear earphones, I slowly shifted my weight and the sand beneath my feet. My younger brother was on the shore throwing firecrackers into the water; this was an Ôaccidental' aspect of the recording. Material Study 02 (Cello and jacket) is made from a cello as it is dropped onto a…
Enklav
From the ashes of Attestupa a new project from Dan Johansson(Sewer Election, Dog Holocaust, Heinz Hopf), Viktor Ottosson(Blodvite, Orquere). A new project that is far from what they dod before, they lose their dark and black atmosphere, and it is closer to the early Vivenza's sound with dedication but incredible personality. The result is two tracks where there is …
Ben Nash / Magic Lantern
2010 release. This one's been brewing at BR HQ for quite sometime, due to come out long ago, this beaut of a split is finally seeing light of day. A mutual respect from these two camps brought about what is surely one of this years most exciting releases in the field of the split vinyl LP. Ben Nash returns after over a year's absence from releasing any solo work, now busy as a full time member of the excellent Chora, we may all be in for a long wait for anymore solo action after this release... …
Death Pod
Last copies, special offer...Our very first one sided LP is a bizarre trip from Michael Curtis Hilde's Mountainhood project. This one follows on from the two LPs on Time Lag's Red Records label a few months back which vanished super fast, as well as other releases on Reverb Worships and Yod. Total outsider midnight missions into weirdness... strange strings twang and rattle into the darkness, a very strange experience spread across one side of black wax.
Foam Fangs
West Coast synth guru Jonas Reinhardt (aka Jesse Reiner) makes his 100% Silk debut with 'Foam Fangs', which sees the usually downtempo producer pushing things up a couple of notches. The cosmic Jarre-esque synthesizer washes are still present, but are bolstered with chest-punching 4/4 rhythms and rubbery looping sequences straight out of the 1987 house rulebook. Somehow this gives the EP the glow of Detroit-era pioneer Juan Atkins and muddles it with the Italo-laced fuzz of Johnny Jewel. …
Pink Keys
Seemingly back from the brink, Olde English Spelling Bee makes a very welcome return with a shocking, amazing new album from Alice Cohen. Having only just copped her 'Wild Vines Tenement Shrines' album released in february, we're still digesting her brand new, synth-lush and colourful Pop sound, but the immediate response is all thumbs up. Like that last LP, she's assisted by the ever-wonderful Autre Ne Veut, this time contributing vocals to one track, alongside percussion from Swans/Smog…
Msg rcvd
On msg rcvd, Neptune employ an array of new techniques and methodologies to explore indeterminacy and difficult phenomena such as feedback. Moving away from guitar feedback, this record features amplified drum feedback as well as the introduction of two new ‘feedback-organ’ machines. Developing their career-long interest in arranging and deploying found sounds, Neptune continues to use their sonically peculiar guitars built from pieces of found metal, but add to this new devices to pick and ar…
Nilmonic Process
Phaserprone head honchos Jonas Asher and Jochen Hartmann return with a new collaborative effort as NIL, a synth-patch noise project destined to undermine any and all genres experimental sound. Previously as UW OWL and especially on their untouchable New Birth of Old Death tape, Asher and Hartmann created a decrepit sequence of nihilist voids featuring post-apocalyptic industrial noise with abandoned/discarded electronics. It’s easily one of the most bizarre and unknown documents ever recorded. I…
Live In The House Of God
Recorded in an empty, deconsacrated church sometime in summer 2003, this LP is another installment in an on-going series of records documenting the weird life of Jennifer Gentle in the foggy plains of Northern Italy. Basically the sound of JG's mainman Marco Fasolo going wild with an old, battered electronic piano and a bunch of sound effects, Live at the House of God is a side-long improvisation sharing the same spirit of those 20-minutes keyboard freak-outs Sun Ra used to record in the late Si…
Water's Edge
Future Shuttle is a Greenpoint, NYC-based duo (sometimes trio) comprised of Jessa Farkas and Camilla Padgitt-Coles. Prior to the group’s early 2009 conception, the pair studied electronic music at Oberlin College alongside their friends in Blondes and Teengirl Fantasy. Blondes member Sam Haar also produced the Water’s Edge EP, the group’s first officially released recording. In Future Shuttle’s beautifully dense brew of psychedelic reprogramming, Tangerine Dream meets the KLF at the UFO Club, an…
Point Of Arrival
Latest release on the excellent Forced Nostalgia imprint, a vinyl edition of a super-rare 1986 tape by sound designer at Oberheim Electronics, Loren Nerell. 500 copies only* Forced Nostalgia make their first physical impression of 2012 with a vinyl edition of a mystical 1986 tape by gamelan enthusiast and Berlin school composer Loren Nerell. A contemporary of Steve Roach and collaborator with Steve Reich, Kronos Quartet, Paul Haslinger and L. Subramaniam, Nerell has a richly varied musical backg…
Parthenon
Spectrum Spools is pleased to release the debut album by veteran musician Toko Yasuda's Plvs Vltra project. Toko has been working for years already in established pop acts such as Enon, Blonde Redhead and now touring with St. Vincent handling synthesizer duties for live events. In all her years of songcraft there have been sparse, if any solo output, until now. Parthenon is a sugar-sweet album of catchy pop songs, crafted with expert precision and outstanding composition logic. Everything is loc…
Mother Rhythm Earth Memory
"NNF debut (after an EP on 100% SILK) by this Iowa City electronic maximalist. M.R.E.M. is the first purely solo Cuticle release, after working with a series of part-time collaborators, and it's freed him to let loose his wildest and weirdest impulses."
Oh Lordy Me! (My Heart Is Wandering Again)
250 copies. It's been quite some time since a full length solo Ben Nash release, and it's finally here, and somewhat different from his more psychedelic folk drones he showcased way back on 'The Seventh Goodbye'. Probably best left for Ben to explain this one for you... "I recorded this new full-length record during downtime from playing with Chora and after a long break from recording any solo music. Having become somewhat disillusioned with the process of overdubbing conventional “physical” in…
We're In Heaven
Vinyl debut by this Viennese rave abstractionist boils down pulsing LED beats and deep synth strobe FX into a cavernous laser-streaked fog. In blinding Alex Grey-style acid-body artwork by Mr. Cruise Family himself