Bridget Hayden - Pure Touch Only From Now On, They Said So LP

Wow, just fucking wow. Bridget Hayden, violin player of Vibracathedral Orchestra, has created what might arguably be the best album of 2018. Employing mainly electric guitars and her mournful voice, she delivers a number of extremely lo-fi but highly evocative tracks full of sorrow and despair, making a very original form of noise blues. The most pertinent comparison would be Grouper, in that they both create a very ghost-like, dense atmosphere with spectral vocals and muffled sound, but this is more on the electric side. For some reason it also brings to my mind Burzum's Filosofem, in its very idiosyncratic low production, greenish arpeggios, and the layers of sorrowful fuzz oozing from everywhere. Don't just download this, go and buy the actual vinyl from Early Music, and then go to her bandcamp and listen to some more awesomeness.

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The Embassadors ‎– Live At Cologne Philharmonic Hall

Here's a live performance of The Embassadors recorded in 2007 at The Cologne Philharmonic that was once posted online. I don't remember where I found it, nor can I locate on the web so there you go. Don't expect any dub here, only slow, moody, late-night jazz accompanied by strings. Very relaxing, ideal for some good ol' wine before going to bed. 2009 self-released mp3-only material.

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The Embassadors ‎– Coptic Dub cd

Second (and sadly, last) album by The Embassadors, this time completely instrumental, without Michel Ongaru. The atmosphere is jazzier, even calmer than on Healing The Music, with more psychedelic dub effects and a jam mood, but less African/world influences. At some point I think I can hear a hang instrument (on "Desdemona Breathes") and this makes for a nice alternative to Bohren as night-time driving music. Not many activities are better than this anyway, so you understand that this is good music. 2009 cd on Nonplace.

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The Embassadors Feat. Michel Ongaru ‎– Healing The Music cd

German-based group headed by saxophonist Hayden Chisholm collaborates with Kenyan baritone singer Michel Ongaru creating a landscape of jazz, dub, gospel, and African musical influences and a pop sensibility. There's a nice laidback warm afternoon feeling to this; imagine them as the dub and a little bit happier little cousin of Bohren & Der Club of Gore. 2007 cd on Nonplace.

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La Mancha Del Pecado / Xazzaz ‎– La Fetichista split tape

Yet another split between La Mancha Del Pecado and Xazzaz. Miguel Pérez offers two dense subterranean and Lovecraftian harsh drone/noise invocations, while Mike Simpson tortures his guitar and amp once more with layers of swarming feedback and disharmonics close to Skullflower's best. 2013 tape on Agorafobia Tapes and Molotov.

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Stuart Chalmers & Yol - Discarded Bag Epiphanies tape

Maniacal incomprehensible skronk mayhem on this collaboration between the super-talented Stuart Chalmers on tape loops and tortured swarmandal and Yol on a completely fucked-up stream-of-consciousness vocal performance full of anxiety and chaos. 2018 tape on Beartown.

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Current 93 - The Stars On Their Horsies cd

As David Tibet says, this is something like a companion album to his/their new album The Light Is Leaving Us All. Gotta admit, I still haven't heard that one, so I'll probably need to listen to both and compare/relate them. The Stars On Their Horsies is a great return to form for C93, at least for me, since I found The Moons At Your Door unbearable (first Current 93 album in ages not to appeal to me) and this year's collaboration with Zu Mirror Emperor a complete snorefest. TSOTH is a dream/nightmare soundscape going into different moods, from the ghostly to the ethereal and from the agonizing to the nostalgic. It's a single 39-minute track that sounds quite different from most of C93/Tibet's work; there are few traces of neofolk sounds, nor much balladry. Noise has a prominent role here, as well as more orchestral/classical pieces creating a masterpiece of horror and uncertainty. One of the most accomplished C93 releases ever. 2018 cd on The Spheres

PS. I read that the lp version is different. Let's hope that sb will be kind enough to share that too.

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