Robert Rich & Markus Reuter ‎– Lift A Feather To The Flood

For quite a few years now, Robert Rich's albums have ceased being of much interest to me, partly because they show a retreat of imagination and creativity, but mainly because something dreadful has happened. Rich's music has been unjustly filed under "new age" crap for many years, which was definitely not the case, but I'm afraid that his recent album do fit in that category, something really regretful. I always keep coming back to listen to his new albums but I'm put off very soon, and this happened especially with his new album The Biode. To my great surprise, though, this collaborative effort with Markus Reuter from last year is a change both from the latest albums, and from his previous joint work with Reuter, Eleven Questions, from 2007 which bordered on the new age/ethnic but also contained some better atmospheres. So, the album hereby contains no percussive/rhythmic/electronic beat crap, and is mainly focused on Reuter's dark atmospheres and feedbacks generated with a touch guitar and Rich's serene acoustic piano, without any synths. Rich seems to be very adept at the piano, creating mournful melodies and chords, and the overall ambient/piano idea sounds a lot like Tim Hecker's magnificent Dropped Pianos, albeit being less heavy and depressive. I hope that RR decides to move away from new age mediocrity. 2017 cd on Soundscape.

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Caleb Scofield RIP

I have just learned of the death of Caleb Scofield, bassist of Cave In, Old Man Gloom and Zozobra, in a gruesome motor accident in which he reportedly burned to death. Of all the musicians dying in recent years which have made big press, this one is the most tragic for me, basically because he was a young man with a family, and he hadn't lived life to the fullest in the way Lemmy, Fast Eddie Clarke, David Bowie or Leonard Cohen had. That and also the fact that his music meant so much to me as I grew up and discovered through his work with Cave In (and the experimental hardcore/metal scene of Boston, including Isis and Hydrahead Records) a whole bunch of bands that were inspired by Cave In's amazing and innovative metallic post hardcore. He was one of the most versatile and forward-thinking bass players to have come out of the hardcore punk genre, having been an integral part of masterpieces such as Jupiter, Until Your Heart Stops, Creative Eclipses and I must say I even loved the mellow Tides of Tomorrow and the radio-friendly Antenna, which is a taboo album for many. And to boot he was a member of the ultimate sludge metal band Old Man Glood, whose III: Zozobra, II: The Holy Rites and Christmas are three of my all time favorite albums. Caleb, you will be missed.

A few tracks in his honor:

The psychedelic hardcore madness of "Juggernaut" with the double vocals of Caleb and Stephen Brodsky


The intensity of "Big Riff" with Caleb growling at some point



Old Man Gloom's "Gift" with one of the most beautiful riffs ever



"Deserts In Your Eyes," one of the few songs in the "stoner" genre that I like

Jon Collin - Early Music tape

One of the best guitar players around at the moment, Jon Collin creates a link between psychedelic/acid folk and ambient music, improvising with every possible sound his acoustic guitar can create as well as playing melodies evoking images of lying under a starry sky in the desert, being something of a crossing between Derek Bailey, the ambient moments of Pat Metheny and David Gilmour in his acoustic/folky Ummagumma/Atom Heart Mother/ Meddle days. 2016 tape on Early Music.

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Andreas Brandal & Flesh Coffin

Andreas Brandal is a Norwegian noise and experimental music artist, who plays both by his own name and under the moniker Flesh Coffin. The With Friends Like These cd compilation by Gold Soundz label I have posted here features some tracks of both of his acts. In the cdr Send In The Vultures he presents caustic and varied noise with dynamics and reminiscent of a swarm of insects coming to devour a whole town. 2009 cdr on Scrape Tapes.

It is worth mentioning that on his own Bandcamp he offers a number of his releases for free download. A lot of that stuff there is of top quality and not limited to harsh noise, as he also experiments with tonal ambient/drone, live improvisational music. I especially recommend Locks And Caves, Breaking A Mirror, Collected and Disturbance.




Under the Flesh Coffin name he it plays rougher. While containing the experimental mood, with instances of improvisation and field recordings, this is closer to harsh noise with a much darker tone, and in the case of the Respiratory Failure cdr he is doing two tracks of top-notch harsh noise wall. 2009 cdr on Kwark Records.

Now he also runs a Flesh Coffin bandcamp site in which he once again offers stuff for free, and I would particularly suggest listening to Crawling In Chaos.

Since he has uploaded so much stuff for free, I think that he deserves some support for doing such a good noise job.



Andreas Brandal - Send In The Vultures download

Flesh Coffin - Respiratory Failure download
Andreas Brandal bandcamp
Flesh Coffin bandcamp

Leteo - Phantasm

Leteo is the alter-ego of Mexican black metal band Funereal Moon and membership includes one of the blog's favorites, Miguel Pérez of La Mancha Del Pecado and The Skull Mask. They play ritualistic horror ambient/noise inspired by the classics of the video nasties/giallo scene, and their sounds could have well been included in those films. They have released two more tapes, one on At War With False Noise, and one on Matching Head respectively, both of which are definitely worth checking out. 2016 cd on Christfucker Records.

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La Mancha Del Pecado - Blue Velvet: Volume One cdr

Very low-pitched dark drone wall and toxic guitat noise over samples of the classic film by Miguel Pérez. 2014 cdr on Altar of Waste.

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Fogh Depot - Fogh Depot

 Nu-jazz noir, with post rock leanings, cinematic moods, and noisy electronics. I would describe this as the wedding of Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and circa-Perdition City Ulver. 2015 cd on Denovali Records.

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Ashpa - Felelet tape

Slow-moving, oozy synth drone/noise by Hungarian Máté Károlyi-Kiss. This sounds quite similar to Hive Mind and especially its mastermind Greh Holger's Paralysis tape on Hanson Records. 2016 tape on Sound Holes.

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Diktat - Tour De Force tape

 I love the concept behind this group. They create electro-acoustic improvisations consisting of three people employing dictaphones and one person on double bass with a very avant-garde sound. The result is a paradise of forward-thinking musique concrete of the highest quality. Highly recommended. 2016 tape on Coherent States.

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raison d'être & Troum ‎– XIBIPIIO. In And Out Of Experience

When I started discovering noise, experimental, ambient and drone music as a teenager, raison d'être was one of the first projects I listened to via the Cold Meat Industry website. I discovered Troum some years later through a friend, and while the latter have remained a staple of my listening tastes, I don't think I've hear Peter Andersson's music in years. So I was pleases to hear that in 2015 they were to release a collaborative album called De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu. It turned out to be ok but not very memorable, and I think it was overshadowed by Troum proper's album of the same year, Acouasme.

But this new second joint effort is jaw-dropping. As its concept is based on some sort of metaphysical notions from an Amazon tribe, it has a very devotional and consecrating, ritual tone. While I can distinguish some songs which fall more on Troum's (the opening track with the levitating atmosphere accentuated by those amazing voices) or raison's ("The Machine Starts to Sing which has a slightly more post-industrial sound) style, the album truly sounds as something that goes beyond a simple sum of the two projects' style and there are moments I wouldn't expect from them, as the manic "Expulsion of the False Self," that is driven by  feverish ritual percussion or the almost jazzy dirge ambient of "Dreiklang Aus Äther" with the cello rising from the synth fog, and of course the unsettling throbbing bass guitar of "Hang'-E-Lah." There are also some Heresy-era Lustmord horn sounds on Ijä-Kyl that contrast perfectly with the dombra lute picking, creating a Tibetan/Central Asia mystical cavernous environment that is really enveloping. There is a third installation of this collaboration coming and let's hope that it will be even better than this. Congratulations Peter, Glit[S]ch and Baraka[H]! 2017 cd on Transgredient Records.

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Rahmane & dsic ‎– Occident Caravan Blues (2016, lf records)

 Humid improvised electronics on this live recording by Rahmane, the alter ego of Duncan Bruce, and dsic, very much like a mixture of both artists' styles, that is menacing dungeon avant-horror with organs and Coil-esque glitchy levitations. New Zealand guaranteed quality, so grab it. 2016 tape on lf records.

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Thossian Process - Impurities cdr

 

Psychedelic industrial noise, quite reminiscent of early TG, late-1990s/early-2000s Coil and early Current 93 with subtle middle-Eastern influences and a ritual/ nightmarish nocturnal feel. Good stuff. 2012 cdr on Striate Cortex.

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Sapir Whorf ‎– Phase 1: Preliminary Investigations

Eight short dense pulsating tracks built on analog synthesizers, loops and phasers made by JR Moore of Black Mountain Transmitter, reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle and Wolf Eyes. 2012 cdr on Striate Cortex.

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Ürlich Uhrlich ‎– Kosmotron 11 2 Xcdr

Throbbing sci-fi synth drone by this alias of Michael Clough, with nods to early electronic music. 2013 2 X 3" cdr on Striate Cortex.

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