Various - Demonology In Dante's Inferno

A continuation of the compilation Witchcraft & Black Magic in the United Kingdom that I just posted, here's another compilation of creative and non-derivative dark ambient focusing on Dante's Inferno, featuring (among others) a very deep drone/ambient track coming straight out of the golden 1990s-early 2000s of that sound done by Sonologyst (the brains behind the compilation and the label in general) and legendary Rapoon. Really nice to hear and relax in the dark of the summer under a freezing air conditions. 2020 cd on Eighth Tower Records.

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Various - Witchcraft & Black Magic In The United Kingdom

E-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t compilation revolving around devil worship in the UK including Rapoon, Satori, Grey Frequency and others. 2019 cd on Eighth Tower Records.

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Jazzfinger ‎– Mole & The Morning Dew

Majestic psychedelic drone improvisations. Less heaviness, more ecstatic and acoustic. Great stuff. 2009 LP on Spirit Of Orr.

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The Caretaker ‎– Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia

For a reader who requested it. Brooding subterranean dark ambient of high quality. 2006 cd on V/Vm Test Records and History Always Favours The Winners.

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Senyawa & Stephen O’Malley - Bima Sakti

SOMA travelled to Indonesia and met the doom/folk duo Senyawa. Yes, it's like Sunn O))) participates in an ancient ritual. 2020 LP on iDEAL Recordings.

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Million Brazilians - Wet Dry Jungala

Evil Dionysiac tribal music played by androids after the Covid holocaust. 2013 LP on Moon Glyph and Psychic Sounds.

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Million Brazilians - Red Rose And Obsidian

Free-jazz/ tribal/ post-punk/ fourth-world music fusion by this Maine-based ensemble that has connections with the legendary Smegma. Has an ancient and primitive threatening vibe that is really cool. Kinda Zamia Lehmanni-era SPK meets Miles Davis meets early Dead Can Dance. 2017 LP on Lullabies For Insomniacs.

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Merula - Sleep

Possibly the best release of 2020 so far, and one that fits the deathly future we are all awaiting this coming winter with the unforgiving onslaught of covid. This is a rendition of Tarquino Merula's religious anthem "Hor ch’e tempo di dormire." The first version is a tape recording of a soprano singing it with birds in the background, and the second one is an unnerving cover in English with a death-folk/dark ambient vibe. It's very depressing and I can't really listen to it throughout, but it's extremely highly recommended. 2020 tape on Men Scryfa.

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Womb - Womb cdr

Yet another project from Lee Stokoe's (Culver) black hole drone mind, this time collaborating with fellow Gateshead musician MP Wood. As usual, there's deep enveloping gas-emitting black hole drone close to Culver or Inseminoid. 2016 cdr on White Noise Words.

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Enahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou ‎– Éthiopiques, Vol. 21

An Ethiopian nun playing solo piano who released music to raise money for orphan children. This is one of the few records I've played to my partner that she likes, so I guess it must be good enough. She plays really passionate - yet mostly calming - gospel/blues/modal jazz tunes, which is shocking given that she's not African-American. Highly recommended stuff. 2006 cd on Buda Musique.

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Church Burner ‎– 金閣

Church Burner is another project Lee Stokoe is involved in, here with Victor Janos, but I'm not sure if he's present on this recording. The concept of this release is a Buddhist temple in Japan called The Temple Of the Golden Pavillion (is there a connection with Yukio Mishima's novel?) and the music is blackened drone, not unlike Sunn O)))'s Black One, complete with black metal rasps and noise hiss, but there's also a narrative quality in the riff progressions. 2018 cdr on White Noise Words.

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Vampyres - Moonphase

Some of the noisiest material made by Vampyres here, but of course always with the unsettling horror ambient twist. 2018 tape on Quagga Curious Sounds.

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Various ‎– A Chance Meeting With An Uncle Pt. 1 & 2

The last existing recording of Harm is this live performance of heavy guitar drone in Newcastle in 2007, along with an intense performance by Jazzfinger, as well as Chalfont, and Putrefier/Romance. 2007 2 X Cdr on Fuckin' Amateurs.

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Sial - Tari Pemusnah Kuasa

Absolutely savage hardcore punk/d-beat from Malaysia with an awesome female screamer. Southeast Asian hardcore punk are guaranteed butchery, so you should know. 2020 LP on La Vida En Us Mus.

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Various ‎– Mind The Gap #90

 


Varied compilation of mainly hypnagogic eletronics, but with great tracks by Bridget Hayden and Chris Abrahams. 2011 cdr on Gonzo Circus.

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Maurizio Bianchi, Land Use, Pharmakustik - Radioked

Yet another collaboration between MB and Land Use and Pharmakustik emitting sinister industrial drone substances. 2018 self-released CDR.

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Maurizio Bianchi ‎– Karbona Monooksido

Nice heavy synth ambient and field recordings focusing on toxic poisoning; the sounds are very fitting to the theme. 2018 CDr on BeTon.

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Current 93 ‎– If A Star Turns Into Ashes (bonus: Soft Black Stars)

New C93 12" continuing in the recent dark ambient direction of Invocations of Almost and The Stars on their Horsies, something which I really really like. 2020 12" on The Spheres.

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As a bonus, here's a remastered version of Soft Black Stars (among my five top C93 albums), containing all three versions of the track "Chewing on Shadows." Originally released in 1998 on Durtro, this is the 2018 double LP re-release on The Spheres.

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PS: I've read there's going to be a collection of all C93 releases which feature collaborations with Thomas Ligotti (whose short story "Soft Black Stars" inspired this album anyway); really looking forward to it, as I Have A Special Plan For This World is my favorite Current 93 release ever.

Harm ‎– The Dye From The Dresses Of The Drowned Women

 Those of you who closely read this blog might remember my post of a compilation called Doing the Right Thing Takes the Emptiness Away, which includes a track by Harm beautifully called "The Dye From The Dresses Of The Drowned Women." That was a shortened version of the title track of this tape, which was my musical holy grail for many years. Having already their other tapes, this was the only one missing and I managed to locate it with the aid of good reader tfn, who pointed me towards an owner willing to sell it. If you have heard their tape on Matching Head Everything Turns Out to Be A Triangle of Death (which I had to take down but you can contact me for a link), you will hear the same direction: very deep guitar drone, with a spacey and industrial flavor at moments, while the title track is not unlike Culver in its black-hole, light devouring atmosphere.

2006 self-released tape.

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1727 & Möbius - Burning The Black Candles

The new release of Möbius is a collaboration with 1727, a Gateshead project of Esmé Louise Newman (also of Penance Stare), and the droning noise of 1727 accentuates the ritual chants of Möbius perfectly and makes them even scarier. 2020 tape on Panurus Productions.

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Various ‎– A Short Illness From Which He Never Recovered

Final release of Blackest Ever Black, featuring an unbelievably grieving dirge by Bridget Hayden, and a menacing space/kosmische track by Brainman among others. 2019 lp.

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

The outtakes of an unsurpassable album. 2020 mp3 release on Bandcamp.

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Bridget Hayden - Soil And Song

 

The grimmest of all blues. 2019 tape as part of a zine dedicated to the memory of Karen Dalton by the feminist/queer Synchronise Witches Press.

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1000schoen - Moune

1000schoen is the project of Helge Siehl, member of Maeror Tri. This is a great psych-drone album with slight kosmische influences, with the second, title track, being an absolute epic. 2010 cd on Nitkie.

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