Charlie Ulyatt - Off Balance

Second (I think) release of of free cello improvisations by Charlie Ulyatt, whose work has been covered before here); fans of this style are going to be delighted at his new offering, in which he also appears to be making somewhat more "musical" statements aside the noisy take a-la Roof or Diktat; on "Nailed The Rooms Up" we can hear some really nice harmonics, the drone on "Hear Them Wearing Out" has an almost classical/Stars Of The Lid take, "From A Certain Distance" features a percussive side at the beginning that could be looped in a nice house music track and continues with wailing cello sounds that resemble a sore throated cornet or something, and in "A Handful of Salt" Charlie makes the cello sound like chewed-up cassette tape. An exquisite release by a very creative artist; I think I've mentioned in one of my TQ posts that the physical release of this comes at a discount for TQ subscribers, while the digital version comes for free at Charlie's bandcamp page. Great job!

TQ #15 & #16 & Ivan The Tolerable sampler cd & various links

The two most recent issues of TQ have been among my favorite ones; after a few issues having attained a more retrospective approach on John Peel, kraut rock and TQ's compilation, these two are back packed with interviews and reviews of new underground music that I've been psyched to discover.

#15 sets off with a review of Craig Johnson, head of Invisible City Records and guy behind Death In Scarsdale. ICR from Gateshead is one of the best drone/noise labels around, having released amazing tapes by Witchblood, Culver, Vampyres, Liminal Haze, Posset, Skull Mask, Stuart Chalmers, and many others, and Death In Scarsdale is an exciting new-ish drone project added to the hotbed of drone activities that are so eminent in Gateshead. I've just seen that Depletion has released a new tape on it and I'm listeing to it right now, and it sounds so good.

A second very enlightening interview/feature is that of Luxury Bucket label, whose owner Lewis Duffy also plays as Shit Creek. Thanks to this feature I discovered Ivonne Van Cleef, a psychedelic western/cabaret/twang/surf solo playing woman from California, who has consistently released a number of awesome tapes that need a lot of attention, plus some good stuff by Shit Creek, mainly this live recording based around violin loops that blew my mind and I had on repeat for several days straight.

There's also an interview with weirdo experimental electronic project Ivan The Tolerable, combined with a "best of" cd containing 22 songs of his. Ivan The Tolerable is a versatile music project focusing mainly on synth-based psychedelic compositions that doesn't sound too far away from mid-80s to mid-90s Coil, but doesn't shy away from featuring more rock-sounding or weirdo synth-pop tunes. I've uploaded the cd for you and you can listen to it here.



Current issue #16 came with two cds; the first is Velvet Teeth by Chlorine, which features experimental electronics ranging from hypnagogic mystery to chewed-up techno, and I recommend listening; the other is Halo Dragonfly's Ticking Clock, which features sample and dictaphone manipulations and throat splurge similar to Posset and Yol; the person/group is inclined to banging stuff like Posset does, and I think that this is a great likening for a new artist. Xqui is being interviewed, talking about his radical recording techniques (check out his recent releases Heterogeneous and Starchild), along with Liquid Library label from Bristol, which had released an exciting tape by Bristol local improvised jazz punk outfit Iceman Furniss that I really loved, plus a sleep-compelling drone epic by Zero Gravity Tea Ceremony, Vorre. But the most revealing thing in this issue was the short review of A-Sun Amissa's Ceremony In the Stillness, a band I knew nothing of which plays something like the correct rock version of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore (fuck Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble), that is massive, towering, monumental drone jazz rock, and now I need to look them up closely. Plus, there's a review of Charlie Ulyatt's forthcoming cello album, about which TQ subscribers are offered a discount. Charlie has been covered on this blog, so you know he's good.

Visit TQ's blog for more info and the necessary subscriptions.

TQ Zine 10 & 11 / Charlie Ulyatt - Inaudible Gestures

With each issue TQ Zine gets better and better and gradually fills up adequately the slumber of Radio Free Midwich, which we still invoke to wake up when the stars are right. The last few issues have seen a shift into high gears, with offering of cdrs to subscribers and extremely interesting interviews, which seem to get even better with the oncoming issues that will celebrate a year since the first light of day.

#10 comes with a cdr sampler of the superb Linear Obsessional label, featuring released, as well as exclusive, tracks from the label's 2017 output, which has now been posted as non-subscriber earcandy. Everything sounds great, but I especially dig the tracks by Kassia Flux (also reviewed and interviewed in issue 11), Steven Ball, Far Rainbow, as well as Lost Robots. The latter band is given an extensive feature in said issue to mark their recording return after nine years with the album Arms in which they offer a stunning combination of kraut rock, This Heat-style madness and the sound of Canterbury. Also included, aside from expected reviews, is a free download coupon for Nat Lyon's nice Slant Front Desk (expect dark pop with a hint of western), and the highlight, which is the first part of an interview with Jamie Stewart, aka harsh noise artist Wrest, co-founder of the important NE England label Fuckin' Amateurs, and member of Satanhartalt and Oppenheimer, whose works have been covered here. In this interview he talks extensively about the town of Blyth and noise and it's a great read.

I've just received #11 in the mail, and it's a fantastic job. Aside from the second part of Jamie's interview, where he recounts the founding and course of Fuckin' Amateurs, followed by a list of notable Fuckin' Amateurs releases, as well as an extensive feature of Charlie Ulyatt's music, consisting of two reviews, an interview and a free cdr of his latest release, Inaudible Gestures.

Charlie Ulyatt seems to be a relative newcomer to the experimental underground, with his earliest outings dating from 2016. In his interview he states that he drew large inspiration from Earth/Dylan Carlson, which is reason enough to give his music a chance. He also cites Dean McPhee and John Fahey, though I would also point to Slint and late Talk Talk as referential points to his guitar playing. On his first release, Dead Birds, there is indeed a lot of leaning on Earth's reform material, especially Hex, as well as Carlson's solo material. Shifting is a much more experimental affair, offering a string of prepared guitar/e-bow offerings, creating an electric/drone counterpart to Jon Collin's guitar experiments. On his most recent release, Inaudible Gestures, (which is as I said offered free to TQ subscribers) he abandons the guitar for a molestation of the cello (which he says has recently started taking lessons on) creating highly entertaining avant-drone/free-jazz, with referential points possibly being Roof, Revolutionary Ensemble, and modern-day masters Diktat.

I wanna thank TQ for introducing me to Charlie, whose music can be found on Bandcamp, is offered for free, and deserves financial support. TQ in itself deserves our support and subscriptions for the great work that must continue, so head over to the blog and get in touch!