Here's my latest list of experimental noise recommendations. My words hardly do these albums justice. Just listen to them and support these great independent artists and record labels...
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Mathoms -The Woe Trumpets (2022)
GENRE : sound art, experimental, noise, dark ambient, electronica
RECORD LABEL : Decaying Spheres
Mathoms is Mathew Tomkinson - a multidisciplinary sound artist based in Vancouver, and this is his extraordinary debut album. It's an audiovisual exploration of the hidden quiet subtexts found within the grim metaphor of apocalypse. Beginning as a critical study of the cataclysmic and dystopian soundscapes found within the golden era of disaster cinema (the 1970s, of course), it naturally morphed into something a lot more personal and frightening once the pandemic hit...
This album conjures up terrifying images of falling ash, slow-motion train wrecks, burning buildings, rising seas and other forms of chaos and calamity. It's a dark sprawling sonic exploration of end times. The nightmarish atmosphere of this album is made up of oppressive analogue electronics, desolate textures, disturbing cinematic impact hits, ominous Carpenter-esque synthscapes, calm mournful drones, shimmering ambience that quavers like atmospheric vibrations, abstract field recordings, swells of explosive white noise, along with some bits of organic instrumentation... constantly bouncing back and forth between dark unsettling stillness and abrupt climaxes.
But rather than wallowing in gloom and despair - this album exists as a reality check and an awakening. It focuses on the idea of a better world. It's a beautiful work of art, and a joyous listening experience. Another great release from Decaying Spheres.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Vongoiva - Jatuli Observatory (2022)
GENRE : dark ambient, sound art, drone, experimental, modern classical
RECORD LABEL : Flaming Pines
This is a dramatic and stunning merging of experimental visual/sound art and drone music that was recorded on a tiny Finnish island called Jurmo (which has a population of only a dozen people) during a 5-day long winter storm.
Inspired by Finnish folk tales, the audiovisual duo of Heikki Lindgren and Ville Westerlund have created an album of dark frightening oceanic ambient soundscapes and violent whirlwinds of hypnotic noise, shot through with some haunting viking (Jouhikko) violin.
This is deeply immersive patient listening. The collective sounds are both archaic and new - water trickling and gurgling over rocks, stormy winds battering barren coastlines, aqueous stones being tossed about and slammed against each other, sweet birdsong and other cold desolate island field recordings... all against a shadowy musical backdrop of rich cinematic drones, minimalistic electronica and howling tortured violins. This is a dark tempestuous Nordic treat for the senses. Great stuff.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Amy Cutler - Gutter (2021)
GENRE : experimental, electronica, field recordings, abstract, soundscapes
RECORD LABEL : Misophonia Records
Dr Amy Cutler is an experimental geographer, musician and filmmaker who makes B-movies for humans and non-humans alike based on fieldwork.
This is her second album. It's a strange and perplexing journey through dense intricate cobwebs of deranged sound. At times playful, at times morose, at times utterly freakish and demented... it's an intriguing audio swampland and an emotional hotpot.
Written and recorded during the 2020 lockdown isolation, Cutler uses a variety of conventional (guitars, electronics) and unconventional (VHS, a windscreen wiper!) sounds to aurally portray the madness and loneliness of the world that's come to an abrupt standstill. This is an artist particularly adept at using found sounds to create such rich interesting atmospheres and warped musical textures. Highly recommended if you're seeking a unique and awesome ambient listening experience.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Clay Monke - Pour l'amour Des Insectes (2022)
GENRE : ambient, sound art, field recordings, glitch
RECORD LABEL : Vivarium Recordings
I had decided that I was going to like this album before I had even heard it, and it certainly did not disappoint! It's predominantly an album of field recordings - a love letter to the insect world, to all things small and great, but it's also a very melodic and musical listening experience. Throughout the songs on this album you will hear the mighty cacophonous buzzing, chirping and alien-like wails of the natural world, to a splendid backdrop of vaporous ambient music. This album combines some of the best elements of experimental sound art with futuristic cyber pop electronica to create these rich hazy textures and immersive walls of beautiful drone that is so engulfing and satisfying.
Stream/Download the album here...
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NUM - Memory Machine (2018)
GENRE : avant-garde, electronica, sound art
RECORD LABEL : Dinzu Artefacts
NUM is an Iranian experimental electronic duo consisting of Milad Bagheri & Maryan Sirvan, and this is their 2018 release on the Dinzu Artefacts record label - a deep resounding exploration of memory and the complexities of the human mind.
Haunting and ominous rumbles, dark pulses, broody abstract oceanic ambience and frightening cacophonous swells make up this tumultuous journey of an album - divided into two parts. Voice, flute, electronics and field recordings comprise this exquisite work of dark abstract beauty. These individual elements are barely distinguishable within the sound, which truly reflects the way our minds retain memories and play them back to us - murky, erratic, strange and confusing as hell.
This album digs deep into your conscience and leaves you haunted and spellbound, in the most wonderful way.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Quiet Clapping - The Abbey of the Black Hag (2021)
GENRE : experimental, noise, sound art, drone, minimalism
RECORD LABEL : Woodford Halse
Inspired by Irish witches and haunted places, this album is a slow eerie noise meditation on the dark mythology and folklore that surrounds the infamous banshee (that otherwordly female spirit that heralds the death of a family member by her terrifying wailing) and the various places that she was known to haunt around the Irish countryside.
Quiet Clapping is the experimental noise project of Jonathan Deasy. Using turntables, dubplates, guitars, organs and a cello - he has created an album of slow, spooky and extremely unsettling soundscapes that move like an ominous fog emerging from dark haunted forests.
The sound is ancient and contemporary, rustic and cultivated, distressing and dreamy... It slowly scratches and pulses and breathes its way into your psyche, to the point where you inevitably feel that awful need to look over your shoulder, for fear of dark figures and other horrific things that may be heading your way...
This a great immersive noise record. Its frightening and mournful atmospheres will haunt you and eventually engulf you, in the best possible way. Another great release from the brilliant Woodford Halse label.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Nobuka - Miniature (2022)
GENRE : musique concrete, avant-garde, jazz, cinematic, drone
RECORD LABEL : Difficult Art & Music
Nobuka is the lo-fi experimental electronic music project of Michel Van Collenburg. This album is a deep abstract textural exploration of the psyche - fleeting memories, transient thoughts and all the strange complexities of human feelings and emotions. These 22 compositions are erratic, unnerving, confusing and frightening... yet absurdly beautiful.
Musically, it's a cacophonous whirlwind of free-form jazz, abstract ambience, field recordings, musique concrete, modern classical and avant-garde sound art. These short minimalistic arrangements will creep and crawl into your psyche, constantly shifting between being comforting and utterly distressing...
'Miniature' is a slice of beautiful madness that gets better with each and every listen. It's a strange but splendid aural journey into the abstract dimensions of a troubled mind.
If you're looking for more challenging experimental music, you should take a look at the other releases from Difficult Art & Music.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Draaier - The Town That Was Murdered (2021)
GENRE : experimental, noise, dark ambient, soundscapes
RECORD LABEL : Submarine Broadcasting Company
This is a bleak and disturbing noise record. It was written as a homage to a book of the same name by Ellen Wilkinson about the horrific dismantling and ruination of the small industrial town of Jarrow (England) during the 1930s, in the years leading up to the rise of Hitler...
The atmosphere of this album is dark, violent and harrowing... as it should be. Howling swirling ambience, bursts of angry static, fierce rumbling drones, sorrowful synth melodies, glitchy electronics and violent industrial noise makes up the tense and frightening soundscapes. It is the sound of devastation, anger and injustice. Listening to this music fills me with overbearing sadness and dread, but I love it. Highly recommended.
While you're at it, you should check out the other releases on the Submarine Broadcasting Co. Bandcamp page. Lots of excellent stuff to explore on there.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Lemon Trio - Ombra Rossa (2022)
GENRE : avant-garde, jazz improvisation, experimental, free jazz
RECORD LABEL : Mute Ant Sounds
Recorded live in Paris, this is an album of 3 improvised free form jazz compositions and experimental sound art. The whole thing is one big interplay and interweaving of fractured and fragmented sounds - banging and twanging, screeching and whimpering... a soft yet unnerving battle of organic noises, making the performance feel like it's constantly on the verge of total collapse.
Like in all good live shows - the musicians onstage and the crowd are feeding off each other's energy, and you can really hear/feel that in this album. As chaotic and fearsome as these compositions are, the band are somehow able to lock in with each other and end the set in the same way that they begun. Amazing.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Sophie Sleigh-Johnson - Nuncio Ref! (2022)
GENRE : experimental, noise, field recordings, tape play
RECORD LABEL : Crow Versus Crow
This album is mental. Comprised of a variety of found sounds, field recordings and tape musique concrete - this is a baffling yet intriguing sonic assault of surreal British radio & TV snippets, eerie psychic readings, demented news reports and fragments from an unearthed transcript of Leonard Rossiter's lost Mystery Play. But it also contains some musical elements - mashed and bashed beyond recognition - and lots of bizarre and compelling sound manipulation and noise experimentation. The spoken voice samples alone are utterly fascinating.
I can't explain to you what this album is. You'll just have to experience it yourself in all its weird and glorious surreality. It's so good.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Odd Person - Flowers of Arcadia (2019)
GENRE : experimental, noise, ambient, new age, drone
RECORD LABEL : Ingrown Records
This album chills me out and makes me sweat at the same time. This is beautiful minimalistic electronica music, performed against a backdrop of exotic jungle noises, tropical field recordings and miscellaneous abstract sounds. Within seconds of pressing play I was seduced by the serene and intoxicating soundscapes of that were filling my ears. All the beautiful birdsong and waterfalls sounds, the mysterious shimmering ambience and the meditative synthscapes make for a peaceful slice of plaintive electronica. And what beautiful artwork...
Stream/Download the album here...
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The Unknown Sound Collective - Phantoms (2021)
GENRE : soundscape, noise, dark ambient, industrial, drone
RECORD LABEL : Xtelyon Records
The Unknown Sound Collective is an experimental music project led by Elena Botts - a published poet, visual artist and multimedia conceptual artist. She also releases solo material under her moniker Mourning Dove.
The album is a dark swirling abyss of spooky vocal ambience, unsettling industrial drones, abstract rumbling and wavering white noise. The overall effect is both frightening and beautiful. The dark trembling ghostly atmospheres of these four eerie pieces of music, along with Botts' haunting melodies and cryptic spoken words will haunt you and comfort you throughout its duration. Awesome.
Stream/Download the album here...
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