Thursday, 1 September 2022

Bandcamp Recommendations (Sept 22)

Bandcamp Fridays have finally returned! If you're looking for some inspiration for great experimental music to buy tomorrow - here's my latest roundup of recommendations...

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Emilian Gatsov - MFPWNWFOI (2021) 


GENRE : ambient, electronic, drone, modern classical
RECORD LABEL : Mahorka

Here's an album of dark beautiful trance-inducing night time music from Bulgarian artist/composer Emilian Gatsov whose mostly known for his soundtrack work for theatre and performance.

Based around the idea of eliminating all external stimuli and listening without distraction (something we should all do more often in this noisy modern world), this album lulls you into a nocturnal atmosphere of swirling ambient melancholy and drifting drones, right from the opening seconds. It sucks you in and makes you to turn inwards and concentrate. The music is delightfully meditative and ethereal. I also love how minimalistic it is at times, whilst maintain its depth and power. These electronic loops never get boring, predictable or tiresome. A truly immersive listening experience. Brilliant album.

Mahorka are a wonderful little label that specialize in all kinds of experimental noise and intriguing sound art. If you like this album, you should explore their Bandcamp page. 

Stream/Download the album here...

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Le Morte d'Abby - I Am (2022)


GENRE : dance, techno, electronica, ambient, downtempo
RECORD LABEL : Triplicate Records

I am very picky and selective when it comes to dance/techno music. It needs to have a certain kind of emotional quality to it to stop me in my tracks and pay attention. I'm glad to say that this new album by Le Morte d'Abby does just that. It is truly sublime.

Le Morte d'Abby is the solo electronica project of Abigail Lentz. I previously did a write-up for her album, 'Is This Machine Recording?' which was a weird warped lo-fi synth affair.
In this album (her debut release for the inimitable alt-electronica label Triplicate Records) Lentz has created seven songs of sweeping dance tracks that are bright and vibrant, yet melancholy and downtempo at the same time. 
In these songs, shimmering waves of euphoric ambience drift over vast glistening ethereal soundscapes and infectious downtempo techno rhythms that simultaneously lift you up and bring you down.
There's an obvious sadness to it, which is probably why I like it so much. It reminds me of the melancholy dance music that I loved as a child. 
I don't know if this technically qualifies as techno music, and I don't really care. What I do know is that it's awesome. Highly recommended.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Colonial Skyway - Evening on Earth (2022)

 

GENRE : drone, ambient, soundscape, minimalistic
RECORD LABEL : Submarine Broadcasting Co.

This is a slow brooding meditative drone album that I find simultaneously desolate and comforting. It's one of these strange yet admirable examples of music where not much happens...and you don't want anything to happen. It's great the way it is. You're content to just let its non-invasive sound drift quietly through the vacant spaces of your psyche, and help you on your merry (or not-so-merry) way.

Colonial Skyway is the solo project of Matthew Anderson. The songs that comprise this album provide an ideal soundtrack (and accompaniment) to a lonely peaceful walk through a small factory town after working hours. Its beautiful minimalism is wonderfully reflective, but at the same time quite cold and eerie. The gentle sounds of mechanization and industry constantly thrum away, causing a vague but undeniable uneasiness in the listener. Great album. I love the artwork too.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Paweł Doskocz/Wojtek Kurek - npm (2021)


GENRE : experimental, improvisation, sound art, free jazz
RECORD LABEL : Czazska Records

This is an album of wild improvised free-form jazz jams from Polish collaborative duo Pawel Doskocz  (electric guitar) and Wojtek Kurek (drums). The music is intense and energetic, erratic and unnerving, unpredictable and fun. 
The unbridled shimmery dissonance of Pawel's guitars and the thunderous pounding and frantic clacking of Wojtek's drums ricochet wildly off the walls of the Beskid Maly summer house that these two seasoned experimental improvisers recorded it in, back in 2019.

Listening to this album feels like a procession of spiders scuttering across the surface of my brain, on their way to some strange unknown destination...but rather than horrify or disgust - this music is actually wonderfully immersive and trance-inducing. 
Kurek's drum patterns and rhythmical sensibilities give this album such a unique groove and bounciness, and there's enough melody from Doskocz's frantic guitar playing to avoid the sound becoming overly harsh or abrasive. There is enough beauty amidst the chaos and noise of these intricate jams to make for a highly enjoyable album. Rather than assaults - this album dances in fits of epileptic zeal. Brilliant stuff.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Nikki Sheth - Sounds of Mmabolela (2021)


GENRE : experimental, sound art, field recordings
RECORD LABEL : Flaming Pines

This is a hot and humid sound journey through the bushveld on the border of South Africa and Botswana. It was recorded by the internationally recognized sound artist & composer Nikki Sheth on a field recording residency in Mmabolela in 2017, and released by Flaming Pines in 2021.

This debut album of hers is dark, murky and mysterious, but also peaceful, serene and utterly alluring...with an array of ambiguous well-sculpted sonic abstractions and subtle murmured drones penetrating the collective voices of the natural world. In this wonderfully exotic soundscape I hear hippos, frogs, and a multitude of various insects and birds - singing, humming, squawking and screaming away in the trees, bushes, pools and rivers of Mmabolela. 

Despite the hot humid stickiness of (how I imagine) this particular environment to be,  this album has a lovely ambience that would soothe even the most savage beast. It's a delightful aural adventure into a part of the world where nature undoubtedly still remains supreme. Beautiful stuff.

Stream/Download the album here :

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The Broken Cradle - You Are Here and I Am Yours (2021) 


GENRE : modern classical, ambient, instrumental, electronic
RECORD LABEL : self-released

This is an album of beautiful, delicate and touching piano-led pieces by Eric McLean (a.k.a The Broken Cradle) who lovingly blends modern classical compositions with ambient electronica to create lush meditative soundscapes that are reflective and comforting.

'You Are Here and I Am Yours' is an introspective and heartfelt album based around the themes of family, mortality, loss and the joy of life - a musical love letter from McLean to his children. The gentle and emotive piano playing is accompanied by soft swirling airy ambience that not only creates wonderful sparkly atmospheres and textures of their own - they also help elevate the central chords and melodies that drive these compositions. 

The overall effect of this album is tender and soothing to the ears and to the brain. Exactly the kind of music we need in times like these. Great album.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Alessio Dutto - Solar (2022) 


GENRE : dark electronica, dark ambience, noise, drone
RECORD LABEL : Veinte 33 Records

This is a dark, dramatic and haunting electronic noise record from Italian artist/composer Alessio Dutto. In this album, Dutto has combined cinematic dark ambience, ferocious power electronics, foreboding Carpenter-esque synthscapes and tidal waves of sweeping fuzzed-out drones to create a highly emotional and wonderfully cathartic listening experience.

Despite the sheer power, brooding menace and full-blown malevolent fury in this music - it is also undeniably melodic and beautiful, and makes for a highly enjoyable and brilliant listening experience. Fans of Rafael Anton Irisarri, Tim Hecker & Ben Frost will love this one.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites - Non-Lieux (2022) 


GENRE : experimental, modern classical, dark ambient, noise, field recordings
RECORD LABEL : Lotophagus Records

This album consists of one 50-minute long experimental noise piece by French artist Julian Wa - a.k.a Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites. 

The atmosphere of this music is dark, eerie, unsettling and ever-so-slightly sinister. It's an abstract merging of ominous sound art, dark ambient/drone and modern classical. The listener gets taken on a brooding ambling adventure through a strange twisted environment. A large part of the album is taken up by suspenseful electronic pulses and swells, but it meanders into urban field recordings and beautiful cinematic neoclassical segments - led by mournful piano chords and accompanied by yearning violin. A very long but very rewarding listening experience, if you give it the time and patience it deserves.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Somnoroase Păsărele - 0RT0 (V​-​VI) (2022)


GENRE : experimental, abstract, sound art, electronica, noise
RECORD LABEL : Beach Buddies Records

This latest installment in the ongoing ORTO series by Romanian experimental artist SOMNOROASE PĂSĂRELE (a.k.a Gili Mocanu) is an intricate and baffling sound journey into strange and disturbing unknown territories. In this 2-song release, sound signals are transmitted through dark tunnels of time and space - unreceived and never to return.... 

Complex patterns of surreal and fractured electronic pulses mingle with fluttering waves of threatening noise to create an eerie and unnerving, yet intriguing and undoubtedly original listening experience. I also find this music very claustrophobic, but Mocanu doesn't keep you in this dark unsettling environment long enough for you to want to run to the nearest exit. It's just right. Wonderful noise art.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Wednesday, 3 August 2022

Bandcamp Recommendations (Aug 22)

Here's the latest roundup of great albums that I've been listening to these past few weeks. These recommendations span a variety of different genres, but you'll probably notice that the majority of them fall into the experimental/instrumental category. It's not intentional - it's just my current taste and the particular phase I'm going through right now.

If you like what you see/hear, please support these great artists by purchasing their albums on Bandcamp and/or sharing their music on social media.

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Conducive - Global Makeshift Wounds (2022)


GENRE : experimental, sound art, noise art, field recordings, ambient, sound collage
RECORD LABEL : Veinte33 Records

Here's the latest release from the great Veinte33 records, and in my opinion - one of their very best.  Conducive is a new experimental sound artist. This debut album consists of two 20-minute long immersive noise pieces that suck you in and don't let go. These are fascinating sound collages made up from airport field recordings, various industrial machinery and very subtle melancholic ambient drones.

Sit back, relax and allow wave upon wave of deeply entrancing, constantly-evolving noise sweep you up and carry you away to other plains. What amazes me about the album is how utterly noisy it gets, whilst never crossing into that harsh/abrasive/deafening territory. This is hypnotic sound art at its finest - a beautiful bridging of mesmerizing abstract noise, field recordings and dreamy ambient bliss. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time with this album... Excellent stuff, especially when you're high.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Ali Murray - Passing Through The Void EP (2022)


GENRE : dream folk, ambient pop, dream pop, psych folk, dark ambient, shoegaze
RECORD LABEL : Dead Forest Records

Here's the new EP from one of my favourite artists/songwriters that no one knows (or really seems to care) about - the reclusive Scottish songwriter/musician Ali Murray. 

This EP consists of 3 dark psychedelic dream-folk songs that sound like they were borne from the jagged sea-battered cliffs and barren moorlands of his native land - the Isle of Lewis. Murray's breathy tenor drifts sadly and sweetly against an ethereal backdrop of sprawling dark noise, melancholic ambience and classical instrumentation that ebbs and flows within these beautiful reverb-laden dreamscapes. An incredible EP that's over far too quickly from one of the best undiscovered songwriters out there that never fails to deliver the dark dreamy goods.

Stream/Download the EP here...

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Wiley Soule - Like Kaiju Vermin EP (2022)


GENRE : harsh noise, drone, field recordings, dark ambient, industrial, drum & bass
RECORD LABEL : self-released

Sometimes I hear a release that I love, but I choose to not write about it because I struggle to find the right vocabulary and terminology to do the music justice. This EP by experimental electronic artist Wiley Soule was definitely one of them. After several listens and a lot of humming and hawing, I decided to write a few meagre lines about this because it's too damn good to not be included on this list of recommendations.

This 3-song EP is a dark deranged cinematic head trip...a dazzling and confusing amalgamation of fractured bass-driven techno, haunting ambience, swirling musique concrete, erratic glitchy electronica and all kinds of chaotic sound samples and abstract field recordings - dripping and trickling and swooping across imaginary sonic landscapes and hallucinatory dream worlds. Incredible sound design and a truly original vision. Highly recommended.

Stream/Download the EP here...

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Divider Line / The Creeping Man - You Are Not Alone In The Kiln (2022)


GENRE : experimental, noise, drone, field recordings, soundscapes
RECORD LABEL : Preston Capes

Dark ominous rumblings and dread-filled atmospheric tensions herald forth this new collaboration album between two experiment noise artists on the Preston Capes label. Before listening to this album I was only familiar with a small fraction of The Creeping Man's output, and none of Divider Line's... so I didn't really know what to expect, but I was immediately enticed and drawn into these creeping sweeping cinematic soundscapes - filled to the brim with nightmarish tension and grim suspense, and peppered with The Creeping Man's unmistakable use of old-timey Americana voice samples from (what I'm guessing to be) old educational documentaries and films. 

Something I really admire about this collaboration album is the restraint and discipline that both artists use in creating these atmospheres - they way they don't feel the need to crowd these spooky barren soundscapes with melodies and sounds. This music is slow and patient, and breathes its darkness across empty audio plains. It also has some moments of melodic beauty along the way, which are both well-placed and short-lived. Great album.

Stream/Download the album here...

https://prestoncapes1.bandcamp.com/album/pct-03-you-are-not-alone-in-the-kiln

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Hunki Dori - Reverie (2021)


GENRE : experimental, jazz, psychedelic, new age
RECORD LABEL : Ingrown Records

This is one of these unassuming albums that starts as one simple thing, and gradually evolves into something so much more. It treads all kinds of weird wacky psychedelic territories along the way, whilst maintaining its high quality, consistency and fuzzy charm.

Hunki Dori is the solo experimental project of musician/composer Dorothea Tachler. This album is bright and vaporous, fun and soulful, demented and dreamy, sweet and surreal... it's a sonic journey through the Korean side of Tachler's family life. 
Whilst the fundamental core of this music is definitely rooted in experimental lo-fi pop, it branches and swirls into other wacky areas of free-form jazz (accompanied by various brass and wind instruments), hazy new age electronica, lo-fi folk and baffling field recordings of Korean conversation and laughter. 
Despite the craziness - the feel of this music is warm, bittersweet and fun... It's a gorgeous treat of an album, and a beautiful contribution to the world of avant-pop. Highly recommend.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Floated - Sizzle EP (2022) 


GENRE : electronic pop, vaporwave, ethereal, R&B
RECORD LABEL : Totally Real Records

This is an amazing chill pop EP from film composer & ex-bassist of Frankie Cosmos - David Maine (a.k.a Floated), and the latest offering of the wonderful little tape label, Totally Real Records.

In the five songs that comprise this debut EP, Maine takes us on a short and luxurious sonic journey through a lonely vaporous dream world. Combining and meshing soft sensuous R&B balladry with ethereal electronic pop and plaintive cinematic soundscapes, it wraps the listener in a beautiful blanket of heavenly chill. 

This is not your average predictable pop artist, nor another ambient vaporwave artist... Floated employs his various skills, talents and experiences to tap into something more special and unique. Although the music is fairly simple, the lush production is not. And neither is the emotional impact of the songs. I highly recommend this awesome little EP.

Stream/Download the EP here...

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Sophie Stone - Amalgamations (2022)


GENRE : experimental, modern classical, minimalist, concert music
RECORD LABEL : Sawyer Editions

I'm a huge fan of minimalism - in music and in general. This album by English experimental composer/artist Sophie Stone is minimalist contemporary classical music taken to its glorious peaks, and sometimes beyond... 
It consists of four different compositions (viola, organ, cello & piano) of the same graphic score, performed by four different musicians between 2018 and 2022.

These performances are slow, quiet and constantly evolving. Sounds emerge out of nothingness, like some lonely form of life. The notes are fragile and sparse, overlapping and repeating, sustained and stretch out towards unknown horizons in these vast empty spaces that Stone has skillfully created. The overall effect is haunting and ominous, simmering and tense, shadowy and stark, cathartic and undeniably beautiful.
 
'Amalgamations' is a quiet and intense listening experience. It forces you to slow down and surrender yourself to its bare vulnerable beauty. Brilliant album. 

If you like this, you should explore the rest of the Sawyer Editions discography. They've released lots of weird and wonderful experimental/improvised contemporary classical music.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Eric Mingus & Catherine Sikora - The Zuzax Protocol (2022)


GENRE : experimental, improvisation, jazz, blues,
RECORD LABEL : Fort Evil Fruit

This is an album of wild improvised guitar & saxophone duets from longtime collaborators Eric Mingus and Catherine Sikora. I wasn't familiar with either of these artists before listening to this album, so I approached it with fresh innocent ears...which didn't stay innocent for long once the glorious sonic assault began...

The guitar sounds are dirty, raw and completely exposed and bare. Mingus' strings are mashed and bashed, plucked and stabbed, bent and sustained...allowing the notes and melodies to constantly rise to wild cacophonous screeches and then fall back down in tired resignation. And within the empty spaces and echoes of Mingus' guitar playing, Sikora's back-alley jazzy saxophone flourishes breathe sweet soulfulness into the mix. These jams are totally organic and raw, natural and pure... 

Mingus and Sikora don't feel the need to hide behind any walls of noise, or use any fancy production techniques to make this album pretty and clean, and I admire that very much. I love it just the way it is. It's a genuine improvised collaboration between two disciplined musicians who aren't shy to express themselves on their instruments, yet there's no overcrowding. The silences on this album are just as important as the musical notes. Excellent album.

Fort Evil Fruit is an awesome Irish tape label that specialize in releasing a lot of odd experimental/avant-garde music. Go and check out their Bandcamp page. It's a bounty of great experimental noise.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Tremosphere - Memoirs of A French Garden (2022)


GENRE : alternative rock, psychedelic, dream pop, shoegaze
RECORD LABEL : Slugg Records

I've been meaning to check this album out for months, and I'm so glad I finally did. Tremosphere is the sister band of the awesome Bipolar Explorer, and consists of two out of its three members. Whilst Bipolar Explorer are more of a dark psyched-out trippy textural soundscape outfit, Tremosphere lean more towards moody pop-oriented minimalist alt-rock.

Their sound is undoubtedly and unashamedly heavily tinged with the 90's alt-rock/shoegaze sound, but not in a cheesy contrived ''retro for the sake of retro'' way... their delivery seems totally authentic and sincere. The noisy post-rock guitars are minimalistic and raw, and the French-accented vocals are sultry and dreamy and beautiful.
In this album, Tremosphere incorporate the fuzzed-out dreamy psychedelia of Mazzy Star, the femme guitar-driven shoegaze pop of Lush, and the wistful downbeat alt-grunge of The Cranberries into their own unique vision and take you on a special top-notch dream ride.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Lalén Ríos Luna - Vouchsafe Me More, Soundpicture (2022)


GENRE : experimental, avant-garde, sound art, improvisation, noise
RECORD LABEL : self-released

Lalén Ríos Luna is a very prolific experimental sound artist that releases music under the umbrella of Porous Collective - a vast and impressive body of work that's well worth exploring (or at least dipping into) if you're a fan of improvised abstract noise art.

Listening to this album makes me feel like I'm tangled in the wires of some kind of dark futuristic alien computer lab - incapacitated and forced to witness and surveil the chaotic hive of strange artificial activity surrounding me. 
The textural soundscapes that make up this album are filled to the brim with unsettling atmospheric vibrations, zapping swirling laser frequencies, eerie robotic clunking, digital bleeping, dark rumblings and a plethora of other unknown sonic abstractions - ricocheting off the walls before disappearing completely. 

The overall vibe is disturbing and claustrophobic, but so abstract and impressionistic that I can't even begin to guess what the artist was trying to achieve with this album, but it's challenging and unique and powerful. Highly recommended. 

Stream/Download the album here...

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Sunplus - Soft Printing Machines (2022) 


GENRE : experimental, lo-fi, ambient, drone, noise, glitch
RECORD LABEL : Canigou Records

Here's some sweet glitchy free-flowing ambient music from dreamy Spanish cassette label Canigou Records. Sunplus is the solo music project of Rob Shields, who recorded this album while living alone near the coastline of South Wales.

The first thing that caught my attention was how accurately the music portrays what the album title suggests. Upon clicking play, I was immediately enraptured by the beautiful merging of soft clicking mechanical sounds and liquidy synth melodies - dripping, bubbling and cascading all around me like gentle rain. The atmosphere of this music is so beautiful and calming...yet unpredictable and abstract. I love it.

Stream/Download the album here...

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SANA OBRUENT - A Star Sinks Into A Sea of Art (2022) 


GENRE : dark ambient, shoegaze, drone, soundscape, cinematic
RECORD LABEL : Self-Released

Here's the latest breathtaking guitar-driven release from the talented and prolific ambient artist Sana Obruent who never fails to deliver great haunting soundscapes.

This album is a delicate and poignant dance of light and dark. Muted notes and shimmering melodies rise and flicker like candle flames within the deep ghost-filled soundscapes that the artist has skillfully constructed. At times peaceful and serene, and at other times unsettling and foreboding... this album had me engulfed and enraptured from start to finish. A beautiful dark ambient treat for these troubled times.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Heavy Cloud - Memoria (2022) 


GENRE : drone, field recordings, noise, sound collage, ambient, electronic
RECORD LABEL : Histamine Tapes

This is a deep and poignant textural exploration of the human memory - the absurd and confusing nature of its recall, and the way it affects us emotionally. In this album, Heavy Cloud has created glitchy fragmented electronic loops, stuttering white noise and abstract fractured sound samples that float uneasily on a beautiful bed of decaying synth ambience and vinyl hiss. 

This music is both challenging and calming to listen to. I found myself completely enveloped by the interesting textures and tones, and the ethereal dream-like quality of these sound collages that lay torn and scattered across the entire foundation of this album like scraps of old partially forgotten stories from the annals of personal history. A strange and broken, yet wonderfully-enticing kaleidoscopic journey through one individual's complex and intricate memory... and an all-round brilliant album.  

Stream/Download the album here...

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David Wallraf - No War (2022)


GENRE : noise, post-industrial, electronic, field recordings
RECORD LABEL : Brachliegen Tapes

Нет Войне means 'No War' in Russian, and it's the loud bold title of the latest album from Hamburg noise artist/theorist/researcher/author David Wallraf - freshly released on experimental noise label Brachliegen Tapes just a couple of days ago.

This album is a dark violent stormy affair (and rightly so, given the grim and sadly relevant theme/message) but it is also a deceivingly melodic and musical one. Right from the opening of the first song, the listener is assaulted with the sound of dramatic war-like drums, dark blowing spectral noise and a repeated electronic melody line that (dare I say) sounds like a metallic rock riff, but repeated over and over in a satisfyingly hypnotic way that lodges itself inside your brain... 
The album as a whole is a raw, frightening, trance-inducing, post-industrial noise-dub assault that rattles and shatters... a visceral reaction to the tragedy and hopelessness of war, and a great soundtrack for these dark times.

P.S All proceeds of this album go to Nash Svit - an organization that helps protect the LGBQT community in Ukraine. You can read more about it on the Bandcamp page.

Stream/Download the album here...

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Sunday, 10 July 2022

Experimental Noise Recommendations (July 22)

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. 

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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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