Ghoul Detail – Medicated : Noise/power noise/industrial/dark ambient

Reviewed by Gird_09

I admit both the name of the band and the cover of the album puts me off a great deal. It makes me think of an Insane Clown Posse clone, and considering how fucking awful the original is, well... Luckily my prejudice is just that, and nothing more. The music is a blend of noise, industrial and drone with deep and dark roots.

The machine like sonic landscapes on the album are easily hypnotic, and I find my thoughts drifting. In many ways the music reminds me of projects like Imminent (Imminent Starvation) and Converter but with a softer sensibility. That is the range of sounds is much the same, but the content and presentation is quite different, and much more ambient.

The result is a piece of atmospheric rust, and I like that. The crystal clear production values makes the music effective in conveying a feeling of scattered debris and battered junk, everything illuminated by an unhealthy glow. The music is certainly something you should listen to in a dark room, and alone. It's not an album you pop in the player during a date.

There are drawbacks too. As with many other albums in this landscape it's too bloody long. It gets boring after about fifty minutes, and very few albums have much staying power beyond that point. Music of this sort is solitary mood music, and staying focussed for that long is hard – unless you're distracted by other activities and just not doing the music proper justice.

My favorite track on the album is Pathfinder. It stands out against the backdrop and works really well as a slightly up tempo track. The beats are also a great contrast to the bubbly electronic bog of moist darkness in the track. A very good track, on a very good album.

2010, Dark Meadow Recordings, CD album,

http://www.myspace.com/ghouldetail
http://www.darkmeadowrecordings.com

1 Intro [1:18]
2 Black spoon rising [6:57]
3 Psittacosis [6:23]
4 Valium Sanctuary [8:37]
5 Pathfinder [8:21]
6 Scabies [7:37]
7 City of the Living Dead [8:54]
8 Interferon [7:08]
9 Sceptic Spectre [8:18]
10 Medicate my way to enlightenment [7:28]

Absence insolution – I've not forgotten : IDM / Electronic Experimental / Noise / Powernoise

Reviewed by Gird_09

The first track of this download covers more or less the entire spectrum, from ambient, to electronic beats and then further on to powernoise and pure noise mayhem. The impressive bit is how natural it all feels. The blend of powernoise beats and harsh electronic distortion is powerful and reminds me a bit of Merzbow's Aqua Necromancer, just more harsh. The track even manages to segue into a moody industrial "ambient" melodic part before it ends after a little more than twenty minutes of unpredictable beauty, and that is something I really didn't expect.

The rest of the tracks aren't as long as the first one, but they are perhaps even more skillfully composed, and make up an excellent blend of IDM and powernoise. It's hard to analyze the album in terms of theme or content, but it's certainly an enjoyable urban sound perfectly suited for a cold day in october. Especially a track like "Zygoma Boom" or "Salt. Wound. Sandpaper.", which contains all the distorted anger of the best in powernoise, and all the brain dancy joy of IDM. Comparisons to Converter or Noisex spring to mind. And then there's little bundles of dark fun, like "Ointment or so we thought", which makes me think of Aphex Twin on a nasty coctail of ritalin and benzo's. It's been some time since I've managed to listen to an entire album in this landscape without getting really bored, as the genre tends towards repetition and predictability. This album is dynamic and manages to stay exciting.

Something else I find very pleasing about this release is the way Absence Insolution manages to pile umpteen layers of sound in there without turning the result into a porridge of indistinguishable crap. Every single sound is audible and clear. My only complaint about the album is that the first track doesn't fit all that well with the rest of the album, despite being really good. Leaving it out would've resulted in a more focused experience. I also fear that many potential listeners can get lost in the lengthy noise ouvre.

Sadly Absence Insolution doesn't get the attention it would deserve. I've not forgotten would really have been something for Hymen, Hands or Ant-Zen to pick up. While I really appreciate the fact that it's a free download, it deserves a larger audience and support from a label.

If you're into powernoise you really need to give this one a listen. I'm serious. Smack it on your mpfree player and lace up your boots. It's not gonna revolutionize your philosophy or anything, but it certainly will make that walk through the city more vibrant. Three thumbs up!

USA, self released, album download, 2010,

1 I've not forgotten
2 Rape Sequence
3 Zygoma Boom
4 Ointment or so we thought.
5 Salt. Wound. Sandpaper.
6 Black Hole. Magnetic Pole.
7 the Inconceivable p.m.b.
8 Sorry I wrote this
9 Tender Longing

http://absenceinsolution.bandcamp.com/

Corpse Candle – Revenant : Drone / Noise

Reviewed by Gird_09

Revenant is free release from Corpse Candle, on the eminent net lable Twilight Luggage. It starts off by kicking you in the ear, followed by some rough massage of the bruised area. The music is nowhere near the harshness of various japanoise bands, but utilizes noise as a means to create more varied drone music. And it works very convincingly.

The tracks are stylistically consistent and atmospheric, ranging from ambient soundscapes via pure drones and further on to distorted sonic fists - all with a common ground in the blend between overdrive, deep drones and moody backdrops.

Thematically the music and the titles work together with the cover to create something one could easily call death ambient or death drone. While far away from the amusing juvenalia of death metal this release shares a fascination for moldy sepulchres, and manages to convey this fascination. The sounds are bleak and have a crusty feel to them. Like damp concrete hallways strewn with moist cadavers and overgrown with cobwebs. The music is perhaps the aural counterpart to the aesthetics of films like "La Noche del terror ciego".

The two first tracks of the release are by all means the best, while the third track seems a bit like filler material to me. Still as a whole the release is absolutely worth getting.

The music is available for free download, and if you like it you also have the option of purchasing a cd-r for 6£.

UK, Twilight Luggage, Free Download or CD-R, 2009

1 Blood Powder
2 Mold on Flesh
3 Phasmaphobia
4 Revenant

http://www.myspace.com/corpsecandle1
http://www.twilightluggage.com/

Telecult Powers – Return to the Psychic Dancehall : Drone / Noise / Ambient

Reviewed by Gird_09

The recording starts off in a way that sounds accidental and seriously lo-fi. Deeply analogue drones and a pulsing sine wave builds slowly into an increasingly dirty soundscape. The music sounds old, perhaps worn, and in the age of software synths this is a pleasant break. Like something sourced from hidden a tape vault. It makes me think of radioactive reel to reels, accidentally capturing sounds from a vast Soviet nuclear reactor and then slowly deteriorating for years, before finally being rescued and preserved in the early twentyfirst century. Few contemporary recordings manage to convey a feeling of tangible sounds the way this one does.

The second track, a compliment to Michael Bertiaux, is a natural continuation of the first, and while it starts off a bit more directly than the first it also builds for nearly half and hour before ending, perhaps abruptly. You can nearly hear the machines working in the background, and there is nothing remotely human about this music – despite its vitality and tactile surface.

Evidently the music is inspired by William Blake, Khalid Ibn Yazid and August Strindberg. Ufortunately I can't say I know much of Yazid both Blake and Strindberg have impressed me greatly over the years. Recognizing this inspiration provides a passageway into the contents of the music, and reminds me of a quote by the author Knut Hamsun where he described his literary programme. To convey "'the whisper of the blood and the pleading of the bone marrow". This music is surely about the blood and marrow in a very profound and physical way. The music feels alive and dynamic, despite its minimalist nature. Khalid, Blake and Strindberg (as well as Bertiaux) were all mystics with an interest in the occult, and while this music is in no way overtly occult it could perfectly serve as a backdrop to a Strindbergian purgatory, where modern morality and dogmas are burned away by alchemical fire.

Though I personally enjoy the music immensly there is a chance that it could fall on dry ground where casual listeners are concerned. The genre Telecult Powers operates in is certainly not the broadest one, and there is little new here. Still Return to the Psychic Dancehall is absolutely worth a listen or five, and I can easily imagine that hearing something like this live would be very powerful.

The cover matches the music perfectly. Recorded on cassette with a cover that nearly screams "anti comercial" in its demo-execution. The deified pharaonic cobra captures the regal stoicism of the music. The serpent is of course also a symbol of wisdom and secrecy, and coupled with the two egyptian crowns it wears the reference to gnostic mysticism is obvious.

USA, Snake mysteries, Cassette, 2010

http://www.myspace.com/telecultpowers

Tracks:
1 I was a teenage temple prostitute [27:18]
2 A compliment to Michael Bertiaux [27:10]

Critical Theatre – Nine Tenths of the Law : Noise / Dark ambient / Drone

Reviewed by Gird_09

Usually, if you hand me guitar based noise I will be very sceptical. Too often have I been disappointed by what purports to be noise, but really is rock and roll with very little skill. Critical Theatre is not one of these instances. Quite the opposite.

As implied, the music is based around guitar and various other sound sources. The guitar provides a dynamic distorted soundscape that matches well with the other sounds – such as strings, percussive samples, detuned rythmic noises, drones as well as distorted melodies. It's very atmospheric, in a way I can only describe as sepulchral. There is a taint of horror in the music, but it always seems to be waiting around the next bend. It's never in your face, and it's never over the top. The distant melodies that linger somewhere in the distance provides an eerie counterpoint to the monstrously distorted guitars, and the steadiness and of the subtle conveyor belt beats. The recording reminds me somewhat of a more melodic version of strotter inst, but apart from that it is hard to pigeonhole.

The generated aural landscapes are incredibly introspective, and communicates a mood of intense isolation. Possibly even some form of hermetic seclusion. This theme of mysticism is carried over in the track titles, and their vague allusions to shamanism and tantrism. It's easy to see this music as some sort of spirit quest. A journey into a mental labyrinth.

Unlike many releases in the same genre this is a very dynamic album, which manages to stay interesting throughout. From the meditative Sacrificial King, to the noisy "drum and overdrive" of El Diablo Me Arronco La Lengua this album is never boring.

It's hard to say much more than that really. It's a well crafted album, both sonically and thematically and Critical Theatre is certainly on my watch list for the future.

1 Sacrificial King
2 The Burning Ritual
3 Yoni Verse
4 Freed High
5 El Diablo Me Arronco La Lengua
6 Untitled
7 7th level

USA, Self released CD-r, 2009

http://www.myspace.com/criticaltheatre
http://theebradmiller.blogspot.com/2010/02/critical-theatre-nine-tenths-of-law.html

Booby Mason - Huge Cock Canyon : Experimental, Dark Ambient, Noise

Reviewed by Gird_09

I have to admit that a title like "huge cock canyon" makes me a bit sceptical, and I was expecting some kind of ear shattering noise – based on the title's connotations to Gerogerigegege or Rectal Anarchy. However the music is a far cry from any of my expectations. Rather than extreme noise we are served a bit of highly texturized ambient made up of random sounds and shitloads of echo, and everything filtered to sound decomposed. It's a perfect soundscape if you plan to hang out in disused ammunition factories hunting for ghosts of former employees. The music is eerie and haunting, and old school in that really analogue way. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that everything is done using tapeloops and analogue effects. That's the way it sounds to me anyway.
The second track is a bit more noisy than the first one, but it never approaches the level of discomfort. Well, maybe my mother's but not mine.

I don't really know what more to say. The release is a good piece of ambient music conjuring up images of desolate cities after some terrible cataclysm, with a few remaining russian troops here and there. It's music you want to listen to in the dark, alone. Certainly not party music.

If there's anything that detracts from the release it's the length (and of course the rather infantile title). It could bear to be longer. Once you get into the music it's over. I hope future releases will be atleast twice as long, in order to really build a good mood, and keep the listener there for a while. However if I were to chose between too long and too short I would chose too short, so it's not really a big detraction. The release confirms that Russia really is the place we need to keep our eyes on these days. There's alot of good stuff coming from our neighbour to the east now, and hopefully for some time to come.

1 Huge
2 Huge Cock Canyon

Russia, File Download (free of charge), HTP records, 2010

http://htp-records.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/boobymason