Search results for "nadja"
"nadja" entries in albums descriptions
| Artist |
Album |
Format |
Description |
Year |
Price (incl. 19% VAT) |
|
| ADORAN |
Children of Mars |
CD |
a mixture of dark drone / doom ambient and post-rock, and it really works... drifty percussion tunes are hidden behind a big wall of doomy bass guitar drones, "super hypnotic and super heavy" [Aquarius Rec.]!! ADORAN is the project of DORIAN WILLIAMSON (NORTHUMBRIA) and AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, etc.) who plays percussion (!) and this is their second album... highly recommended if you like it dark, guitarish and droney...
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
 |
| |
same |
CD |
ADORAN is the project of DORIAN WILLIAMSON (NORTHUMBRIA) and AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, etc.) who plays percussion here (!), this is their debut album..."the tracks of this album explore Aidan's and Dorian's sludgy doom-side in a whole different way: atmospheric as ever, yet heavily relying on rhythmic patterns. Aidan's drums sound bone-crushing, and are really the pulse of ADORAN's music.."
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| ARC |
Arkhangelsk |
CD |
new work of the trio with AIDAN BAKER (NADJA), CHRISTOPHER KUKIEL & RICHARD BAKER, rec. Dec 2007
|
2008 |
€13.50 |
|
| |
Glassine 1 |
CD |
recorded live in Toronto 2006 / band-project with AIDAN BAKER (NADJA)
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| ATAVIST |
II:Ruined |
do-LP |
known from the NADJA split albums, "epic suicidal sludge doom metal".. lim. 500 gatefold cover
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
| BAD ALCHEMY |
No. 66 (Juni 2010) |
mag |
articles & reviews about BRENDAN PERRY (yes!), NADJA & OVO live, CURRENT 93 (Ja!), LIZ ALLBEE, etc.; releases by EDITION RZ, UNSOUNDS, KÜNSTLERHÄUSER WORPSWEDE, BASKARU, GRUENREKORDER, EDITIONS MEGO, NONVISUALOBJECTS, STAUBGOLD; etc etc. deutsche Sprach, 88 Seiten, handliches Format, günstig & geistreich !
|
2010 |
€3.00 |
|
| |
No. 93 (März 2017) |
mag |
neue Artikel & einzigartig formulierte Rezensionen aus Würzburg: ARTROCK aus GRIECHENLAND, NADJA & B/B/S, ÄLTERWERDEN MIT MUSIK, ATTENUATION CIRCUIT, DOMIZIL, DRONE RECORDS, HELEN SCARSDALE AGENCY, KARLRECORDS, E MEGO, PSYCH.KG, und vieles mehr aus der experimentellen, drone, post-industrial, Impro & Neue Musik & NowJazz-Szene... das meiste auf deutsch, 88 Seiten, handliches Format, günstig & geistreich!
|
2017 |
€3.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN |
Pure Drone (Drone Compendium One) |
LP |
Killer-release by the NADJA-half, two side-long transcension drones that evolve like a living organism, created entirely on guitar... first part of the "Drone Compendium-series", lim. 400, 180gr vinyl, very nice & thick sleeves!!
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Triptychs: Variations on a Melody |
CD |
new album influenced by ERIK SATIE'S 'furniture music' concept, using simple melodic lines as basis which are repeated and slowly develope & enlarged, performed by various invited artists such as PETER BRODERICK, JULIA KENT, LEAH BUCKAREFF (NADJA), AKI YAKAMOTO (VAMPILLIA) and others..
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN / NOVELLER |
Colorful Disturbances |
LP |
split album of NADJAs AIDAN BAKER with New Yorks experimental guitarist SARAH LIPSTATE aka NOVELLER; lim. 600
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN / SIMON GOFF / THOR HARRIS |
The Bit |
CD |
finally in stock, the outstanding studio collaboration of THOR HARRIS (SWANS), SIMON GOFF (violinist for JOHANN JOHANNSSON), and AIDAN BAKER (NADJA etc.) => instrumental, sublime, haunting ambient excursions with a neo-classic touch (guitar, flute, violin, drums, duduk, piano)... we love this album! - " "If you love structured, long-form hypnotic electro-acoustics and drumming somewhere between song and ritual, this is your thing" [Lost Tribe Sound] - lim. 250 copies
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| CISFINITUM |
Live Earth |
CD-R |
high quality live recording of a special CISFINITUM show that happened in Moscow in February 2015 when sharing the stage with EARTH and NADJA.... CISFINITUM surprises again with a mixture of doom drone and slow industrial rhythms with female vocals by INNA ECHOES and gameboy sounds, extremely heavy... the label calls it "space industrial stoner sludge". lim. 77 copies only !
|
2015 |
€10.00 |
|
| FEAR DROP |
No. 13 |
mag & CD |
great new issue with long articles about JANEK SCHAEFER, RAPOON, JOHN BALANCE, RICHARD CHARTIER, NADJA/AIDAN BAKER, KK NULL, TOY BIZARRE, LIONEL MARCHETTI, etc... plus bonus CD with mainly exclusive material of most of the artists featured in the mag (and also: REFORMED FACTION OF ZOVIET FRANCE, NETHERWORLD..) ... plus small extra mag with review only...... french language. price a little higher now but this is really essential
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| HEIRS |
Fowl |
CD |
second album by this very good Australian post-rock / industrial-metal band; recommended for fans of SWANS , CONTROLLED BLEEDING, GODFLESH, NADJA...
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| INFINITE LIGHT LTD |
same |
LP |
a kind of "mail-art" studio project by AIDAN BAKER (NADJA), NATHAN AMUNDSON (RIVULETS), and MAT SWEET (BODUF SONGS), who all recorded basic material independently which was later put together by exchanging the files; the result is a pretty wonderful mixture of folk, post rock, drone spheres and electronics... 300 copies on 180gr. black vinyl (+ wonderful gatefold cover and download code)
|
2011 |
€16.00 |
|
| IROHA & FRAGMENT |
Bittersweet |
CD |
UKs IROHA (Andy Swan from FINAL) in collaboration with FRAGMENT from France, creating beautiful melancholic droney & doomy slowcore a la JESU, NADJA & CODEINE
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Bittersweet |
LP |
UKs IROHA (Andy Swan from FINAL) in collaboration with FRAGMENT from France, creating beautiful melancholic droney & doomy slowcore a la JESU, NADJA & CODEINE; lim. vinyl version
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| ORCHARD [AIDAN BAKER, GASPAR CLAUS, FRANCK LAURINO] |
Serendipity |
do-LP |
like THIS IMMORTAL COIL before, this is a project brought together by ICI D'AILLEURS to unite the talents of experienced musicians, ORCHARD consists of 4 artists performing on Cello, Clarinet, Drums and Guitar (incl. AIDAN BAKER from NADJA and FRANCK LAURINO from BÄSTARD and DEITY GUNS) who met for the first time => delicate atmospheric post-rock and drones with an oriental, ornamental flair, comes in a gatefold cover with phantastic artwork again (as known for this series)
|
2017 |
€22.50 |
|
| PEAL GRIM |
same |
CD |
side project of Russian artist DMITRY SHILOV (maybe better known as NEZNAMO) with overwhelming, nicely distorted guitar drones, hyper minimal & full of orchestral overtunes and layered guitar melodies expressing an endless yearning... think of NADJA, 'N', or TROUM... lim. 100
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
MOM |
CD |
Godspeed Mom! Tribute & benefit compilation for Chris Mc. Beths (label owner) mother Jeanine with exclusive material only; NURSE WITH WOUND, LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, VOLCANO THE BEAR, NADJA, LA STPO, TROUM, ANDREW LILES, EARTHMONKEY, and many others from the label; comes in thick oversized cover
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| WHOTE (=THOMAS WATKISS) |
Align |
LP |
newest incarnation / project by THOMAS WATKISS from NYC who just toured through Europe with AMBER ASYLUM in Nov. 2010; showing more obviously his "metal" roots this is industrialized dark drone doom in the way of NADJA, SUNN O)), THIS QUIET ARMY, etc.. lim. 250 in two different vinyl-colours; incl. digital download code
|
2010 |
€18.50 |
|
| ANAKRID |
Banishment Rituals of the Disenlightened |
CD |
Tolles Album dieser Neuentdeckung auf Beta-Lactam: sehr dichte, dunkle, geräuschhäft-mysteriöse Klänge, elektronisch unterfüttert & stets in dynamischer Bewegung, ein weites Spektrum auf den 11 Stücken austestend... sehr eigener Stil!
"..A very dark, often unsettling and intense album of electronic experimentation." [Side-Line]
"First ed. of 500 copies in a book bound CD case. Anakrid a day keeps the doctor slurred in a trove of fish-tallowed sling slong. This is what it sounds like when doves cry because the mother ship crashes into their nest in the 6th dimension. With this symphony of sickness comprised of scraped palpitations, pitched whooshes, roaring cathodes and syncopated metallics, Anakrid have another breakthrough chart topper on their bruised hands! These avant-garde hit-makers have real crossover potential, combining the best, most dynamic experimental noise with the very latest drones. This exciting NOW sound is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The long awaited fusion of ritualistic tribalism with the tweaked electro-tech of ancient alien cultures is finally here. Hey kids! If you love Nurse With Wound, Genocide Organ, Hafler Trio, Muslimgauze, Pierre Henry, Nadja and Harry Bertoia and confusing your parents, then you’ll want to get in on the Anakrid craze before it’s too late. They’ve got a whole new way of kickin’ it old school. With electronics AND home-made instruments, Anakrid CREATES an exploratory atmosphere WITHOUT all those boring, go-nowhere improvisational hang-ups. Everything sounds fresh, progressive and weird!!! It’s just that good. Let’s face it; outsider music has gotten plain boring. Anakrid is just the electrodes to the testicles that left field music has been weeping for since, like, forever. Ex-punks hang up their Mohawks and make good mayhem." [press release]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Banishment Rituals of the Disenlightened |
LP |
Tolles Album dieser Neuentdeckung auf Beta-Lactam: sehr dichte, dunkle, geräuschhäft-mysteriöse Klänge, elektronisch unterfüttert & stets in dynamischer Bewegung, ein weites Spektrum auf den 11 Stücken austestend... sehr eigener Stil! Dies ist die superlimitierte Vinyl-Version, wie immer wie bei Beta-lactam speziell verpackt!
"..A very dark, often unsettling and intense album of electronic experimentation." [Side-Line]
"LP edition of 100 copies in a hand printed heavy gatefold sleeve. The inside gatefold sleeve is hand painted by Anakrid (each unique). Anakrid a day keeps the doctor slurred in a trove of fish-tallowed sling slong. This is what it sounds like when doves cry because the mother ship crashes into their nest in the 6th dimension. With this symphony of sickness comprised of scraped palpitations, pitched whooshes, roaring cathodes and syncopated metallics, Anakrid have another breakthrough chart topper on their bruised hands! These avant-garde hit-makers have real crossover potential, combining the best, most dynamic experimental noise with the very latest drones. This exciting NOW sound is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The long awaited fusion of ritualistic tribalism with the tweaked electro-tech of ancient alien cultures is finally here. Hey kids! If you love Nurse With Wound, Genocide Organ, Hafler Trio, Muslimgauze, Pierre Henry, Nadja and Harry Bertoia and confusing your parents, then you’ll want to get in on the Anakrid craze before it’s too late. They’ve got a whole new way of kickin’ it old school. With electronics AND home-made instruments, Anakrid CREATES an exploratory atmosphere WITHOUT all those boring, go-nowhere improvisational hang-ups. Everything sounds fresh, progressive and weird!!! It’s just that good. Let’s face it; outsider music has gotten plain boring. Anakrid is just the electrodes to the testicles that left field music has been weeping for since, like, forever. Ex-punks hang up their Mohawks and make good mayhem." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€26.00 |
|
| BAKER JA LEHTISALO |
Crocodile Tears |
CD |
https://aidanbakercollaborations.bandcamp.com/album/crocodile-tears
A collaborative album of new wave industrial doom songs by Nadja's Aidan Baker and Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo. Cover artwork by Alexa Reneé. Limited CD release by Ektro Records and Broken Spine Productions (BSP015/EKTRO-150).
www.ektrorecords.com
brokenspineprods.bandcamp.com
jussilehtisalo.bandcamp.com
www.aidanbkaer.org
Aidan Baker - guitar, bass, vocals, drum machines
Jussi Lehtisalo - guitar, bass, vocals, drum machines, keyboards
"Baker Ja Lehtisalo is a meeting of experimental rock musicians Aidan Baker (of Canadian drone metal duo Nadja) and Jussi Lehtisalo (of Finnish genre-blurring veterans Circle). Marrying Eighties influenced synth-pop and new wave with noisy, slowcore jams, it’s one of the most accessible things that either artist has ever made." [Norman Records]
https://ektrorecords.com/product/baker-ja-lehtisalo-crocodile-tears-cs/ =>
"A collaborative album of new wave industrial doom songs by Nadja’s Aidan Baker and Circle / Pharaoh Overlord’s Jussi Lehtisalo
Early in 2020 Lehtisalo and Baker began trading sounds over the internet—fragmentary keyboard licks and textural guitar riffs, retro electro-beats and pulsing bass lines—slowly constructing them into songs that combined a sort of ’80s New Wave/AOR aesthetic with a heavy/noisy/shoegaze/industrial sound. The end result was ‘Crocodile Tears’, five catchily anthemic songs channeling the perhaps unlikely pairing of Godflesh and Jan Hammer, electronic pop and pretty melodies mixed with textural guitars and heavy metal riffs.
Finnish multi-instrumentalist Jussi Lehtisalo is founder of the experimental rock band Circle, active since 1991. He also performs with Pharaoh Overlord, Steel Mammoth, and Aktor, to name some of his many projects, and has collaborated with Isis’ Aaron Turner as Split Cranium. He has been running Ektro Records since the mid-1990s and with Circle has released albums on such labels as Southern Lord, Riot Season, No Quarter, and Hydrahead Records.
Canadian multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker performs solo and with various ensembles, most notably the ambient metal duo, Nadja. He has toured and performed around the world and released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, Hydrahead Records, Karlrecords, and Southern Lord."
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN |
Green & Cold |
CD-R |
Hier zeigt AIDAN BAKER seine Songwriter-Seele: er singt, sehr sanft, flüstert manchmal eher, dazu spielt er "richtige" Stücke, die aber durchaus experimentelle Anwandlungen und "Dronifizierungen" erfahren... ultra-sanfter dream'n'drone songwriter-Pop mit viel Emotion, auch das gelingt AIDAN wieder traumwandlerlisch & sicher...
"The innovative master of ambient guitar returns with a breakthrough album. At its core 'Green & Cold' is a a mix of drone, post-rock, and what the artist calls appropriately "deconstructive dream-pop." Memorable hooks combine with Baker's trademark huge wall of guitar constituted atmospherics. Baker's shoegazey croon floats among the stuttering clicks and cuts permeating the layers of catchy riffs and slow, intoxicating beats. As 'Green & Cold' unfolds the listener is coaxed familarly inward only to be washed over in waves of wispy, warming drones: An album of uncommon intelligence and artistry." [label info]
"Aidan Baker is back, still vying for the most prolific man in show business award (well, at least underground, free drone show business) with a double shot of washed out dreamy droniness. There's the latest from Nadja, reflecting his more metal side, and then there's this, the follow up to last year's Pendulum, which was a fantastic slab of glistening disembodied dronemusic. Green & Gold follows suit but with an interesting twist. Vocals. Lots of 'em. Baker is no stranger to singing, his whispery croon has graced more than a few of his releases, but on G & G, the vocals are a big part of the songs, and the songs are actual songs, with drums, and verses and choruses and everything. Well, sort of.
Some tracks, like the untitled opener, are indeed still just wispy slow shifting expanses of fuzzy dreamlike sound, which we can NEVER get enough of, but others, like "Chainsaw", are actual lowercase, slow motion, dark and dolorous slowcore pop songs. Simple murky guitar riffs, wreathed of course in all manner of reverb and soft focus fuzz, hovering over stripped down shuffling rhythms, while Baker croons softly over the top, a hushed almost whisper, sounding not entirely unlike Iron & Wine's Sam Beam actually. Even the music sounds a little like a blissier tarpit version of Iron & Wine. There is some definite twang there, subtle, but it's there, nestled amidst the delicate folky strum and the glistening sonic glimmer. Imagine an
even more somnambulant Low, or Spacemen 3 at 16 rpm, a ultra druggy
(druggier?) Galaxie 500, each track a pop song mumbled and murky, a moonlit crawl through a hazy landscape of shuffle and shimmer, of strum and twang, all wrapped up in soft swirls of shimmer. Essential for fans of all things Jeck and Tim Hecker and Jasper TX and Machinefabriek and Grouper and Troum and Main and the like, but also worth a listen for more adventurous fans of Iron & Wine, Spacemen 3, Galaxie 500, Low and other slowcore drugrock dreaminess..." [Aquarius Records]
label: www.gearsofsand.net
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Exoskeleton Heart |
CD-R |
"Following up his amazing Periodic disc that was issued through Crucial Bliss two years ago, acclaimed Toronto drone-guitarist Aidan Baker is back with Exoskeleton Heart, his newest entry into our ongoing Crucial Bliss series. And this 2-track, hour long excursion into deep feedback bliss is stunningly beautiful. Split into two halves, "Interior" and "Anterior", Baker once again taps into his visions of the bodycage using only his electric guitar, performed and recorded live; the result is an evocative feedback-heavy dronescape drifting with the gritty hum of the amplifier, layers of shimmering, chiming feedback, crushing distorted ambient dirge that borders on Sunn O)))-levels of sonic weight, and shafts of elegiac melody breaking through the stormclouds of Baker's cavernous rumbling like rays of sunlight. Aidan Baker is without question the North American counterpart to the Teutonic guitar drones of Troum, and Exoskeleton Heart delivers some of his most massive, meditative, crushing, and beautiful subterranean drift yet. Hell, the final 10 minutes of "Anterior" is without questions one of the most beautiful things we have ever presented through this label, an angelic glacial melody that builds inexorably into a wall of blissed out fuzz a la something you'd expect from Aidan's dronesludge band Nadja. Essential. The disc comes in a full-color signature Crucial Bliss foldover sleeve with the disc affixed to a plastic hub on the interior of the sleeve, and has been pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies" [label info]
label: www.crucialblast.net
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Gathering Blue |
do-LP |
Doppel-LP im Gatefold-Cover, edelst designed von ALAN McCLELLAND. Eine Sammlung von neuem (erste LP) und in Kleinauflagen bereits erschienenem Material (zweite LP), die beiden mCDRs "Cicatrice" (Dreamland, 2003, vier Stücke die alle mit CI beginnen) und "The Taste of Summer on your Skin" (Taalem, 2004), zwei Remixe von BAKER-Stücken von der "Remixes"-CDR (Arcolepsy, 2005) von BUILDING CASTLES OUT OF MATCHSTICKS und TROUM, sowie eine JOY DIVISION-Coverversion von "24 Hours" !!
Die Auflage von 444 Stück kommt in insgesamt drei Vinylfarben!!
"A work of blissful delight. Aidan Baker provides 4 sides of enchantment in this long-in-the-making 2xLP set. Gathering Blue provides new original material plus a stunning cover of the Joy Division track "24 Hours" as well as an extended work-out of the amazing remix of "The Cicada Sings Our Love Song" by Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks which was originally released in 2005 on the ultra-limited and long-deleted Arcolepsy Records CD "Remixes". This really is Aidan Baker at his very best and a record that is sure to charm. Comes in a gatefold sleeve, numbered card insert and pressed on heavy 180g virgin vinyl in 3 editions (55 copies on black vinyl, 95 on sky blkue vinyl [with white blend] and 294 copies on mottled peacock blue vinyl)." [label info]
"It's been a (little) while since we've had some brand new Aidan Baker / Nadja for the store, thankfully this week heralds two new
releases. To be reviewed next time, there's long awaited Nadja all- covers disc (which we'll tell you right now is great), and then
there's this, a brand new, limited double lp from Baker solo, and as always it's a doozy, sprawling and shimmery and expansive, that sort of blissed out ambient dronemusic he does so well. But it's far from more of the same. The first track we threw on was almost jungle, with skittery beats buried beneath softly undulating layers of warm whir and deep drifts of soft swirling sound. There's also a bit of Spacemen
3 like processed psych guitar, which gives way to some buzzing raga like blur, draped over still more dreamlike dronescapes, although
here, it's laced with chunks of processed alien crunch, and weird little bits of scrape and fragmented riffage. Long stretches of underwater Oval-like wooziness, shot through
with streaks of space-y effects and muted bits of glitch and buzz, some of the most washed out and wondrous space (not quite) rock ever! Warped warbly organs are stretched and smeared into warped Philip Jeck like doomy drifts, one of which is apparently a cover of Joy
Division's "Twenty Four Hours", although we could only tell by the vocals, and even then, they're so hushed and barely there, that any
sense of the original seems to melt into a gorgeously oozing expanse of thrum and shimmer and softly warped rumble. Another fantastic and gorgeous and of course WAY too limited
chunk of droney dreaminess from Mr. Baker. Released on the always amazing Equation Records, who really go all out with the packaging as well. Thick swirled/splattered blue vinyl, thick full color gatefold jacket, and a printed full color postcard, each of which is hand numbered, LIMITED TO 444 COPIES!" [Aquarius Records review]
www.chronoglide.com/equation.html
|
2009 |
€24.00 |
|
|
Liminoid / Lifeforms |
CD |
"While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker's ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist. Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room. Liminoid is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyph- ony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of Liminoid is from its premier at The Music Gallery's X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith. The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/ voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice). Lifeforms is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works). This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin." [label info]
www.alien8recordings.com
"The latest from the always impressive, and always prolific Aidan Baker, who creates thick wall of sound doomgaze in the duo Nadja, and much more personal, hushed drone music under his own name, but more and more has been expanding his scope with various collaborations and large ensembles. This might be the biggest ensemble he's worked with, 8 players, all contributing vocals, three guitars, two drummers, violin and two cellos. And it does sound like what you might imagine, a sort of Aidan Baker drone record / chamber music
hybrid, long languid tones, plenty of cymbal shimmer, the strings moan and sing, the sounds ebb and flow, swelling ominously, building to
swirling crescendos, before slipping back into something more minimal and contemplative, "Liminoid" is split into 4 movements, and is about as close to classical music as Baker has come, at least in the first part, the second part shifts gears dramatically, transforming into something more jazzy and propulsive, a sort of krautrock thing, but with a jazzy slow shifting Necks vibe, eventually building to a dense tribal workout, before slipping into part 3, all shimmery blissy drift, soft focus and sun dappled, the drums an understated slowcore
shuffle, leading up to the 15 minute final movement, where the vocalists team up for a haunting bit of choral drama, which explodes
into full on free jazz freakout wall of sound, finishing off with a long form spaced out drone jam, that definitely reminds us of a super
stripped down White Hills, psychedelic and washed out and very hypnotic.
The second piece, the nearly 30 minute "Lifeforms" is a smaller ensemble, Baker on guitar, with violin, cello and 'amplified metal works', the metal works had us expecting something clangy and bombastic, but instead, it's almost all warm whirling ambient shimmer,
much more in keeping with Baker's solo sounds, near the end, the sounds shift, and the strings move to the fore, weaving dramatic melodies over the slow burning drone underneath, the result very cinematic. Quite nice." [Aquarius Rec.]
"One of my favorite noise albums, "Frequency LSD" by Japanoise artist Masonna was released on Alien8 Recordings in the mid-90's. With this in mind, and in combination with the release of present two albums, there shouldn't be any questions about the the great span of styles released by Alien8 Recordings - Canada's probably most interesting label of the underground. Aidan Baker is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and sound artist that creates music in the field from post-rock across drone ambient to modern classical. His latest release "Limonoid / Lifeforms" roughly comes across all aforementioned styles. On the album Aidan Baker has allied with concrete noise artist Alan Bloor alias Knurl / Pholde, Richard Baker on drums plus a number of other acoustic members on instruments such as cello, violin and guitars. As the title suggest the album is divided into two main sections: A section called "Limonoid" consisting of four intersections and the long and final piece titled "Lifeforms".
"Limonoid" is as mentioned earlier an interesting crossover between neo-classical chamber music, noise-rock, post-rock with associations of earlier Krautrock (first of all Amon Düül I + II) and neo-folk with elements of middle-age expressions. Quite interesting and very trippy psychedelia with vocals from Clara Engel is what the first four chapters of the albums presents. But in my opinion, the true gift is the second main section of the album titled "Lifeforms". "Lifeforms" is a lengthy piece clocking approximately 30 minutes. Where the aforementioned section was a crossover of a number of styles "Lifeforms" mainly focus on ambient-expressions but with clear interventions of classical instruments such as violin and cello meanwhile aforementioned noise artist Alan Bloor controls his usual ultra-aggressive sound equipments being amplified steel and metal as sound sources into more subtle and very attractive noise drones. The piece is quite repetitive with a long hissing drone of amplified strings but with organic interventions of concrete sounds of aforementioned instruments. Halfway though the track, hissing drone fades away giving way to more plain acoustic ambience until another drone appears. The atmosphere is hypnotic and very intense through out the running time of the piece. Very interesting album showing the wide span of Aidan Baker." [NM / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Lost in the Rat Maze |
CD |
"Aidan Baker needs no introduction: this prolific Canadian classically trained multi-instrumentalist has generously contributed to the doom/drone/ambient genre. Nadja, Arc and Whisper Room are just a few of his manifestations.
As a solo artist he also composed quite an impressive backcatalogue. Consouling Sounds is proud to add another release to that list, as we're quite confident this one will stand out in this discography.
With Lost in the Rat Maze Aidan Baker produces an unconventional album - even to Baker-standards. Having been known for his extensive ambient soundscapes, Baker chose a different approach to his sound weaving - albeit true to the "Bakersound".
In stead of a densely layered and broad sound palette, Baker has almost embraced a "postrockish" method of composing. More compact, pointed and clear progressions can be discovered, together with a diverse array of instruments, sounds and techniques. Expect the classic Aidan Baker elements: captivating, fascinating and repetitive mesmerizing sounds - but with a different twist to it.
Limited to 900 copies." [label info]
www.consouling.be
"Over the last years Aidan Baker has proven to be highly prolific, which resulted in a large catalogue of releases, of which many are solo, but also with his bands Nadja, Arc and Whisper Room. It also brought him some fame, so that his recent releases are on CD and LP only. To be honest, I didn't keep up with all of his releases, only dipping in when it lands on my desk. Consouling, a label from Belgium, tells us that this is an unconventional album in such a way that its not the massive layers of guitar sounds and effects, seemingly waving on end, but in stead its a more compact sound and somewhat shorter pieces, eight in the timespan of fifty some minutes. Baker plays electric & acoustic guitars, electronic drums (provided by Richard Baker), vocals, piano, flute and tapeloops. The music is still highly atmospheric, as one could expect from Baker of course, but somehow it all seems a bit more opener, with 'more air' as it where. Instruments fly in and out, sometimes held together with the tick of drums, sometimes stuck in a loop of unknown kind, with the guitar(s) neatly tinkling away. Surely still a matter of improvising freely around a small set of themes, but Baker doesn't explore them ad infinitum, and rather just for a few minutes. Nicely spacious head music. A new form of old psychedelic music. Trippy." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Still Life |
CD |
"This Toronto native has been recording and releasing music for over a decade, amassing a staggering catalog as a solo artist, in numerous collaborations with musicians such as Tim Hecker, Thisquietarmy, Z'EV and Jakob Thiesen, as well as a member of the groups Nadja, ARC, Whisper Room, Mnemosyne, and Infinite Light Ltd. Recorded in the winter of 2010 at Commonweath Studios in Toronto, Still Life is a departure from the sound Aidan Baker is most known for, as it features no guitar, no distortion, and no drone. Still Life is an album with Baker performing only on piano, drums, and upright bass, charting the un-navigated waters somewhere between Bohren and Blue Note." [label info]
www.primary-numbers.com
"Aidan Baker is a household name - I am sure of that. The man has many releases under his belt, solo and with Nadja. Here he stripped down his usual working methods of many looping devices and guitars in favor of three instruments: piano, drums and upright bass. It doesn't mean that the electronics are completely gone, but they play a minor role here. For this album we need to look down under too, and especially at Australia's Hello Square label. What Baker does here sounds like Spartak, 3ofmillions and Infinite Decimals. Jazz like music, improvised music but utterly laidback and 'easy' sounding. Quiet, pastoral music never hectic free jazz or disturbed free improvisations but always in control over the three primary instruments, with the electronics making small ornaments around the pieces, this is some true gorgeous music. An excellent CD and a great move, I think, for Baker to step outside what he normally does and try something new. Now that's what more people should do." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Bach eingeschaltet - vierter Band |
7" |
"The fourth instalment of “Bach Eingeschaltet” by Canadian guitar-drone hero AIDAN BAKER is a double-edged sword: his interpretations of the maestro are both the closest to the originals, almost academic in execution, and in the end the most deconstructive. The live arrangement for electric guitar of the famous cello suite Prelude slowly but surely drowns in a mist of effects abuse, while the epic and lush metal-drone version of a menuet is carried away by NADJAesque lumbering guitar chords in streams of boundless distortion." [label info]
www.tutrur.com
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Souvenirs of the Eternal Present |
MC |
"It is hard to find another contemporary artist as prolific as Aidan Baker. Since the year 2000, and across a multitude of aliases, Aidan, often accompanied by a revolving cast of collaborators, has unveiled recording after recording at a rate of productivity which makes even a year in the life of Aidan Baker (or his most prominent alias Nadja) look like the entire discography of many other well documented artists. That in itself is quite a feat, but taking that into account along with the clear, stylistic sovereignty of each of his recordings makes Aidan Baker that rare combination of multitudinousness and creative reinvention, where regardless of what elements and instruments make up a recording, they simultaneously sound unlike anything else before, yet somehow clearly possess the artistic DNA of Aidan Baker.
An aspect of this is his fondness of ethereal elements, which is a distinctive thread running through Souvenirs Of The Eternal Present. In this incarnation, and in juxtaposition to the “slow grow” of recordings more akin to the Nadja moniker, these atmospheric builds and layers are intertwined within a framework of pace quickening rhythms, akin to the end result of some parallel universe where Godspeed You Black Emperor and Bohren and Der Club of Gore are somehow commix.
In terms of art, and its relationship to its complimenting artifact, each side of this cassette (which is made up of a total of 5 separate passages in total) is meant to be taken in as a side as a whole, as one would a diptych or triptych. Thus, as a cassette presentation, one side gives way to the other at exactly the rate the reels spool, and is meant to be taken as such, as opposed to a collection of tracks in of themselves.
Thus, Anthem Records is please to present Souvenirs Of The Eternal Present in the form of a limited edition cassette tape with accompanying digital download." [label info]
www.anthemrecordsinc.com
|
2013 |
€11.00 |
|
|
Aneira |
CD |
"Aidan Baker is a multi-instrumentalist, classically-trained in flute, but best known as a guitarist. Using various electronic effects combined with prepared and/or alternate methods of playing the guitar, he creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genres but draws on influences from shoegaze and post-rock, contemporary classical and jazz. Over the course of the last decade, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with his duo Nadja, plus various other musical projects, on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, Die Stadt Musik, and Broken Spine Productions. He is also the author of several books of poetry.
Baker has collaborated in-studio and live with such artists as Tim Hecker, Carla Bozulich, Jessica Baillif, Noveller, OvO, members of The Jesus Lizard, and members of Swans. He has also composed for and performed with such contemporary classical ensembles as The Penderecki Quartet, The Riga Sifonietta, and The Monday Morning Singers. Baker has toured extensively around the world and appeared at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, and Mutek.
Aneira (Welsh for 'snow') is one long, slowly changing piece created using only a 12-string acoustic guitar, manipulated and played with different tools, as a sound source in order to make sounds resembling that of ice moving or breaking and of wind or snowstorms. Aidan Baker also wrote a poem about Aneira, that will be inside the digipack.
Tracks List & info notes
1. Aneira (47:33)
Release Date: 03/25/2013
Cat. Num: GM017
Edition: 500 CDs digipack" [label info]
www.glacialmovements.com
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
|
The Sea swells a bit |
do-LP |
"As a Canadian musician currently living in Berlin, Aidan Baker got first famous as half part of the prolific project Nadja, playing along with Leah Buckareff. LP after LP and collaboration after collaboration (A Storm of Light, Atavist, Year of no Light....), Nadja never ceased to explore the different aspects of ambient, noise and drone music. Also a prolific solo composer, Aidan Baker is well-known by experimental and alternative music fans as much for his solo albums as for his prestigious collaborations with some artists (Tim Hecker, Thisquietarmy, Noveller...) and famous music labels (Denovali, Important, Lattitudes, Gizeh...). Today, Mind Travels is very proud to present the first vinyl edition of one of his key records, A Sea Swells a Bit...., first released in 2006. Three long ambient titles that will likely make you shiver and lose your senses. A live version of the eponymous title is also joined as a bonus.
The artwork, again designed by Francis Meslet (Urbex), intensifies in the most admirable manner the depth of this dizzying music." [label info]
www.icidailleurs.com
"AIDAN BAKER besingt die tiefe See, den Ozean, sterbende Seemänner. Dicht und undurchdringlich, dunkel gefärbt & geheimnis-umwebt sind seine drei langen Stücke auf dieser CD für den SMALL VOICES-Ableger. Wie so oft arbeitet BAKER mit urlangen Gitarrenloops, schichtet Zirkel auf Zirkel und sich allmählich aufbauenden Crescendos.... ab dem zweiten Stück durchziehen sanfte Perkussion und Bass-Grooves die Flächen, und das ganze erhält einen leichten Psychedelic-Touch...." [Drone Records text zur CD version 2006]
|
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
|
The Confessional Tapes |
LP |
"Aidan Baker's The Confessional Tapes is another of his more song-oriented albums, though here drifting between slowcore, dreampop, abstract jazz, and glitchy electronica. Baker originally began working on this record in Toronto several years ago, but lost the audio files in a hard drive crash. Those files which were recoverable from the original recordings, corrupted and glitchy, ended up forming the backbone of the album, providing a fragmentary and abstract structure to the songs as Baker worked on them in his adoptive home of Berlin. Aidan Baker is a Canadian musician and writer who has toured and performed around the world, both solo and with his partner in the “ambient-doom” duo Nadja. A prolific artist, Baker has released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, and Drone Records. He is also the author of a several books." [label info]
|
2015 |
€21.00 |
|
| |
Dualism |
do-CD |
After different collaborations between Aidan Baker and other musicians, we are finally presenting you the first solo release by Aidan Baker on Midira Records. We are very proud to bring you this little piece of art called “Dualism”.
The album starts like an untamed beast with dark drone and doom sounds and it morphs into a very gentle floating ambient body. Aidan plays guitar, bass and drums, what makes the tracks sound structured but also disengaged at the same time. The all-instrumental tracks have Nadja-like moments when the sound is darker and doomy and then they transform to beautiful melodies and rhythms. So you can hear the album moving from darkness to light, from heaviness to easiness and from interlaced to clear textured. Sometimes you feel like dancing, sometimes you feel like head-banging, sometimes you feel just relaxed and all sounds and moods fit perfectly together.
The album is based on the theory of dualism. A theory enfolding several books and explanation, including different meanings. That´s what Aidan Baker thought about the Dualism theory referring to this recording:
“Dualism in philosophy refers to the theory that the mind and body are different things and while the body is necessarily part of the physical world, the mind (and thoughts) may or may not be associated with a physical, concrete reality… and the notion of a ‘consciousness bridge’ is the way one might attempt to bridge the gap, so to speak, between body and mind.”
We thought that is a nice concept, but then something unforeseeable happened. The Dualism theory overgrew the whole release project. After we decided to press the music on CD, the master tapes got lost. We were talking about what we can do, because everything was set up to be released. So Aidan Baker decided to re-record the album. After he recorded the album, the original recordings showed up again by coincidence. So we had two Dualism albums sounding completely different, both worth to be released. We decided to release both sessions as Session A and B. A circumstance fitting perfectly into the dualism theory. Then we were waiting for the CD to be finalized with a matt finished artwork. The parcel arrived from the plant, but accidentally with glossy artwork. We started to believe that there is a hex of dualism covering this project. But finally, we finished the album with 2 CDs and a handsome matt lamination.
To perfect the album package, we added a letterpress inlay including a poem by Aidan Baker (from Passing Through) and an antithetic version of the cover artwork. Manufactured by Letterjazz with some very old letterpress machines.
Some more dualism trivia in this context: The alphabetic characters A and B of both sessions does not only fit to the artist name but also to the name of our contact person at the letter press studio. Dualism fortuity.
Dualism comes as a double CD album in an edition of 200 copies housed in a 6 panel digipack, including a letterpress inlay on 650 gram LeNaBoard (grey cardboard).
|
2016 |
€18.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & GARETH DAVIS |
Invisible Cities II |
LP |
AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, B/B/S) and bass clarinetist GARETH DAVIS continue their fruitful collaboration with „Invisible Cities II“ - five new tracks of finest ambient / chamber jazz / subtle drones of a highly meditative quality. Available as 180gr LP and download.
2 years ago, the Canadian guitar player AIDAN BAKER and clarinetist GARETH DAVIS from Belgium released their duo debut „Invisible Cities“ that surprised many by its quiet, even meditative quality. DAVIS had made himself a name in a wide range of fields, from the postrock of A-SUN AMISSA or OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE, new music (PETER ABLINGER, BERNHARD LANG), or experimentation with the likes of ELLIOTT SHARP, MERZBOW or SCANNER, while BAKER is mostly known for his drone / postmetal duo NADJA, but that‘s just one out of several steady projects (e.g.B/B/S with ANDREA BELFI and ERIK SKODVIN aka SVARTE GREINER) and a multitude of solo albums.
On „Invisible Cities“ the duo explored the calmer side of things – from chamber jazz to ambient / drone and back, giving much space and air to breathe to their respective instrument. Subtle guitar drones, sonore clarinet sounds, a sonic scenery of peacefullness and meditative introspection – all this you‘ll also find on the new album „Invisible Cities II“ which is an accomplished continuation and refinement of the duo‘s first collaborative effort from 2018.
Recorded between 2018 and 2019 in Berlin and Amsterdam, mastered and cut at D&M Berlin by KASSIAN TROYER.
https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-cities-ii
"Vor zwei Jahren machten sich der bekannte Gitarrendröhner Aidan Baker und der in Belgien lebende Klarinettist Gareth Davis an die musikalische Umsetzung von Italo Calvinos Roman “Die unsichtbaren Städte” aus dem Jahr 1972. Ohne textliche Referenzen wie Lyrics entstand durch meditative Drones und den orientalisch anmutenden Ornamenten der Bassklarinette eine eher vage Interpretation der semifantastischen Reiseerzählung um den Entdecker und Geschichtenerzähler Marco Polo, bei der einem auch ohne Textkenntnis nichts entging. “Invisible Cities” wurde ein ganz eigener, von der Ausgangsidee unabhängiger Kosmos, der sich soweit verselbständigte, dass die beiden Musiker weiter an den Ideen arbeiteten. Mit “Invisible Cities II” ist nun eine Fortsetzung des Stoffs erschienen, die nahtlos an den Vorgänger anknüpft.
Mit stilvollem Rauschen und Knistern, das sich bald als Sendersuche auf einem alten Radio entpuppt, gönnen die beiden sich eine kurze Bedenkzeit, bis der Opener “Hidden” dem Titel entsprechen zunächst versteckt im Hintergrund zu dröhnen beginnt. Über längere Strecken bewahrt der Track seine mysteriöse Aura, lässt das Rauschen gemächlich auf und abebben und bleibt doch vage im Bezug auf die Soundquelle. Sind das die Geräusche einer nächtlichen Landstraße, auf der jemand auf den Spuren des berühmten Entdeckers die Seidenstraße entlang den unsichtbaren Städten entgegenfährt? Die Frage ist interessant, v.a. wenn man sie nicht beantwortet. Mit der Zeit zeichnen sich die musikalischen Strukturen deutlicher ab: von tiefen Klarinettentönen gezogene Kurven in schwermütigem Moll, undefinierte Hochtöner am nächtlichen Firmament, die warme, erdige Dröhnung der angeschlagenen Saiten und einiges mehr.
Heller, verhuschter, tremolierender gibt sich die Musik in “Eyes”, wo sich das Blasinstrument langsam vorantastet, als lauere Unheilvolles hinter jeder Biegung des Weges – eine Spannung, die im folgenden “The Dead” bestehen bleibt, dort allerdings eine geradezu trotzige Energie mobilisiert: in rauer, kreisender Dröhung, im Trillern einer imaginären Alarmsirene, im jaulenden Feedback und im Summen des Geigenbogens, der hektisch über Bakers Gitarrenhals fährt. In “Continuity” diffundiert all dies wieder in einen Nebel aus sensiblen Andeutungen, um in der Harmonie von “Names” in friedvolle Ruhe zu münden. Ist das der Sound des Ankommens in den unsichtbaren Städten, oder geht die Fahrt weiter?
Wie auf dem ersten Teil hat jedes Stück seine eigenen Geschichte voll stetig wandelnder Stimmungnuancen und subtil eingesetzter Soundideen, die bei dem kleinen Instrumentarium beeindrucken. Ich empfehle beide Teile hintereinader zu hören – auf Vinyl im von üppig duftenden Oud-Kerzen beleuchteten Salon oder als Download auf nächtlicher Fahrt durch die Weiten Zentralasiens. (U.S./African Paper]
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & JAKOB THIESEN |
A Bout de Souffle |
CD-R |
"keine intros, keine outros, kein einfaden, dito raus. mit schöner brutalität mitten ins geschehen: das platten manchmal unvermittelt anfangen ist so manchmal ja nicht unbedingt; bei einzelstücken sogar noch mehr; eine ganze platte, bei der jedes stück sich darstellt, als bekäme hörer und -in immer nur einen (besonders interessanten?) ausschnitt eines (unbekannten?) gesamtwerks präsentiert, ist dagegen alles andere als die regel. vielleicht habe ich das in dieser konsequenz das letzte mal allen ernstes auf der "guitar" von frank zappa gehört (auch eine gute platte, übrigens), die mal eben lässig nur die gitarrensoli zusammencuttete. hier also aidan baker mit jakob thiesen (drumkit, percussion, processing; auch in kanada tätig, auch ambient-ping-posse) und ausschnitten (zwischen 4.33 und 10.39 min) aus "sporadic sessions", die, live aufgenommen, von aidan baker gemixt und, ganz offensichtlich, gelayert wurden, so wie er es beispielsweise bereits bei der "at the base of the mind is coiled a serpent" getan hatte. mit einem entscheidenden unterschied: das, was aidan baker und jakob thiesen hier vorlegen, verlässt die reine drone oder ambient schiene oder zumindest deren engere definition und geht durchaus in richtung "arc", einer weiteren (gruppen)aktivität von aidan baker: #1 + #7 mit rollendem, (nicht nur fast) groovingem bass, sehr deep im untergrund schiebend, die percussion tief eingebettet, die darüber liegenden gitarren oft (!) akustisch und bei ausschnitt #2 z.b. in einem laid-back bluesfeel (nicht erschrecken, vertrauen in aidan baker hat sich doch bisher fast immer ausgezahlt) mit archaisch marschierender rudimentär-percussion und x-ebenen darüber und dahinter. der elektro-akustische eindruck und die verwebung einer vielzahl von ebenen, innerhalb derer mal nicht ausnahmslos flächen generiert werden, um diese dann gegeneinander laufen zu lassen, sondern wo eine diktatur der mikroereignisse herrscht (listen to #5, "the end of breathe 2", dann weist du was ich meine), die sich zu einem 3D kosmos ergänzen und, egal wie hibbelig das einzelne sein mag, im zusammenhang dann eben doch einen grossen, fast meta-zusammenklang schaffen, dieser eindruck bleibt auf voller lauflänge erhalten und lässt zumindest assoziationen in richtung oren ambarchi's "sun" zu, deren ebenfalls mysteriöse elektro-akustische melange eine sehr ähnliche stimmung evoziert wie eben "a bout de souffle". und noch mal die #5: lang vorbereitet, dieses kippen um die 10.00 und perfekt in die #6, "take a breath". keine ahnung, ob die familienzugehörigkeit der titelgebungen genau dieses phänomen unterstützen soll oder ob zufall: weite teile der 7 tracks nehmen mit ihrem ende bzw. anfang bezug aufeinander; eine weitere rätselhaftigkeit dieses releases, werden doch die abstände zwischen den tracks auch dann eindeutig als pause markiert...
ein überraschendes kollaborations-release im schicken digipack mit naturinspirations-makrozoom-coverbild, angeraut durch kontrastkorrosion. + übrigens: auch am ende keine fade-out gnade..." [Hellmut Neidhardt, www.unruhr.de]
"A Bout De Souffle is a 54 min Collaboration between Aidan Baker (who is also known as Nadja together with Leah Buckareff) and Percussionist Jakob Thiesen (who recently joined baker live on stage to play live drums). Aidan baker is famous for his experimental guitar music. This time things are a bit different. You wont find the typical aidan baker drone stuff here, but instead both men created an incredible journey through the fields of krautrock, Psychedelic and drone music. The Percussion of Jakob Thiesen adds a certain deepness to Bakers guitar explorations were he also uses bass and acoustic guitar to build an mind blowing album full of surprises and wonderful melodies." [label info]
"Waterscape is a new label, owned by Martin Fuhs, whom we also know as Seconds In Formaldehyde and it's mission is to release ambient music made by guitars. The first release is by Aidan Baker, our highly productive guitarist, who teams up here with Jakob Thiesen, who plays percussion, like he did on 'Desire In Uneasiness' by Nadja. Despite his many releases, Baker is a man to find new forms and shapes. On this release things are more experimental and improvised as opposed to being the more ambient player he is on some of his earlier solo releases. Baker tinkles away, sending his guitar through his many devices while Thiesen supplements nicely with percussive sounds, but it's more a supportive role than an active one or playing a 'solo' himself. The ambient element is not entirely gone, as much of it stays on an equal dynamic level and could perhaps pass on as a sort of rough shaped mood music. Nice stuff." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.waterscape.de
|
2008 |
€9.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & PLURALS |
Glass Crocodile Medicine |
LP |
"2 tracks, 39 minutes. 500 copies on blue 180gm vinyl in diecut & foilstamped cardstock outer sleeve, with foilstamped inner sleeve and colour insert. Also available on CD.
Aidan Baker has previously graced our studio with his band Nadja. This time Aidan brought British tour-mates Plurals along. Over the two tracks the collaboration has bore some beautiful and exotic fruit. A gradual unfurling of intricate layers of sound builds and envelopes the listener over “Dead Foxes In The Street"'s twenty minutes, creating a warm and uplifting aural atmosphere. The second half of the session is an entirely different affair. “Turning Children Into Mice” is a brooding, decidedly sinister beast, weaving a repetitive and increasingly dark threat, until it explodes into a hive of noise, and then slowly and poignantly dies a hero's death. This is truly a collaboration that makes the most of the musicians touring synchrony.
Mr. Baker has yet again gifted us with a tremendous work, and we thank him and the gentlemen of Plurals." [label info]
http://blog.southern.com/latitudes/
|
2013 |
€18.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & THE INFANT CYCLE |
Rural Sprawl |
CD-R |
Eine der ganz frühen Releases (CDR auf Blade Records von 2002) von AIDAN BAKER war diese Zusammenarbeit mit dem damals schon seit langer Zeit in der experimentellen Szene aktiven JIM DE JONG aka THE INFANT CYCLE. Inzwischen gehört AIDAN als eine Hälfte von NADJA zu einem der bekanntesten "Drone"-Musiker der heutigen Zeit, während INFANT CYCLE immer noch einen absoluten Geheimtip darstellt. Hiess die Original-CDR noch "Rural" und enthielt nur 2 Stücke, so wurde "Rural Sprawl" durch 2 weitere Stücke ergänzt, um die Idee eines jahreszeitlichen Zyklus zu untermauern. Hier ergänzen sich die etwas herben loops & samples mit sanften Gitarrenklängen & bassigen Pulsen, schon damals waren wir begeistert und notierten: "Gerade erst entdeckt, schon gibt es eine kanadische Zusammenarbeit von AIDAN BAKER mit den langjährig bestehenden INFANT CYCLE auf Blade Records. Statische, „stehende“ Drones verbergen darunterliegende perkussiv-basslastige Strukturen (das erinnert an DRONAEMENTsches Schaffen), zwei lange Stücke, die Atmosphären einfangen und vermitteln sollen („Summer“) („Temperature Drop“)...zarte, subtile, emotionale Klänge: Musik die die Welt braucht! Very emotional Canadian collaboration, subtle drones conceal percussive-bassy structures underneath, two long pieces of shimmering and soft dreamscape-sounds: music that this world needs!"
"Canadian musicians Aidan Baker and Jim DeJong (aka The Infant Cycle) have used the "gentleman's kit" of modern experimenters for creating the compositions of this disk: guitar, bass, tapes, samples, feedback generator, playouts and thumb piano. Four album tracks correspond with four seasons, four states of the soul...
Summer - repetitive loops become overgrown with the juicy flesh of atonal sound and transform into sampled rhythms flown over by a soft guitar tune. Autumn - the rhythm is reduced to a hardly evident monotonous shroud, the atmosphere becomes more melodic and melancholic and in the end turns into a heart-piercing guitar solo. Winter - time for sleep and detachment: icy ringing, the slow breath of bass impulses, the rustling of electronics and sluggish drones painting vast snowy soundscapes. And finally spring - the drone ambient nature unfolds large as life, majestic sonic waves sweep accompanied by a swarm of tiny sounds awoken to life again.
The first two tracks were recorded in 2001 (and released on CD-R by the Italian label Blade Records in 2002 in a very limited edition), two others were recorded in 2005 and thus completed the natural cycle of this album." [label info]
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & TIM HECKER |
Fantasma Parastasie |
CD |
Die beiden ungekrönten Könige des kanadischen Drone-Ambients in Kollaboration! Trotz ihres sehr unterschiedlichen Backgrounds (der eine v.a. analog mit Gitarre arbeitend aus der Jazz & Impro-Szene stammend, der andere mit rein elektronischem Hintergrund eher aus Techno & Noise-Gefilden) treffen sie sich in einer fast undefinierbaren "Mitte", wobei unklar bleibt wer wessen Material bearbeitet hat oder ob es zu real-time Zusammenspielen kam. Frei flottierende Gitarren-Drones, teils ultra-sperrig verfremdet, teils subtil & beruhigend, dann wieder ausserweltlich und überbordend. Sehr variantenreich und ausufernd. Ungewöhnlich auch die Indexierung auf der CD: Die 7 Stücke verteilen sich auf ganze 66 Indexe!
"Fantasma Parastasie sees the pairing of Aidan Baker, of the ambient doom band Nadja, and Tim Hecker, two of Canada's brightest musicians in the world of abstract electronic music. Tim Hecker has been enjoying the rewards of a stellar career and discography, devoid of filler, due to his incredibly high quality control. His full-length Harmony In Ultra Violet was viewed as a major release in the genre of experimental electronic music. Aidan Baker, on the other hand, works under very different circumstances, releasing material both as a solo artist and as a member of the duo Nadja. His prolificacy is on par with that of Merzbow and the late Muslimgauze. Thankfully, Aidan Baker is one of those musicians with the ability to record and write new music quickly and without sacrificing the quality of his art. Anyone familiar with both Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker is more than likely familiar with Alien8 Recordings as the two musicians have collectively released seven records for our label thus far. While Baker has collaborated with the likes of John Duncan, Black Boned Angel and Fear Falls Burning, among others, this marks the first collaboration to be released by Hecker. This release, divided in eight movements, blends together to form a fluid example of a collaboration that works. Unlike one of those collaborations where artists throw some sound files back and forth via the internet, this release is the fruit of various real-time recording and mixing sessions the two artists worked on in Tim Hecker's Montreal studio. The pieces on the record blend seamlessly into one another, creating a deeper listening experience, as is the case on a number of Tim Hecker's solo outings. While Baker and Hecker share a penchant for creating a powerful blend of ambient noise, Fantasma Parastasie finds the more dissonant elements tempered by an emphasis on ambience and even occasional melody. This release is available on CD in a digipak packaging." [label info]
"... But somehow, the sounds on Fantasma Parastasie manage to transcend, allowing glimpses of familiar sounds, hints of each
artist's own work, but woven into a whole that is unto itself, a gloriously abstract swirl of sound, longform landscapes of bliss and blur, of buzz and even roar, extended movements, in which the various elements drift and shimmer, overlap and intertwine, melodies and songcraft meet texture and soundscapery, guitars unfurl tangled melodies one second, bleary eyed chordal blurs the next, harmonics glisten and hover amidst deep soft swells, distortion and buzz build into fierce walls of blown out psychedelia, the sounds crumbling and
decaying before our ears, threatening to collapse, and in this fragile state lies the beauty of those sounds, effulgent, incandescent, but at the same time, blackening, beginning some unnamable process of inevitable decay. And eventually it does decay, those thick roiling sounds dissipate, leaving something soft and shimmery, glistening on a
bed of shed buzz and crumbled crush, floating heavenward, its notes and melodies catching the sunlight, and offering up prismatic reflections.
The strange thing about this record is that each song is separated into super short pieces, eleven in most cases, each part between 15 and 45 seconds (it's obviously much more noticeable on the cd). We tried listening to it on shuffle, presuming that was perhaps the intention, and while it still sounds cool, it was a bit too and took too much away from the overall effect. Instead, the various parts, played in order, slip seamlessly into one another, so much so that if you weren't watching the tracks tick by on player, you
wouldn't even notice.
The two work amazingly well together, bits of guitar, fragments of riffs, looped and repeated, swathed in thick smears of digital
crunch, of buzzing rumble, much of the record sounds like a heavier William Basinski, as if the two were experimenting with they own
Disintegration Loops. A few of the tracks are quite tranquil, abstract and minimal, but for the most part, Baker and Hecker seem more
interested in distressed sounds, in distortion, in pushing the limits, composing in the red, needles pegged, but taking what in other hands
could be harsh and abrasive, and crafting those sounds into something simultaneously soft and dreamlike. Even the various movements, drift
smoothly into one another the entire record almost like a single piece, expansive and varied and sprawling, epic and majestic, but
inward looking, introspective, melancholy, imbuing the crumbling crunch and blown out minimalism, with emotion, with distinctive mood, at once dark and mysterious, but also strangely hopeful.
The album closer and title track, is the only one not split up into movements, and is easily the most abstract, the most minimal, a
stretch of lugubrious low end, so soft, so weightless, a hushed musical murmur, no distortion, no buzz, just a simple swell and sway, drifting fading, and finally disappearing.
Absolutely breathtaking."" [Aquarius Records review]
www.alien8recordings.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN (WITH RICHARD BAKER) |
Smudging |
LP |
"Backwards proudly presents a new Aidan Baker vinyl LP, issued in a edition of 450 copies. For this release AIDAN BAKER, co-founder of Nadja and member of Arc, is aided by his brother, Richard Baker, at drums. Recorded variously in Toronto and Berlin, 'Smudging' includes six songs comprised in two long epic tracks, with guitar textures and hypnotic rhythm structures to create a beautiful and dreamy listening experience. In the wake of his most experimental and characterized by dilated atmospheres works, as it happened for example in "The Sea Swells A Bit...", Aidan Baker is back to exercise his hypnotic power on the listener. The guitar drones succeed one another, alternating with more rhythmic and structured brackets, thanks to the involvement of Richard, who divides his time between more consistent raids, which almost tend to evolutions near to improvisation (as in "Sweetgrass 1"), and softer and occasional interventions which leave full space to the landscape drifts created by Aidan with his guitar effects and enveloping electronic sound-carpets (as in "White Desert Cedar").
"Smudging" is a work that, both in the execution and in the structure of the six tracks that comprise it, represents another confirmation of the stylistic code reached by the eclectic Canadian musician, who's determined in his aim to drag the listener, with extreme elegance, into the multiple parallel worlds created by his unlimited sounds. Another excellent album from this marvelous artist!
"Smudging" is released as a limited edition of 400 copies in a beautiful designed sleeve. First 45 copies come with an original painting done by Aidan Baker; each one is unique." [label info]
www.backwards.it
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| BIRDS OF PASSAGE & LEONARDO ROSADO |
Dear and Unfamiliar |
LP |
"180gr Vinyl im Gatefold Sleeve auf 300 Stück limitiert. CD im Digipak. Ein minimalistisch-cinematischer Trip in den Bauch des experimentallen Dark Pop.
Nach dem von allen Seiten gelobten Debüt "Without The World" und ihrer ersten Europa Tour 2011 kehrt BIRDS OF PASSAGE ("der neue Stern am Himmel des Dark Pop") aus Neuseeland nun mit dem zweiten Akt zurück.
"Dear And Unfamiliar" ist ein cinematisches Konzeptalbum, das sie zusammen mit Leonardo Rosardo aus Portugal erschaffen hat.
Das Album ist ein vollfarbiger Soundtrack, der einen lebendigen Pfad durch die Düsternis der desolaten Melodien schneidet.
Geschichten vergessener Tragödien und unerwiderter Liebe befreien den Reisenden von Tagträumen des Unglücks und leiten den Wanderer durch die kontrastierenden Landschaften aus Dysphoria und Ekstase.
Gemastert von Nils Frahm mit Artwork von Bruno Merz. Das Album sollte Fans von COCTEAU TWINS und PORTISHEAD ebenso wie Fans von JONSI & ALEX oder ZOLA JESUS gefallen.
Glücklicherweise arbeitet Alicia schon an ihrem nächsten Soloalbum samt Single, auf der sie mit Aidan Baker (NADJA, INFINITE LIGHT LTD.) kollaboriert." [label info]
www.denovali.com
|
2011 |
€19.50 |
|
| CAUDAL |
Forever in another World |
LP |
Caudal is a new trio featuring Aidan Baker (CA – Nadja, Whisper Room, ARC) on guitar, Gareth Sweeney (IE – Gout) on bass, and Felipe Salazar (CO – Muerte En Pereira) on drums. Baker’s multi-layered, heavily affected guitar overlays Sweeney and Salazar’s driving, propulsive rhythm section creating music equally influenced by krautrock, post-punk, and spacerock.
The Animal: European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus)
Caudal have decided to dedicate their release to the European ground squirrel (German: Ziesel). All profits will be donated to support the protection efforts of the Austrian Union for Nature Preservation (homepage only available in German – sorry for that!).
The European ground squirrel has very specific habitat requirements. It needs short turf in order to dig its tunnel system. It finds this on the steppes and in pasture, in dry banks, on sports fields, parks and lawns. These conditions are lost when changes in agricultural practice convert grassland into arable land and forest, or grazing ceases and the grass grows coarse and scrub-land develops. Over the last ten years, the population has therefore diminished by more than 30%." [label info]
www.oakenpalace.com
|
2013 |
€18.50 |
|
|
Ascension |
CD |
"The trio featuring Aidan Baker (CA – Nadja, Whisper Room, Arc) on guitar, Gareth Sweeney (IE – Gout) on bass, and Felipe Salazar (CO – Muerte en Pereira) on drums, return with their second album.
Their particular sound with lots of guitar overlays and a propulsive rhythm section constantly echo and cross borders between krautrock, post-punk and space rock. A rich and imaginative album for fans of fuzzy soundscapes!" [label info]
www.consouling.be
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Let's all take the yellow Pills |
LP |
"Caudal is a trio of Canadian guitarist Aidan Baker, Irish bassist Gareth Sweeney, and Columbian drummer Felipe Salazar, formed in 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The trio plays 'trance punk,' combining Baker's multi-layered, heavily affected guitar with Sweeney and Salazar's motorik, propulsive rhythms, creating music which draws from krautrock, mathrock, post-punk, and spacerock influences. Baker also performs with the dreamsludge duo Nadja and the collective Hypnodrone Ensemble; Salazar also plays in the no-wave trio Muerte En Pereira and Hypnodrone Ensemble; Sweeney also plays with the post-post-punk trio Faulty Rabbit.Caudal released their debut album, Forever In Another World, on the environmental charity label, Oaken Palace Records, in 2013. Their second album, Ascension, was released in September 2014by Consouling Sounds, a their third full-length, Fight Cry Fight, came out in April 2018 on Drone Rock Records/Katuktu Collective.The EP Let's All Take The Yellow Pills, released in 2016 as a limited edition CD and only available directly from the band, was recorded during the same sessions as the material from Fight Cry Fight. But whereas Fight Cry Fight is quite structured and composed, the tracks on ...Yellow Pillsare much more free-form and improvisational, eschewing structure for texture, form for atmosphere...The vinyl rerelease on Kapitän Platte is limited to 300 copies and comes with a silk-screen printed banderole including donwload-code and senseless insert."
|
2018 |
€16.50 |
|
| GROWING |
Lateral EP |
12 |
Vinyl-Version der neusten EP dieses New Yorker Ambient/Drone-Duos, deren Analog & Guitar-Sounds mal wieder höchst schwingend & vibrato-schwanger klingen... full fuzzy guitars, extreme Vibrato-Melodien, analogue blurbs überall, leiernde Sounds wanken umher...eine sehr eigene Version von psychedelischem Drone-Sound...
" Brooklyn-based ambient-drone duo Growing never fails to please the devoted. It could also easily be said that the duo has failed to
truly diverge from their original starting point. Although, part of the charm of this sort of music is indulging in a process of creation that celebrates the difference and repetition within a given theme or concept; expanding or investigating a specific idea over a length of
time. Thus, if you like Growing, you'll love this EP. All of the usual landmarks are here: a Nadja on opium meets some sort of Windy &
Carl and Labradford hybrid, heavy filter manipulations, masked, aquatic tremolo and chorus leads, and full-on auto-pan attacks that completely embrace stereo dynamics. We've read that -- specifically within the ambient-drone scene -- Growing has been particularly
reluctant to utilize computers, preferring to employ pedals and more organic looping techniques. Still, a quick listen to this release unearths enough digital-sounding distortion to make the listener wonder whether or not these two dronesters have finally caved in or not. Fans of long, drawn-out melodic landscapes or psychedelic explorations won't want to miss out on this one. Definitely recommended." [Aquarius Rec]
www.socialregistry.com
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA |
Means without ends |
CD |
Für Fans des ultra-langsamen Noise-Rocks a la SWANS, GODFLESH, etc. kommen HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA genau richtig! Ihr Slow-Drone-Noise aus herrlich verzerrten & scheppernden Snare-Drums, entmenschlichtem Schreigesang & dunkel Noise-Flächen klingt unfassbar abgründig & visionär, wie ein letzter Aufschrei vor dem Untergang.
"Various permutations of this disc have been floating around for a while, each in various states of completeness, but every one we'd heard sounded even better than the last. But this is the one, the final, finished product. The long in the works Human Quena Orchestra, the work of Ryan Unks, formerly of techgrind combo Creation Is Crucifixion, but don't be expecting grind, or even technicality, this all the way on the other side of the spectrum. Abject, filthy, pummeling, slow motion noise drenched doom. A plodding sonic monster, guitars, not just distorted, but treated and twisted into harsh, skin scraping, caustic slabs of sinister sound, a low end so thick, it's like dunking your head in a cement mixer, insane sounding drums, each snare crack like the recording of a million breaking windows, each kick drum the sound of a slowed down car wreck. And beneath it all, thick swells of black ambience, drifting and slithering, pulsing and swelling. A lurching, stumbling
blackened doom dirge behemoth.
Think Swans, Godflesh, Pitchshifter, that sort of machinelike apocalyptic industrial pound, mixed with some funereal ultra doom a
la Moss, Bunkur, etc., but filtered through a druggy psychedelia, with a minimal shimmery drone bent, that ends up sounding like a way
more brutal, way more harsh, tripped out, psychedelic, industrial version of Jesu, that sort of blissed out sun baked vibe, but as if
played by some misanthropic black metal horde, harsh blackened vocals, shrieking hysterically and growling demonically over the relentless amp melting metallic trudge. Every track is rife with layer after layer of undulating low end. Like being tossed about on a stormy sea, but instead of water, it's an endless expanse of roiling black sound waves, rumbling drones, and thick snarled streaks of throbbing bass.
The magic Of Unks' Human Quena Orchestra though is that this hellish harshness is balanced with a nearly equal amount of
meditative ambience, long stretches of deep shimmer, and even some of the harshest tracks are tempered by the swirling low end drift
lurking beneath. So brutally gorgeous.
Definitely essential listening for fans of all the above mentioned outfits, as well as Monarch, Nadja, the Angelic Process, Fear Falls Burning, Skullflower, Abruptum, Monument Of Urns, Trollmann, Khanate, The Body and all our favorite purveyors of crumbling downtuned beauty and dreamy damaged doom.
Packaged in a gorgeous hand screened multiple panel fold over sleeve with super striking ADD style microscopic super detailed artwork." [Aquarius Records]
label-website: www.daftalliance.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| KTL |
IV |
do-12 |
Japanische Luxus-Vinyl-Edition des vierten KTL-Studio-Albums, Gatefold-Cover mit Bonus-Single & bedruckten Innenhüllen..
"... Aller Dienste und Fesseln ledig, entfaltet sich da etwas zu voller Pracht und Größe, dass dem ähnelt, das Yeats einst in einer Vision gen Bethlehem schlumpen sah. Etwas prosaischer gesagt, lässt O‘Malley urige Bassriffs grollen und Gitarren sich durch jeden Widerstand fräsen, während Rehberg Synthie- & Orgelsound ballt, wie - ohne Pathos lässt sich das nicht beschreiben - wie Goyas Koloss seine Faust. Als ob er den ganzen Kongo darin zerquetschen wollte und damit den letzten schwarzen Blutstropfen aus dem Herz der Finsternis. Die Wucht und Düsternis, die hier sich vorüber wälzt, lässt sich mit Namen wie Fushitsusha, Nadja oder SunnO))) nur so ungefähr andeuten. Der Auftakt ‚Paraug‘ ist erst noch ein ominöses Rumoren, Rauschen und melodiöses Riffen, bei ‚Paratrooper‘ setzt sich das knurrige Biest dann ganz langsam in Bewegung, mit schwerem Tritt, den der Boris-Drummer Atsuo wie mit Taikotrommel als dumpfes Trauermarschbumbumbum schlägt, und ein Chor machtloser Engel stöhnt dazu ein ewig langgezogenes Oooooooooooo. Diese gut 21 Min. sind ein Prachtstück an erhabener Erschütterung der Sinne, in der Wirkung vergleichbar mit Guapos Aztekenkult. Im schnellen Marathontrott hetzt dann ‚Wicked Way‘ dahin wie ein barfüßiger Unglücksbote, denn jetzt folgt mit ‚Benbbet‘ eine weitere Viertelstunde von infamer Poesie, die erst noch liebkost, was sie zerstören wird, und dann Tritt für Tritt, nun fast schon mutwillig, einen knirschenden Tanz der Vernichtung übt. ‚Eternal Winter‘ überzieht die Spuren auf Shivas Tanzboden mit Eiskristallen, bis ‚Eternal Trouble‘ mit aufsteigenden elektronischen Molekülketten, einzelnen dunklen, monoton aushallenden Gitarrentönen und gedongtem Gong (erneut Atsuo) beharrlich Indizien der Unverwüstlichkeit liefert - der Trouble geht weiter. Produziert hat diese Dystopie übrigens Rehbergs einstiger FennO‘Berg-Partner, der unverwüstliche Jim O‘Rourke." [Bad Alchemy]
"Recorded and mixed at Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo, September 2008. Mastered at Pietthapraxis, Köln, October 2008. Stephen O'Malley: guitar. Peter Rehberg: computer & synthetizer. Atsuo: drums on 2 and gong on 6. Produced by Jim O'Rourke. Special Edition double 12 in gatefold tip on sleeve, with obi, mounted 7, and printed innersleeves. Japanese pressing, cut at 45 rpm." [label info]
www.inoxia-rec.com
|
2009 |
€49.00 |
|
| LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK |
From the idle Cylinders |
CD-R |
Kraftvoller Guitar-Drone mit wummernder & stampfender Drum-machine und heftigen Gitarren-Loops, ekstatisch, geisterhaft, nicht von dieser Welt... erinnert an NADJA, klingt für unsere Ohren aber zum Teil auch wie eine Metal-Version von RAPOON !
LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK ist das Solo-Projekt von BEN FLEURY-STEINER, der auch hinter PARADIN und dem GEARS OF SAND-Label steckt, eine echte Überrraschung!
"Light Of Shipwreck is a one-man band operated by Ben Fleury-Steiner, a Deleware-based drone artist and owner of the excellent Gears of Sand Recordings imprint, which has released discs from some of our favorite ambient/drone/drift artists including Encomiast, Cordell Klier, and Aidan Baker. It was actually through Aidan Baker that we found out about Ben's Light Of Shipwreck project; knowing that we're fanatics for "heavy ambient" sound, Light Of Shipwreck was recommended as something we should check out. At first expecting something more along the lines of the kind of floating ambient rumble that marks so much of my favorite Baker solo stuff, I was pleasantly surprised by how percussive the tracks I heard online from LOS were, the dense, ominous feedback drones and heavy rumbling ur-riffs floating freely over a mechanistic tribal-rhythm freakout. We ended up getting in touch with Ben from Light Of Shipwreck and it turned out that he had a nearly hour-long disc that he wanted to have released through our Crucial Bliss imprint, and here we are: a three-track full length of rich, crushing power-ambient, titled From The Idle Cylinders, a reference to the American Objectivist poet George Oppen whose work is a consistent influence on Light Of Shipwreck's imagery, with huge slabs of resonant sheet metal shimmering in an ocean of heavenly feedback and reverberating guitar drone, and surges of droning tribal Krautrock percussion floating along with distorted ambient doom powerchords and washed out vocal cord bliss, each track running upwards of 20 minutes in length. A totally breathtaking piece of music, like Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Can, and Earth swirled together into an austere, hypnotizing heavy-trance masterpiece. This limited edition CD-R of From The Idle Cylinders comes packaged in the signature Crucial Bliss foldover card sleeve with the disc itself attached to the sleeve on a plastic hub and featuring striking photo design, in a print run of 200 copies." [label info]
"Haunting super rhythmic industrial soundscapes laced with a propulsive locomotive shuffle of programmed percussion, keening high end and hissing whirs of smeared almost jazziness, looped and cyclical, some sort of disembodied krautrock/spacerock like a more mechanical Necks jamming in a thick cloud of Birchville Cat Motel fug. A groaning creaking percussive framework beneath a sky full of shimmering black clouds.
All three tracks begin all abstract and drifty, the first "I Rode And Am Riding On An Ocean Of Violent Lights", quickly explodes into a fog of jagged edges and swirling squalls of chaotic percussion and overlapping drones, while the second, "I Watched And Am Watching
A Cold Dead Sun Rise Then Explode" coalesces into a serious chunk of glorious Ur-kraut, a simple stripped down rhythm spread out over a
massive expanse of low end whir and phantom drone drift, gorgeous and mesmerizing, with a dark dreamy melody, both ominous and lovely, think a super mellow druggy Circle, or a slightly more noise rock Necks...
The final track begins with subtle Eastern sounding percussion, before giving way to some Fear Falls Burning massive glacial guitar drone, eventually splintering into glimmering harmonics, the rest of the twenty minute track, a tangle of the two, shuffling skittering rhythms wrapped around slow burning solar flare guitar. So good.
As with all Crucial Bliss releases, the packaging is gorgeous, a dvd sized fold over thick cardstock sleeve, full color inside and
out, the cd attached to a plastic hub affixed to the sleeve... and LIMITED TO ONLY 200 COPIES!!" [{Aquarius ]
www.crucialblast.net
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| MERRELL, TODD / AIDAN BAKER / PATRICK JORDAN |
Nagual |
CD |
Verzaubernde Rausch-Drones und subtile Gitarren-Loops und Tupfer, ganz zart & betörend sensibel ist dieses Trio bei einer Aufnahme in HARTFORD, CT vorgegangen, die Teilnahme AIDAN BAKERs (NADJA) ist unüberhörbar. 600 Stück wurden aufgelegt und mit dem besonderen ARCHIVE-Artwork von SELDON HUNT ausgestattet.
"long playing ambient dronescape focusing the combined efforts of Todd Merrell on shortwave radio and electronics, Patrick Jordan on shortwave radio and processing and Aidan Baker (Nadja) on guitar. Recorded live in 04 in Hartford. Comes packed in heavy stock center open sleeve with environmental mirror image landscape artwork courtesy of Seldon Hunt. Pressing of 600 copies." [label info]
"... This live set finds Baker handling guitar duties, but you’d never know it from the sound, augmented by short wave radios, electronics, and various bits of processing, the sound here is deep and dark, a crumbling and epic expanse of rumbling shimmering low end. Roiling clouds of murky melodic fragments, distant swells, throbbing low end pulses, barely audible bits of static and washed out glitch. Very cinematic, if you were watching a film that was almost entirely dark, with just barely visible shifts in the various shades of black and grey. Lovely though, minimal and haunting. Think Coleclough, Chalk, Lustmord, that sort of ambient darkness.
But the second track is an entirely different beast. Simple guitar strums, minimal melodies, the strings struck softly, the metallic buzz and clang ringing out into the ether, some sort of underwater slow motion Fahey, smeared and soft and dark and dreamy.
The final half of the track, the guitar disappears completely, leaving streaks of feedback that sound like the cries of gulls, grinding slow motion slabs of shifting low end, whirling windlike whirs, almost like a manufactured nature recording.
The guitar returns for the third track, drifting gently, while the background noise builds into a slow motion wash of sound, the track culminating in a cloud of chimes and reverbed percussion, seasick swirls and struck steel strings, before slipping languidly into the final track, a lugubrious underwater crawl, all of the sounds muddy and indistinct, a sonar like ping buried way down in the mix, underneath it all a thick blanket of constant whirring drones, quite lovely.
Packaged in one of those cool, 6 panel, gatefold aRCHIVE
sleeves, glossy paper, super striking image of forest and clouds,
LIMITED TO 600 COPIES!!" [Aquarius Records]
www.archivecd.com
|
2007 |
€13.50 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND |
Surveillance Lounge (with bonus remix) |
do-CD |
"Long out of print and much in demand, this classic NWW CD is now back. This time as a double CD set with a CD of a completely unreleased alternate mix. It's packaged in a stunning matt digipak, with all the information in a clear gloss spot varnish. This is only visible from certain angles! NURSE WITH WOUND playing 'The Surveillance Lounge' were and are Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles, David Tibet, Nadja Belabidi, Lynn Jackson, Ollie Mathura O'Keeffe, Freek Kinkelaar, Miranda Kinkelaar, Melon Liles and Maude Swift."
|
2021 |
€19.50 |
|
| PLOTKIN, JAMES & PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE |
Death Rattle |
CD |
" “Death Rattle” is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. ‘Paal’s precision and constant invention/reinvention is mind-blowing, only matched by its intensity,’ James enthuses. ‘There’s a very fluid feel to what he’s doing despite the ferocity. Instead of trying to match the chaos, I opted to build a more solid foundation of repetition and melody for him to launch from. I really appreciated the role reversal of drummer and guitarist!’
James Plotkin’s distinctively extreme, aggressive guitar sound has been a constant presence in underground music since the late 1980s, when he founded the metal/industrial band OLD. As a solo artist and as a member of outfits such as Scorn, Khanate, Phantomsmasher, Khlyst and most recently Jodis, he has plotted a nomadic trail through new metal, dark ambient, industrial, noise, grindcore and drone rock. Sought out by Michael Gira, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Franz Treichler, Francisco López and many more, he has also remixed a wide range of artists from KK Null and Sunn O))) to Pelican, Earth, Nadja and Neu!. ‘I've wanted to work with Paal for the better part of a decade,’ comments James. ‘Stephen O'Malley had played one of Scorch Trio’s discs in the van during a Khanate tour and I could hardly believe it was only one drummer at work.’
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most intense drummers working on the planet right now. He grew up in Stavanger, west Norway, where his parents ran the city’s thriving jazz club. In theory he’s now based in Oslo, but there’s a huge global demand for his percussive threshing machine. He’s often travelling on a relentless round of musical projects and festival appearances – notably with Mats Gustafsson in The Thing, his Chicago trio with Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars, the Hairy Bones group with Peter Brötzmann and Toshinori Kondo, a trio with Massimo Pupillo and noise artist Lasse Marhaug, plus duos with Peter Brötzmann, Terrie Ex, John Butcher and others." [label info]
www.runegrammofon.com
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Death Rattle |
LP & CD |
" “Death Rattle” is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. ‘Paal’s precision and constant invention/reinvention is mind-blowing, only matched by its intensity,’ James enthuses. ‘There’s a very fluid feel to what he’s doing despite the ferocity. Instead of trying to match the chaos, I opted to build a more solid foundation of repetition and melody for him to launch from. I really appreciated the role reversal of drummer and guitarist!’
James Plotkin’s distinctively extreme, aggressive guitar sound has been a constant presence in underground music since the late 1980s, when he founded the metal/industrial band OLD. As a solo artist and as a member of outfits such as Scorn, Khanate, Phantomsmasher, Khlyst and most recently Jodis, he has plotted a nomadic trail through new metal, dark ambient, industrial, noise, grindcore and drone rock. Sought out by Michael Gira, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Franz Treichler, Francisco López and many more, he has also remixed a wide range of artists from KK Null and Sunn O))) to Pelican, Earth, Nadja and Neu!. ‘I've wanted to work with Paal for the better part of a decade,’ comments James. ‘Stephen O'Malley had played one of Scorch Trio’s discs in the van during a Khanate tour and I could hardly believe it was only one drummer at work.’
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most intense drummers working on the planet right now. He grew up in Stavanger, west Norway, where his parents ran the city’s thriving jazz club. In theory he’s now based in Oslo, but there’s a huge global demand for his percussive threshing machine. He’s often travelling on a relentless round of musical projects and festival appearances – notably with Mats Gustafsson in The Thing, his Chicago trio with Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars, the Hairy Bones group with Peter Brötzmann and Toshinori Kondo, a trio with Massimo Pupillo and noise artist Lasse Marhaug, plus duos with Peter Brötzmann, Terrie Ex, John Butcher and others." [label info]
www.runegrammofon.com
|
2013 |
€22.50 |
|
| PYRAMIDS WITH WRAITHS |
Magpie & Raven |
LP |
"Einseitig bespieltes, opakes Vinyl in bedrucktem Transparentpapiercover in PVC-Hülle plus Downloadcode auf Aurora Borealis. Von der Optik ganz eindeutig ein Sammlerstück, musikalisch ein weiteres Beispiel für die Art und Weise, wie Pyramids andere Musiker in ihre Ideen einbinden und dann trotz deutlich erweiterten Musiker-Line Ups fokussierte Werke entstehen lassen können. Wer die „Pyramids with Nadja“-Zusammenarbeit mochte und da besonders diese Stimmung dauernd vor dem Ausbruch, mit hervorgerufen und unterstützt durch diese windartigen Sounds, der sollte sich auch auf „Magpie & Raven“ (musikalisch) zu Hause fühlen: am Anfang sind da diese Klavierakkorde und ein erstes Erscheinen der Stimmen, die für die Stimmung des Gesamtstücks noch sehr wichtig werden sollen und überraschenderweise, kaum dass man sich auf diesen Auftakt eingelassen hat, setzt die volle Orchestrierung ein und steckt das Dynamik-Feld ab. Auf diesem herrscht im Weiteren eben wieder dieser Wind, hier unter einem offenen Himmel voller Graustufen mit diesen einsamen Stimmen und ihren Anrufungen als Zentrum, bald wieder unterstützt durch das Piano des Auftakts. Diese wenigen Elemente (und der Reiz des Wechsels zwischen Männer- und Frauenstimme) reichen völlig, die absolut unwirkliche Stimmung über die gesamte erste Hälfte von „Magpie & Raven“ zu tragen, bis sich der Wind wieder stärker aufschwingt und sämtliche Gitarren und das Schlagzeug ein zweites Mal anruft. Was dann folgt ist ein Beispiel, wie musikalisch Noise klingen kann, wenn er denn so erzeugt wird: ein Mahlstrom von Feedbacks unterschiedlichster Couleur, die so klingen, wie ein Loch in einem Staudamm (vermutet) klingen würde. Darauf irrlichternde Treble-Fetzen, die bald so etwas wie eine eigene Struktur über dem Ganzen bilden und der Rücksturz in die (Un-) Wirklichkeit. Nicht ohne eine letzte Ansage der Priesterin. …Statement." [N / Blackmagazin]
www.aurora-b.com
"Magpie & Raven' sees Pyramids at their most sprawling and with moments of ultimate bombast. With piano provided by Clay Ruby (Burial Hex) as an integral part, the 25 minute plus track weaves around this motif with massive guitars and a spoken word performance that is truly epic before everything dissolves in a maelstrom of organic noise as Wraiths eviscerate the previous musical section to its very atomic particles before all comes together again and the track ends with a sense of calm conclusion.
This amazing release is presented as a limited edition one-sided clear vinyl LP in a signature AB vellum-style sleeve with artwork by noted tattoo artist Simon Erl. The multi-layered artwork can all be seen as one whole when held up to the light. Comes with an MP3 download card. Housed in heavy PVC outer sleeve. Edition of 350." [label info]
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| SCOTT, SIMON (SIMON SCOTT) |
Navigare |
LP |
"This is the debut full-length release by the UK's Simon Scott. Scott has had a notable musical past: in the early '90s he was the drummer for the renowned shoegaze band Slowdive. Upon leaving Slowdive, he formed the more electronic-based group Televise. He also set up his own label, Kesh Recordings, and has so far released titles by the likes of Hannu, Sebastian Roux, Aus and Mark Templeton. More recently, Scott has been involved in several diverse projects, including his work as a member of Seavault (with Antony Ryan from Isan), and collaborations with Machinefabriek, Jasper TX and Emmanuele Errante. With Navigare, there are shades of Scott's previous output and musical interests, but as a whole, the album marks a bold new direction. Navigare opens with "Introduction Of Cambridge," a shimmering wall of sound, its ethereal tones and slow-burning drones gradually drawing closer and closer, creating gorgeous uplifting melodies and textures. The processed guitar combined with gentle swathes of interference and underlying rhythms echoes the processes of Chain Reaction's productions as much as it does the screeching, arcing feedback lines of Kevin Shield's guitar work. Navigare shares an affinity with the melodic content of Fennesz's work, the dark beauty of Tim Hecker's sound, and houses elements of the restraint found in Andrew Chalk's drone compositions. What really devastates here is Scott's ability to merge ambient passages with such memorable melodic cycles, taking the simplest of ideas and building on them, generating murky hooks and submerged "riffs." Scott explores textures using a variety of instruments including sitar, violin, cello, and flute, merging them with excerpts from field recordings; it all sounds so effortless. The looping rhythms and slow guitars rise and grow, at times approaching something oppressive; select pieces such as "Flood Inn" house an underlying weight, comparable to Justin K. Broderick's Jesu and Final projects. Perhaps the hazy drums, bass and guitar drift of "The ACC" presents the most recognizable of stylistic qualities from Scott's back catalog; a groove that recalls the Souvlaki-era sound in all its glory, re-imagined in a new, darker and more expansive form. Additionally, a guest appearance from label mate Jasper TX, a vocal contribution from Moskitoo, and a track co-written with Rafael Anton Irisarri, adds even more depth to Scott's already ambitious vision." [label info]
www.myspace.com/o3o3o
"Ah, Miasmah! After the likes of Elegi, Jacazek, and Kreng, we're pretty much automatically interested in any new release on
Norway's Miasmah label. Like this one. Add in some bits of trivia, like that Scott was once the drummer for shoegazers Slowdive, and that
this disc features a guest cameo from another Miasmah artist we love, Jasper TX, and we're already pretty intrigued. We also weren't at all surprised, but certainly pleased, by the gentle swells of ambient sonics that seep sleepily from the speakers when one hits play. The first two tracks, "Introduction Of Cambridge" and "Under Crumbling Skies", are blissfully replete with quiet hum and shimmering textures, forming into and out of drifting diaphanous melodies, blurry and
melancholic. Some sparse, slowed down drum skitter adds a touch of Bohren to the proceedings in the first track, while the second employs a glorious chorus of angelic drones, that graces one's ears again and
again throughout the disc.
Then, suddenly upping the volume, the third track "Flood Inn" seemingly enters into a subterranean realm full of soft fuzzy distortion. Quasi-industrially rhythmic, with a distant tolling bell heard amidst the crackle, this is ambience of the heavier (but not
harsh) variety, almost like something from a Nadja or Jesu album.
Having given warning of a more sinister side, the disc continues on, with seven tracks more, being a beautiful blend of dreaminess, drone and distortion. There are almost pop songs hidden here, with buried rhythms and barely-there vocals (in one instance
contributed by 12K's Sanae Yamasaki, aka Moskitoo), electronic treatments rendering the sound sources (guitar, sitar, violin, cello,
flute, field recordings, voice, ???) all one lush, hushed, beautifully bleary, gorgeous warm bath of song-like drone...
It's a moodier, shoegazier take on Pop Ambient perhaps, certainly something that fans of Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Final, Jasper
TX, and of course those other Miasmah wonders should check out!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| TALVIHORROS |
Descent into Delta |
CD |
"A year passes by and finally Talvihorros is back with his latest album Descent Into Delta to be released on both vinyl and CD. The man behind this one man guitar driven excursion is London based Ben Chatwin who in addition to hibernate has had material released through Benbecula, My Dance The Skull and our sister label Rural Colours. Despite only recently forming the Talvihorros project in 2008, Chatwin has been experimenting with sound ever since he first picked up a guitar as a teenager. His live performances have seen him share a stage with the likes of Tim Hecker, Stephan Mathieu and Ian Hawgood to name just a few. Chatwin has to this point juggled live performances and studio work as two separate entities with studio material being culled from sounds derived from as many different instruments as possible and live performances being restricted to just guitar and pedals.
Descent Into Delta marks the blurring of the lines which separate these two disciplines. It was live performance that ignited the production of this record, which began life as a series of live improvisations, these were then selected and edited over a long period of time. During the mixing process the concept to Descent Into Delta was born and it slowly developed through many hours of editing and arrangement. Chatwin became interested in different states of mind, realising it actually produces frequencies or waves - much like sound, itself. When the mind is alert, awake or anxious, these waves are Gamma, at the other extreme, during deep sleep, Delta waves are produced. It was in turn Chatwin's intention that the sounds of Descent Into Delta would loosely depict a journey from Gamma through to Delta, as a kind of experiment to see whether the listener could be subconsciously encouraged to trace this path through sound.
Towards the last few moments of the album on the last track 'Delta', Chatwin was joined by viola player Anais Lalange who added a subtle but effective impact to the closing stages of this record. The addition of this instrument brings a whole new dimension and texture to the guitar explorations of Talvihorros." [label info]
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
"Back in Vital Weekly 731 I reviewed the first CD by Talvihorros, also known as Ben Chatwin, a man with a guitar and effect pedals. He has had a couple of other releases, which I didn't hear. Up until this album there was a separation between live concerts and studio work. In his studio he would be using whatever sounds he could produce from whatever instrument, but live he was restricted to guitar plus effects. For this new studio album he took many hours of live playing into the studio and then started to edit and arrange this. Of his previous release on Hibernate I thought it was all quite ambient, but on this new one, things are less strictly defined. The guitar is overall a dominant factor for this, and its played at times in a more improvised way, feeding through bundles of sound effects. That results at times in menacing walls of sound such as in 'Beta', in which it reaches for the ambient doom of Nadja. Darkness is anyway something that lingers in all five pieces here, even in its more introspective and quiet moments, such as the very beautiful 'Delta', which has a nice viola to it. One could say that with this album Talvihorros found more a voice of his own than on the previous. Blending ambient with the improvised textures of ambient doom/metal into five fine tapestries of sound is very nice, though not unheard before, but a fine move indeed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| TENHORNEDBEAST / MARZURAAN |
split |
CD |
Zwei lange Stücke auf dieser Split der Bands aus UK. Unfassbar weiten & mächtigen, fast halbstündigen DOOM-DRONE produzieren TENHORNEDBEAST, die früher als ENDVRA aktiv waren. MARZURAAN ist die zweite Inkarnation von RYN, und sie rocken hier weniger metallisch-krachig, sondern in wunderbarer ultra-minimaler JESU-Manier... Spezielles ausgestanztes Cover.
"Aurora Borealis is proud to present this split CD by two of the lesser known greats from the Northeast of England. TENHORNEDBEAST is the dark vision of Christopher Walton, part of the much feted ENDVRA, masters of 90s dark and occult ambient. 'Law of the needle', clocking in at over 28 minutes, is an oppressive opus of doomed drone, both monolithic and multifaceted. Pure power. "elongated, sinister drone, ...distant, echoing string resonance from bowed guitars and cold, steely walls of distortion" think the good folks at Boomkat, as well they may. MARZURAAN contribute 'Into countless battles', 13 minutes of narcotic guitar haze. I think this is my favourite of anything they have done to date. So good, you never want it to end. The gruff metal grunts of the 'Solid Wood' LP have been replaced by a subdued, almost crushed vocal, totally stands out. "acres of textured guitar, low end pressure and brooding drums" say Boomnkat. Can't wait to hear more from MARZURAAN - this is epic, like a bassier, looser, Mogadon dosed JESU with a man past caring roped in to give his thoughts on where its all gone wrong. Pete from MARZURAAN did the artwork and layout. Printed on heavy textured card and with 2 diecut runes. Comes in a pvc bag." [label info]
" Every once in a while, someone will release a record, and we can't help but feel like it was made specifically for us. And for you. Some records just perfectly speak to the aQ aesthetic, as undefinable as that seems to be. This is another one of those cases. Someone thought it would be a perfect combination to match up UK one man ambient drone outfit Tenhornedbeast, with UK slow motion doomlords Marzuraan. And it is perfect. And a fantastic idea, but just because something is a great idea, doesn't always mean someone thinks of it. And we're not saying we had been thinking someone should get these two bands together specifically, we're just glad they did, and we sort of wish we HAD thought of it. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing is that it happened, and now we can all luxuriate in the deep dark heaviness both of these bands explore. And while the bands are indeed different, their aesthetics are not all that far removed. The both exist in some blackened nether region, haunting sonic realms, where heaviness can be expressed in both utter darkness and extreme force, sometimes
both, and once in awhile neither.
Tenhornedbeast offer up a nearly 30 minute long sonic ritual, beginning as a bit of swirling black minimalism, but slowly building to a truly intense wall of doomdrone, the sound thick and textured, a churning cauldron of low end buzz and downtuned disembodied riffs, all brought to a boil and poured out in a viscous black torrent, left to flow like some subterranean river. But these deep drones are laced with melodies, and keening high end shards, allowed to shine forth occasionally, but often swallowed up before they can fill those caves with their unnatural light. The track continually changes shape, sound and timbre, various shades of grey and black, lightening and darkening as the landscape changes, a haunting journey through some lost world, where sound replaces sight, allowing us to navigate ever deeper.
Marzuraan counter with what must be one of their prettiest tracks ever. It's still sludgey and doomy, but the notes ring out, the melodies almost soar, the sound fuzzy and glimmering, almost like these guys have caught the shoegaze bug as well. Washed out and blissy, super melodic and melancholy, but the coolest part is that the track seems to warble and waver, almost like someone is manually adjusting the tape speed, so the notes sound drunken and drugged, the track lurches and weaves drunkenly, only adding to the haunting and off kilter beauty. Part way through, the riffs get a little more riffy, and then the vocals come in, a moaning distant croon, and we're most definitely in serious Jesu territory, but that weird speed shifting hitch, keeps it from sounding too pretty, or two blissy. But if these guys keep heading in this direction, they could definitely give Jesu, and Nadja and other metallic shoegazers a run for their money.
The packaging is super swank, a three panel gatefold, each of the front panels diecut with each band's symbol, printed inside and out, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a sticker affixed to the front." [Aquarius Records review]
www.aurora-b.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| TESTCARD |
#24: BUG REPORT. Digital war besser |
BOOK |
" »Wie würden Sie das Internet beschreiben?«
»Als die Hölle in bunt, mit Nullen und Einsen. Eine binäre bunte Hölle.«
– Bernd das Brot
Bei kaum einem Medium fallen Theorie und Praxis so wenig in eins wie bei Computern und dem Internet. Wir lesen Blogs, auf denen in einer Breite und Tiefe über nischenhafte Popmusik gesprochen wird, wie es im »goldenen Zeitalter« des Pop-Journalismus niemals möglich gewesen wäre. Wir halten unsere Plattensammlungen mit Datenbanken, die von ihren NutzerInnen gefüllt werden, auf dem neuesten Stand. Gleichzeitig steht uns ein Großteil der Musikgeschichte mit ein paar Suchanfragen zur Verfügung – womöglich illegal, auf jeden Fall aber kostengünstig. Auch die testcard-Redaktion selbst, die sich zwischen drei Großstädten und einer bayerischen Universitätsstadt aufteilt, wäre ohne das Netz kaum koordinierbar.
Trotzdem hört man gerade in sub- und gegenkulturellen Kreisen Klagen, die weit über die Kritik an der Datensammlung durch Regierungen, Geheimdienste und Medienkonzerne oder mickrigen Spotify-Einnahmen hinausgehen. Von »digitaler Erschöpfung« ist da die Rede oder von »kommunikativem Kapitalismus«, von einer Verschränkung von Liberalismus und Kybernetik, der Herrschaft der Algorithmen oder vom »fucking Internet«. Zeit für eine Bestandsaufnahme jenseits von kalifornischer Ideologie und »Disruption«, aber ausdrücklich nicht auf der Seite derjenigen, die mit aller Macht ihren Einfluss von den alten Medien in die neuen herüberretten wollen.
Vielleicht sprechen wir letztlich über ein altes Problem: Was ist die Basis, was der Überbau, wie verhalten sie sich zueinander? Das Sprechen über Digitalisierung und das Netz fällt uns vielleicht deshalb schwer, weil die Form von Technologie nicht ohne ihren polit-ökonomischen und sozialen Rahmen zu denken ist. Oder sind ein anderes Computing und ein anderes Netz möglich?
Aus dem Inhalt: Sounds der Digitalisierung >> Verschaltete Welt >> Kleine Genealogie des Computers >> Digitales ABC >> Zustand und Zukunft des Webcomics >> Digitale vs. analoge »Gegenwart« >> Nathan Jurgensons Webtheorien >> Mensch-Maschinen und Roboter >> Erzählen in der Digitalisierung >> Altern der digitalen Ästhetik >> Retrospieleboom >> Ungegenstand der Musikinformatik >> Let’s Player >> Indie-Computerspiele >> Ästhetik des Post-Digitalen >> ...
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Christian Werthschulte:
(right now, please). Warum die digitale Gegenwart irgendwie auch nicht besser als die analoge geworden ist
Roger Behrens:
Digital ABC
Roger Behrens:
Digitale Frist. Computer. Pop. (Beta-Version)
eve massacre:
Network of blood. Von »Augmented Reality« bis zum »Liquid Self«: Nathan Jurgensons Webtheorien
Waltraud Blischke:
Bugs, Big Data und die UnverNETZbaren. Ein Gespräch mit Peter Bittner, Stefan Hügel und Julia Stoll vom FIfF
Marco Schröder:
Eine Maschine für alle Maschinen. Kleine Genealogie des Computers mit Implikationen für seine Anwendung in Philosophie und Musik
Raphael Smarzoch:
Rumorende Algorithmen. Die Sounds der Digitalisierung
Flora Könemann & Chris W. Wilpert:
Part of your distortion. Effekte im Zeitalter ihrer Re-Auratisierung
Julian Rohrhuber:
Dienst nach Vorschrift. Über den Ungegenstand der Musikinformatik
Waltraud Blischke:
t-cardcomp. Die Musikliste zur ungeregelten Geschmacksynthese
Jonas Engelmann:
In Love With the Modern World. Ein virtueller Roundtable über Zustand und Zukunft des Webcomics hierzulande
Carl Wiemer:
Das schnelle Altern der digitalen Ästhetik. Samuel Beckett und der Zenit ?ästhetischer Modernität
David Schwertgen:
Der Autor im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit
Johannes Ullmaier:
Human Trouble. Transhumane Anthropologie im Turing-Test
Hommer / Lenzin:
Parolen aus der Stadt. Abenteuer eines Wolfes. Episode 3
Bettina Wilpert:
Guided by Voices. Erzählen in der Digitalisierung
Waltraud Blischke:
»Wenn man damit Geld verdienen kann, muss das ja salonfähig sein.«
Ein Gespräch mit dem Let’s Player SgtRumpel
Philipp Eichhorn:
Technology in our hands. DIY als Totengräber des Fortschritts anhand des Retrospielebooms
Fiona Sara Schmidt:
Die Geschichte muss das Medium notwendig machen. Die Spieledesignerin Lea Schönfelder über Autorenspiele, Zensur und perfekte Posen
Benedikt Frank / Thomas Schröder:
Wo andere Urlaub machen. Arbeit im Spiel, Spiele als Arbeit
Rezensionen Tonträger:
20.SV: The Great Sonic Wave
ADDISON GROOVE: Turn Up The Silence
ALOA: s/t
ALTE SAU: s/t
ALVARIUS B: Chin Spirits
AMANDA FEERY: Spells From The Ice Age
AME ZEK: Rostfrei
AMON DÜÜL II: Düülirium
ANDROMERDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA: Live on Planet Earth
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB: Medow Mechanicals
BANANA PILL: Weave
BANKS: GODDESS
BART DE PAEPE: Rhode
BEYONCÉ KNOWLES: s/t
BILL ORCUTT: Daddy’s Got A Spice Rack
BILL ORCUTT: Fantomas ? Le Faux Magistrat
BIRD PEOPLE: King Of the Grove / Nightshades
BOHREN UND DER CLUB OF GORE: Piano Nights
BRIDGET HAYDEN: Just Ideas/The Night’s Veins
BUCK GOOTER: Molescules
BULBUL: Hirn Fein Hacken
CATHY LANE: The Hebrides Suite
CHRIS PETIT: The Museum of Loneliness
CHRISTINA KUBISCH UND ECKEHARD GÜTER: Mosaïque Mosaic
CICADA DREAM BAND: Bug Music
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE: Signals from the Pier Thirteen
DANIEL BACHMANN: Orange Co. Serenade
DANIEL BLINKHORN:Terra Subfónica
DAS WEISSE PFERD: Inland Empire
DATASHOCK: Keine Oase in Sicht
DEUTSCHE TRINKERJUGEND: Scheissegal
DIE HEITERKEIT: Monterey
DIE PARTEI La Freiheit des Geistes
DIVIL A’ BIT: In Deference To The Squeamish
DJ RASHAD: Rollin’ EP / Double Cup / We On 1
DJ SARDENA: The Voice: Studio Sardena
DJ SLUGO: King Of Ghetto House
DSR LINES: Spoel
EEK: Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute
EIKO ISHIBASHI: Imitation Of Live
EMBRYO: Message From Era Ora
FENNESZ: Bécs
FENSTER: The Pink Caves
FILIPE FELIZARDO: Volume II ? Sede e Morte ? Guitar Variations For The Thirsty And The Dead
FKA TWIGS: LP1
GONZÁLEZ & STEENKISTE: Dimly Lit
GÜNTER SCHLIENZ: Contemplation
HAILU MERGIA: Shemonmuanaye
HALSABSCHNEIDER: Havelmusik 1982?1984
HEIN SCHOERS: The Sounding Museum: Box Of Treasures
HELEN: Witch/Zanzibar
HELLVETE: Ode
HONIGRITTER: Kellergeister in unserem Haus
IF, BWANA: Live at the Logos Tetrahedon
INEZ LIGHTFOOT: Sleep By Day / Fly By Night
ISLAJA: S U U
JA, PANIK: Libertatia
JAMMIN GERALD: Factory Funk
JASON LESCALLEET: Much To My Demise
JEFF & JANE HUDSON: Flesh
JIM O’ ROURKE / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE / LASSE MARHAUG: The Love Robots
JIM O’ ROURKE: Old News / No.?9 / No.?5 / No.?7 / No.?6 / No.?8 / FIRE! WITH JIM
JOSHUA BURKETT: Xavier’s Birds
JUMPING BACK SLASH: Namhlanje EP
KELIS: Food
KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT: Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa
KILLERLADY: s/t
KK NULL + THE NOISER: s/t
KLINISCH SAUBER: Kommerz Krieg Mond!
KREIDLER: ABC
KREISKY: Blick auf die Alpen
KRISSI B: The Duke
LANA DEL REY: Ultraviolence
LASSE-MARC RIEKS: Helgoland
LAU NAU: Valohiukkanen
LEAST CARPET: Back Alley
LIEVEN MARTENS MOANA: Os Canais
LILY ALLEN: Sheezus
LIMPE FUCHS / VIZ MICHAEL KREMITZ: Kugel Haus Musik
LOS MICROWAVES: Life After Breakfast
LOUIS SARNO: Song From The Forest
LOVE A / KOETER: Split
LUKE FOWLER: Fowl Tapes II
MAMMANE SANI: La Musique Électronique Du Niger / Mammane Sani And The Workstation / Taaritt
MANY ARMS: Suspended Definiton
MARCELLUS PITTMAN: Do You Like Music EP / 1044 Coplin
MARION, FRANZISKA UND ARNULF MEIFERT: Incredible Familiar Music / Absolute Relative Music
MARK PRITCHARD: You Don’t Know Me
MARY OCHER: Eden
MERZOURGA: 52°46’ North 13°29’ East. Music For Waxcylinders
METABOLISMUS: Sus
MOUSE ON MARS: Spezmodia EP
MURENA MURENA: Ghoaster Coaster
MUTTER: Text und Musik
MY BLOODY VALENTINE: mbv
NOXAGT: Brutage / Collection 1
O’ ROURKE / Steamroom
OLIMPIA SPLENDID: Nuttu Nurin
ORACLES: Stanford Torus EP
OREN AMBARCHI, KEIJI HAINO & JIM O’ ROURKE: Imikuzushi / Now While It’s Still Warm Let Us Pour In All The Mystery
ORPHAN FAIRYTALE: My Favourite Fairytale
PANABRITE: Wasteland Cycle
PARRIS MITCHELL: Project EP
PART WILD HORSES MANE ON BOTH SIDES: Aulos’ Second Reed
PASCAL NICHOLS: Nihilist Chakai House
PATRICK COWLEY: School Daze
PETER MICHAEL HAMEL / THOMAS GUNDERMANN: Coincidence
PETER MICHAEL HAMEL:Voice Of Silence
PHARRELL WILLIAMS: G I R L
RAMBLING BOYS: True To Blue
RASHAD BECKER: Traditionel Music of National Species Vol. 1
RAUM: Event Of Your Leaving
RAZEN: Reed Bombus LFO
RODOLPHE ALEXIS: Morne Diablotins
RP BOO: Legacy
RUARI O’ BAOIGHILL: The Faceless One
RYLEY WALKER: All Kinds Of You
SCHREIN: Einszweinschrein
SIR RICHARD BISHOP: Solo Acoustic Vol. 8
STAER: Daughters
STEVE GUNN / MIKE COOPER: Cantons de Lisboa / Way Out Weather
STOSSTRUPP REVIVAL DUETT: s/t
SUN RA: Mix-Tape
SUNROOF!: Rock Power
SWANS: To Be Kind
TENSES: Howard
THE SPACE LADY: The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits / »Major Tom«/»Radar Love« / Recorded Live in San Francisco / Songs in the Key of Z. Vol. 2
THE YOUNG MOTHERS: A Mothers Work Is Never Done
THEO PARRISH: Footwork / American Intelligence / Theo Parrish’s Black Signature
TOM WU: s/t
TRAXMAN: Da Mind Of Traxman / Da Mind Of Traxman 2 / Westside Boogie Traxy Vol. 3
TREK WITH QUINTRONIC: Landing Plus
VALERIO TRICOLI: Miseri Lares
VAPOUR THEORIES: Split-LP
VENN RAIN: Crepuscular Raze
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Keine Bewegung!
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Pulsating Strings: A Collection of Psychedelic Asian Guitar Music
VARIOUS ARTISTS: 10 Year Anniversary Hybrid Vinyl Series
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Cassette Van Antwerpen
VARIOUS ARTISTS: La Psicotropia
VILLAGE OF SPACES: Gathering
WESTBAM: Götterstrasse
WILLIAM ONYEABOR: Who Is William Onyeabor?
WILLIAM TYLER: Impossible Truth
WOOG RIOTS: From Lo-Fi to Disco
ZEA: The Swimming City
Rezensionen Papier:
ALBERTINE SARRAZIN: Astragalus
ASTRID KUSSER: Körper in Schieflage. Tanzen im Strudel des Black Atlantic um 1900
BENJAMIN STEIN: Das Alphabet des Rabbi Löw
BLACK HAWK HANCOCK: American Allegory. Lindy Hop And The Racial Imagination
BRECHT EVENS: Die Amateure
CHRISTIANE BAREITHER, KASPAR MAASE, MIRJAM NAST (HG.): Unterhaltung und Vergnügung. Beiträge der Europäischen Ethnologie zur Populärkulturforschung
CHRISTOPHE BLAIN: Gus: 1. Nathalie / 2. Schöner Bandit / 3. Ernest
CLAUDIA BOSSE (Hg.): Cheap Method Edition #1. Struggling Bodies In Capitalist Societies (Democracies)
DANIEL CLOWES: Der Todesstrahl
DAVID BUCKLEY: Kraftwerk. Die unautorisierte Biographie
DAVID PRUDHOMME: Einmal durch den Louvre
DAVID SIMONELLI: Working Class Heroes. Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s
DENNIS EICK: Digitales Erzählen. Die Dramaturgie der Neuen Medien
DIEDRICH DIEDERICHSEN: Über Pop-Musik
DIETER MERSCH: Ordo ab chao ? Order from Noise
DIETMAR DATH / OLIVER SCHEIBLER: Mensch wie Gras wie
DIETMAR DATH: Feldeváye ? Roman der letzten Künste
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: Present Shock
EKKEHARD KNÖRER: Battlestar Galactica
ENNO STAHL: Diskurspogo. Über Literatur und Gesellschaft
ERIKA SCHMIED: Peter Kurzeck ? Der radikale Biograph
ERWIN IN HET PANHUIS: Hinter den schwulen Lachern. Homosexualität bei den Simpsons
FANNY BRITT / ISABELLE ARSENAULT: Jane, der Fuchs und ich
FLORIAN CRAMER: Exe.cut(up)able statements. Poetische Kalküle und Phantasmen des selbstausführenden Texts
GUNNAR HINDRICHS: Die Autonomie des Klangs
HANS BLUMENBERG: Präfiguration. Arbeit am politischen Mythos
HANS-CHRISTIAN DANY: Morgen werde ich Idiot. Kybernetik und Kontrollgesellschaft
HEIKO KOCH: Casa Pound Italia. Mussolinis Erben
IAN F. SVENONIUS: 22 Strategien für die erfolgreiche Gründung einer Rockband
JAN SÜSELBECK (HG.): Familiengefühle. Generationengeschichte und NS-Erinnerung in den Medien
JOE SACCOS: Der Erste Weltkrieg ? Die Schlacht an der Somme
JONAS ENGELMANN: Gerahmter Diskurs ? Gesellschaftsbilder im Independent-Comic
JÜRGEN SCHMICH: Plattensüchtig. Expeditionen in eine andere Welt. 7 Schallplattensammler im Interview
JÜRGEN ZIMMERER: Kein Platz an der Sonne. Erinnerungsorte der deutschen Kolonialgeschichte
KATIA FOUQUET: Jonas oder der Künstler bei der Arbeit
KITTY KRAUS: Lidschlag
LINDER STERLING: Frau/Objekt
LUCIUS BURCKHARDT: Der kleinstmögliche Eingriff
MAGNUS KLAUE: Verschenkte Gelegenheiten. Polemiken, Glossen, Essays
MAISHA EGGERS / GRADA KILOMBA / PEGGY PIESCHE / SUSAN ARNDT: Mythen, Masken und Subjekte. Kritische Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland
MANUEL MENRATH: Afrika im Blick. Afrikabilder im deutschsprachigen Europa 1870?1970
MARIA JANION: Die Polen und ihre Vampire. Studien zur Kritik kultureller Phantasmen
MARK BUTLER: Das Spiel mit sich. (Kink, Drugs & Hip-Hop). Populäre Techniken des Selbst zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts
MARTIN NIEDERAUER: Die Widerständigkeiten des Jazz. Sozialgeschichte und Improvisation unter den Imperativen der Kulturindustrie
MERCEDES BUNZ: Die stille Revolution. Wie Algorithmen Wissen, Arbeit, Öffentlichkeit und Politik verändern, ohne dabei viel Lärm zu machen
MICHAEL PETRY (HG.): Nature Morte ? Stillleben in der zeitgenössischen Kunst
MICHAEL PHILIPP / BUCERIUS KUNSTFORUM (HG.): Dionysos. Rausch und Ekstase
OSWALD WIENER: die verbesserung von mitteleuropa
OUMAR DIALLO / JOACHIM ZELLER: Black Berlin. Die deutsche Metropole und ihre afrikanische Diaspora in Geschichte und Gegenwart
PETER KURZECK: Bis er kommt / Angehalten die Zeit
SPRING: The ABC of Tragedy / Wunder
STEFFEN SCHOLL: Musik ? Raum ? Technik. Zur Entwicklung und Anwendung der graphischen Programmierumgebung »Max«
STEPHAN PACKARD (Hg.): Comics & Politik
STUART HALL: Ausgewählte Schriften
SUSAN ARNDT / ANTJE HORNSCHEIDT: Afrika und die deutsche Sprache. Ein kritisches Nachschlagewerk
SUSAN ARNDT / NADJA OFUATEY-ALAZARD: Wie Rassismus aus Wörtern spricht. (K)erben des Kolonialismus im Wissensarchiv deutsche Sprache
THOMAS MEINECKE: Analog. Kolumnen
TOBIAS GOLL / DANIEL KEIL / THOMAS TELIOS (HG.): Critical Matter. Diskussionen eines neuen Materialismus
VARIOUS ARTISTS: In 50 Comics um die Welt / Comics zur Lage der Welt
VOLKAN ÇIDAM: Die Phänomenologie des Widergeistes. Eine anerkennungstheoretische Deutung von Marx’ normativer Kritik am Kapitalismus im Kapital
VOLKO KAMENSKY / JULIAN ROHRUBER (HG.): Ton. Texte zur Akustik im Dokumentarfilm
WENZEL STORCH: Die Filme
WERNER SCHWAB: Fäkaliendramen
WOLFGANG HERRNDORF: Arbeit und Struktur"
[Verlags / website info]
www.ventil-verlag.de/katalog/testcard
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| THISQUIETARMY |
Aftermath |
CD |
"Quite some time ago I reviewed 'Unconquered', one of the three previous releases by Eric Quach, also known as Thisquietarmy (see Vital Weekly 628). His fourth album is 'Aftermath', and released by Basses Frequences. Quach is not unlike his fellow country man Nadja (or perhaps like Aidan Baker), he plays guitar and lots of sound effects. To result is not too dissimilar to Nadja or Baker: highly atmospheric drone music, with a nice touch of melody here and there. In general the idea is to raise a wall of sound (as in built from many layers, not the noise type of sound) through loops created on the guitar and through the effects, and then, when everything is in place, he adds a guitar melody on top. Its a simple yet effective method to create such music, and Thisquietarmy does that well, I must say. Great moody music. But like with so many others, armed with guitars, loop stations and such like, there is also not much new under the sun. That should merely be noted. Not as a complaint,
but as a statement. If you are looking for something new, this might not be the place where it happens, so you know. If you are looking for more music along the lines of Troum, Nadja or Fear Falls Burning: Thisquietarmy is as good as them." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.bassesfrequences.org
|
2010 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
Vessels |
LP |
"Montreal's THISQUIETARMY create sublime yet massive walls of beautiful shimmering drone, at times with a near pop sensibility, at others near Industrial in its percussive bombast. "Vessels" explores themes of the sea and man's struggle with this relentless and all pervasive force, the music a perfect means of expressing both the flat calm and the force 9 storm. Eric Quach, the man behind thisquietarmy, is a prolific artist, and "Vessels" is perhaps his most impactive work to date. "The Pacific Theater" grips the listener in warm drone before slamming them into the rocks with epic percussion. Album closer "A Spanish Galleon" takes a more gentle approach with clean guitar and washes of orchestral strings. Quach's live performances are presented as a real-time multimedia installation, based on an impromptu score to a prepared film, which he creates himself. The visual themes revolve around dark ethereal ambiences and ghostly abstract. The live material can be as structured as it can be improvised on the spot, depending on the moment's vibe, and drowns the audience in a hypnotic dream-like state of introspection. For Fans Of: NADJA, JESU, AUN, AIDAN BAKER." [label info]
www.aurora-b.com
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
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| THISQUIETARMY & SLEEPWALKER |
8493 |
CD |
The first meeting of Russia's Sleepwalker and Canada's Thisquietarmy was at their concert in the Tomsk State Planetarium in 2018. After this iconic 3D show they decided to record this collaboration. 8493 is the distance that separates the musicians from two continents. Sleepwalker is a one-man project from the depths of Siberia, who uses guitars, drones analogue synths and handcrafted instruments to create ambient soundscapes and dark post-rock music with guitar drones. Thisquietarmy is the ever-evolving sonic project of Eric Quach, revolving around improvised guitar-based drone in which he creates expansive, immersive soundscapes through electronic explorations. He is also known for his work with Aidan Baker (Nadja), Syndrome (Amenra), and Voivod. Digipak.
https://ksenza.bandcamp.com/album/8493
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
 TROUM TRANSFORMATION TAPES: The 20th Anniversary Celebration (1997-2017) |
do-CD |
with: ALLSEITS, CONTRASTATE, V.O.S.(YEN POX), VANCE ORCHESTRA, TARKATAK, RAISON D'ETRE, NADJA, MARTYN BATES w. TROUM, MULTER, QST (Frans de Waard/KAPOTTE MUZIEK), URE THRALL, MYRRMAN (SAL SOLARIS), INADE, DUAL, BAD SECTOR, CISFINITUM, REUTOFF, MOLJEBKA PVLSE, and MARKOW C.
ORIGINAL INVITATION:
"Dear Friends and Dreamers,
Troum did the very first performance under this name (after the demise of Maeror Tri) in March 1997, so this year we reach our 20th anniversary. We have never done any anniversary "celebration" or "remix" projects of Troum material before, so we thought maybe it's the time now!
You can choose any existing Troum material (also taken from multiple tracks) to cover, re-interpretate, re-work/process/arrange or collage it. You can also add your own sounds, create a new track-title, watever comes to your mind! (We are certainly NOT looking for a standard "remix", so we don't send out any specific material to everyone!).
This invitation goes out to various musicians that have worked with us over the 20 years, which became friends or important for our evolution as a band." TROUM, March 2017
2. TRACKLIST:
CD 1
1. ALLSEITS - Times
2. CONTRASTATE - The Silent Fish
3. INADE - The innermost Sun
4. VANCE ORCHESTRA - Giascei
5. TARKATAK - vs. Brinnan
6. RAISON D'ETRE - Ananke
7. NADJA - Mirrored in You
8. MARTYN BATES w. TROUM - An Untitled Protest
9. [MULTER] - Sela Saiwala MNX
CD 2
1. QST - Kapotte Muziek by Troum (QST remix 2017)
2. URE THRALL - Krypte
3. 016 vs. MYRRMAN - Sen №350 (Psychic Automaton Rework)
4. V.O.S. (Steve Hall/YEN POX) - Breath Again
5. DUAL - TTN (Ursprung)
6. BAD SECTOR - Signedumiroir
7. MARKOW C. - Chaneism
8. CISFINITUM - Skaun[ei]s
9. REUTOFF - Hypoxia (Troum Spirare Cover)
10. MOLJEBKA PVLSE - Ennoia
Liner Notes from JIM HAYNES:
It was 1996 when the German industrial project Maeror Tri disbanded, and I recall being deeply saddened by the news. A few years earlier, I had discovered the project while working at a now-defunct distribution company in San Francisco. Fittingly released through Korm Plastics 'Introductions' series, Maeror Tri's Multiple Personality Disorder reflected an interested in psychological pathology as channeled through raw sound. Industrial culture has long used the metaphors of disease as a mirror to shine a light on any number of ills in contemporary society. This particular album addresses four aspects of the titular disorder, itself the most extreme form of schizophrenia which fractures the discrete personalities, which Maeror Tri identified in the general dissociative characteristics: The Administrator, The Anaesthetizer, The Revenger, The Protector. With each of these tracks, Maeror Tri orchestrated dense layers of heavily effected, sustained noise, back-masked growlings, and shimmering drones as emotionally resonant portraits to those four personality traits. With Industrial culture's penchant for sensationalized horror of autopsy and abbatoir footage, Maeror Tri's constructs were uniquely sympathetic to those who suffered from this debilitating disease.
With the posthumous release of Emotional Engramm in 1997, Maeror Tri's compositional complexity began to blossom, relying less on the hypnogogic dislocation of time-lag effects and more on the poetics and the portent of the underlying melodies that rippled through their ghostly accretions for drone and noise. Right as they called it quits, the ideas of Maeror Tri had expressed a maturity that had much more to say through the collapse of sound into an crushed, all-encompassing, cathartic tsunami.
What was to emerge in the wake of Maeror Tri's dissolution did not immediately seem clear. Founding member Stefan Knappe had already established his impeccably curated Drone Records, which initially focused on the improbable medium of the 7" single to release long-form works of dark ambient, heavy drone, and industrial din. Many of these artists that landed on Drone were unknown or under-appreciated projects, but without fail, these proved to be impressive documents and demanded that they be acquired upon sight with or without any idea of who exactly was behind the project. In this series, Knappe did commisson work from a number of highly acclaimed musicians including Inade, Francisco Lopez, Cranioclast, Aidan Baker, The Lotus Eaters, etc. but there were the lesser known acts such as the Hungarian experimental project Hideg Roncs, Holland's esoteric ambient outfit Indra Karmuka, and the hermetic tape machinist Abner Malaty. Drone released exactly 100 singles between 1993 and 2010, at which time the format switched to a four-way split LP format under the Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone banner, in addition to the 10" Substantia Innominata series, both of which maintain high calibre curation to this day.
In 1998, Knappe reconvened with fellow Maeror Tri member Martin Gitschel to form Troum. The name for this new project was taken from an archaic German word for dream and provides clear insight into their investigations manifesting universal archetypes and symbols from a collective unconsciousness into an overwhelming flood of sound. The first recordings for Troum were published on a small cassette housed in a small pillow, ascribed with the title Dreaming Muzak. As with Maeror Tri, Troum sculpt their dronescapes mostly through heavily processed guitars along with an assortment of other instruments. If the intent of Troum was to put the listener to sleep, the lulling vibrating patterns certainly have the capacity; but the overall darkness of these sounds will never inspire the most pleasant of dreams. These are shadowy, bleak, and cold sounds which permeate the album, and lend themselves to images of desolate factories spewing a constant stream of black soot in some wintery post-Soviet country.
At the turn of the millennium, Troum embarked on their ambitious Tjukurrpa trilogy, the title of which has its origin in the physical, spiritual, and psychological state of dreamtime for the Australian Aboriginals, symbolizing Troum's intention to divine transcendence through their hypnogogic compositions. They applied these ideas to the three compositional foundations to their music, in Harmonies, Drones, and Rhythms & Pulsations each of which are highlighted on the trilogies component albums. Harmonies for Troum relate to the cold ambient swirls of resonant timbres from Troum's interlocked guitars that cycle through minor-key chords bathed in a resplendent wash of effects and melancholy atmospheres. Troum's signature drones are heavy, lumbering propositions of earth-shaking rumbles and subterranean minimalism. The use of rhythm appears in Troum's work as percussive mantras with a ritualist approach to metal-bashed patterns and looped sequences.
These fundamental tools - harmonies, drones, and rhythms - represent a set of pre-linguistic symbols that Troum employs to articulate to the primal emotional responses of various psychological states. More often than not, Troum turn towards ashen, sublime, nocturnal, and grim metaphors through their work, even though rapturously golden crescendos flourish on the rare occasion in their body of work. Sigqan (2003) is a harrowing album that plunges deep into an overwhelming gloom through sustained tones and drones. Like the project's name, the title harkens to a pre-medieval dialect of the Goths that roughly translates as the setting or sinking of the sun. Here, Troum addresses the Dark Ages fear that the sun might not rise again, leaving the world in permanent darkness. The Power Romantic trilogy (which include the albums Mare Idiophonika, Grote Mandrenke, Mare Morphosis released from 2010 - 2013) finds the duo embracing the oceanic metaphors that undulate upon the cycles of the tides through billowing shadows of mournful melody and subharmonic rumble. These too are drawn towards hostile metaphors, with Grote Mandrenke referring directly to a massive storm surge that devastated Northern Europe and the Britsh Isles in 1362, sweeping some 25,000 people out to sea and to their deaths.
Through the Drone Records productions and ancillary distribution company, Troum have maintained a very healthy network of connections all across the globe. In doing so, they have also engaged in a select number of ongoing collaborations. Their first was with the occult American project Yen Pox whose collective low-frequency thumming stand at the pinnacle of the dark ambient genre. An enduring presence from the once mighty Cold Meat Industries, Raison D'etre has worked with Troum in transforming raw material through the existential lens of a vacant cathedral. Architectural reverberation and ghostly chorales flutter with a solemn, ethereal impressionism. The baroque post-punk singer-songwriter Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza had long been an inspiration for Knappe and Gitschel in both Troum and Maeror Tri. In fact a dedication to Bates was ascribed to a track from the Tjukurrpa series. In 2006, Bates joined Troum for their collaborative album To a Child Dancing in the Wind, which girds Bates' beatific, lyrical vocalizations to a luminous, shimmering facet to Troum's aesthetic.
This compilation with its remixes, deconstructions, and reconstitutions of Troum's back catalogue and raw material is a celebration not only to Troum's impressive body of work but also to their ongoing and active participation in the broader communities of the avant-garde, minimalism, drone-rock, and industrial culture with unflagging dedication. These propositions respectfully build upon the fluid dynamics of Troum's sound as well as the wordless symbolism of pre-lingusitic conditions that are fundamental to Troum's work. It should be noted that both Dual and Vance Orchestra reunited specifically for this project.
Sibilant. Subaquatic. Serpentine. Ominous. Thunderous. Billowing. Haunted. Hypnogogic. Blossomed with sadness. Best Drones.
JIM HAYNES
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
|
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