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B°TONG (B*TONG / B-TONG/ BTONG) - Ov ELF and HAARP

Format: CD-R & object Label & Cat.Number: Attenuation Circuit / Limited Edition Series ACL 1003 Release Year: 2011 Note: most abstract drone-morphologism, fields of concrete otherworldy sounds... excellent album by the Swiss project again, soon also on the very first LP on Drone Records !! lim. / numb. 50 copies coming in handpainted CD/cloth-case with diverse inlays, and sticker, on a new label from Augsburg, Germany, run by EMERGE and GERALD FIEBIG Price (incl. 19% VAT): €11.00 More Info "ACL 1003: Limited edition of 50 in hand-painted unique packaging AC 1003: Unlimited edition in plastic sleeve A concept album by Swiss dark ambient/drone industrial legend B°tong which uses the conspiracy theory on the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research project (HAARP) as its basis while simultaneously infusing it with subtle and highly sophisticated artistic irony. Deep electronic drones invoking the echo of enormous rooms and sound collages oscillating between the crackle of polar snow and echo location devices pinging through secret command bases combine to form a soundtrack of subliminally brooding horror while sometimes allowing for surprising lighter moments. These lighter moments include the almost meditative, tonal marimba sound in “Pagan Field Trip” (track 6), which is however replaced by “Stars Right Be Wrong” (track 7) taking the listener straight back into the dark with reverberating whispers and bat-like delay screeches. This album is “cinema for the ears” without the cliché, because reading the liner notes about HAARP, an attempt by the US Navy to turn the aurora borealis in a giant antenna for broadcasting in the ELF (Extremely Low Frequencies), conjures up images from a conspiracy/horror thriller on the subject, which makes it possible to listen to this album as a sort of radio drama (almost) without words. After the respective oeuvres of film composers Graeme Revell (formerly of SPK) and Brian Williams (Lustmord), this album is further testimony to the common ground between good industrial and atmospheric soundtracks." [label info] www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit "The Attenuation Circuit label started out with the release of music by Emerge, and now expands to other artists, and the first one is B*tong, the Swiss artist who has already produced a fine body of atmospheric and ambient music. This new one is more or less a concept album about the conspiracy theory 'on the High Frequency Active Auroral Research project', which, according to Wiki, is 'its purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance purposes', set up by the US government, so you know for a fact there is a hidden agenda (not me). This sort of conspiracy theory/lunacy about such matters fits the music really of B*Tong, who is known to use radio signals, sound effects and electronics to create chilly, eerie, atmospheric music. Sometimes there are voice bits, whispering, not singing, adding a radioplay like texture to the music, which is otherwise quite inspired by the work of Lustmord: lots of reverb, but used in an effective way and not over the top. Excellent work." [FdW/Vital Weekly]