On first listen, this isn’t as boring as I expected from someone who has the tendency to release over twenty albums a year. There are some genuinely interesting elements at play here: calm, dark, minimal drones, various melodic elements, and even some well-crafted tribal-esque percussion.
Category: Reviews
Enrico Coniglio feat. Manuel P. Cecchinato and Massimo Liverani – Sea Cathedrals
The name Enrico Coniglio is neither new to this scene nor to me. In the past I had the pleasure of reviewing another CD where he was one of the collaborators. The album “dyanMU” was released on the Irish label Psychonavigation Records, but for “Sea Cathedrals” Enrico chose to stay closer to home, as it was released by fellow countrymen Silentes.
Clutter / Kotra / Laurent Chambert / L’Échelle de Mohs & Solar Skeletons
Four short releases from four different sources with contents ranging from processed field recordings to experimental noise, glitch and sound sculture.
Metaform – The Electric Mist
Two years after a critically acclaimed instrumental debut – the sample-based “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” (2008) – the reclusive, American-born musician and producer Metaform (Justice Aaron) returns to deliver an intriguing, if not stunning, sophomore album.
Nadja/Troum – Dominium Visurgis
In a beautifully designed eight-page digipack – greytones with copper – hides a CD made by two of the worldwide top 10 artists (or should it say top three) in the genre of guitar drones. Conceived, recorded and finished in April 2008, it is now released on Troum’s own label Transgredient Records.
Allseits – Hel
One thing that I really enjoy about the Cyclic Law label is its level of consistency. “Hel” is another fine entry in a fantastic catalog. From the get-go, “Hel” seems like exactly what you’d expect from a release bearing the Cyclic Law name: an extremely dark, droning collection of deep ambience.
Alio Die & Parallel Worlds – Circo Divino
On “Circo Divino” the Greek Bakis Sirros (Parallel Worlds) and Italian Stefano Musso – who we know better than Alio Die – takes us on a journey through a clash of cultures. Whereas we know Alio Die mostly from his ethnic ethereal ambient soundscapes, the two decided on incorporating those sounds with the modular synthetic sounds for which Bakis Sirros is known.
Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain / Dysthymia – untitled
This clear vinyl 7″ is packed in an oversized box used for the CD’s at Diophantine and, yes, that is a pleasure to the eye, but what is more important is that the sounds you hear make you want more. And in the end that’s what it’s all about.
Voice of Eye – Seven Directions Divergent
“Seven Directions Divergent” is the most poppy release I’ve ever heard from Voice of Eye. Earlier this year I reviewed the 3″ “Primaera” on Taalem Records. The words ritualistic and even shamanistic were written. If someone told me at that moment that the next release…
Aun – Utica
With this virgin white vinyl on Drone Records, Aun delivers, period. The 7″ contains some beautifully designed soundscapes made of the guitar drones for which we know him. Aun firmly places himself in the top of guitar-based drone artists, something he more than deserves.