February 26, 2019

Breaking crystal oceans

The land of unfulfilled desires.

(Flying Saucer Attack is an experimental space rock band that formed in Bristol, England in 1992. David Pearce was the core member of the group, and Rachel Brook (of Movietone, another Bristol band) was a member for most of the band's lifetime.

The band were marked by quiet vocals and sheets of feedback with similarities to contemporary shoegazing bands, or The Jesus and Mary Chain. FSA were able to create a small but enthusiastic fanbase as one of the more remarkable experimental bands of the day. The band were notable for recording most of their output at home into a normal home stereo system, avoiding recording studios as much as they could. This gave their music a DIY feel and gave them the freedom to experiment as much as they wanted). 

Blood running across dark stones

Secret burial between forests.

(Holy Fawn is an experimental/post rock/doom band from Arizona, USA). 

Eating violet eyelingers

Creamsickle to blast your face.

(Astrobrite is the Chicago-based shoegaze noise-pop project from the musician Scott Cortez (STAR, lovesliescrushing). Interestingly enough, Astrobrite solely played live and released no official records until 2001, all the while building a reputation as a band that “transcends shoegaze by destroying the fuzz/noise boundaries setup by previous shoegazing outfits and manages to make the most beautiful and melodic noise you’ll ever hear).
 
Here

The awake of the Golem

Mind corrosion causes memory leak.

(Nadja is Aidan Baker (guitars/vocals/drum programming) & Leah Buckareff (bass/vocals). Originally formed in 2003 as a Baker solo project, the now-duo creates ambient-drone-metal, combining ambient electronics & fragmentary vocals with snail-crawl, epic riffs & dirge-like percussion). 

Tearing the impure's skin

No more silence in the noise kingdom.

(Distortion Six is a norwegian industrial/noise project formed by Nichlas Schermann).
 

Revolution of the convent's slaves

Healing the stigmata with methamphetamine.

(Fear of Dolls is arguably one of the most deliberatley strange avant-garde rock bands, focused on being more psychological than musical. The naive childlike minimalism and visceral use of all things exaggerated and irrational results in a schizophrenic mixture of musical suspense, abstract lunacy, psychotic nervousness and tension, emotional frailty, and violent cacophony.
Formed in 1995 by Greg Forschler, Fear of Dolls has actively performed live in the Seattle area, while the music and band members have constantly shifted and evolved. The future, just like the past and present, are uncertain at best. Currently fronted by Greg and Bonni, shows are a rare surprise, and recordings will continue to surface from time to time).
 

Destruction de symboles sacrés en temps de guerre

Singing songs of lost remembrance.

(Le Silence Des Ruines was a french one man Martial/ambient project band from France created by Nicolas F.).

A story of you and me in time

Sleeping subject to the ladder.

(Hailing from Birmingham, Broadcast, formed of Trish Keenan (vocals), Roj Stevens (keyboards), James Cargill (bass), Tim Felton (guitar) and Steve Perkins (drums); Broadcast’s intimate experimental pop is fuelled with references to the work of the seminal BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Ennio Morricone or John Barry. Often associated with Stereolab in the early days, the sound of the band has developed considerably. Unfortunately, lead singer Trish Keenan died of pneumonia on 14 January 2011 at the age of 42).

February 25, 2019

A vast and endless black ocean

Dark water masses dissolving intimate desires.
 
(A Storm Of Light is a post-metal/post-rock band from Brooklyn, New York (USA) that was born on 2007; their music have also been categorized as doom metal, sludge metal and hard rock).
 

Songs for internal jail

A place to fuse air and fire.

(Ulver is a genre-spanning group from Norway, active since 1993. On their demos and first album, "Bergtatt", they played black/folk metal, 1996's "Kveldssanger" is an entirely acoustic folk album and 1997's "Nattens Madrigal" is raw, aggressive black metal. Around 1998 they began producing experimental, electronic and avantgarde music.

Since 2000 the core of the band consists of Kristoffer Rygg, Tore Ylwizaker and Jørn H. Sværen. The three however collaborate with various musicians on their albums depending on the needs of the musical project at hand. Ulver means "Wolves" in Norwegian). 

Nager dans les cendres du défunt

Dreams on burned flesh.

(Äärvo is a french one man noise/industrial project leaded by Arvo Steinberg, an argentinian/french musician, involved in underground electronics, from ambient to industrial rythms, bleeding loops and noise fueled chants).

Here

Tonight red birds will fly away

The eternal dreamer is still asleep

(Coil was a pioneer band formed in London in 1983 by John Balance as a solo side project to Psychic TV, Coil developed into a full-scale musical group in 1984, when Balance cemented a partnership with Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson. Christopherson had been a founder of Psychic TV and member of Throbbing Gristle. For over twenty years Coil would be at the forefront of European experimentalism and electronic music.

John Balance (1962–2004) died tragically in an accident at his home on November 13th, 2004. Peter Christopherson decided that, with the passing of John Balance, Coil would not continue. Peter Martin Christopherson died 24 November 2010). 

Falling tears in the morning sun

Destroying every heaven in between.

(Chasms is a drone/ethereal band from LA, USA, who crafts ethereal, percussive dirges that are sparse in arrangement and potent with emotion. Comprised of producer, vocalist, and guitarist Jess Labrador and bassist Shannon Madden, the duo layers meditative guitars and electronic drum samples with Labrador’s entrancing soprano to create an otherworldly sound).

Swimming in dark matter

Climbing the stairs to the solar core.

(Ascend is a Doom/Experimental project from USA, formed by vocalist Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and guitarist Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, Sunn 0))), Burning Witch) were both involved in the American underground doom/drone scene for nearly two decades before pairing up in the collaborative project Ascend. When the opportunity finally arose via 2008's Southern Lord-released Ample Fire Within album, the duo reached out to a number of likeminded musicians (including Void guitarist Bubba Dupree, former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and Earth organist and trombone player Stebmo, among others) to help them achieve their highly unusual vision for rumbling drone epics informed by a jazz fusion mentality).

Enter the dark hole

A hidden path to the unknown.

(Stahlschlag is a german Industrial/ Power Noise project formed in 2006 by Nicole Rahlf and Sebastian Sünkler, performing a style as a mix of different music genres like Industrial, Noise and Ambient).

February 20, 2019

Endless glaring lights

Four choirs to wait for the apocalypse.

(Dirge is a french experimental/industrial/doom band; since its creation in 1994, the entity known as Dirge never stopped mutating and evolving. From the industrial coldness of its early years to the abrasive heat of its last works, the music of the band gradually changed into a stunning living organism, stretching its compositions to reach abysmal depths and hypnochaotic structures.

Massive guitars, monolithic pulses, ethereal progressions and industrial hums build up the sonic architecture of a perpetually moving volcano-like universe. A collision of sensations caught between stellar void and earth tremors). 

In search of the deadly eightfold path

Eight mantras to achieve immortality.

(Sigillum S is an italian Dark Ambient/Industrial/Martial project formed in Milan on 23 December 1985 by Paolo Bandera, Eraldo Bernocchi, and Luca Di Giorgio. In addition to their musical output, Sigillum S also works in the areas of visual art and text). 

Inheriting a severe pain

Dark passages to nowhere.

(Restive Plaggona is a greek industrial/dark ambient project formed by Dimitris Doukas).

Collapsing calcareous strata

Sinuous waves traverse uneven terrains.

(Distortion Six is a norwegian industrial/noise project formed by Nichlas Schermann).

Time for sad departures

A way to find new skies.

(RiLF is a japanese alternative/shoegaze/rock band formed by Calu (vocalist of Matryoshka), an electronica unit, and Takahiro Kido and Yuki Murata (members of Anoice), an instrumental music band, with magnificently violent guitar noise like Sigur Rós and My Bloody Valentine, solid drum grooves which supports the band sound and a quiet but strong voice, that creates a new take on shoegazing music).

La chanson de l'implacable gentilhommière

Mourns from a small cellar.

(Dale Cooper Quartet And The Dictaphones is a french dark/improvised/jazz, formed by Gaël Loison, Christophe Mevel, Arnaud Le Gall und Yannick Martin; this album is a glimpse of the present live sound of the Dale Cooper Quartet: 50's crooners singers, noisy guitars, atmospheric electronic and hypnotic jazz. All of these elements painted in monochrome black).

Fire on sunny skies

Time to bloom for dark cocoons.

(Pink Playground is Tara & James, "romantic pop shoegaze duo" hailing from Houston, TX. Spontaneous, emotional, psychedelic, combustion and sentimental goo, and mainly noisy shoegaze for dead lovers).

More noise to be found

A flux of hiss between the eyes.

(Chasms is a drone/ethereal band from LA, USA, who crafts ethereal, percussive dirges that are sparse in arrangement and potent with emotion. Comprised of producer, vocalist, and guitarist Jess Labrador and bassist Shannon Madden, the duo layers meditative guitars and electronic drum samples with Labrador’s entrancing soprano to create an otherworldly sound).

February 13, 2019

Добро пожаловать в вечный сон

Sleeping under the light of dawn.

(Sedativ was another great eerie post-punk project from Russian underground legend Roman Sidorov from Старуха Мха, Der Golem and Fatal).

Lost in the desert

Crossing the steppes of madness.

(10 000 Russos is a portuguese shoegaze/psychedelic/experimental band formed by João Pimenta and Pedro Pestana; the band tried out some avant garde experiments and finds them in magnificent, shamanic droning form).

Harmonies of an external dimension

Neurons forming accretion discs.

(Chasms is a drone/ethereal band from LA, USA, who crafts ethereal, percussive dirges that are sparse in arrangement and potent with emotion. Comprised of producer, vocalist, and guitarist Jess Labrador and bassist Shannon Madden, the duo layers meditative guitars and electronic drum samples with Labrador’s entrancing soprano to create an otherworldly sound). 

First breath after death

Enjoying the underwater decomposition.

(Music The World Does Not See is an industrial/experimental/ambient compilation made by polish Nefryt label).

Flying ovre the clouds of Orion

Following echoes of the past.

(Air Formation are an English indie/postrock/shoegaze band from Crawley, UK, that debuted with their first 7" in the summer of 1998 under the name B.E.A.B. Approved. In early 2000 they were forced to change their name, they chose Air Formation. They split in April 2011 before reforming in 2014). 

Hearing weird noises in the back room

Someone sang and slowly danced before death.

(Joel Fausto & Illusion Orchestra is an experimental/dark jazz band leaded by this portuguese songwriter, musician, record producer and movie composer; moreover he is owner and founder of the business organization SlowDriver Productions). 

Erasing her last words

A plunge into despair.

(Neurosis originally formed in Oakland, California in 1985 as a hardcore punk band. Over the years their sound progressed towards a doom metal style that also included influences from dark ambient and industrial music as well as incorporating elements of folk music. Jarboe La Salle Devereaux, known mononymously as Jarboe is an American singer-songwriter and keyboardist who came to prominence as a member of the New York City-based band Swans).

A nightmare of inner struggle

Trapped into a frozen tower.

(Snowbeasts is a dark ambient/industrial US band formed by Elizabeth Virosa and Rob Galbraith. This album is surfing on more darkened and meditatively cerebral droned-out waves, with some neo-kosmische touches, genuinely cinematic and coldly moving).

Mourir dans une forêt grise

Reading the library of how to die books.

(Dale Cooper Quartet And The Dictaphones is a french dark/improvised/jazz, formed by Gaël Loison, Christophe Mevel, Arnaud Le Gall und Yannick Martin).

Hour of the unknown

Sounds without a face.

(14:13 is not a band anymore. As if it ever even was. As if any of that mattered anyway. 14:13 is all about individuals and the music they’re creating together, crafting one of the most unique drug induced jam sessions you’ll ever hear in your entire life. Sounding as mandatory as a long time lost recording of obscure British psychedelia and as brutal as the New York no wave scene of the 80’s, their music blends the shininess of Cloudland Canyon and the sheer force of Sonic Youth-era Evol with an extra German flavor straight out of the Can.

Featuring ex and current members of Strong As Ten, 2:13pm, Shall Not Kill and The Austrasian Goat himself, those 6 songs are the one and only testimony known from the mysterious collective that goes by the name of 14:13. Expect a psychedelic journey into the mind of a sonic dreamer).

February 12, 2019

Rolling in mental solitude

Sitting motionless in an endless melancholy.

(Gamardah Fungus is a band from Dnipro, Ukraine, formed by Igor Yalivec, and Sergey Yagoda. The musical material of the band is slow, viscous drone ambient, sometimes adjoining meditative electroacoustic and gloomy dark jazz with field recording). 

Afraid of natural lights

Feeling fear of earth fathoms.

(Miranda Sex Garden were a music group from London, England. They were active from 1990 to 2000. Formed in 1990, Katharine Blake, Kelly McCusker and Jocelyn West were originally a trio of madrigal singers. They were educated at The Purcell School for Young Musicians in Bushey.

They were discovered by Barry Adamson when they were singing madrigals on Portobello Road in London. He invited them to sing on his Delusion soundtrack, with the song Il Solitario. After that Daniel Miller invited them to sign a contract with Mute Records. They recorded their first single Gush Forth My Tears in March 1991. It was a madrigal with a beat, mixed by Danny Rampling. Their first album, Madra (August 1991), was produced by classical producer Tony Faulkner. It was entirely a cappella, with the songs all based on traditional English verse.

By 1992, Jocelyn West had left the band and was replaced by Donna McKevitt, who studied voice and viola at Kingston Polytechnic. More new band members were Ben Golomstock who played guitars and Trevor Sharpe who played drums. On their second release, Iris (1992), the sound evolved into a blend of their madrigal-styled vocal harmonies with sounds reminiscent of folk music, gothic rock, dark wave, ethereal wave, and industrial music. The third album Suspiria came out in March 1993. Kelly McCusker left the band in late 1993 to start a career in classical music. She was replaced by Hepzibah Sessa.

Their sound became increasingly dark and sophisticated over the years. The fourth album, Fairytales of Slavery, was produced by Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten. In 1995 the group disbanded. Katharine Blake formed a new group with Dorothy Carter in 1996, Mediæval Bæbes. In 1999 they reformed with some new members and released their final album Carnival of Souls in April 2000).

Discovering old new worlds

Falling in a death trap.

(Asva is an American experimental doom/sludge/drone metal band, originally formed by Stuart Dahlquist and B.R.A.D. in 2003. The name of the project is derived from a Sanskrit word aśva, meaning a "horse". Asva never fits traditional definitions of such genres as doom, sludge or drone, always presenting uncommon and unconventional interpretations, even though this project had a significant influence on the scene. But the latest album confirms the final departure from a realm of purely metal-related genres, being much more melodic and uplifted. Phillipe Petit is the man who
Runs BiP_HOp and Pandemonium Records labels). 

Se lamente d'au-delà...

The clamor of souls is slowly extinguished.

(The Austrasian Goat is a black/doom one-man project from France, created by Julien Louvetin the 2007)


A path to hide from reality

Cold drops falling in iced grass.

(Config.sys is a german industrial/rhythmic noise band formed by Sebastian Schweren and Krischan Wesenberg). 

Decifrando os mistérios de Algar do Carvao

Trance rituals to reach immortality.

(10 000 Russos is a portuguese shoegaze/psychedelic/experimental band formed by João Pimenta and Pedro Pestana; the band tried out some avant garde experiments and finds them in magnificent, shamanic droning form. Opener “Karl Burns” refers to a former drummer for original post-punk shamans The Fall).

Nous allons vers la victoire, camarades!

A requiem for the innocents.

(Front Sonore is a Vegan/Dark-Ambient project and MIX from France; Barbarossa Umtrunk is a Dark Military-Ambient/Post-Industrial project from France, formed in 2005 by Baron von Stenay). 

Chants for the stillborn

Radiant sun burns my bowels.

(Nadja is Aidan Baker (guitars/vocals/drum programming) & Leah Buckareff (bass/vocals). Originally formed in 2003 as a Baker solo project, the now-duo creates ambient-drone-metal, combining ambient electronics & fragmentary vocals with snail-crawl, epic riffs & dirge-like percussion). 

Tales of spiritual warriors

Living in a parallel world.

(Kurt Stenzel is an american composer and musician (generally synthesizers or keyboards) based in Seattle, Washington. This is the original soundtrack composed to the 2013 american-french documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, directed by Frank Pavich. The film explores cult film chilean psychomagician and director Alejandro Jodorowsky's unsuccessful attempt to adapt and film Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune in the mid-1970's). [Post dedicated to my brother in musical trails, Panxo Umbral).

Dreaming of nebulae

Drifting across a dense red ocean.

(Amp is an English ambient/space/drone group based around the core members Richard Walker and Karine Charff. Walker was a member of a band in Bristol called The Secret Garden that incubated a number of groups including Flying Saucer Attack and Third Eye Foundation. In 1992 he left the band; singles from Amp began to come out on a number of small English labels and a debut album called Sirènes was released in 1996 on the Wurlitzer Jukebox label in the UK and a short-lived American label called Petrol).
 

Slowly dancing the death waltz

All we dream before death...

(Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows is a darkwave/goth musical project based in Frankfurt, founded in 1989 by Anna-Varney Cantodea. Sopor Aeternus means "eternal sleep" in Latin). 

A wound made in heaven

A darker landscape outside life.

(Chasms is a drone/ethereal band from LA, USA, who crafts ethereal, percussive dirges that are sparse in arrangement and potent with emotion. Comprised of producer, vocalist, and guitarist Jess Labrador and bassist Shannon Madden, the duo layers meditative guitars and electronic drum samples with Labrador’s entrancing soprano to create an otherworldly sound). 

A trip into modern ruins

Immersed in a concrete hell.

(Schematic Scorpio is an industrial/rhythmic noise band from USA).

Zeytin ağaçlarının altında dans

(Anatolia Rocks is a folk/psychedelic/rock compilation of turkish music from 60's to 80's, compiled by Worldwild Production label)


មករាំអ្នក!

Dance to face up hard times.

(Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodia Rock Intensified! is a cambodian rock/beat/a go go compilation made by Lion Productions, including ‎among others cult mega-stars as Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth, legendary singers murdered by Khmer Regime at early 70's).