CODES: - Drone Records

usual grasp... you'll then be able to "rewrite" the book, and feel
differently..." [label info]
* ATRAX MORGUE - Death Machinery II mCD-R (L.White
Records LW-041, 2006) [lim. 200] € 9.00
"Death Machinery II" featuring 2 tracks of agonizing power-electronic
sickness. Different from the last Atrax Morgue releases, there is no use
of voice here, just analogue synthesizer; neurological and surrealistik
attacks. A sense of "end" and emergency is experienced with listening
to these recordings. Cold and convulsive sountrack for a mechanical
brain." [label info]
* BAKER, AIDAN - Green & Cold CD-R (Gears of Sand GOS21,
2006) € 11.50
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]
* BAKER, AIDAN - Thoughtspan CD-R (Tosom Records
TOSOM028, 2007) [lim. 150 in Box] € 10.50
Während AIDAN BAKER im Verbund mit Lebensgefährtin LEAH
BUCKAREFF inzwischen als NADJA für Furore sorgt, erscheinen
weiter betörende Solo-CDRs von ihm in Kleinstauflagen.
BAKER zeigt sich auf THOUGHTSPAN luftig-leicht und post-rockig,
aber auch geräuschhaft versponnen & experimentell, die Stücke weisen
aber immer einen gewissen "drive" auf, sich ins Unbestimmbare und
frei-flottierende aufzulösen... wenn dann nur noch verschachtelte
Geräuschfäden auszumachen sind, setzen wieder Drums ein und
führen den Trance-Strom weiter...
"CDR, 3 TRACKS, 56 MINUTES. LIMITED AND NUMBERED EDITION
OF 150 COPIES. DVD BOX IN CD SIZE WITH 3 INSERTS.
Thoughtspan" consists of 3 long tracks experimenting with the
conventions of space-rock or kraut-rock, combining simple yet
propulsive rhythms with multi-layered drones and ambience. Although,
these tracks may sound like a band, "Thoughtspan" is essentially a oneperson
record (apart from violin and trumpet contributions), as the
songs originated with the drum parts and built up one instrument at a
time from that rhythmic base." [label info]
"If he wanted, Aidan Baker could cruise along making the same record over and
over, but a restless musical soul this man must have as even successive releases
by his various projects tend to diverge greatly from their various sounds. While
Nadja tends to be the most sonically consistent project, existing in the nether
gloom of black ambient dream doom or whatever we feel like calling it, his work
under his own name has shown the most breadth, veering from clattery noisy
experimentation, to ultra minimal drone, to strange collaged jazzscapes, to
dreamy slowcore, and one and on...
For Thoughtspan, Baker handles the guitars, drums, bass and vocals, with
some help on live drums, violin and trumpet, to weave a gorgeously expansive
soundscape of laid back, shuffling yet propulsive, krautrocky jazz. Dark and
smoky, dreamy and smoldering, the closest sonic comparison might be the Necks,
but where the Necks lock into extended cyclical grooves, Thoughtspan plays more
like a 'rock' band, albeit a looped, mesmeric one, locked into a seemingly never
ending groove, but as the record progresses the music begins to gradually
crumble, becoming more and more distorted, everything slowly collapsing inward,
the scraping of a violin heralding the shift, as any 'rock' is rent asunder, and all
that is left is a strange whirring, creaking ambient dronescape. And that's just the
first track, although it is 22+ minutes...
The second track, another long one, begins with strange buzzes and metallic
shimmers, a very percussive soundfield, peppered with backwards sonic swoops
and buzzing steel strings, eventually the drums kick in, and the band is loping into
some dense reverbed jam, the buzzing strings stretched out over the propulsive
rhythmic framework, eventually fading back into the backwards droning buzz of
the first few minutes.
Finally, the final 16 minute track, finds Baker creating a strange wide open
expanse, distant drones and all sorts of strange muted melodies, with moaned,
barely decipherable vocals, and in the middle of it all, a drummer, playing on the
rims and the floor and on wood and metal as much as on the kit, the whole vibe is
very abstract and freak folk, it's not difficult to hear some Avarus or one of those
tribal outfits, but unlike those folky forest dwellers, Baker begins to gradually affect
the sounds here, smearing everything into warm droning swells and jagged
streaks of resonant buzz, beneath which the drums lock into a staggering sort of
midtempo lope, it's dirge-y and dramatic, but still sort of blown out and ambient,
before finishing off with a burst of blinding distorted radiance.
Packaged in a mini, plastic dvd style case, full color artwork
and full color photographic inserts. LIMITED TO 150 COPIES!!" [Aquarius
Records]
* BAKER, AIDAN - Noise of Silence CD-R (Hyperblasted
Recordings HyRe002, 2007) [lim. 150] € 10.00
"Aidan Baker is a true artist. He is one of the founders of Arcolepsy
Records, Arc and of course Nadja. He released tones of works on many
labels. "Noise of Silence" is the first collab between him and
Hyperblasted Recordings. The whole work is an amazing piece of art.
The musical part is one 50-minute long time track by Mr. Baker in his
own experimentalish drone/ambient/noise stuff. Aidan Baker "builds" his
music piece by piece, step by step. Imposing atmospheres, genious
guitar drones and loops lead the track to a climax. A masterpiece of
experimental music. All guitars and tapes by Aidan Baker.
Amazing artwork 'n' layout by the artists of Viral Graphics.
Packaged in 3 pannel deluxe cardboard paper with a silver ink touch
embossed which gives the colours life. Limited edition of 150
handnumbered copies." [label info]
* BARDOSENETICCUBE - Telloram CD-R (Operator Produkzion
OPERPRODUKT08, 2007) [lim. 156 object package] € 10.00
Auf TELLORAM operiert St. Petersburgs vielseitigstes Experimental-
Projekt noisiger als zuletzt; mit Radiofrequenz-Blubbern und
durchdringenden Drones, runtergeslowten Stimmen & Sinuston-
Feedbacks, Vibrato-Rauschen & Quietschen in allen Varianten walzt
sich der 'Telloram' durch dick & massiv scheinenden Äther...
Die CDR ist verpackt in einem fetten silberfarbenen Schaumstoff-Cover,
der Trip dauert 50 Minuten.
"New album from the most blazing Russian ambient project.
Dehumanized technogenic desolate space noise-ambient with high
concentration of radionoise. Your ticket beyond the bounds of galaxy.
156 copies in handmade package from polypheme." [press-release]
* BEEQUEEN - White Bike buisnesscard-CDR (My Own Little
Label MOLL005, 2007) € 5.00
Frans de Waard kanns nicht lassen und gründet eine neue Label-Reihe
mit mini-CDR-Veröffentlichungen, speziell für seine eigene Musik und
sein näheres Umfeld. Für die Fans gibt es hier rares und auch sehr
persöniches Material zu entdecken...
"'White Bike should have been on the upcoming Beequeen album
'Sanddancing', but Freek and Frans decided not to include it on the
album and so it was released on Moll, along with the original demo
sung by Freek and an excerpt from the recording session with an
appearance of Frans' daughter Elise. These latter tracks add a nice,
intimate touch to the release and beautifully match the song itself. It's a
wonderful pop song, played on piano and balloons, with vocals sung by
Eva Volmeijer. The melody sticks in your head immediately and its
joyous and slightly naïve mode puts a smile on your face, making this a
promising candidate for this summer's sweetest tune." [MSS / Vital
Weekly]
* BIG CITY ORCHESTRA - Love Film Greats CD-R (Roil Noise
RNOCDR046, 2006) € 10.00
BCO schiessen wieder den Vogel ab, mit dieser etwas anderen Art von
MUZAK! Der Titel ist kein Witz, es sind wirklich Liebesfilm-Schnulzen,
und was für welche, neu interpretiert von BCO... aus unfassbarem
Staunen und Belustigung wird beim Hören schnell reine Qual und
Folter, wenn die Originale zwar irgendwo erkennbar bleiben (und leider