CODES: - Drone Records

industrial like IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES or ATRIUM CARCERI a must
!! “Brand new album of Prague chorus AGHIATRIAS overflow you with
an apocalyptic orchestral dark industrial. Compared with the previous
album “Regions of Limen”, newcomer “Ethos” has shorter footage, but
you can expect more aggressive conception of the whole thing. Limited
edition of 500 copies in digipak.“ [label info]
* ALVARS ORKESTER – Interference CD (Ash International Ash
6.9, 2006) € 14.00
Lange bestehendes schwedisches Post-Industrial Duo mit erster CD!
“Analogue sound experiments from old Sweden 1987-2006+
This album is the first release in what will be the 13th anniversary since
the foundation of Ash International.
'Interference' by Alvars Orkester was edited by Mike Harding and Philip
Marshall, who here also designs his first CD for the label. 'Interference'
consists of analogue drones, interspersed with hardcore electronics,
hair-raising voices and spine-chilling ambience.
Alvars Orkester, was formed in 1987 in Johannishus, a small village in
the south-east of Sweden by a group of young boys interested in the
mysteries of psychic sickness, mental institutions, the industrial music
culture and the power of sound. For the first very creative years, Alvars
was very active within the independent cassette culture scene releasing
their stuff (that quite soon drifted from the industrialism inspired by Test
Dept, TG, SPK and z’ev to an atmospheric, psychedelic and quite
ambient version of noise) on small labels in Italy, Portugal, USA etc.
AO was always very closely connected to the Börft Records label, run
by the two core members Jan Svensson and Joachim Nordwall. Börft
was a label for weird electronic experiments, noise and industrial. In
1994, Nordwall left the label and Sweden (to return to the country
forming the iDEAL Organisation but never to Börft and the south-east)
and Svensson continued by focusing on bent acid house and dance
stuff. The psychedelic aspect of the music came in though an early
interest in natural drugs and the need to investigate different ways of
messing with the mind. For years, AO remained silent with a few short
exceptions, but in April 2005, Nordwall and Svensson recorded the
'Interference' album for Ash International. Coloured by Svensson's
increasing paranoia sickness and the tension between the two that
have been there since their youth, they put down the aspects of the
mysteries of psychic broadcasting and manipulation on tape.
Long sessions during the years in the mainly analogue Studio Styrka in
Johannishus built up a huge archive of recordings, most unreleased to
date but slowly being brought to light by labels like Kning Disk, RRR
and White Tapes.
”Swedish noise combo Alvars Orkester were active in the 80s Industrial
cassette underground. Interference marks the return of core members
Jan Svensson and Joachim Nordwall after a long layoff. Inspired by
faintly ghoulish interest in extreme mental states (both psychic and
chemically induced), the duo present four highly involving pieces, some
of which feature source material dating back to the group's beginnings.
Their approach switches between slowly evolving electronic
dreamscapes ("Field Grey") and noise constructions ("Cobra Mist");
"Reality Distortion Field", the album's highlight, pits feedback whine
against processed and cut-up voices, occupying a space somewhere
between the two poles. There's a sense of careful restraint about
Interference, evincing a reluctance on the part of the duo to be drawn
into making noise for noise's sake.” [Keith Moliné / THE WIRE]
* ANENZEPHALIA / INADE / OPERATION CLEANSWEEP – same
CD-Box (Teito Sound Company TEITO-006, 2006) € 14.00
“Great split album between the three projects Anenzephalia, Inade and
Operation Cleansweep. Just over 10 minutes of all exclusive,
unreleased material by each group. Unsettling drones and pulverizing
frequencies done in the best fashion of all these projects. Released by
Japanese label Teito to go accompany the first live appearances of all
three bands in Tokyo, Japan. Comes in plastic snapcase with protective
cover and an insert for each band.” [Cold Spring Records]
* ANTHESTERIA – Nebesnaya CD (Der Angriff Nr. 24, 2005)
[ed. of 300] € 13.00
„Journal of Transfiguration“ lautet der Untertitel, und im Innencover wird
GUSTAV MEYRINK zitiert: „Wir selbst sind Gebilde, aus Zeit gemacht,
Leiber, die Stoff zu sein scheinen und nichts anderes sind als
geronnene Zeit.“ Entsprechend fragil & melancholisch sind die
manchmal zart-düsteren, neo-klassisch angehauchten Kompositionen
auf NEBESNAYA...
Kommt im parfumierten Cover, vergänglich wie irgendwas !
“The second Anthesteria album tells a story of a journey through a
fragile world of emotions and perceptions known to everyone, а sound
realization of the author's diary. The atmosphere of the ghost winter
city, the decadent but charming open-air museum called St.-Petersburg,
which was the hero of the first CD "Beyond Nimbostratus" is still here,
but it's just a scenery or background for multiplying illusions which make
up the charm and value of human life. Keeping the trend established in
their debut, Anthesteria added martial drums, recitative voice and some
ethnic elements in a number of tracks. Raison D'Etre-like dark
ambiance meets neo-classical strings and analogue synthesizers, at
times the result sounds as depressive as some early Coil stuff. As its
predecessor, "Nebesnaya" is also accompanied with a photo-booklet
which adds a visual dimension to the album. CD comes in a full-colour
aromatized fold-out digisleeve with a booklet, this edition is limited to
300 copies only.” [press release]
* AUBE – Comet do-CD (Cipher Productions sic23 / Troniks
TRO-218, 2006) € 14.00
AUBE tries to find new ways and uses on COMET „ICE“ and „SPACE“
as sound-sources in order to create droney & strange-rhythmical
trance-tunes, very dry space-atmospheres, especially the second disc
SPACE is excellent and highly recommended !!
* BAD SECTOR / ASTRO – Idio Blast CD (Insofar Vapor Bulk
IVBCD10, 2005) [ed. of 500] € 14.00
Eine der gesuchtesten BAD SECTOR-Veröffentlichungen bisher, da es
kaum Distribution dafür gab: Diese one-tracker Collaboration mit
ASTRO (45 min) ist verpackt in einen MECCANO-artigen
konstruktivistischen Bausatz aus dicker Pappe, der sich zu einem 3-D-
Objekt zusammensetzten lässt, in dem die CD immer noch Platz hat.
IDIO BLAST verzaubert mit drones und regelrecht glitzernden Klängen,
kristallin-klar und glasig-summend und mit seltsame Zwischentöne
versehen...
“Initial material for this released was recorded by Hiroshi Hasegawa
(Astro) and then manipulated and re-organized by Massimo Magrini
(Bad Sector). Resulting sound of the album reminds something Aubelike:
attenuate abstract electronic waves with highly detalized structure,
nothing like traditional Bad Sector sound at all. The artwork of this
release deserves separate description: it's a cardboard meccano kit
with engineering instruction, by following it's notes you can assemble
technic-like construction of decent size, in which the CD with booklet
should be put. Besides the album itself, the CD contains some extra-
material from Astro in ogg format (player installer can be found on
CD as well), screensaver and several wallpapers for your computer
desktop.” [Artyom, ZHELEZOBETON]
* BAD SECTOR – Kosmodrom “box” edition CD & maxi-CD
(Waystyx WR15 & 16, 2006) [lim. 185] € 29.00
Special edition of the new album with bonus maxi-CD !!!
Lim. 185 copies, contains bonus-CD with 4 bonus-tracks & 6 postcards
& banderole!!
„Massimo Magrini aka BAD SECTOR bleibt nicht beim Erreichten
stehen sondern versucht stets, seine Musik konzeptuell und klanglich
zu erweitern. KOSMODROM ist inspriert vom gleichnamigen sowjetrussischen
Raumfahrprogramm und tönt weitaus elektronischfuturistischer,
eingängiger und rhythmischer als gewohnt; Funksprüche,
Sinus-Clicks & Äther-Electronics füllen die repetitiven Grundierungen
auf... kommt in einem aussergewöhnlichen milchig-weisses Plastik-
Folder, mit luxuriösem, informativen Booklet... eine adäquate
Umsetzung des Themas und ein weiterer sehr hochwertiger Release
auf dem russischen Seitenzweig von COLD LANDS.“ [Drone]
“Cherish sounds and noises from a world long lost. Comes in extra-size
plastic sleeve with extensive booklet on the subject matter” [label info]
“I finished the mastering of a concept album based on russian/soviet
space mission, named Kosmodrom. It's less ambient and noisy that
previuos works, with a bit of mechanical pseudo-rhythms inside.”
[Massimo Magrini]
* BAILIFF, JESSICA – Even in Silence CD (Kranky KRANK026 )
€ 15.00
“Words over used in music reviews; 'haunting', 'evocative', 'beautiful',
and 'powerful'. Words that fit Even In Silence perfectly: 'haunting',
'evocative', 'beautiful', and 'powerful.' ... The album is gentle, delicate
even, with occasional harshness contrasting and complementing the
whole." [Outburn Mag]
“Debut album from Jessica Bailiff from Toledo, OH. " Across Even In
Silence extended guitar figures float over Jessica's vocals, bass, drums,
samples and percussion. The album is an affecting mix of instruments
and Jessica's beautiful vocals that leave trails of melody for the listener
to follow. The mix of the album allows echoing piano chords, traces of
bass guitar or whiffs of percussion to emerge from the clouds of guitars.
A delicately balanced mix of organ lines and rhythm is placed next to
Jessica's fragile vocals, followed by deep guitar drones." [label info]
* BAILIFF, JESSICA – Hour of the trace CD (Kranky KRANK038,
1999 ) € 15.00
„Ein Album zwischen klassischem, wunderschönem Songwriting und
ernsthafter unkonventioneller Soundforschung, dominiert von den sehr
emotionalen Vocals der Sängerin. Vor dem Fenster das erste