Machen? Oder nicht? Es ist einunddrölfzigster Oktober und jeder Anlageberater, Bäcker, Chemielaborant etc.pp. macht irgendwas mit ha... ha.. hatschiii... Halloween.
Hab ich irgendwas passendes?
Ja, tatsächlich. Da habe ich noch neulich einen kleinen Download vom Sentient Ruin-Promomailer abgegriffen - und es ist tatsächlich kein megachaotisches Black death industrial noise-Weltuntergangs-Gehöllenschlunde!
Dafür aber goth as fuck. Also halloweenesk genug, oder was?
MURDERBAIT - When The Sun Goes Down, It Goes Down Forever(2019/2021)
Achtzehneinhalb Minuten kurz ist sie, aber damit immerhin noch länger als ihr Titel, diese von der Band selbst bereits 2019 veröffentlichte und nun von Sentient Ruin auch auf Vinyl herausgebrachte Zwei-Song-EP. Für das direkte Importieren über den großen Teich kann man sich also fast selbst ein Flugticket besorgen, um das Teil selbst abzuholen. Also besser schauen, ob es europäische Wiederverkäufer gibt oder sich mit der digitalen Version begnügen.
Wie auch immer - die Mucke stimmt, denn Murderbait sind erfahrene HasenKürbisse Vampire, die wissen, wie epischer Goth-Rock zu klingen hat.
Und so hören wir hier Coolness und Düsternis von Fields Of The Nephilim und der schwärzesten Phase der Swans, eingetaucht in eine dicke Nebelsuppe aus atmosphärischen Ambient- und Horrorklängen. Also das düsterste aus den Achtziger Jahren, gegossen in zwei wirklich saustarke Nummern, die sich wunderbar beim relaxen im Sarg auf Dauerschleife hören lassen.
Jetzt noch ein ganzes Album auf diesem Niveau und Murderbait gesellen sich locker zu meinen akuellen Lieblings-Düsterrockkapellen!
Step by step normality returns and oh boy, I'm so here for it!
I've already been to a couple of not-yet-completely-post covid events, but Bada's show in Hamburg's Hafenklang venue was the first club show which felt complety like in the before-times. The only difference was that you had to show your ID and proof of vaccination at the entry. But after that it really felt like coming home, even though I couldn't even remember when I was there the last time. (Conveniently I have a blog to look stuff like that up. It was for Kanaanback in June 2019.) And one can only speculate whether the attendance for a newcomer band on a weekday would have been as high as it was yesterday.
On the other hand not every young group has almost the same personnel as Swedish phenomenom Anna von Hausswolff's live band, so that alone surely has stirred some interest. For me also the familiarity with their debut album, the Roadburn Reduxperformance and the recent "Live in Rolfstorp" tape helped to make this an absolutely unmissable occasion.
Six people shared the small stage, with the drummer on the left side, facing bass and guitar on the opposite right side, and the two keyboard players including Anna in the back, where you could nearly see their silhoettes once the stage smoke came into play. The main visual focus point of my attention however was the guy responsible for weird noises in the center, who moved a small pickup on the stage floor and other surfaces, sang with tons of effects and also spent a good amount of time with a fucking Korg Monotron mini synthesizer! Not the same model as mine (as used in the performance "Druturum IV: The Science Behind Angel Encounters") - but still that whole package was enough to make the man my spirit animal here.
There was a certain chaotic note in Bada's whole show, but that was intentional and juxtaposed by moments of enormous grandeur, cathartic drones, unresistable robotik psych rock energy and layers and layers of bass and noise up to ridiculous levels. At one point the band even had to finish a track earlier, because they had lost control over a deep disturbing ripple signal. Another moment which confused me a little is when I was distracted between songs and the bass player suddenly asked me for my Fritz Cola bottle. Want the rest of my drink? Weird, but you do you. Of course he just needed it to brutally slide on his instrument, haha. Speaking of: when the bass was looped and played on top of itself, there was a certain passage when I think I could feel my nasal septum vibrating for a while! Ok, that frequency was something.
The whole show was something. Just the right mix of rawness and determination, a heavy drone psych noise masterclass.
Can't wait to see Anna and I guess at least some of the boys again in not even three weeks with a totally different musical framework...
Oh no, hide your eardrums! This had to happen at some point. It's that new installment of the cassette craze chronicles we all dreaded: Sonic warfare! It's a Sentient Ruin Laboratories special!
ABSTRACTER - Abominion(2021)
When radioactive mutant zombie rats fight over the remains of our post-apocalyptic wasteland, they better not lay into my tape collection, because Abstracter's "Abominion" will fucking devour them from the inside! This monstrous bastard of Triptykon, Godflesh, blackest death and destructive dissonance might survive when everything else is gone, just to laugh and growl "Told you so!" over the rotting remains of civilization and life on this poisoned planet. Fuck yeah, this shit is so enormously cataclysmic! I love it. And damn, what a packaging of the cassette, with the long j-card, slipcase and even an obi strip! That's how you do it! AND IF YOU WANT TO READ SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE TANGIBLE ABOUT THE MUSICAL CONTENT, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY REVIEW OF THE ALBUM ON VEIL OF SOUND!
FUOCO FATUO - Backwater(2017/2021)
FUOCO FATUO - Obsidian Katabasis(2021)
Bell Witch, Loss... There's no doubt that Profound Lore Records know their funeral doom. And Sentient Ruin prove their formidable taste by re-releasing these two albums of the abysmal Italian funeral doomers Fuoco Fatuo as a box set. This band truly really plays to the trademarks of both labels. While being mostly slow and majestically mournful they also know how to wreak horrifying havoc, conjuring a permanent sense of existential dread and being swallowed by an inescapable nightmare.
Both albums for sure are masterpieces of the genre. "Backwater" with its four longtracks is more straightforward in its approach and deserves your attention for the closer "Nemesis" alone.
Their recent work "Obsidian Katabasis" pairs only three longtracks with shorter interludes, experiments a lot more with sound and songwriting ideas and thus gets more abstract and difficult to get into. But once you are over a certain threshold, you can only bow down in awe before this towering portent of decay, this frightening colossus of blackened doom. If you want your metal to make you feel small like a toddler with a cup of water fighting the lava stream of a volcanic eruption - this is for you. It most definitely is for me. Artistically on a level close to 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker), yet also just one of the most crushing and humbling metal experiences of 2021, Fuoco Fatuo's "Obsidian Katabasis" leaves nothing to be desired. And a song title like "Thresholds Of Nonexistence Through Eerie Aeon" rivals Mournful Congregationin its cosmic funeralism.
VESSEL OF INIQUITY - The Doorway (2021)
As a reviewer it's inevitable to face one problem after a couple of Sentient Ruin releases: How many words are there for total nihilistic annihilation and obliberation? In truth most of these artist actually sound very different, with a wide range of individual concepts and unique strengths. But how can you possibly do that justice, especially when the label's own hype texts always take the most poignant descriptions out of your mouth before you even had a chance to make up your own sonically tortured mind? Yes, again: This album is a world-ending harbinger of humanity's downfall. On his split EP with ThecondontionA. White, the man behind this avant-garde black metal project, already extinguished the dinosaurs. Now it's our turn! Correspondingly Vessel Of Iniquity pushes industrial influences to the forefront. The blastbeats fire like machineguns over a battlefield of chaotic multi-instrumental cacophony, infernal riffs, horror sounds and weaponized white noise. And when the Vessel hits the breaks it won't give you any chance to breathe, as it fills your lungs with the filthiest black sludge of doom. Magnificient!
ZAQQOEM - Anarchic Rapture Of Withering (2021)
Ok, now it's getting almost ridiculous! And I'm not talking about the short twelve minutes running time of this EP. Quite on the contrary that span is more than enough for Zaqqoem to get their... uhm... point across. That point being that yes, there can always be even more bedlam! No, there's no natural limit to musical abrasiveness! Yes, this is happening! No, your ears and stereo are ok! Or at least they were until now. What a joyfully sadistic, disharmonic mangler is this Dutch blackened death metal beast! If this doesn't suck your mind into the void through a straw - congratulations! You're obviously evil beyond salvation. Welcome to the Sentient Ruin family!
Tapes, tapes, tapes! And this time it's only recently released stuff, starting with one which combines two of my favorite things to write about on this blog: Roadburn and anticipation for coming live shows!
BADA - Live In Rolfstorf(2021)
After Of Blood And Mercury's live album this cassette from Bada is the second recording of a Roadburn Reduxperformance in my collection. Or at least it is closely related to that. Unlike the duo the Swedish band, which features several musicians of Anna von Hausswolff's group - including herself on keyboards - didn't actually play live in an empty room in Tilburg, but recorded and edited a live session in an attic in the southern Swedish countryside. The four tracks on this tape are cut from those same sessions, so there are overlaps, but it's not entirely the same. It still is absolutely mind-bending stuff though. A rousing but eerie jam of dark psychedelic rock with strong ties to drone, doom, noise and post rock, which - like almost everything Hausswolff is involved in - couldn't possibly more impactful and substantial. The design of this limited tape is very simple, but it comes with a sticker that's a pretty great commentary on unreadable death metal band logos. The best thing however is that two days from now, I will finally have the opportunity to experience Bada live in Hamburg. My bada is so ready for this!
JAH CUZZI - Chainsmoker (2021)
It's not the biggest step to get from Bada to the jam of the Romanian trio Jah Cuzzi on last year's split tape with Raw Deal. On their new album "Chainsmoker" however their sound slowly moves into a different direction. At its heart this is still a rather dark blend of psychedelic improvisational music, but they are adding a few nearly contradictatory flavours to it. The organ (which generally compensates the lack of a bass player so good, that you don't even realize that it's missing) in the opener "Dick Tator" could almost be from Archive, until it gets too skew and dirty for that comparison. Other tracks like "Jahcometti" seem to incorporate elements from electronic music and there's a smack of dub all over the place. But everything Jah Cuzzi incorporates seems to be in a rather raw, unfinished and dirty state. And this is exactly what makes it so potent: there's no filter reducing the impact. This shit hits, just like the primitive album artwork very impressively succeeds in making me cough inside. Bottom line: "Chainsmoker" is a pungent heavy psych highlight!
LANA DEL RAY - Blue Banisters(2021)
Nope. There's no smooth transition from a Romanian band published on a Czech underground label to Lana Del Rey. There may or may not be some common smoking preferences. And of course Universal runs on a tighter budget than Stoned To Death Records. If it weren't so they would surely give you a download card with your cassette, right? But let's not dwell on the big bad pop machine too long, but talk about the artist! Lana Del Rey has quite a prolific year, as "Blue Banisters" is already her second full album in 2021 after "Chemtrails Over The Country Club". And damn, that was a good one! The first singles suggested that its successor would be a more nostalgic affair, and in part that's true, with some sounds that could have been on "Born To Die" and deliberately washed-out production choices reminiscent of "Ultraviolence". Several of the fifteen tracks have also been intended for previous albums, indeed going as far back as 2013/2014. But don't worry! This doesn't come off as a collection of rejected leftovers at all.
On the contrary "Blue Banisters" presents itself as equally manifold and balanced as "Chemtrails". It's still obvious that Lana is the master of her musical choices, does this from her heart and constantly works on herself as a singer. And she's clearly having fun with it here. She takes her voice to new places we haven't heard from her like this before, including some severe belting or even imitating a guitar solo. Which may be a little bit silly, but come on, who gives a fuck? Especially since the musical arrangements urrounding her are once again so flawless.
TIBETIAN MIRACLE SEEDS - Inca Missiles(2021)
For the last tape we go back to the world of psychedelic rock and from a possible future pop classic to an established hippie music classic from the late 1960s. Well, at least in some parallel universe. I truth Tibetian Miracle Seeds is a modern-day Scottish project specialized in time travelling, because "Inca Missiles" gives you the sitar, the wah-wah, the flutes, the relaxed jam bass, the spaced out vocals and fab four harmonies... all that in spades. And don't think that the occasional lap steel guitar, harp or didgeridoo makes this any less flowerpowery! No, multi-instrumentalist Jack McAfee, who stirs this boat, doesn't aim for any innovation trophies. Apart from very few details like the heavy fuzz guitar of the title track you could sell me this whole thing as the remaster of some obscure treasure from the past. It's the authentic quality and the sheer love for the genre put into the eleven tracks (including one digital only bonus track), which make these weapons of love so irresistable. Admittedly it's a little much of this sound for me to sit(ar) through in one session, but for one-side-at-a-time consumption it's the sweetest dream soundtrack. And am I already tripping too much or are they really citing the old Spider Man theme in "Ideas Reprise"?
IN CASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE ISN'T ADVANCED ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THIS TEXT, YOU CAN ALSO READ A MORE ELOBORATE ENGLISH REVIEW OF THIS ALBUM ON VEIL OF SOUND!
New tapes, new spinning... and already with the first one it's going out of control...
REPEATED VIEWING - The Family (2021)
Spun Out Of Control is a label specialised in limited cassette runs of synth music, which I am familiar with since Heinrich Dressel's "Shapeshifting". Yeah, that's not super long, but anyway here's the second tape I ordered from them. In the realm of John Carpenter inspired synthwave music, there are three, probably equally represented kinds of albums: just an album albums, actual soundtracks and soundtracks to imaginary obscure VHS movies. "The Family" is one of the latter. Something with the involvement in an accidental death, satanic bikers, forbidden love and an unhappy ending, horror/slasher stuff, probably with a pinch of laboured and pretty bad humour. But honestly, you're only watching this trash for the astoundingly cool music in it anyway, right? There's not much on this album by Alan Sinclair's one-man project Repeated Viewing, on which I could elaborate in detail, but if you're into Carpenter Brut, Zombi, Mitch Hunter and shit like I am, then chances are good that you might dig this. Cool.
BRÍI - Sem Propósito(2021)
Oh, another synth soundtrack release! At least for the first three or four minutes you could think that. Than it dawns to you, that it might rather be trance music - before it takes a turn to blasting black metal. And of course it does! This is a new album of Brasilian avant-garde extreme music project Bríi after all. And it seems like the shackles of genres and conventions are sitting even looser than on "Entre Tudo que é Visto e Oculto". Or at least the execution of the idea is even more radical now, as Serafim, who is only aided by two guest vocalists on this album doesn't give us any real time to breathe and digest what we're hearing. Instead he feeds us an hour of ideas in only two big unnamed chunks, each filling twenty-eight minutes and twelve seconds of one side. Beside the ingredients electronic trance music (as in ambient, techno and synthwave) and black metal there are also elements akin to post rock and also - fitting, since the tape is being distributed by Lovers & Lollipops - a good amount of guitar-driven psychedelic rock. I've already mentioned a spiritual connection to Esoctrilihum in my last Bríi review, yet in comparison this stuff is a lot more seamless, accessible and hypnotic. In its endless flow this album rather reminds me of the mesmerizing Russian blackgaze masterpiece "Ladoga" by Olhava. One hour is definitely not too long fo this album, especially since around the forty-minutes-mark, where a normal LP would end, the whole things just kicks itself to another level of awesomeness. Even though huge amounts are something entirely different, I think I can already count "Sem Propósito" among my favorite metal releases of 2021.
LUCY ADLINGTON & MIKE VEST - House Of Worship (2021)
No track titles, just side A and B, both sides filled with sound to the brim. Same as we just had with Bríi, albeit in this case both tracks are only twenty-two minutes short each. Other similarities these two tapes share are their love for ambient atmospheres and repitition. The genre is a different one though. Lucy Adlington is a new artist for me, while I'm familiar to her cooperator Mike Vest as grandmaster of drone doomers Bong. And there you have it: "House Of Worship" is pure drone, recorded in a church, like its title suggests. The trademark Bong guitar tone, which seems to carry Eastern enlightenment and mysticism is clearly recognizable, but there are more things going on. More guitar noises and feedbacks, scattered percussions - and my favorite, an old detuned piano, which opens the second half. While a certain viscious darkness lurks deep in the shadows of this live recording, this isn't a drone which forces itself onto you as a purely punishing experience, yet rather lets you chose how you want to go through it yourself. And especially during that atmospherically thick and rich second mass I choose transcendence. With an edition of 30 copies, coming with an original petal from the house of worship, this release could hardly be much more limited, so I'm very glad to call this treasure my own.
And whatever reasons UK customs had to return the little package to Lucy without explanation, so she had to try to send it a second time, I personally just file it under fuck Brexit, once again, for the bazillionth time.
Dave Schmidt aka Sula Bassana haut gut raus dieses Jahr. Aber da ich hier ja ohnehin zunehmend auf Sammelreviews setze, passt das natürlich. Da höre ich doch gleich in drei anstehende bzw. gerade erfolgte Veröffentlichungen gleichzeitig rein!
Hmm... komischer Klangmus. Also doch hintereinander. Aber schnell, bevor das limitierte Zeug schon wieder ausverkauft ist!
ZONE SIX - Psychedelic Scripture(2004/2021)
Das älteste Album hier (auf dem Dave für Bass, Percussions und Flöte verantwortlich ist) ist die erste Doppel-LP-Pressung eines ursprünglich 2004 auf CD erschienenen, live improvisierten Werkes. Plus zwei Bonustracks von 1998, welche die Spielzeit von ca. 50 Minuten noch einmal um über zwanzig Minuten verlängern. So space ambient waberig und blubbernd wie auf "Psychdelic Scripture" habe ich Zone Six selten gehört. Die Synthies sind hier Hauptdarsteller und das macht sehr viel Spaß. Wenn wir in Genre-Archetypen sprechen, dann steckt hier von der Stimmung her sicherlich eine Menge "Echoes"-Mittelteil drin. Im Grunde könnte ich mir das auch ohne große Rhythmik und Gitarrenbeteilung reinziehen. Ist aber natürlich beides auch dabei. Insbesondere "The Pipe Dream" entwickelt dabei geradezu einen funky Drive. Die Bonustracks betonen dann noch mehr das "Rock" in Psychedelic Rock. Das dies andere Aufnahmen aus einer ganz anderen zeit sind, merkt man sofort, aber hey, ich gehöre auch nicht zu den Leuten, die groß meckern, wenn auf einen halbstündigen Jazzklassiker noch Extras ganz anderer Bandbesetzungen gepackt werden, um die Rille vollzubekommen. Mehr gute Musik ist mehr gute Musik. Trippy! (Was auch sonst?)
SULA BASSANA - Loop Station Drones (2021)
Basierend auf einer einfachen Grundidee und in mehreren, sogar in ihrer Entstehung auf Bandcamp nachverfolgbaren Sessions alleine zu Hause aufgenommen, sind die "Loop Station Drones" sozusagen das hässliche Schwesterlein (rein optisch, weil jemand wohl gerade keinen Bock auf Covergestaltung hatte, haha) der großartigen "CV Sessions". Statt CV-Kabel-Modulation bilden auf den sieben Tracks dieses Albums nun Effektschleifen die Basis. Teilweise unterstützt von analogen Elektrokonservenbeats, improvisiert Sula mit Gitarre und alten Synthies sich hier bis auf wenige Overdubs live bis zur vollkommenen Entrückung wieder durch eine erstaunlich vielfältiges und doch stets unverkennbar seine Handschrift tragendes Klangmultiversum. Vom zum Roadburn Reduxveröffentlichten Opener "Roadburn Haze" über die epochale "Karawane der Unsterblichen" bis zum "One Way" durch das "Stargate" manövrierten "Dopeshuttle" fällt kein Abschnitt dieser Reise ab. Dafür schlüpft man doch gerne in den Krautonautenanzug. Vor allem ist die Produktion der Sula Bassana-Soloalben ja mittlerweile auf einem überaus fetten Grundniveau angekommen - ein sehr voller, abgerundeter Hörgenuss. LSD gibt es als CD getarnt bei Sulatron Records. Die Vinylversion erscheint voraussichtlich nächstes Jahr auf Pancromatic Records.
ELECTRIC MOON meets TALEA JACTA - Sabotar(2021)
Auch dieses Album wurde bereits zum Roadburn Redux angeteast. Es handelt sich um die Liveaufnahme einer im September 2019 gespielten, gemeinsamen Show von Electric Moon mit dem portugiesischen Duo aus Gitarre und Percussions Talea Jacta im leider zwischenzeitlich der Pandemie zum Opfer gefallenen "Sabotage"-Club in Lissabon. Portioniert in drei Tracks stehen hier die Zeichen ganz und gar auf ungehemmtem Freakout. Mit viel wilder Trommelei, aber auch folkloristischen Einsprengseln und Arabismen gewürzt, brennt das Mondwürfelquintett ein Psych-Rock-Feuerwerk ab, welches die vierzig Minuten Spielzeit wie zwanzig vergehen lässt. Ganz ähnlich wie bei Electric Moons Kooperation mit Papir bleibt am Ende die Frage was, schon vorbei? und unbedingter Bock auf mehr davon. Dass dieses Album direkt aus den Stereokanälen des Livemischpults gezogen wurde und nicht weiter gemixt werden konnte, hat ihm auf jeden Fall nicht geschadet. Die Energie dieses Zusammentreffens wurde eingefangen, und das ist jenseits von allen Gedankenspielen, was wo vielleicht noch etwas optimiert werden könnte, was hier zählt. Ganz starkes Teil! "Sabotar" erscheint am 19. November.
Woah, langsam! Ganze zwei Blogeinträge hintereinander ohne Roadburn-Bezug!
Das geht aber nun wirklich nicht.
SINISTRO - Live At Roadburn (white vinyl LP) (2021)
Die Portugiesen Sinistro begannen vor zehn Jahren als reine Instrumentalgruppe, welche Elemente aus Ambient, Soundtrack und Post Rock mit derbe, also wirklich derbe reinknarzendem Doom Metal verband. Doch schon 2013, ein Jahr nach dem selbstbetitelten Debüt, veröffentlichte die nur mit Buchstabenkürzeln statt der vollen Namen der Musiker auftretende Band eine gemeinsame EP mit der Fado-Sängerin und Theaterschauspielerin Patrícia Andrade, welche sie so erfolgreich um eine im Doom-Genre so noch nicht gesehene und gehörte, charismatische Note erweiterte, dass sie für zwei auf Season Of Mist erschienenen Alben zum festen Mitglied wurde.
Sinistro live, Roadburn 2016
Zu den ersten Auftritten in dieser Konstellation zählte auch die Performance im Green Room des Roadburn Festivals 2016, welche sie für mich zur wichtigsten Neuentdeckung dieser Festivalausgabe machten. Die Gruppe spielte in den folgenden Jahren noch auf weiteren prestigeträchtigen Veranstaltungen und tourte u.a. gemeinsam mit SubRosaund später als Support von Paradise Lost durch Europa.
Immer beeindruckend war die Kombination der gnadenlos verzerrter, sich tonnenschwer auf die Brust wuchtender Heaviness mit dem leidenschaftlichen portugiesischen Gesang Andrades und ihrer im besten Sinne überaus theatralischen Performance.
Ich rede in der Vergangenheit, denn inzwischen ist die Gruppe zur instrumentalen Urbesetzung zurückgekehrt und wird in dieser voraussichtlich nächstes Jahr ein neues Studioalbum rausbringen.
Und so präsentiert sich das nun wahlweise in schwarzem und weißem Vinyl erhältliche Livealbum auch als Rückblick auf diese Zeit und Abschluss einer Ära, mit Tourdaten und Plakaten dieser Zeit. Auch das Backcoverfoto stammt nicht vom Roadburn-Auftritt, wurde aber vermutlich ausgewählt, weil darauf alle Musiker inklusive Drummer - mehr oder weniger - zu sehen sind. Das Frontcover allerdings ist eines jener tatsächlich vor Ort entstandenen Gemälde, die Kim Holm in jenem Jahr live vor oder neben der Bühne hockend von zahlreichen Künstlern angefertigt hat, und hätte wohl nicht besser ausgewählt werden können.
Als für sich alleine stehenden Album ist Sinistros "Live At Roadburn" nicht perfekt, alleine schon, weil es nur vier der sechs tatsächlich gespielten Songs enthält - dazu noch in veränderter Reihenfolge -, und dadurch insgesamt nur auf die Länge einer EP kommt.
Über die Gründe dafür kann ich nur spekulieren. Zum einen mag es natürlich sein, dass man das Ding auf eine Einzel-LP beschränken wollte. Ich kann mir allerdings ebenso vorstellen, dass die nicht veröffentlichten Stücke einfach nicht gut genug klangen. Der Sound ist nämlich teilweise schon grenzwertig. So wünschte ich mir passagenweise den Gesang lauter, doch wahrscheinlich ist dies nicht möglich, da auch der gesamte mächtige Bass- und Gitarrenwumms über das Gesangsmikrophon dann noch übertriebener als ohnehin schon wäre. Nein, leicht zu produzieren waren Sinistro sicherlich nie.
Als bandhistorischen Rückblick auf eine ihrer wichtigsten Shows und nostalgische Erinnerung an eine der eigenständigsten und besten Konstellationen im modernen Doom erfüllt diese Platte ihren Zweck aber auf jeden Fall. Und da ich mich an keinem der Songs jemals satt hören kann, steht einer mehrfachen Rotation hintereinander von "Live At Roadburn" auch nichts im Wege.
At least until the end of the year Bandcamp Fridays are still a thing, so here we go again! I'm skipping a tape I ordered yesterday, because that will as always be covered in an upcoming segment of my cassette craze chronicles.
NICK HUDSON - K69996ROMA:EP (2021)
Following his last album "Font Of Human Fractures" (english version of that review on Veil Of Sound) Nick Hudson gets weirder and even more experimental with this new EP, which starts with the epic album track, but then features seven completely new pieces. Those are all shorter - mostly between three and four minutes -, but all in all this release has enough meat on the bones to already feel like a whole album. The reason to label this as an EP is probably less its running time, yet rather its less songwriting-orientated, more fragmentary nature. While Hudson can never hide his baroque art pop heart for long, there are lots of other sounds in play here: break beat electronics, kraftwerkian boing boom tschak vocals, spooky Clipping. sound collages. Speaking of: also hip hop influences. Piano ballads, tense almost-dream pop, black metal. Yes, seriously. I bought the digital download, but I'm still contemplating whether it would have been a better idea to order one of the two super rare CD versions of this crazy sick masterpiece. It's just the uncertainty of how much taxes and fees there will be on top of it, which made me hesitant. I'm already paying the post office enough for the special "service" of not delivering stuff to my door...
CHELSEA WOLFE - Woodstock / Green Altar (2021)
Chelsea Wolfe released two tracks from the "Birth Of Violence" sessions. "Woodstock" is an eerie piano cover of Joni Mitchell's song, "Green Altar" is an album outtake and the rare case of a pure love song with lines like "Your love is a waterfall" or "Such love could make an atheist turn to God". The instrumental with acoustic guitar and electronic ambient sounds still conjures that special dark goth folk feeling, which makes it so very distinctively Chelsea Wolfe. Both tracks are simple, wonderfully crafted, just beautiful.
DICTAPHONE - Goats & Distortions 5 (2021)
Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I did not buy this on Bandcamp Friday! I don't even own it on BC at all,but got a download as a freebie with my last Denovali Records delivery. I am already here recommending Bandcamp music though, so why not include it here, right? Dictaphone are without a doubt among the best doomjazz (if you still want to call it that) artists I've heard so far. There's a lot of rhythm for the genre, both ethnic and electronic and also a lot of indefinable sounds and samples happening in the background. The smooth and steady bass of Oliver Doerell holds it all together, while the violin of Alex Stolze and the bass clarinet and saxophone of Roger Döring fill the soundscape with yearning and soul. Amazing arrangements and performances. A profoundly deep and rewarding listening experience.
