Tapes, tapes, tapes! This is a post (or rather inbetween) festivals edition with three cassettes I bought at the merch table of A Colossal Weekend and one, which I did not buy at Roadburn, but at least the artist played my favorite show there this year.
OTAY:ONII - 夢之駭客 Dream Hacker (2023)
But while the performance of Elizabeth Colour Wheel singer Otay:onii was an absolutely breathtaking experience unlike anything I've ever seen before, it was all about her previous album "冥冥 Míng Míng" and didn't feature one note of this recent work yet, which in parts goes into more pop-affine, easier accessible segments, but on the other still disturbs those with droning, noisy or just plain "weird" electronic experimentalism.
Instrumentally as well as vocally a lot of different exciting things are happening on this collaged album. So if you're listening to this tape - which is available with a transparant shell or in Aegean Blue - for the first time, you might not even notice that both sides feature the same half hour of adventurous artistic expression. And you won't mind at all enjoying this fantastic stuff twice.
For a more detailed description please check out the review I did as part of Veil of Sound's pre-Roadburn special! [MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
Instrumentally as well as vocally a lot of different exciting things are happening on this collaged album. So if you're listening to this tape - which is available with a transparant shell or in Aegean Blue - for the first time, you might not even notice that both sides feature the same half hour of adventurous artistic expression. And you won't mind at all enjoying this fantastic stuff twice.
For a more detailed description please check out the review I did as part of Veil of Sound's pre-Roadburn special! [MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
EYES - Congratulations (2023)
Speaking of Veil of Sound: I still have to get back at that sneaky son of a... Thorsten there! Just one day after I set the record for the shortest introduction paragraph ("No way, Norway!" for Wizrd) he started his Eyes review with "Congratulations." Admittedly that's the obvious low hanging fruit. But I'm going to take that shortest introduction title back again, promised!
At least the Danish Post Hardcore commando deserved those congrats, because the album is a killer indeed. Not as deadly as watching their full craziness unfolding on stage live, but still a pretty maniac teardown, which flies by incredibly fast.
Of course "Congratulations" only has a total playing time of half an hour. But then most of its tracks are two and a half minute Hardcore bangers with several little sprinkles of Mathcore and Noise, so that's absolutely fine. This fucks!
Of course "Congratulations" only has a total playing time of half an hour. But then most of its tracks are two and a half minute Hardcore bangers with several little sprinkles of Mathcore and Noise, so that's absolutely fine. This fucks!
WHERE MERMAIDS DROWN - And The Raging Winds Do Blow (2021)
WHERE MERMAIDS DROWN - Reminisce (2023)
Admittedly it is a bit weird to talk about "And The Raging Winds Do Blow" as an EP after just calling the same half-hour length an album in the cases of Otay:onii and Eyes, but it probably depends a lot on the music, what kind of format you feel it to be be. For the brand of epochal instrumental Post Rock Where Mermaids Drown are playing it certainly is short. But at least you can rule out the risk of being bored from the start.
Not that the music would give you any cause for that, because the beautifully layered, very dreamy and elevating sound of the French group, which effectively utilizes voice samples to underline its score nature, sits comfortably between the likes of Mono and Bruit ≤ and has enough profound substance to easily carry you on its waves if you let yourself fall into it. Unless you're a mermaid of course.
Not that the music would give you any cause for that, because the beautifully layered, very dreamy and elevating sound of the French group, which effectively utilizes voice samples to underline its score nature, sits comfortably between the likes of Mono and Bruit ≤ and has enough profound substance to easily carry you on its waves if you let yourself fall into it. Unless you're a mermaid of course.
"Reminisce", the first full album (which actually isn't that much longer, but who cares) continues right where the splendid EP left off. The careful yet determined exploration of atmospheres, prolonging self-control to build tension, bursting into mountainous climaxes... It's all still here, with even refined love to detail and put into shorter, yet more numerous tracks, putting it a little bit closer to the works of Wang Wen for me, but that's probably only because my resources of references within this field are still rather limited. Or I'm just not thinking hard enough. I can assure you though, that Where Mermaids Drown are premium players in their scene - of course not in terms of renownedness / popularity, but the class to justify them getting more attention is there in spades.
Both releases are beautiful items. These tape shells are among the loveliest in my collection. One should also emphasize that the band sells them with download codes, which is always a plus in my book and sadly still not the accepted norm.
All in all Where Mermaids Drown definitely keep the promise of their live performance, and vice versa their studio work makes me want to see them on stage again. Luckily there's a good chance that I can do that at a small open air festival pretty close to home next month.
Both releases are beautiful items. These tape shells are among the loveliest in my collection. One should also emphasize that the band sells them with download codes, which is always a plus in my book and sadly still not the accepted norm.
All in all Where Mermaids Drown definitely keep the promise of their live performance, and vice versa their studio work makes me want to see them on stage again. Luckily there's a good chance that I can do that at a small open air festival pretty close to home next month.
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