Odes to Lentitude with GÛLDUR and HET CONCREET

Do you have time? And a little patience? Here are two recent digital-only treats from Bandcamp for you:

HET CONCREET - To Be Held For A Long Time [live at Roadburn] (Download) (2026)

Maybe I've missed something, but I think this is the first official Live at Roadburn release featuring this year's edition. And it's probably the longest of its kind, since who else ever performed at the world's greatest festival for three hours without a break? So in that regard the recording of Het Concreet's tribute to "Composition 1960 #7" by La Monte Young even beats the three show marathon of Seven That Spells from 2019.

Of course this free Offroad performance in Tilburg's St. Jozefkerk was far from any normal Roadburn show - whatever that even means. I've witnessed over two hours of it live and wrote about it extensively back in April. Admittedly I corrected a couple of mistakes now. The organ was actually a harmonium - and I dismissed one person on stage as some sound guy, while he was actually also a musician operating tapes and electronics. (Other instruments included were electric and pedal steel guitar and cello.)
So yes, it's possible to overlook details, even if you have a lot of time and the music is as minimalist as it gets, which in this case meant: only two notes "To Be Held For A Long Time".

Other observations I made however are affirmed by this recording, like the huge role the ambient noises of footsteps, closing doors or someone coughing in the vast church hall played especially during the quiet build-up, when not even all musicians were participating in the Drone during the first half hour.

I can also recall and recognize some very distinct details in the textures, which I experienced intensly sitting right next to a speaker behind the stage during that later phase when I was wandering around in the space.

The release divides the performance into four movements, and even though I've been there I'm actually surprised of how interesting the many subtle developments in density, form and volume are keeping this Experimental Avantgarde piece, especially since it explicitly features no rhythm, no melody, no "event". Is the latter really true though?

Naturally, just like Kali Malone's "Does Spring Hide Its Joy" this will hardly become an album in my regular rotation, at least not the unbroken whole of it. But if you give it the necessary amount of attention it certainly can be quite a rewarding experience.

GÛLDUR - Ode to the Cold Star (Download) (2026)

From the Neo-Gothic cathedral in the Netherlands to another church: The Church of Noisy Goat has tested my patience lately. I'm all for promoting your stuff on Bandcamp and using the newsletter to do so, but the Brazilian label releases so much and sends so many mails, that I've been tempted to unsubscribe, because it sometimes just feels like a wave of spam and I honestly delete most of it immediately. There are exceptions though, like when the familiar name Gûldur popped up recently.

After the Dungeon Synth project's last release "Between the Moons, the Dead Rivers" I was quiete keen to hear more - and "Ode to the Cold Star" doesn't dissappoint.

Not too far from its predecessor, but a bit darker with a stronger Black Metal spirit at its foundation this hour of slowly meandering Dark Ambient is a creepier experience, which somehoew still emits an eery distant beauty. There is a low-fi feeling to the Synth performance, which includes some almost awkward pauses, where many producers would probably intervene and ask Do you really want to keep it like that? But exactly those deliberate imperfections - and of course the videogamesque medieval sequences every now and then give these nine contemplative soundscapes their own special charme - and ultimately justify the categorization as Dungeon Synth in the first place.

And in case you feel like copying the tracks onto a cassette the download actually comes with a printable J-card for that.