Fuzzti-Haul feat. CAUSA SUI, DAEVAR, FUCKWOLF, GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE, SKYJOGGERS and WYATT E.

It's summer and I'm slow, falling behind with my to-review list again. But then it's also summer and page impressions are slow, too.

But anyway, I have to warm up again at some point, so instead of a proper insightful music review here's my "look what I've got!" from two weeks ago at Esbjerg Fuzztival in Denmark:

CAUSA SUI - In Flux (random colour ecomix vinyl 10" 2LP) (2025)

Ha, busted! You got me! I didn't even buy this in the merch room. In fact for some reason Causa Sui weren't able to bring stuff to sell there. So no, I already had their latest studio album before.

"In Flux" doesn't lay out a radically new path for the instrumental quartet, but pretty much continues right where  last year's "From The Source" or the latest live release "Loppen 2024" left off. There's no twenty+ minutes multi-part Psych Prog epic on here (well, "Astral Shores" at least cracks the sixteen-minute mark), but all in all it's the same perfectly balanced mix of fuzz and wah-wah heavy Stoner Rock, Latin Fusion ease and cool Americana, which - performed by these players - at this point has become such a signature sound, that you could almost talk about Causa Sui by the numbers.

Of course that sounds unnecessarily disparaging. But you know that these numbers are super creative and high, right? So yeah, no doubt that "In Flux" is awesome. Presenting the album in agatefold cover as a double 10" record is the icing on the cake. The vinyl comes in random colours and I got green and teal tones which fit the artwork quite well. Beautiful!

elparaisorecords · Boogie Lord's Revenge

SKYJOGGERS - 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse (CD) (2025)

I already lamented starting my merch spree a couple of minutes too late, so I missed the last vinyl copy, which Skyjoggers brought with them on their sixty-day tour. But hey, music's the same on the CD! So here comes a sweet thirty-six minutes injection of heavy, crunchy, fast and fuzzilicious Space Rock for fans of Karkara (who had sadly cancelled their Esbjerg show), Slift, "Nonagon" era King Gizzard and their likes.

While the studio recording in all its raw explosiveness cannot even convey the full extend of the Finnish trio's on-stage energy, "12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse" undeniably is a veritable Kraut banger. Hop onto the rumbling Psych'n'Roll express train now!

GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE / FUCKWOLF - Let's Split (裂けても) (LP) (2025)

Let's continue with the last vinyl copy which I could score: It's a colourful Psych Rock split featuring two bands from Tokyo and San Francisco.

Green Milk From The Planet Orange (the band which actually played in Esbjerg) occupies the first half of this LP with a nineteen minutes long live recording of just one track called "Concrete City Breakdown". Just like during the festival listening to this trio feels like a continuation of Skyjoggers, but even wilder, stylistically wider, more skilled and more emotional. And this is not a jab at the former at all; I saw their drummer watching his counterpart here laughing with a wide open mouth.
No, Green Milk are just an unbelievably crazy force Psych Punk Prog'n'Roll with that special spark that feels distincitively Japanese and must have something to do with something in the volcanic water over there. And this recording is a nice raw document of what a show of them feels like.

Fuckwolf spread their creativity over more tracks, presenting six song between two and a half and slightly below seven minutes length. And each one of those shows a different side, from atmospheric analog synth moods to punkish noisy Kraut explosions, from desert hike soundtrack to journeys towards the event horizon and beautiful dreams of love and peace under the burning Frisco sun. Neat.

GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE - Tragedy Overground (CD) (2025)

The highlight of Green Milk From The Planet Orange's show was a new, over twenty-two minutes long Prog piece, and this is the single / EP, which contains it.
After a slow pinkfloydish start "Tragedy Overground" escalates through multiple wild crescendos of burning Prog Punk, Noise Rock (and even small bits with a jazzy vibes, which you might miss as you're hurrying along with this) before finally returing to the opening theme and - of course reprising all the madness that happened before once again in a wild synopsis. It's brilliant, for sure one of my my favorite tracks of 2025 so far!

WYATT E. - Mount Sinai / Aswan (3 colours striped vinyl LP) (2015/2025)

The Belgians for sure brought a lot of merch, including new pressings of some older albums which were missing in my collection. And who can say no to coloured vinyl releases by Heavy Psych Sounds?
I know, normally I prefer my coloured vinyl to have some connection to the artwork, but come on, this pink/yellow/blue thing was just too tempting!

Musically the two instrumental longtracks "Mount Sinai" and "Aswan" already point to the direction the Psychedelic Doom trio would go later, yet they don't add as many electronic, vocal and percussive elements beyond the realm of hypnotic Drone and Doom Metal yet.

On the B side however a certain Near Eastern groove, bass pedal synths and bongos already come into play. And even though Wyatt E. later evolved beyond the sound we're hearing here, it doesn't diminish this earlier work in any way. The aesthetics were already set, this is just the first chapter in a (so far) front to back captivating discography.

Great album and reissue!

WYATT E. - Exile To Beyn Neharot (transparent black and orange splatter LP) (2017/2025)

Well, aren't they economic? Two years after "Mount Sinai / Aswan" Wyatt E. followed it up with another album of two epic tracks, which just reused the same cover, just horizontally flipped. As if the drawing on the inlet wouldn't have been a dope alternative. I guess there was some conceptual meaning behind this decision, making these two sister releases. The new splatter vinyl reissie definitely is nice to look at as well.

The deep Drone, the mystical sounds and Oriental elements, the Krautrock vibes and cosmic Berlin electronics, the undeniable Dead Can Dead influence, they have all entered the temple and are here to stay now. The drum performance gets more advanced, as well as the production of it all. Noone is singing yet, but this is just the step you'd retroactively expect between the debut and "Āl Bēlūti Dārû" in 2022. A flawlessy beautiful hypnotic Doom ceremony.

DAEVAR - Sub Rosa (CD) (2025)

Last but not least - following the Fuzztival running order - here's the latest album from the German trio Daevar. Call it Shoegrunge or call it Dream Doom! Whatever. Dont call it female-fronted, because despite being technically correct that term is somehow dumb and icky. Listen to it and enjoy great songs with catchy melodies and rumbling Stoner riffs!

Yeah.

WV Sorcerer Rituale mit OTAY:ONII, 若潭 RUÒ TÁN und SENYAWA

Wo ich hier doch gerade beim Thema Senyawa bin, ist dies ein guter Zeitpunkt, wieder einmal dem chinesisch-französischen Label WV Sorcerer Productions zu huldigen, war mein letzter Einkauf dort doch eine neue Schallplatte des indonesischen Duos. Und zwei weitere LPs warten nun auch schon länger darauf, hier kurz vorgestellt zu werden. 

SENYAWA - Rehearsal Session 2019 (smoke vinyl LP) (2022)

Mehr Understatement als dieser Albumtitel wäre wohl kaum möglich gewesen. Auch wenn er faktisch natürlich korrekt ist. Tatsächlich hören wir hier nur Vokalakrobat Rully Shabara und Experimentalinstrumentalist Wukir Suryadi, wie sie vor dem Eintritt ins Songwriting für "Alkisah" Stücke der vergangenen zehn Jahre proben. Die makellose Performance und großartige Produktion machen dies allerdings von Anfang an zu einem absolut vollwertigen Album der Folk/Noise/Drone-Geschichtenerzähler, welches sich weder vor dem aktuellen Studiowerk, noch vor "Sujud" oder der Kooperation mit Stephen O`Malley "Bima Sakti" verstecken muss. Fabelhaft!
Die transparente Scheibe mit Raucheffekt kommt in einem stilvollen Gatefold mit atmosphärischen Fotos der Probelocation, sowie (wenn man zu den ersten achtzig Käufern gehört) einer Replika der Setlist.

OTAY:ONII - NAG (gold vinyl LP) (2018/2022)

Ein weiterer Griff in die jüngere Vergangenheit ist die Wiederveröffentlichung des bisher nur 2018 auf Kassette erschienen Debüts von Elizabeth Colour Wheel-Sängerin Otay:onii, die hier wie auch auf dem grandiosen Nachfolgewerk "冥冥 Míng Míng" ebenso komplett für alle Kompositionen und Arrangements verantwortlich ist.
Ihre Mischung aus moderner Elektronik und fernöstlicher Tradition, gepaart mit aus parallelen Traumwelten herüberschwebendem Gesang zwischen Lisa Gerrard, Björk und Yoko Ono ist auch hier bereits eine überwältigend epochale Erfahrung. Was für eine gnadenlos inspirierte Solokünstlerin!
Dass die Schallplatte in Gold daherkommt, ist nur angemessen. Und auch sonst sind der Tonträger und seine Verpackung (Gatefold + Obi-Streifen) optisch wie haptisch gelungen.

若潭 RUÒ TÁN - 石 Stone (amber vinyl LP) (2017/2021)

Zu guter Letzt wenden wir uns einer Wiederveröffentlichung von Ruò Tán, seines Zeichens Labelgründer von WV Sorcerer Productions, zu. Aufgrund der anderen von ihm veröffentlichten Künstler sind seine musikalischen Interessen ja bereits bekannt, und somit is die Ausrichtung dieses Albums auch keine Überraschung. Der spirituelle Bruder von Guillaume Cazalet präsentiert mit "Blood", "Mist", "Moon" und "Soil" vier Tracks, die alle genauso sehr Musik wie schamanistische Beschwörung sind. Sprechende Trommeln, singende Flöten, alles durchdringende Glocken, brummendes und kratzendes Dröhnen und urige Kehlkopflaute finden zu einer minimalistischen und doch verdammt mächtigen Geistreinigung zusammen, die für alle Fans von Senyawa, Mong Tong, Dolpo, Czlt, Otay:onii... naja, im Grunde von drei Vierteln aller Künstler im Katalog von WV Sorcerer, höchst ansprechend sein sollte. Experimentell, speziell und doch voller universell verständlicher Ursprünglichkeit.
Als Beigabe zum farbigen Vinyl im Gatefoldcover gibt es neben dem Obi wieder einmal drei hochwertig matt gedruckte Fotos.

Ja, ganz davon abgesehen, dass alle drei hier vorgestellten Platten inhaltlich brilliant sind, machen physische Tonträger, in deren Gestaltung so viel Liebe steckt, einfach eine Freude, die sich mit streambaren Datenklümpchen nicht reproduzieren lässt.

cassette craze chronicles VII (feat. CHARLIE BUTLER, PRIMITIVE MAN, THECODONTION and VESSEL OF INIQUITY)

 

In the mood for some crystal clear dream pop? Then this bunch of recent tape arrivals in my collection is probably something you should check out later.

PRIMITIVE MAN - Caustic (2017/2020)

I've tried to get into Primitive Man before, but somehow it didn't work. Maybe it was the other album not being for me, maybe they were just too much or I was just too weak. Maybe I first had to train myself with bands like Cryptae, who knows. Whatever, bygones! I'm fully converted now and can uhm... enjoy? the Tartarus Records tape edition of their 2017 masterpiece "Caustic" with all of my senses. Or better with the little rest of senses this superlative of aural punishment hasn't pulverized yet.

Primitive Man shout directly into your ear to berate you for the downfall of Earth and humanity, which is your fucking fault, while they smash your jaw on the border stone - and they do it perseveringly and in slow motion to make sure that you don't miss one nanosecond of that sweet torturous murderous pain.
Everything about this apocalyptic meteor of sludge is set to cause complete annihilation. And seldom has the shattering of all your bones at once felt so good.

CHARLIE BUTLER - Collapsing Sphere (2021)

Appearently Primitive Man have accidentally left all their gear running after their last rehearsal. And now all that crusty crunchy distortion is droning through endless loops. Feedbacks and overtones are seperating themselves from the rumbling mass, levitating. Somehow this almost sounds beautiful now.

Of course this is not Primitive Man's instruments' random transition to independence, but the deliberate work of Charlie Butler. "Collapsing Spheres" is a rather short, but all the more enthralling collection of minimalistic drone waves. Especially the two B-side tracks "Diverted Bridleway" and "Pull Down The Drawbridge" flood the room with dark Sunn O)))shine. Fanciers immediately realize that this music is ninety percent about sound. And the sound is just right.

As a low-fi film photographer myself I also dig the cover artwork of the tape, which is shot very much in the style of a lot of my shit. So that's cool too, right?

THECODONTION / VESSEL OF INIQUITY - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event (2021)

The Italian dinosaur kids are back! All of us who have been a little boy at some point know this phase, right? Where you love dinosaurs so much that you learn all their names and every information your little children's book provides and proudly recite all your knowledge to everyone? Yeah, got you!
Thecodontion never left that phase and have made a concept out of telling us all their Wikipedia knowledge about selected dinosaur species - over a gnarly bass-guitar-only black metal soundtrack!
This weird link between earliest Sodom and modern avant-garde black metal with the lead tone of funeral doomers Bell Witch already worked extremely well on their full-length debut "Supercontinent" and continues to do so on the two tracks on this tape, where they introduce us to "Thecodontosaurus antiquus" and "Procompsognathus triassicus".

This split EP however is dedicated to the event which killed almost all species on Earth approximately 251 million years ago. And the B-side shows us exactly how that destruction sounded with the eleven minute track "The Great Dying" by Vessel Of Iniquity. The one-man project heaps up all kinds of black metal, orchestral sounds and noises in such an exorbitant amount, that it ultimately seems to be more white noise than music. Which is exactly the point and makes this low-fi blastfest a very convincing representation of its idea.
And since we are living right in the middle of the greatest extinction event since the fall of the evolutionary much more successful and long-lasting giants, we'll rather sooner than later will have to accept that this right here is also the jam of our doom.  

cassette craze chronicles V (feat. GOLD, GRAVE MIASMA, KNOLL and PUPIL SLICER)

My journey on the tape trail continues with its fifth installment, beginning with two cassettes which albeit ordered during the last Bandcamp Friday (until the continuation of this tradition in August) also feel like delayed souvenirs from the Roadburn Redux merch table:

GOLD - Optimist (2017)
GOLD - Why Aren't You Laughing? (2019)

After orbiting around in my musical cosmos on stage and digitally for a couple of years now, finally owning something from Gold in physical form was long overdue.

Often described as "post everything" these two albums present the Dutch group as exactly that. With the reserved yet emotional, fragile yet determinant voice of Milena Eva in the center, honestly yet also sarcastically dealing with relatable, heavy personal topics, everything around it - though clearly catchy and easy to grasp - can only be categorized in post terms: post punk, post rock, post metal and even post black metal.

Even though the roots in the scene around the Devil's Blood circle, to which I would also count Dool, are undoubtly present, Gold have developed a truly unique and  always evolving personality.

Both albums are great, but you can't deny a remarkable growth from "Optimist" to the masterpiece "Why Aren't You Laughing?" - a trend which after Roadburn Redux only promises to be continued.

Until then I will very much enjoy these two tapes, whoch both not only sound, but also look good. Even the lyrics are printed in a readable font and colour.

KNOLL - Interstice (2021)

Directly from the Redux merch stall (as in: ordered after seeing their stream) comes this dirty crusty gem of grind goodness made in the US.

Being the band with the youngest members on the festival bill, Knoll surprised me with how classic and at the same time fresh and energetic their sound was. Their death metal-infused grindcore was the purest, unhinged old school Napalm Death worship.

On tape it's a little bit more obvious that there's also some of the swansy / industrial stuff, which later Napalm Death loved to work in here and there too, as well as a big chunk of electronic noise noise, which lets in fact a third of the twelve tracks (the album is a little bit longer than half an hour) drown in swirling and droning static. It's fabulous!

"Interstice" is a banger which fans of extreme metal old and new should not miss out on - even though you might not get this tape, which was limited to 50 copies.

PUPIL SLICER - Mirrors (2021)

Transatlantic brothers and sisters of Knoll from another mother are Pupil Slicer, who seem to follow a similarily charged ethos, yet package it in an even more frantic and panicked musical framework of the most brutal and brain-wrenching mathcore insanity imaginable.

"Mirrors" is the heaviest shit of The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Hirsch Effekt, spiced up with the same raw and primal grind relentlessness which Knoll are utilizing. And because that mixture wasn't already fucking you up enough, guitarist / vocalist Kate Davies seemingly threw the dice on which millisecond passages of each riff landed in the trash before recording.

The result is highly unpredictable, wild, unsettling - and an immensly cathartic, neckbreaking experience. And when they get more immediately accessible like in the epic midtempo finale "Collective Unconscious" it only makes the album even better, because it  undoubtly confirms that everything here happens a hundred percent by coice.

And I can in no way imagine how the its heavy as fuck production could sound any better.

Bandcamp made a bit of a wave about this trio (which is how I found them too), and rightfully so. If Pupil Slicer can pull this lunacy off live, then they are clearly one of the hottest brutal acts of the coming years.

"Toxic green" is the exactly appropriate colour for this cassette. There are already half a dozen differently coloured tape and vinyl editions sold out by now though.

GRAVE MIASMA - Abyss Of Wrathful Deities (2021)

And finally here's yet another flavor of classix extreme metal brutality!

Did I compliment Gold on the readibility of their lyrics? Well, you can't say that about the print of Grave Miasma's "Abyss Of Wrathful Deities" tape edition. The whole layout looks good on first sight, but is just slightly off.

Luckily that doesn't diminish my love for this British death metal band. I cannot say that I listen to them very regularly, but they indisputably have a special place in my heart since my first contact with them at Hell Over Hammaburg 2017, where they unleashed a sulphuric maelstrom to the netherworld that instantly became one my favorite death metal live experiences of all time.

Stylistically this new album brings some - at least to my knowledge - new shifts in atmosphere and disharmonics to the table, yet mostly still cultivates all familiar trademarks and qualities I already know from 2016's "Endless Pilgrimage", and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. It's old school Florida / Vader / Nile death metal, sick evil riffs, howling Morbid Angel lead guitar duels and all, which disguises its technical flawlessness under thick layers of reverb on the vocals, giving everything a chaotic "Seven Churches" feeling, without actually relying on youthful really bad timing like Possessed on their landmark debut.

High quality evil!

BANDCAMP DAY Mai 2021 mit BRUTUS, SNEEZING PUS, VOMI NOIR und YAZZ AHMED

Dieses Hobby nimmt manchmal schon bekloppte Formen an. Ich komme zwar im Moment gar nicht hinterher, mir alles, was ich mir irgendwann an Ohrenfutter bestellt habe, nach Feierabend reinzupfeifen, und trotzdem musste ich an diesem ersten Freitag des Monats schon wieder pervers zu vieles einfach unbedingt haben. Dabei hätte es realistisch vernünftig pragmatisch langweilig betrachtet wahrscheinlich schon genügt, mich auf meine morgentliche Album- und abendliche Single-Vorbestellung außerhalb von Bandcamp zu beschränken.

Gerüchte sagen, dies sei der letzte Der-komplette-Gewinn-geht-an-die-Künstler-Tag gewesen, andere Quellen sagen, es geht doch noch das ganze Jahr so weiter. Naja, für mich zählt erstmal das Jetzt.
Und diesem habe ich über die Plattform diesmal zwei niederländische Kassetten geordert, die genau wie die auf einem peruanischen Label veröffentlichten, aus Polen gelieferten LPs zweier Bands aus Mexiko zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt von mir besprochen werden.

Aber nee, das war natürlich noch nicht alles:

BRUTUS - Burst ("Glow In The Dark" vinyl LP) (2017/2021)

Das belgische Trio Brutus um Drummerin/Sängerin Stefanie Manaerts steht schon eine ganze Weile auf meiner Merk-/Wunschliste, vor allem live, was ja nach wie vor... ihrwisstschon, aber auch auf Tonträger. Ist es Hardcore? Indie? Post Rock? Shoegaze auf Adrenalin? Wen kümmert es? Auf jeden Fall drückt Manaerts der Gruppe sowohl mit ihrem ungezügelt treibenden Schlagzeugspiel ihren Stempel auf, als auch mit ihren gleichzeitig punkig direkten wie beflügelt über allem schwebenden Gesang. Dass ich mich manchmal an die cleanen Vocals von Oathbreaker erinnert fühle, mag vielleicht am verwandten Akzent liegen - oder ich bilde es mir einfach ein.

Sicherer belegbar sind da wohl die stilistischen Parallelen der Band mit Esben And The Witch, von denen sie sich jedoch genügend unterscheiden, um eine eigene unverwechselbare Identität zu behaupten. Eigen, aber eingängig. 

Vielleicht ist mir das aber auch alles Banane und ich möchte einfach nur wissen, ob diese aktuelle Vinylneuauflage des Debütalbums tatsächlich im Dunkeln leuchtet. Beweisbilder werden nach Eintreffen der Scheibe nachgereicht!

[EDIT: Hmmm... ok. Das Ding sieht super aus und glimmt tatsächlich, wenn es ringsherum komplett dunkel ist. Das ist nur schwer zu fotografieren, wenn man keine Lust hat, für eine Langzeitbelichtung ein Stativ am Plattenspieler aufzubauen, haha. Deswegen jetzt doch nur die normalen Fotos im Hellen.]

YAZZ AHMED - Solo 7"s Vol. 1 (violet vinyl 7") (2021)

Weiter geht es mit einer alten Bekannten dieser Rubrik, der kontemporären britisch-bahrainischen Jazz-Großmeisterin Yazz Ahmed - deren Schallplattenveröffentlichungen mir neu - und dann noch mit Inselporto obendrauf - eigentlich immer ein bisschen zu teuer sind, weshalb ich mich tendenziell eher mit Download oder CD begnüge. Dies trifft auch für diese 7" zu, für deren elf Minuten Musik ich - insbesondere am Ende eines eh schon verschwenderischen Tages - verhältnismäßig schon etwas zu tief in die Tasche gegriffen habe.

Mit dem scheiß Titel hat sie mich aber rumgekriegt. Wenn das Format schon im Namen steht, dann will man irgendwie doch, dass auch stimmig ist. Das Ding "Solo Downloads" zu nennen, wäre für mich also ganz klar sparsamer ausgegangen. Dabei werde ich mit Sicherheit noch einige Monate nur mit dem Download/Stream  auskommen müssen, bis die Single tatsächlich gepresst werden kann.

Aber hey! Auch ohne etwas zum Anfassen ist die Musik ist auch richtig gut. Es handelt sich hier Soloaufnahmen an Trompete und Flügelhorn, allerdings unterstützt durch Elektronik bzw. über den Hintergrund eines "Polyhymnia" Remixes gespielt. Was mich darauf bringt, dass "Polyhymnia Remixed" ja auch schon seit Ewigkeiten in meiner Merkliste schlummert...

Aber was soll's, diese beiden Stücke, eines ein alternativer Teaser für Ahmeds nächstes Album, das andere ein neuer Take von "One Girl Among Many" glänzen wie gewohnt durch virtuoses ohrenstreichelndes und doch aufregend zwischen Orient, und nahem wie fernem Okzident gleitendem Spiel. Miles would smile. 

SNEEZING PUS / VOMI NOIR - Putrid Necrotomy / Toutes les Couleurs de la Cacophonie Humorale (download) (2019)

Und zu guter widerlicher Letzt gibt es noch einen garstig eitrigen Download. Allerdings auch nur, weil mir der gute tote Neanderhaler Rene Aquarius die auf individueller Zufallsfarbe gepresste 7" neulich schon als Goodie zur "Rat Licker" beilegte. Ich habe allerdings gerne von allen Tonträgern eine digitale Version und in diesem Fall noch keine Kopie erstellt. Also nichts wie her mit dem kranken Scheiß!

Beide Bands dieser extrakurzen Split-EP, sowohl Sneezing Pus, in denen Arbeitstier Aquarius die Drums blastet, als auch die Franzosen Vomi Noir spielen dreckigen Goregrind der ganz alten Carcass-Schule, und alles weitere, was ich über sie sagen könnte, bräuchte dreimal so lange niederzuschreiben wie die insgesamt sieben zwischen ein und zwei Minuten ähem... langen Tracks durch das Gedärm wüten. Spaßmusik, ganz klar. Und als superbes Gesamtpaket verpackt! Die 7" ist genauso großartig wie sick, oldschoolig und doch originell gestaltet. Kostet tut das Ding nur sechs Euro. Also nichts wie reingesprungen in den eklig splatternden Körpersubstanzenauswurfmix!

cassette craze chronicles II (feat. A/LPACA, ANGEL OLSEN, DHIDALAH, HIERONYMUS DREAM, LANA DEL REY, SOW DISCORD and THROWING BRICKS)

 

Still nothing to see here. Just a bunch of recently bought tapes, including some purchases from last Bandcamp Friday.

But let's start this with an emotional double whammy of my almost-namesake Angel Olsen:

ANGEL OLSEN - All Mirrors (2019)

I've had this one on my long I-should-get-this-one-day-list since it came out in 2019. Since that was before I started using this medium again, I surely wouldn't have bought it on tape. But now with a song titled "New Love Cassette" did I even have a different choice anymore?

Having released several works between the realms of reduced, almost folky singer/songwriter material and equally guitar-centered indie rock, "All Mirrors" was the album, where Olsen dialed up bombast and production to the maximum. The larger than life big sounds and strings could almost wash a lesser artist's performance away, but Angel Olsen sits in it very comfortably and uses especially the epic vintage arrangements to her full advantage to create a sparkling experience which channels the emotional integrity of Emma Ruth Rundle through the lens of Shirley Bassey.
Sincere, cinematic, huge!

ANGEL OLSEN - Whole New Mess (2020)

As big, shiny and glamourous "All Mirrors" had been, the album never fully relied on its fassade, but was rather an experiment in how far Angel Olsen could takes the songs, which were initially written just with her voice and guitar, into this aesthetic direction without "losing" them.

The raw and intimate "Whole New Mess" seems like the radical counterdraft. A break-up album, recorded inside a church, using the room's acoustics to create distorted, dirty echoes. Even though it's technically a rather stripped-down recording of mostly the same songs with slightly altered titles, the sonic imperfections and underlying depressive tone make it feel much heavier than "All Mirrors".

In fact the recording of "Whole New Mess" predates the previously released work, so you could view this as a demo version. The term could be misinterpreted as diminishing though. Which would be a shame, because this is in no way a "lesser" version. Just a very intense, different take. I think I might actually even like this a little more. Both albums are great, no question.

A/LPACA - Make It Better (2021)

There's also no question that the debut album from these punky Italian krautsters ist great, because d'oh, I just reviewed it two weeks ago. I broke my promise to order it on violet vinyl though. You know why. If you dig Karkara, Slift and the "Nonagon Infinity" direction of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, do yourself a favour and through this into your tapedeck!

DHIDALAH - No Water (2017)

The five year old tape from the Japanese power trio Dhidalah, which I was lucky to find an affordable copy of in the Discogs shop of Burning World Records, feels familiar for different reasons, as these two heavy stoner doom metal spacerock crossover jams refresh the memories of a killer Roadburn show in 2018. Ripper!

THROWING BRICKS - What Will Be Lost (2020)

And now lets get just a megaton angrier with a release I ordered on last  Bandcamp Friday from the leading tape label in my young collection, Tartarus Records.

The sludgy, droning blackened post hardcore doom quintet Throwing Bricks proves that Dutch shit smells the nastiest. The nine tracks of "What Will Be Lost" are a journey through everything distorted and oppressive. Oathbreaker, Cult Of Luna, Mizmor, Sunn O))), Vattnet Viskar, their label mates Farer and in their melodic moments also Alcest are all names this multi-faceted ferocious beast brings to mind. Crushing, noisy, desperate, overwhelming. A punch into the face which disintegrates it like the one on the cover artwork.

SOW DISCORD - Quiet Earth (2021)

Continuing with the punishing art of discomfort, the list of bands from which the industrial black noise project Sow Discord recruits its guest musicians on the dystopian (or probably rather realistic/pragmatic) stocktaking "Quiet Earth", already reads like the promise of a world of pain: The Body, Primitive Man, My Disco. Fuck!
Somewhere in the sweet easy listening spot between JK Flesh, Merzbow and early Laibach vibes, yet with its own variation of dark spoken words vocals, this album wants you to rightfully hate humanity and does a pretty good job at it. But come on, David Coen, the man behind the rusty spikey curtain, is also the electronics guy of Australian doom steamrollers Whitehorse. So what else can you really expect but brilliant bleakness!

HIERONYMUS DREAM - Clairvoyance (2020)

Too much oppression now? Need someone to lift you up again?

Just when I thought I had already spend enough money on Bandcamp Friday and the week before, here come the sodding Psych Lovers on facebook guiding my attention to a special super-limited re-release of last year's debut EP "Clairvoyance" from the Greek instrumental band Hieronymus Dream, which included not only the "Weird Beard Tapes" strip for braggers, a beer mat and a nice t-shirt with a depiction of said beer mat, but above all with "Second Trail Of Alcyone" a new 13 minute bonus track on the B-Side.

What made me immediately buy this however is the sweet crystal-clear and warm sound. This floyd-fueled kraut engine runs so smoothly... you just tie yourself to its rear with a yarn thread and float in its wind like a happy kite in love. "Dream" in the band's name approved!

And while we're already up in the air now...

LANA DEL REY - Chemtrails Over The Country Club (2021)

Damn, eight tapes is a lot to talk about for such a little collective review. And after all that experimental and krauty and noisy mainstream stuff, I'm glad to finally support the underdogs once more and close this post with the new tape of a promising young American singer, who I really believe will one day be selling her albums also on CDs and vinyl all over the world.

It's a new Lana Del Rey album, so the expectations are pretty much set - and met. "Chemtrails Over The Country Club" starts close to where "Norman Fucking Rockwell" left off, with Del Rey's hightened pop persona equally ripened to a state that expertly balances the naiveté of her ex-lolita image and her typical piling of pop culture references with a healthy dose of cynicism - and above all a flawless vocal performance and damn good instrumental arrangements, which leave nothing to be desired and feel even more like one consistent band throughout the whole album this time.

The "features", which were a mixed bag on "Lust For Life" are back again, but this time Lana's three singer/songwriter sisters Nikki Lane, Weyes Blood and Zella Day, who join her on "Breaking Up Slowly" and even close the album on the Joni Mitchell cover "For Free", fit right into the organic, dreamy, nostalgic folk ballad appeal of this once again perfect summation of how great pop music can actually be.

There are brutal earworm battles being fought between Lana and Angel Olsen in my head right now for sure.