Here’s a bizarre, surreal spew of experimental music that quite frankly has to be heard to be believed. There are decorations and inflections of dissonant, backwards-looped synthesizers meandering through a mish-mash of sci-fi peculiarities. It’s impenetrable and otherworldly.
Monthly Archives: August 2014
Inverchoulin – BIRK.009 – Inverchoulin
It’s rare to find music so devoid of melody or tune but sound so inviting. You wander through a maze of electroacoustic sounds of familiar daily life, yet they feel utterly original and compelling to the ear. Occasionally the odd melody surfaces to the mix, but it’s the percussion and sound effects that are the real heros of this remarkably unusual album.
The Wakes – These Hands
This band have taken their influences from 17-20th century folk and made it bearable for non-folk listeners. There’s a real earthiness and freshness to this album, and it feels like it was recorded in a remote barn on the scottish islands. The voice have a great tone and carries with it a great selection of folk instrumentation that includes flutes and harmonicas.
Bhakti House Band – Nada Bhakti: The Sound of Devotion
The cultural marriage of musical identities can be a complex and sometimes bizarre fusion of musical styles and customs. This meditation-yoga-world-new-age creation essentially showcases a western take on Indian music. The music has a trance-like quality to it, but it may be too indulgent for some with several tracks lasting over 7 minutes.
Spacious Sweep – VGM Vol. 1
This album is so eighties you’d think it was recorded with an Amiga. It’s heavy synth-laden, gated drums and glittery soundscapes are completely lost in time, and at times it can feel cheesier than a four seasons pizza. There’s some interesting and effective melodies dotted around this retro love-fest, but it does sound rather dated.
Back In The States – My Friend, My Friend
This rough and ready album hits you immediately with full force. Before you realize what you’re hearing you feel the shards of raw acoustics and violins hitting you right in the face. It also has some lighter fragments of acoustic sensibility, which is further complimented by a distinctive voice and the authenticity of the production.
Bilo 503 – Holly
This scrunchy, splishy, sploshy, slippery, sludgy electronic-experimental concoction has more than an element of cohesion. It’s a voyage into the unknown lo-fi electronic universe, where wonky planets and percussive stars collide head-on against each other every second with gravel – an eccentric mix with random samples included.
Siren Solstice – Tempting Charybdis
You get an unusual sound or two. You get some jazz. You get some ambient soundscapes. You some intriguing and appealing vocal arrangements. You get a sense of curiosity listening to this fizzling amalgamation of jazz fusion, keeping on the dry ground of the genre’s roots whilst tipping their toes into new, unchartered waters.
Be prepared for this. It’s the sound of a skip-load of industrial machinery from a great height falling rapidly on your head. It’s as tough as old boots, hard uncompromising music that nearly reaches points of musicality. I appreciate the rhythmic layout of this ‘music’.
Ambery – Point to Point
Imagine this – it’s a cold winter’s night and you’re walking through the city. You walk past club after club and bar after bar. You can hear haunting electronics, then a bit of smooth jazz, and then you hear the surreal experimentation you can’t fathom. This complex cauldron is the sound of Ambery.
