Doom, Drone, Metal, Heavy, SunnO))), Pita, Stephen O'Malley, Peter Rehberg, Mego; 12" Vinyl EP (2007)
Peter Rehberg (aka Pita) and Stephen O'Malley (better known as one half of doom overlords Sunn O)))) have been pretty busy over the last couple of years. Not content with throwing down music for Giselle Vienne and Dennis Cooper's theatrical work 'Kindertotenlieder' they have managed to notch up two full albums and now this, the third in the series of blackened doom masterpieces. For me this is possibly the finest yet, moving ever closer to Rehberg's patented computer manipulations and further away from any comparisons that could be made to the rest of the scene. While '2' was an experiment into the annals of the black metal genre, with the howling spirit of Varg Vikernes somewhere in the mix, '3' edges closer to the doomy soundscapes of Svarte Greiner or the bass-heavy electronic compositions of Murcof. However where their contemporaries never manage to wrench themselves from a definite sense of structure Rehberg and O'Malley effortlessly create a soundtrack to pure hell which bears ever less relation to modern music as we know it. Sure there are synthesized blips and there's thick, pounding bass but this is closer to the wall-scraping soundtrack to The Ring, or the foley sound from Hostel... it's a frightening glorification of all things dark, all things evil, and in that is an absolute triumph. Computer music shouldn't be allowed to sound this menacing, this terrifying, but this duo rise to the challenge as if it was never an issue in the first place and have created a work that sounds like the future while paying close attention to gloomy times past. Coming with a stunning etching on the B-side and limited to only 2000 copies for the world this isn't going to last long, so doom fans hurry up, trust me this is an absolute classic release. Essential purchase!
Doom, Noise, Drone, Experimental, Guitar, Rock; Vinyl LP (2009) - Ex Used condition
Edition of 300 copies (sold out) with silkscreened cover. Available first for their performance at No Fun Fest in NYC.
The electric guitar is Davies and Bower’s shaking stick of predilection, and from the opening bars of side A, their twin axes are swinging and swirling in full force. A crunching single note like the start of a heavy metal riff gets warped and extended over and over, stretched out over a buzzing ocean of feedback and drone. It’s hard to tell where one guitar starts and the other ends, as is ever the case with Skullflower, they’re both simply locked in sync, screaming as one into the void. The riffs, if they can be called that, are circular, a constantly rotating miasma of saturation and noise whilst an overloaded synthesizer may or may not be anchoring the furore with a swirling drone. The album title suggests falling bombs and resultant chaos, and this motif is picked up later on side A with thumping chords that seem to burst against the seethe of drone like rockets crashing into buildings. On the second side, one of Bower or Davies (or both) transforms his or her guitar into an air-raid siren, great keening notes screaming outwards to warn of imminent danger and death.
Horror, Soundtrack, Film Score, John Carpenter, Death Waltz, Limited; Deluxe Edition Colour Vinyl LP - Ex Used condition
Remastered Orange Vinyl Deluxe Re-issue with fold out poster.
Industrial, Noise, Ambient, Drone, Electronic, Experimental, EBM, Techno; 12" EP - Ex Used condition
White Marbled Vinyl
Violet Poison is the dark/esoteric side-project of Francesco Baudazzi, already known as Obtane, co-owner with Giorgio Gigli of the defunct techno label ZOOLOFT.
Electronic, Experimental, Industrial, Techno, Noise; Limited Edition (500 copies) Vinyl LP - Ex Used condition
With 'Referèndum' Exoteric Continent draws us into the awkward spaces and styles around techno and noise's shifting, jagged borders, using drums, percussion, magnetic tape and synthesisers to outline nine atonal and enigmatic silhouettes. Ranging from the creeping slow techno misshape of 'Percentages' thru the sagging chamber feeling of 'Posicions', to the Soisong-like gamelan tones of 'Transició', and over to the kinky industrial swing instincts of 'La Mirada Llarga', he mixes rugged structures with stranger, keening electronics in the insectoid logic of 'Autoritat', and the rubbled electro-acoustic texturhythm of 'Agrupació Civil' to forge a fractious, unstable brace of noise techno that sits somewhere between classic Pan Sonic and his Hospital lablemate Alberich.
Experimental, Ambient , Electronic, Minimal, Mika Vainio, Pan Sonic, Darkwave; Double LP (2014) - Ex Used condition
Konstellaatio, Vainio’s full-length under his occasional mononym Ø, shares several sonic and stylistic traits with the slow wave of doom-oriented electronic musicians that have grown out of darkwave, shoegaze and heavy metal in recent years. Across these nine tracks, Vainio juxtaposes blanketing drones with airy keyboards, clipped beats and beeps with seemingly bottomless bass. These slow-motion spans treat the beautiful and the threatening as necessary complements, as though he were a horror film director with an eye for both shock and cinematic elegance. For its overall aggression and bulk, Vainio’s back catalogue can be intimidating, even off-putting. But Konstellaatio is luminous and eerie, the sort of liminal record where the pretty sounds elicit goose bumps and the grimmest tones feel like exhalations. Likely by little conscious design, Vainio is the stylistic contemporary of acts such as Demdike Stare, the Haxan Cloak and Andy Stott, at least temporarily. If there’s a movement among such groups, Konstellaatio merits more than mention with it.
Punk, Oi!, Street Punk, UK; Various Artists Compilation Vinyl LP (1982) - VG Used condition
Pretty cool label compilation by Beat the System/Lightbeat Records with their house bands and in 1982 they have published of those their first 7Inches and pressed some here plus a few rare tracks I think. The result can be compared with other UK slabs of that time and that were some. Fourteen, two from each band, spiky short goodies which will not die out. Let's see what else I pack today at the buffet!
Industrial, Techno, Electronic, Experimental, Noise, Remixes; 12" Clear Vinyl 3 track Single - Ex Used condition
Violetshaped is a collaboration between Violet Poison and Berlin-based artist Shapednoise. This first installment in this series features remixes from Roly Porter (formerly of Vex'd), who electrocutes "The Lord Won't Forget" with spasmodic concrète jolts, Vatican Shadow aka Dominick Fernow tattooing your ear drum on "Delusory Parasitosis" with drum work almost approaching Cut Hands levels of focused ferocity, and Kangding Ray who rounds it all out with a grungy, pendulous re-carve of "The Oven."
Industrial, Ambient, Experimental, Noise, Michael Gira, Jarboe, Swans; Vinyl LP + poster and flier - Ex Used condition ('87 pressing)
Blood, Women, Roses (1987) was Michael Gira and Jarboe's SWANS side project's first release and featured vocals entirely by Jarboe, who had previously mainly been performing backing vocals. Many of the tracks on this album were covers of show tunes and other popular songs (for example "Cry Me a River" and "The Man I Love").
Experimental, Noise, Electronic, Guitar, Dark, Sweden; Limited Numbered edition (300 copies) Vinyl LP
Malign trades in a sense of depression and negativity that draws strength from the vacuum behind hope, vacillating forlorn, Loren Connors-like guitar melodies and rubbled shellac samples that recall The Caretaker with passages of fierce distortion and slurried atmospheric textures that project hellish images of waterboarding and abject terror on the mind. The guitar pieces are almost Jandek-like in their awkwardness, often morphing mid sentence into the kind of shuddering knots that Aaron Dilloway would be proud of, steadily toeing away hope in favour of full depressive immersion and feelings from the brink. Ultimately, though, the record wouldn’t be so convincing without its severe sense of sincerity, honestly conveying that pall of darkness without any ironic distance. It’s a proper downer in the best way.
Soundtrack, Film Score, Limited Edition, Coloured Vinyl, Death Waltz, Horror, Cult; Limited Edition (400 copies)
Jay Chattaway’s score to the sleazy 1980 horror flick Maniac is a great listen, with a certain amount of big dramatic arpeggiations, but also with plenty of rarer elements in the mix. Think eerie strings, flutes and discordant synth-stabs, arranged in an unpredictable and unsettling way. Limited edition of 400 transparent blue vinyl LPs, via Death Waltz.
Electronic, Noise, Experimental, Harsh, Ambient, Drone, Aaron Dilloway; Limited Edition Red Marble Vinyl - Ex Used condition
There seems to be a lot more control on Rotting Nepal than I've noticed previously, with some 'almost' delicate balancing of shortwave signals that are kept on the very edge of freefall distortion. The trapped rodent scream and alien growl of "Rotting Nepal 6" come together like an ugly melody and settles into what could happily pass as a Dalek beat before its overcome by distortion. "Rotting Nepal 1" is the highlight here, mixing up chopped and reverberated Nepalese speech samples and splinters of native instrumentation between subtle sandblasts of static. The piece has a rough dub production style of handmade echoes, clicks and distorts spiked with clicks of scrambled signal. Throughout the album there are rhythmic shreds of cloudy noise throughout the album that eventually explode from their controlling valves ending in messy static. Amidst the endless conveyor built of releases this is one solo Wolf Eyes release that's really worth scrabbling about for. Limited to 500 copies on 140gram red marbled vinyl.
