Phantoms vs Fire - WLDFE

Phantom VS Fire hails from Brazil, and it out with its second album which has been released on cassette and CD via German-based label Blackjack Illuminist Records. Purely electronic-act which makes a lovely fusion between chilled retro-wave and dreamish ambient electro-pop. Think Boards of Canada, Electric Youth, and touches of Daft Punk here and there.

It´s a bloody well-executed piece of work I say. Kind of thing that retro-wave fans might enjoy since the album/act tries something new with the nostalgic synth-formula. An excellent example of this would be to give the second track Mirage a listen (or two for that matter). The first thing you´ll notice would be the strange nostalgic (and slightly sound-altered) beat starting the track, a kind of beat which takes me back to the late 80s to early 90s. Rap-groups and other pop acts have used this similar beat. This beat gets joined up with a lovely warped heavy synth-bass and a futuristic and dreamish melody straight from heaven. The mood gets slightly more dark and dramatic later on with angelic church-like organs! One of those lovely kinds of tracks which just kind of... grows on you. I have heard this track... maybe 20 times so far?. Third track A Beautiful Madness lives up to its title. Reminds me of something apocalyptic from one of those old Japanese RPG-typed games which you played on your NES or the Sega Masterdrive. (Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy etc). 

A kind of storytelling quality if you please. Retro-wave with gothic/dark-wave elements are explored on the fifth track Electric Cross, has that almost early Italian zombie-flick drama attached to it! The best elements we have heard from French Daft Punk are further exposed to us on the sixth track Cave Dreams, sounds like a lovely dream that shouldn't end.

And that is that rest of the tracks/album are also worth the exploring. As mentioned earlier, the album shines of storytelling like quality which makes the album hold from the start to the very end. If you put on Tangerine Dream´s Stratosfear, then you know that u should listen to that entire album to the end of it. Same way works with this! A lovely underground indietronica release which deserves attention. 

Bandcamp (label):

https://blackjackilluministrecords.111111111111111111bandcamp.com/album/wldlfe

Bandcamp (band):

https://phantomsvsfire.bandcamp.com/

Official site (band):

https://phantomsvsfire.com/

Facebook (label):

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blackjack-Illuminist-Records/167423886702866?sk=info

Compactor - Total Data Control

Have not heard much about this project, which actually has been active since 2011. 100% pure minimalist brutality of a solo project! And Total Data Control is the very latest. Also being out on cassette via Phage Tapes (see link below). 

You got 8 tracks of pure digital sound brutality. Every micro-second made of pure ear-candy delight. Somewhere between the electronic armchair feel of Autechre to the industrial rhythmic abstraction of Synapscape. The sound volume goes up and down in a split second, distorted-sounds jumps from the left speaker and right back to the right speaker, almost feeling a physical presence of an organic rhythmic beast in the heart of this. I can even taste the sounds on the edge of my tongue, tastes like something between corroded and rusted wires and welded steel!

First track Pervasive Intrusion starts the track with a lovely back-to-basics industrial/power-noise beat, looped steel bar tunes, fingertipped-controlled pedal-distortion effects (almost sounds like a mechanical guitar!). All of this gets warped in and out of focus, hint of Aphex Twin madness here and there. Really brutal and abstract at the same time.

Second track Location / Identification offers 8-bit Commodore 64 sounds being totally exploited and mutilated in a lovely rhythmic soundscape. The sounds of steel-spiders crawling all over this track. More of a creepy paranoia piece, very enjoyable!

Fourth track lets the listener understand the creepiness behind a Security Camara Stream. A more of an experimental and non-rhythmic noise piece. Again, we are dealing with a sound-brutality that u just want to dive into. Very stimulating material, almost feeling my brain is starting to itch (in a good way!). 

Another track that should be mentioned is the last track on the album, called Listen Learn Predict. A heart-rhythmic death-industrial machine pounding slowly, telegram bleeps, old-school modem noises, screaming digital-ghosts... I mean really, this is good!

There is (or can be) a ghost inside a machine after all. And Compactor has just proven that. A frightening cold and merciless old-school mechanical machine with human faults and feelings?. The cold technoid aesthetics has a lot of souls ok?!. You have got to give this one a good listen, this is great! Additional (and official) info below :

Total Data Control is a 40-minute audio document recently licensed on US underground label Phage Tapes. The collection turns the lens and microphone around on Surveillance Capitalism, the commodification of consumer information. The cover art was created from the actual code for an open platform video surveillance program. Each of the eight tracks points to a different aspect of how ubiquitous these practices have become in society, especially since the increasing shift towards everything being done online. Further sentence fragments inside the insert trace the steps of a path of commands that leads to increased compromises in the humanity of our societal structures. There is also a simplified GPS map to one of the sources of this.

Bandcamp (band):

https://compactor.bandcamp.com/album/total-data-control

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/compactornoise

Label (Phage Tapes):

https://phagetapes.miiduu.com/

   

Human Vault - Primordial

Think this is the... 4th time I am listening to this. Received it via post 4 days ago. An older project (1999) which is one of the numerous side-projects of Gyorgy Turoczy (Stone Wired, Odour Sonour). This album is the latest Human Vault album. I will suggest for you readers (who are curious) about older releases, check the Discogs link below. And yes, this project has a lot of releases to check up on! 

Most of the work done by Gyorgy has been in the vein of death-industrial/dark-ambient, where Human Vault moves towards a more EBM-inspired sound. An almost old-school/retro sound not that far away from early Skinny Puppy, FLA, and Delirium. A kind of slow and murky EBM with a kind of ambient-soundtrack on top of it. And this album offers about 50 minutes of that EBM-ambient industrial fusion-delight! 

The first track offers that Initial Command (FLA) murky creepiness of sound with fantastic evocative distorted vocals. Really love the cold and clinical rhythms here, and the (almost) X-files´ish melodic soundtrack synth. Epic without the unnecessary drama, love it!. 

Second track convinces you thoroughly about the intention of the album. A strange and warped rhythmic electronica industrial-doom instrumental treat, the snare-drum on this ... a pure experimental ear-candy track here! Again with incredible icy synths on top. Fans of Doubting Thomas, take notice!

The third track has the samples once used by My Life With A Thrill Kill Kult ´And this is what the devil does´. The only difference is that this track doesn't take you out on the disco-EBM dancefloor. A kind of apocalyptic-heresies-on-the-burning-stake In Slaughter Natives kind of feel here! Pounding and thick metallic ritualistic rhythms just getting more and more intense as the track continues. Something about this track makes me think of Carpenter´s ´Prince of Darkness´movie, damn sure it could fit perfectly into that old soundtrack!  

More to discover on this album, and every track on the album is worth the exploring. But my favorite track on this album must be ever seductive So I Just Fly Away (8th track). Almost reaching angelic ambiance here, with perfectly executed and down-tempo steel-like electronica drums. And with those dark and slightly futuristic retro synths (X-files?). A really beautiful track here!.

This excellent release has been released on a beautiful cassette, while also being digital available on the official Bandcamp site. Cassette-box being enclosed in a black (and thick) illustrated cardboard (LOVE THAT!). 66 physical copies, act fast!.

Bandcamp (band):

https://humanvault.bandcamp.com/album/primordial

Discogs (band):

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3744352-Human-Vault 

Världsbrand - Mene Tekel

This project started way back in 1998 with a single recording + cassette-release, which has since been lost and forgotten. Now after digesting new inspirations, this old project has been revived. So far (this year) there have been 3 releases; one album, one EP and one demo release. The demo plus this album called Mene Tekel are available via the projects official Bandcamp site, while the mini-album being available via So Fuckin´ Noise Records Bandcamp site (see links below). 5 tracks about 35 minutes in total.

First albums set the listener into a cruel, harsh cold and abandoned landscape of sound. Not brutal and overlayered, but a strict concentrated clinical sound-cut into the heart. A Sharp and metallic rotor-bladelike sound, being very expressive and minimal to the core. Mystical rumblings far away in the recording can also be heard, with occasional chilly TG´ish synth-keys also. Not that far away from the more ritualistic workings by Anenzephalia and Ke/Hil. Very good, I like this VERY much so far.

Next track Spräng Dig Genom Rummet dives further into murky industrial ritualistic-aesthetics. Fans of early Maschinenzimmer 412, take notice. Machine-room monotonic organic rhythms, minimal distorted looped bass-sounds wit rhythmic clicks and hisses here and there... I LOVE IT!. 

The third piece called Avslutade Kapitel being a very spacy experience. Deep space maybe?. Feels like being on a rollercoaster to some far out dimension where the great outer god Yog-Sothoth sits and waits? A very strange mind-wobbling track indeed. 

The fourth track simply called Anti, starts where the former track ended. Instead of ending in another cosmic dimension, you end up on a completely empty world. No plants, no organic life... just nothing. Not even a distant sun, moon or stars to look it. Nothing. Only one thing is present, distant weird howls from somewhere beyond the horizon. Question is, is that sound coming from your own head? Do find out! and tell me about it. 

Last track moves into shamanistic territories. Evocative tribal drums, ritualistic and heavy-sounding blowing-instrument´ish drones. A very mysterious and esoteric ending for a great album!

It is an album which many will-not-get at the first listen, I did though (why?) I am not 100% sure. I think it is because I recognize this kind of music, recognize the wipe and the feel of it as well. A rare experience because it is not every day that I hear someone who can actually pull it off. And yes, Världsbrand did pull it off!.

  

Bandcamp (band):

https://varldsbrand.bandcamp.com/

Bandcamp (label):

https://sfnoiserecords.bandcamp.com/