Skidtmads - Xeristar Spirit

The last time we reviewed this guy's work was with his Dreamrecorder project; this one (I think) is his main project, Skidtmads. What does Skidtmads actually mean? It´s a Danish word, a degrading kind of harmless insult sort of. This album is called Xeristar Spirit, and Xeristar is well... medicine/pills u can take when you're having depression... or anxiety. So it´s called Xeristar Spirit by Skidtmads. The album title and the name for the project kind of stick together don't they?

The artwork shows a grainy late 70s to early 80s Polaroid photo, some adult female standing at a beach... with the head not being visible. I instantly get nostalgic impressions about stuff, emotions, and worlds long-buried (and completely) by the essence of time. How simple things were back then, and how complicated things are now. Anyways, we´re dealing with 11 tracks over 40 minutes in total.

The first track is called Singing Bowels. Harsh industrial drones and microphones distorted feedback, with some effective dreamy synthy sounds in there as well. Very expressive material here, when painting a dreamy landscape out of pure noise. Lovely old-school feel to it as well, goes very nicely with the cover-artwork!  

The second track Sad Fond Memories is a strange... pleasant track, with a certain dose of... discomfort. A murky sense of how melancholia/sadness can creep on you. U really need to hear this track to understand what I have just written! I am also getting that... kind of horror-movie soundtrack feel. The feeling of something crawling closer to you, and you just cannot escape it! 

The third track Johatsu Dreams continues with that... overwhelming sort of darkness. Mediative and angst-ridden at the same time. Strangely dreamy and nightmarish. There are harsh and cold elements in there, but also heavenly dreamy landscapes of sound as well. Kind of like being on an elevator ride to the burning bowels of the earth, or is it hell??

The fourth track is Brain Zap Party Talk. Just sounds like. Well, being at a party at the wrong time with the wrong people, and being in the wrong mood as well. Wrong mood or being drunk, maybe both! Pulsating, distorted, psychedelic, hypnotic with strange dialogues tuning in and out of the swirling soundscape. Kind of a BDN vibe here, especially when I think of the Obsessis album from 2000.

The fifth track Daily Grind is the sound of a constant piece of machinery working, constantly banging a piece of metal into the very earth. A very organic track, with again... a dream´ish quality to it. A pleasant headache if you please!

The sixth track Spring Morning, features a looped recording of someone doing a tune on a dusty old piano, it then gets slightly more warped and distorted the further we go into the track. I love the spring morning, but not this kind of spring morning! Sickly deranged stuff, but incredibly well-made if you ask me.  

The seventh track Busy Little Machines In My Head is kind of like the Daily Grind track, just being a metallic saw grinding into nothingness. Love the chunky bits of distorted sound here, it´s not just noise going on in here. Tons of mood and food for thought!

The eighth track Feeling Made of Cotton and Glass Shards sounds like an atomic explosion in slow motion. Particles swirl around in a constant speed, occasionally hitting together and creating chain-reactions here and there. Explosive? Quite yes. 

I could go on, but I will leave the last 3 tracks for your own curiosity. I absolutely love this album, every track has a story to tell. And every track on here has a kind sort of, picturesque edge to it. He might not have lyrics to help you understand, but he does have an understanding of dynamics and how to sculpt/form specific messages/themes through sound alone. Painful and incredibly pleasant at the same time, very satisfying if you ask me. Fans of some of the more dreamy-ambient driven albums by NON, and MB fans would also love this I am sure. Be sure to check it out!        

Bandcamp (label):

https://thank-you-tapes.bandcamp.com/album/xeristar-spirit

 Noise Cluster, Cristiano Bocci - 

To the Moon and Back

This third time we get to review the Italian ambient-industrial act called Noise Cluster, they have teamed up with Christiano Bocci. A fellow who I do not know, but according to Discogs has been busy with various electronic acts, which I could check out later. This latest album has been released on the German label Grubenwehr Freiburg. 

The cassette album has been released in 3 different versions. One version comes in a blue jute bag, the other in a brown jute bag... both of these versions come with a moonstone inside the bag. And then you have the normal cassette version.

Concept and theme for the album?... Well, I guess it has something to do with the moon. The isn't much available information regarding the concept, but I guess the recorded material inside will provide us with just that. 8 tracks, 40 minutes in total. 

We start on the A-side with the first track called Chariot Across the Skies. The track sucks you in with a dimensional sucker sound, transporting you instantly to the moon. Ceremoniously drums, evocative melodic drones, doom´ish and distorted guitar moods with some really good angelic and ritualistic female vocals in there as well. Quite breathtaking, giving the listener a feeling of being afraid of heights... or just that epic big feeling that makes one feel small kind of. 

The second track is called Endymion and Selene. A lovely analog ambient synth, and the sound of the scratching strings from a reverbed violin. Lots of layers in the highly atmospheric soundscape.  Everything is floating here, so yes!... We are in space as we speak! Endymion and Selene is a story from Greek mythology. About a shepherd whom the goddess of the moon Selene falls in love with him. She visited him every night while he slept, and ended up making 50 children! Another story says that Selene put Endymion to sleep, so she could enjoy his beauty undisturbed. 

The third track Eterna sfera Celesta. Female vocals doing more spoken-word passages, with an excellent-sounding trumpet as well. Trippy electronic rhythms thumbs like a slow-going heartbeat. Kind of a full-moon vibe on this one, night-time and without the clouds. Lots of height and space! 

The fourth track Kathaireseis (Lunar Eclipse). Insect-like glitch sound, sounds of 1000 mourning angels, sound of a storm brewing?... the sort of storm you´ll expect when the weather is...well really moist and tropical. Again, I really like how the trumpet fits into the mix here. Incredible sound, almost fluid-like... like diving into incredible depths of pure sound. But yeah, the track certainly captures the mood of seeing a lunar eclipse for sure!

The fifth track Non Guardo La Luna offers sacred gongs from some secret temple, with some really terrifying haunting vocals. A track with a more complex and abstract nature/feel. Certain kind of being in a cult feeling here. 

The sixth track Secret Moonlading, gets back to that old Berlin-school sound. The hitting on reverbed strings, the sound of something running a knife through metallic grills, flickering electronics... and the sound of thrust from a landing spacecraft. Incredible beautiful track. Strangely horrific and fascinating at the same time.

The last two tracks are also worthwhile. Still holding the sound aesthetic strong, while being totally transfixed on the mood and the mysteries which surround it to this day. 

To the Moon and Back actually works like a spacecraft from mythical times. The traveling to it, being on it, traveling away from it, and then admiring it from a distance on planet Earth. Everything is well thought out and sounds well-crafted. Well suited between ethereal-ambient and Berlin-school. It does require a certain kind of mood. Best in the nighttime, when the moon is up offcourse.

Bandcamp (label):

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-moon-and-back

Official website (band):

https://noisecluster.wixsite.com/noisecluster

 Mourn Path - S/T

A new enigmatic act with a debut on E.C.T Recordings. A self-titled album with an act called Mourn Path. This release was actually first self-released on cassette... somewhere in Spain. And only made and released for a close circle of people. And now it has been officially released on the Greek label E.C.T Recordings. A short journey of a mini-album, only two tracks and 12 minutes in total.

The artwork has the classic, recognizable E.C.T. design. It's sort of a CD packaged as vinyl... if you ask me. You have the sleeve, and inside you have a piece of folded black cardboard with a rubber button that holds the tiny 3-inch CD in its place. Not sure what we are seeing on the album cover, is it a mask? Or is it a cranium from underneath? Either way, it looks great! It definitely raises curiosity for sure! 

The first track is called Lord Of The Graveyard. It starts really quiet... and slowly there is a deep, humming sound... like a huge vibrating gong. A mystical sort of Tibetan/thighbone-trumpet sound kicks in, which instantly takes me back to Lustmord´s Heresy album. Springs on a high-hat with extra reverb (I think)... and some really fantastic and well made drone sounds. The whole track is absolutely astonishingly beautiful, without anything sounding naive or "evil!. Also, a strong sort of CMI/Slaughter Productions aesthetic of sound is present as well. A new glitches in the sound, but nothing to take note of. It really does sound that good! 

The second track The Shroud continues the journey, just a bit further... into the cellar. Low and deep chantings, the flickering sound of the wings of several moths, drops of water, and those... deep submarine sorts of sounds in an underground cathedral. Really candy for the ear and the mind. Nothing wrong here, another ritualistic death-ambient track done to absolute perfection!

And sadly we get no more. Oh well, might as well press the play button on the CD-player once again! Mourn Path is ace in a variety of genres. It´s a great death industrial album, a great ambient album, and a great soundtrack album as well. It´s incredibly well-made and incredibly imaginative. It´s ambient music for sure but with all the required organic dynamics to make it all... interesting and living. Really would like to know who Mourn Path really is, love to ask them if they plan to do more?! Really worth anyone's trouble, this is the good stuff!  

    

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/30957556-Mourn-Path-Mourn-Path

 Annalized_Noiose - Esoion

A new album to review from the great occult-driven Italian label Industrial Ölocaust Recordings. Annalized_Noiose comprises two people, the first being Annalisa Pascai Saiu, an independent artist working with poetry, performance, and visual art. The second is Emilio Berné who is a drummer, and also an improvisational noise-artist as well. These two have come together to mix their creativity together, and they have released their second release (which is this one). I'm not sure, it might be a live recording. Anyways!

The artwork for the album cover is... quite jaw-dropping! Some kind of soft, thick, parchment sort of paper. Not actually sure how they have managed to print on it, when I first saw it I was thinking... is that some sort of pubic hair? Anyways! You open the parchment with some additional info inside, also there is a small WARNING note that tells you to wipe the CD clean before use... the strange parchment paper leaves some sort of dust on the CD! Interesting right? The first CD to clean for dust, not a vinyl! The CD is also completely black, with print on the other side offcourse. There is one track on the album, 41 minutes and 21 seconds. 

The single track called Esoion starts in complete silence... about 0:45 the vocal parts start. Sounds like a rehearsal of some sort, with occasional hisses, noisy cracks, and the crows having a conversation. At around 2:39 noisy tone tunes in and hums into the listener's ear, a microphone hits some strings and with additional scratching noises. 

At around 03:18 the vocal kicks in. Quite an unusual vocal performance, getting my mind back to Diamanda Galas´s Schrei X album from 1996. The vocals get more painful and desperate and reveal some kind of interesting Eastern influence here and there. Her style is sort of a mixture of performance, spoken words, and singing so far. At around 13:45 her voice fades in and out of distortion, with some interesting vocal-peaks to break the expectations. The noisy/soundscape elements in the background do... sort of... follow up on her anguished voice. 

At around 21:53 my cat was scratching my cellar window to get in, I opened and he... didn´t want to enter my room since he had a feeling that there was a stranger in my room. Still enjoying the vocal performance so far, although I do find the background soundscape a bit... dry? It is a lovely and vibrant soundscape of microphone noise, but it gets a bit... tedious in the length. Additional sounds and effects would/could have carried the vocal parts just a bit further. Her method of providing more distortion to her vocals seems a bit... tedious as well... her vocal performance (without distortion) delivers more without it.  

It´s a different thing to actually review a recorded performance without actually witnessing it. The released CD works not as an ordinary album as such (I think), but more of a supplemental object for those who saw the performance. I must admit, I really don´t have a single clue what this release is about (theme-wise)... I do get small hints and there... but just not enough for my constant curiosity. It bugs me offcourse, because if I had witnessed this performance, I might have had a better understanding of it. 

Good stuff about this? It´s quite intimate and unique with some challenging and enduring vocals, and I would say that to enjoy this release... it does require a specific state of mind... and ears as well. Like I said before, it´s a recorded performance made out of sound. Bit of a challenge, try it out!.

Bandcamp (band):

https://annalizednoiose.bandcamp.com/album/esoion

Official website (label):

https://cardinium.com/product/ior-tk-xxxiv/