Exploring the audible outer realms of outsider electronics since 2016.
onsdag den 10. juni 2020
Mystica Visio - s/t
Mystica Visio by Mystica Visio (self-titled), a 35-minutes debut release from a new act from Brazil. A physical version of this album hasn´t been planned yet, but the artist is working on it. So let us hear (or see) what mysterious visions we shall find behind this release.
Already from the beginning, it sounds cool (a track called Mystical Visions From A Dead Past). Retro-futuristic marriage between Berlin-school and dungeon-synth, think classic soundtracks from Italien zombie-flicks from the 70s! Very sleek, very atmospheric, and very well played. The sound-quality would make any retro-synth-lover droll here.
Next track The Glowing Figure moves into vampire-haunted Castlevania. A very chilling moment with subtle and sinister moments. When the clock strikes at midnight, a ghost will appear. That kind of feeling, again... Very neat! Not that far away (in style) from Coil´s soundtrack to Clive Barker´s Hellraiser people!
Third track The Prophecy Was A Lie adds a piano moment with string-like synth-work. A very beautiful, melancholic piece with tragic moods. Kind of... if the piano had a tale to tell, it would certainly sound like this. Very sincere and very... honest. So far the most, gothic-sounding piece.
Fourth track Journey Across The Lake Of Lost Souls adds more fuel to the fans of Tangerine Dream. Love the way how this monotone bass-synth-melody feels like... the steps/journey you partake over this lake of certain doom and darkness. Eerie extra synth-sounds adds a creepy descriptive touch of what can be seen in this lake. Might just be the lake of Hali, where Hastur (He Who Is Not To Be Named) sleeps?. I don't know, certainly the moment eerie piece on this album.
Fifth track Spell of Entrapment, being the longest track on the album. Is a kind of piece that you can... isolate to? A slow-moving epic piece that takes the listener back to Runes Order. A very moody and cosmic element as at work here. I once remember Arthur C. Clarke once said;
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not, both are equally terrifying.
Again, a kind of... Lovecraftian gaze-upon-the-great-cosmos feel at work here. Makes you imagine how the great Outer God Azathoth is also entrapped by his demonic servants, they keep playing music for him to keep him occupied. If he wasn´t occupied by this, he would destroy the entire universe! I do think that the convincing atmosphere (and well-played synth) takes my mind to such a fantastic voyage!
Last track Within These Damp Walls I Found My Home ends the album beautifully. A saddened ending track ending in complete solitude. Almost out of breath here!.
AMAZING album, amazing synth-work, and amazing this and that. A perfect balance between a storytelling-soundtrack and pure talented musicality. A rare thing when you actually get these two elements in one package. I highly recommend this moody retro-voyage, a fantastic story-telling moment!.
The good news is that Subklinik is still alive and kicking, and this act has an upcoming release (late June) called Molestdeath. It will be available via the official Subklinik Bandcamp site, and it will be released on cassette via Korporation Records. An almost 40 minutes journey into a realm of utter darkness and morbid curiosities. Bound to please any fans of Cold Meat Industry, Slaughter Productions but also older labels like Sterile Records and Nekrophile Records.
First track Return To Slaughter welcomes the listener with that old-school pre-dark-ambient/industrial-ambient sound from the mid-80s underground cassette-culture. A hypnotic and humming soundscape that sounds a bit like the humming-blades from older airplanes. Bone crunching and ritualistic machine-drums, paranormal, and tortured voices roam in the background while razor-sharp tones drop gently in and out of focus. Think somewhere between early Brighter Death Now and Anenzephalia sounds good right?.
Second track Isolate adds more fuel to the morbid sort of mysticism. Looped and evocative synth-driven bass-line while a strange and necrotic windy-sound of desolation touches and makes your neck-hair stand straight up. It could also sound like... distant bombing or explosions. I am not sure, it sounds unbelievable great and depressing (in a good way!).
Third track Molestdeath starts with an interesting, pulsating, and rhythmic heartbeat-sound. Distant pitched down human voices hums and screams while samples from a court-order are being held, cannot hear what it is about but considering the mood, it will probably be something rather nasty. The reverb and echo effects are great and perfect, and the mood is just really strong so it doesn't matter that you cannot hear the sample that well.
Fourth track Deadvoid... sounds like a Deadvoid. One of those eternal falling pits of blackness and death which no one... would jump into. A simple but effective scary horror-themed background ambient-piece.
Fifth track Mental Atrophy, bloody amazing track! Excellent high-pitched tones, more screaming, and cool sounding ritualistic drums. A very simple and monotonous atmospheric piece that you want to repeat over and over again. Keep getting back to that classic and experimental soundtrack which was done for the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
Sixth track Rotting Agony is a slow and grinding ruined piece, pure death-industrial atmospheres (no power electronics here folks!). Being buried alive with only the sound of your pounding heartbeat keeping you company, almost sensing and hearing sounds while your life slips slowly away.
Last track Dismembered End is... a Dismembered End. Not much to hang on to, could it be any darker?... (YES IT CAN!). A pleasant and torturous moment at the end of the rope?... (YES IT IS!).
A depressing but JOYFUL experience that old-school death-industrial (without the power-electronics sound) can still impress the listener to this day. Might just be the best death-industrial album I have heard in a long time, true to the bone and incredibly efficient at the same time! DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!
Umbrarum Tenebrae - Rites Of Darkness And Dismal Visions
Canada, Quebec... home and birthplace for known industrial acts like Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly, and Numb. Norwegian black-metal act Dark Throne has a made a song about Canadian Metal! We also have Neil Young, Rush... And Celine Dion. Umbrarum Tenebrae is not an industrial band, nor a metal or rock one... definitely not Celion Dion! We are in ritual-music meets dark-ambient territory, think post Raison D´être/Cold Meat Industry, Cyclic Law, and Cryo Chamber material. This is the debut from this act, and it was released on the 6th of May. Sofar their Bandcamp-site offers a digital non-physical version of the album. So let us see what this has to offer. Before we start, maybe I should give the reader an intro from the act itself (about the release)... here goes;
2020, the world stalled to a halt as a new plague spread its black infectious veil across the globe. The great majority of souls caved in, hearts heavy with despair and frightening uncertainty. It is in the midst of these somber times that UMBRARUM TENEBRARAE emerged from the shadows. Born of solitude and oppressive gloom to bring forth a new sonic pestilence, Umbrarum Tenebrae seeks not to enlighten the heavily burdened spirits, nor comfort afflicted souls, but to haunt them into further desperation.
Umbrarum Tenebrae does not follow the traditional process of creation but willingly ventures upon new unexplored pathways of musical manifestation; through the use of Chaos Magick. Each song begins with an intent, given meaning as a word, this word is then encrypted to its most basic form and disposed unto a magic square. This initial intent is then transmuted into a Sigil which serves as a focal point for every musical creation thereafter. These same worded intentions are also given a placement upon the musical staff to give a musical note. Thus, every song is born of pure chaos. Far from man's instinctive desire to control his creations. Breaking the laws of musical composition and normality.
The result is an eerie soundtrack that builds up discomfort and evokes dreadful visions of invisible horrors and unknown doom. Somber drone wavelengths are sowed as chaos seeds awaiting to spawn forth new unnatural life and then covered with layers upon layers of cryptic, ghostly sounds and irrational percussion. The whole possesses a nightmarish aura which will take the listener deep into himself, in those dark and cold recesses of the mind.
The experience is not a pleasant one. It is an exploration of the darker chambers of the unconscious, and Umbrarum Tenebrae is the guide through these haunted halls.
Yup, bound to engulf the listener into darkness and mind-numbering occult rites of the most esoteric kind. First track Path To Oblivion starts the rite with that sacred-sound bell-sound, saddened synths hiding beautifully in the background with evocative and haunting human-voices. Haunted gothic cathedral or the monks of Tibet preparing for the judgment-day. Additional martial ritual drums and Gregorian-like vocals get added on which adds a bit of drama to the icy atmosphere.
Second track Liber Mortem continues the same icy-atmosphere with martial drummings. Somehow a more... unpleasant and menacing one that is (compared to the first track). Very much in the same vein as Sephiroth and Desiderii Marginis.
Third track Binding of Skulls.. sounds pretty much like the third track (same sounds.. and atmospheres and drummings). Sofar the album sticks to the same effects given to the sounds recorded, stretching them without actually slowing them down (with added reverb).
Fourth track Chamber of Shadows adds a bit more angelic vocal parts, with a distant chippering sound in the background (Predator?) If you are wondering where you are in this, then I can reveal to you that we are still... in the haunted gothic cathedral or in the dear company of the apocalyptic monks from Tibet.
Fifth (and last) track called The Chaos Principle is the last track of the album. Icy atmospheres and ritual drummings. A bit more volume-related dynamics happening here.
And there you go. It´s a smooth, time-stretched ritualistic dark-ambient thing with minimal dynamics. Hard to actually notice the minimal differences between the tracks, because all the tracks use the same sounds and effects. Might have worked out better if it all were just mixed down, into one single track? Maybe, you´ll be the judge of that. The trouble I have with this (as an old-timer Cold Meat Industry fan) is that I miss the stuff which actually heightens your senses, making you... slightly frightened or disturbed. The feeling of chaos of darkness is... "sort of there" but isn't really that convincing since it doesn't have that.. primitive experimental and sincere edge. Sound quality is superb, and well-produced as well, just add a bit more anarchy and madness into the mix!
A new dungeon synth act from a tropical country with hot temperatures, Argentina. Same place where my tarantula Grammastola Rosea originates from! The project is called Ealshláford (means something in ancient Irish/Gaelic?) and the album-title Ethelborn means someone being part of a noble family, or just high-born in other words. 4 tracks, 20 minutes plus. Only available via digital means via the official Bandcamp site (link below).
First track Farewell the Last Knight begins the album with a saddened and melancholic mood/tune. Lovely vibrating organ synths here, charming and melodic harpsichord tune follows this with a low-key drumming working in the background. Classic and simple primitive dungeon-synth when it works.Perfect Dungeon & Dragons music so far!
Second track Realms of Oblivion (hint to Elder Scrolls?) or meaning, realms where all living there are just are completely unaware of what is happening. Probably a hint or two to that Daedric infested place in The Elder Scrolls (Computer roleplaying-game). The vibrating organ and the harpsichord+low-key drums continues here, with a more epic-feel (still melancholic). Somehow, a bit more... cherry than the first one. Again again, simple but incredibly charming piece. Not really a bad thing that it has a lot in common with the first track.
Third track Wandering Amidst the Stars moves into more dreamy and mysterious territory (Still containing/following the same sound-wise ingredients). There´s a hint of a slightly heroic melody going with the harpsichord here, a merry Viking/black-metal´ ish tune here` maybe? Think Lamia with Lord Belial. A decent track, maybe a bit on the relaxing-side comparing to the first two tracks.
Fourth (and last) track Ealdhláford, probably being the most epic track (still a low-key one), but that´s OK... primitive and low-key DS-albums are meant to be just like that. It does feel like a very... noble-born kind of a track, might use the word majestic here (but still subtle). Lovely way to end the album, no doubt about it!.
First release from Ealshláford from Argentina. Primitive low-key dungeon-synth, which sounds like a proud kingdom burying their beloved king (from the start and to the end). Maybe a bit too monotonic in sound and mood, but the melodies (and the mini-album format) works! Maybee some real-time recorded samples could have boosted the storytelling-escapist mood? Maybee?. Give it a shot!.
Well, apparently it´s an EBM-themed weekend. Upcoming (5-tracks)EP/mini-album called Ripping At The Fabric with the Minneapolis-based three-man act Zwaremachine. Their fourth release, which will be released on the 20th of May (Be sure to check up on their other Bandcamp releases!). This album also comes as a limited cassette release as well, which you have to be really quick to get!
The very first track Resist takes you back to that old-school Die Krupps/Nitzer Ebb-sound. Pulsating machine-sequencer, tight and sweaty dance-beats with electronic percussions and of course with the classic distorted 90s-Læetherstrip´ish snarling distorted vocals. A great intro to the EP, a simple pumping EBM tiger (if you please!).
Next track New Design follows the same wipe as Resist, with a more heavy-bass Front-line Assembly sound. A very monotonic and hypnotizing second track to the album.
Third offering Ripping At The Fabric follows the same cause. Pulsating dancy-monotony with distorted vocals.
Fourth track International Hero being a slightly more playful piece. Rhythms and sequencer gets switched from time to time, which adds a good sound for the track. Nice distorted sounds in the background following the electronic rhythms. It might just be my favorite track on the album.
Fifth (and last track) track What We Are ends the EP with that ´Germaniac´ Die Krupps feel/sound.
It´s a pure late 80s to early 90s EBM-trip. It delivers an EBM-dancy sound which (for some) has been forgotten by time (or has it?). Decent and good sound quality, good rhythms, and well produced. BUT, I do think that the EP has a lack of free-spirited creativity. I love it when the machinery losses control and touches of madness takes over. I also love when something unprecedented happens, something which can surprise the listener. Weird eerie samples going subtle in the background, weird real-time recordings of something which just sounds scary, real metallic percussions (maybe), atmospheric synth-tune etc... The possibilities are endless.
But overall, the EP is decent and delivers that 90s EBM-feel 100% from the start and to the end (no fuss about it). In my heart, it would have been better if it just... was darker and more desperate sounding?..., do give it a shot anyway if you are into that (again) Die Krupps/Nitzer-Ebb/Læetherstrip 90s-sound.
A new and obscure label from the UK has just been discovered. Called Sceptre and Crown, and one of the acts which are on this label is called Conjuro. An act which primarily has been releasing stuff on a Portuguese label called Cruentus. Conjuro has been active since 2013, and has released tons of underground cassettes... BUT, none of them are available via Discogs. BUT, this release which is from 2018 can be purchased either on CD or cassette via Sceptre and Crown´s Bandcamp site. You can also try to contact the site for Cruentus for further information regarding all the other cassette releases (see link below). A 7 seven-track album, about 52 minutes in total.
The first track is called King Atlas. Ritualistic and black-metal inspired vocals utter their demonic voices over a dungeon-synth´ish background. Not bad, just too short really. Next track Atlantean Evil makes the listener smell the tobacco-insensed studio with alcoholic beverages lying on the floor. You are probably being drunk as a skunk, messing around with a bottle of scotch trying to figure out where you are going to take a leak. A great, noisy, and primitive punk-garage-black-metal piece from hell. Tons of charms! The third track called Chosen To Rule Comming From Ocean Depths With The Golden Trident (Neptune Bloodline), moves further into... weirdness. A slightly warped/psychedelic garage feel with those blood-soaked vocals from hell, a very strange improvised piece which starts with something.. and then goes into a muted pause... and then continues again. Imagine early Mayhem sharing a drunken session with the Brainbombs. Even elements of heroic guitar-melodies in here!
Fourth track Inside the Temple of Poseidon goes away from the live garage feel, and enters a piece not that far away from the first track King Atlas. Evocative and moody guitar-work and evil vocals as at work here. It then continues into the fifth track From Cleito´s Womb, which totally goes into an ambient-soundscape without the black metal influence. Drone-like ritual voice-hummings with minimalistic guitar-strings being slightly touched, I think there is also a wrapped and flanged synth in there (somewhere). Actually a very beautiful piece of atmospheric eerieness here. Sixth track O Rei Bruxo Tita Primodial (almost 30 minutes in length!) goes back into the live-garage feel, without the black-metal feel again. Improvised ritualistic evil stuff, the kind of stuff that...oozes out of your speakers. Still not in the thoughtful and high-tech corner, but who cares. It´s evil, chaotic, and incredible easy-listening for the hard of hearing. Lovely sound-effects on the vocals here people. Last track Kthonic Dynasty Of Evenor And Leucippe ends the album in the same way the first track started the album, a sinister dungeon-piece with evil and evocative vocals.
And that is that. Funny, primitive, and evil sounding black-metal-stuff at it´s weirdest. Try to imagine Evil Dead meets The Residents over a drunkard teenage satanic ritual, yup. It´s THAT weird, and it´s THAT challenging. Not a drop of boringness on this album.
Lyke Wake has... been around for some time. Actually since 1981! That also goes for the label Aseptic Noise, which Stefano started to release his material. A project which pioneered Italian synth-and-ambient-based industrial-music. Alongside the likes of Ain Soph, Nightmare Lodge, and later Runes Order. Somewhere in-between traditional industrial music (TG and Coil) and kraut-rock/Berlin-school-based bands like Tangerine Dream and Cluster. A perfect marriage of sound and mood. In the days of dungeon-synth and retro-styles synth-soundtracks, the sound of Lyke Wake was/is the sound of today. This project is still, alive and kicking after 35+ years, and I was wondering if I should track down this esoteric and enigmatic project, and try to undercover some facts and mysteries behind it.
In the beginning, the initials plans and ideas behind Lyke Wake. How did this project come to be?
The first tests as LW date back to 1980 and the first tape to 1981. At that time I only used tapes handled with homemade effects; a rather adventurous thing. Then I added a rudimentary electronic drums and then a synth. Throughout the first half of the eighties I let out a series of extreme noise cassettes.
However, although at that time I mainly used very rough sounds, very noise sounds, the synth immediately became the characteristic sound of my expressive way. Soon all sounds were produced with synths; something not very common in those days, given that industrial musicians preferred to use sounds sampled from external environments. But the LW project was born precisely to express internal states, without points of reference. And it is still so today. The synth was the ideal tool for this purpose. It allowed me to create noise but also melodic lines. I made no distinction between rough sounds and softer sounds; the sound only had to be functional to expressiveness. If at the beginning my sound was characterized by a very extreme noise, with the passing of the years the softer parts have become prevalent. But not for this I believe that my sound has become less extreme, indeed. It was a very personal way of expression that has always made my project difficult to digest; but this was not important.
How did people/friends react to Lyke Wake in those early days?
Today the industrial, in all its forms, has its public, even if limited; in the eighties it was not like that and it is seen as something outside of music, not music, especially in Italy. My albums received acclaim from some but also raised a lot of criticism for the excessive use of noise, even by some specialized fanzines. After The Dark Sea Of Pain in 1984 and Lost in The Psychic Noise in 1985, many asked me what need there was to use noise so completely. They asked me: what's the point? And instead of meaning it had. It seemed absurd that I used those rough sounds as a form of expression! After a live-performance it happened that people came to ask for explanations on what I had played. It is true that, especially in Italy, the noise scene was not very large; there was MB, first of all, FAR, Industrial Zone, and a few others. But I would have expected fewer problems; after all it was experimental music and it was the time of punk. And to think that today I receive criticism because my sound is not enough noise. In short, always out of time, always under a black light; but maybe it's better this way.
How is it that the interest in experimental electronic/industrial-music has always been a thing in Italy?
I think that among all the Italian music scenes of the 80s, the industrial one was the only one to have its own precise identity and to compete qualitatively with the English one. Unlike, for example, the new wave and post-punk, where the Italian groups were the bad copies of what came from abroad. I consider the works of MB from Symphony For A Genocide to Endometrium / Carcinosis as the best the industrial not only Italian has ever produced; I like much less what he did next.
Even today the Italian industrial scene is of excellent level and many deliberately refer to the 80s. Compared to then the noise has become more extreme and today it is possible to produce works that once would not have had even a minimum of audience because they would have been incomprehensible. However, I find it strange that many projects go unnoticed and that instead deserve, in my opinion, greater consideration. Unfortunately, the negative aspect of social media is that, sometimes, the character is considered more than the quality of the music. However, now as then, the Italian industrial continues to have its own identity and a very high-quality level; and it is the only type of sound that has these characteristics.
Your favorite bands in those days, who were they, and do you still listen to them today?
As I said above, I listened to MB (Maurizio Bianchi), Nocturnal Emissions, Solar Lodge, FAR, Klaus Schulze, and a few others. Today I listen mainly to New Prog and Funeral Doom, genres that have little to do with industrial.
What kind of books and movies inspired/inspires you and why?
I have never had particular forms of inspiration, neither musical nor literary. Mine is a music that comes from inner states and the only problem I have is to transform the sensation into sounds. I never tried to do what others did; it may be a good way to compose music but it's not mine.
How is it that Lyke Wake was resurrected in 2010?
The album of the "return" is Mother, 2010. I had a very intense activity from 1981 to 1990, publishing numerous cassettes, a split LP with Nightmare Lodge for Minus Habens, and participating in numerous compilations, both on vinyl and tape; all things that had required a great commitment and a lot of passion. By the early 1990s that passion had died out and there was no point in going on; these things are either done because they feel like it or it is better not to do them. So I decided to stop the activity and also, almost totally, to listen to that type of music; I dedicated myself to other genres, such as, for example, prog and electronics.
But inside me, I always knew that sooner or later I would go back to making that music that had been so important and sometimes I liked to imagine what I would play. Then, suddenly, in 2010, after 20 years, the flame went back on, almost suddenly, just as almost suddenly it went out. Starting again after 20 years of inactivity I found myself facing a different situation. Industrial had become a well-established, but always narrow, scene with a well-defined audience; contacts and the circulation of music were infinitely easier thanks to the internet and recording the sounds had become very simple compared to the effort that was once made with all the problems that analog recording on prehistoric 4-track recorders presented. Another world.
Now there were other problems, such as the large offer of easily available music. If 35 years ago the projects with that type of sound were very few, today there are in huge quantities and it is difficult to orient yourself.
The Lyke Wake project is always the same; "Il disagio di chi si trova in un mondo non suo sapendo che il proprio non esiste" is always the phrase that identifies the LW world. For me, music is a way of expression, a way of representing the inner, psychic world. I play what I am. The sound has changed since its inception; just as people evolve, sound, if used as a real means of expression, also evolves. But the vision of the world and human nature can change but not be distorted; some things remain fundamental and unchanged. And so loneliness, suffering, and pain will always be central in LW's music. I have never had models to inspire me but I have always tried to develop my sound. It was so in the beginning and it is still so today. Certainly what I listen to influences my music but it is marginal. In the 80s I had chosen those sounds because they were ideal for my expressiveness and now I choose different sounds because they are more suitable for my current moment; but if things have changed on the surface, they have remained the same in-depth.
It is a normal evolution that proceeds progressively and without upheavals. In the works of the 1980s, I used massively rough sounds that made up almost all of the sound, almost always on a synth basis; over time I have used softer sounds because they are more functional to what I wanted to express, that is, more suitable for a psychic and cerebral sound and less physical. Then the synth sounds replaced all the other sounds and the rhythmic parts disappeared. I have almost always introduced a melodic line that has become fundamental. Now everyone tells me that I am no longer making noise, even if in reality my music is a union of soft and rough sounds. But the fundamental elements of the LW universe, that deep and total discomfort, have always been the same. There is a continuous line, which goes from 1981 to today, consisting of elements that characterize my sound and which I believe are easily recognizable and constitute a sort of trademark.
If the expressive modalities have changed over time, the substance has remained the same; here there is no place for light and after dark there is only darkness. And on the other hand, if music is used as a real expressive modality, it cannot remain unchanged over the years. Now I think my music has a strong symphonic and solemn component. Especially in recent works, Fall Of The Corrupt, Testament Of Pain and Crawling Through The Abyss Of Pain / SymphonicNoise this has been my specific need; I rationally choose how to express myself with sounds and so I decided to increase the symphonic part of the sound and its solemnity. It is a rational process both in the ideation and in the execution, as well as choosing the right words to express a verbal concept.
Do you have plans on doing more re-issues or would you concentrate on creating new material?
I prefer to make new material. Music is a way of expression and current expression is the most important thing. However, some small labels often ask me to reprint old material and, after careful restoration work, it is nice to bring back to light the sounds that have been a piece of life for me.
Any last words?
Next year I will release a new album. Its title will be ”At The End Of The Dream, Where Nothing Remains / Symphonic Noise”. It is an extremism of the concept of symphonic noise, already very present in the previous ”Crawling Through The Abyss Of Pain / Symphonic Noise”, in which the noise and symphonic parts are merged; a paradoxical union that perfectly expresses my current state. There will be the insertion of new sounds, such as the violin and the voice, always obtained however with the synth and the samples, and the flute played by Fulvio Biondo of Solar Lodge. I'll send you a copy as soon as it comes out.
Blinkar från Norr - Metaphors For Things written by Balderus
You may think that, from now on, I am focusing on Italian composers but that’s not on purpose, I do swear! Interesting Italian artists are legion and, this time, my random virtual digging has helped me to discover Blinkar från Norr, a one-man act from Sardinia, despite the band name chosen.
From the very first second of ‘Motionless’ you get kicked straight into a static dream made of a intense sound layer that surrounds you senses and allows you to reach your deepest memories. Memories of Nature, memories of ether, memories of highness, all for thyself, with no human intervention or presence: the resonance, the memory, the timeless feeling of unaffected serenity, at an infinite distance, far from the common scrounging there below.
Track by track, like a brook peacefully running down a rocky hill, from ‘Constant Uncertainty’ to the smoothly spluttering ‘Disconnection From Reality’, then to the opening onto a bright horizon on ‘Other Days’, all is slithering and the listener is being left dangling, inside this musical motion picture and its cinematic charge, the one that transports you to the aforementioned memories of landscapes, loads of feelings, pressing sensations and weightless gestures. The projection room is the secular world; you get up from your restraining seat and walks through the screen, behind the veil.
You know what, reader? Even if it is a bit risky, I am going to tell you what I can subjectively refer to. What come to my mind: the dramatic track ‘Soulmates’ by Portuguese witch house band Veils (Aural Sects, 2013), the everlasting and incredible ambient track ‘VLetrmx21’ by Sheffield electronica emperors Autechre (Warp, 1995) and, for what the spirit of this recorded performance means to me, the 25-hour soundscape and landscape track ‘Route One’ by the famous Icelandic band Sigur Rós, which is a 25-hour (!) road trip all around Iceland, a video clip for a special soundtrack that illustrates the surreal and varied landscapes of this isle of mysteries, there, up North.
Well, it looks like a weird body of references, doesn’t it?
Believe me: listen to all these references first, then play this album on your headphones and maybe, one day, you’ll tell me how your journey across the screen was. Pay attention to this debut album: I want to believe this is not an end but a start rather. There are so many more metaphors for things to explore.
Our favorite over-productive drone-junkie Mr. Parrot is at it again! This time he is gonna suck the listeners way-deeper into his otherworldly drone´ ish excentricity. It´s called Drones From the Black Hole, a free to download album containing five heavenly-evocative drone tracks (called 1,2,3,4,5...and 25 minutes in total).
The first track starts in the quiet drone-department and slowly (but surely) grows from every second. A humming sensation enters your body while an angelic and cosmic force of sound simply engulfs you. Try to imagine the sensation one might feel if they were to discover a black hole on some high-tech telescope. To see how a black-hole not only engulfs entire galaxies but sucks reality so hard... that anything that enters it looks like thin spaghetti. They were already talking about black holes in 1916, I could imagine Lovecraft reading an article (or two) about it. Terrifying to imagine a black hole, the sheers size being too huge for the human imagination! Track two continues in the same matter (and sound) as the first track, just with more force, volume (or pull)). Whatever is coming, there will be no escape!.
The third track offers the listener the sensation of being spaghettified into a black-hole, the monotony of the first two tracks slowly alters and changes the listeners listening-perception almost unconsciously. Something big is happening, and you would not even notice it. The fourth track feels as if... time itself slows down. There is also a falling sensation in the sound itself, falling into a kind of bottomless pit. The fifth and last track continues were the fourth track ended and slowly collides into something being an almost...skeletal version of the previous 4 tracks which you have heard. Which is a fantastic ending!
An experience, a kind of sound-medicine which enters and does its thing. And the good thing about it is that James Parrot has TONS of that medicine on his Bandcamp! (link below). There isn't that much diversity in those 3 albums which I have reviewed here on Kalteldur, but the works of Parrot are nonetheless solid, unique and almost personal. Hell, I could walk around in town saying... THAT almost sounded like a James Parrott album. Do give him a check-up!
Rare are the musicians who can release a jewel so frequently, if not every time. Milanese Pat Moonchy is, in my opinion, one of these demiurges who hits the musical prodigality on the Web with a bombshell of sophisticated simplicity and hidden experimental complexity altogether.
As a mirror to her previous release ‘Wintersun’, she is offering ‘Wintermoon’ to us, in order to complete the sun-moon duality in a spectrum of cold light responding to cold light. We here have four tracks which structure looks modelled on a lunar phase, with the four major steps on the synodic month. Over the symbolic aspect, the release plays a bit longer than 29 min 53 sec. Hail to selenophiles who may feel all the powers of their cherished celestial body upon them!
‘new moon’ stands for the primordial darkness where all light emerges from. For this awaited silver light to rise, one needs to perform the ritual. Along over the drone waves this high-pitched summoning that sounds like a Theremin sequence and an endless circular-breathed scream. Moonshine is growing, the waxing crescent is appearing, and the ritual shall go on to the ‘first quarter’. From this point the tension is thickening: the drone is getting more and more intense and the surrealistic scream is appealing more dramatic forces on the edge of the waxing gibbous to reach the apex of this all, the ‘full moon’!
The ghostly scream will disappear as the ritual’s goal is soon over. The experience of full moon mysticism is now at its height. Moonbeams are piercing the air and overwhelming the land in a flow of silver vibrations. Instantly, this part may remind you of these splendid and inspiring pictures of places like Stonehenge, Avebury or Newgrange showing the stone circles and quoits under a coloured full moon high up there in the sky rim.
Once the apex reached, time has come for descending phase. The waning gibbous has started its course to the ‘last quarter’. No summoning scream is still necessary now. The monolithic drone describes the phenomenal downfading by itself. The drama tension is dying on the waning crescent. Everyone knows that it is not a fall to the abyss; a new cycle has already started. The silver light of the last crescent has almost expired but after the victory of the kingdom of unfathomable darkness, it will rise again and again.
This homage to the winter moon is available for downloading on Bandcamp and, for physical versions maniacs, it will be soon available on Cadmus Tape. Selenophiles of the world, unite now under the banner of Pat Moonchy!
For all of you hardcore fans of the cult label Cold Meat Industry (R.I.P), ConSono is probably a familiar name. The Swedish duo of Jens Lindh and Magnus Bjärlind only managed to release three albums, one cassette, and two compact discs, but they left a very lasting imprint. The first release, Onus Uteri, was released on Sound Source (pre-CMI´s tape label), and the other two on Cold Meat Industry and Crowd Control Activity. The duo contributed some of their best tracks to many of the great compilations in the realm of death industrial and esoteric ambiance. Many of these tracks are still highly regarded as precious cult gems, giving the listener a glimpse back into the early stages of that beautiful Cold Meat Industry sound.
I´ve been a fan of this highly esoteric mystical duo since I heard their genius track on ...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth And Tongue Wherever Shelter Was Given compilation back in 1996. My desire to track down lead singer Jens Lindh has been a goal for quite some time and I finally succeeded. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did making it.
My first question is about the creation of the band itself. How and when did ConSono come to be?
Jens Lindh: Magnus and I met in a record store in Södertälje 1989 and we realized that we liked the same music. And after one year we decided to start a band. Our first band was Ograth Vein. Our first release was on the "Im Krematorium" compilation. In 1990 we decided to form ConSono.
What kind of music and bands were you into back then?
Jens Lindh: We were both into classical EBM acts such as Front 242, Nitzer Ebb and Skinny Puppy. But we also listened to more obscure acts such as Club Moral, Prima Linea, early Current 93 and Coil.
I guess the obscure stuff was hard to get and find in Sweden 1989, especially Club Moral.
Jens Lindh: There were some retailers here in Stockholm. I remember visiting Pet Sounds in the late eighties. They stocked a lot of industrial stuff. There were also some mailorder such as "Spanking Housewives" which were based on the south of Stockholm.
Last time I was in Stockholm (2008), I could only locate a music shop specializing in punk. I was disappointed that they didn't have anything with Brainbombs.
Jens Lindh: Today we have a new generation and there are new clubs and shops, such as Kollaps Records. There were certainly some "dark ages" during early 2000-2010.
How did you get in contact with Sound Source / CMI?
JL: I remember we made contact with Roger Karmanik in 1989 and sent him a cassette and he proposed that we should contribute to a compilation, 2x6 - The Dimensions of a Coffin.
That compilation was before the cassette release on Sound Source?
JL: Yes it was before the first cassette.
2x6 is a brilliant and excellent compilation by the way. It remains one of my favorite comps from that time. A very effective mood capturer.
Jens Lindh: Roger Karmanik also had a side label called Mechanik Cassettes.
So who were Ograth Vein then?
Jens Lindh: Ograth Vein was formed the same year but didn't make any official releases.
Damn, Mechanik Cassettes in the family with CMI? That is some lost lore, even I didn't know that.
JL: Yes, even I had forgotten it. I had to google it. They had some releases with Lille Roger and Maschinenzimmer 412.
After the cassette on Sound Source, you had some compilation appearances on all the coolest CMI compilations, including the legendary Death Odors 1 from Slaughter Productions. The next release, Hymns of Deceased Deities, was more a compilation of your own tracks. What happened back then to the band?
Jens Lindh: We made some appearances on compilations and decided to remix and collect them on an album. That became Hymns of Deceased Deities. There were some recurrent literary and occult themes on Hymns, and I think it makes an interesting whole.
I loved that esoteric mystic feels to it. Somewhere between Ain Soph and early Dead Can Dance in a way...
Jens Lindh: I was influenced by writers such as Borges, and esoteric and alchemical writers. We actually listened to Ain Soph a lot, I think they're a good band.
Now that I think about it, you were the prime mystical occult band on CMI back then for sure. Other bands were delving into satanic elements like Archon Satani and Mz.412.
Jens Lindh: I think that's correct. I have always thought of ConSono as an occult band. We were not interested so much in satanism, more in traditional esoteric thinkers.
Did you feel different from the rest of the CMI bunch at that time? I wonder why Ignoto Deo wasn't released on CMI, and why the 3 years pause?
Jens Lindh: The period before Ignoto Deo was a challenging one for ConSono. We didn't like some of the acts at that time, we thought that we were moving more towards a sound incorporating elements of Dead Can Dance, medieval and folk music.
Consono was inactive for several years, but we continued to record a lot of tracks and trying new directions. We found the traditional industrial "formula" too limited. I think that Ignoto Deo was an attempt to break free from our own creative chains.
Very interesting because CMI was turning more and more attention to neo-folk and almost gothic-pop-ish bands around 2003.
Jens Lindh: Yes, later on, CMI turned more into an ethereal/neofolk goth-pop direction.
Heh, none of those bands made an album quite like Ignoto Deo. Just my opinion. It was quite unique. Perfectly balanced piece of work between experimental folk and goth-pop.
Jens Lindh: Yes, Ignoto Deo is a good album. We tried to combine influences like Scott Walker, Dead Can Dance, etc. The lyrics were more focused and coherent. I tried to capture different expressions and dark landscapes, fairytales, and myths. Magnus, who is an illustrator by profession, did a great job with the cover on both Ignoto and Hymns. We had a fairly strict division in ConSono, I wrote all the texts and lyrics, and Magnus designed the cover.
Ignoto Deo should have been a digipack. In a thick paper of some kind.
Jens Lindh: Yes I think that Ignoto should have been released in a more "luxurious" manner. The good thing with Roger was his ability to go all in and in Hymns he let us do a booklet.
Did you do any concerts/live events in those times? I haven´t seen or heard much about live appearances.
JL: Sadly no. We never played live. We had a strict policy to not play live as we thought that we couldn't make the live experience good enough. We had seen a lot of bands doing the "DAT-thing" and we thought it wasn't enough. In retrospect, I think it was a mistake to not play live.
I have the exact same policy. I will not dare to do a live concert myself. A guy behind a laptop/computer pushing buttons. Seen tons of those concerts, boring as hell.
Jens Lindh: Yes I find most of these concerts boring. I have seen too much of them. I totally agree.
BUT if you could pull off a kind of acoustic ConSono concert in a church of some kind? That would be damn good!
Jens Lindh: That would be a great idea! Consono is disbanded and I think that we will not see any more releases and concerts, but it is an interesting concept...
How about unreleased material or a rarities compilation?
JL: Magnus and I have focused on our own projects. I thought about making a rarities compilations a few years ago. We have a lot of unreleased material in the Ignoto Deo vein but a lot of the tracks need re-recorded vocals.
I knew you had more material. I´ll bet there would be lots of great labels willing to release it.
Jens Lindh: I think we have over 30 unreleased tracks from that period. Yes, I have been contacted by some labels during the years, but a release will be an effort and as you get older there is a fine balance between the old projects and the new.
Ahh yes of course. One final question. Any recommendations in the field of newly released industrial music?
Jens Lindh: I haven't discovered so many new bands during the last years. Nowadays I primarily listen to ambient/dark ambient such as Alio Die and Richard Skelton.
I´m getting more and more into my techno roots *laughs* More and more Detroit style techno acts are mixing this with industrial elements. Ancient Methods and Diamond Version just to name a few.
Jens Lindh: Ok, interesting! I will look them up. Is it contemporary?
It is contemporary. Even Ancient Methods said in an interview that he was an old fan of CMI.
Jens Lindh: Oh, that sounds good. They know the essential music history.
Quite so. Well, Jens, it was nice talking/chatting with you. Thank you very much.
Jens Lindh: Thanks it has been really nice chatting to you.
