The heavy amp-worship of Boris and the megalomaniacal chaos of Merzbow, together again - but this time you can mix your own adventure. Review written for, and published in, Heathen Harvest, expertly edited by the rather competent Sage Weatherford.
"Not only did it create a ‘phenomenon’ where the two sounds meshed in
artistic space, but it created a tangible ‘space’—a triangulated
three-dimensional field in which I could roam, my own input-orifices
live-mixing the audio signals as I turned and perambulated within and
without the space created ... The whole experience is really just a lot more intense when
it is experienced as a proper 3D sound space you can wander around in."
Boris & Merzbow – Gensho
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
REVIEW: USHERsan & HIV+ – Black Monolith
A review for the potentially-quite-interesting-but-kinda-sorta-not-actually duet of Ushersan and HIV+. Reassurringly edited by Sage Weatherford and published in Heathen Harvest.
"As the pulse races on, like a silver mercury heartbeat, living organisms writhe and rant over the top, and all the while alien textures swirl, fizz, and sluice all around in a thick futuristic fog. This piece does all the things that the rest of the EP fails to do. It evokes, engages, and throbs electronically without sounding cheesy; it doesn’t undermine its extraterrestrial potential with ever-so-Earthling artefacts; it grabs me and drags me along with it, eager, engrossed and out of this world."
USHERsan & HIV+ – Black Monolith
"As the pulse races on, like a silver mercury heartbeat, living organisms writhe and rant over the top, and all the while alien textures swirl, fizz, and sluice all around in a thick futuristic fog. This piece does all the things that the rest of the EP fails to do. It evokes, engages, and throbs electronically without sounding cheesy; it doesn’t undermine its extraterrestrial potential with ever-so-Earthling artefacts; it grabs me and drags me along with it, eager, engrossed and out of this world."
USHERsan & HIV+ – Black Monolith
REVIEW: Amalgamated – Spark II
Review of Amalgamated, an experimental-type band interested in nu-kraut explorations, that kinda almost got there but didn't quite. Published at Heathen Harvest and clemently edited by Sage Weatherford.
"[It] felt tentative as though it was scared to really explore places interesting and new, preferring to circle the same safe neighbourhoods of well-worn genre tropes. There was nothing wrong with what was offered, certainly, but for my personal tastes (and what I suspect are the experimental goals of the Amalgamated project), there was nothing innovative or exceptional."
Amalgamated – Spark II
"[It] felt tentative as though it was scared to really explore places interesting and new, preferring to circle the same safe neighbourhoods of well-worn genre tropes. There was nothing wrong with what was offered, certainly, but for my personal tastes (and what I suspect are the experimental goals of the Amalgamated project), there was nothing innovative or exceptional."
Amalgamated – Spark II
Friday, March 4, 2016
REVIEW: Ethereal Mist – Wandering through the Void
Sorry, Ghoul, but your meandering "dungeon synth" doesn't move me. Review published by Heathen Harvest and gingerly edited by the tireless Sage Weatherford.
"These eight indistinguishable pieces of synth-driven noodling could have been played by a curious cat: indeed, if there was something in the liner notes about how these pieces were actually played by a curious cat, I’d probably be right into this album, in the same way as I am excited by Hatebeak or Caninus (grindcore bands fronted by, respectively, a parrot and a dog). However, the liner notes omit any such feline interaction, suggesting instead that the tracks are actually played by one ‘Ghoul‘ (whom my research suggests is an Adelaide-based fully human artist who also plays in black metal band Entsetzlich—hopefully not keyboards)."
Ethereal Mist – Wandering through the Void
"These eight indistinguishable pieces of synth-driven noodling could have been played by a curious cat: indeed, if there was something in the liner notes about how these pieces were actually played by a curious cat, I’d probably be right into this album, in the same way as I am excited by Hatebeak or Caninus (grindcore bands fronted by, respectively, a parrot and a dog). However, the liner notes omit any such feline interaction, suggesting instead that the tracks are actually played by one ‘Ghoul‘ (whom my research suggests is an Adelaide-based fully human artist who also plays in black metal band Entsetzlich—hopefully not keyboards)."
Ethereal Mist – Wandering through the Void
REVIEW: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
The Godspeed comeback album is solid, dense, and compact. Review published by Heathen Harvest and probably slightly-over-edited by
Sage Weatherford.
" Instead of building from whispered beginnings, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress starts with a massive kick to the head then slowly peels back to almost nothing for two tracks (literally—the second and third pieces here are almost nothing, consisting of just low feedback drones for over a quarter of an hour, spiced with other occasional sounds) before roaring back into ferocious gear again for the fourth and final act, exploding into triumph."
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
" Instead of building from whispered beginnings, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress starts with a massive kick to the head then slowly peels back to almost nothing for two tracks (literally—the second and third pieces here are almost nothing, consisting of just low feedback drones for over a quarter of an hour, spiced with other occasional sounds) before roaring back into ferocious gear again for the fourth and final act, exploding into triumph."
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Monday, January 25, 2016
REVIEW: Pas Musique – Abandoned Bird Egg
Strange music by modern audiomancers - meaningless and temporary, like all life on Earth, like everything any of us care about, like existence itself. Review published by Heathen Harvest and edited by Sage Weatherford.
"Although I know very little about PAS Musique, it seems very aligned with some kind of occult spirituality that delights in strangeness, sensory overload, and a kind of humourousness—a tongue-in-cheek playfulness that, like many of my favourite practitioners from Robert Anton Wilson to Ivan Stang and Alan Moore, understands that dealing with sacred mysteries and powerful non-human forces demands a rigorous dedication to serious non-seriousness."
Pas Musique – Abandoned Bird Egg
"Although I know very little about PAS Musique, it seems very aligned with some kind of occult spirituality that delights in strangeness, sensory overload, and a kind of humourousness—a tongue-in-cheek playfulness that, like many of my favourite practitioners from Robert Anton Wilson to Ivan Stang and Alan Moore, understands that dealing with sacred mysteries and powerful non-human forces demands a rigorous dedication to serious non-seriousness."
Pas Musique – Abandoned Bird Egg
REVIEW: Old Burial Temple – Inner Temple Mutilation
Dark primal neoshamanic drone-rituals from dark primal neoshamanic Western Australia, courtesy of the not-entirely-well Old Burial Temple. Black audio magic at its very finest. Review published by Heathen Harvest, somewhat edited by the power-mad but actually quite decent Sage Weatherford.
"Old Burial Temple spoke of absolute mental obliteration, hearing voices, fearing unseeable presences, and waking up and having no recollection of making some of the recordings at all. This wasn’t mentioned to me as any sort of marketing trick or press-release schtick; it was stated matter-of-factly as we chatted over a beer, and from the look in his eyes as he recounted the stranger stories, I could tell he was still scared (and scarred) by what he’d been through."
Old Burial Temple – Inner Temple Mutilation
"Old Burial Temple spoke of absolute mental obliteration, hearing voices, fearing unseeable presences, and waking up and having no recollection of making some of the recordings at all. This wasn’t mentioned to me as any sort of marketing trick or press-release schtick; it was stated matter-of-factly as we chatted over a beer, and from the look in his eyes as he recounted the stranger stories, I could tell he was still scared (and scarred) by what he’d been through."
Old Burial Temple – Inner Temple Mutilation
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