CLXXX. Passions | Passions CDr

PASSIONS

Passions CDr

©Disaro. US, 2010.

‟Maybe it’s just that I’ve been in a Wax Trax! cave for the past 24 hours (or, you know, 15 years) but this EP made me wonder: Would Dannie Flesher and Jim Nash have fallen all over themselves for Passions had producer/songwriter/etc. Ben Dietz been around in the label’s heyday? I think they would have, and I think Cabaret Voltaire would have loved him too, maybe even Bernard Sumner; Passions does, after all, sound like that theoretical project Ian Curtis and Genesis P-Orridge would have shared had things worked out differently.

Not that you could ever consider Passions a rip-off, or even that much of a straight-up rehash. Deitz (formerly known as Math Head, the Trouble and Bass dance wunderkind) is too brilliant a producer to allow anything he touches to be so bland. Passions suggests 80s industrial-disco for sure, especially opening track “Wrists”, but the way Giselle Reiber’s waft like vocals (buried though they are under an ocean of harmony) overlay the short, explosive guitar has far more in common with Cocteau Twins than it does My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. What’s more, there’s an attitude here—a sort of lonely, washed out sadness—that permeates each detail perfectly, from the ghostly build of “Amnesia” to the panicked, claustrophobic synth accents of “Composure”.  Way to cram so much quiet desperation into one itsy-bitsy EP.

And weirdly enough, its itsy-bitsiness is both blessing and curse—if you count a bunch of crazy zealous fans as a curse. Though brevity is the soul of so much great music—and one of the most difficult and misunderstood elements—this is one of those rare and wonderful EPs that actually leaves me unsated.  I want more. Immediately. Passions is simply too dark, too emotional, too flat-out flawless and awesome, to simply push out of your head after 6 songs. I’ll be counting the minutes until the next release.‟

Mishka

CLXX. Lycia | Estrella

LYCIA

Estrella

©Projekt. US, 1998.

‟The first time I heard Lycia, it was on a free sampler I received from Projekt, perhaps the premier darkwave/goth label of the 1990s, and perhaps the only label that was making a very serious attempt at following in the footsteps of esteemed British label 4AD. I don't remember what Lycia's song was, but I do remember that they sounded quite different than their labelmates, and that unlike other bands, they really didn't seem concerned about fashion or image, and the song sounded more like Aphex Twin than The Cure or This Mortal Coil. I thought their song was rather stunning and beautiful, but admittedly, I never did follow through.
Listening to the recently-reissued , the band's final album (and the first release in a Lycia reissue program), it's quite clear that Lycia was a different sort of band. The duo of Mark VanPortfleet and Tara VanFlower combined their strengths to make music that was haunting, beautiful and stunning, and in this goal, they were quite successful. Estrella found the band at a creative high, and the result was a record that lured the listener and took them into other realms of aural ecstacy. From the tribal "Tongues" to the Harold Budd-like "Clouds in the Southern Sky" and from the transcendent bliss of "Estrella" to the melancholy "The Kite," Lycia exploited the term "atmospheric" to the hilt--and the result was heavenly. Comparisons to The Cocteau Twins were and are inevitable, and while VanFlower's voice never quite reached to Liz Frasier's vocal heights--that's an impossible goal, anyway--her voice, in combination with VanPortfleet's stunning Robin Guthrie-inspired accompaniment, certainly justfied the comparison.
If you're not familiar with Lycia, Estrella is as excellent a starting point as you could find, because this record's beauty is a perfection that most bands could only dream of obtaining. Hopefully the forthcoming reissue series will illuminate this gorgeous darkwave band, and deservedly so.‟

Joseph Kyle

CLXII. Asmorod | Involution Toward Chtonian Depths

ASMOROD

Involution Toward Chtonian Depths

©Solistitium. Deutschland, 1997.

‟Esta es una verdadera rareza, Asmorod es un proyecto francés de Dark Ambient del cual prácticamente no hay información, ni siquiera en su My Space se pueden encontrar datos acerca del origen del proyecto, pero calculo que nacen por el año 1993 ó 1994. La alineación también es relativamente una incógnita, pero en alguna página de reviews vi que sus miembros han sido: Cédric Codognet y Nicolas D. Faure, siendo el primero quien ya no se encuentra en el proyecto.

En 1995 lanzan su debut titulado "Dance In The Winter Fog", una producción muy en la línea de Les Légions Noires en cuanto a algunos elementos del sonido, una mezcla entre Dark Ambient y Black Metal que da como resultado una serie de sonidos espectrales y dignos de un filme de horror de mediados de los 80's. Escucharemos gran abundancia de treclados y pianos que dan una atmósfera incierta, ya que en el intro dan una sensación de tranquilidad al igual que en una parte del segundo track, pero en cuanto llegamos a la mitad de éste nos damos cuenta que es una banda que bien rivalizaría con los polacos Profanum. "Involution Toward Chtonian Depths" es una muestra más de una música cadavérica con ambientes ritualistas e inspiración pagana que no podrás eludir de tus pesadillas fetichistas.‟

Dark Ritual

LVII. Beyond Sensory Experience | No Lights In Our Eyes

BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE

No Lights In Our Eyes

©Cold Meat Industry. Sverige, 2008.

‟The Swedish depressive duo Beyond Sensory Experience returns with No Lights In Our Eyes, BSE’s seventh album overall and their second for Cold Meat Industry, following The Dull Routine Of Existence (also reviewed by Judas Kiss). BSE consists of K. Meizter, last heard by these ears collaborating with Polish project Horologium on Eight Studies In Transition, and Drakhon, sometimes of MZ.412.
  

As with the Dull Routine… album, BSE’s brand of dark ambient is distinctively enervated and wan, with quiet, desultory piano lines, distant and washed-out vocal samples, simple, plangent drones and echoes, and an overwhelming feeling of listless despair. Not an ideal party album, then, but powerful in its own quiet way. No Lights In Our Eyes is evidently conceived as a companion piece to the Pursuit Of Pleasure and Dull Routine… albums, with the focus this time around on ‘death and the subconscious sides of life’. Sex, futile routines and death – BSE’s take on human existence isn’t exactly life-affirming, but it fits rather well into the grimly stoical Scandinavian tradition of such figures as Ingmar Bergman and Søren Kierkegaard.
  

No Lights In Our Eyes contains ten tracks extending over 56 minutes, and beginning with the somber organ drones and lonely piano notes of ‘Funerals’. Whispered vocals emphasise the atmosphere of disconnection and remoteness. Other particularly interesting tracks include ‘Across The Divide’, whichc has a warmer, fuller sound and even the vestiges of a trip-hop beat under jangling guitar, augmented by sweeps of orchestral strings, the title track, ‘No Lights In Our Eyes’, which at nearly nine minutes is the longest on the album, and which again employs slowly plucked guitar over ambient background drones, and ‘Hearts And Minds’, another long track, based on a repeated phrase of four plucked notes interspersed with strange muffled whimpering and sobbing, leading into extended church-organ drones reminiscent of Nico’s harmonium work, and a repeated refrain of “In our hearts – in our memories”. Nico, in fact, is a good comparison point for the work of BSE in general, for whilst BSE, of course, lack her unmistakable vocals, they do share a similarly dark and grief-stricken worldview. It’s also easy to imagine BSE’s music being used on the soundtrack of gloomy European arthouse films.
  

There’s no doubt that the music of Beyond Sensory Experience will not appeal to everyone, maybe not even all dark ambient fans. Thrill-seekers and those with short attention spans are going to find this music boring and pointless. And although there’s plenty of sadness to be found here, BSE have little to offer in the way of romantic melancholy – their music is just too bleak and stark. But those with introverted, depressive tendencies may find a sparse and wintry satisfaction in BSE’s understated but quietly devastating ambient.‟

Simon Collins