CLXV. For Against | Echelons

FOR AGAINST

Echelons

©Words On Music. US, 2004.

‟Available for the first time on CD! Echelons is the debut album by Nebraska's For Against, first released in 1987 for Independent Project. The album blends Factory Records atmospherics with the aggressive jangle of early R.E.M., juxtaposed against the earnest and isolated voice of Jeffrey Runnings. These elements conjoin to set the definitive image of the depth, vastness, and loneliness of America's sparse heartland.

Several songs on Echelons ("Echelons," "Forget Who You Are," "Broke My Back") perfectly capture the dark colorings of early Factory Records. The title track is replete with jagged, rusty guitar chords, painting gray and black trails onto which Runnings travels while reiterating the cautiously optimistic refrain, "Someone somewhere waits for me." The finale "Broke My Back" is a 7-minute anthem with shadowy chords and Runnings' boldly minimalist bassline — creating an atmosphere so bleak and compelling you can almost picture Martin Hannett behind the mixing console.

"Autocrat" weaves guitarist Harry Dingman's Gang of Four-inspired choppy, but ingeniously precise feedback and chord stabs through drummer Greg Hill and bassist Runnings' punchy, but solid rhythm section. Runnings wryly captures the song's essence with a repetitive one-line vocal melody: "Yeah, that's right, that's the way it is."

Other material ("Shine," "Get On With It") asserts the janglier elements of early 80s Athens rock, led by Dingmans' Peter-Buck-with-a-reverb-box melodies and Hill's lightning-quick drum patterns. All nine songs are distinctly identified by Runnings' clear, gliding timbre — a striking counterpoint to the dimly lit music supporting him.

One of the definitive American post-punk albums, Echelons was celebrated with a Grammy nomination for its remarkable cover design by Bruce Licher (a shaft of wheat accompanied each record sleeve in its initial 1,000 copy letter press run). This re-release is remastered with a six-panel digipak design by Licher.‟

Words On Music

 

CXLVI. His Name Is Alive | Livonia

HIS NAME IS ALIVE

Livonia

©4AD. UK, 1990.

‟His Name Is Alive evolved dream-pop for the new decade. Thus, set in a far more electronic landscape, "As We Could Ever" brought the Cocteau Twins into the 90's. Then the ghostly soprano vox and desolate loops of "E-nicolle" occupied a haunted dimension. It wasn't surprising that "Some And I" embraced dark-punk atmospherics, a la Siouxsie And The Banshees (circa A Kiss In The Dreamhouse). In the meantime, their dream-pop seized a disassembled futurist structure in "Fossil". Even more ambitious, the reprise of "E-nicolle" was built around a future-primitive dance in a void - raising memories of Jon Hassell.

In contrast, "Caroline's Supposed Demon" was more or less medieval folk. But then "Reincarnation" was comprised of industrial loops in it's entirety. As if troubled by turmoil, and never staying somewhere for too long, "You And I Have Seizures" displayed a baroque and dream-like neoclassical dream-pop. Then the stark and desolate distortions of "How Ghosts Affect Relationships" followed a parallel course as the Slowdive of the first EPs. In a final great touch, "Darkest Dreams" embosomed the subconscious grand folklore of the fairy-tale element.

A very intriguing album by Warn Defever Aka His Name Is Alive.‟

Ily

 

CXXXIX. Mushy | Faded Heart

MUSHY

Faded Heart

©Mannequin. Italia, 2011.

‟De las ruinas de Roma, un sonido oscuro y fantasmal florece como una figura arquitectónicamente construída de naturaleza sacra y de pesadilla a la vez. Valentina Fanigliulo de 26 años bajo el pseudónimo de Mushy ofrece en su debut "Faded Heart" un ecosistema lo-fi que nos introduce a un mundo encantador y espectral.
Mujer italiana que durante 7 años ha vivido de cerca la escena experimental underground local, con un historial artístico notable que enlista actos en vivo, producciones CD-R y tapes para labels como Blake, Clan Destinie y Cold Current, así como colaboraciones con Thierry Müller y Mater Suspiria Vision.

"Faded Heart" combina percusiones análogas, loops, layers de un drone frío, cantos espeluznantes que de lo profundo emergen a la superficie, ruido tempestuoso y un particular efecto resultado de una grabación de guitarra acústica de cuatro cuerdas; la artista en sus propias palabras describe este trabajo, que se regocija en cuentos de amores perdidos, como una respuesta al magnífico "The Spoils" de Zola Jesus.
Obsesiva en la integración de esta melancolía synth wave desesperada y psicodélica con sonidos rituales que esbozan sus marcadas influencias como Cocteau Twins, Hope Sandoval, Grouper, Minimal Compact, Crime & The City Solution y Nico.
La también arquitecta y diseñadora gráfica presenta su personal segunda lectura del soul en Mannequin Records, LP en vinil, CD y versión exclusiva con remixes de Soft Metals, Crossover, Newclear Waves y Heinrich Dressel.‟
 

Felinno

CXI. Siddal | The Pedestal

SIDDAL

The Pedestal 

©Bedazzler. US, 1995.

‟Siddal began in 1991 when four music fans came together for a love of art, poetry, and culture. However, constant lineup changes plagued the group and by 1992, Siddal consisted of Elaine Winters and Richard Brinkley. The duo, who took their name from the 19th century activist Elizabeth Siddal, incorporated elements of space rock, trance, and darkwave, and they were frequently compared to the likes of the Cranes, the Cocteau Twins, and The Sundays. Bedazzled issued their first single, "Frozen Garden" in 1992 and subsequent tracks and albums followed throughout the decade: "Pedastal" (1995), "The Crossing" (1996) and "Mystery and The Sea" EP (1997) . By the close of the '90s, Winters and Brinkley married and had a son.‟

Soundunwound

 

LXXIV. Have A Nice Life | Deathconsciousness

HAVE A NICE LIFE

Deathconsciuosness

©Enemies List. US, 2008.

‟Desde Middletown, Connecticut-Estados Unidos, aparece este engendro empeñado en desolar con un disco doble tan terrorífico como vital: oscuridad, espacio amurallado, golpeteo metálico y imaginería ocultista, convergen en una producción sólida y totalmente extraña para estos tiempos que corren.
Hay un ambiente post-punk sofocante que recorre los temas de "Deathconsciousness", podría haber sido grabado en la etapa de negrura dark a comienzos de los 80's junto a The Chameleons, Joy Division, And Also the Trees, y los Cure de "Pornography" y sería un clásico, pero no, es 2008 y eso queda de manifiesto en el ruidismo cavernoso de "The Big Gloom", ocho minutos de espesura extrema con voces en penumbra, puro doom noise con bases industriales, un manjar para los que gustan de la oscuridad sin fronteras, sin embargo queda un dejo de nostalgia sobre todo en la interpretación vocal, de donde vendrá no tengo la menor idea.

Dos discos que suman casi dos horas de desesperación, drone, ambientes tenebrosos e inspiración mortuoria, era necesario tanto, no lo sé, pero al parecer estos norteamericanos quieren que no tengas descanso en este dilatado trayecto por las masmorras del sonido oscurecido.
"Telephony" despierta las más profundas honduras del ser con una guitarra que baila por bordes de entendimiento, mientras las voces acarician junto al metal abrasivo de una percusión omnipresente, el resultado es hermoso de todas maneras.
Los han descrito como una mezcla entre My bloody valentine, Skinny Puppy, Sunn o))) y los bajos huracanados de Joy Division, yo creo que van más allá y de seguro tomará un tiempo el acostumbrarse a esta bestial resonancia.
El trabajo se acompaña de un librillo de 75 páginas, escrito por un historiador antiguo, que trata sobre simbología y la muerte, "On An Obscure Text" se llama.
Cuentan que se demoraron 5 años en terminar esta obra sonora maldita, quedará como legado o se desvanecerá, quién sabe. Desde ya deberías escucharla.‟

Raúl Cabrera H.

LXX. Lovesliescrushing | Voirshn

LOVESLIESCRUSHING

Voirshn

©Projekt. US, 2002.

‟Lovesliescrushing returns to Projekt with a special mail-order-only release. This CD will not be available in stores. It's the second in a new series of discs from Projekt, presenting excellent music available especially for the fans via our website. This arrangement bypasses the hassle and frustration of retail and makes the music available directly to you.

On their newest album, Voirshn, Lovesliescrushing (one of the few remaining representatives of the 'shoegazer' genre) continues their trend further from the traditional rock elements that characterized earlier dream pop bands. From the beginning, instrumentalist Scott Cortez and vocalist Melissa Arpin distanced themselves from the genre by rejecting conventional song stuctures in favor of an intensified version of the meandering sound that was forcefully inaugurated by MBV's classic Loveless. In Lovesliescrushing, this aesthetic has gradually approached pure ambience. Nevertheless, their typically warm guitars counterveil this tendency even with the absence of percussion and song structure. On Voirshn, their 4th recording, both are either minimal or entirely absent; wordless female vocals drift in and out while 'electronic beats' - guitarnoise softened by semi-lo-fi production - occasionally interrupt a wash of guitar. Although consistent in style, the album avoids sounding like one continuous song through adequately diverse guitar sounds ranging from the lush vibrant tone of the opening track 'glixen' to the subdued quasi-detatched feel of 'sovfx'. Overall, Lovesliescrushing continues to exist between the worlds of shoegazer and ambience, although the ascendant former has once again conceded to the latter. This is pure glitch-bliss.

Lovesliescrushing. [Voirshn] is a synthesis of processed ambient gloss and lo-fi grit, creating a digital-analog hybrid that Scott terms 'glitch-bliss'. Songs were compiled from a palette of sonorities extrapolated from a collection of voice and guitars, warped into rumbling subsonics, staticblast hiss, hazy chord clusters, extended infinite tone loops, melody spirals, avian-like whistles, glistening overtones, voices cut-up into splintered fragments, thoughtforms suspended over warm tonesheets like a ghost cloud, indistinct and luminous. Still eschewing bass and drums, rhythmic elements are culled from filtered guitar tones mutated into stroboscopic pulsations and digital dust clickings. Once again guitardamage is wrought upon six-strings, manipulated, deconstructed, reassembled to create bloodrush pulses reminiscent of a softly humming embryonic landscape of digitized lullabies.‟

 Projekt

 

XLII. Salem | King Night

SALEM

King Night

©Iamsound. US, 2010.

‟Desde el 2008 que vienen sacudiendo el ambiente con Eps y entregas de tiraje limitado, el trío de Michigan se ha convertido en un bastión para el nuevo ruido electrónico ensombrecido y estandarte de 'la novedad del año', el tan mentado y emocionante Witch House, que por supuesto también nos ha encandilado a nosotros.
Les veníamos siguiendo con cautela en la espera de su primer Lp, el que ha sido publicado por IAmSound Records este 28 de septiembre bajo el nombre de "King Night" y viene espeso, hiriente, desolador, maldito a fin de cuentas.
No había otra forma cuando John Holland, Heather Marlatt y Jack Donoghue desde un comienzo han sobrecargado las atmósferas electrificadas con un clamor que pareciera venir desde los subterráneos más siniestros de la America del Norte.
Tomando sustancias en descomposición de la vieja darkwave, el hip hop más fisurado y el shoegaze experimental dan vida (o traen desde la misma muerte) a un engendro apabullante, narcótico y fascinante. Desde un principio se siente el latigazo, "King Night" tema inicial que se suspende en una especie de misa negra atormentada por teclados extensos, aparataje espásmodico y percusiones desafiantes, una verdadera ópera diabólica, Dead Can Dance pero en mala.
Los Salem no se guardan nada, no dan concesiones de ningún tipo en su música tétrica, todo está dispuesto aquí para el daño y el embrujo, te vas discretamente o lo tomas como la droga tan esperada. "Asia" es el primer single del disco, una marea dislocada y ácida que en su interior porta la voz Medium de Heather comunicándose en forma directa con un universo mortecino, dimensiones paralelas e invisibles que deprimen el espacio sonoro a pesar del ruido reinante.
"Frost" podría sacudir a los románticos de atuendo oscuro, Cocteau Twins intervenidos por un cortocircuito de sistemas peregrinos y otra vez los ritmos en total autarquía.
Tuercen el rostro en "Sick", esto es hip hop del más allá, retomando el camino que el trip-hop no quizo profundizar (Tricky queda como un niño de pecho), sombras fantasmales que se apoderan del espíritu gangsta, triturándolo en un hábil funeral.
A este punto es bueno reconocer que Salem exhibe en su disco debut una fuerza poco usual, la maquinaria que tiembla en busca de un reducto desconocido, la ofrenda libre para un nuevo carácter, se elevan, se retuercen y se agigantan cerrando cualquier salida entre las reverberaciones del trance y la oración.
Asfixiando en los límites del rap, si había una forma de experimentar entre tanta capucha, "Trapdoor" podría ser un punto de convergencias para una tropa amorfa y protestas callejeras hacia un cambio verdadero.‟

Raúl Cabrera H.

 

XXXIX. Dark Orange | Clouds, Paperships And Fallen Angels

DARK ORANGE

Clouds, Paperships And Fallen Angels

©Kalinkaland. Deutschland, 2010.

‟Katrin-Elna: Vocals .. Dirk Odu: Guitars & Arrangements .. Olivier Goyet: Sounds & Dulcimer .. Steven Burrows: Bass .. The new album "clouds, paperships and fallen angels" was released in May 2010 on Kalinkaland records. The album featured guest musicians such as Steven Burrows and Emer Brizzolara from the English "And Also The Trees" and Jan Ross and Brida Garland of Mexico City's "Morfeo Speaks". The final sound comes from Robin Guthrie, well known from the legendary "Cocteau Twins". .. On this player you find a song from the new album and also some songs from the Dark Orange period from 1990 - 1993 and an unreleased song called "romance of chevalry" recorded live in mainz in may 1992. .. ..‟

 myspace.com/darkorange