Nevis Kretini/Choppy Noodles - 2019 Best of list.

Choppy Noodles > Nevis Kretini – Best of 2019.

This has been an amazing year, so many ace releases. Too many names to mention, it was impossible to limit to 10,so here are my 12 favourites.

Rusalka – Base Waters. Absurd Exposition – LP – 2019.

I knew of Rusalka, but this was the first time that I really listened - I reviewed this on first listen. Base Waters shifts through a lot of changes in Sonic Language over two tracks to create an album of powerful conceptualised effect. The sound builds to massive proportions as the language shifts and I am now very aware of this top tier project.

Nacht Und Nebel – Limitations – Self Released Cassette and Download– 2019.

I’ve gradually accumulated a lot of Nacht Und Nebel releases over the years through seeing the project play live. Both live shows and releases are always consistently strong with the project playing with acts like Ramleh, Blackcloudsummoner, Vampyres, Culver and many more over the years. However, this release really does stand out against the others, here the project really ups its game. Sounds are all sourced from a Cello and treated to varying degrees, overlaid to make epic compositions.

Ordeal by Roses – A Petty and Childish Obsession – Outsider Art – Cassette andDownload – 2019.

Both releases by Ordeal by Roses on the Outsider Art label this year have been very strong, I could have picked either of them. I’d call this a stand-alone, outsider project based in Cardiff, Wales that has come from trauma to the self. This took me by surprise, and I see this as a standout project amongst newer artists.

Niku Daruma – She Gets What She Wants – Black Ring Rituals – 2019.

Niku Daruma have been prolific this year, they featured on a lot of great split releases as well as their own. They all do other noise related projects, but this one really stands out. Some of the releases are base raw and work even better and I could pick from a few of their releases. They seem like nice people who turn into hysterical, violent monsters when performing, making amazing Harsh Noise whilst erupting everywhere.

Suffer In April – Pomona. Corde Raide Productions – Cassette – 2019.

I met this guy as he runs a tribute page to another noise artist, we got chatting and he said he had his own project called Suffer in April. The first release Femme Fatale is what I would call forward thinking Power Electronics, in contrast Pomona carries on these methods yet goes elsewhere and radiates immense beauty.

Entre Vifs – Offrande et Partage - Aussaat und Ernte - 2019.

This is a beautifully presented cd that cases the angrier side of Entre Vifs. I liked the previous album Ontologie a lot, but Offrande seems to go to much higher levels of intensity. Entre Vifs use their own self-made instruments to create an elaborate sound that is simultaneously structured and chaotic, yet to me they remain one of the most brutal noise acts of the present day.

Wolvestribe – Understanding the Ecological Role – Aaarrrg.

Wolvestribe came to my attention when a label called Harsh Noise London sent me some of their releases. HNL tend to put different artists on compilations together on recycled audio cassettes – Wolvestribe were part of a 4-way split. I was very impressed and had to investigate further and I was suitably convinced that we have a new heavyweight amongst the newer UK noise crop. Wolvestribe release their own lathe cut 10” records and frequently produce new material that is consistently of a high standard.

Testing Vault – Amnesia Milk. – Looney Tick – 2019.

I’ve followed Testing Vault for over a decade now, the project has changed and shifted gradually – with side projects that experiment in other areas of sound. The output by the project has been consistently strong, but Amnesia Milk seems to take the sound of reeds and drones that have been lurking in recent releases and take a massive leap forward with them to perfect things. Amnesia Milk eclipses Complete Shit Exorcism as the best Testing Vault recording so far.

S.T.A.B. Electronics – Enemy of Pigs – Unrest – 2019.

S.T.A.B. grabbed my attention as a strong modern-day project. On ‘Day of the Male’, the vocals were next level. ‘Mother, Mother, Mother please’ as a repeated opening sample opens Enemy of Pigs, this album is just bleak violence and pushes the project forwards to new levels of intensity and quality. Seeing the project live at the opening party for the release was something I will never forget. This album is strong on every track, a consistent, impressive step up.

Satori – The Braver the Bull, the Better the Bullfight – Outsider Art – 2019.

Outsider art often releases Knifedoutofexistence and does batches of four cassettes, all by different artists. The acts featured are often newer artists on the UK scene, however this time veteran project Satori was featured. It’s a repeated rule in PE that newer artists are where it is really at and older acts are often seen to be not what they were once. When I saw Satori live this year, that wasn’t the case, Dave Kirby was an unnerving presence which made for an effective show. Satori has this distanced rage that I see come through in other Outsider Art acts of the present day such as Ordeal by Roses and Knifedoutofexistence to a point where I see it as being influential. To top it off this cassette is excellent – clear evidence of an older act at the top of its game.

Active Denial – What Dreams are Made Of – Outsider Art – 2019.

Both releases by Active Denial are powerful, but this one is the best one, the sound is stripped down, raw and intense. Horrible noise and ranted sermons of bile. Active Denial are a name to watch as recordings and live performances are amazing. Get both recordings if you can, this was so popular it was gone in the blink of an eye and Research Laboratories reissued it. Thomas Laroche (one half of AD) has a whole bunch of stuff on there that is a whole new nightmare running parallel to this. I’m still not over the Summer of Hate, don’t know if I ever will be – you’re still it.

Detrimental Effect – Your Truth – Tesco – 2019.

I often talk about distanced Power Electronics; this however uses restraint in its sound – the tension that builds up as a result of this on Your Truth is enormous and makes for an effective, powerful release. Noise and samples play off each other, things pushed a hair’s length from their breaking points. This depiction of the lies used in politics and media is the soundtrack of today.

Nevis Kretini 2019. 

Psymon Marshall - Top 10 2019.

PSYMON’S TOP TEN FOR 2019

It’s that time of year when I attempt to whittle down the hundreds, nay thousands, of worthy records released this year to form my top ten. It’s a thankless task in many ways – it has to be noted that the quality of the material I have listened to, on both a ‘professional’ and personal level, has been, quite frankly, astonishing. I am loathe to leave anything out, but if I did that this would become unwieldy. I could be wrong, but I think that technology and its democratisation is responsible for shining a figurative light into the hidden corners of the underground scene, thereby allowing artists who were once constrained by perpetual obscurity to showcase their material to a broader and receptive audience, as well as allowing them to target those audiences more effectively and at a fraction of the cost. Certainly, when l was involved in the burgeoning scene in the late 80s/early 90s this fantastic virtual arena was unimaginable, and the only way to hear of artists was through the rare occasion a mainstream magazine happened to feature an article on this weird musical scene, or through the pages of an underground ‘zine, or the artists themselves contacting one directly. Now with the plethora of sites like Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Facebook, personal websites and blogs such as this one, obscurity is a mostly a choice.

My only rule for this top ten is that I have reviewed all these records within the last twelve months (or, rather, since I’ve been writing for 1208 North Fuller Ave, Apt 1) and my write-up was published on the blog. There was far too much good material to choose from and, please be assured that, even if a particular record doesn’t appear here, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like it – it’s just that ten is an awfully small number and there are thousands of releases per year. In no particular order then, here’s my selection:

1 – Neraterrae The Substance of Perception (Cyclic Law)

The debut record of the year without any shadow of a doubt, Alessio Antoni brought us a stunningly mature work that normally would be characteristic of an artist’s career peak, rather than one which represents their first release on a major label. Furthermore, the quality is doubly emphasised by the presence of major underground alumni such as Northaunt, Treha Sektori, Taphephobia, Infinexhuma, and Ugasanie amongst others lending their considerable talents to the mix. My reasoning is that they also must have recognised Antoni’s innate talents to have even considered contributing. Seven tracks of haunting, deeply mystical, seismic, and chthonic atmospherics brought forth from the deep time present at the world’s creation, this is an album that deserves its place in any fan of dark ambient’s sound library.

2 – Monocube Substratum (Cyclic Law/MalignantRecords)

A deep dive into nihilistic dystopian nightmares and disaster-fuelled dreams, this is one of those projects that refuses to let any light dilute their dank and foetid vision of a diminished future humanity and the denuded world they’ll find themselves living in. In my original review I described it as Lovecraftian in atmospheric tone but, some months later while I am writing this, it’s gone beyond that and the whole takes on a tinge of having foreshadowed the current state of our world, Definitely one to listen to while the social fabric and order of civilisation collapses around you.

3 Michael Bonaventure In Tenebris Ratione Organi (Eighth TowerRecords)

Here’s a release that takes something that all of us are familiar with (the church organ) and makes it sound otherworldly, creating and devising textures, voices, and tones one wouldn’t normally associate with the venerable instrument. This is a thought-provoking work, in that it blows away ingrained perceptions and assumptions, and shines the spotlight on a new creation that is at once familiar and alien. This nine track album successfully posits the notion that synthesisers have in fact been around for hundreds of years, not mere decades.

4 Llyn a Cwn – Twll Du (Cold Spring)

I could have quite easily chosen a top ten consisting solely of Cold Spring releases such is the continued quality of output from this long-established label. Instead, I chose Llyn a Cwn’s Twll Du that, apart from being a release of well-crafted atmospheric ambient pieces, also locked into a particularly Celtic ambience that I have experienced personally. Each of the seven compositions is based around feelings and reactions to specific areas within Snowdonia, North Wales, a region which is heavily invested with myth and magic. I’m from South Wales, which has its own similar patches of mystery (the Preseli Mountains, home of the bluestones of Stonehenge) and parts of which are associated with the Mabinogion (an epic of Welsh literature), and so I found myself buying into the mystical and doomy atmospherics with ease. One can very easily glean the nature of the places described herein.

5 DR – The Tea Sessions Kalamine Records

Now for something completely different: a quartet of ambient drone pieces based around tea. It’s a novel approach, one that reaps huge benefits, and that has the effect of being both interesting and intensely calming, allowing the listener to ride waves of bliss. Think of it as an antidote to the stresses of modern-day living, so I can recommend sitting back in your favourite armchair, sipping on a freshly made cup of one (or all) of the teas mentioned in the composition titles, and let yourself just drift away into oceans of infinity.

6 Cordis Cincti Serpente I (30th Anniversary Edition) (IndustrialÖlocaust Recordings)

This was originally ‘released’ way back in 1989 as a limited edition of just 31 tapes, none of which were on general sale but instead given to the artist’s friends. Thankfully, then, the fine folks at Industrial Ölocaust Recordings saw fit to re-release this masterpiece in remastered form (by Raffaele Pezzella of Sonologyst), in a signed edition of 93. Massively occult and deeply seismic in nature, these are all rituals meant to open up the vast underground currents streaming through the bowels of the earth, both physically and spiritually. A timeless set, not at all dated, and in some ways deeply resonant with our present times – in other words, essential listening.

7 Coil Stolen & Contminated Songs (ColdSpring)

Another (and very welcome) reissue and remaster from the UK’s premier underground label. Apart from being a seminal band from the early industrial music scene of the eighties and nineties, the one aspect of the band that this shows off to perfection is the sheer breadth of vision and musicality that Jhonn Balance and Peter Christopherson possessed, and this emphasises just how successful and far reaching their musical collaboration was. The twelve songs (or thirteen if you have the CD version) are essentially outtakes and experiments gleaned from the recording sessions that ultimately gave us the Love’s Secret Domain album, and as such it adds to the latter release, demonstrating the evolution and thinking processes behind LSD (and the band’s MO). It not only reminds us of the loss of the genius of both Balance and Christopherson (may both RIP) but it will also serve to introduce new fans to this titan of a project of the British industrial scene.

8 Caulbearer Diseased Imaginings (Peacock WindowRecordings)

I shall reiterate my description in my original review: ‘This is a BEAST of an album…’. Featuring not only the original six tracks recorded by Caulbearer but also the same tracks with enhancements added by luminaries such as Black Mountain Transmitter, Gruntsplatter, Wilt + Gnaw Their Tongues, Steel Hook Prostheses, The Vomit Arsonist, and Fire in the Head. These are gargantuan behemoths, both original and enhanced, a soundtrack for the end-times, and for a dying and decaying world. Get your doom on!

9 Stigmate Aiwass (Self-Released)

There are hundreds of self-released albums put out each year, and this particular one made it to this list simply because of its holistic approach to the subject and its maturity of expression. Based around your favourite occultist uncle, Aleister Crowley, this takes as its inspiration the birth of Thelema and its subsequent evolution plus its promulgation by Crowley (which was inevitably intertwined with his larger than life character). It’s a serious release, and a seriously good one at that, swerving away from both Crowleyan aggrandisement and tabloid sensationalism, as well as treating the subject seriously. Nicola Locci, the man behind the project, appears to have been working on this for a long time, and in the process gave it a lot of thought, which shines through every note on here. Quite a cerebral release, and well worth your time in listening to.

10 Sysselmann Ritual of the Aurora Noir EP (Winter-Light)

Four tracks, yet all magnificently sweeping in their cold and frozen glory, this is a sonic study of glacial ambience at its peak of perfection (in human terms anyway). Icy landscapes and skies filled with the crystalline and sharp beauty of the stars, planets, and faint nebulae comprising the band of the Milky Way Galaxy, this lifts the listener bodily skywards and deposits us right in the midst of the polar regions of the earth. I can readily envisage lying in a glass igloo looking up at the pristine vault of the heavens whilst being cocooned in these blankets of sound, my spirit able to feel and to touch those stars, planets, and faint nebulae. Glorious and breathtaking: that’s all you need to know about this fine release.

So that’s it! I hope you like my selection, and apologies to any whose output didn’t make it here. 2019 was the year I rediscovered my love of off-the-wall and non-mainstream music, and I feel richer for having listened to just about everything I’ve been sent (and I will finally get around to reviewing the ones I received in December). If this last year was anything to go by, then 2020 should be another bumper year – buckle up!

Psymon Marshall 2019. 

MLEHST - Second Donation.

MLEHST – Second Donation – Belief Recordings – CDR, Album, Ltd – 2019.

www.mlehst.bandcamp.com

Today, 14/12/19 has been MLEHST Saturday, I have discovered the project and I am now on my Third review of MLEHST in a day. I have found MLEHST to be challenging at the lower (& higher) end of noise. An active UK project since 1991, there is a considerably large discography behind MLEHST, Second Donation is a new release on the projects own Belief Recordings.

Second Donation seems to be built up on separate long passages of noise, the first delves into the darker Ambient textures the project is known for. This creates depth and a dream like state to the work to begin, within itself this is good sound that goes on for some time.  Small explosions of sound signify that change is on the way, the sounds now have a louder level and a growl to them.

The noisier side of the project bursts through with ugly, piercing sound – the ambient sound now acts as a base for this to work on. The noise functions like a wall of whistling, high pitched screech that has drops and resonations with the deeper background adding texture. When this dies off the sound just rumbles at a lower level for a length of time, it is as if the sound is bubbling and cooking away, I like this, it is like the suffocated parts of the album, the project did with the RITA.

As this dies off, the higher pitched sounds slowly come through, as if forming more ambience – not muffled, but distant. This plays the album out until its end.

Another strong MLEHST release highlighting the different strengths of the project.

Nevis Kretini 2019.

MLEHST - More Punishment.

MLEHST – More Punishment – 2019 – Cassette/Download/CDR-DVD – Oxidation – CDROT060.

https://oxidation.bandcamp.com/
https://mlehst.bandcamp.com/

This tape by veteran UK noise project MLEHST is a 1 ½ hour tape, it comes with a whip and both are nailed to a wooden plaque. I missed out/might have avoided all the eras of noise packaging that come and go. These have included sheets of metal, concrete, bandages, logs, grinder discs, barbed wire, hospital bits and a whole assortment of goodies that are hard to store.

The album begins as an ambient atmosphere, with samples that are buried in the distance and a repetitive slow beep, as if in a hospital and listening to a life support machine, this becomes more suspenseful and warped as it moves along - the project always manages to disturb in some way or another. The pace and screwiness of the work shifts so it is lively whilst remaining subtle in its sounds. I think this is well executed low level noise that has good ambient qualities, both are tweaked well enough to complement each other. Beats enter at one point and are interrupted plenty, so they become a sound rather than a backing beat for stuff to work on; like interrupted language. More Punishment continues in this manner for the whole first side.

Static atmospheres hiss, it has a more Industrial edge as it sounds like hissing steam or a kettle, it does provide a spacious atmosphere to the sound. It reminds me of the kind of mischief early Premature Ejaculation would get up to. This slowly shifts, different sounds create the depth for periods of time, some are more disruptive than others building to low level walls of noise.  As this happens the noise becomes more noise like and raises in intensity slightly.

As the distortion rises, I’m within the wall, this is more layered than the work with The Rita that MLEHST did – it has a thicker density too. Feedback goes off in the background adding further layers and depth. This breaks down to reference the earlier noises of Side 2 yet retains enough aggression to stay with the tension that the wall built. Warbling bass noises take over, as frequencies subtly twinge in the air, like the projects Wall work, the slightest shifts in frequency have a massive effect. The use of samples is put in the background, so they become inaudible noise, but add a Sci-fi feel to the work. Distorted percussion brings the album to an end.

I think More Punishment is one of the strongest examples of low-level noise experimentation that I have ever heard. It does shift into Dark Ambient and Soundtrack territory ensuring that the depth of some of the work created is rich and dramatic. This is an amazing album.

Having thought about it, I tactfully avoided the noise packaging aspect of the scene but this is one that I am glad I caught.

Nevis Kretini 2019. 

MLEHST, The RITA - Fabric and Paint.

MLEHST, The RITA – Fabric and Paint – Belief Recordings -2019- Limited Edition CDR.

https://mlehst.bandcamp.com/

MLEHST is a UK Noise project that has been active since 1991 (there was a defunct period between 2001 and 2005), I’m interested to delve in and find out more. This album contains 3 Paint and Fabric pieces by MLEHST that are all remixed by the RITA with the middle one being Remixed by both RITA and MLEHST.

The first Fabric and Paint (1) is a fractured wall of distortion that is very cut into at first to the point where it is a broken passage sound. I return to my phrase deconstructed wall noise; this is a very extreme example of that. The cuts in the sound seem to make the noise more abrasive and hitting, as if caught in a wind tunnel with the noise movement makes. As the first Fabric and Paint progresses the sound becomes fuller and less chopped up, the distortion begins to overwhelm the cuts in sound as if allowed to breathe more.

Everything changes as silence introduces the second Fabric and Paint (intermission), it is as if we’re allowed a respite from the intensity of the first passage. Spatial Ambient sounds break the silence, rattling noise breaks the calm, it lingers and rattles for a long time reducing the ambient sounds to a backing for a long period of time until it is muffled out as if smothered out with a pillow. It refuses to die and continues, muffled and defiant even as it is cut into more, this ties it in with the first work as it is what I call a broken deconstruction of sound that dies off with silence.

All hell breaks loose for the third Fabric and Paint (2), this is a choppy, splatter wall of noise, crackly and steady. As with any wall the drops, rises – any shifts in movement are felt.  This isn’t tweaked with in any obvious manner, the overall sound seems to be melded into one overall sound rather than front and rear sounds making a layered whole/hole as a lot of walls do – this is one steady line, the MLHEST sound in full flight.

Fabric and Paint is a challenging release, it’s not an album you passively put on, engagement is required, and a solid recording is presented. I look forward to hearing the other stuff I have received as this is very difficult, confrontational and forward-thinking work.

Nevis Kretini 2019.

SPK - Zamia Lehmanni (Songs of Byzantine Flowers).

Album: Zamia Lehmanni (Songs of Byzantine Flowers)

Artist: SPK

Label: Cold Spring Records

Catalogue no: CSR274CD/LP

Tracklist:

     1.      Invocation to Secular Heresies

     2.      Palms Crossed in Sorrow

     3.      Romanz in Moll

     4.      In the Dying Moments

     5.      In Flagrante Delicto (Introduction)

     6.      In Flagrante Delicto

     7.      Alocasia Metallica

     8.      Necropolis

     9.      The Garden of Earthly Delights

   10.  The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (CD only)

SPK, along with Coil (whose album, Stolen & Contaminated Songs, has also been reissued by Cold Spring Records and which I reviewed very recently), can be considered as the wellspring of inspiration behind many projects that came to define the early to mid-period industrial music scene. This seminal album was originally released on Side Effects Records all the way back in 1985, and listening to it now it’s apparent that, as with Coil’s album, it has lost none of its grandeur and scale. This, according to the blurb, was something of a transitional period for main man Graeme Revell, in that this was a solo effort rather than a group one, and here we see the prognostications of his later soundtrack work. In spite of those signposts pointing to his future direction, however, there are still elements of the original spark which ignited it all, albeit stripped back and created to serve the specifics of the pieces in question. But, as the blurb also points out, when Revell was recording this he was of the opinion that industrial music had ossified and was going nowhere, and so in these pieces he sought to reveal the next step in the evolution of the genre – and the ubiquity of the style and its offshoots today are testament to his vision. And, it should be noted, the reissue has received the benefit of remastering and the approval of Revell himself, who also wrote the liner notes.

This could definitely be classed as a timely reissue, as it will not only introduce a new generation to Revell’s music but will also save you quite a sum of money in the process. I looked on eBay and saw that there’s an original vinyl copy for sale that, with postage, is going for over $100. Save yourself the money and pre-order this instead – even the vinyl versions on offer (see below) are cheaper and probably of better quality.

In resonance with the album’s title much of it is shot through with distinctly Eastern flavours, starting with ‘Invocation to Secular Heresies’, a fanfare of an opener that states its intentions for what follows right from the get go. The time-worn ruins of ancient Byzantium appear to rise up hauntingly, a stark reminder of what had once been a glittering jewel of a city and the centre of the known world for 1100 years. A looping, slightly distorted voice ululates and chants against a backdrop of trumpet blasts and brooding bass drones along with the massed voices of a male choir. It’s powerful and stirring stuff, to be sure, entirely apposite of the Byzantine Empire at its height, an empire that stretched from the mouth of the Black Sea and into Asia Minor and downwards through Jerusalem and thence to Egypt, even encompassing southern Spain, Italy, and Greece at its most westerly extent. It speaks of mighty armies clashing, and citizens of the glorious city of Constantinople standing proudly at the cultural and religious centre of the pre-medieval world.

‘Palms Crossed in Sorrow’ is at once full of mystery and grandeur, and yet it comes from a place deeply subterranean and cacophonous. It speaks of the greatest mystery of all – the mystery of the afterlife, and our relationship to it. This isn’t as jarring as it may appear on the surface – Constantinople later became one of the major nexuses of Christian power, eclipsing that of Rome itself for a time and was also the birthplace of Orthodox Christianity. Indeed, the listener gets a glimpse of its future pre-eminence with the inclusion of ritual singing and musical accompaniment, perhaps some species of song to say farewell the dear departed. ‘Romanz in Moll’ brings us echoes of the industrial with stark metallic percussion, but blended with sweeping chords and piano passages, wrapped up in classical phrasings. It is indeed romantic, yet whatever romance it’s meant to celebrate is bathed in darkness.

‘In the Dying Moments’ announces itself with howls and whines, before tribal drumming comes in to provide a backdrop to a stalking, menacing low bass ‘melody’ accompanied by voices. This is the intersection between life and death, that subtle shift between material being and loss of conscious being, the miasmic transition point in between the light and the dark. It’s turbulent and unsettling, giving rise to the notion that perhaps our ideas of what lies beyond this plane are completely wrong. For the duration we appear to be blanketed in obfuscation and darkness, where nothing is clearly defined and everything is elusive.

‘In Flagrante Delicto Intro’ (which means something along the lines ‘caught red-handed’) floats in on gossamer wings of sorrow made from the dust of millennia, with sustained string chords that rise and fall like all the ancient civilisations did, building and then falling away. ‘In Flagrante Delicto’ proper begins with a slow, deep bass throbbing, creating the bedrock for more mournful, dirge-like strings, but this time the atmosphere is aided by female voices singing, a subterranean operatic swelling of emotion and regret. It feels like something has been lost, that what was once something powerful and majestic has now been laid low, and is gone, never to be seen again.

‘Alocasio Metallica’ initially appears to be a complete contrast, shimmering brightly and resonantly, but if one listens carefully there’s melancholy and sorrow here too, the voice and flute belying the instrumentation. Even so, it eventually explodes into frantic drumming, almost as if it’s attempting to dispel the prevailing atmosphere, in an effort to drive away the darkness, but even that subsides into the original bell-like resonances the piece opened with. Listening to it one most definitely reached back to the ‘industrial’ of the early period, to a time when I was being exposed to new sounds and new sonic architectures. ‘Necropolis’ is next, and it prefigures the genre of dark ambient in a massive way, dark orchestral chords, sweeping planes of sound that propel a lone violin along, and it’s easy to see why this is such an aptly titled piece. One can easily imagine walking through avenues of mausolea memorialising people long gone, the heroes and the villains, all the great and good, and the ordinary unremembered masses all in one place. Yet there is dignity here too, saying that all lives are worth celebrating in however small a way.  

Lastly, for the vinyl versions anyway, is ‘The Garden of Earthly Delight’, a psychedelic tapestry of sound and colour, swirling and whirling, cacophonous and yet sweet in its own way. Creation is running riot here, with flora and fauna proliferating at an exponential rate of knots: some ideas will take hold, whilst others will fold back on themselves and disappear, finding their brief time running into a dead end.

For those who purchase the CD, you get an extra track, ‘The Doctrine of Eternal Ice’. Cold wintry blasts introduce this piece, with sharp whistles and reverberations, echoes of cracking and shattering ice, which all eventually morph into a weird beat-driven piece descriptive of vast ice-caverns and broad plains covered in nothing but snow. It appears barren, and yet there are hints that there’s life even here. It remains hidden and mostly undetected, simply as a result of its harsh environment. The thing is, though, because we can’t see what’s actually out there, our imaginations are wont to fill in the blanks, and in the process create all manner of wild and wonderful (and dangerous) creatures, all seemingly hell-bent on hunting us. The truth is probably more prosaic, but until we see with our own eyes, we will think otherwise.

I have to admit that I struggled to review this album, certainly not because I didn’t like it (quite the opposite), but simply because there’s so much going on here. Ideas and concepts tumble over each other rapidly: in the end I had to go by first impressions and flow with those. These pieces are simultaneously simple yet complex, almost like musical Mandelbrot sets: the further you delve into each piece, the more you see and the more you realise and understand. This isn’t an album one can cursorily listen to – multiple hearings are mandated here in order to fully grasp Revell’s mastery. If you need to buy only two essential albums this year, then this one alongside Coil’s Stolen & Contaminated Songs are the ones you should purchase.

Available from 11^th December in two vinyl versions: either in standard black form or in a limited edition gold version of 500. There’s also a CD in a 6-panel digipack. All versions can be purchased here:

http://coldspring.co.uk/discography/csr274cdlp/

Psymon Marshall 2019.

RUSALKA – Base Waters.

RUSALKA – Base Waters – Album/Download – Absurd Exposition – 2019 – Absurd Exposition AE34

https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/album/base-waters

http://www.rusalka.org/

RUSALKA, is the Vancouver Canada based project of Kate Rissiek and has been active since 2007.

The album’s first track Sinking Blood Deep begins with a massive, deep distortion that has noise going off over the top of it. The intensity of the distortion is impressive; even on its own. The sounds on top seem to repeat themselves for a period until the main distortion seems to explode and take prominence and shift. It is as if the sound destroys itself in order to move on, in some ways this organic process occurs throughout the album.

I have frequently spoken about Noise Wall a lot on this blog and keep going to the term ‘Deconstructed Noise Wall’, this track in parts has those features, in that it builds up to thick density whilst allowing individual elements to still have clarity. This then leads to the breakdowns that allow minimal elements to thrive for periods of time to play off each other until the work builds up again. There are cycles like this continually woven into the work.

Water flows and splashes to Reflection Underneath Waves until it is eclipsed by what I would call strained humming that dominates like the mass of distortion did on Sinking Blood. As the drones strain to their breaking point and begin to distort the drama is high, only to be added to as hissing noise plays over this. Reflection rises in intensity gradually and confidently, sometimes the tracks sonic language is very minimal. Shifts and interruptions play with the listener as if to keep your attention focussed – the work is in control of you.

Cutty noise that takes the form of broken high frequencies and chopped distortion begins to lead the work midway through the second track as if forming a more violent passage of sound that builds and ends for the water to return and bring an end to the album.

I don’t see this as a continual session, there seem to be individual passages of noise worked into each other to form the bigger picture of each track. This has been very well thought out and conceptualised, it ties in very well with the water ties to the character of Rusalka. The deep emotion shifts and with the rapid changes in sound and delivery, nothing stays still for too long -this is an amazing album.

I was meant to see this project with MK9 and ANTIchildLEAGUE, sadly the show got cancelled. The slightest thought on what the show might have been like just blows my mind away. I have discovered several what I would call outstanding ‘Alpha Female’ noise projects this year, this is one is as great example of that – thanks for this Noise Karma, I am very grateful for this day.  

Nevis Kretini 2019. 

The RITA - Linked Arms and Touching Torsos.

The RITA – Linked Arms and Touching Torsos – Obsessive Fundamental Realism – OFR CD-07 – 2019

A section of Classical music serves as an intro to Linked Arms and Touching Torsos, it brings the listener to the Ballet, you’ve arrived, and you are ready. The ballet is now a regular them in the recordings of the Rita. I’ve gone into the Walls of Vomir, Dagger HOMExINVASION and the deconstructed walls that pepper the discography of Inner Demons Records, but now I am in The Rita’s territory. Let the wall begin.

I find this (wall) movement fascinating; I know shit about who first did what and where it came from, I’ve asked and I’ve read up, but it would be a scattered inaccurate history from me. I’ve learned to submit to the wall, let it do its work so it can unravel and reveal itself. You go in, listen and pay attention.

Cut is the first sonic fact that is apparent, over the roar of the distortion a sharper distortion is chopped and cut into as hum and hiss are thrown around too. The sharper noise that is jagged into forms a lead sound, backed by the deep roar as if both converse between themselves. This functions like lead and backing, yet both communicate constantly as if in the throes of a violent symphony. 

The level of cut is altered throughout the single piece and has a great impact on the sound, changing it and morphing it throughout. The intensity and drama that appears is intense as the frequency of cut is amplified by sharper sound as if screaming over the wall. When the deeper roar of distortion increases, this intensifies the sound immensely. The shift and change in the work are constant continually referencing itself as the two key sounds change prominence.

Does the music of Ballet go off in the background, is it screened during the making or somehow influence the movement of the work? Is the sharp noise backed by the roar of the wall the amplification of the self and the obsession into an amalgamation of the two into a bigger form presented on this album? I will never know.

As this album ends, it takes a while to regain my bearings. I like this.

Nevis Kretini 2019.