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Friday 9 August 2019

Kloob - Unpredictable Signs


Artist:  Kloob
Label: Winter-Light
Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:
     1.      Unreachable Realms
     2.      Deep Introspection
     3.      Unique Sights
     4.      Ancient Resonances
     5.      Insondable
     6.      Full Immersion
     7.      Vulnerability Source
     8.      Endless Motion


Another Bandcamp raid conducted under the cover of darkness last night, and I came away with some glistening gems, such as this one by Dani Kloob. On the one hand the eight pieces here, seen as a whole, can be likened to the breath of the universe, or God, or God(s), an all-pervasive suffusion of gracious energy binding all together. On the other hand, there’s also a certain species of dark edginess apparent, a kind of nervous energy threatening to upset the delicate balance: superficially, everything is always as it has been but, dig a little deeper, and there are signs of a malignancy blackening and metastasising. For now, though, the body of reality continues to function, but the signs of disturbance are there for those who know where to look.

Kloob stamps his credentials on the opening ‘Unreachable Realms’, an airy, gliding meander around the far distant spheres of the unknown and unknowable universe. It sails along majestically, swooping and soaring, borne upon the winds of a low drone. ‘Deep Introspection’ is all about the inner spaces, the vast chasms between thought and perception, between understanding and action. The distances inside are as vast as those between the stars and galaxies, and knowing ourselves is just as difficult a task as it is to fully grasp the workings of the outer cosmos. Cavernous raspings and exhalations echo endlessly, sourceless and indecipherable, eluding our intellectual grasp.

Sweeping rumbles fly in on Eastern winds on ‘Unique Sights’, a layered mirage of phantasms and bejewelled cities seen only at unreachable distances. The winds venture to carry us to the fabled sights of the Orient, however their glittering lights always remain just out of reach. Perhaps ‘Ancient Resonances’ is that storied and alluring past, full of myth and legend in which those bright metropolises were built, now reaching out to us from across the ages. But it’s a double-edged sword: it is exotic, yes, but also full of danger, bright but also very murky. The light of understanding is dim, only showing the highlights and deepening the shadows to occult whatever lurks there. Indistinct mumblings can sometimes be detected, voices of lives lived to the full but now forgotten.

A solitary drone wafts in and out of hearing, accompanied by a cold, deep blast of frigid air that searches out and finds every single nook and cranny in your protection to gain access. Vision is obscured, the shapes filling your sight dancing and shifting in incomprehensible movements, both subtly enticing and thrillingly alarming. This is ‘Insondable’, a French word meaning unfathomable, an apt description of the shifting perceptions and fleeting glimpses afforded our eyes. ‘Full Immersion’ invites us to submerge below the threshold of maya, the illusory world, and enter into a quantum realm where, perhaps, what we witness is the actual reality of material existence, and that the one we experience normally is only an invented paradigm tailored specifically to our perceptual understanding and capacities. Dream selves, shadows, phantasms, creative explosions of fantastical energies, glimpses of parallel dimensions, alternative pasts, presents, and futures, all collide in one huge detonation, the results hurling themselves at the inner cinema screen of our minds, enchanting and frightening simultaneously.

‘Vulnerable Source’ hovers on the edge of fragility, an icicle in sunlight, a gossamer web gently bending with every breeze until that wind gathers strength and snaps the threads. And then, somehow, we find ourselves floating in the seas of the rarest aethers once more in ‘Endless Motion’, the airy orbits whose shores we only glimpsed in ‘Unreachable Realms’. Those lands are still unreachable, but they’re now clearer, if only a little bit so.

Kloob’s minimalistic approach works to his advantage here – spare layering of sounds, solid foundations of susurrating washes, interspersed with pinpoints of contrasting colours, counterpoints, and subtle highlights. It’s an album that’s both indicative of something just beyond our reach, a diffuse firmament to strive towards, and also, underlying that, the knowledge that beneath the dreamlands lie aspects of life and reality which are sometimes best left undisturbed, but nevertheless should be acknowledged. I was both elevated and sent flying amongst the celestial bodies, and likewise also submerged beneath the murk and silt-laden swamp waters. Mark this as a veritable contrast of moods, backed by sensitive compositional nuances, making this a set worth your time investing in.

And just look at that cover – fantastical and magnificent, reminding me of Kris Kuksi’s sculptures.

Pstmon Marshall 2019

Live Review - Satori / Tunnels of Ah / Colossloth – 08/08/19 Centrala Space, Digbeth, Birmingham


Satori / Tunnels of Āh / Colossloth – 08/08/19 Centrala Space, Digbeth, Birmingham


Going back to Birmingham, particularly Digbeth is an intense thing, Digbeth is like a mythical, other worldly No-man’s land within Birmingham. To see such huge, empty, abandoned buildings covered in spray artwork is something. The drive was long, but I was thrilled to finally be there. When I found Centrala Space, it was a small, gorgeous Arts Café that does events and exhibitions; I had some great coffees there and got talking to people. This was friendly, relaxed with people just there for the noise, it was the Birmingham I knew and loved.



Inside Centrala Space.

The first act on was Colossloth which is the project of Wooly Woolaston, who has been active as Colossloth since 2006. His set started off with deep drones with what I’d call an electronica feel as harmonies were woven into the texture of the sound. Things would build with massive rumbling drones, harmonic distortion and then erupt for periods of time. This would happen in different ways that utilised drones, sharp noise, waves of distortion and harmony, his set really contrasted beauty and rawness with a very impressive, forward thinking attitude. The atmosphere in the work was so well manipulated that there couldn’t have been a stronger opener, the bar was set high already.



I’ll confess, I didn’t know what to expect with Tunnels of Āh, I’ve reviewed and really got into Stephen Burroughs work as Frag and Comicide, but I was holding off on Tunnels until I bought the albums. So, I was going in blind, I like to do this as you get a good gauge straight away. There were a bunch of technical difficulties at first as the PA had blown or gone during Colossloth’s set; a new one had to be set up, so there was a new PA, loads of wires, new speakers and a big amp. The sound then kept cutting out until it was finally set up and working, the bits of noise made until it cut out were good, very different. I don’t know if this changed what it would normally be like, but once all this was fixed, it was like an older type noise gig with wires and amps everywhere and a massive Cacophony took off. Massive horn like, distorted drones took blasted at a massive volume. The sound functioned like Wall noise, but had an esoteric, shifting movement that morphed and changed constantly. There was an ancient/old feel to the sound, as if connected to times long past. Tunnel’s sound seemed to constantly grow and get louder as if in permanent cycle of growth until the set stopped. I can see how the sound grew from the early 80s roots of Comicide and I want those four albums for sure.



Satori I knew even less about, I believe there were line-up changes over the decades and the project stretches right back to the mid- 80s and was on the Broken Flag label. Satori’s show had a backing film, compromised of striking images of war, genocide, torture, surgery, decay and explosions that was a powerful backdrop. Satori used vocals, they could have been louder, but there was PA issues and it was a great to see some shouting which made for an intense physical performance. The use of noise was loud, as Power Electronics it shifted regularly between subtle to extreme. The sound was distorted and at times cold and clinical. I didn’t take notes during Satori’s set, I was really pulled into it and found myself immersed. I also bought a CD and found it had a similar effect. There is something ‘other’ about Satori, a depth or distance that gets very vast as you fall into it.




This was a great show, it was three very different artists combining to make a great night with strong performances.

Choppy Noodles 2019.

Anemone Tube, Jarl & Monocube - The Hunters in the Snow – A Contemplation on Pieter Breugel’s Series of the Seasons.


Artist: Anemone Tube, Jarl & Monocube
Label: Aufabwegen
Catalogue no: aatp65

Tracklist:
     1.      Anemone Tube & Jarl – The Gloomy Day
     2.      Jarl & Anemone Tube – The Hay Harvest
     3.      Anemone Tube & Monocube – The Harvesters
     4.      Anemone Tube – The Return of the Herd
     5.      Jarl & Monocube & Anemone Tube – The Hunters in the Snow


Let’s be honest – it’s quite a brave move to base a work around a very famous set of paintings, but then Pieter Breugel the Elder (c. 1525-1530 – 9th September 1569) was a very singular artist in his day. His work often depicted the everyday lives of ordinary people and his series documenting the seasons from early spring to winter in five (originally six) canvases show peasants going about their daily lives, in a way that we’ve lost touch with in our post-mechanisation world. Over the course of more than five years Anemone Tube, Jarl, and Monocube crafted a distinct set of pieces, each reflecting the gradual progress of the seasons.

Spring is a time of renewal, a harbinger of better things to come, of brighter, warmer, and longer days. However, in early spring, winter is still dragging its heels, unwilling to let go completely until it has no choice, and in our first track (and painting), ‘The Gloomy Day’ (Anemone Tube & Jarl) (early spring), the coldest season loiters around still, a dark promise that it will return. Scintillating droplets of tinkling bells gently fall like miniature stars from a cloud-laden sky, coming to an ephemeral rest on ground that is already bursting with potential and new life, signalling that spring will not be denied its allotted time. It’s also a message to everything and everyone, quickening pulses and gladdening hearts.

Life wakes and scrabbles for light in the next in the series, Jarl & Anemone Tube’s ‘The Hay Harvest’ (early summer). Soft burbling bubbles up from below to break the crusty surface, its echoes reaching far and wide like a propagating wave, alerting other dormant life, including that of humans, to shake off winter’s grip, and to ride upon the warmer rays of the sun and to rejoice in the first signs of the new green shoots. It’s a shimmering hallelujah, a surge of renewed energy, and a dance of joy.

Anemone Tube & Monocube bring us the report from late summer, ‘The Harvesters’: summer is nearly reaching its apotheosis, and its bounties will soon be ready to drop or be reaped. This is the time when Mother Earth is at her finest, in spite of nurturing the next generation, but there’s a hint that this stage will be brief – autumn is approaching, the winds get colder and sharper. A wave lapping upon a shore and an inhaling and exhaling buzzing wafts upon drones and whispering winds, a prompt reminding us that already the transformation has begun. Cold whistles and whines swirl and roil, bringing with them the aromas of the new season just around the corner. And then, before one knows it, autumn has arrived, and ‘The Return of the Herd’ (a solo effort by Anemone Tube) announces its ascendance in crashing waves, keening fanfares, and mournful washes. The world changes quickly now, heading towards the time of the Great Sleep, and the pulse of life slows and nature sheds her fineries.

‘The Hunters in the Snow’, a collaborative work between all three artists, crashes in with a sense of urgency thrilling through its densely droning pulsations. It’s the leanest of the four seasons, when resources are scarce and nature can be harsh and unyielding. It’s a confrontation between nature’s reticence, and necessity and survival. This isn’t a season suited for the weak, but it’s also a season where its lack of abundance pushes the instincts of the individual and the community alike. In spite of the bleak prognosis, passages of string-like chords hint that it’s possible to not only survive but flourish despite inclemency. And it’s in the second half of the track (the longest one on the album) that there’s the promise of renewal, when the life-giving warmth of the sun will come once again, and Mother Nature will wake up and bestow her plenitude upon us once more.

This is a collection of compositions inviting us to meditate on the vitality of each of the seasons, to feel the changes as one morphs into the one following, and to perhaps match the beats of the earth’s pulse as we live through each one. In some ways it’s asking us to return to a time when the seasons ruled our daily lives, when we noticed their rhythms much more keenly and thereby appreciated them more. The Hunters in the Snow is a finely tuned album which, oddly, I think should be played on a cold winter’s evening in front of a roaring fire.

Available as a limited edition CD of 333 copies in 8-panel digifile with embossed cover printed on high quality natural paper, accompanied by a booklet which includes an essay on Pieter Breugel’s landscapes by Sven Schlijper-Karassenberg and Kim Dohlich, as well as a poem by Jean Gebser. 

Purchase at the link below:

Psymon Marshall 2019. 

Murderous Vision - Abscission


Album: Abscission
Catalogue no: N/A

Tracklist:

     1.      Breaking the Bonds of Light
     2.      Echoed Voice
     3.      Autumn Black
     4.      Open the Night Sky



Murderous Vision (aka Stephen Petrus) has been around for 25 years, in which the project has released approaching a dozen albums as well as myriad contributions to compilations for various labels including Petrus’ own Live Bait Recording Foundation. Abscission (the shedding of various parts of an organism) is MV’s latest production, appearing on Derek Rush’s Chthonic Streams label in a very limited edition of 50 cassettes with full-colour double-sided inlay card.

The opening track, ‘Breaking the Bonds of Light’, breathes into being quietly and gently, a susurrating whisper breezing through a forest in the autumn as leaves fall almost soundlessly to create a rust-coloured carpet. Steadily, the tempo increases presaging the metamorphosis into winter, the time when nature’s activities cease and descend into hibernation. The irony here, of course, is that the beauty we so ardently admire is actually a signal of death, a cycle the repeats endlessly as seasons come and go. ‘Echoed Voice’, by contrast, pulses and throbs rhythmically, interrupted only by a slightly distorted voice narrating over a clangorous resonance. This is just a prelude to a martial percussive beat seguing in accompanied by seismic drones and throaty voices, emerging as from some deep subterrestrial chasm. This is the earth speaking, perhaps to tell us something if only we could understand its language.

‘Autumn Black’ is also speaking from the earth, but this time from the upper realms of mountains and plateaux. A whistling lament, upheld by a simple rhythm and a cold filmic blanket of sighing and exhalations, whirls and swirls on secret currents and updrafts, propelling us where it wills. On the other hand ‘Open the Night Sky’ is a mechanical beast, pulsating and nauseous, full of fire and brimstone, brooding, menacing, threatening, all-conquering, spitting venomous words like explosions of hot lava. These are the poisonous breaths of Shiva, the Destroyer, eliminating evil and its suppurating wounds. It is, perhaps, a warning and a prognostication, a slight lifting of the veil of fate.

These four tracks deserve a wider audience – this is noise and death ambient/industrial at its most refined. Its lack of bombast allows it to seep into the consciousness surreptitiously, boring into it where it will either germinate and/or fester. Crunch and teeth-grinding whine has its place, but sometimes dialling back the levels is far more effective. Murderous Vision has honed the technique to brilliant effect here: investigating more of Petrus’ output is definitely on my to-do list.

Psymon Marshall 2019