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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
