Friday, July 21, 2006
charlie draheim
possession 12"
[2006, tone filth]
while detroit, michigan's charlie draheim (for proper pronunciation, think 'graham') isn't a household name in noise yet, he's quickly becoming someone that we should keep an eye on. i
saw him perform live last month with hive mind and sixes, and his set was pretty damn impressive. super harsh, screamy and aggressive, just the way it should be. draheim was..or maybe still is, a roommate of greh's (hive mind), so you can be sure that he came up around the right people.
the first exposure i had to charlie's music came by way of his business card cd-r the butcher. it was five minutes of unrelenting harsh noise, needless to say, i liked it quite a bit. possession though, has him branching out his sound a bit more by incorporating other sonic elements and building off of layers. side a most betrays whatever preconceived notions that i had regarding charlie's style. after starting out with a loud blast of noise, things quickly calm down. what's left is a crawling background noise, and what sounds like dripping water. the two together give the track a thunderstorm-like property. those main elements are joined by a high-pitched whining noise and that makes up the track's constant sound. there's various other noises that come and go, all of which are heavily reverbed, creating a nice echoed effect that really works well in the context of everything else that's going on. the last three minutes of the side switches gears to more familiar territory, rumbing static noise for the remainder. side b has yet another feel to it. it's definitely noisier than the a side. the greater part of this piece's running time consists of a noise that sounds a bit like metal on metal scraping (it isn't), or maybe even the sound of someone shaking the hell out of a piece of sheet metal. there's also a subtle layer of repetitious sound in the background that i actually found myself focusing more on, kind of losing myself in it. with around four minutes left to the side, things take a turn towards the more chaotic. the sheet metal noise is intensified and closer together, there's also another background layer added, which is charlie screaming, and that's the note that the album ends on.
summed up, this is a record, and artist, that i'd recommend if you're into noisier sounds. nothing too harsh this time around, but it does get noisy at times.
Side A Excerpt (from 2:02 to 6:40)
[2006, tone filth]
while detroit, michigan's charlie draheim (for proper pronunciation, think 'graham') isn't a household name in noise yet, he's quickly becoming someone that we should keep an eye on. i
saw him perform live last month with hive mind and sixes, and his set was pretty damn impressive. super harsh, screamy and aggressive, just the way it should be. draheim was..or maybe still is, a roommate of greh's (hive mind), so you can be sure that he came up around the right people.the first exposure i had to charlie's music came by way of his business card cd-r the butcher. it was five minutes of unrelenting harsh noise, needless to say, i liked it quite a bit. possession though, has him branching out his sound a bit more by incorporating other sonic elements and building off of layers. side a most betrays whatever preconceived notions that i had regarding charlie's style. after starting out with a loud blast of noise, things quickly calm down. what's left is a crawling background noise, and what sounds like dripping water. the two together give the track a thunderstorm-like property. those main elements are joined by a high-pitched whining noise and that makes up the track's constant sound. there's various other noises that come and go, all of which are heavily reverbed, creating a nice echoed effect that really works well in the context of everything else that's going on. the last three minutes of the side switches gears to more familiar territory, rumbing static noise for the remainder. side b has yet another feel to it. it's definitely noisier than the a side. the greater part of this piece's running time consists of a noise that sounds a bit like metal on metal scraping (it isn't), or maybe even the sound of someone shaking the hell out of a piece of sheet metal. there's also a subtle layer of repetitious sound in the background that i actually found myself focusing more on, kind of losing myself in it. with around four minutes left to the side, things take a turn towards the more chaotic. the sheet metal noise is intensified and closer together, there's also another background layer added, which is charlie screaming, and that's the note that the album ends on.
summed up, this is a record, and artist, that i'd recommend if you're into noisier sounds. nothing too harsh this time around, but it does get noisy at times.Side A Excerpt (from 2:02 to 6:40)
Thursday, July 20, 2006
astral social club
astral social club #8
[2006, self-released]
leeds, uk, vibracathedral orchestra member neil campbell comprises astral social club, which, judging by the picture, takes it's name from an actual club. that name is pretty
appropriate considering the heavenly feel to the music that's being made. said music is a bit of a departure from neil's day job. asc drops the folkier leanings and really seems like an excuse for mr. campbell to get his bliss on.
astral social club #8 is the eighth album neil's put out under this name, and it's not really that different from the recordings that he's released under his own name. i'd have to say that the key differences are that his other solo albums, while drone-based for the most part, are a bit more, um, experimentally inclined, while these recordings go more for the warmer electronic tones and guitar drone.
the album opens up with that aforementioned warm feel with drones in the background and plenty of layers of various electronic sounds. the track does get a bit louder with some affected guitar noise about four minutes in, but it doesn't lose it's ethereal feel. track three is the real oddity on here. it's got a beat to it that's actually pretty damn catchy, and dare I say, danceable? sure, why not. the remainder of the album spends its time balancing warm drones with an electronic minimalism, making for a very pleasant listen.
honestly, outside of just making people aware that this is a neil campbell related project, i don't think that i need to add a whole lot more. neil's definitely one of the more prominent figures in the experimental music scene. he's collaborated with phil todd (ashtray navigations), campbell kneale (birchville cat motel), dylan nyoukis (decaer penga), former vibracathedral orchestra member julian bradley and smell & quim, amongst a host of others, i'm sure. a project like this one can only further positively build upon his impressive musical resume.
Untitled Track One Excerpt (from 3:37 to 9:24)
[2006, self-released]
leeds, uk, vibracathedral orchestra member neil campbell comprises astral social club, which, judging by the picture, takes it's name from an actual club. that name is pretty
appropriate considering the heavenly feel to the music that's being made. said music is a bit of a departure from neil's day job. asc drops the folkier leanings and really seems like an excuse for mr. campbell to get his bliss on.astral social club #8 is the eighth album neil's put out under this name, and it's not really that different from the recordings that he's released under his own name. i'd have to say that the key differences are that his other solo albums, while drone-based for the most part, are a bit more, um, experimentally inclined, while these recordings go more for the warmer electronic tones and guitar drone.
the album opens up with that aforementioned warm feel with drones in the background and plenty of layers of various electronic sounds. the track does get a bit louder with some affected guitar noise about four minutes in, but it doesn't lose it's ethereal feel. track three is the real oddity on here. it's got a beat to it that's actually pretty damn catchy, and dare I say, danceable? sure, why not. the remainder of the album spends its time balancing warm drones with an electronic minimalism, making for a very pleasant listen.
honestly, outside of just making people aware that this is a neil campbell related project, i don't think that i need to add a whole lot more. neil's definitely one of the more prominent figures in the experimental music scene. he's collaborated with phil todd (ashtray navigations), campbell kneale (birchville cat motel), dylan nyoukis (decaer penga), former vibracathedral orchestra member julian bradley and smell & quim, amongst a host of others, i'm sure. a project like this one can only further positively build upon his impressive musical resume.
Untitled Track One Excerpt (from 3:37 to 9:24)
sick llama
blue syrup dreams
[2006, fag tapes]
michigan's heath moerland is the man behind the sick llama project. in addition to running his own fag tapes record label, he plays clarinet in the improv jam group, odd clouds, collaborates with aaron dilloway under the name of the odd couple...and is probably in a slew of other projects.
blue syrup dreams is one of several releases this year by heath. i'd file this one under experimental electronics. with it's prevailing hum/droning sound, it's fairly removed from most of the offerings from the noise community. the first untitled track starts things off with a constant electronic humming noise coupled with a sort of muted rumbling static distortion, both sounds occur quite often during the near fifty-four minutes of blue syrup dreams. the latter part of the opener, keeps those same sounds but adds (what originally i thought was a saxophone) an amplified clarinet. it provides a nice change up, but it's the only track on here that it's used on. track four, which was taken from a live performance, is probably my favorite on here. it starts off very minimally with a whining drone sound. while heath eventually adds a few more elements as the piece progresses, it maintains this very zoned out, droney vibe, and this minimalist approach works out well.
the five tracks on this album are pretty grounded in a bit of a minimalist feel, but if you're familiar with sick llama's work, you really know what you're getting into. if you're unfamiliar, it's not-so-noisy sound might make it more of an appealing listen. while heath's discography is quickly growing, blue syrup dreams might just be one of the better entry points if you haven't listened to him before. all of the tracks, while having a similiar feel to them, do have a good deal of variation, which is something that a lot of his other albums don't really seem to have.
Untitled Track Three Excerpt (from 3:30 to 7:38)
[2006, fag tapes]
michigan's heath moerland is the man behind the sick llama project. in addition to running his own fag tapes record label, he plays clarinet in the improv jam group, odd clouds, collaborates with aaron dilloway under the name of the odd couple...and is probably in a slew of other projects.
blue syrup dreams is one of several releases this year by heath. i'd file this one under experimental electronics. with it's prevailing hum/droning sound, it's fairly removed from most of the offerings from the noise community. the first untitled track starts things off with a constant electronic humming noise coupled with a sort of muted rumbling static distortion, both sounds occur quite often during the near fifty-four minutes of blue syrup dreams. the latter part of the opener, keeps those same sounds but adds (what originally i thought was a saxophone) an amplified clarinet. it provides a nice change up, but it's the only track on here that it's used on. track four, which was taken from a live performance, is probably my favorite on here. it starts off very minimally with a whining drone sound. while heath eventually adds a few more elements as the piece progresses, it maintains this very zoned out, droney vibe, and this minimalist approach works out well.
the five tracks on this album are pretty grounded in a bit of a minimalist feel, but if you're familiar with sick llama's work, you really know what you're getting into. if you're unfamiliar, it's not-so-noisy sound might make it more of an appealing listen. while heath's discography is quickly growing, blue syrup dreams might just be one of the better entry points if you haven't listened to him before. all of the tracks, while having a similiar feel to them, do have a good deal of variation, which is something that a lot of his other albums don't really seem to have.
Untitled Track Three Excerpt (from 3:30 to 7:38)