Sunn O))) - Candlewolf Of The Golden Chalice (The Peel Session) EP [2004]

Okay, so Sunn O))) might have been hipster fodder a couple of years back and are therefore now universally hated by anyone who hates things without understanding them (90% of the human population), but they do produce some seriously unnerving music. This is their famous session with the late, great, BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. It is worth a listen just to hear Peel's introduction to the music (there is a lot about toilets in it). But the main event, the 19 minute drone of the title track, is great as well. The ambience of said drone and the low end like some form of sonic behemoth combine to create music more unnerving than any ever used in horror films. Best listened to in a dark room, although Court In The Act is not responsible for any nightmares it may cause.

192 kbps

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REVIEW (with download): Wreck And Reference - Black Cassette [2011]

Due to technology, this EP (released on cassette – hence the name – through Music Ruins Lives) has been sitting in my inbox unnoticed for several months. For that, I apologize. From the name of the band, one might guess that they played post-something, and you’d be sort of right – the influence which jumps out instantly to me is Jesu, in the shimmering semi-industrial shoegazey sense. Jesu are always better on EPs due to their albums becoming boring over their full duration, and I suppose this is the same.

                                 

The aforementioned elements create quite a haunting ambient effect – but despite wholly miserable lyrics, the music is uplifting to some degree; consider the musical form of being haunted by a nice ghost who sings melodically rather than attempting to scare people. However, at times the raw production makes it somewhat difficult to discern individual melodies, particularly when notes used are chromatically close to each other. Although this rawness gives a warm feeling – like that of an LP – overall it probably strays far enough to slightly detract from the music. That said, it’s a cassette release, and therefore one should not expect outstanding production.

A point of particular similarity with Jesu in particular as opposed to many other practitioners of this kind of music is the choice to use something roughly resembling popular structure (verse-chorus-verse or variations thereon), particularly on the pleasing opener ‘All The Ships Have Been Abandoned’. The vocal approach, however, which is integral to the quality of the music, as many of the instrumental patterns are a little uninspired, is more similar to that utilised by SubRosa (although from my guess the vocalist here is male). Unfortunately, for the most part they sound a little frail – and in a way that is more weak than ‘woe is me’, something which is particularly evident when they are brought to the forefront of the music by quieter instrumentation.

Speaking of the instrumentation, the email from the band, as well as the label’s website, informed me that no guitars were used in the creation of this, which they are still calling ‘rock music’ (a tag that I would loosely agree with). To be honest, I really don’t see the point in bringing this to our attention. The timbre of one of the instruments used (presumably one of the synthesisers mentioned) sounds so much like an electric guitar (a matter that the mucky production aids little to clear up) that it may as well be one. I’m not criticizing the use of alternate instruments, more so the particular highlighting of this factor which has so little effect it ultimately amounts to little more than a gimmick.

An unusual, but effective, use is made of the juxtaposition of what, at the end of the day, is inherently catchy music (although one would struggle to call any of the motifs and melodies used strictly ‘poppy’, they lean that way at times) with industrial (we’re talking Throbbing Gristle, not Combichrist here) and noise elements in middle eight sections. This blends smoothly rather than clashes awkwardly as one would expect – a true success on their behalf, and something that’s not really been done before (no, Merzbeat doesn’t count).

There is a fine line to be trod between suffocating emotion and tedium in music, and Wreck And Reference manage to trample haphazardly on both sides of that line with roughly equal proportion. Where their style works, it moves towards ‘stunning’, but there are simply too many sections of the EP where I’m looking at the second hand on the clock to justify too much positivity about the good parts. The same feeling comes from some of the odd diversions they go on in the EP – they’re of decidedly mixed quality, and some leave a jarring effect and hamper the continuity of the individual piece or the EP as a whole.

A good last track on a release is probably more conducive to wishes to listen to it again than any other track – that last impression is a lasting one, and fortunately the closer here, ‘A Lament’, is the standout track. The drones and synths bring a shimmering quality to it, and the vocals come across as sufficiently strained to introduce some real heart-ripping emotion to it. This may be so, but many other sections of the EP go through the mind as though it were a sieve, and although this EP shows promise, and future Wreck And Reference releases could be something indeed, to those with a busy listening schedule it’s definitely one that can be passed on with no harm done.

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Bohren und der Club of Gore - Gore Motel [1994]

Bohren und der Club of Gore are a respected jazz/drone band or has some people call it doom jazz, with dark ambient and doom metal influences, hope that's enough to tickle your curiosity.

This album is played by a quartet composed by a bassist, a drummer, a keyboardist/vibraphonist and a guitarist, the last one was replaced by a sax player in the albums following the next one and the next one features a far more ambient side that was also carried in later, anyways this is a rhythmic, minimalistic, and odd blend of sounds with a dark metallic atmosphere.

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Moss/Wolfmangler - Protected By The Ejaculation Of Wolves split [2005]

N.B. The artwork here is either side, one on top of the other.

So. You say you like extreme music. So. You say you like music which has extremities in pace, either fast or slow. This is a test of that. Moss' side is perhaps a little more conventional, with one droney doom track and one track of noise (which is the best track of the split). Wolfmangler, on the other hand, are another band who have very divisive opinions formed on them across the whole scene. They play a form of drone/funeral doom that's quite unusual, in that it's nearly entirely acoustic. Naturally (no pun intended), this has people who love it (like myself), and those who think it's just gimmicky bollocks. It has my seal of approval.

128 kbps

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Sunn O))) & Boris - Altar [2006]

This collaboration album from 2006 is, to my mind, Sunn O)))'s best work, and one could probably say the same for Boris. The album features just over 50 minutes of relaxing, and at times blissful drone.

~185 kbps VBR

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Jesu - Silver EP [2006]

Justin Broadrick. The man just about defines 'eclectic'. This is his drone/shoegaze project Jesu, which, as usual for Broadrick, manages to sound like nothing produced in any of the above genres. This release is short, being an EP, and actually somewhat poppy, with some vocal moments that almost remind of the pop-punk of Blink 182 (but not to too great an extent). A very good EP, and a perfect introduction to the music of Jesu.

192 kbps

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Sunn O))) - Black One [2005]

Sunn O))) are one of those bands that are more commonly loved or hated than people being indifferent to. I will say, I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy them, but when I do, I enjoy it one hell of a lot. Aside from the collab with Boris, this is probably my favourite work of theirs. Great stuff.

320 kbps

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REVIEW: Médiocre Fin - Acte Premier demo [2011]

N.B. This is the first submission we have received - to see a similar treatment for your own music, look to the right.

Médiocre Fin is a French project which creates an interesting mixture of drone and noise – the drone part being the repetition, and the noise part being the way in which musical ideas are expressed. This, to my knowledge, is one of only two demos released thus far, but its quality has certainly piqued my interest, and I shall be hugely interested in future releases (if I've understood correctly, they have a concept album based around a magical village called Thiers coming).

Despite this, I must admit I was a little apprehensive upon learning that this demo consisted of one 23-minute track – when done poorly, long drone pieces can be frankly nauseating, and not in a good way. Thankfully, this was not the case. Although the main motif around which the piece is based is, by definition, monotonous, it is created in such a way that it has a hypnotic quality to it rather than one which is boredom-inducing, much like the way that the repetition of riffs in Burzum’s music is endearing, rather than annoying.

Throughout the duration, said motif changes subtly from time to time, and although it is still obvious as the track approaches its midway mark to hear that it is the same piece – mainly due to the general styles employed – this motif has changed substantially, although the piece culminates with a full circle to something very similar to the original motif (which happens to sound surprisingly like modern iterations of Doctor Who’s tardis). These changes give a progressive feeling to the piece – not, however, progressive like the pretentious frolics of Genesis and their ilk.

Swirling around this, creating a veritable maelstrom of… well, noise, are simplistic bass frequencies and the odd bit of feedback – the only real melody to be found in the piece is a subtle one found within these bass frequencies. This melody is slow moving, and at times difficult to pick out, certainly without concentration, but its chromatic approach is similar to the way that Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, has approached digital noise in the past, although, being done in a drone style, is far less percussive than the ways of the Japanese genius. This is not to the detriment of the music; it is merely different, and variation is everything within the noise genre which has become so saturated with the proliferation of the internet.

Indeed, the only percussive element to be found in the piece comes from the motif, which easily blends into either the background or the foreground over time like the ticking of a clock, as the bass takes on a ‘wall of sound’ attribute, and is omnipresent without ever being overly relentless – the oppressive, claustrophobic nature that already exists in the demo might overwhelm the listener if the bass were to become any more pronounced.

The demo is not without its flaws – it would be a spectacular achievement if it were – for one, the whole thing is far too quietly produced; although this might be easily fixed by fiddling with a few dials, it would be far more pleasing if the thing were roughly at the volume of a normal recording. That said, it is best heard, I have found, at a moderate level, to allow the expansive soundscapes to wash over you.

Speaking of the soundscapes, however, the almost euphoric, dreamlike existence which can be afforded to the listener at times during the piece is frequently broken by transitions which are all too awkwardly done – there is actually a break in the sound at around 13:30, which certainly serves as an unwanted wakeup call. Although this breaks the monotony, to me, the point of listening to drone is to allow the music to carry you through dreams and pictures painted by the dynamics (however gruesome those pictures may be), and the hoppy movement between sections, particularly across larger changes in the motif, is akin to being woken up from a pleasant dream with a bucket of cold water and a slap across the face.

Thankfully, these two are the only major problems, and together do not detract too much from the overall quality of the piece. If you would like to be transported to another world for 23 minutes (including the starting silence to crescendo and ending diminuendo, back to silence – a nice roundabout touch), then you can certainly do far worse than this. A well-constructed effort, and I look forward to listening to their second demo, somewhat predictably titled Acte Second.

Download here (Mediafire).

Check out their official blogspot here (written in French).