ambient / drone

Anarchist Mountain is a mountain in British Columbia, Canada, near the United States border with Washington state. On the other hand, Anarchist Mountains is Jordan Christoff and Stefan Christoff. The two brothers are originally from Macedonia but living in Canada. Glad the internet exists because gathering info about these two ambient artists was not an easy job. The modest duo is also involved with several other music projects and visual artists.

Macedonians starts with Organ, a twenty-five minute long ambient soundscape based on looping organ-like sounds. The sound waves take you away from civilization into the wild with its filmic mood. Tension is slowly built up together with the looping speed in this prolonged creation. Noisy field recordings and effects were added in the background. The artists prefer to use only synthesizers, organ, various hardware effects and field recordings.

The second track Mountains At Night is a more mysterious trip. Drones are mixed with field recordings, meditative synths and ambient guitar vibes. A beautiful pallet of sounds causes a tranquilizing atmosphere which continues on 30 05 2016. This piece is based on guitar loops with a ritual touch and experimental effects. The buoyant soundscapes on Three end this remarkable piece of work.

Our research told us that Stefan Christoff collaborated on releases with various artists from the Montreal improvisation scene, like Sam Shalabi, Peter Burton and the multi-instrumentalist Brahja Waldman from New York. Jordan Christoff is active as the second half of the ambient duo PJS (with Patrick Dique) and creating calm ambient and live-improvised organic drones with Michelle Mostacci in the project Saturn's Daughter.

Anarchist Mountains is an experienced duo that made us listen to a fine and well balanced recording of ambient music with experimental inputs. Headphones are required to have this deep listening trip. Macedonians is also available on a limited edition CD on the label’s Bandcamp page.

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Patsker

alternative rock

When we took a first glance at the cover of this promo we were already teased by the chaos and depth of the artwork (Mark Cruz Teix). The story of The Morganatics is one of progress. The debut album (Never Be Part Of Your World) followed by a live recording of a radio show and their second full recording (We Come From The Stars) were all released  in 2015. The band produced an album (Eternal Return : An Horizon of Infinite) with acoustical versions of songs from the two previous albums in 2016.



The Morganatics call their creations “rock based with a voice of Linkin Park meeting Archive’s atmosphere with Porcupine Tree's guitars”. Well, let us tell you that they have a point but… the two vocalists Seb  (also rhythm guitars and keyboards) and Chris (female vocals, sample and keyboards) have the same timbre as late Chester Bennington. We needed to listen very carefully to distinguish who was actually singing because they sound very alike… The album contains wide range singing with deep emotions and energy. We had mixed feelings with the track Gloria. The vocals sound like a mealy hymn for a commercial add. 

The atmosphere of the tracks is far-reaching, from psychedelic to moodiness and to avant-garde with electronic effects and samples. This band from Paris reaches, indeed, out to Porcupine Tree with their guitar sound. Lauris (lead & acoustic guitars) listened very good to Anathema, his guitar solos are inspired by the two Cavanagh brothers’ weeping sound. There are some unclean vocals by PM (also bass)on this recording. We would have welcomed some more for better variation and balance in the singing. There are two drummers mentioned in the info. Nico, original core member and drummer announced his departure during the production of this album,so Frank took over.

The Morganatics are strange duck in the music pool. Their music is very fused with all kinds of genres and styles, which gave them a somehow an original sound. We’ve  heard creative chemistry with shredding guitars combined with intense and emotional melodies. Melancholy and experimental drift were added to the energetic formula called The Love Riot Squad vs The F-world, which is to our opinion their best work, until now. 

Bands with the same experimental approach but different in style are Område (France) and Thy Catalfaque (Hungary) and Diabolo Swing Orchestra (Sweden).

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Patsker

rock

Madhouse is an Italian female fronted rock band doing their utmost best to be a little more visible on the endless and overpopulated fields of rock bands on this planet. The band consisting of Federica Tringali (vocals), Filippo Anfossi  (guitar), Daniele Maggi (guitar), Michele Canevari (bass) and Ares Cabrini (drums) started playing as a cover band and began working on own songs since 2012. During that same year Federica Tringali decided to name the band Madhouse.

And this Italian band rocks. Madhouse presents ten pumping modern rock tracks with groovy guitar riffs and a lyrical concept, proposing ten hotel rooms in which it is possible to keep looking for your own personal dimensions. Federica Tringali has a powerful voice fitting perfectly with the steaming songs. She does not reach for screaming high chords but uses overdubbed vocal effects which create  harmonic and melodic sounds between the guitar riffs. This charismatic front woman has a powerful voice and can compete with the best modern rock and emo-rock singers these days. Guitar players Filippo Anfossi  and Daniele Maggi conjure some catchy guitar work out of their bag. Minimized keyboard parts furnish interesting  and refreshing impulses to the music. The combo is working hard and had already live gigs in several European countries.

Madhouse’s first full album is filled with enthusiastic (heavy) rock guitars and atmospheres  like 30 Seconds To Mars, Placebo and My Bloody Valentine.  This is a band with international potentials playing catchy, varied alternative rock music. Although they bring nothing new on the horizon this Italian band has balls, courage, musicianship and one hell of a female singer. Very refreshing rock music.

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Patsker

electronic / ambient

There are two projects called Nevel. To avoid confusion: there is the Dutch black metal band Nevel (which released almost at the same time their one track album Leven) and we have Bart Van Meulebroeck’s Nevel. This producer and DJ has been active in the Belgian and international electronic underground scene for 20 years. The Hageland is his debut release under the name Nevel. 

The Hageland is an existing region situated between the Belgian cities of Leuven and Diest. This attractive hilly region with varied landscapes, such as plains, hills and opulent forests was the inspiration for this double CD. All 20 tracks (10 per CD) are named after streets and places in The Hageland and contain field recordings from the region.

The first CD (The Hike) contains more up tempo tracks referring to the electronic music of the nineties. Down tempo and minimal techno are mixed together into stimulating sounds. The tracks are accessible without being too commercial. Nevel uses female vocals to give the music a more mysterious vibe. The happy ambiance gives comfort and has a dreamy effect. CD 1 will be welcomed by the fans of Orbital, Boards Of Canada, The Orb and Horizon 222. This is a catchy IDM CD.

The second CD (Cooldown) is more modest with slow enigmatic ambient and noisy electronica. The tracks are provided with a dark edge and coloured with field recordings. We thought we were listening to Aphex Twin while receiving those weird electronic waves of Baybosweg. Nevel  succeeded to take the moods of his lonely misty morning walks in his music. The music on the Cooldown CD is filmic and decorated with beautiful peaceful ambient sounds.  Doodbroek and Stort show the darker side of Nevel, ending this ambient trip with a murky mood.

Nevel surprised us with a wide-ranging double CD stuffed with a diverse library of electronic music. CD2 is our favourite because of the intense floating varied ambient that took us to the green and hilly Hageland and beyond. This impressive release is limited to 300 physical pieces and is a must have for electronic music lovers.

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Patsker

synthwave

Enzo Kreft’s album Control is an attestation of what’s going on in our society. The clear view of the Belgian electronic artist was translated in twelve powerful dark tracks of electronic music. With precision this DIY artist repeats and confirms the visions of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, how robots and artificial intelligence are already ruling and determine our daily life.

Control is about total control and so is Enzo Kreft. The threatening sounds build a cold dystopian atmosphere without possible escape. Enzo Kreft’s harsh and cold lyrics reflect the military-like machinery domination and it’s controllers. With his dark synthwave escapades Enzo Kreft evokes images of a fearful apocalyptic society filled with paranoia and despair. 

The dramatic sounds and beats on the track Book Burnings are supported by sound excerpts from Fahrenheit 451(1966 François Truffaut) and The Burning Of The Books May 10, 1933. The used reflections of the past on this very strong song gave us a feeling of tragic asphyxiation. This bold man, dressed in black, opens a window where you can see the past, the present and the future at the same time.

Musically noting new was added with this album. The structure of the tracks is precise and very good sounding. We heard varied new wave/electro influences and inputs but they only make the concept of this release stronger. Mindshift could have been a Kraftwerk song without any doubt. Some tracks are dance-able (but who wants to dance… in dystopia).  Enzo Kreft made a clear statement with this album. Control is a mind fucker that puts a heavy warning boot on the listeners face. This awesome piece of work with intelligent content and brilliant ambiance will stay in our blood for a long time. Resistance is futile…

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Patsker

dark ambient

Dark ambient during summer? During the moment we charge the batteries in order to bridge the future winter period, we were thrown into deep dark moods by NERATERRÆ's debut album The Substance of Perception. This inner journey to future seasons (autumn and winter) was produced, mixed and mastered by the Italian Alessio Antoni (NERATERRÆ).

Alessio Antoni also received the cooperation of some of the best dark ambient artists active on this planet. The result: a bold and varied collaboration that led to one of the darkest dark ambient releases, so far (during this year). Each of the seven jet-black electronic pearls have their own style which is partly determined by the participating artists. 

The sound waves alternate with ritual and grim atmospheres, melancholic ambiance and stifling claustrophobic drones. There is not much light to be seen on this release, just a black void, like a gaping abyss, causing an inexpressible detachment from the tangible and the ruthless transformation of the self. Echoing Scars (with Flowers For Bodysnatchers) delivers with mourning whirling piano strokes a somewhat less dark atmosphere between the tracks filled with sounds of doom. 

The participating artists (in order of the tracks) are: Northaunt (Norway), Alexey Tegin from Phurpa (Russia), New Risen Throne (Italy), Flowers For Bodysnatchers (Australia), Xerxes The Dark (Iran) and Treha Sektori (France) (together on track five), Ugasanie (Belarus) and Infinexhuma (USA).

The Substance of Perception is a stunning dark ambient edition of an unbelievably high level. NERATERRÆ’s deep sounds  are the ideal companion for a long pitch black winter in hibernation. The mentioned artists are also worthwhile to give an exploratory listen (welcome to the dark ambient world). This release is also available on CD on the Bandcamp page of NERATERRÆ. The mysterious artwork was delivered by Nihil and Daria Endresen.  We were blown away by this top release!

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Patsker

heavy metal

Idylls of Woe is an album released in July 19, by old school heavy metal group Dogbane. With eight tracks — 1) The One I Was Warned Of; 2) Devil's Tramping Ground; 3) Blood in the Snow; 4) Riddle of Steel; 5) Land of Shadows; 6) Now You Know; 7) Winter of Man's Demise; 8) Sin Eater; — the album doesn't have anything that could qualify the work as superb, excellent or extraordinary, in any level whatsoever. Nevertheless, the record is relatively good, displays some intriguing, dynamic and ferocious harmonies, and definitely exhibits competently all the formidable features that were abundant in classical heavy metal, with a decent level of agility and virtuosity. 

Despite a certain lack of originality, Idylls of Woe has what it takes to be taken seriously, and the sound is efficiently diluted in a pool of dense and striking harmonies, whose diffusive savagery and proficient technique makes the group's style worthwhile listening. 
After some songs, though, the sound of the band resents itself of some terribly generic, exasperating and repetitive features; you really have to be passionate about the genre to be willing to listen to the album until the end. 

However, it is worth noting that the album has its qualities and virtues, though they may be frivolous to a limited extent. The fourth track — Riddle of Steel — is a marvelous and exceptionally good song, that not only defines perfectly the style of the band, but also showcases their most refined sonorous impetus, that on the edge of its dynamic ocean of abrasive restlessness, flirts a little with a modest degree of originality and authorial uneasiness. The sixth track, Now You Know, is also an incredibly fantastic song, whose lines closely follows the traditional path of a glorious anthem of old school classic hard rock.    

With marvelous, but sparse, guitar solos — that probably is Dogbane's most attractive quality — and a competent set of melodies, Idylls of Woe is, at best, a good, satisfactory album. Its not bad, but its not great either. With too much generic passages, and an unfortunate lack of originality, the record manages to be interesting, but in any moment achieves a remarkable or relevant degree of excellence. 


Wagner

stoner rock

State of Mind is an album released by Canadian stoner rock band Black Sheep, at the end of June. Relatively concise, the record has little more than thirty-six minutes, and has seven tracks: 1) Is It You; 2) Time Is Mine; 3) Under The Crimson Tide; 4) On The Highway; 5) Until The Shadow Come Again; 6) I'll Find You; 7) Wasted Love; with furious and expansive, but gracious musical hyperboles, and a striking resonant sound, whose profoundly dense, dynamic and diluted tonalities gradually penetrates into increasingly pragmatic, diffusive and cohesive layers of sound, the style displayed by Black Sheep on this album is a glorious and distinctive conjuncture of creative, restless and magnificent authorial compositions, that destilates with mordacity and uneasiness a singular and highly expressive work, with potential to effectively establish superior standards to the genre. 

With a cohesive and extensive musical unity, State of Mind is as gracefully concise as it is powerfully remarkable. Capturing an atmosphere of dispersive, but concomitantly explosive sonorous diligence, the band astutely conceives a style so bright, refined and elegant that — despite the fact that departs from the general commonplaces of the genre — they manage to fully develop their creative sensibilities to overcome structural limitations, sucessfully sculpting splendid harmonies in flexible, expansive, colorful and vivid tonalities.  

With an audacious and passionate sensitive disposition, that realigns the sound's most abrasive and organic elements into a more dissolute musical diagram, State of Mind manages to display highly heterogeneous melodies, while at the same time the signature style of the band can be perceived as distinctly recognizable and familiar. Exhibiting a fantastic set of qualities that undoubtedly qualifies Black Sheep as expressively singular, State of Mind reveals a band that unquestionably stands out as an amazingly peculiar act within the genre, displaying easily a degree of lucidity, sensibility and technical competence, that perfectly converges to a horizon of gracefully impeccable, original and innovative standards.   

Masterfully abrasive, dynamic and powerfully genuine, State of Mind is a highly vigorous, disruptive and delightful album, that came to introduce more proverbial and genuine elements to the genre. With a degree of sensibility that knows how to extract precisely the most gracious, unpredictable and tenacious components within a musical framework — with the aim to conceive a tempestuous palace of desolation made of hazardous symphonies, strong enough to survive a succession of collisions with the most brutal features of the human nature —, Black Sheep rises as a monumental axis of horizontal creativity and splendor, willing to show to audiences a more redemptive, consistent and veracious way to make music. 


Wagner

stoner rock

Covern Of The Snake is an album released on July 12, by Australian stoner rock band Arrowhead. Almost forty minutes long, the record has eight tracks: 1) Coven Of The Snake; 2) All Seeing Eye; 3) Ceremony Of The Skull; 4) Ghost Ship; 5) Root Of Evil; 6) Dopanaught; 7) March Of The Reptiles; 8) Golden Thunderhawk; with powerful and deeply energetic harmonies, this album displays abundantly the best qualities of the genre. With tempestuous and abrasive guitar lines, amazingly crafted melodies, playfully arid, but sober vocals and an exceedingly brutal, though lucid and perfectly distinct musical style, Arrowhead definitely gives a new, imponderable and more genuine vitality to stoner rock with this splendid work, whose strength can inspire underground acts to incorporate more authentic and original virtues into its artistic aspirations. 

Despite the fact that the band departs from the general and ordinary features of the genre, they are creative and audacious enough to reinvigorate with a very authorial sonorous disposition all the common standards of stoner rock. With a gracefully restrained — but at the same time vigorous and robust musical technique —, the band goes a long way in meticulously exploring fearless sound possibilities, though they are competent enough to design a very singular style, never misrepresenting the genre or disfiguring its harmonious layout.

With a ferocious and disturbing, but exceedingly pleasant and marvelous sound that definitely has all the necessary qualities to please stoner enthusiasts, Coven Of The Snake reveals a wonderful surprise to the audience in one track after another, displaying a sagacious degree of musical proficiency, that unquestionably makes Arrowhead the fundamental axis for a more original and innovative development of the genre. With the glorious ability to conceive highly intelligent, dynamic and vivacious atmospheres, the musical style shown by this work exhibits a profoundly skilled, mature and sensational degree of artistry, that not only deserves to be fully appreciated, but also has to be assimilated with a pattern of sensibilities that is correctly aligned with its ever expansive diagram of creative splendor. 

With a fantastic and spectacular sound, that offers to the audience the marvelous opportunity to be fully delighted with a high quality stoner rock, this sensational  album is an exceptional and majestic work of art, whose formidable level of creative originality and sound fidelity will make the band exponents of the scene, at least in their home country. An impeccable record that has what it takes to propose a serious and constructive revolution in the genre — for the sake of its refinement —,  Coven Of The Snake is not just a triumph of Arrowhead, but of all those people who are tremendously passionate about this wild and amazing genre, that is stoner rock.



Wagner

post rock / experimental

Paralax Markovian Denigrate is an album released on July 10 by a Polish musician, under the alias of DeLaa Fargis. A very concise work, the record is only thirty-five minutes long, and has seven tracks: 1) Falling of...; 2) Confusion - The Manner; 3) Singularity Quantized; 4) Outdazzled; 5) Megachile Pluto; 6) Nonenzymic Paradox; 7) Deoxidized; with exceedingly beautiful melodies, and an expressively serene and poetic musical layout, the sensibility present on this work reveals an aggrandizing and quintessential level of artistry, whose refined, dense and proverbial degree of originality could not have generated another result, other than the magnificient state of the art work that Paralax Markovian Denigrate came out to be. 

With cohesive, but incredibly dilated harmonies — that expand in the direction of its passionate, but rational sensibilities —, this album is a remarkable conjuncture of musical virtues, that perfectly align together to obtain a functional and dynamic convergence of values, able to conceive astounding, colossal and pure symphonies in the process. Invariably, its glorious qualities surpass the boundaries of its own creative and splendid authorial universes, in all possible layers of sound. 

Displaying calmer melodies that navigates in the infinite ocean of a restless and everlasting dream, the music of DeLaa Fargis rises from a graceful combination between sensibility and tenacity. With some gracious and impeccable piano passages that definitely discloses a personal universe of introspective tenderness, its overall musical possibilities expand to a vast and intricate sonorous resurgence of domineering placidity, whose deliverance projects towards the structure of the melodies a salutary symbiosis of sentiments, that progressively escalates to a monumental and splendorous creative palace of miraculous and reinvigorating glory, that exhibits on the arduous melancholy of its notes all the majesty of its renitent, but bright originality.   

With an interesting sonority that displays a formidable degree of authenticity, Paralax Markovian Denigrate — by DeLaa Fargis —, is an absolutely spectacular and genuine work of art, that deserves to be highly appreciated. With an amazingly peculiar, profound and audacious musicality, this fantastic artist has all the necessary qualities to prosper in a fabulous career, with enough talent to propitiate to the increasingly ordinary underground scene the development of more lucid, sober and innovative standards. 



Wagner