doom / industrial / jazz

Two days ago I chatted with friends of mine and two of them declared that the new Sumac was too free-jazz for them, that it didn’t have enough structure – and even though I still really like the record I could understand them. 

On October 23rd Hummus Records released a record by Convulsif, an avantgarde quartet that’s been together since 2014 and that has already released four full-lengths (simply named I to IV) and a few singles. To describe the sound of the Swiss extremists is not to difficult but it might be hard to fathom: Throw equal amounts of Godflesh, Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Oxbow into your mixer and blend well. Add a huge amount of Sumac, blend again with a strong harsh impulse and then pour it through a filter so that no vocals and no guitars are kept in the mix. Now you have: Convulsif and its lineup consisting of bass, drums, bass clarinet and violin playing some of the fiercest and mind-bursting avantgarde jazz you might hear this side of 2010. It is cold and beaten, seductive and hunting, haunted and feisty. 

This fifth full-length by the new Hummus roster acquisition has all the trademarks necessary to make you fall in love with it. Or hate it. Or both. The riffing bass that is used like a guitar (by the way, I wonder if Loic Grobéty plays a five-string bass) and Maxime Hänsenberger’s mis-used drum kit which both produce a hellishly deep foundation for Christian Muller’s bass clarinet and Jamasp Jhabvala’s violin. The latter two also add electronic to make the sound even more distorted and unbelievable. The snippets of clear constructed melodies are attacked after mere seconds by one instrument or the other as it seems as if the listener should not be able to come to a finite thought. 

Sounds strange? Okay, let’s have a closer look at the second track “Five Days of Open Bones” (also the second-longest on this hell hound of an album): it opens with wide, sterile clarinet base and doomy, low-tuned bass punctures before the drums set in and the violin slowly rise to the foreground of it all. After roughly three minutes the drums indicate to the rest of the band that now it’s time to notch it up a bit and Maxime throws in some in-between kicks and fills. After every turn of the meter you have the thought “okay, now it will set in!” but it doesn’t fulfill your wish, it remains on its slow ascent into madness. At near-exact five minutes the bass becomes more distorted and the electronic noise parts become not only more apparent but also dominant, the clarinet is nearly inaudible. And then it starts, the hurricane has arrived and is ready to blow us all to bits and pieces – and the clarinet and violin indicate this change as they fight their way to the front again – of course having to overturn all the other “fighting” instruments on its way. We do not witness how we got into the eye of the storm but after a second of calm it all starts collapsing over our heads at 8.30 minutes and everyone tumbles over the over. We have arrived at Grindcore Level 1 where the beasts of hell welcome us into the abyss. The storm breaks down after two minutes and the madness slowly fades with the Godflesh-like clarinet being our guiding buoy out. But we cannot exit without one last quick drum’n’bass attack – no escape is for free.

The level of EXTINCTion and execution on this record is simply awesome because the four musicians are true master of their craft. Even without any vocals it has a lot to say. Even the track titles do – as they are chopped up parts from Charles Darwin’s Beagle Diary. The only question remaining here is – who will be extinct after this record? Our brain? Or is it a sarcastic analogy to the year 2020 when mankind faces extinction and doesn’t know how to get through (just like in a hurricane?). If it is, then let’s hope that Convulsif’s next record is not about the second law of Darwin – the survival of the fittest (or the one most-adapt at adapting).

One day later after the chat with my friends, my head is free again and I immediately have to tell them about this record. I am sure it should check with quite a lot of them. It is (as hard as it is for me to say this) the record we were expecting from Sumac. Maybe it’s even better. 


​Thorsten

ambient / dark folk / cinematic

So, if the first three tracks of a four track EP already remind me of acts like Nick Cave, Penitent, Raison d'ètre, Aphex Twin and Biosphere, I guess it's alright to call this a pretty damn varied release. And then comes 'Synchronism', a goosebumps inducing dark pop anthem with vocals by Raya. In all, '...Unfolds' indicates a more than welcome return for a highly exciting ambient project. Recommended? Dûh!

alternative rock / punk / grunge

thrash metal

dark ambient / drone

Signora Ward Records

drone / ambient / soundtrack

drone / ambient

bandcamp

industrial / dark ambient / noise

HGM Music

drone / dark ambient

black metal / industrial

Very often our ears are not able to discern the nuances used by some special metal bands to make their sound unique or at least interesting. That is not the case with Borgne from Lausanne, Switzerland that is not the case. The Swiss one-man-project mixes a lot of industrialized sounds and synths into their doomy kind of black metal and that enriching factor really sets them apart from most of the scene. One can hear some Deathspeall Omega or Blut aus Nord in their sound as well as Ministry or :Wumpscut:, even some doomy stuff like Type O Negative or Slow is noticeable. One band that is definitely a good comparison would be LLNN from Denmark, as they also use industrial sounds to enhance their doomy, gut-wrenching sludge. Nevertheless, their sound is never a rough mix or a simple rip-off, which also becomes clear, when having a look at the long discography (“Y” is the ninth record!) and the long bio, the project was started in 1998.

But the self-sufficient and non-copying character becomes clear when listening to tracks like “Derriere les yeux de la creation” (Behind the eyes of Creation): starting off with an acoustic guitar over a drone-like noise background that becomes louder and louder. Then a sparse piano part and some rudimentary drums kick in before the whole hurricane of instrumentation unfolds its attraction when a blast-beats starts after 90 seconds. The song uses the synth-parts to underline the dangers of the look behind the eyes of creation for one might see something one cannot understand: Either God or sheer nothingness.

The eyes and vision in general is also a recurring theme for this record and the project itself, as Borgne in French can be the one-eyed – maybe the one-eyed among the blind seeing things the others can’t? But also song titles like the one mentioned before or the opening track “As far as my eyes can see” and “A Hypnotizing Perpetual movement that buries me in Silence” share the motif of seeing and staring. This hypnosis effect is something that happens quite literally to the listener of the record. One is basically drawn into the sound cosmos of Borgne which has to do a lot with the industrial-like distortion on the guitars or the synths that create a kind of subtle magnetic pull (see “Paraclesium” which has a long, ambient part). One might realize this seduction when listening to “Y” also when they use some multi-voice-chants that fit very well to the artwork with the person seemingly hung by the wrists wearing something like a ritual gown (or maybe a robe for inmates in an asylum). 

One might dislike the intense mix of metal, industrial and even ambient and might say that this is simply too much. However, if you look at the whole record and give it an open ear, you might be rewarded with a very, very good industrial black metal record. It’s a total niche record, for sure. But in that niche it might be the best one in 2020!


Thorsten

grunge / stoner rock

Iceland’s scene is very likely one of the strongest worldwide as we are talking about a country with roughly 360,000 inhabitants and yet we all know so many bands from Iceland pushing the brim for modern music further and further. Keelrider is another one of those, although they most likely will not see as much attention as Sigur Ros, Björk or the whole Icelandic black metal scene because they are Stoner Grungers with a twist. In 2018 they published their debut album “North” and last year they published two singles from their upcoming album “Second Wind”. While “Too Far Gone” is in parts a very nice melange of Alice in Chains-vocals and Soundgarden-stoner riffs, “Sun” is much more interesting because the band some a little more variety when it comes to time signatures and giving the guitar lines more space to breathe. If you are into stoner rock and grunge, this band is something right for you! 

post metal

Post-Metal from Italy. Most foreigners automatically associate it with Postvorta but some, a little deeper in and a little longer might remember the name Calendula, the sextet from Parma, which released an EP (2011) and a full-length (2012) a while ago. After some changes concerning line-up and musical direction, they released a 25-minute-song in November which definitely doesn’t fit to the title “De Brevitate Vitae” - it’s not brevis (brief) at all. It is quite a monster with a lot of dynamic changes and oscillates between dynamic driving drums and some really clever, counteracting guitar-work following the long intro, which sometimes hints at a bit of Tool. The vocals are pretty good, they also use some samples to give it a more differentiated sonic outline. Something that can be criticized is the sound as the partially trashy Lo-Fi sound doesn’t really fit a record as ambitious as this one, although on the other side it fits to the proclaimed role models  – 90s post-rock bands such as Slint (noticeable in the very effective guitar motif after the first real break). If the guys follow this path, we might have two Italian associations with the term Post-Metal.

electronic 

Svart Records is one of the finest labels when it comes to hard, harsh music, most people know about that. Most people do not know that they also have an electronic sub-label – Svartronix which again is very open-minded. A few weeks ago they released the debut song by A Heart Beats “Dazes the Mind” which is pop music that fits perfectly in any 80s mix of songs by some tropical house producer. This songs purvey a kind of Caribbean calypso feeling but their sex-appeal derives to a large extent from the intriguing vocals of Paile who once was a member of Beastmilk. His delivery is very nice and especially the chorus is so funky that one automatically feels his feet moving, but the line also has some depth “It dazes the mind / and numbs the tongue”. The beats produced by Tuuki are layered with some space basslines in the sense of some more synth-driven Daft Punk and the beat itself is shuffling a bit, so that the sunny, opening sounds give the song a holiday feeling without the stupidity. A promising debut song, let’s hope A Heart Beats and Svartronix has some more servings.

doom / death metal

Russian death doom act Intaglio released a demo version of a new track at the end of last year and in some way, the beauty lies in the rhythm. Many voices will now scream that the rhythm is nothing particular new to the genre, as the slow, dragging rhythm of the song is really quite normal, but the way that the strings connect to it, support it in certain passages, yeah, even form it from time to time, that is really breathtaking – the Gothic attitude it brings to the song turns it into a remarkable one. The lyrics, speaking about the overwhelming character of a memory of death which overshadows everything else, are delivered in regular death metal style. Another standout feature is the use of the use of an upright bass that is tuned so well, that you can hear each tap and each ring.
In some way, three pretty singular metal genres are amalgamated into one pretty dense net of emotions that will leave no open ear without imprinting a memory of itself on the listener. If this is a first sign of a new album then one might keep Intaglio in mind.

punk

Everything about this 7” screams “Old school! Old school!”, the cover (seemingly a reverse from the classic Minor Threat discography cover that also was adopted by Rancid several years ago), the cover b-side, the black-white style, the sound, everything! But first things first: The revived band released a good album in 2018 and last December followed with this 7” out on Heartworm Press. The title track is a new shotgun blast somewhere between Zeke, MC5, The Clash, Turbonegro and Black Flag (although one must say, that only the vocals sometimes hint at Rollins) – definitely a good track. The b-side is a well-made cover of “Left for Dead” by The Lemonheads another one of these late 80s punk bands that turned more and more to indie-rock. The cover is good and shows a different side to American Nightmare. However, there is one thing that is lacking in this release and that is the teenage angst that made AN famous. The despair, the sadness, the melancholy – not there. On the other hand, that might drive the listener to despair and achieves the same effect.

avant garde / folk

Dog Tunnel Records

There are genres that seemingly are so heavily steeped in tradition and customs that it is hard to imagine to hear a new sound in them. Take Irish Folk for example; most of us at first might associate it with pub nights somewhere between the Dubliners and Christy Moore (at best) or Michael Flatley and Enya (at worst). But to combine the traditional folk instruments bodhran, flute, violin, and guitar with a wall of sound, lots of spoken word (not cheerfully and rhythmically, but rather intimidating and fierceful) is something rarely heard before. Tuatha is a fierce project that will leave some of us open-mouthed. Formed in early 2019 and already a rising star on the scene, the septet uses old Irish tales from the Middle Ages and Gaelic Dindsenchas (short poems describing certain places) to deepen their already impressive style. In parts, their unrelentless approach reminds one of the approach Archive and SubRosa took in totally different musical landscapes. This here is unique, bewitching and typical Irish yet also totally un-Irish. Folks, give Tuatha a listen!

sludge / doom

A quartet from Phoenix, Arizona with a very grainy, heavy sound, Mosara released their debut demo last November. It shall be a prelude to a record which is in the making and should see the light of day before the end of the year; of course the demo should also draw interest from labels and I think it might: The musical soundscape is strongly influenced by a lot of proto-metal like Sabbath, Blue Cheer, but also by classic doom bands like Electric Wizard or Cough – that means, you get what you expect, low-tuned, richly-distorted, grainy, a bit lofi-ish doom sounds with a tinge of sludge influences (most audible on the second track “Clay and Iron”). Sometimes the howls and growls could be a bit fiercer and less despaired because, sometimes, Tony Gallegos (ex-Twingiant) is a bit too clear. Nevertheless the sound is great, as if someone mated Fu Manchu with Sabbath and their offspring was left in the desert with a guitar as the only means of communication. The riffs are dragging, the bass is dominant, the drums are supportive – all good in the Arizona desert. 

death metal / black metal / doom / noise / grindcore

Noise bastard? Yeah. Death metal? Sometimes. Grindcore? For sure. Doomy Gloom? You bet. All of that and more is “Tellurian Insurgency” by Ploughshare. With their third release in as many years (after 2017’s “Literature of Piss” and 2018’s acclaimed “In Offal, Salvation”) the quartet from Australia’s capital Canberra once again proves that the bar is always too low for them. Excellent musicians with a highly complex understanding of how music works they show that extreme metal must also rely on atmosphere that sometimes exists between the chords and blastbeasts. A great deal of the attraction of this band is the vocals, which never sound cheesy but quite on point. This EP also features a remix of their standout song, the title track of “In Offal, Salvation”, which shows that it is even possible to give this dark nightmare of a song an even more desperate twist. One thing that becomes clear throughout the record is how important good drumming is for such a kind of music as it must set the tone for everyone. If the guys can keep up their productivity we should await a new heir to the extreme metal throne in 2020.

industrial

Describing this Oakland, CA, quartet is not that easy and not that difficult at the same time. Their sound relies heavily on synths, samples but also on guitar, bass and drums. They cross constantly between electronic noise (aka industrial) and post-punk’ish avantgarde sounds. Initiated in 2013 and having independently released already a bunch of records, Lament Cityscape set out to publish three EPs in 2020, each following some red thread and yet also standing out on its own. Something that they share with some of the pioneers of this kind of sonic assault (Godflesh, Killing Joke, Author & Punisher) are the harsh sounds that sometimes remind one of buoys warning the oncoming ships of the nearby rocks and sandbanks which here are symbolized by the rough drum attacks. In parts, this is a good record for those who like Godflesh’s Streetcleaner a bit less polished and a bit more straightforward. Partially, one is left behind by a lack of surprise, but fans of industrial noises and harsh synth-driven drums will really like this.

black metal

At first, the band’s name might sound like a nice pun on 80s karate flic “Bloodsport” (with the amazing multiple Academy Award winning actor Jean-Claude van Shakespeare) but when listening to this new face on renown Swedish Meta label Blood Harvest it becomes clear that the idea of a fungi which sits parasitically on its host and feeds of it before finally killing it works perfectly within the black metal community. It also works nicely because the record to it is really good and leaves one’s ears with an immediate wish to press replay because of its clever changes in mood, dynamics and tempi. The record (especially the second track “Cede to the Saprophyte”) is like a nice blend of groove metal and black metal with the emphasis, of course, on the latter. Thematically, the record presents the idea of the fungal mass on this planet slowly but certainly taking over and destroying all other organisms, a new take on the apocalyptic visions presented by bands like Botanist or Arx Atrata. For a band that only came together in 2018, this is really somewhat impressive. 


​Thorsten

post metal / industrial

Switzerland is the new hotspot for good metal. Another example apart from the HUMMUS and HUC-communities? Apart from Rorcal, Death.Void.Terror? Easy, take Montecharge for example, a new band from Geneva, Switzerland. Although, really new would be pretty far-stretched to say, because the band has been around since 2007 yet highly unproductive, as “Demons or Someone Else” is their debut full-length.

The interesting thing about Montecharge are the small things within their sound construct, located somewhere between blackened post-metal and industrial hardcore. The band uses a kind of flirring industrial echo on some of their guitar tracks and the use of drum computer is also not uncommon so that all in all the listener is guided through some kind of industrial landscape upon entering the 36 minutes encompassing eight songs and three interludes. 

The tracks have Roman numerals (which might indicate a time of writing) and further names and interestingly they are not arranged in numerical order as one might think when seeing the track titles. The band itself progresses nicely through the track list and shows a lot of different sides of their musical identity. Sometimes this can be straightforward, noisy rock bastards like “XVII Oreste” or “XIX Protagonists Antagonists”, sometimes the tracks take more time and have a bit of a 60s vibe (note the use of the tambourine in “XIII Encircle the Earth”. 

Edward Hay’s work behind the drumkit is unique as it is very hard and precise and needs to form the whole rhythmic basis to the songs alone as there is no bass player in the lineup, generally the instrumentation is very interesting as a guitarist, a synth-player and a vocalist share the stage with Hay. The one thing the band lacks is a feeling for the necessity of small, slow-down parts in the songs to give the audience a moment to breathe. The three interludes provide these moments on the album, yet, sometimes a bit more time would benefit the songs. Nevertheless, this lament is rather a tidbit among the whirlwind that is “Demons or Someone Else” which will be highly enjoyed by people who like Knut or Converge. 


Thorsten

black metal / industrial / doom

Sentient Ruin

Two weeks ago, I was in front of a shopping mall. The date was November 3rd, and a huge Christmas tree was looming over me... A bit early to be celebrating Christmas, I thought, but then again, it seems to put visitors in a spending mood.
Then it hit me. The irony. A long time ago, the Christians stole Christmas from some North European pageants. And now, shopkeepers have
stolen it from the Christians...
Why am I telling you this? Because, if you don't like this artificial jolly atmosphere, I have the perfect antidote for you...


On November 22nd, Sentient Ruin released Decoherence's second manifesto, Ekpyrosis. Last year, I rather enjoyed their first EP, so I was eager to check this out. Decoherence is a three-man band, but not much is known about them. They seem to be based in the UK, and the main member is Stroda, who also creates (lots of) obscure records under his own name. The music itself sounds like black industrial doom - think mid-era Blut Aus Nord. Everything is drenched in reverb and delay, mechanized drums thunder or blast along, guitars buzz, hum, drone, and somewhere deep in this sonic whirlpool you will find subhuman screaming, wallowing in its misery.

As stated before, it's not exactly an uplifting experience, and it takes some determination to finish the first listening session. After that, however, you start to discover the nuances in the different
songs, and all of a sudden it becomes an enjoyable experience. I recommend it as a background tune to a good book and a fine Portuguese wine (as I did last evening). There are five lengthy songs on this EP, and I would recommend the third one, Collapse, as an introduction to the whirling void called Decoherence. Enjoy!


Koen

industrial / darkwave / experimental / post punk

Cascades are falling down, a constant repetition of collapse. A motif found frequently in music, soundwise, in the lyrics or the music itself. Lots of artists from blackgaze to classical use it. Additionally it is found in visual arts or modern literature and over the last few decades has been connected to a critique of the present in order to change something about the future.

A new artist from Pennsylvania uses the image of collapse and a future uncertain combining it with a sonic landscape taking its bits from shoegaze and ambient, from noise and industrial. Lunacy‘s debut album Age of Truth (after releasing four EPs since 2016) is indeed a challenge to the ear but a very thoughtful one. The idea behind the record is obvious after a few seconds already because after a short lush intro the near-ambient mood is disrupted by harsh industrial marching drums. We are drawn into a world beyond Blade Runner and before Mad Max, a place where the constants of past, present and future might either still be possible or already obsolete.

The musician behind Lunacy tries to remain unknown (which can also be seen when looking at the record covers on which he becomes more and more of a blur). He does so not for his personal privacy but to render a blank canvas in order to give the listener the chance of projecting his own interpretations of and ideas about the music and the future, our planet and life in general – maybe even about the future of the future. What if our industry and society will collapse and with it the hope of changing the course of human (interference with) life on this planet? What will happen to “the future” if the end is coming, if the facades of humanity collapse and we will face the industrial downfall and machine-driven end?

Musically, Age of Truth combines his vision of a post-apocalyptic, post-human industrial age with
the help of Connor Clasen (IXVLF) recording the album and Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury
Strangers) mastering it. Sometimes you hear breakbeats, distorted vocal chants, shoegaze moments like that Ackermann is famous for. The foundation for this experimental electronica is a kind of 80s industrial soundtrack stemming from the use of synthesizers from that era which were then combined with several layers of guitars. Whether Lunacy is igniting a new phase of music-making for the first century after mankind or whether he is developing a new form of shoegaze is up to the listener, however it is clear that as an artist he achieved his vision clearly for the album transports us to a different place and time. Age of Truth will be released by Parisian label Third Coming Records on November 22nd


Thorsten

industrial / post rock / metal / noise

Sometimes the seemingly impossible is possible. Leicester City wins the Premier League, some player not Messi or Ronaldo wins an important award, Guns’n’Roses reunite, Tom Warrior finishes his “Requiem” with an orchestra-supported performance at Roadburn. However, can a side-project achieve something as unique as the “main” project? Sometimes yes – think of S.O.D. who sometimes outshone Anthrax. 

Consumer is a side-project, and Have a Nice Life is its roots. Tim of HANL formed Consumer in 2017 together with the live-band that supports him and Dan on the road. However, it must be noted that this band is hopefully more than a once-off-project because their sound and approach are different to HANL. You can hear some proto-noise in Consumer’s sound even though it is coming from an opposite idea. If we take bands like the Melvins or Pere Ubu, it is clear that the foundation for their early work was always a guitar and the wish to do something unusual with it. Consumer also want to do something unusual, but their foundation is clearly much more focused on electronics and synths. The shared motif is distortion. Consumer distort their instruments (the aforementioned plus guitars and a regular rhythm section) and twist them around and around until everything contributes to a mantra-esque hard flow of ebb and tide. 

Sometimes the drums sound as if Einstuerzende Neubauten got the idea that self-made instruments are cool but their sound had to go through a broken vocoder to make the result even more uncomfortable just to lose a battle with a synth-driven melody that alludes to the end of a sinking ship on the open sea. Everything is in its right place, flows into one another on “In Computers” and even though the sound is hard to describe it must be clear that this band has a knack for ear candy. The sounds are unusual and sometimes harsh but they never disgust. 

The instrumental trilogy “In Computers Parts I – III” at the end is definitely HANL-like, of course as Tim is at work. The electronica in “Part II” can be seen as a little nod to Radiohead in their “Kid A/ Amnesiac”-period, not the worst of mental connections; some other parts sound like a very self-indulging and noise-less collab between Mogwai and Aphex Twin. Obviously, a lot of ideas, connections, comparisons come to mind when listening to Consumer’s full-length debut but one should note that this is a release which can take all of that scrutiny and needn’t be afraid of any of it for it is unique and self-sufficient. And maybe that is the best one can say for any side-project, right? 


​Thorsten

industrial

bandcamp

Released in May 6 by BLC Productions, Shot Of Pain is the most recent album by French industrial / electronic noise project Schultz. With an exotic and peculiar sound, the record has twelve tracks: 1) Used Nerves; 2) I Hate You; 3) My Wish; 4) Fuck Buddy; 5) Drugs Are Sins; 6) Raw Fucking Power; 7) Fake World; 8) House Of Misery; 9) La Musique Me Rend Sourd; 10) I’m Your God; 11) Bitch; 12) Shot Of Pain; with a style resigned to the relatively conventional musical standards of the genre, the album has an effectively cybernetic and futuristic vibe, that its usually aligned with the sonorous diagram of its inherently expansive features. As the album progresses, though, you realize that there is absolutely nothing here that you haven’t heard before in similar albums of the genre. Nevertheless, Shot Of Pain manages to be a somewhat decent album, displays a musical identity of its own, and definitely does not disappoint, if you are an enthusiast of the genre.    

With dense and derelict harmonies, that eventually becomes profusely predictable, its heavy, drastic and intense musical beats attacks the epicenter of its intransigent and abrasive creative axis, precisely where the reinvigorating artistry of the band aligns its sonorous distinctions with a more diluted synergy, that expands to the general atmosphere of the sound. With some tracks way better than others – Raw Fucking Power and House of Misery are two marvelously fantastic exemplars of the genre, while I’m Your God, in my modest opinion, is the most excellent track of the record – Shot Of Pain manages to be a good album, that inappropriately neglects in an undesirable scale its strongest qualities, that relies in the more lenient, sober and effusive aspects of their music. But its enjoyable virtues definitely compensate its limitations, and the general sonorous layout presented to the listener is skilful and coherent, though the lack of innovation and audacity unfortunately leaves a blank space that disappoints a little.  

Displaying a restrained aggressiveness and a substantial savagery that conceives the most pleasurable aspects of the music, Shot Of Pain has virtues that consolidates cohesively creative and technical capabilities, that hides a potential that seems dormant most of the time. But its more pragmatic and dilated components definitely makes the record an interesting listening experience, that – more or less –, reveals a discreet strength, whose potential is able to aggregate on the latent possibilities of the genre more exotic and distinctive elements.  

If you really like electronic noise or alternative industrial music, it is possible that you will manage to appreciate Shot Of Pain; if not entirely, at least partially. Nevertheless, there is nothing fantastic about this record, especially if you are a veteran enthusiast of the genre. There are some very good songs on this album, be sure about that. But in the end, nothing that can be considered too spectacular, innovative or exceptional. Shot Of Pain is only a moderately decent, good album at best, and it will hardly surprise you. 


Wagner

electro / EBM / industrial

Dans Les Profondeurs

Nowadays it feels strange to imagine the pre-digital underground music world.  We can still remember the young tape traders spreading obscure DIY experimental try-outs like rats from cellar to cellar. After decades of dust eating, a treasure of subsurface sounds is coming back to the obscure exterior digital realms of music.

Under Starch Clouds is a compilation of a small electronic and industrial scene from the 80’s. The scene operated from an underground pub The Yellow Lemonade in Aalst. Aalst is a town in Belgium known for its rebellion priest Daens and carnival. It was during the 80’s this industrial city blew clouds of pollution that infected the minds of the local artists and music freaks.

Nearly all the material on this compilation was originally recorded on tapes.  Those demos were exchanged among friends and played on DJ Attila The Nun’s (Peter Vercauteren) radio show “The Fall Of Western Civilization” (Radio Katanga). The tracks by Killvision and Neoprene Grt come from their debut demo tapes. Under Starch Clouds stands for experimental electronica without high tech tools. The artists used their inspiration to create effects with all kinds of kitchen gear or ancient hair dryers. Samples were taken from taped radio shows and therapeutic sessions.

This compilation is filled with pure rebellion against every known mainstream soundscape from the past and the coming future.  The music styles of the selected 10 tracks are situated between dark, sharp edged, industrial electro and electronic body music.  Under Starch Clouds is a black diamond with experimental insurgent music from an underground scene hidden in the industrial dungeons of Aalst. It was too difficult to choose a favorite track between all these outstanding items of Belgian electronic music. 

Under Starch Clouds is available on LP and digital. Hurry, grab your hands on this rarity because the (white) vinyl is limited to 223 pieces. The emperor of Wool-E Discs made us clear that in the future more of these secret sounds could be released to the world. For the time being this release has already a special place in our darkened hearts.

​
Patsker