various

One swallow doesn’t make a summer. These words remind us of the sad reality that it is to try to change the world without any support... However, if you are the owner of an independent musical label that made a beautiful charity proposal and dozens of talented artists gave support to your idea, a beautiful sunny week will happen! This is the case of the 'Exhibition' compilation, conceived and released by Submarine Broadcasting Company label (UK), where the profits from the sale of all seven volumes (I said that many artists supported the project) will be donated to The Shaw Mind Foundation, an institution focused on mental health. The compilation's theme is folklore, going from local legends to famous Chupacabras. In addition, three colors separate the seven volumes accordingly to their aesthetics!

Red color indicates that the tracks are the most experimental, so be prepared for any kind of music/sounds that artists had imagined in their minds!

Green color is used for sonorities between experimental and radio-friendly, like ambient music and instrumental music with melodic features!

Blue color is for radio-friendly songs, going from rock to pop and electro!

This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to listen to musicians from different styles/locations around the world, because there are MANY hours of music with a name-your-price payment. When it comes to charity, any money is very welcome, as long as it fits in your budget and be donated with love, like the music made by each of the more than fifty artists who participated in this project! As powerful as immaterial, music in the right hands can make the difference with compassion and brotherly love. This definitely makes me very happy and hopeful with art! I sincerely hope that you feel the same when participating of this beautiful action, whether listening to the compilation or making a donation of any value!


Glauber

post-metal / doom / alternative rock

dark jazz / ambient / experimental / trip hop

hardcore

acoustic blues

dark ambient / noise

doom / occult metal

death metal

black metal / doom / death metal

post punk / synth pop

breakcore / industrial

alternative rock / blues

facebook

style of Tool and quite a bit of grunge - vocals that remind of Cobain included. So go buy this one if you appreciate something that refuses to fit into one box.

ambient / experimental

Pany Rosas Discos

drone / ambient / experimental

bandcamp

Several years ago, when I first entered the world of experimental music, I became fascinated with the seemingly endless possibilities of live improvisation. Until then, I had seen many concerts, mostly rock and metal bands performing their pre-rehearsed stuff on a pre-built stage. That was all fine and interesting but I soon learned that there were other concerts too. My first non-stage event was in a backyard, organised by a friend of mine. Then I watched a band in a living room. Later in an old fort, and abandoned factory, somewhere in the woods, a train wagon, a WWII bunker, a basement. Suddenly, live music was possibly everywhere and one-man acts popped up like mushrooms. 

The Netherlands are very good at that. There, everything can be a music venue. That is why that country has such a strong and growing experimental music scene. The Dutch gave us groundbreaking noise acts like De Fabriek, Machinefabriek, Kristus Kut and so on and I guess I can easily add Owlbites to that list. This act, formed by Thanos Fotiadis, fishes in the same pool as the aforementioned acts. He as played in the same surprising venues as his colleagues and his music is just as uncompromising too.

The two lengthy compositions on this album have been recorded in January 2018. They are live improvisations, another one of those huge advantages of being an experimental noise act. Frankly, Thanos does whatever he likes, inspired by the surroundings, the reactions of the audience and the array of equipment he brought. The result is an intense and immersive blend of drone, noise and ambient soundscapes, opening with a spoken word introduction on how to fully appreciate the weird and unusual sounds you are about to experience.

While track one, 'The Meditative State', is an hypnotic and often harsh composition, 'Nature Is Satan's Church' seems to take on a more gentle approach, driving on droning strings. The first track feels synthetic, industrial while the other delves into distorted guitars after a while. I can surely imagine this concert as an intense and well-varied musical trip, one that I will definitely enjoy. So yeah, I think it's only natural that I recommend this album to all fans of gritty and creepy ambient music, especially those who often dive deep into the waters of noise.


​Serge

thrash metal

stoner metal / sludge

psychedelic rock / stoner / blues

drone / ambient

death metal / symphonic metal

alternative rock

ambient

drone / noise / ambient

dark ambient

techno

symphonic metal / death metal

electronic / experimental / breakcore

Petrol 80

Serge

doom / post metal

metal / hardcore

psychedelic rock / doom

psychedelic / doom

shoegaze / dream pop

shoegaze

post punk / new wave

alternative rock / shoegaze

neofolk

experimental / ambient / noise

Unexplained Sounds

ambient / noise / experimental

bandcamp

dark ambient / drone

bandcamp

ambient / electronic

death metal

black metal

Serge

electronic / experimental / ambient

bandcamp

From the very early beginnings on our motto here at Merchants Of Air has been "exploring the regions of the musical universe". And that is true. We have been reviewing everything from modern classical music to avant garde grindcore and from soothing ambient to blasphemous blackened sludge metal. 

Quite often we also dare to cross the borders between music and "what is generally not considered to be music". Experimental music and noise certainly have a place on Merchants Of Air, mainly because sometimes something eeryling breathtaking comes along.

Maximilian Latva is a composer from Helsinki, Finland. With a small modular system, two monosynths, effect pedals and toy instruments Latva produces something that gracefully balances on the edge between experimental ambient and noise music. He calls it "electronic chamber music" and I quite agree with that. However, do not expect a relaxing ambient album, this is something rough with unexpected hooks and twists, in more than one aspect more jazz than ambient.

What sets Maximilian Latva apart from many other producers that appear here is his harsh, often unsettling sound. Opener 'Ajatuksesta Luopuminen' carefully lures you in. This track is interesting. It invites you to continue listening. But then, slowly, the cold harshness fades in. In that aspect 'Alkukuvien Sammuminen' is definitely a highlight on this album, a haunting, lingering piece of electronic noise, void of repetition, melody or rhythm. Merzbow or Krzysztof Penderecki fans will undoubtedly love this. 

In all, 'Hrön' is a challenging album, one that is certainly not suited for everyone. It is also quite varied for an experimental album. 'Mitättömyyden Kohtaaminen' might be my personal favorite here, an eerie folk tune thriving on the background of dark drones and soundscapes. I will leave the rest up to you, dear reader. I do recommend checking this out, but only if you are prepared to be surprised, shocked and awed. If so, you will undoubtedly find something unique and satisfying.


Serge

dark ambient / drone / experimental / noise

Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the dried-up, ancient channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.

Uruk is also the name of several musical acts, from psy trance to black metal and dark ambient. Not to be confused with Uruk-Hai by the way. The Uruk we're about to dig in to is a cooperative project, formed by ​Massimo Pupillo (Zu, Triple Sun) and Thighpaulsandra (Coil).


The album is one 38 minutes lasting track, which basically is a massive array of drones, soundscapes and eerie samples. The overall feeling is dark, challenging and at times a bit uneasy but it continuously manages to remain interesting. This is one of those long, narrative dark ambient anthems I love so much. For a writer like me, music like this is extremely welcome. It showcases scenery, storylines and events, which is very inspirational. Fans of Coil can easily trust Uruk to deliver the goods and the atmosphere they crave so much. I suspect the same goes for all dark ambient and drone fans out there. So yes, this is another highly recommended album from a highly trustworthy label that Consouling Sounds is. 


Serge

death metal / black metal

An interesting black metal EP, full of sinister and crudely afflictive melodies, in the best style of the genre’s old school, Nether Darkness has powerful and distinctive guitar lines, that ostensibly create an atmosphere of doom and demise. With rapid and crudely hostile, almost agonizing melodies, Vhorthax gets really close to what is known as blackened death metal, although they maintain their style more aligned with traditional BM. With pragmatic virtues that showcases a group in the complete command of its technical skills, the harmonies of this EP displays a world of good old fashioned black metal, with aggressive guitar lines, and a permanently lugubrious atmosphere. With six tracks – Altar I - The Mass, The Levitating Tomb, Stabat Mater, Thy Foul Graal, Crushing The Vessels Of Trinity and Altar II - The Descent of the Martyr –,  Nether Darkness is a formidable EP, that has a tremendous amount of dark fury, delivered at the perfect intensity to reach the highest peaks of the black art.   

post rock / shoegaze / doom

delightful universes of sensitive compassion, the music of Solip seems to be the sonorous configuration of a reasonable moment of beauty, doomed to be ephemerons at the pretentious highlight of its infinite vastness. 

drone / noise / experimental

electronic / psychedelic

bandcamp

sludge / doom

dark ambient / noise / drone

dark ambient

shoegaze / dream pop

progressive rock / metal

thrash metal / progressive

jazz / noise / drone

Heavy jazz fans, rejoice, because Dutch combo Dead Neanderthals return with another in-your-face release. Ever since I saw these guys at Incubate some years ago, I've been a huge fan. Why? Well, probably mostly because I like all things original, inventive and entertaining. Dead Neanderthals came at exactly the right moment too. I've been a drone and doom fan since medieval times or so and in the year before that edition of Incubate I became interested in dark jazz. Then, suddenly, there were these noise makers, destroying the stage with their pounding, repetitive and hammering sound, like Sunn O))) meets Miles Davis during an LSD trip.

Otto Kokke (sax), René Aquarius (drums) and Colin Webster (sax) deliver two lengthy tracks which seem to turn back towards the harsh and abrasive sound of their live performances. Unlike their previous experiment 'The Depths', a slow album recorded in a massive tunnel, 'Womb Of God' comes with severe blasts of energy, intense saxophone sounds and unwearying drums. Part of it is still jazz, part of it is still related to death metal and grindcore but I also sense a massive krautrock element here.

Of course, 'Womb Of God' is not for the faint at heart as the album just keeps on going, keeps on raging these intense slabs of noise through the speakers. Personally, I don't really mind, on the very contrary and I'm damn sure that I'm not the only one who is quite fond of Dead Neanderthals. The fact that the white vinyl version of this record is already sold out on the release date confirms that theory. Anyway, anyhow, if you have ever loved Dead Neanderthals, this is the record you need. It's their most immersive and intense work so far.


​Serge

ambient / electronic

ambient / electronic

sludge / noise rock

doom / sludge

black metal / death metal

ambient / experimental / noise

doom / black metal

thrash metal

heavy metal

hard rock

death metal

black metal

folk / lo-fi

shoegaze / dreampop

post metal / progressive metal

thrash metal / heavy metal

electronic / indie

electronic / industrial / drum & bass

metal / djent / industrial

death metal / black metal