Hello boys and girls. By the time I got my mail, all 903 of this 7″ were sold out. When you order from Galakthorrö directly, you will get a newsletter a few weeks before the official release, so you can get your copies before the rest of the world does. In case of these limited releases, you have to be quick. One thing is for certain though, “All I Can Give” is a brilliant EP! The two tracks on side A are downright stunning. The first is noisy, the second more ‘new style’, but both are absolute masterpieces. Side B has two more melancholic tracks which are also great. So I guess you will have to go around your usual industrial dealers to see if you can get a copy of the latest Haus Arafna.
Links: Haus Arafna, Galakthorrö
Haus Arafna * All I Can Give (7″ 2013)
Te/DIS * Black Swan (7″ 2013)
Galakthorrö did it again, they found a typical Galakthorrö project. There are two ways of looking at this fact. First you can say that the label remains in their known musical spheres, but on the other hand, Galakthorrö projects are usually damn good. Te/DIS, or Tempted Dissident, is an angtpop project in the style of Herz Jühning and therefor also the softer Haus Arafna style. There are four tracks on this 33 rmp 7″. Three of them are really great, the last one is just alright. I love the Galakthorrö sound and since not too often comes from this label, also a new project with a known sound is great news! According to the label’s website all 489 copies are gone, so should you run into a copy, do not think twice!
Link: Galakthorrö
Spiritual Front * Open Wounds (2cd 2013)
Spiritual Front presents a limited box with two cds, a book and a t-shirt, but the good news is: I can also listen to this album on Deezer. The first cd contains all new versions of old songs and I wonder is the band tries to please the old fans or scare the new. There is material all the way back to the debut and most songs remained close the originals, with the mumbling singing from “Songs For The Will”, the depressive sound of the first two albums and the sexually explicit lyrics. This first cd does show that the old material is still pretty damn good, but depressive. On the second cd Spiritual Front explores new paths. They did not continue the pop-direction of “Rotten Roma Casino” (fiew!), but whereas the first cd is quite neofolk, the second goes from Swans-like guitar-madness to beautiful chamber music to more experimental and instrumental tracks. Indeed, Spiritual Front just keeps doing what it wants without getting confused by the success of the more accessible albums. On this new album you get a variety of styles of music, not including a poppy one. Interesting for sure.
Link: Spiritual Front
Wardruna * Runaljod – Yggdrasil (cd 2013)
I did not know Wardruna before they played at the 2009 Dutch festival Incubate. Not that I saw them there, but I heard the name from that line-up. Soon after everybody seemed to know Wardruna. Goths, metalheads, heathens, the whole lot. It took Wardruna three years to come up with a follow up for “Gap Var Ginnunga “. Three years in which everybody apparently craved for this second album. It seems to have come with a bang and the craze is as big as three years ago. The sound remained the same. Shamanistic and sometimes dark, folky music with Norse lyrics. Most of the time you will hear just a steady drum, a stringed instrument, male and female chanting and sometimes low, male singing. The first time I listened to “Yggdrasil” I had the idea that the sound had become much lighter. The chanting sometimes reminds of ‘Amerindians’ and it all came to be a bit newagey. At midnight the sound seems quite alike that of the debut. Just like with the debut I can say that the sound of Wardruna is quite unique, at times pretty impressive, but not always convincing. Most of the time this is pretty good though.
Links: Wardruna, Indie Records
Wolf Eyes * No Answer: Lower Floors (cd 2013)
According to Last.fm I know Wolf Eyes and they recommended me the latest album of this weird US band. They are listed as (among other genres) noise rock, so I suppose they sometimes come by when I am playing nowave, since Last.fm, but more especially Deezer easily connect bands that have only the smallest thing incommon. However I use the tag “nowave” myself, this term does not really describe the sound of Wolf Eyes (but I cannot make a new tag for every band). Nowave is usually chaotic, noisy punk without much structure, rhythm or melody. “No Answer” is rather tranquil and very experimental music. Guitars, electronics and sometimes vocals making a weird style of… noise rock? Perhaps yes, but the guitars are not ‘rocky’ at all and the noise is nothing much when you compare it to what I call noise, nor even when you compare it to some nowave. Wolf Eyes is an extremely active band. Their first release on Discogs is from 1998 and Discogs has 67 (!) albums listed and does not even have this one yet. Add 30 eps and over a hundred splits and I am beginning to understand that somewhere along the line I must definately have come accross this band. So, if you are looking for something different, something experimental, perhaps slightly psychedelic and certainly soundscapish, but then made with guitars and some electronics, have a listen to Wolf Eyes. I personally find this a bit too unstructured, but I would not turn it off would it come along in some Last.fm or Deezer “radio”.
Links: Wolf Eyes, De Stijl Recs
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club * Specter At The Feast (cd 2013)
BRMC may not be my favourite popband, but I got to know them as a rock’n'roll popband with several great songs. Curious about their latest effort, I listened to “Specter At The Feast”. Most songs are much softer than I am used of this band and the real ballads have high-pitched Coldplay-like vocals. There are also a few nice more rocky songs and more psychedelic and folky songs, but it is all far less interesting than what I remember of other albums. There are a few nice tracks though and I like the variety of styles, but I guess I will have to make my own BRMC compilation some time.
Link: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Triangular Ascension * The Chronos Anomaly (cd 2013)
Just as the 2011 debut “Leviathan Device”, “The Chronos Anomaly” is quite a typical dark ambient album. The sound is often soundscapish as contemporary dark ambient seems to sound. Also like the debut there is variety in the music though. Some tracks just babble forth, while others are pretty dark. There is less rhythm on this new album, but the deep drones are still present. This is good, because however there does not seem to be much novelty in the sound, especially the darker compositions are interesting, particularly because Triangular Ascension seems to have given his sound more depth. There are more details, much things happening in the background and even the monotous parts keep my attention trying to keep up with everything that is going on. Yep, this is a nice example of well thought-through and well-executed dark ambient. If you like the genre and you liked the debut, you should certainly get your hands on the second album of this Venuzualian project.
Links: Triangular Ascension, Cyclic Law
Lamia Vox * Sigillum Diaboli (cd 2013)
“Sigullum Diaboli” is not a very original album. The title is weary, the sound reminds of early CMI releases and the samples that are used have been used countless times. That is not to say that this is a bad album. Dark ambient tends to become more soundscapish recently and here we have something that might appeal to people who loved the CMI-craze a decade ago. There are slow dark ambient tracks with the typical vocal samples and tracks with drumming and vocals bringing memories of Coph Nia. Nice are the whispered female vocals. Often the sound becomes slightly pompous, not as much as Sephiroth in his days, but to give you an idea. Lamia Vox seems to be doing well and she is touring too.
Links: Lamia Vox, Cyclic Law
Havan * Yajna (cd 2013)
Havan is a new project of Fredrik Arbour (of Cyclic Law) and for this first release he collaborated with Harlow MacFarlane (Sistrenatus/Funerary Call) and Sarah Rosalina Brady (Amber Asylum). This half hour soundscape has been recorded live. It is slow, minimalistic, dark and alright.
Link: Cyclic Law
Bang Bang Eche * Ur The Best (mp3 ep 2013)
I got to know Bang! Bang! Eche! a couple of years ago when on a P2P network I was looking through someones “nowave or whatever the kids call it this week” folder. This was a pretty big folder, so I just picked out a couple of things based on bandnames. Bang! Bang! Eche! do not make nowave though, more something like electropunk, or actually not even that, it is weird, uptempo popmusic with electronic influences. The band released two eps, rereleased them as online eps and the self-titled 2008 ep and “Sonic Death Cunttt” 2009 ep are now again available from the band’s Bandcamp as “Ep I” (2009) and “Ep II” (2010) with a different order of the tracks and a video for the first ep and an 8-bit “original version” of a track on the second ep.
A while ago the band announced that they had an album ready and a label to release it. When the label said something critical, the band reacted with their usual strong language on their Facebook and the label decided to not release the album at all. Now after quite some silence there is a new online ep with only three tracks and a different, more mature sound. “Ur The Best” opens with a nowavey fast noisy track that is really great. The second track is more punky and more poppy at the same time and however nice, not as good as earlier material. The last track is even more poppy, a bit of the popsound with electronics that you hear more nowadays. It is a very easy-listening track compared to the madness of the first two eps. But, the songs sound good and might very well bring the band under the attention of a wider audience. Also the new ep is a ‘name your price’ Bandcamp release, so nothing should hold you back to try some nice electropop/-punk.
Links: Bang Bang Eche, The Underground Management