Gangleri – music reviews

Free online compilations can be a nice way to learn about new projects, but I must say the fact that the length is no longer limited by the amount of information that fits on a disc, things become quite absurd. After the 5 hours Emissions compilation that I reviewed recently, here we have a one file, 800MB and 8+ hours compilation with dark ambient, industrial and a lot of experimental electronic music. I have by far not heard the whole thing when I write this, so this is not really a review, rather an announcement. I heard some nice tracks along the way, but also a lot of too vague experimentalism for my taste. When you are interested, get this compilation here.

There seems to be a whole industrial scene (or several of them) that I don’t really know. A while ago I was contacted by a label called Industrial Culture and today while I was fooling around on the internet I ran into projects and labels that I never heard of. N.Strahl.N appears to be an extremely active German project with a style that varries from soundscapes to power electronics. While looking for more information, I noticed this free-to-download album on their ‘website’. “In Absentia” is about 33 minutes long, has four soundscapes that are not too interesting, but the last track is a very dark and pretty good noisescape. Apparently I will have to look a bit through the band’s discography to see if there is more stuff in it that I would like.
N.Strahl.N has quite a few releases on a label called Tosom which has dark ambient releases, but also a power electronics series and a noise-ambient line. Most mp3s that I heard are just alright, but there is also interesting material there. Some other things that I ran into are the Alampo Records / Malachia label from Italy and a Dutch project called dead.circuit both of whom I hope to have a cdr to review some time soon.
The funny thing is that compilation of such labels also contain industrial acts that I do know, so I suppose it is all a ‘more underground’ side of the industrial scene. Good that we have the internet to run into these kinds of projects by accident!

This rather old release was the second project on Galakthorrö not being mr. and mrs. Arafna themselves. Galakthorrö seems to use the following terms to describe their releases: “angstpop”, “Kalte Welle” and “Intensiv Elektronik”. About the first term, I recently wrote a few thoughts. The second term is German for “cold wave”, so I guess that makes a Galakthorrö version of that style. I don’t know what is meant with the last term, but who knows it refers to Karl Runau.
Karl Runau goes from minimalistic ambient with some rhythm to bleepy electronics. It surely fits on Galakthorrö and perhaps the sound reminds a bit of some November Növelet tracks here and there. “Beyond Frequencies” is a nice album that could definately appeal to people who listen to minimalistic electronics outside the industrial scene too. The computer sounds have been popular in some techno movements a while ago, so… Anyway, something less noisy than many other Galakthorrö releases but of course very strange.
Galakthorrö

David Lynch has made a lot more music than I knew. Yesterday I wrote a little about a new classical soundscape cd and some jazz(rock) releases, later I ran into this album. “Lux Vivens” is the music of the mystic Hildegard von Bingen which Jocelyn Montgomery apparently sings a lot. For this release David Lynch made the background music which in line of most releases that I review I would call “dark ambient” and “soundscapes” and Montgomery’s opera voice would be “heavenly voices”. There is also a little bit of “noise” and here and there a guitar. I am positivily surprised by this album. The “low” (Lynch does not think this album is “dark” since “dark could imply evil”) threatening sound goes wonderfully with the eerie voice of Montgomery. A very enjoyable album!
-4-

When I ordered this cd I did not realise that it was a rerelease of this classic split project of many years ago. I knew the album, but did not really like it and therefor never bought it, so in the end, I did… The project is interesting. 6 Comm’s ambient soundscapes combined with Aswynn’s recitals of Norse texts, but I happen to not too much like much of the music and also I don’t particularly enjoy Aswynn’s voice and pronounciation. The cd has it’s moments and surely is a classic release for having such a thick layer of paganism so long ago, but in my opinion this rerelease is more for archival reasons than for the quality of the recording.
Links: 6 Comm , Freya Aswynn, Hau Ruck!.
-2-

For their hundreth release The Old Europa Café label has released a 7-cd compilation with a track of each band and project they have been involved in during the years. However looking around the internet it seems like the bands are featured alphabetically, this is not the case, the cds are ordered somewhat thematically / according to style. “Somewhat” I say, since it is not completely that there are industrial and folk cds, there is some overlap. That is only for the better, the compiler of the cds has a rather good ear for things. In the beginning I had the idea that there are alternally more industrial and more folky cds, but this is not entirely true. The compilation opens with a cd with mostly not too extreme noise, a nice cd. Then follows a cd with more (neo)folky music, but not the too typical sounds of a compilation that I reviewed a few days ago. Then we have cds with power electronics and the extreme, chaotic style that isn’t mine, but also more old industrial things, strange experimental soundscape music and more of an old neofolk cd that I find awfull (Ain Soph, that sort of bands). Having heard the whole thing, my temporary conclusion is that the first cds are the most interesting and towards the end are some cds that I will probably never play. I think that four out of seven cds are enough of my taste to put in the player every now and then, so the “price/quality balance” is not that bad.

We didn’t put limits to the sound stiles, so here you can really hear all the sounds of the Industrial sub-culture featured on OEC !

This is a sure thing and it would be utterly impossible if everybody would love everything on this “mammoth compilation”, but I guess that for people who like the better stuff from the scene, there will be plenty to enjoy on “The Old Europa Café”.
-3-

I don’t listen to dark ambient all that much. I do like the music, but I find it often too monotous or (nowadays) not dark enough. Loki has always been a label that tracked down the better industrial and ambient projects, also projects that have a nice twist in their sound. Incendium II is almost completely a dark ambient compilation. It has the maximum length and old and new bands on it. The tracks are certainly varried enough, most of them are pretty good as well and there is some pretty dark stuff here. Therefor I suppose that for the few euros that this compilation goes, you can get some of the better stuff here. Of course, this being a label compilation, all tracks can be found on other Loki releases as well.
-3-

My girlfriend wanted to have this cd because she ones wrote a paper about the Austrian poet Georg Trakl and Heidegger’s analysis of his symbolic texts. With three tracks of each band, this nicely packed album makes about 50 minutes. The Allerseelen tracks are not bad, but like usually with Allerseelen, the tracks start with a nice idea, but keep repeating it until the tracks end. Neutral has tranquil piano tracks with the poets spoken on the background. Otzepenevshiye is a strange project with strange tracks. Not a bad cd, but certainly no masterpiece.
Links: Allerseelen, Neutral, Otzepenevshiye.

The Eastern Front has released a very nice double cd compilation with a whole range of famous bands on the first cd, most of them not from their own label. Cd 1 (“Grief”) has bands such as the resurrected Belborn, Cold Fusion, Cawatana, Kammer Sieben and Horologium and includes a cooperation between H.E.R.R. and Von Tronstahl. Most tracks are bombastic and militant, sometimes more orchestral, sometimes more neofolky and in most cases quite enjoyable. The second cd (“Birth of Psyche”) has mostly more minimalistic and ambient tracks from Artefactum, Rose Rovine, Shining Vril, Bisclaveret and a range of projects that are new to me. This cd surely isn’t bad, but less interesting than the first cd, but the projects Wach and Sitra Ahra offer a nice surprise. Both cds have a running time of well over an hour, so you get what you pay for! The simple but very nice booklet looks good, like we get used to from this label and also the limited amount of 1000 copies goes for this compilation. I noticed that it is available from about every descent mailorder, so it shouldn’t be too hard to lay your hands on a copy.
Link: The Eastern Front

Wow, I didn’t know that this Raison d’Être side-project was still alive! In my Raison d’Être period, I bought everything that Peter Andersson released, including tapes of side projects and the first Atomine Elektrine cd (“Elemental Severance” 1995 CMI). I really loved the album with its great ‘trance ambient’ style. Quite a few years later there was another album (“Archimetrical Universe” 1999 yantra atmospheres) which is not bad, but nothing like the debut. Apparently there was also an album in 2004 (“Binomial Fusion” Essence) and now a new one. The music still can be called “trance ambient”, with which I mean ambient soundscapes with rhythical elements, but not sounding like the debut. The music is soft and soothing, sometimes soundscapish, sometimes ‘trancy’, but always nice and well structured. This may not be music that I will play a lot, but it is a nice album to have if I feel like playing something different.
Links: Atomine Elektrine, Essence Music
-3-

When I bought the “The Ritez Of Higher Communication” lp (2003) I was quite impressed by the minimalistic ritual ambient of this project. Later I bought the “…And Outside Glows The Red Dawn” cd (2005), which sounds quite the same; nice but nothing really special. The same I can say about this new album. Ritual soundscapes that are minimalistic and monotous. Maybe the sound becomes even more minimalistic with every new album, because “A Broken Union” seems to appeal to me even less than the other albums that I have…
-2-

I didn’t really know Institution D.O.L. I thought that they were one of these old power electronics projects and never tried to hear some of their music. A while ago this project would play somewhere around. I haven’t been there, but I did listen to some of the music on their Myspace and the like and figured I might try an album some time. Tesco describes the album as “noise pop” and since I happen to enjoy the Haus Arafna, November Növelet, Thorofon, etc. development in industrial music, I ordered Institution D.O.L.’s latest album. “Weakniks” for a large part lives up to my expectations of before, since it contains extreme noise terror with screamed vocals and little structure, but there is also more ‘ambient noise’, loud industrial and other extreme sounds. These harsch tracks are interchanged with ambient, danceble tracks and even real songs . One of two tracks may remind a bit of Haus Arafna, but for the most part, Institution D.O.L. have a style of their own which varries from power electronics to “noise pop” and strange experiments.
Links: Institution D.O.L., Steinklang Records
-2.5-

Steinklang again offers a cheap compilation with tracks of their own and befriended releases. III is not as II a double cd. The first half of the cd is filled with industrial, dark ambient and a violent noise track of Dissecting Table, the second cd with neofolk and other folky sounds. Just as with the previous two issues of the compilation there are some very good tracks here and especially bands that were new to me, so that is always nice.
links: Steinklang
-3-

I have quite some material of Horologium, but it seems that most of it is nice, but nothing like “The Fire Sermon”. This time we get slow, monotous and at times orchestral ambient with a bombastic track towards the end. The tracks of Horologium and K. Meizter (of whom I never heard that I remember) are put among eachother, but sound well together. Also here other peoples’ (classical) music is used to make something of their own, a comment that I got per email just before I started Gangleri when I mentioned Horologium in an Aghiatrias review. Again I have to say that the result is nice, but nothing too special.
links: Horologium, K. Meizter, Old Europa Café
-2-

Jochem Paap is better known as Speedy J with which this Dutch artist produces very experimental industrial techno. On this cd you will only hear ambient soundscapes. I think this is mostly what Paap makes for video-collages and experimental industrial expositions. Very monotous and definately not my taste. <3/6/01><1>

A compilation mcd on Touch showing the ambient side of so called “electronica” music. There is one track from Hazard and I am pretty sure that this is the same Hazard who used to release music under the names Morthond/Morthound on Cold Meat Industry about 10 years ago. Their track starts ambient, but later there is some soft rhythm. The second track is of Fennesz (also see cd reviewed elsewhere) also with an ambient track with a weird rhythm. The best-known act Biosphere could contribute two tracks to this 26 minute compilation and of course this is also ambient with strange rhythms.
I don’t like this ambient electronica too much. It is too monotous for me and nothing really happens. The digipack is beautiful though. <29/12/01><1>

I know this band from the recently reviewed ‘Wir Rufen Deine Wölfe’ compilation and this is the debut cd. They are anounced as a new star on the neofolk horizon, mixing “fine neofolk” with “martial industrial [...] ambience and neo-classical”. Well, Werkraum makes mostly tranquil neofolk with some drumming. Other tracks are electronic also tranquil tracks. I think the style (but not really the sound) is best compared to Darkwood. Also I like the band about as much as Darkwood, that means, the sound is not too original and the music is not too great, but overal the material is quite enjoyable. <4/7/04><2>

Somnambulant Corpse got rid off its corpse, but besides the name and internetaddress, everything remained the same. Here we have a compilation with 10 of the labels bands as some sort of record label teaser and first release in the new Somnambulant style. If you follow my music reviews, you will have some idea what to expect. I have reviewed most of the previous releases. “XII Ceasars” has ambient, dark ambient, more industrial ambient and one noise track. Most tracks are nice. Below average are Post Scriptvm, The Great Despisers and Önd, above average is the noise track of Survival Unit. Since Somnambulant releases are fairly cheap, I suggest you just order your own copy and find out. <26/2/04><2>

Dark Age Productions (DAP) was ‘founded’ to make the Cernunnos’ Woods demos look more “official”. This man now runs the Battle Helm heavy metal magazine for which I do the alternative pages When three demos had seen the light of day (94/95/96) “Bard Algol Eriboas” decided to release the demo of another band “Under Crushing Wings” (usa 96) which was more or less the start of DAP growing into a label. Then a folkrock band caught Bard’s ear and he urged the band to go for a more medieval approach and two …The Soil Bleeds Black demos were released. Two of the three members of this band (the Riddick twins) proved to be active music makers who also ran a tape label of their own called “7th Key Creations” that for example released the early Equitant demos (known for playing in the metalband Absu). Later the Riddicks and Bard decided to work together and more later sir Prosciptor MacGovern (also of Absu) joined the ranks and DAP from then on consisted of three “Towers”.
The three towers more of less independantly released their material under the DAP banner and still all releases were limited to about 100 copies in most cases. Of the 20 releases before the split of the towers, I only miss two items. The full discography is (with all other information) in the booklet of The Fossil Dungeon.
Somewhere in 1996 Cernunnos’ Woods was asked by the Swedish cultlabel for a cd on a to be founded sublabel “Cruel Moon International”. Roger Karmanik also showed interest in …The Soil Bleeds Black (in my ears always the best DAP act). Things didn’t exacly go as planned.
In 1996 DAP released a red double 12” of Prosciptor called “The Venus Bellona”. This would be released on cd by Cruel Moon being the third DAP act on CMI. CMI not only released the cd, but also a vinyl version that more or less made the DAP vinyl superfluous. Other problems caused the third act (Prosciptor) being the first Cruel Moon release, the second act (TSBB) the second and Cernunnos’ Woods was released after two long years. Plans for an Equitant on CMI were never carried out.
Profane Grace also became quite well-known, but more in the dark industrial scene, releasing cds on the same label who made this compilation possible (and for who Michael Riddick does the artwork).
As you probably know …The Soil Bleeds Black was the fastest rising star of the DAP firmanent. After the cd on CMI, they released two cds on Draenor Productions (a sublabel of Napalm Records from Austria) and now they are on the notorious World Serpent label.
The tracks on “The Fossil Dungeon” as mostly taken directly from the mastertapes for the demos. 4 Tracks are exclusive, Cernunnos’ Woods, Profane Grace, Prosciptor and …The Soil Bleeds Black. The music ranges from medieval, to atmospheric and extremely dark ritual industrial.
Because of the ‘strange’ and mostly pretty good music, DAP was called the “American CMI”. After several years of activity, changing interests, quarrels and maybe a lack of things to be released, caused the demise of DAP. The second Prosciptor cd “The Serpentine Has Risen” was released after the break-up by Prosciptor himself. “The Fossil Dungeon” may be regarded as DAP 022, the final release of the label.
The Riddicks have plans to continue DAP as a new sublabel of CMI under the name… The Fossil Dungeon. <20/1/01><3>

The second cheap promotional compilation of the Austrian Steinklang label. One cd with industrial, noise and order harscher music and a cd with (neo)folk, ambient and martial music. Most tracks are good (especially in the beginning of the cds) and overall this cd is surely worth its few euros. A good overview of a varried label and most tracks (and even some bands) where new to me so… <14/9/06><3>