v/a * Kosmoloko (cd 2004 galakthorrö)
I have had this compilation on the computer for some time, but good things I want to have ‘for real’. This compilation celebrated 10 years of Galakthorrö and opens with an old style harsch industrial noise track of Haus Arafna. The second track is also for Haus Arafna, but this time more the ‘new style’. Subliminal continues with two harsch noise tracks, but things get more tranquil with Karl Runau. Then follow two magnificent tracks that were mostly the reason for me buying this cd. Maska Genetik is unfortunately no longer on Galakthorrö and even seems to cease to excist, but his two noisy disco-industrial tracks are very much Galakthorrö and some of the best tracks this label released. Of course the compilation would not be complete without November Növelet, two great “angstpop” (and/or “kalte welle”?) tracks in the “From Heaven On Earth” style. Unfortunately the running time is only 38 minutes…
In the past I have tried some smaller (industrial) labels without much succes. In the end the good projects usually end up on a larger label and consequentally on the regular mailorders. For quite a few years I haven’t taken much effort to find interesting smaller labels, so I had to run into a few to show me that this can actually be quite interesting. For a mere 8 euros I bought this Alampo compilation of a little over an hour and it is actually very nice! The music can be described as dark ambient and soundscapes with an industrial and noisy edge. Most tracks are pretty dark and nice to listen to. There is (of course) also a not too good track (of Akronia) and a superb track comes from Machinamentum Victum Tortusve (too bad about the whip sample). Indeed, this is a nice sampler if you like the darker side of electronics and when you do not fear a healthy bit of noise. I guess I have to look into the label and the projects a bit more, since these small labels release small labels seem to have a high release-speed.
I don’t spend much time looking for projects that I do not know, but I am glad that I ran into this Dutch project. Dead.Circuit does not mind much about keeping one style, but on “Repressed Memory Therapy” the style is dark noisy soundscapes with total noise moments. The sound reminds quite a bit of Propergol at times (a bit too much sometimes), which is a good thing since Propergol has not released much recently and his sound seems to become less extreme. The people who like the older works of Propergol should definately try to get one of the 97 copies of this Dead.Circuit album. “Repressed Memory Therapy” might not always be as good as Propergol or Sistrenatus, but our Dutchman surely knows how to create a dark and filthy atmosphere with echoing film samples, distorted/noisy edges and here and there going completely loose with an almost power electronics track. Of course it is also a debut and small release, so who knows what the future will bring. A cheap 70 minutes album for lovers of “noisescapes”.
Totally unexpected a new album of Ginger Leigh fell in my mailbox yesterday. “Mercant Of Death” is another typical Ginger Leigh album. Sound collages with strange samples, weird rhythms and this time more vocals than we are used to. Swinging ‘noise ‘n’ roll’ (even though this new album is again not as noisy as the earlier albums) with jungle sounds, Middle Eastern flutes, etc. making a sound that I still have not heard anywhere else. Inspite of the strangeness, I find Ginger Leigh listenable and very enjoyable. Nowadays you can also have a try before you buy, since the website has free downloads and Ginger Leigh got a Myspace, see below.
Those who fear that Galakthorrö is becoming soft with the newer sound of Haus Arafna and November Növelet, releases of Herman Kopp and Herz Jühning can rest assured tonight: Subliminal made another total noise album. The first two tracks lets you get used to the fact just mentioned, but from track three on, you get some rather harsch noise with distorted vocals. Subliminal has released another album on Galakthorrö (“Gracebudd” 2000), but I don’t know it and they appear on the excellent “Galakthorrö – Kosmoloko” compilation (2004, which I have no legal copy of yet, so I haven’t reviewed it). “Coping” reminds quite a bit of the harscher side of Haus Arafna here and there. I wonder how it comes that Galakthorrö projects somehow all seem to have a sound based on whatever sound mr. and mrs. Arafna have produced. Does the label manage to track down such projects, are they involved in them theirselves, it this a group of friends working in the same studio? Whether it is noise, “angstpop” or “Kalte Welle”, it is not too hard to recognise a Galakthorrö sound in projects. As long as it is good, this does not matter of course. Subliminal is surely no Haus Arafna copy and like I said: if people think that Haus Arafna got too soft, they can now buy “Coping”.
Murpey’s Law caused some delay to this release, but I finally got my copy yesterday. In the series of DVDs with reports of the shows at the October 2004 Steinklang festival in Vienna/Wien, this is the second. Here we have to rhythmical industrial/noise projects. Tormentum is not too great, only a few nice tracks in their 41 minutes. The sound-quality is not too good either, the right speaker sounds really flat and no, that is not caused by my equipment. Thorofon is more interesting in every way. The sound quality is much better (fortunately), the visuals are more interesting (two persons on stage and they even walk around, plus they include a woman and that helps too), the music is more interesting. It is no This Summer Suicide, but Thorofon showed both their old fashioned noise side and the more rhythmical sound. 52 minutes, not such a bad deal!
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.
Those of you who follow these pages will already know that I find the musical current called “neofolk” has been in a downwards spiral for quite a few years. There was an interesting thing when some bands started to experiment with poppy sounds, but after a short trend, also these poppy influences have already been removed. Judging the second half of the fourth Steinklang label compilation, “neofolk” is back to its minimalistic, unimaginable and boring sound. Unfortunately it seems that also kindred musical currents seem to have been infected by the virus of dullness, since the “industrial / noise / electronic” tracks of the first half of this cd are pretty boring as well. Besides a few good moments, this new compilation is an awfull compilation, a downwards trail since number II (I don’t have the first). There are a whole bunch of bands that I didn’t know or that I only knew by name, but this obviously was for the better. So now I wonder: does this compilation represent the poor state of the scene or is it another omen that I am growing away from it?
A compilation dedicated to North Korea with a whole range of interesting bands to be found on it. Putting the cd on I am very pleased to hear that Turbund Sturmwerk didn’t loose their touch afterall. Their latest tracks were not too great, but their “Reunification” is pretty damn good. It opens very loud with a bit of a Firsst Law sound and after a noisy middle Turbund falls back in known patterns, but overall I am happy with this wonderfull track. Lovers of harsch noise can enjoy themselves with Operation Cleansweep, Con-Dom and Genocide Organ. The track that Militia contributed is quite nice, but when we skip on to Ex.Order we hear another wonderfull “ambient noise” track with a great dark sound. The Grey Wolves tear our ears to shreds with their power electronics and to close off Anenzephalia put together a quite typical track with minimal noise and screamed vocals; not their best material, but not boring either. Overall “Juche” is mostly a compilation for people who like the harder side of electronic music and who had to wait for their favourite projects to finally release something new. “Juche” has a nice A5 package, produced in North Korea and is limited to a mere 15.000.000 copies, so hurry up!