Gangleri – music reviews

This album opens with IDM (‘intelligent dance music’) and something that I would call ‘ethno-ambient’, a very interesting start. Ambient music, soundscapes with flutes and German poetry. Halfway the music gets less interesting with instrumental and experimental parts, but not too much of my liking. The last third has even more experimental sounds with an industrial sound that sometimes reminds of Sanctum, sometimes of a band such as Knifeladder; guitar, industrial sounds, screamed vocals and the clear sound of a flute or some other instrument. Towards the end, Bardini goes back to where he started with tranquil soundscapes with a flute. There is some very interesting music on this album, but also some less interesting music. The whole album is highly experimental and progressive which is good; so, if you are into something new, you might want to try “Sentinelle del Mattino”. <5/5/07><3>

Rome from Luxembourg has delighted us with a magnificent mcd and a brilliant full-length and only months later there is a new album, again on CMI. I hope this tempo will not continue and lead to overkill. “Confessions” is again a masterpiece. It is slightly different in style, but still ‘very much Rome’. The bombastic and orchestral opener may appeal to the lovers of the popular martial industrial style, but again the cd is very tranquil and melancholic. Just on a few occasions you will get something more industrial. Actually, this new cd is more tranquil with accoustic guitar and singing than on the previous releases. Besides this you will hear ambient, wave-like sounds, industrial, orchestrations and here and there a martial tone (especially in the background samples). Rome as a concept is carefully put together with a great ear and eye for details. The music is multi-layered with a lot of things happening on the background. This care also shows during live-performances where a beautiful film is projected on the background which goes perfectly with the songs and the lyrics. If you like the previous releases, you will also like “Confessions”. As a personal note I have to add that the previous releases (which I have put on one disc and always play as one thing) have more songs that really give me gooseflesh and work on my emotion, so in this regard “Confessions” may be a little less good than “Berlin” and “Nera”. Maybe this is because the novelty is gone, I cannot tell. In any case, do not expect popular martial and orchestral industrial, but a very personal, intimate and melancholic release with brilliantly built-up songs. <15/4/07><4.5>

I saw this release on the Tesco mailing list. A luxery box in different versions. Apparently the band was not content enough with the “Return Your Revolt” box. I have got this 7″ size box with a cd on a glass-plate. This time the cd is put on a mirror and the box is a very luxery jewlery-like case with a hinge and furnished interior. The box is very expensive (I paid E 45,- for it), especially when you know that besides a booklet there are no extras and even more especially when you notice that inside the booklet a normal release of the same cd is announced on Cold Spring! Nothing I can do about that anymore and I at least got myself one of the 500 beautiful boxes. The music is this time very minimalistic neofolk, with only here and there some orchestrations or a harder tone. The band even made a neofolk version of “Walked In Line”. The songs are alright, but not groundbreaking. I prefer the dark and oppressive sound of the early releases, but I don’t think that there is a chance that the band will return to that. At least there are no lengthy collections of samples on this album, such as on “Return Your Revolt”, so the 72 minute length is completely filled with music. Not bad, but nothing special, besides the expensive package. If you are just in for the music, you might wait for the Cold Spring version. If you can’t wait and/or want to get yourself a Von Thronstahl jewlery box, I got mine from Tesco. <15/4/07><3>

Slow, dark and minimal soundscapes. If you like the style, Loki could be your label. Inade, Herbst9, Combative Alignment and now Circular. However the description sounds a bit like the ‘avarage’ CMI-release, Loki releases usually sound a bit different, but I think that if you like the dark ambient CMI-sound, you will also enjoy the releases of the projects that I mentioned. Personally I find the Loki dark ambient sound often a bit too monotous and the same goes for Circular. They sure set a very dark atmosphere, but sometimes I get the feeling that not enough happens in this music. Nice, but not brilliant. <15/4/07><2>

After the magnificent demo (2005) that contains the first tracks of this debut cd, I have eagerly awaited this album. The demo tracks are very dark and noisy with a threatening sound that suggests the coming a violent power-electronic outburst, but which never comes. The other tracks have a slightly different style. V and VI are more ambient noise tracks, while VII is a noise track with a marchdrum. The violent eruption finally does come at the end and VIII is a real power electronics track and IX a more martial and slightly bombastic noise track. More violence is anounced for the second album “Wrought Iron Railings” that will be released on the Propergol label Hermetique later this year. “Division One” is an instant classic in the power electronics field with great atmospheres, structured violence and wonderfully built-up tracks that will definately appeal to lovers of Propergol. One minor point is the length: 37 minutes…

-9/4/07-

Long ago CMI was a progressive label with all kinds of exciting music. This developed into ‘the CMI-style’ and however the label never really had one sound, my interest deminished a bit. Then CMI started to meddle a bit with already popular kinds of music, such as neofolk. Now it seems that Roger Karmanik is trying to get back to being (one of) the better labels from the scene. I adore Rome and in Pimentola from Finland, CMI has found a highly original and high-quality project with a very progressive release. It is almost impossible to describe Pimentola. The music goes from weird horror sounds with screamed and distorted vocals, to orchestral and bombastic industrial, from ‘jazz-ambient’ to almost Novy Svet-like passages. This album had to grow on my, but I love it.
-3/4/07- / -25/4/09-

A while ago I got an email from Italy from this new project. I listened to the Myspace tracks and found them very interesting. The 3″ mcdr is even more interesting! The package is great: photo-like prints on a 3″-cd-size package and a tastefull design. The music is very dark ambient like I haven’t heard it for a while. Sometimes Vestigial reminds me of Megaptera, sometimes more of (other) CMI acts, but Vestigial has a sound of its own, usually darker than most CMI releases, original sounds and structures and a great atmosphere. This mcd was remixed in the Secret Lab, so Vestigial got a deserved flying start with distribution by LOKI and Tesco, a link with Turbund Sturmwerk and Firsst Law. Promising!
27/3/07 -4-

I have known this bands since long before they ever released something and when they did, I missed it for some reason. I ran into this release on a P2P network, but wanted to get a copy myself. Equilibrium Music from Portugal still have a few, so… “Ar Dievu” contains music that -as often- has to be described as orchestral and sometimes martial music with neofolk and industrial elements. Not too original you may say, but this project sure has its own style which is very interesting and the recording is very good. This surely is a classic and I only got to know it more than two years after its release… <27/3/07><4>

I don’t know if I knew this French act, but I got a copy of their 7”. Bombastic martial industrial with a very nice track on side A and an alright track on side B. <24/3/07><3>

Wrong Number is the new incarnation of Jérôme Nougaillon of Propergol, released on his own Hermetique label. However you immediately hear the similarities with Propergol, Wrong Number has a slightly different style. Jérôme himself compares this cd with the more ambient Propergol album Ground Proximity Warning System. It was also made in the same way with months of collecting samples. Wrong Number is indeed more ambient, more soundscapish even, but still in the Nougaillon way: dark, oppressive, impressive with a lot of layers and atmosphere. There are some noisy edges to this album, but nothing compared to the power electronic eruptions of Propergol. The cd contains long and slow tracks with stretched sounds and loads of samples. Here and there I find the style a bit too monotous or there are too many ’small things’ happening (all kinds of sounds), so I don’t like Wrong Number as much as some of the Propergol albums. But again, if you like Propergol, noisy ambient or good soundscapes, I advise you to get one of the 471 copies of this well-packaged cd. And be sure to visit Hermetique.fr for sound-samples, a video-trailer, wallpapers, etc. <8/2/07><3.5>

Some people, especially outsiders, think that our scene is one big pagan, anti-Christian bunch of (musical) extremists. Personally I always liked the fact that there is actually a multitude of convictions, ideas, ideologies, musical tastes, etc. This compilation seems to be a calling for listeners of our music to return to our Christian roots. The cd is pretty apologetic, sometimes even rather aggressively so. Kriegsfall-U has an aggressive track with as lyrics: “destroy all untrue and evil human” and in the accompanying booklet in which every artist can scribble some thoughts, Kriegsfall-U writes: “We offer this composition to Michael Moynihan, Thomas Petterson, Hendrik Nordvargr Björkk. Dead men, awake! You cannot play with Perdition.” Gregory Bardini writes against certain ideologies that can be found within the scene, including Evolaian and Guénonian and says: “I would want to point out that the more authentic neo-folk scene is forgetting our closest tradition: Christianity!”, it gets even better: “Why? Because of a lack of study, time, knowledge”. Personally I can only reply that I spend many hours a week reading and studying a variety of subjects. I have respect for the Christian faith, but I can only conclude that it isn’t mine. I don’t see the point in judging other peoples ideologies simply because they are different from your own. If this compilation would only have been a statement of Christian artists within our circles, I would have had the greatest respect. With this apologetic tone, this cd seems more like a fundamentalist Christian aim to reconvert the scene to one faith instead of allowing everyone to walk his/her own path.
But let me also say a few things about the music. There are famous and small artists. Most tracks are tranquil and alright. The artists are Von Thronstahl (this was to be expected, Josef also was behind this compilation), The Days Of The Trumpet Call, Rose Rovine E Amanti, Parzival, Kriegsfall-U, Lonsai Maikov (with a metal track), Gregory Bardini, Oda Relicta, Zebaoth (a nice Sophia-like track), Thorn-Agram, Kayno Yesno Slonce, Hidden Place and Militia, but beware, this is not Militia from Belgium, but a side-project of Magnifiqat from Italy).
Nice try, a bit too overly fanatic in intention, musically agreeable. <30/12/06><3>

After a cd on Somnambulant Corpse (2002), Hermetique (2005), Post Scriptvm have found their way to Tesco, the ultimate industrial label. The new album is much less dark than the previous album, but can still be catagorized as “dark soundscapes”. Post Scriptvm again created a nice atmosphere and a very nice cd to play on the background while reading. I think I like “Marginal Existence” (the second album) better, but I better make my final judgement when I have played both of them after eachother a few times. <30/12/06><3>

Jason Forrest is also known as DJ Donna Summer under which monicker he makes ADHD mixes between techno, breakcore, soul, jazz and whatever he can lay his hands on. A few years ago Forrest decided to form a one-man-band under his own name. “Shamelessly Exciting” is a complete novelty (as far as I know) in the music bizz. Forrest mixes fucked-up breakcore beats with poprock guitars, punk samples and towards the end the album gets a bit pop-idm-jazz-like. Eh? Hard to describe, but energetic, fresh and magnificent.

Jason Forrest (see unofficial tekno reviews) was earlier known as Donna Summer, both as a musical artist as as DJ. Here we have a one hour free DJ mix which is completely brilliant. DS goes from techno to IDM, breakcore and a lot of old-fashioned gabber. He throws in popmusic such as Lynard Skynard or Queen. The greatest thing is that DS doesn’t just plays tracks after eachother mixing them together, but he actually uses tracks to make something different from it. Run DMC becomes an acid track and from (the unlisted) Prodigy’s “Wind It Up” you only get the piano tune. The mix goes from nice dance music to breakcore extremism, but overall is a very nice ADHD dance mix with the most unexpected tracks. Very nice! <4/3/07><4>

I was tipped about Duran Duran Duran, a completely hellish fast and fucked-up breakcore act. Searching the internet I landed on the label Cock Rock Disco which has a free online compilation. I figured that this would be some kind of breakcore compilation. In a way this is true, but Cock Rock Disco has more tricks to offer. Besides the main man’s magnificent poprock breakcore act Jason Forrest Band (also a bit to be heard in the band About), there is IDM on this album, but also metal-like breakcore (Drumcorps) and all kind of new weird sounds. Be sure to download a copy of this compilation and see if you are in for crazy futuristic music. <4/3/07><3>

I don’t think that I heard of the label before they sent me an email to notify me about their free compilation. “IDM” I am not sure if this is still the name this music goes under these days. In the beginning I called it “abstract techno” by lack of a tag, later terms used in the media were “cuts and clicks”, “dub”, “electronica” and later “intelligent dance music”. The most funny thing is, is that the music isn’t really danceable (in my opinion). The music seems to go back to weird electronic acts such as Autechre and Aphex Twin, but it seems that in the evolution of this cut-up breakbeat music seems to have gone in two directions. One is a more soft and melodic sound (Funckstörung, Funckarma), the other fucked-up and violent (following Venetian Snares). The first then is “IDM”, the latter “breakcore”. Of course there are numerous crossbreeds and novelties. What -for example- to do with a weirdo such as Kid 606? Anyway, in the beginning I had the idea that the music is still the same as seven years ago when it was still new. Soft music, crazy rhythms/beats, a bit of orchestrations. But as the cd continues there come some harder tracks and some tracks with new elements. There are some very nice tracks on the compilation and you can heard the sound of both old and new. <4/3/07><3>

I had never heard of this guy until last weekend when I saw him at a nice and free festival in Rotterdam (NL). An earblowing piece of industrial techno combined with noise and digital hardcore-like elements. On the cd (at a more modest volume) it isn’t that hard, but still this is fairly hard for a techno cd. On the other hand, this guy from Manchester (UK) was signed on the same label as my country mate Speedy J (NL) who also knows his way with industrial techno (see reviews elsewhere).
Anyway, slow distorted beats, some influences of noise, relatively tranquil and heavy tracks and some difference in quality of the tracks are the elements that describe this cd. One last thing: it is very short, 40 minutes. All in all pretty nice. <6/7/01><3>

Over three years after “Irony Is” the (as far as I know) 2nd cd of 2nd gen is released on a label that I didn’t know. Also the cd comes in a nice new kind of cd-box. “Flicknives” is only 44 minutes long and not as hard as the first cd, but still very much 2nd Gen. Our Brit has a unique sound, being somewhere between industrial/noise and techno. The rhythms are more downpaced this time, but the industrial background probably keeps this lovely release away from the normal techno-audience. On the other hand, maybe 2nd Gen is ‘too techno’ for the industrial audience, but if I am right, there is a growing audience for the harder and more experimental kind of techno or industrial. Here we have a cd to show what this could sound like! <6/2/04><4>

I read a review of a mix cd by Adam Beyer called “Time Warp 3″ which is supposed to contain quite hard techno. Instead of finding that brandnew cd, I found this slightly older cd by Beyer himself and decided to try it. Hm, quite the normal kind of 4/4 techno that is quite popular these days. It sounds nice, but not really special and definately not harder than normal.
For those who don’t really know what I am talking about, this is the kind of techno that they call “techno” which usually/always has the same “four-to-the-flour” rhythm and is therefor perfect for the dancefloors. “Techno” is mostly quite minimalistic and also Beyer’s sound is. It is the trick to avoid starting to sound boring when you have only one rhythm to use, but often this seems no problem, not for Beyer it is anyway. Quite nice -therefor- but nothing special. <19/6/02><3>

Alec Empire is of course the man behind the DHR label and best known for the most famous (and almost most boring) DHR band Atari Teenage Riot. For his one-man-project Empire makes “d-jungle”. Very extreme drum’n'bass with extremely fast rhythms. But you will also hear more ‘classical’ digital hardcore with ‘gabba-beats’. This (I believe) first Empire cd is really great. A few tracks can be found on DHR compilations. <4>