Away - "Cities" (2013) [Utech Records] FULL ALBUM STREAM + CONTEST

The metal world would be a much different place without the guidance of Michel "Away" Langevin. Whether you are a die hard Voivod fan or not, it is hard to deny this one man's importance, be it with his musical prowess, ingenuity, and visual artistic talents (Away has designed countless logos and album covers!). Of course, we Voivod fans are much more used to Away's more metallic side: a loud, progressive pummeling which is undeniably his own, so many seasoned Away fanatics might find themselves on the more confused end of the spectrum after a full listen of Langevin's newest solo effort, the contemplative and abstract Cities.

Operating in the "musique concrète" sphere, Cities is a collection of field recording collages recorded over the past three years in and around Montreal, as well as around the world while touring with Voivod. These are the sounds of places: people, animals, nature, music. The hustle and bustle of city life slowly decays into a found recording of a solo bandoneon arrangement of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." People dancing and cheering, a parade, commerce - it seems as if Away has perfectly captured the essence of these locales, highlighting the contrast of modernity and human strife against the consistent underlying elements of ancient culture preservation, be it conscious or a mere vestige. This is Away's celebration of life as an observer, travelling the world. Of course, this isn't entirely a serious affair, with a few tongue in cheek samples of crowds chanting "VOIVOD! VOIVOD!" closing out "Europe 2012." A truly unique and inspiring work from one of the music world's most creative souls.

We have removed the album from our soundcloud page. Enjoy the stream via the official Utech Records Bandcamp page.



From the label:

"Utech Records is pleased to announce the release of the first solo album by Away (Michel Langevin) from Voivod. The album, Cities, is a journey into the life and thought process of an itinerant musician. Recorded in and around Montreal and on the road with Voivod, Cities is an experience in travel via sound, capturing both the geography and the music of the locations visited. The album is a rapid journey across the globe, via a first-ear account from an artist like no other.

Cities will be available July 27, 2013 with exclusive art from Away.
Utech Records at utechrecords.com
Away at irongang.com

I’ve always been fascinated by field recordings, tape collage and musique concrète.
I was introduced to it by Piggy as a youngster. –Away

Strong field recordings capture more than just the sound of an area, they capture a mood and spirit of the place and people. On Cities, local color and nature recordings clash with riots and discord, capturing the full human experience across the world. Literal and metaphorical “found music” appears: the booming stereo of a passing car or distant church bells, as does the rhythmic engine hum of a bus or the chirping of birds. This
tour is a fast paced one, rapidly weaving through the geographic locations building a diverse, yet consistently engaging experience. The audio journey captured here perfectly reinforces the fact that, regardless of one’s location, the presence of music is never far, nor should it be." -Keith Utech

CONTEST!

Yes, you could be lucky enough to win a copy of the beautiful, contemplative Cities.

How?

Brush up on your Voivod trivia:

What were the two sides of Voivod's War and Pain LP titled, respectively?

E-mail your answer to theinarguable@gmail.com. The first three to answer correctly will receive their very own SIGNED copy of Cities, graciously donated by Keith Utech of Utech Records!

ALL CONTEST COPIES HAVE BEEN SPOKEN FOR. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS. ORDER A COPY FROM UTECH RECORDS ON JULY 27TH.

-Jon

The Inarguable Exclusive: New Seirom Track "Sparkle Night" Streaming Now

Maurice "Mories" de Jong is the source of more than a few of my nightmares. The tortured mastermind behind the praised Gnaw Their Tongues and Aderlating, Mories has destroyed minds and ears with his own brand of night terror fuel, crafting amorphous masses of mechanized flesh and delightfully destructive sadism. With a reputation which more than precedes him, more than a few jaws dropped when Mories unveiled his newest solo project, Seirom, whose sound is as much a reversal as the project's name.

You will not find Mories's disturbing insignia hidden within the walls of "Sparkle Night." There is no epiphanic vomiting of blood, nor is there pained shuddering, rather a beautiful display of loud, full, post-rock-inspired ambiance. Echoing the "maximum sound" approach of bands like Surface of Ece(y)on and the like, "Sparkle Night" draws from a variety of textures, from the warm, pulsing bass's depth to the shimmering, glass-like guitar work and smooth mellotron work, to create something that is as massive as it is entrancing and beautiful. Like waves crashing on a beach of sea glass or an Earthrise from some distant planet, Seirom is proof that Mories isn't the ball-gagged one trick pony he was once made out to be. Even the most tortured souls can make something beautiful, and "Sparkle Night" is most certainly beautiful.

"Sparkle Night" is the first half of a brand new Seirom cassette, which will be available in a week's time from Sulphurous Productions.

M O R I E S E I R O M

-Jon

Of Sun and Snow: Two New Releases from Sol y Nieve Records

Sol y Nieve is a bit of an anomaly in the Chicago music scene, which in itself is becoming its own anomaly. However eclectic I've found Chicago music to be, there is still a great deal of separation between styles, with the black metallers only dealing in black metal, indie folkers only dealing in indie folk, noise guys keeping to their small circle...you know, "clique-y." A select few Chicago-based labels (Bloodlust! comes to mind) have been breaking the mold, with Noah Coleman's Sol y Nieve quickly gaining clout in the underground, embracing noise, metal, folk, and experimental music without hesitation. In a polarized world, Sol y Nieve is a beacon of hope. It's nice. Today I will be concentrating on two of Sol y Nieve's more metal-oriented releases, featuring Oyarsa's astral/kosmiche doom and an excellent pairing between Connecticut avant-black metal icons Yellow Eyes and the claustrophobic sounds of Monument.

Oyarsa - "Oyarsa"

This tape has been a long time coming. I've heard about shows, seen shirts around town...the whole shebang, and yet I hadn't actually heard any recorded Oyarsa until just a few weeks ago. The wait? Worth it. Following in the footsteps of Jucifer and The Body, Oyarsa is a "power duo" who completely foregoes the use of bass, instead utilizing powerful guitar tone and thick, bassy percussion. Of course, don't let the previous namedrops be any sort of indication towards Oyarsa's sound, which manifests itself as some of the most terrifying blackened doom metal I've heard this side of Dead Reptile Shrine's slower material. Exemplifying the fear of the unknown, the horrifying awe of deep space's vastness, Oyarsa's engulfing, noisy, but always clear and ever so creepy take on doom metal is refreshing and exciting. Extra points to Coleman for making both the mono and stereo mixes available on this release.

Yellow Eyes/Monument split

After an excellent physical version of the Silence Threads the Evening's Cloth demo, Yellow Eyes returns to Sol y Nieve, paired with Coleman's enigmatic Monument (though Coleman reportedly prefers it to be spelled Monvment for aesthetic purposes). Before getting into the music, I need to talk about the amazing packaging and effort put into this release. Noah Coleman hand-measured and cut high-quality black construction paper O-cards, then printed a smaller O-card (the lemniscate-based work you see to the right) on vellum and, you guessed it, hand cut and measured that as well. The cassette itself, which is pro-dubbed and on-shell printed, is housed in a soft polycase (fancy) with an insert, featuring both bands' logos and band photos. Our friend at YITMS was kind enough to take a photo so you can see the packaging in all its glory. It really is something.

I'm surprised I haven't written about Yellow Eyes yet. I mean, these guys are the perfect middle ground between the early 90s school of miserable, loathsome black metal and the new, Krallice-championed "Brooklyn" school about which we've all read so much (and in big publications, no less). Unlike the almost-happy sounds found on their demo, Yellow Eyes have really brought the mood down with these two new tracks, concentrating on even darker tones than before, and with excellent results. A raging wall of melodic emotion, wandering into the modern, "open" compositional style of Paul Hindemith and non-Rites of Spring Stravinsky, Yellow Eyes is not so much a black metal band as it is a statement on how to effectively push extreme music forward without the air of pretentiousness most others in this style seem to carry.

Monument's side is a different kind of monster. I mentioned that Yellow Eyes's contributions were dark, but their misery is nothing compared to the self-destructive atmosphere's found within these two tracks, which happen to be the first new Monument tracks in almost two years. While previous efforts garnered comparisons to Leviathan and Lurker of Chalice, Coleman's lo-fi, claustrophobic sounds are filled with an indescribable, melancholic rage. Is it self-loathing? Madness? It is hard to tell, but Coleman's gurgling croak seems to point to the latter. If, like me, you prefer your black metal to be big, murky, and grating, Monument is definitely worth your time. An excellent return with lots of promise for future releases, but not the future itself.

Both of these releases, as well as the rest of the Sol y Nieve discography, is available for free via their Bandcamp. Additionally, it pains me to say that both of these releases are still available in physical format. How is that even possible? Shame on you. Shame shame shame. Support great art.

-Jon

Sounds of Autumn VI: Nechochwen and Mirrorring

It's definitely beginning to feel like Autumn 'round these parts, especially in my sinuses, so please excuse the tardiness of this week's installment of the sounds of autumn column as I have spent the past few days coughing up face muck, but enough about my gross allergies. This week I'll be exploring West Virginia's folk-gone-metal act Nechochwen's and all-star dreamfolk duo Mirrorring's vastly different approaches to autumnal music.

Funerary Call - "Fragments from the Aether" (2012) [Crucial Blast]

We have a saying in the business world, "Presentation is everything," and "Ross Bay ritual dark ambient" project Funerary Call's Fragments from the Aether is no exception to said rule. The eerie drawing of Cernunnos which graces the cover initially caught my eye and set part of the tone for the music within. The three offerings start with pulsing drums and a susurrus, inviting the listener to slow their breathing to match the flow of the enveloping sound.

This album brings new ideas of ritual ambient to the table and executes them quite well with grating undertones and breathy vocals. Drifting guitars introduce harsh noise while maintaining the mournfulness through overlaid violin-like wailing; the ebb and flow of Libation drags the emotions with it into a frenzied high before lying the listener down in an exhausted, unexpected, post-coital heap. The second track, "Fragments," is more subdued and the forefront is dominated by the tensed violin's aching for some form of release... it is eventually joined by a drone background which still denies the needed release but morphs the violin's wantonness into a more sensual tension, as if the climax is near yet the buildup needs to play out fully before both parties can enjoy its fruits. The remainder of the album continues both the coital and ritual themes, alternatively twisting and rolling as it uses us to explore the curves of a beautiful woman in an intimate setting. All too soon, the drone gradually ebbs into a strange percussive scraping leaving an edgy unfulfilled desire.

Funerary Call successfully pull off ritual ambient with sensual undertones, and Fragments from the Aether is like returning to a favorite lover who brings both of your consciousness to new heights. Fragments from the Aether is available as streaming audio from the Crucial Blast Bandcamp and in a handsomely-designed digipack.

-A.

Northumbria - "Northumbria" (2012) [TQA Records]

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous swathe of thick droning guitar ambiance from Toronto project Northumbria.  Utilizing extreme volume and a completely improvisatory approach (everything here having been recorded live), the duo of Jim Field (guitar) and Dorian Williamson (bass) build up dense architectures of electrified onslaught coerced into shades of severe and heartbreaking beauty, arriving at a sound somewhere between the stoic grandeur and melodicism of Sigur Ros and the gigantic tones of classic Earth.  This is extremely serious and structured sound, based on an innate sense of communication between two people dialed in to one another almost exactly, creating a complex and intricate web of syrupy, flowing electricity married to the cavernous aesthetics of drone overlords like Troum and Eliane Radigue.  It's a near-perfect debut record, an awesome statement of both intent and artistry.  Everything here works together; music, design, and artwork all cohere into a distinct and organic vision, giving the impression of several hands becoming one.  In that sense I'm reminded of units like Wolves in the Throne Room: the musical and personal bond between the members is so strong it can't help but display itself in the shared artistic output that both references and transcends its influences.

That comparison goes a little further with Northumbria.  While obviously not a black metal project in any sense, they do share some similarities to more atmospheric BM projects (and not just because of their logo, designed by "lord of the logos" himself, Christophe Szpajdel) in both sound and aestheticism.  The massive reverberations felt and heard throughout "Northumbria" betray a familiarity with projects like Paysage d'Hiver and Lustre and the lovely visuals that accompany the record display a fondness for churches, candlelight, decay, and the overwhelming majesty of the natural world.  Northumbria are one of few bands to actually nail that sense of expansiveness with their music; every track here extends itself out into the world alongside the listener's consciousness and the end result is a feeling of being engulfed, by both the sheer weight of the sonics and the glacial vistas they so effectively conjure.  I'm reminded heavily of Werner Herzog's journeys to the Arctic across the album's span, the focus on endless washes of beautiful nothingness suggesting the utter immensity of the universe and mankind's diminutive place within it, an ever-growing blur of both vision and sound.  This is the sort of recording that makes you feel smaller than yourself, each piece pulling you further into yourself, wanting you to arrive at a subconscious terminus where the body and the corporeal surrender to the purer manifestations of a cosmic intellect.  There is a truth that we're slowly growing deaf to.  Individualization becomes a barrier to a greater sense of community and collectiveness, a oneness that we should share with the world.  Identity is derived from psychological malady, itself a rotten tendril branching off of modernity and cultural collapse.  We've lost touch with the true actual.  The aching beauty found in the work of groups like Northumbria serves as a reminder of what is truly worthwhile.  That belief in the power of nature and commonality firmly allies the group with more culturally regressive black metal projects; Northumbria's mastery of the language imbues their music with an emotional heft comparable to that of Mogwai or Sigur Ros at their most heart-crushing.

I feel like I'm weighing everything down with superlatives.  I find myself struggling because for me this is the sort of record that goes beyond any sort of easy intellectual appreciation.  There's something here that defies categorization or explanation.  It's past words; much like experiencing Sigur Ros, it simply has to be felt and taken in to be understood.  This is music meant to be experienced physically, hence the enormous volume (even the band themselves urge listeners to play the album as loud as possible); "Northumbria" was recorded in a church and mastered by James Plotkin, so you really get a sense of the intent.  The volume becomes something greater than the music, a vehicle for transcendence and transformation; so too the instrumentation.  Guitars and bass, as recognizable as they are to us in the now, become something altogether more unique and towering.  They become raw experience, torn from a specific moment and wrought into the language of immediate emotion.  Each held note exists as a testament to some sort of inner yearning, a desire unfulfilled or a dream gone unrealized.  When those notes erupt into feedback it's a glorious acceptance of the unknowability of your experience; anything could happen in any number of ways.  Like Mogwai, Northumbria turn sadness and sorrow into a magnificent sense of triumph, an eruption of frustration and angst that slowly transforms itself into exuberance and resilience.  The drones here are far from flat, instead gorging themselves with poignancy and beckoning you ever further in.  It's hard to believe this stuff is improvised, but I believe it really is.  There's a joy and spontaneity here that eclipses any notion of composition or technique.  To borrow from the black metal world again, it's difficult for me to see anything being much more "true" than this.  Like improvisational contemporaries Skullflower, the goal is moving beyond the physical.  Whether the chosen path is dark or light is irrelevant; it simply has to be illuminated.  Northumbria dazzle the listener in a flux of white beaming light and beckon you to follow them to the other side of it.

"Northumbria" is a very special record.  There is something here larger than the good majority of what's available.  Everything about this release commands focused attention.  The design and packaging are exquisite; photographs and inserts accompany a lovely matte envelope and a monochromatic color scheme that reinforce the stoic and wintry feeling of the music as a whole.  There's an emotional resonance here that I can't deny, and can only compare to other artists whose work has moved me in such a deep and profound manner.  Like Birchville Cat Motel or Sigur Ros (again, I know, but they're really the best example of what I'm striving for) or Lyrinx or Troum, there's is something magical here.  This is music free of contrivance and totally immersed in a larger concern, an astral concern.  These are the sounds you hear in the clouds, in the oceans, in the deepest forests, at the tops of mountains, inside the stars.  This music wants you existing inside of it, free of the lurid banality of the modern world.  You are welcome here.  It's indescribable, and I cannot recommend it more highly.  One of my favorites of 2012, easily.  Stunning.

-Cory

Cassette Roundup I: Brave Mysteries CQBL23-29

Wisconsinites Nathaniel Ritter and Clay Ruby are busy, busy guys. When they're not making music and performing under their various guises (namely Burial Hex, Kinit Her, Wreathes, Circulation of Light, Wormsblood, and more), Ritter and Ruby dedicate massive amounts of time to their joint label venture, the prolific Brave Mysteries record label. If you aren't familiar with the Brave Mysteries label just yet, have a look at their stellar catalog, with releases by Horseback (I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the Forbidden Planet cassette early last year), Bong, MV & EE, and, of course, Ritter and Ruby's own related projects, for a good...thirty five reasons as to why Brave Mysteries should be a part of your "favorite labels" roster.

Released later last year, secretive Wisconsin duo Rose Croix made their presence known with their first, self-titled release. A rather sensual, effeminate offering of Dead Can Dance-inspired darkwave, Rose Croix immerses the listener in deep, resonant loops and an otherworldly female voice. Sadly, this cassette is 100% sold out, but rumor has it there might be a vinyl re-issue sometime this year. Croix your fingers.

I've had way too much fun listening to this next one: Horrid Red's Celestial Joy is definitely not one for the faint of heart. A delightful "outsider" romp, the only way I can accurately describe Celestial Joy is a raving lunatic fronting the world's greatest post-punk band. Frontman Edmund Xavier's uninhibited ranting, rambling, and overall weirdness acts as a bizarre juxtaposition against backing band Bunker Wolf, Catholic Pat, and Clay Ruby's smooth, almost dancy post-punk. At first this might come off as jokey and comical, but this is absolutely serious music. Horrid Red will be waiting when you desire something "different."

Emme Ya's Erotognosis (Voices from the Void) is an interesting one. Dark, cavernous, inhuman dark ambient, centered around sex magick rituals. I don't find myself listening to music like this very often, so my word isn't exactly the "be all end all" on this subject, but it definitely sounds intriguing. I wouldn't expect such dark tones to accompany the hedonism of sex magick. Definitely worth a listen if you're into "deep ambient" like Sleep Research Facility and the like.

Out of all these releases, Lightning Path's Aspire-{2}-yuggoth cassette has given me the most trouble. A meditation on voodoo ethnomusicological study, Aspire treads the line between relaxing drone and jarring, almost improvised percussion work. I have it on good authority that the men behind Lightning Path are indeed music scholars and this project is the product of intense study, so, as a music scholar myself, I can definitely appreciate the amount of work put in to their transformation of legitimate ritual music into an ambient setting, however, I did not wholly enjoy this release. I'd recommend this to anyone who is either interested in traditional voodoo practice or tired of traditional ambient and drone practices.

Baldruin's Nachfalter takes us out of the Caribbean and into the forests of Germany. A lovely collection of psychedelic folk and post-industrial pieces alike, sole musician Johannes Schebler's dreamy, free-flowing approach to music would appease any fans of Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, or Stephen R. Smith's work. Harmonious guitar loops act as a backing track for percussive violins, chiming bells, and almost inaudible voices; a picturesque effort, bringing forth visions of sunlight through forest canopies and endless meadows. An immensely strong effort from Mr. Schebler, enough to where I've been scouring the internet for more of his music. Get this.

The "ritual ambient" of Italian project Urna's latest album, Larvae, has definitely been an eye opener. I'm normally entirely against anything "ritual" related, seeing as it's normally just a bunch of kids in crust pants lighting candles and playing "flavor of the week" black metal, but Urna's enthralling ambiance has proven me that "ritual" can be used in a positive connotation. Dreamy, pulsing chimes and other prayer implements are used to lull the listener into a sort of trance-like state, with lush layers of bell harmonics bouncing off of each other in a glorious array of sound. Oh, how I would love to be a synaesthete.








Though I didn't enjoy all of these releases, I definitely had a positive experience overall, and I definitely cannot deny how brave Brave Mysteries truly is. Keep an eye out for yet another batch of tapes which are slated for release next month.

-Jon

Eolomea - "Eolomea" (2012) [Brave Mysteries]

Eolomea is a demonstration of the best of the non-noise artists grouped in the noise scene. Like Locrian, it's Andre Foisy playing guitar (in a way not remotely resembling any of that silly "riff" and "solo" garbage) and someone else--this time, the legendary David Reed of Envenomist--building sound with synthesizers.

Reed is not, however, Terence, and Eolomea is hardly likely to be confused with Locrian. While centered on the expansive sounds of droning keyboards, they resemble more the calling of semi-angelic horns across empty space. They (and Andre) scream of loneliness, of the secrets made by the complete absence of anyone who might know.

If the 1972 East German science fiction film of the same name is anything like this, it's probably a good watch. The world is over. I'll see you among the stars.

-V.

Sky Burial Double Review

It's that time of month.
Sky Burial - Aegri Somnia (2011) [Utech Records]
Aegri Somnia is beautiful. Something about the packaging (the intricate art? the near-wordless approach? the self-containment?) is the sort of album you want to keep in a carefully hidden wooden box. It's a treasure.
. . . That said, that's not the reason I put Aegri Somnia in my top-2011 post. It's not the only time I've heard saxophone mixed into ambient/drone music (I live in Bruce Lamont territory), but it's definitely a favorite to date. Sky Burial creates the wide-open spaces of Tibetan mountaintops without the lazy empty drone of some records--Aegri Somnia takes the meterless pulse of Sunny Murray's best work and opens it to the space of ritually powerful ambient space. Nik Turner obliges just as well. His weaving, soaring saxophone lines really come across as the spiritual aspect of prayer, flying frequently from low register up into altissimo ululations.
Aegri Somnia never feels like leaving, so as I do when I'm listening, I'll move on to

Sky Burial - Threnody for Collapsing Suns (2011) [small doses]
Threnody for Collapsing Suns is like the antidote to Aegri Somnia. While it works in much the same way (without, of course, Nik Turner), the resultant feeling is mourning. Throughout Threnody for Collapsing Suns, you can feel the abstracted mourning of the death of something with the kind of rarified beauty that can only exist far from air. Drones, whistles, hums, warbles, rhythms abstracted.
Fine showings over and over again.







-V.

WRNLRD - "Unknown Tongue" (2011) [FlincoSoundSystem]

The enigmatic, bizarre WRNLRD has caused many a craned neck with their extensive back-catalog of angular, grating, highly experimental black metal, but nothing compares to this. Honestly, I thought that this Virginia duo (They're now a trio? You can never be sure anymore) couldn't get any stranger than the peculiar moments of atonal, mathematical black metal-meets-MIDI-saxophone found strewn throughout their fantastic (and FSS released) Death Drive EP, and yet, Unknown Tongue seems to top any of the most innovative, headache-inducingly bizarre music they have churned out in the past.

Why?

Well...this time around, WRNLRD has completely abandoned black metal for two surprisingly beautiful, calming, Christmas-oriented (though slightly inverted...check the upside down cross on the cover) songs, even going as far as to offer their own rendition of the classic German hymn Stille Nacht (Silent Night) and the more modern (as in it's by Blue Oyster Cult) Unknown Tongue. Beautifully arranged, yet almost randomly placed accordion pillows the listener, acting as a backdrop to the beautiful solo female voice (Buccinator?). One wouldn't expect beautiful Christmas songs from such a violent, caustic entity, but their sentiments towards the supposed Messiah are not lost within the music. With every mention of "Jesus" or "Christ" comes a sour note from the accordion, beckoning a short, deliberate section of disparate polytonality before returning to the uneasy beauty found within this short offering, lasting under ten minutes total.

Surprise?

Available as a free download from FlingcoSoundSystem starting December 1st.

-Jon

Cedars of Lebanon - "Archive II" (2011) [Land of Decay]

Once ever few months I enter a sort of a rut. I like music, but sometimes I lack the real passion to write about it. With hundreds of albums in my "To-Do" bin, everything starts to run together into a sort of harmonic blur out of which I can't really get anything. In these darkest moments, some of the most beautiful, unique, and meaningful pieces of music drag me from my lack of motivation, taking my mind to places of which I could never fathom before. Recently my ears have been craving the haunting, beautiful music of Chicago's Cedars of Lebanon, a newer project spearheaded by now-defunct experimental doom metal band Minsk's drummer.

Cedars of Lebanon's Archive II is absolutely immense, but not in the way that Minsk was. A mournful excursion into the sounds of bazaars, Sufi burial rites, and the desert at night, Cedars of Lebanon's gorgeous, meditative ambiance is unlike anything else you've heard this year. If Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is the soundtrack to Chicago at night, then Archive II takes the listener through the darkened streets of Beirut just before the sunrise. All the clubs have closed and the streets are virtually empty, leaving a sort of transcendental, spiritual atmosphere, unveiling the hidden faces of this ancient city. Extraordinarily picturesque visions of the very cedar groves of lore in which the great Gilgamesh once tread envelop the listener, taking them back to the time of the Phoenecians. Elements of stark, Burial-esque electronica emerge from time to time, snapping back to present day, but overall Archive II is centered around the extensive use of hand percussion, traditional string instruments, and a lone, grief-stricken female voice.

The beautiful ambiance of Cedars of Lebanon's Archive II, while rooted in the traditional sounds of the Middle East, show a mature synthesis of ancient and modern, highlighting the region's difficulty in maintaining its identity as the "cradle of civilization" while keeping up with the modern world. Archive II has proven itself to be one of the most engrossing, beautiful, unique releases of 2011 and will make wonderful reading music for years to come. Stream one of the six songs here and be sure to order a copy (there are only 125!) from Land of Decay.

-Jon

Devin Townsend Project – Ghost [HevyDevy Records] (2011)

Devin Townsend is back at it once more and he now as much before brings us two new albums for 2011, namely Ghost and Deconstruction. These two new albums are very much in the same vein as previous albums Ki and Addicted. Ghost behaves much like Ki in the form of very laid back and ambient "chill out" music, if you will, and Deconstruction more like Addicted; very heavy and extreme while having all kinds of progressive elements.

I thought of writing a double review for both Ghost and Deconstruction, as they are companion pieces to each other, but I will save my Deconstruction review for a later date.

This album was pretty impressive. Not only do I like my Funeral doom, Black, Death, Doom, Progressive metal and other forms of extreme music but I do enjoy the more esoteric non-metal forms of music, namely progressive rock, ambient, Jazz fusion, new age music, and more. These genres, above all, emulate emotion, which is showcased in Ghost's ability to capture the childlike, nostalgic bittersweet that is wholly present in Devin Townsend's music and is representative of his own struggles with emotion.
Influence from progressive rock greats Mike Oldfield and Alan Holdsworth are highly prevalent throughout Ghost. Echoes of Oldfield's classic Tubular Bells surface in the form of soft, acoustic guitars and melancholic, folky melodies, while the Alan Holdsworth influences are much more in the progressive rock-tinged ambiance that he has claimed his own, but without the odd open chord structures. With those two influences, Devin blends in all kinds of "chill out," Zen, soothing, dreamy, flowing, electronics, acoustic music and new age types of styles. This is a very relaxing album; Townsend does do a good job of drawing upon his signature "wall of sound" style but in a more quiet, subdued manner, creating a monstrous, hour and 13 minute long album.
If you are expecting another metal album from the Devin Townsend camp, prepare to be shocked. Strict metalheads might want to stick to Deconstruction and pretend Ghost never happened but, if you need something to break away from metal for an hour or two, then this is your album. Sit back, drink some beer or something hard, and think. For the hardcore Devin Townsend fan this is a must have for you ! Because if you really do feel the way I do about this style of music then you will keep coming back to this album much like I have.

-Bjørn

Offthesky - "The Beautiful Nowhere" (2011) [Hibernate Records]

I spent this morning driving all over town for coffee, and all I got were detours. 

Needless to say, the drive was a perfect time to give a thoughtful listen to the new Low album. I was convinced that I would be the one fan to think this was their best effort yet. That was not the case. A less than stellar experience segued into another recent purchase- the newest effort from Ulver, which despite the media silence and virtually zero pomp and praise for the record, was a beautiful experience that will somehow make it onto my year end list. Still, I needed something truly refreshing today, as I do most days, to renew my faith in the idea that music is still moving forward.

Then I remembered I was two weeks late in reviewing “The Beautiful Nowhere” by Kentucky multi-conceptualist, Offthesky. 

Truly cinematic in scope, from the first moments of “Surface of Your Sin,” it is clear that Jason Corder is exploring new territory- both within his own catalogue and the canon that encases his contemporaries. Crown him prince- the Bonnie “Prince” Billy of post-drone (am I the first to use the term?), or maybe consider the atmosphere of Kentucky that we have recently seen conjure the genius of likeminded local musicians such as the always prolific Josh Lay and Austin Lunn is in the air, penetrating the soundwaves. Whatever it is, “The Beautiful Nowhere” has all the makings of a true milestone, including its Criterion worthy title, and documents the positive progression of an artist that has now solidified a reputation as a key player in experimental music.

Fans of the backwater sensibilities captured by old Palace Brothers, devotees of artists like Jasper TX and Simon Scott, lovers of the more commercial textures explored by Explosions in the Sky and/or Air’s Virgin Suicides era, can all find something to connect with that will resonate long enough to keep this album on repeat for a long while.

I always feel guilty giving a positive review, because I want so badly to tear down poorly constructed music. But the truth is Jason has shown more than a glimpse of genius with this release. In fact, he has simply proven himself to be the master weaver of textures that I will be wrapping my head around for the next hundred listens. Highly recommended. Favorite tracks: ALL OF THEM.

-R. Loren

André Foisy/High Aura'd Split (2011) [Stunned Records]

I'm probably not the only one coming into this release experienciencing High Aura'd for the first time. For everyone else on a similar path, perhaps the phrases "toured with Barn Owl not so long ago" and "just released this split with André Foisy of Locrian" will shed a little light.

John Kolodij of High Aura'd plays guitar in a way that glorifies the instrument. Not in the sense of putting the instrument first; he lets the guitar become something glorious. His track on this split, "Dusk Latitudes," is a duality between tension and release at a timbral level. For the first ten glorious minutes, Kolodij lets an Earth-like western wandering bird slip out of his hands as soon as he calls the plains to run beneath it.

Growing from a cicada hum, a gritty half-ugly spool of glass stretches out in the east. The guitar turns into a soft wave of tonal beauty that builds just to the point of letting the crystalline grit turn us around and demand that we do it all over again. And then André comes in.

André does something strongly in the spirit of the works Locrian created before turning to black metal. Everything is in layers of soft strong flowing beauty, building and eventually falling through peace and climax into a moment when André seems to look back with regret. His anticipations never quite find resolution, and his screams at the end tell of the sort of self-hating dismissal that comes so potently after complete surrender to beauty.

Want to travel the spirit of the continent as a bird? Here you are.

-V.

Demdike Stare - "Tryptych" (2011) [Modern Love]

Demdike Stare members Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty share an obsession with witchcraft and all the bleak horrors found therein.  The band's very name references a famous witch that was part of the Pendle Hill  coven, who was tried and executed in 1612.   Incidentally, both are record collectors as well, one (Whittaker) by occupation, another (Canty) by obsession.  Demdike Stare brings together a passion for the past with the terrifying aspects of witchcraft and blasphemy.  To say that they live up to their name is an understatement.

“Tryptych” collects three previously released, vinyl only albums from the dark duo – “Forest of Evil,” “Liberation Through Hearing” and “Voices of Dust” – and places them into a triple album CD format with 40 minutes of added bonus material, featuring gorgeous black and white cover art by Adam Votel.  Despite their separate releases, all three manage to flow cohesively without a single missed beat.  On each of these LPs, Demdike Stare grabs hundreds of bits and pieces of music from an godly amount of old movie soundtracks spanning seemingly every genre and begins weaving them together as a tapestry.  With these, they create new songs from the corpses of the old, crafting them together into a Lovecraftian abomination from the depths of the psyche.  

Every track on “Tryptych” plunges listeners into forsaken lands and dark rituals at campfires, slowly but surely dragging listeners to a point of no return.   The drone/techno/dub atmospherics can terrify, condemn, brings feelings of abandon, and spellbind the unwilling, sometimes all at once.  Notably, none of their music sounds consciously engineered - the high quality of production makes the tracks themselves pulsate with darkness, so that it feels not so much listening as experiencing.  This holds true in particular for “Liberation Through Hearing,” arguably the strongest of the trio, with the songs “Eurydice” and “Matilda’s Dream” as testament to the pagan movements the British duo have created with gentle hands and heretical hearts.

More than any other artist in recent memory, Demdike Stare has shaped an atmosphere for mythology, graveyards, urban blight, black forests and dusty roads alike.  “Tryptych” is a minimal masterwork devoted to the unsound and the unsettling, one that will unlikely be surpassed anytime soon.

Links to the three CDs, streaming in full @Soundcloud:

Forest of Evil
Liberation Through Hearing
Voices of Dust

-Shane D

Good Weather For An Airstrike - "A Winter" (2011) [Rural Colours]

Residing in the southeastern English town of Winchester, musician and soundscape artist Tom Honey sharpens his skills at creating harmonious and somnolent pieces with his project Good Weather For An Airstrike. Scheduled for release next week on January 14th through the net label Rural Colours, "A Winter" is an EP focused on quieting the mind, especially for listeners deprived of nightly peaceful slumber. It is also intended as the first half of a larger conceptual piece, based on similar ideas and changes.

The tracks themselves certainly portray the sound Honey is going for; with the first song "Motions", the artist slowly works the minimalist orchestration up to a greater volume, sways for a bit, then brings it back down to a more softer and drawn out melody. All the while, the vocal tracking was done by a woman by the name of Jamie Brett, presumably a friendly acquaintance of Honey's. On the second track "Within a Dream", we are presented with a bit more bleak sounding piece, although it still maintains the dreamy atmosphere that was undoubtedly striven for. Concluding "A Winter" EP is the song "Broken", which echoes the Clint Mansell-esque compositional and aerial minimalism, and again features some vocal contributions by Brett.

For more information on Honey and GWFAA, I urge you to seek out his base over at MySpace, and his Bandcamp, where his "A Winter" EP shall be downloadable shortly. If you are also interested in supporting this artist via clothing, check here. At last, the lovely photographic work found with this EP can be traced to this location. Cheers.

-Shane