DEFILE DES AMES - 'Lust 'N' Stone' CD (Ahnstern / Steinklang)
(2008) The swirling sense of lust meets the hardness of stone. The music of Défilé Des Âmes is a blend of contrary elements: Violence & lyricism, atmosphere & rage, murder, purity, winds & mushrooms… Their traditional and classical instruments are accompanied by powerful percussion and the participation of the great Matt Howden (Sieben) gives a incomparable accent to the album. "Lust 'n' Stone" is a brilliant, dark Avant-Garde Folk album and after many years of live appearances and independent releases, here is finally the debut album of the Mediterranean Folk-gods Défilé Des Âmes.
EONA - 'Groyantes Eternelles' CD (Morningside Records)
(2006) This fine release by French act Eönä, presented on the new subdivision of Drama Company, provides the listener with a medieval / folk experience. Flute tunes are accompanied by singing birds, folkish guitars are paired with medieval voices, and lazy toms set the tempo by the campfire. For fans of Ataraxia, Trobar De Morte, Hekate etc. Comes in a nice digipak with woodland artwork.
UK 11£
Europe 12£
World 13£
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FILIVS MACROCOSMI - 'Stalker' CD (OMS Records)
(2006) Inspired by and a tribute to A. Tarkovsky's movie "Stalker" (1979). Stalker is an elaborate puzzle. Its pieces are always scattered, and the listener is relied upon to bring the final element of the puzzle along with him. Stalker invites you to get carried away into your own thoughts, flowing with the images as it provides new questions to ponder. In that sense, the album is very much like a philosophical poem: a very simple surface covering innumerable layers of meaning. One long ride in a cart, with clunking metal and water-whooshing sounds. Altogether fascinating and hypnotic. "Welcome to your Self, an alien place guarded by barbed wire". Ltd x 500 copies in foldout sleeve. Ukrainian import.
UK 9£
Europe 10£
World 11£
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FIRST HUMAN FERRO - 'Corona Astralis' CD (OMS Records)
(2005) "Corona Astralis" is the follow up to the 2000 album “Motherwards” and fundamentally represents the development of this Ukrainian project. "Corona..." carefully combines early 1998-2001 Death Ambient / Industrial experiments with recent ever-generating solid electroacoustics, harsh electronica and dronesque synth multi-structures. Inspired by one of the greatest examples of poetical mastery “Corona Astralis” by Maximilian Voloshyn (a classical representative of the so-called Silver Age of Russian poetry) this album accurately deals with eternal ideas/values of a main being like a grain of sand in a Pascalesque desert-like Universe. Ltd x 500. Ukrainian import.
UK 10£
Europe 11£
World 12£
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HALF MAKESHIFT - 'Omen' CD (Profound Lore Records)
(2008) “Omen” is a devastating observation of formidable experimental ambient drone-like subtle mastery. With moments that remind of Nadja, Sunn O))), Godspeed! You Black Emperor and A Silver Mount Zion, “Omen” is an opus of dense and flowing sonic terrain where cinematic sound visions create vast, desperate, and devastating scenarios, almost serving its purpose like a desperate doomsday soundtrack. Working as a 50+ minute track, but separated into four parts, “Omen” subtly shifts through different emotions and moods; soothing and comforting, yet at the same time virulent and uneasy, and ultimately eerie and chilling. The incredible use of melody via light guitar strums and guitar ambience, melded with waves of static bursts and ivory key tappings, create the build-up that will inevitably come in the form of massive drone rumblings. This is the final work of Half Makeshift. Mastered by James Plotkin (Old, Khanate). 6-panel digipak.
KRISTOFFER NYSTROMS ORKESTER - 'brakeHEAD' CD (Malignant Records)
(2006) Kristoffer Nyströms Orkester is a collaborative project between Peter Nyström (Megaptera / Negru Voda) and Kristoffer Oustad (V:28). 'brakeHEAD' is the result of a post-gig improvisation betwen the two projects from 2005. This is an album that is as majestic as it is bleak, capturing the essence of old school Swedish industrial, but forging a new path towards a dark future. "A phenomenally majestic piece of dark ambience and noise that will leave you totally awe struck. The visceral raw power of the electronics is a thing of untamed beauty that heralds in a new era by which others must now be judged against." [auralpressure]. Digipak.
UK 10.50£
Europe 11.50£
World 12.50£
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MONNO - 'Error' CD (Conspiracy Records)
Dense, abstract, challenging, and confrontational. Monno stands out from the legacy of doomsayers that includes Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Whitehouse, and more recently Wolf Eyes and Lightning Bolt. Monno are impressively abrasive in sending atomic blasts of fury, but beneath the shock value of these overwhelming sonic miasmas are throat-grappling melodies evoking a dense, brutal trance. The CD is presented in a very nice silver outsized booklet.
UK 10.50£
Europe 11.50£
World 12.50£
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ROBERT SCOTT THOMPSON - 'Poesis Athesis (Music From The Flying Phoenix Films Of Terence Dunn)' CD (Lens Records)
Having originally worked together in the mid-80’s, Chi Kung master Terrence Dunn once again contacted Robert Scott Thompson to compose music for his current series of video releases. Thompson composed the music to work specifically with the pace, mood and dynamics of the Flying Phoenix form of Chi Kung. The collaboration eventually spanned ten films and Thompson composed more than ten hours worth of music over a two year period. The thirteen tracks on "Poesis Athesis" are rooted in Thompson’s ambient style but also blend with elements of electronica, ethnic influences and a personal homage to French composer Erik Satie. Thompson creates an atmosphere of calm and relaxation suitable for both introspective and meditative moments as well as chill out regeneration. Digipak.
UK 10.50£
Europe 11.50£
World 12.50£
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THE CARETAKER - 'Deleted Scenes / Forgotten Dreams' 2 x LP (Weme Records)
Stunning release from the highly-acclaimed project of Jim Kirby (V/VM). Four long and untitled tracks - one piece aside - with an average time of 23 minutes each! With faint memories and a ghostly residue from the earlier sounds of haunted ballrooms, this is melancholic ambient at its finest. "Cut at low volume to allow for additional stylus crackle to form part of each release over a period of time." Limited to just 300 copies. Highly recommended!! Act fast - The Caretaker waits for no man...
UK 15£
Europe 17£
World 19£
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VA - 'Energeia' CD (OMS Records)
A fine Dark Ambient compilation, dedicated to a centenary of the founder of world's practical astronautics, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov (1907-1966). The former USSR chief engineer and designer has gone down in spacecraft history as an ingenious inventor of world's first satellites, rockets, and human spaceflights. Featuring: Atomine Elektrine & Tholen, Autopsia, Cisfinitum, Deutsch Nepal & Satori, First Human Ferro, Isomer & The Alarmist & Filivs Macrocosmi, Kryptogen Rundfunk & Nocturnal Emissions, Polygon & Cisfinitum, Vestigial and Visions. Limited to 460 copies in a digipak with booklet.
