Vodka Soap - Un Chand Pyramidelier

Label: New Age Cassettes

Format: CDR
Released: 2006

this record was actually my first exposure to all things skaters' related, needless to say it made a huge impression on me and was the spark for hunting down all i could from their various projects. volcanic tongue put it better than i could when it was featured as their tip of the tongue in april 2006:-

"An absolute masterpiece of sustained meditative breakthrough from Spencer Clarke of The Skaters. Spencer worked on this amazing recording for many many moons, spending a long time in the subterranean depths of the local museum, power-zoning on archetypal visions of death masks and energy centres. The result is one of the most conceptually unified trips to flash across his eyelids to date. Tiny orchestras of gamelan bells illuminate whole communities of overtone while tape wuzz spools into loops of roaring silence and almost subliminal speech and song-forms flit just on the periphery of yr ears. Elsewhere it sounds like a Hermann Nitsch ritual heard from 200 miles up, or an African Trips Festival illuminated by beautifully ornate carousels slow-spinning deep in the black desert night. Totally magical, ageless ritual and a mind-blower of the highest order. Highest possible recommendation."

Tracklisting:

Untitled (0:57)
Untitled (2:22)
Untitled (1:01)
Untitled (5:14)
Untitled (3:32)
Untitled (4:44)
Untitled (4:32)
Untitled (5:03)
Untitled (4:47)
Untitled (2:55)
Untitled (5:45)
Untitled (3:18)
Untitled (2:49)

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The Wooden Cupboard - Animals Speak The Spirit Tongue

Label: 267 Lattajjaa
Format: CDR
Released: 2005

nothing i say can really prepare you for this record, though i shall say it blew my mind upon first listen. something totally primal and boundless is tapped into, certainly feeling more animal than human. once you give yourself over fully, it becomes a truly ecstatic, potentially mind-altering experience.

"Carrying forward ever deeper into the experimental we come to the pineal gland ripping music of The Wooden Cupboard on 'Animals Speak The Spirit Tongue'. Almost beyond music into a howl at the nightsky, the music wolves would make. From the worryingly quiet chimes to the terrifyingly intense calls, this unbroken music comes together into surges of crescendo. This is the sound of nature rebelling, calling out to their ancestors to reclaim the ground. Animal calls to the moon that put a chill in the heart of every person walking back home across the fields." - Lord of Misrule, Unbroken Circle

Tracklisting:

Crystal Agony
Eternity Has A Landlord
Spirits And Retribution
Eternities Diamond Prison System
Walkin' Gilded Coals

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ferraro's first release as the wooden cupboard entitled "boiling the animal in the sky" is available here (my preferred of the two if forced to choose).

Taiga Remains - Moon Colored Dogs

Label: Students Of Decay
Format: 3" CDR
Released: 2005

two part 3" cdr released by taiga remains (alex cobb) on students of decay which had a very limited run of 50 copies. an overriding tension emerges and dissipates throughout these two pieces, incorporating just organ and strings with the most arresting of results. the sounds here make me feel as though i'm free-falling in some kind of rapturous descent; and once the second part ends, in my mind it continues, developing and shifting far beyond its 8 and a half minute duration. awesome.

foxy digitalis review:-

"...'Moon Colored Dogs' is a two-part sonic excursion into freezing Siberian waters, sunkissed and invigorated. Part one of this journey is a dense and methodic drone in the spirit of Birchville Cat Motel. It is like watching the sun first pierce the horizon on a perfect, snowy dawn. Shimmering guitars and subtle melodica notes fill the air, keeping you warm on this glacial surface. Cobb layers each instrument perfectly, creating something so dense that you can't help but be enveloped. It's quite an impressive introduction to the monster that is Taiga Remains. As good as the first part is, part two ups the ante. An overwhelming sense of melancholy wraps itself around "Moon Colored Dogs (part 2)." The guitars here sound like a swarm of bees making their way across the open expanses of the mid-Western United States. Underneath flows a river of organ drones that add organic magic to the proceedings. Again, Birchville Cat Motel is a jumping off point, but the somewhat abrasive nature to these sounds also remind me of the UK's mighty Vibracathedral Orchestra. Either way, this is an excellent and impressive debut from what will surely become one of the Rust Belt's finest. Recommended." - Brad Rose

Tracklisting:

Moon Colored Dogs (Part 1)
Moon Colored Dogs (Part 2)

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William Basinski - A Red Score In Tile

Label: Three Poplars
Format: LP
Released: 2003

A Red Score In Tile was released on the Three Poplars label (founded by Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heeman in 2000) as an LP limited to 600 copies. this may seem a lot compared to many runs from the other posts here, but as this is william basinski, the fact it's now out of print hardly comes as a suprise. For me though, this is still an understated record of amazing beauty when compared to the success of his most famous work 'the disintegration loops' (which is amazingly all still available to buy on william basinski's site here, and you really ought to)

aside from the fact this is one of my most favourite records, i found everything i felt i could say within this review (or at least, that you would want to hear):-

"Inspired by James Elaine's painting of the same title, Basinski created this extremely minimal composition. The piece takes up both sides of the record, and since it is comprised of a single loop repeated for the entire duration, my first thought is that it might have been better suited for release on CD. But perhaps having that second side—dividing the listener's attention by insisting on an interlude—is deliberate, serving a specific purpose. The piece is quiet, muted, mysterious; a few chords on piano, a slow tape loop, repeated from start to finish. Perhaps nothing happens during the duration of the piece, or perhaps there are slight shifts, disintegrations, changes. If there are, they happen so subtly and so gradually that I didn't notice as I listened, even though my thoughts were captivated all the way through. The entire recording, sounding quite shaky and distorted, is marked by a certain fragility, as if the tape itself is going to break apart at any moment. After listening, you resurface to a world that still seems to sound like this bewitching composition, resounding off the walls, suspended quietly in the air, in the very air you breathe. [Richard di Santo]" 

Tracklisting:

A A Red Score In Tile Pt. 1 (25:56)
B A Red Score In Tile Pt. 2 (21:50)

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Of - The Buried Stream

Label: Jewelled Antler
Format: CD
Released: 2005

'of' is the moniker of loren chasse (thuja, ov, blithe sons, child readers, coelacanth). his ability to draw sonic properties from a variety of natural sources always make his music an exciting prospect. in 'the buried stream', a multitude of acoustic instrumentation is used throughout, managing to coalesce flawlessly with beautifully considered environmental sound. nothing can quite prepare you for the sheer force and potency of "underground cloud",  it breathes, contorts and pulses as if some kind of (un)holy organism. the record as a whole never settles into a predictable pace and can at times, disturb or terrify (ie. the thick, suffocating drumming in "the jut of rock"). with this work in particular, chasse channels something pure, untamed and all-consuming. one of my favourite jewelled antler releases.

Tracklisting:

Underground Cloud
The Jut Of Rock
Axes
Glowing Prints
The Coral Fungus
Many Marriages
Mud Vowels
The Guidepost

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his latest release "the sun & earth together" is now available on ultra hard gel.

Wire Thicket - Dust, Static

Label: Students Of Decay
Format: 3"Cd-r
Released: 2006

Wire Thicket is the duo of Alex Cobb (aka Taiga Remains) and David Kirby, who released their debut 's/t' cd-r on pseudoarcana (which you can still purchase here) later that year they released The dust, Static 3"cd-r on Alex Cobb's own label Students Of Decay. This release consists of two tracks. the first, a 16 minute venture into beautifully ecstatic and full sounds that feel as though they are constantly rising. this has your full attention throughout, like when a storm rages outside and you can't leave the window. the second track for me is the aftermath of the first. dying static crawling beneath subtle notes. it feels like coming back round, and everything opening up again.

Tracklisting:

1  Dust, Static (16:03)
2  Brilliant Dead Highways: Revisited (5:37)

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Meursault - Nothing Changed This Week

Label: Eagle & Serpent Records
Format: CDR
Released: 2006

meursault is the solo project of glasgow's shaun falconer, this being the second release on his own 'eagle and serpent records'. heartfelt movements of understated piano & guitar evoke a tremendous sense of tranquility and contentedness. each piece holds a real clarity of vision with no wasted moments and many of quiet profundity. this has been one of my most valued discoveries and should be known by many more people. i urge you all to check it out.

Tracklisting:

Washing Her Hair
Hands On The Maths
Mirror
Just Coming
We Locked Arms And Boarded A Coach
Jumping From The 40th Floor, Just The Once
Ah-So

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