A new online home

So... I'm moving my online home frome the blogspot I got fed up with to the clean and less esthetically challenged wordpress. Make sure you update you subscriptions and bookmarks.

[choice pick] Terry Fox - Culvert

UbuWeb posted a link earlier this week of what is (presumably) the C side of a 2LP of 2008, John Cage/Terry Fox - HighFidelity. I had the pleasure of finishing the gatefold sleeves of the to 1000 copies limited remastered recordings of some rather experimental recording sessions in the middle of a lake. The album contained one vinyl of John Cage material and one with Terry Fox material, entitled Mureau. Copies were hard to come by so the link hunting continues for the rest of the release. Some outtakes from the gatefold can be found here.

The recordings and catalogue were released in conjunction with the exhibition HIGH FIDELITY Artists' Records in the Marzona Collection.

Mureau was originally released as a cassette on Edition S Press (S Press Tape No. 14). It was recorded at the S-Press studio in Hattingen, Germany, on October 3, 1972.
Culvert was a 24 hour performance, with Bootz Hubbard and Bill Gilbert participating the 1st two hours. It was recorded at Clark Fork River, Missoula, Montana, USA, 1977. -discogs

Direct link Culvert (via UbuWeb).

Calvaire; The Ordeal

"Ah Belgium... Home of the weird, the sick and the sexually perverted!" -Coventry

The notorious bar dance scene.



Official trailer

Calvaire, a.k.a The Ordeal is mainly a Belgian production and – being a Belgian myself – I'm rather proud of that, although it also once again illustrates that the only cult and controversial horror films coming from this country pretty much all revolve on sexually perverted characters! Lucker served us the diary of a necrophiliac and the ultra-rare film Vase de Noces (which I haven't seen yet) handles about the sexual relationship between a farmer and his pig. At several points in the film, Calvaire hints at bestiality as well and the least you can say about all the characters, even the unimportant ones, is that they're heavily struggling with their hormones all together. The honest and hard-working singer Marc Stevens is on his way to a Christmas gig when his van breaks down on a rural road near a remote village. A loyal young man guides Marc to Paul Bartel's godforsaken hotel and that's where the madness really begins. Bartel is obtrusive and overly friendly at first but gradually his traumatized mind begins to mistake Marc for his own adulterous wife who left him. For Marc begins a nightmare in which he's dressed up in woman's clothes, tortured and forced to have sexual intercourse. Even when he manages to escape into the forests he isn't safe, as all the local rednecks are deranged deviants as well.

The subject matter of Calvaire sounds pretty devastating, but it actually comes across as a black comedy most of the time. It's an absurd film with disturbing undertones and grisly images, yet the surreal atmosphere and the overuse of stereotypes almost makes it a comical experience. You can summarize this film as being a demented and typically European interpretation of classic backwoods-thrillers such as Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The hillbillies are crazier, the situations are more grotesque and the perversion is a lot less subtle. Especially considering Calvaire was the debut project for most of the crew members involved, the film is exceptionally well-made! The cinematography is stunning to observe most of the time, with beautiful images of large and ominous forests, and the interior filming locations are dark & creepy. The acting performances are a bit weak sometimes but still endurable. Regretfully, the script also features a couple of tedious moments and it leaves quite a bit of questions unanswered when the film is finished. Nonetheless, Calvaire is destined to be a cult favorite in the near future (if it isn't one by now) already and fans of odd, offbeat cinema can't afford themselves to miss it! -imdb

Full length found on YouTube.


Calvaire @ IMDB
Fabrice Du Welz (director/co-writer) @ MySpace
Vincent Cahay (score) @ MySpace
Calvaire @ Amazon

The Mars Volta @ Rock Werchter 2009

Apparently Lady Linn is more important than The Mars Volta, which I find rather disturbing, so it's only the first half hour of their set. But it's in a decent quality so here it is... The Mars Volta @ Werchter '09.



download

On - Your Naked Ghost Comes Back at Night

7.5/10

On is a peculiar collaboration between Chicago-based percussionist and electronic artist Steven Hess and the French minimalist experimental composer Sylvain Chauveau. This collaboration's trademark is one that you won't encounter much: it defines the entire sound of the album without any interference of these two artists. The material is processed, or produced if you will, by a third party. The improvised recordings (done in the Acme Studio in Chicago in 2003) for this album where handed over to the Norwegian Helge Sten, who made this his last effort as the legendary Deathprod. Several years after the initial 2004 CD release on the French DSA label, this hailed material finally found its way to a proper vinyl release on Type Records.




It's needless to say that an album as critically-acclaimed as Your Naked Ghost Comes Back At Night belongs in the catalog of a label that holds more treasures of this kind. Released in their signature cardboard sleeve with only a few impressions of birds illuminating its cover, the album marks the milestone of the fiftieth release of this excellent UK label. But it takes more than audiophile nerd-talk and vinyl fetishism to acquire a score that denotes a "great release." On earns this easily with seven exercises of hypnotic drones and reverbed crackle.

The opening tracks ease the listener into the one hour death ambient listen with a mid-range focused piece where little spikes of crackle and consistent vibrant rumblings search their way over and through Deathprod's layers. Slowly transforming recordings form into a haunting choir of feedback, chanting over the omnipresent layers. As the album blooms towards the middle, the focus shifts to a deeper and more disturbing, yet minimal, dark ambient. On each listen I imagined myself being lowered in a well that becomes sealed, like some cruel medieval punishment. The banging hammers on the surface, sealing me in, swirl down the old stones and hit the water before I hear them as a rumble of gated reverb. The fourth track, "Oh Run Slowly", focuses on the higher end of the audible spectrum, as if it was the celebration to my new found home, ringing in an eternity of drone. Like a soundtrack to my sonic epiphany, it lightens the heavy mood that manifests more and more as the albums evolves.

The closing half of Your Naked Ghost Comes Back At Night delves into the more hypnotic flavor of drone induced by the little rhythm of Deathprod's effects over the broader, slowly oscillating backdrop. This is where the true aficionados of this experimental niche will prevail over the easy listening, esoteric crowd that gets off on the plethora of introspective-sounding ambient releases. The nuances in the music become more subtle and are mostly found in the minor differences invoked by disturbances (or tweaks) in the resonating sound waves as they flow through an almost constant aural space. These minor fluctuations in audible shape are allowed to bloom by the less attention-grabbing opening half of the album, offering lengthened drones that will keep the attentive listener on the edge of his seat with every recurring swell. The seventeen minute closing track is an ideal soundtrack (or tribute even?) for gazing at Mark Rothko's work (or any seemingly objectless art for that matter).

If you were to give this album a listen without knowing its background, I'm sure you'd find that there is something about this release that makes it stand out from its competition. MGR's hypnotic mantra-feeling, mixed with Einstuerzende Neubauten's experiments - and my own excursions - in the catacombs of bridges aren't comparisons I'll easily be making with one of the many laptop ambient fiddlers that crowd the depths of MySpace, yet Your Naked Ghost Comes Back at Night earns it. Considering that this album finally found a decent home at Type, and a release on the best medium for music that mankind knows, makes it all that more precious.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet
On MySpace
Type Records
Buy

Prime Kut Sunday's IV - Musterd Gas and Roses edition

1. MGR - Nova Lux







2. MGR - Wavering on the Cresting Heft






3. Barge Recordings Split MGR/XELA - Shipping Gold/Calling For Vanished Faces

BBC Top Gear - Bugatti Veyron top speed test

RIP Wall of Fame

For several years I've been keeping a collage of all kinds of memorabilia on my wall. It began with a gatefold sleeve of an old compilation of spaghetti westerns with some epic soundtracks and over the years several clippings, festival programs/wristbands/tokens etc were added and moved around with me a couple of times. Over the years it got neglected so now the time has come to take it down. Since it illustrates a significant period of time in my life I though it would be a shame to throw it all out without having anything left over - a few pics were in order.


slideshow

Fuck Oasis

It seemed like a good time to drop this Commercial for the periodical Humo with Smith & Jones. I can't say I disagree...

Initial layout of cardboard gatefold cd sleeve

It May Never End - Such is Life

4/10

It May Never End is the one-man project of a former DJ/Producer with an interest for dance and club music. After his adventures on the UK scene, he was struck by the post-rock genre - realizing the startling potential of this niche. An old love for the guitar was rekindled, and Such is Life is the result of that new found creative outlet.

The seven-track debut is obviously inspired by the usual suspects - This Will Destroy Mono in the Sky would be a band name suggestion that captures It May Never End's sonic pallette perfectly. With a plethora of similar bands aiming for their place in the spotlight of this crowded, global scene, the criteria for success come down to the finer details of the release. The performance, production, originality and creativity - even packaging - all make an album stand out from the pack. All of the pieces need to fit perfectly before an album or band can rise up to the level of greatness where it can be worthy of a score that leads the curve rather than following it.

It May Never End's debut material tells us that most of the basics are covered; the combination of the downright ambient with post-rock structures and climaxes is well spread over the album. There is a notable potential in the music as such, but the manner in which it is presented is one that recalls a recording in a rehearsal room with one microphone and a tapedeck. This can have a certain charm or romantic flair to it, but for a full length album, it doesn't work.

This is where the album offers plenty of room for improvement. As if somehow the mid-range sonic spectrum wasn't fully present on the release, most of the aural space is made up out of low and high frequencies. As a result, most of the bass and deeper background form a mismatched whole with the abundance of high range of frequencies. The middle range, and thus most of the guitar and rhythm, is lost in the poor mastering.

It's a shame that this artist doesn't get the chance to offer the complete picture of his music on this album. Most of the post-rock touch gets lost through the absence of it's frequencies, but when the ambient work takes center stage, the mixing issues tend to fade away. This can only spark a hope that IMNE's next effort will address this concern and push itself to the other side of the scoring curve. Who knows, perhaps the skill formed by working in electronica can make this project a leader in its niche. If you're the kind of person that likes the promise of what could be (in the form of a free download!), this is one to spend your bandwith on.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet
It May Never End Myspace
download Such Is Life

Russian Circles - Geneva

2 months to the new Russian Circles album Geneva. Which means it's time to get excited, mark it in your agenda and what else not.

The genre-bending instrumental trio known as Russian Circles will be releasing their third album, Geneva, on October 20th through Suicide Squeeze. Produced by Brandon Curtis of the Secret Machines, Geneva promises a slew of hypnotic shred epics, the tracklist for which is below. Catch them live this summer on July 18th at Dudefest in Indianapolis, IN, and keep a look out for more supporting tour dates.

1. Fathom
2. Geneva
3. Melee
4. Hexed All
5. Malko
6. When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad
7. Philos

TheTripWire



src

David Lynch's Wacky Cigarette Ad

shortfilm: Rare Exports Inc. II

shortfilm: Rare Exports Inc.

A David Lynch Commercial II: PS2 Fishermen

A David Lynch Commercial I: PS2 Bambi vs Car

"11 songs to drown to" - a múm mixtape

As surprising of a listen it initially is, as it turns weird and creepy towards the middle. Some nice hidden gems and great closing for not just your average mixtape.



"11 songs to drown to" - a múm mixtape by seaninsound

I usually make mixtapes to go running or if I am driving somewhere or if I want people to dance, but none of this sounds really romantic enough for a feature such as this. So I am going all in. A tape for those who are about to drown, is quite dramatic and will suit this occasion fine.


Elvis Presley - Blue Moon - Without a hope in my heart, without a love of my own. Along with Wicked Game, this was the single most inspiring song for our new album. I once played it 19 times straight in a row.

Slowblow - Brothers in arms - The most beautiful cover of Dire Straits you will ever find. It's as slow as a tape recorder made out of lava

S & E - Les Fleurs Sont Des Bonnes Auditrices - Looped ghosts voices from Finland.

múm - the Last shapes of never - I have no choice to put this song on the mix tape, since it is pretty much about drowning in a lake.

Johnny Poo - Tunglið (and reversed) This icelandic child-star/prodigy decided to release this song backwards for some reason. This is the song I use for my alarm clock so I wake up to it every morning. But since it is backwards, I decided to have it twice on the mixtape once backwards and once forwards. It's eery both ways. The title means "the Moon."

Lost in Hildurness - Aether - A beautiful track of our very own Hildurs, or Lost in Hildurness' solo album called Without Sinking. Intense beautiness and her father is even playing clarinet on this track.

Moondog - All is Loneliness - The loneliest song of all time, it's like suddenly going blind and deaf.

Yma Sumac - Magenta Mountain - A majestic vocal landscape-drama by the peruvian princess.

Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange - Dreams part 4: Sea - This mixtape is has already been going quite creepy on top of being dramatic, so why not go all the way. Delia Derbyshare scored this collage of people describing their dreams of the sea and being underwater, collected and put together by Barry Bermage for the BBC in 1964. What raises my hairs is that for some reason most of these dreams seem to be about drowning.

Perry Como - Sunrise Sunset - Why not? Perry Como?

Suicide - Dream baby dream - Well, this is probably the best ending song for any mixtape and will hopefully be the last song I will ever hear.

Lokerse Feesten 20090807 in pictures

view over the main entrance



Cypress Hill keeping it real.







Arsenal closing the night.








Slideshow off all the pics

Cypress Hill Myspace
Arsenal Myspace
Lokerse Feesten homepage

Senser - How To Do Battle

This should be good to send a few of them '90s crossover-metal shivers down your spine. Shame off the LQ video, but anyone familiar with Senser knows this is going to be ranking highly in his or her's end of the year top-list.

Senser are back with a new album 'How To Do Battle', due for release on October 19 through Imprint Music.

The album will be preceded by a single, entitled 'Resistance Now', due for release on September 14.

The sextet (fronted by co-vocalists Heitham Al-Sayed and Kerstin Haigh) have been a force in music since their 1995 album 'Stacked Up' became a platinum selling album. The new album was produced by Neil McLellan (The Prodigy), Jason Wilcock (The Ghost Of A Thousand, Reuben) and
New York hip hop producer Scott Harding (Wu Tang Clan, New Kingdom).

Rock Sound is proud to present the new video for single 'Resistance Now', check it out below:

rocksoundTV



Senser website
Senser Myspace

An open letter to Baliset

3.5/10

Dear Baliset,

In all honesty, from the most boring to the most laughable albums I have reviewed at The Silent Ballet, I've never struggled so hard to get through a CD as I did with A Time For Rust. It took me a long time just to push myself to listen to the entire album in one sitting, an action an ordinary listener would not do if she wasn't into the particular sound or genre you've created on this album. Even though I had to succumb to my prejudice of my brief initial listens, I knew from the start that there was something to this album that would make the effort worthwhile, even if it were only to better myself as critical listener. Eventually I got through it once, and in the days to come I made the effort to listen attentively to your album - in different places, using different devices, even considering my own state of mind at the time and its impact on the listening session.

What I first noticed was that there were often shifts in the form of the music; at the base is undoubtedly an avant prog-rock structure - something I can appreciate - but in combination with the slabs of folk-like power ballads and ambient as imposing as something pseudo-kraut or psychedelic, it made my skin crawl. The problem with dropping in touches of folk into progressive rock with flares of ambient is that you can only do this every so often, since most tracks that fall from the one into the other without any justification are very hard to digest. This is the threshold that few people are likely to step over, unless the listener is one of the happy few that totally fall for this sub-genre. If there would be some sort of audible gradient stretching between the contrasting passages, it might have worked, but it's all very abrupt and irrational for the common listener. I already hear you thinking "What is he on about? Plenty of bands' trademark is to combine genres." That's very true; the critically-acclaimed Silencio is one of the best examples in that field, but they pull this off because their music actually lends itself towards genre juggling rather than forcing itself to do so.

It is obvious that Baliset's main band members - covering the guitar, bass and drums - are talented musicians and have the experience to master their instrument and it's sound to it's fullest, a gift that should be treasured and mined when writing the music. By cutting out the extraneous ambient and drone interludes, you can get to the essence of your skill and let that seed grow into a coherent album. I'm not pleading for an album that is one guitar solo after yet another power-riffed chorus, but A Time Of Rust is filled with intermezzos of mellotrons, awkwardly-panned drone and spaced-out pieces that just do not help your album flow in a consistent manner. In that regard, there's also no reason in the iPod era for a so-called hidden track, especially after a few minutes of (once again) drone boredom - but at least it was panned to the middle this time.

What weakens the almost enjoyable progressive rock is the vocal element of the album; I must admit that I'm not a big fan of vocals as such, but the sounds of the male and female vocals just don't work together with the rest of the production for 90% of the listening span. Again, this is not a matter of skill. It's partially a matter of the lyrics: there are some pieces that have a nice ring to it but most of them don't make any sense, even taking a huge amount of poetic freedom in account. A band that has taken it's name from a fictional instrument in Frank Herbert's Dune science fiction novel series - a writer and work that is regarded as the best in it's genre - does not do any justice to it's name by failing to deliver enticing lyrics.

There is also the matter of knowing when and how to use vocals, and what their place is in the music. Most of the time they tend to follow the leading aspect of the instrumentation (mostly being the guitar), but this demeans the power of that instrument rather than supporting or strengthening it. It's also apparent that the female vocalist is forcing herself to sound like she is instructed rather than exploring her capabilities to find something that would be an add value to the release. If she should stick to more mellow music or, if she does have interest in the harder music, she should have a listen to what Kerstin Haigh of Senser achieves with her (perhaps limited, but always confident) vocals, she'll be more at ease and comfortable with what she's contributing. I could almost as easily apply this theory to the male vocals. There is no grunt; no fire coming from the belly that sturs the listener's inner being and isn't the vocalist the foremost part of a band where the audience relates to?

All of these aspects made me suspect that there has been put way too much time in crafting (or over-producing, if you will) this album. It has taken over five years by your own source, giving you time to doubt, revise and revise over again until most of the natural flow had disappeared. I also couldn't help but notice that the album was inspired (and I choose this word carefully) by notable bands in the broad prog scene. I'd even take on the challenge - if I had a day or two to spare - to dig into my own music library and collect bits and pieces from tracks to build the blueprint of A Time For Rust; I have heard most of it before by the hand of other bands. Don't get me wrong, being inspired by other artists is a good thing, but there's is only so far you can go in mimicking before it starts to sound like a collage of 'that sounds great, we should do that' and 'things people are going to like'. In any case, the timespan for the album's gestation has been too long, as having your attention spread over other projects, pulling in a handful of guest musicians, and not being able to go fully for the release as a homogeneous band has put its stamp on the album. Sadly enough, not in a positive manner.


Promo-video for Baliset - A Time For Rust.


src

written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Baliset website
Baliset Myspace

tweaking

So tonight I decided I was really sick of the typographical eye-sores and massive whiteness of the blog layout. Threw it in a new tweaked template and added some header links for an easy reference. Will be filling up the side columns with shizzle of interest later, along with resizing all images/videos. Layout is designed for a 1024px wide screen (most common standard I guess?).

Anyway, it's been out here for some time, and rather little used. This make-over might just keep this thing rolling and stocked with pretty much anything that interests me.

peace

Goofy Lynching

A Picture For The Anger

Returning a favor to Tomas Halberstad for sending me his album The Anger illustrated with 1/6 of a painting. Each country to mail him for it get's one copy, each containing a piece of a painting. The album itself was a breezy piece of energy pumping electronica and vocals that make for a solid combination that went perfect with the heat these days. It grabbed me and got me moving again.

Get it here if you're country isn't claimed yet.


TomasHalberstad.com/


Thanks to Ralph for taking the actual photo after I had set-up the shot.

Yesterday's mail. (Sleep Whale, MGR, Isis)

Sleep Whale - Little Brite

A twenty-six minute electro-acoustic soundtrack to a summers-day is what this Texas outfit offers on their six track EP. Imagine laying on your back in a park, drifting away on the tones of a skilled fingerstyle guitarplayer sitting on a bench improvising on the downtempo electronica from some kid down the street checking out the latest hip Japanese cupboard idm. Add the organic flow of waves caressing - and subtly refracting - a production floating on warm strings and you end up with half an hour of breezy summer bliss. A successful exercise in a genre labeled as electro-acoustic from a band we hope to hear more from in the future.

myspace.com/sleepwhale



MGR (Mustard Gas and Roses) - Wavering on the Cresting Heft.

I love MGR; it's slow, it's dark, it's beautiful sadness on vinyl I want to be devoured by at massive volumes...

The sleeve note describes it rather well:

MGR is an emotionally charged amalgamation of sounds that, much to it's credit, refuses to fit neatly into any particular category. MGR's effectiveness stems from how fluidly Mark Gallagher - of renowned dirge architects Isis - is able to gradually add texture upon texture, building up the intensity of the tracks until they reach a tragic momentum. Imagine Isis with much of the bombast stripped away, leaving only dark, moody and melancholic soundscapes...

myspace.com/mgrsounds


Isis - Wavering Radiant


Read up on my findings of Wavering Radiant here. Both the Isis & MGR albums are released by Conspiracy Records with much love and eye for detail, as always.






There even is a print on the inside of the gatefold sleeve... wow.


ConspiracyRecords.com
myspace.com/isis

shortfilm: Ezen egy ejszaka

My Romanian (if the background-info I found is in fact Romanian) is a bit rusty so there is not much background info I can give about this, just sit back and enjoy this beautiful yet slightly disturbing short. (get the 16:9 HQ version here)

xGames 15 (2009) skate park

Possibly even more intense than in the skate vert competition, the skateboard park comp was pushing the skaters to perform their sickest lines in 30 second runs, leaving no margin for bails, making it even harder on the fast-pased semi-concrete set-up. Keep an eye of for the McTwist and Rune Glifberg's über clean style, seeing this guy skate makes you want to get up on that deck yourself. Considering it was his 15th participation and only 2nd (and consecutive) gold medal, you can only imagine how fierce the competition was in the last years.

Pushing Buttons routine

DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and DJ Numark performing live on Akai MPC samplers... 'nough said.

Photek - 1997 essential mix BBC 1

One of my first vinyl purchases back in the day included the 12" single of Photek's Modus Operandi, one heck of a killer record that marked a time in the drum'n'bass scene. For me, the mid and late '90s where the best in the scene, dark introspectives of minimal yet powerful experiments in drum'n'bass breaks - soaking in intelligent ambient and soundscapes. A sound that defined the pre-2K madness where we wondered through our adolescence, trying to feed our craving for something new - now the grunge had died and post-rock was,'t even a genre yet.

Underground parties in basements of bars where only the local old folk hung by night, getting beer in the night-shop around the corner because stock was limited, trading obscure mixtapes we got of our shitty tapedecks... it had a romantic appeal to it that got lost in the abundance of todays digital offers.

Great was my joy when @ninjamixdump dropped a 2h mix-session of Photek, recorded in 1997 for the BBC's Radio 1 Essential Mix series. The first hour contains a bulk-load of classics from that time and then drops back to Goldie's epic lengthed 'Mother' topped of with some of Photek's close to flawless mix-in's.

This comes highly recommended!
Download Photek 1997 Essential Mix
Photek Myspace
Photek Productions website
Ninjamixdump @ Twitter
Ninjamixdump @ Tumblr


Title track of the Photek album Modus Operandi

xGames 15 (2009) skate vert

Last weekend it was time for the 15th X-Games, I haven't been following up on this event for a few years and was amazed by the consistency of some 'older' skaters and the progression of what some of the new kids in the park were bringing. This is what went down in the vert...



X Games 15 homepage

Paul van Ostaijen - graphic poetry

As confronting his work was to copy or mimic during my studies (by pen or mouse), the more of an inspiration Paul van Ostaijen's work became later on.









Paul Van Ostaijen @ wiki [ENG] & wiki [NLD]

Black Motor - Vaarat Vastukset

6.5/10

Finland. Jazz. Not exactly a combination that was self-evident when I found this assignment in my virtual office tray - Scandinavian neighbors Sweden have a far more notable (fusion) history in this field to my knowledge. But at first listen it becomes rather apparent that the colorful bunch that makes up Black Motor isn't all that intelligible, nor is the brand of jazz they bring on Vaarat Vastukset.

While the sax, drums and upright bass are the base of Black Motor's sound, they've expanded their instrumentation with some of the finer weirdling background-fillers such as strings of bells and chimes, flute, chants and mantras. As a whole, this album is one you're not likely to use when you like a jazzy vibe over Sunday brunch; this album is ideal for the late nights, when the level of Jack Daniels drops under it's label and conversations are limited to a few strenuous "yeahs" (or other states of low brain-activity). As such, Vaarat Vastukset works very well for those experienced in the field of mind-altering music, with its lengthy episodes of krautesque jazz explorations.

Now don't get me wrong, if the jazz department of your collection only contains a Miles Davis collection box and a Best Of John Coltrane, this might still push your buttons in the right order. Throughout the album, the experimental jazz approach prevails but still offers mellow resting areas and groovy bits of "drunken rhythms;" one even encounters some parts the listener could hum along with after a few listens. Some of those intermezzos call the soundtrack Baise Moi to mind, or at least the closing four tracks composed by the hand of Jan Varou.

In all, if an experimental three quarters of an hour doesn't scare you off and you can handle your jazz, it is well worth checking out this album. The production is as organic and solid as you'd find it on late sixties- early seventies prog or krautrock albums. I realize that this album can take some effort on the listener's behalf at first, but it gains much in depth once you find your way in Black Motor's sonic universe.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet.
Black Motor myspace

William Fowler Collins - Perdition Hill Radio

7/10

"The Hour of Red Glare"

A bolt of lo-fi lightning searches its way through the thick skies and I found myself awakening, not knowing how I got where I was and unable to define my state of being; how could I be sure I was leaving the blissful mantra of silence and deep sleep? I rested my eyes for a few moments and inhaled my surroundings. I remembered an ancient wisdom and, confident in my faith that, however horrific (or redemptive) it might turn out to be, I'd follow the flow of the proverbial river.

The dark tunnel lightened as I confirmed my decision, filling the atmosphere with a dense and ancient graphite glow. Whatever the nature of the forces at work may be, whatever their objective was, I realized that this would be an endeavor where I had no choice but to comply with the unearthed rails ahead. My vessel reminded me of Blaine the Mono, and my surroundings confirmed this hypothesis. Waves of landscapes that once were stunning - but at the time of my passing were no more than victims of time that moved on - drew themselves past the windows of my mute railroad companion who needed to focus on the screeching of the rusty rails.

"Grave Robbing in Texas"

A shift in the speed told me that soon I had to leave the crazed people-carrier I had become accustomed to. Tension rose as my schizophrenic means of transportation came to a halt. As Blaine rested, I was lured in the direction of the dark, trembling monotone voice hiding in ambient space; the only distinct feature in the darkened surroundings I could make out. Drawn by the far-off wailing ghosts of haunted monks, I found my way to their grave and took in their omnipresent vibrations. They tested me as much as they could, cleansing the mind with the abundance of dark drones that spawned out of unrecognizable and untraceable sources.

"Dark Country Road"

The "Grave Robbing in Texas" had taken a lot out of me; in fact, the past eight minutes had been quite an ordeal at their most intense moments. I doubted that the deafening silence was a sign that I had completed my mysterious trip, so I examined my options to avoid my new-found status of Chinese volunteer.

The evaluation of my options was suddenly solved by the distant swelling of familiar sound of diminishing metal on corroding iron, aided by layers of soft droning ambient. I panicked, as I knew that the easiest (and perhaps only) way out of this silent madness was on that psychotic train that had such a prominent place in a book I so fondly read in my childhood and adolescence. I pulled myself out of my still state and rushed back, hoping I'd be able to catch him. Despite my effort, I had no choice but to proceed on foot. The sound of Blaine's friction began to fade away in the night as I followed the obscured road, which I could only assume was leading where I had to go.

"On Perdition Hill"

I'd been walking through the statically-charged silent surroundings for some time before Perdition Hill loomed out of the sonic scenery. I worked myself to the summit, hoping I'd be able to give my journey a direction, and as I took in the more prolific soundscapes, I was able to recognize some form of civilization in a city that I could only assume that it once was (or would be) Lud. As I gazed over its form, I realized that my interpretations were fueled by my desire to escape a "real" world that made even less sense to me than this fictional place. I decided to continue, as I had come this far already, and maybe there was redemption to be found down there.

"Slow Motion Prayer Circle"

As I descended towards the abandoned city, its rumbling faded and made way for yet another ephemeral entity. I stopped in the midst of an open area, illuminated by a rock formation where the Celts would be jealous of - massive pillars forced the charging winds to break and form an audible play of siren-like chants, hypnotizing me. They seemed to want to break off my journey, to force me to give up and enjoy their eternal, shapeshifting song until I'd dissolve into them. I pulled myself away from the soothing loops and went down the path towards Lud, entering the final stage of my endeavor.

"The Ghosts of Eden Trail"

I found my way to the final frontier and let the familiar, yet somehow richer ambient of this place soak in, anticipating a means to end this journey, one that would make the tale complete. I wandered around for a while, finding nothing but the repetitive, fluctuating beauty of cascading strings. All of a sudden, I recognized my former companion in the distance, coming to a raucous halt under this lost city. Blaine was waiting for me nearby, and I felt joy come over me as I remembered another ancient teaching; it was not the destination that was important, but the journey itself. This one offered many stunning sights, sounds and experiences - I had forgotten my ways when I had been waiting for a climax, and I must atone for my recklessness. Trembling, I caressed Blaine's shell, thanking him for letting me find my way again, and then boarded while I wondered what forgotten world I'd envision the next time I hit the play button.


William Fowler Collins's first release on Type Records (and second overall) tastes like the dark and cinematic ambient of labelmate Xela, and is right in place in the respectable list of artists who signed on this prolific label. This San Fransico based artist tells audible tales with a dark and organized structure that'll evoke visions of abandoned wastelands where scavengers are patiently waiting for their prey. Recommended if you like cinematic dark ambient with an intelligent approach, music that takes its time to evolve without using massive droning forces just for the sake of it.







written for and published by The Silent Ballet
William Fowler Collins homepage
William Fowler Collins myspace
Type Records

Nihiling - M[e]iosis

7.5/10

In the past year, some big names of the current post-rock scene have been touring throughout Europe, most of them bringing local acts to open. And whenever the likes of Mono, 65daysofstatic, Caspian, and other respected names in the community appeared in Germany, chances are great the German outfit Nihiling warmed up the welcoming crowd. It is an ideal situation for a young band to promote their new full length album to an audience they'd most likely be part of if they hadn't been in the sextet.

M[e]iosis brings together elements of slightly psychedelic downtempo (ambient if you will) intermezzos with what the kids these days regard as progressive rock, offering a mixture of blissful and edgy soundscapes. Although their essential song structure of intro-chorus-instrumental bridge-climax-outro recalls Oceansize and other Porcupine Tree flavored acts - especially taking into account the solid production - is not groundbreaking, it claims the listener's attention with its engaging, upbeat passages and holds it during their darkest moments of shredding guitars.

Unlike some of their competition in the field of the aforementioned bands, Nihiling easily steps out of their shade. The strength of the band is to be found in the profound balance between its metronome-like engine found in the nod-inducing drum work, the engaging lead and rhythm guitar, and well-placed layers of subtle sonic palette changes and production rendering. The added bonus of more classical instrumentation like piano and a string section every now and then, along with a female bass player who is responsible for weaving in some delightful hoarse and unabashed vocals strengthens the album's core, preventing the onset of boredom. In contrast with the majority of the release, the vocals stylishly scream out all of the tension built up over the past fifty minutes, reaching for the listener's spine and gently stroking it throughout the climax of this astonishing blend of pseudo-screamo and floating ambient post-rock.

Considering their relatively young age, it astonishing to hear such maturity and commitment to an album. With the support of a broad local base of listeners, it's only a matter of time and perseverance before the rest of the world will fall in love with Nihiling's brand of open(minded) post-rock.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Nihiling myspace
Abandon Records

Groupshow - The Martyrdom of Groupshow

5/10

Groupshow. If for some reason you 'felt lucky' while googling this term, chances are great that you will be rather disappointed not to find some ideally shaped blond inviting you to come over and see her latest exploits with her friends. The Groupshow on your screen today is the joined effort of three German artists (Jan Jelinek, Hanno Leichtmann, and Andrew Pekler) who collaborated in crafting a release where their signature sounds meet. One must keep the stereotype of the efficient German in mind and assume that more effort went into selecting samples out of 200Gb of jam session data than choosing a name for this collaboration.

The sample palette of the album is one of the most exuberant I have heard in quite some time in the experimental and minimal electronic aesthetic. The digital cuts sound like they has been drenched in the same acid bath where DJ Food lay when crafting Kaleidoscope; the album's comparable off the wall quality and the difficult digestibility of this colorful sonic candy is striking at times. Rhythm is provided by the samples and their repetitiveness, as there is no snare or kick to be found in their respective recognizable form.

Most of the release's drive stems from the sometimes oscillating or stuttered, sometimes dreamy loops cascading over the always blunted variations of the twelve tracks that emerged from the artists improvised liaison. And although the exposition of the tight and copious audible scheme offers some tight constructions, the cohesion as an album suffers from the profound expertise of each individual artist. Each has his own background that influences the music, some have a more instrumental or electronic approach, but a failure to compromise sounds into a focused effort does the work in.

Making up the audible melting pot are the ambient jazz grooves of Leichtmann and Pekler submerged in a flattened out minimal chillout vibe sans kick courtesy of Jelinek. As such, it's a decent chillout album one might think, but it's there where the lack of cohesion and the LSD-colored plethora of influences make this a hard trip to ride out.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Groupshow website
Groupshow myspace
Scape Records

May dawn Wijnegem

Domino 2009 @ ABtv

Domino is an annual, offbeat and against-the-grain high-mass, festival! It immerses one in the musical future for one week by approximately 30 idiosyncratic musical acts, pre-listening sessions, DJs, a graphic design exhibition and a customised book/CD/DVD stall.

Live reports with interviews of this year's edition can be found below...


Jóhann Jóhannsson + Fennesz + Jon Hopkins (8 April 2009)

Squarepusher + Venetian Snares + Tim Exile + Voodoo Trance Sound System (9 April 2009)

A Certain Ratio + Blk Jks + Hudson Mohawke + Rustie (10 April 2009)

Nico Muhly + Xela + Svarte Greiner (11 April 2009)

Mono + Health + Handsome Furs + Tiny Masters of Today (12 April 2009)

The Notwist (13 April 2009)

The Whitest Boy Alive + Micachu and The Shapes + The Invisible + The New Wine (14 April 2009)


Domino 2009 project @ abconcerts.be

Ender - ender

5.5/10

Within the post-rock-encompassing skies of this four track EP, the listener finds herself confronted with the instrumental quintet Ender, who slaves over the most popular of instruments (guitar, bass and drum) to produce a self-titled audible calling-card. The album is made up of moody, yet powerful post-rock shrouded in a haze of gritty ambient. Imagine an cardboard egg-box branded "post-rock," filled with eleven battery-laid eggs and one odd-looking kiwi. Ender stands out just like that kiwi, with the familiar post-rock form, but without the clinical approach taken by so many others.

Like most of their Pacific colleagues, Ender knows how to manipulate the space and ambiance needed for their compositions to flourish and gradually evolve. The combined destructive weight of rhythm guitars and drums in the form of dragging riffs arch the elaborated structure that spans over the whole release. The introspective waves of evolving ambient and stacks of heavy hypnotic hooks are good for forty-two minutes of dark, enticing variations and a few spine-shivering moments, but never seem to deploy their full potential. Near the end of Ender, the band trades in their most heavy weight guitar sound for a piano, and tips the scale in favor of the conformist form.

Once the piano finds it's place in the closing composition, Ender brings it home with a less powerful but more subtle and emotional undertone. Without the drive - one that reminds the listener of European post-metal bands - of Ender's opening, the whole gives the impression that this is still not the best possible result. Their strength lies as much in esoteric explorations as in latent aggression, but I, for one, believe that the latter one - given some more attention - has a few interesting options to strengthen the whole.

Adding a few (distant) vocal accents would expose a more captivating, emotional side of their sound and thus engage the listener even more. At a certain point in "Track 2", the deep combined sound of the bass and guitar triggered a memory of a dirty-sounding Celtic Frost vocal line, fueling the dark tones of that dangerously fierce cloud-formation and accentuating the beauty of the redeeming matte light found in the ambiance. For obvious reasons, Tom Gabriel Fischer's vocals - or vocals in general - will not be the perfect solution to allow Ender to rise above the level of this EP, but if the outfit's drummer could batter their grayish blob of expressions with more depth and edge, they could have a decent shot at knocking me out of my socks. Perhaps then a reference to the hypnotic stoner doom slabs of Windmills By The Ocean is in order.



written and published for The Silent Ballet.
Ender myspace
stream Ender @ Last.fm

Album art TSB Volume XII: Het Machinaal Geweld Dreunde Onversaagbaar Verder...

Compilation 12 of The Silent Ballet featured my album art design and a bulk-load of interesting ambient and drone goodies. Check this link for a free download of the album and drop by The Silent Ballet of the Lost Children netlabel for more goodies.




Stream the compilation

Sjugge's Super Chuncky Chocolate cake

Cake... yum. Chocolate... yum. But since plain cakes are a bit 'white bread' I thought I'd share my recipe for some chunky chocolate cake. Now with Liquor!

Ingredients.

200gr self-rising flower
150gr plain sugar
10gr vanilla sugar
100gr buter
200gr chocolate
3/4 eggs
1.5 tablespoon coffee
1.5 tablespoon whiskey


If you're a bit like me you don't want to burden yourself with a lot of washing-up afterwards, so basically all you need is a knife, a spoon, a bowl and a baking tin obviously, a mixer or a blender even could be practical though. As for the chocolate, I prefer to use Côte d'Or's chocolate with (bits of) hazelnut since it has excellent flavor and you get some hazelnut sprinkles in there without a lot of fuzz. Just cut it up in little pieces like you would do with an onion or carrot for instance or use a cheese grater if you want some exercise in the meanwhile. Dice the 100 grams of buter and throw it all together in a bowl, mash it up until most of the dough is homogenous and bake for one hour in a pre-heated oven of 180°C (356°F).

To form the chunks while the cake is baking you need to stur around in the cake a few times one it's in the oven. Preferably do this 2 or three times in the first 40 minutes of the baking process without damaging the bottom and sides of the cake, only mix up the top crust and the remaining dough. This prevents the chocolate and hazelnut to sink to the bottom and the coffee and whiskey to rise and gives the cake it's artisan bread pudding touch. Enjoy...

Isis - Wavering Radiant

Blurping on Isis' latest in the Release of the Month article at TSB.

After their 10 year jubilee and related vinyl box re-releases, a Seldon Hunt documentary and a whole lot of patience and speculation, Isis astonished fan and foe alike with an album that recapitulated and expanded upon their decade of unique post-metal. Unlike its predecessors, Wavering Radiant revisits the strong points of a strong career, from Celestial to In the Absence of Truth, rather than building on the work of a single album. A more notable place is reserved for haunting vocals, while sturdy bass and subtle, supportive soundscapes (containing Rhodes-like accents) carry the weight of the sometimes uplifting, sometimes destructive guitars. Isis’ eye for detail and the progressive nature of this album makes it their most complete and refined work to date: a standout album in their already impressive catalogue as well as in the progressive post-metal genre itself. full article

written for and published by The Silent Ballet

Unidentified Sound Object - Inharmonicity

5.5/10

Silence and electro-acoustic noise are the main components in the three suites of experimental music by the Italian Unidentified Sound Object (aka U.S.O. Project). Packed in artwork depicting the charcoal remains of a post-apocalyptic city lies a one hour and one minute audio tour by Matteo Milani and Federico Placidi. Their shared passion in the collaborative strength of audio and video inspired them to paint a soundtrack on Selfish's cinematic compositions. The lateral working method reminds of the premise applied in the Qatsi Trilogy, only with the difference that the U.S.O. Project's effort lean more toward John Cage's infamous 4:33 approach.

Silence is the dominating presence in the opening suite of the release, and although there is a distinct absence of sound at times, inspiration was drawn from the avant-garde technique of worldizing - recording and re-recording samples in various surroundings while tweaking the setting of speakers and microphones - which results in a complex, three-dimensional canvas. The latent presence of silence stretches out as a vast plain, evolving to the blunted ambient that haunts the transition of the opening compositions. Draped over the audible nothingness are layers of sound-constructions sketching the warped outlines of the gradually developing narrative and its accompanying sonic scenery.

Once the audio tour enters the suburbs of Inharmonicity via the tones of "Invisible Words", the noise component's parameter starts to display spastic shifts in its pattern. Screeching feedback and strokes of distorted noise break through cracks of the eroding city walls, battering the listener's ears. The rampaging assault of crushed magnetic pulses will try to force you to shorten your visit in this crumbling city. Near the closing of the main suite, an escape route from the sonic violence is found. In a maze of reverb-filled chambers, the omnipresent battering noise is muffled and offers a well-deserved breather while the audio tour steadily eases into its closing movement.

As the trip through Inharmonicity comes to an end, the distinct presence of glitching noise suddenly forces itself to the forefront, like a noise-accumulating whirlwind on a clear sky, until nothing remains besides a massive, pulsating wall of sound. The bone-crushing, distorted layers filled with shapeshifting samples disappear as suddenly as they arose. All that remains are the aftershocks in the form of distant, resonating soundscapes.

The release offers a high contrast between types of minimal explorations - featuring both the smallest of glitches and ear-battering droning noise, challenging the listener. The narrative properties of Inharmonicity each have their appropriate position in an enjoyable, complex electro-acoustic massage. The only problem is that due to the accent on the contrast, most of the release is difficult to listen to at a consistent volume level. So before buying the album have a sneak peak at what the full DVD has to offer, and see if you find it worth a few bucks more.

Girl Running, teaser from the dvd 'InharmoniCity'.






written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Unidentified Sound Object website
stream Inharmonicity on Last.fm

Married with Children - Hot of the Grill

A classic episode where Al 'celebrates' Labor Day.

On Labor Day, the gender roles are reversed when Al becomes the loafing one while he forces Peggy to prepare the backyard barbecue for his creation of the famous "Bundy Burgers." But one of the secret ingredients to them are the ashes of Marcy's dead aunt which was stolen by Kelly from the Rhodes house. -imdb

Svarte Greiner - Man Bird Dress / Svarte Greiner + Anduin - Black River

6.5/10

Svarte Greiner is no stranger here at The Silent Ballet - only recently he inspired my colleague Jermey Bye to advise us to listen to Kappe phenomenally loud. Not being an authority on Svarte Greiner's work, I choose to apply this advice to the job at hand, whether or not his latest three track effort - Man Bird Dress - and his live collaboration withAnduin are worthy additions to the back catalog of this upcoming Scandinavian doomscapologist and mastermind of the Miasmah label.

Man Bird Dress is one album title, three words, and also three track titles. Whether or not these words have any meaning or connection with the actual music is something that each listener will have to make out for him or herself, since there is more room for free interpretation than audible guidance on this release. Of greater importance, perhaps, is that the pieces have meaningful words for titles - where other drone or electronic artists often choose incomprehensible titles or plain numbering - which proves the aspiration to deliver three separate yet complete pieces rather than one sonic adventure, sliced for your convenience. Each piece has a different focus, bringing an attractive and refreshing breeze through the darkness of overdrive-accumulating ambient that is induced with horrific soundscapes. The base structure of "Man", "Bird", and "Dress" is fairly simple: start out with some creepy soundscapes, add doom, let it slowly swell to a sturdy whole and then ease the listener out. To top off the base-recipe, Svarte Greiner (Erik Skodvin) goes all-out from strange hypnotic chords on an acoustic guitar, to frenzied string movements and back to guitar with so much overdrive that it almost doesn't need to be played.

The result of this carefully-spread tapestry of haunting sound waves is rather stunning, intoxicating enough to claim your attention where most acts tend to depend on an audience with a long attention span. Although composed of heavyweight drone elements, the (easy) listening experience isn't negatively affected. A fluid structure and lack of sonic guidance make this album one of the most listenable in its niche. It is also because Svarte Greiner succeeds in breaking through the almost constant darkness of his own compositions with a ray of stunning, matte light every now and then that this album is more easily consumed than the average drone release.

--

5/10

During Svarte Greiner's first US tour in 2008, he sometimes teamed up with Anduin (Souvenir’s Young America’s Jonathan Lee), and after having each done their individual set, they usually ended up on stage together, closing the night. Their collaborative effort was recorded and released as Black River and contains two parts that delve deep in the flattened-out, droning haze of pulsating darkness. Compared to the cinematic feeling of Man Bird Dress, this release uses more electronics than the layered and polished studio efforts.

The fact that this is a live performance works for and against the release. When recording live material, it's hard to mimic the full-on layered sound of studio work, but when it comes to live electronics it a matter of being on top of your equipment and sticking to a few self-set parameters to keep your set together. Black River follows these premises, and I'm sure this was a very rewarding piece to bring live, but the fact is that the work will appeal only to those blessed with a long attention span or those who are hardcore fans of the artists. Although the material tends more to Anduin's lighter ambient, the whiff of Svarte Greiner's moody darkness casts an undefinable aura over the work. The sloth of the bending pads covered in smog, a slow pulsating that phases in and out, characterizes the release - it's a winning combination for the average Machinefabriek listener, but it's not likely this release will dominate The Silent Ballet's end of the year charts. Instead, this little limited vinyl goody from SMTG will surely find an honorable spot in that hardcore fan's collection.



full review written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Svarte Greiner myspace
Anduin myspace