experimental

News from the Conning Tower: Micrographia

So we have a brand new release tomorrow (10th July) and it’s a split release from two artists new to the submarine, qualchan and Dogs versus Shadows.

The split has been named Micrographia after the book (as per Wikipedia: Micrographia or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon is a historically significant book by Robert Hooke about his observations through various lenses).

The little slices of life/sonic micro-stories in the hazy beats that qualchan creates, coupled with the look through the sonic microscope at cell membranes (see track titles) of dogs versus shadows is a pairing of musicians that deserve a closer listen.

qualchan – ultra-prolific experimental producer from Portland, Oregon, has released through Hotham Sound and Houdini Mansions amongst others.

dogs versus shadows – the radio DJ behind Kites and Pylons /experimental electronic producer Lee Pylon released his debut through London’s Subexotic Records in June 2020 and has several follow-ups in the pipeline.

Some of the tracks are very short – microscopic, some might say. Imagine slicing open a life – you might examine a little part at a time. Imagine examining a cell membrane – you’ll see parts of the whole, bit by bit you can piece them together and create an image…. that’s what Micrographia sets out to be.

Micrographia will be available exclusively on Bandcamp, as digital download or extremely limited edition cassette.

New Release: GOATS ‘Far Out’

We’ve been publicising the new GOATS album for a couple of months now, so we’re absolutely delighted to announce its general release.

Far Out is GOATS’ second album, with a change of personnel and a change of direction. The core members Alan Morse Davies and Declan Owen remain and are augmented by Jorge Mario Zuleta on visuals, plus a number of guest musicians. Musically, there is the experimental feel from the first album, but much, much more: the album comprises a single 38 minute track containing elements of psychedelia, folk, Tuvan throat singing, all interwoven and drifting in and out of focus.

A psychedelic drone folk ambient noise radio station, not perfectly tuned, so that there is another psychedelic drone folk ambient noise radio station playing simultaneously. Requires repeated listening.
— Aeons And Monuments

GoatsCover BandcampWe’ve been really encouraged by the reception this album has received already, with radio play on A Duck in a Tree (resonance.fm), Chunky’s Choice Cuts (dapper.fm), In Memory of John Peel, Wonky Planet Wireless Show  and The Institute of Spectra-Sonic Sound, amongst others, and positive reviews in a number of blogs, including Houdini Mansions, Mystic Tape Deck, and Yeah I Know It Sucks.

We’re leading with a cassette format, available only from our Bandcamp store. Far Out is also available as a download from Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon.

 

It feels like your using your personal super power of flight and sailing along above the earth hearing many disparate sounds and occasionally dipping in on different places around the globe for a closer listen.
— Albert E. Trapezoid

You can listen to and purchase Far Out here:

 
Do give it a spin.

But that’s not all. To accompany Far Out Jorge Mario Zuleta has also produced a full length video, entitled How to Cook a Queen. As befits a sister-piece to Far Out, it’s another psychedelic trip, surreal, spellbinding, disturbing and intriguing in equal measure. You can watch How to Cook a Queen here:

 

News from the Conning Tower: GOATS ‘Far Out’

Next month we have another big release, the much anticipated new album from experimental supergroup GOATS.

Far Out is GOATS’ second album, and it is a different beast from the first album. There has been a change of personnel, and this time the album is a single 38 minute piece; chief goat herder Alan Morse Davies describes it as a song cycle, more of which later.

We’re leading with a cassette release for this album; digital formats will be available from our Bandcamp store and selected other platforms. Note that due to the continuous nature of the music, the cassette is single-sided, so the second side is free to do with what you will. We recommend trying to record your favourite tracks from the top forty, but without the DJ’s voice on the intros.

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There are already some excellent reviews of ‘Far Out’ (like Albert E. Trapezoid and Mystic Tape Deck which both brilliantly capture the spirit of Far Out, but if clicking on those links is way too tricky, here’s the SBC take: Far Out is like a journey, or perhaps a trip (remember kids, drugs are bad!) where you’ll encounter found sounds, shimmering ambient canvasses, complete songs, bent circuitry, all overlapping and merging, occasionally crystallizing into focus before disappearing from view and being replaced with something new. It’s experimental, but accessible, Dadaist but emotional. Go with the flow, let it wash over you, drink deep and you’ll discover a truly unique work of art.

Available at special pre-order prices here.

 

News from the Conning Tower: t.r. hand and Glauber K. de Souza

Ah, autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitlessness. Our release for the tail end of September is ‘Suburban Solitude’ from our resident mystic t.r. hand in collaboration with Glauber K. de Souza of the Amao Quartet.

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The album contains the field recordings and sound collages you’ve come to expect from t.r hand, but taken in new directions with electro-acoustic instrumentation from Glauber K.S.

It’s a meditative and subtle work, one that demands to be listened to at length; a soundscape that needs to envelop you and move you.

We’re delighted that this work has already picked up a positive reception; most of the tracks are too long to be radio-friendly but this album will reward the listener that seeks it out.

As with the previous t.r. hand album, we’re delighted to offer this album in both digital and physical editions. Suburban Solitude is available from our merch store as a deluxe book/CD package, designed by the radical design collective Glove of Bones. As you can see, it’s a beautiful thing.

 

In other news, we have some groovy stuff still to come this year. A very special album by Hans Castrup, new work from Leaving Richmond and Whettman Chelmets and the sophomore album from GOATS. Come get some!

August Releases: Cottura 8 Minuti and Manipulant

Two releases this month, both somewhat unusual.

First up is the various artists compilation, Cottura 8 Minuti (or C8M). This is compilation of music made in, or at least centered around, the kitchen. We’d love to take credit for C8M, but the truth is the curation and heavy-lifting was done by Lezet and Razrook, both of whom appear on the compilation.

Lezet (Igor Jovanovic) says:

“Cottura 8 minuti – that’s a suggested time for preparing a meal (often printed on pasta package, spaghetti for instance).

Cottura 8 minuti (C8M) was also a suggestion for musicians and sound artists to contribute in gathering a collection of sound recordings that all originate from any sort of a kitchen (indoor, outdoor, home, restaurant etc.)

C8M – gave freedom to explore all kinds of kitchenish soundscapes. The performances (“cooking” the sounds, or other recording engagement in the kitchen, using kitchenware to produce sound, music, or even playing real instruments while cooking them in a stew…) don’t all last for 8 minutes, but we gave the artists strict instructions not to overcook it!”

As you might expect, C8M is predominantly experimental, containing generous servings of field recordings, noise, no-wave and treated sounds. Artists featured include Zumaia, Mean Flow, { AN } Eel , Gekkering, Awkward Geisha, Yann Pillas, David Nadeau, David Fenech and many more.

C8M is available as a digital download from Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon, or on two CDs from Bandcamp.

All proceeds from C8M go to the Petar Radovanović Children’s Home, Užice, Serbia.

 

Our other release so far in August is a first for SBC, an album of remixes. We’ve taken Manipulant’s lovely single ‘What Good Are The Stars?’ and handed it out to a phalanx of musical luminaries and encouraged them to do unspeakable things with it.

Punningly entitled ‘The Stars Are Good… What?’, the album includes remixes from SBC ‘regulars’ Martin Neuhold, Alan Morse Davies, t.r. hand and Beltism, plus a plethora of guest artists new to the label:  A Multitude of ONE, Cheddr, Stoneygate, Alex Hilliard with IE Unnoticed, Incentive, and Once & Future NoOne. It’s a fantastically inventive collection of remixes, ranging from the sympathetic through to complete re-workings.

‘The Stars Are Good… What?’ is available as a digital download or CD from Bandcamp. All proceeds go to the Make The World Better (MTWB) Foundation (Philadelphia). www.mtwb.org

News from the Conning Tower: June releases

After the madness that was May, it has been a blessed relief to release a mere two albums in June, but blimey Charlie, what a pair of albums they are!

First out of the traps was the second installment of Martin Neuhold & Friends ‘Dialogue’ series, cunningly entitled ‘Dialogue 2’. Like the first Dialogue album, these pieces were initially solo improvisations recorded by Martin as part of February Album Writing Month (FAWM); these were then added to, remixed and repurposed by a veritable phalanx of leading ambient and experimental musicians. Artists on this album include Cousin Silas, Jaime Munarriz, Wilfried Hanrath, Volker Lankow and many more.

As with the first volume, Dialogue 2 is available as download or CD and all proceeds go to Médecins Sans Frontières.

 

Our other new release in June was ‘Irresistible Forces’, our debut release for the renowned sound designer and electronic musician, Andrulian. As with several of our roster, Andrulian’s music has a healthy disrespect for genres, but if we had to call it we’d say ‘Irresistible Forces’ straddles the ambient/dark ambient/experimental categories.

Andrulian’s work is big on atmospheres, textures and details, and this album uses these to great effect on a collection of pieces, some of which are unsettling to the point of scariness. Perhaps listen with an adult initially.

The album has been picking up great reviews and some significant plays on influential web radio shows, so do lend it your ears.

‘Irresistible Forces’ is available to purchase from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

Review: Pendro/Figmentland

Pendro is the name of Tim Jones’ experimental music and sound design project. He released his latest album, ‘Figmentland’, in March. It’s unapologetically experimental, but that’s no left-handed compliment; it’s a fiercely creative album, full of textures, cinematic sound-staging, and even emotion. It’s also an album that rewards repeated listens as familiarity with the basic shape allows some of the deeper layers to be exposed.

The album opens with ‘Stalking The Floating Brass Jaws’, brash, startling and uncompromising, effectively setting the tone for what is to come. The track includes repeating sequences of treated metallic clangs, one of several motifs that will re-appear several times during the course of the album.

The following track, ‘Black Moths’ is rhythmic and insistent, with burgeoning, distorted beats and almost dub-like echoes trailing off into the ether. The track ends with chilling synthetic wails and screams. Moths that flew too close to the flame maybe.

‘Over The Fire Glade’ that follows, starts all slow and swirling, with textures overlapping. It’s worth noting that the whole album warrants headphones to truly appreciate the ingenuity of Tim’s sound design, but particularly in this piece, as themes and motifs chase each other from side to side and front to back. The tone here is ominous, almost monstrous. This soundscape is teeming with wildlife, and possibly not all of it friendly.

The highlight of the album is the epic ‘Turquoise Lagoons’. The piece starts with a bed of gamelan-like bells, chimes and gongs, which are gradually blended with industrial scrapes and hisses. Several minutes in, the gongs give way to clarion alarms and bird-like shrieks, and the track starts to turn dark and foreboding. Like emerging from a tunnel, towards the end the gamelan starts again, this time backed by soothing major chords. The track ends peacefully enough but it’s definitely been a journey.

Just as the first track set out Tim’s stall, the final track ‘Descent To Silver Valley’ is a fitting close to the album. It’s probably the most accessible track on the album, a meditative flowing drone, with numerous textures all interweaving and rising to the surface. Then, just as you begin to think the album is closing with an air of optimism, apocalyptic bass chords fade in, unsettling and desolate. Happy ending denied.

This is an album that demands active listening; it’s not background music for cooking or dinner parties. But for the listener who can dedicate an hour, they will find their investment very well rewarded.

Monolith Cocktail review: Post:Soc

Monolith Cocktail’s detailed review of Post:Soc. Definitely +1hp for use of “moiety”.

Monolith Cocktail Blog

NEW MUSIC REVIEW ROUNDUP

WORDS: DOMINIC VALVONA


A somewhat shorter selection but just as much quality and eclecticism, my final roundup of the year includes the cinematic pop and harrowing void explorations of Alpine Those Myriads; the latest compilations from Edinburgh label of alternative and post rock mavericks and sonic explorers, Bearsuit Records’ The Invisible & Divided Sea, and the altruistic, charity driven Submarine Broadcasting Company’s latest sprawling collection, Post:Soc; the fourth edition of Knitting Factory’s curated Fela Kuti box sets, with albums chosen by that rebel soul songstress and polymath Erykah Badu; and for the first time ever the entire – admittedly small – 1970s recorded oeuvre of one of Cameroon’s leading Gandjal rhythm providers, Hamad Kalkaba and his Golden Sounds band.

Alpine Those Myriads   ‘Visions & Disorders’
See Hear Feel Smell,  out now.

Set adrift out into the void, though…

View original post 3,117 more words

Review: Dream Topography

Rob from SBC and Beltism reviews Argali Records’ new experimental compilation, Dream Topography:

In the interests of full disclosure, I should point out I was delighted to have a Beltism track included on this compilation. But let’s pretend I’m impartial and concentrate on the other tracks.

Argali Records is the brainchild of John Lithium (aka Nathan Carter) and continues its reputation for promoting new independent experimental music with this compilation, loosely themed around dreams.

What immediately struck be about this compilation is the variety of artists taking part; in addition to the usual suspects who frequent my quarter of the ambient and experimental nether regions of the Internet, there were several artists completely new to me. And the other notable feature is the quality of the submissions. As we at SBC can testify, you never know what you’re going to get with an open-call compilation, and it’s difficult to please all tastes, so ultimately it’s pretty rare to produce a compilation that doesn’t involve reaching for the Skip button at some point, but the quality on this one is consistently high.

The album opens with one of its most melodic tracks, Cousin Silas’ evocative ‘Fever Dreams’, with its repeated piano motif full of half-memories and yearning. Glove of Bones’ ‘Psychopomp (Fuck Turquoise)’ that follows shortly after is an altogether more disturbing affair – the dreams that inspired this dark and damaged piece were the result of blue cheese and peyote buttons before bedtime. Mean Flow’s ‘Dream Land’ is a short drone, dark but also meditative, unsettling but cleverly textured.

One of my favourite tracks is Ars Sonor’s ‘Shattered Dreams’, a barren haunting soundscape, redolent of winter, possibly a nuclear one. James Lowe’s ‘Transparency One’ continues in the same vein, a fragile and chilling peace which unfolds into a collage of disturbing sounds that would work nicely in a Tarkovsky film.

Jack Hertz’s ‘Half Moon Dream’ is delightfully textured, rich with unnerving sounds drifting in and out of focus; I don’t think this is a particularly happy dream, but to answer Bill Nelson’s question, I’m fairly sure Jack dreams in colour. Jaime Munarriz’s ‘Out of the Dark Zone’ swirls ominous bell-like (campaniform?) sounds, cleverly teasing us that something beautifully melodic, or terrifyingly anarchic, will happen, but much like trying to read a newspaper in a dream, we never get a clear view for long enough to be sure.

Playman54’s music is always a delight, and ‘Ghost Echoes 2’ on this compilation is no exception. I don’t know Colin’s influences, but I often find there is something in his music that makes me think of Harold Budd or Roger Eno; he has a way of making his reverb sound reassuringly expensive, I just want to sink back and wallow in it.

My two favourite tracks on the compilation appear back to back, starting with ‘Liquid Tale of a Dying Star’ by Citiborax. One of the longer tracks on the compilation, this track takes the listener on a journey, reaching a threatening peak midway through, then at the ten minute mark a beautiful and haunting guitar refrain, joined later by scattered analog synth reassures you that it’s all going to be OK and it was only a dream.

The following piece, ‘Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia’ (that’s the single, right there guys) by Sharpen!Strokes is another track that cleverly forms beauty from chaos. Initially suggesting you might be in for seven minutes of harsh noise, the saw waves give way to melodic burst of bleeps and an underpinning of mechanical rhythm. I can’t find the words to do it justice, but it’s genius.

This is a very solid compilation; if you like experimental or dark ambient music, I would strongly recommend this album as you’ll find many tracks that you will want to return to again and again. If you’re new to experimental music, or just experimental-curious, do give this a try; it’s relatively free of white noise and static and packed with ideas and ingenuity. It’s ‘name your price’ on Bandcamp, so you really have no excuse not to own this album.

 

Forthcoming attractions…

Well, delighted to hear that the final track for Post:Soc Post:Script (you know, the third disc of the double album) is nearing completion. This is good news on several fronts: firstly it means the pre-orders can be fulfilled, and that the Post:Soc publicity machine can roll into action and hopefully we’ll raise some money for DePaul International. But also it means that the forthcoming Submarine Broadcasting projects can be announced… yes, projects plural. Musicians and sound designers, watch this space as you won’t want to miss this!

Also, we seem to be very near to signing a new artist to the label, which is terrifically exciting! Not going to say too much as it’s early days and there is some detail to thrash out yet, but fingers and toes are crossed.