experimental

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…

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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.

Post:Soc – the what and the why

After One String Inspiration, we concluded it would be good to do another charity compilation. At the time, Trump and Brexit were looming large in the news; we had a lot of coverage of post-truth/post-fact society; here in the UK we were trying to work out what post-EU society will look like. In any particular week you might hear mentions of post-feminism, post-post-modernism (nope, no idea), post-media, post-capitalism. And who doesn’t love a bit of post-rock from time to time. So, it feels like rather a “post-everything” society. And that was the brief we gave to contributors.

We were rather overwhelmed with the numbers of entries; it became apparent very quickly that if we were to do a CD release (which we wanted to) that it would need to be a double CD. And even though we were complete spoilsports by restricting folks to 6-minute tracks, once we began the CD mastering process, we found that even 2 CDs would not be enough. Commercially it probably would have been more sensible to reject or park some of the tracks, so we could have had a “big bang” launch, but that would have been far too easy. So instead, the first 30 tracks were released as Post:Soc, with the remainder to be released on a second volume.

Post:Soc contains tracks from Bridget Wishart & Everling, Cousin Silas, Martin Neuhold, Carbonates on Mars, Glove of Bones feat. Peter Wullen, a collection of artists borrowed from Bearsuit’s roster including Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai, Bunny & the Invalid Singers and Kirameki, and many, many more. All proceeds from Post:Soc go to the DePaul International group of homelessness charities.

Post:Soc is available as a digital download from iTunes and Amazon, and available as a download or physical CD from Bandcamp, here:

One String Inspiration – name your price!

Ahead of the Post:Soc “big push” (more on that later) and some exciting new projects we’re launching (even more on that even later), we’ve made the OSI download from Bandcamp “name your price”, so you can pay as little (or as much) as you want. Remember kids, this is for charity, so be nice.

Also, we’ve marked down the price of the CDs – there are only a handful left and we want to make some space for the Post:Soc Post:Script CDs – so if you are stuck for ideas for Christmas gifts for the ambient/experimental/harsh noise fan in your life, now’s the time to act!

Review of One String Inspiration from Monolith Cocktail

A lovely review of One String Inspiration (you’ll need to scroll down a bit; we’re not top billing!)

Monolith Cocktail Blog

REVIEWS/PREVIEWS ROUNDUP
WORDS: DOMINIC VALVONA


Not that I ever mean to do it, but this month’s roundup does have a tenuous theme of sorts, or rather many of the releases in this, the 52nd edition of my eclectic revues, are more or less all experimenting with the electronic music format in one way or another. The sagacious counterculture totem and beatnik poet of renown, John Sinclair leads the charge this month, his vivid jazz lyricism recitations put to an evocative soundtrack by Youth on the mini-album Beatnik Youth Ambient. Jono Podmore’s recently re-launched label, Psychomat, follows up on the inaugural release with another electronic peregrination – this time far more melodic and dreamy –, from the mysterious Reason Stendec. Working in isolation and apart, never meeting in person, the Room Of Wires duo release their third EP of otherworldly and atmospheric techno and downtempo beats, Black…

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