Ears For Eyes

Russell M. Harmon's 'We Are Failed' on Rano records is an alternately melancholy and violent album composed with piano and electronics; its ear pummelling harshness and heart pulling softness existing in a gripping balance.  The first half is Harmon's solo compositions; the second contains remixes and re-workings of the same tracks.Opener 'Amidst Wolves' evokes the whispering taut wire harmonics of Richard Skelton, an aural vision… Continue reading Russell M. Harmon – We Are Failed (Rano) →

This album from London improvising cellist Hannah Marshall contains a set of de-tuned cello instrumentals utilising rhythmic repetition and field recordings; the two elements imagined by Marshall as a series of meals with complimentary but contrasting ingredients.The improvisations unfold naturally and organically, as simple repetitions branch out in small increments, like a suite of minimalist solo compositions.  String… Continue reading Hannah Marshall – Tulse Hill (Linear Obsessional Recordings) →

“A light coating of dust covered the bodywork and seats, as if the car were already a distant memory of itself, the lapsed time condensing on it like dew.” – J.G. Ballard, The DroughtThis project of Susan Balmer is apparently constructed from several tape loops that develop over time. As soon as side 1 of… Continue reading Prada & Oregon – His Past of Heaven​-​Floor Permanents – Her Lufa (Auditory Field Theory) →

Music writer and producer Laica has come up with the goods on 'Puls', a tape containing two sides of reverberant cellar techno.Side one contains ‘Puls (Complete)’ a brilliant piece of propulsive nocturnal electronica.  The sound design is excellent; drifting palls of fuzz, like smoke from a fire enshrouds everything in a thin sonic fog; there… Continue reading Laica – Puls (Rano) →

‘Fade’ is a suite of software manipulated soundscapes from laptop performer and composer Norah Lorway.  The music derives from acoustic sources: field recordings, pianos and clarinets, which have been transformed into a diverse set of stunning ambient compositions.‘Spheres’ recalls the work of Ligeti in its discordance and sustained alien rumbling.  ’Fade’ leaves weaving lines of… Continue reading Norah Lorway – Fade (Xylem Records) →

'The House in the Woods' is another work of strongly evocative drone; drifting, breathing and sighing, from a rather excellent producer of night music.  oh/ex/oh's previous album, the excellent 'Extant' offered up visions of depopulated landscapes and crumbling civilization; this release leaves space for people or, at least, invisible stalking things with unfeasible amounts of tentacles and… Continue reading oh/ex/oh – The House in the Woods →

This self titled debut by Matt Bower's Revanant Sea alter ego is another fascinating release from the weird and wonderful Auditory Field Theory label.  Beginning with 'It's Been Following the Plane Since Moscow', the listener is immediately thrown into dark and troubling sonic waters.  The sound of creaking swings and distressed metal is gradually overtaken by… Continue reading The Revenant Sea – The Revenant Sea (Auditory Field Theory) →

'The Game Face' by Dead Days Beyond Help is an album to blow away the cobwebs from the ears of fans of off-kilter rock; it suggests an engagement with the past while offering something genuinely forward looking, an alliance with free-improv techniques.  Many of the tracks contain sections that wouldn't be out of place in… Continue reading Dead Days Beyond Help – The Game Face (Copepod) →

'Transit Check' is the latest release from fledgling label Cram, and contains two solo viola improvisations by Benedict Taylor.  Free of sparring partners, Taylor here indulges in longer, more fluid lines than in his work with Alex Ward and Daniel Thompson, there are even some repetitive blues-like squalls here, as if he is imitating an electric… Continue reading Benedict Taylor – Transit Check (Cram) →