Some albums are seemingly wrestled into shape. The effort required to prevent ‘Even Clean Hands Damage the Work’ breaking its bounds and melting the studio must surely have been strenuous. It feels caged, raging voltage testing the boundaries of its prison, the modular synth eager to escape.Constructed around five movements separated into two side-long suites, it… Continue reading John Chantler – Even Clean Hands Damage the Work (Room 40)
Various Artists – Soft Bodies Never Sleep (Soft Bodies)
‘Soft Bodies Never Sleep’ is the second compilation from Soft Bodies, a label with a diverse and open-ended roster, an approach mirrored in their club night The Electric Dog Show and this absorbing collection of music. ‘Sovereign’ by Quimper is a spooked tremulous torch song, a night ballad sung from atop a disused lock-up bathed… Continue reading Various Artists – Soft Bodies Never Sleep (Soft Bodies)
Dieter Moebius – Nidemonex (More Than Human)
‘Nidemonex’ by Dieter Moebius is the latest in More Than Human’s highly desirable vinyl EP series; the label so far having released a clutch of excellent records, most recently Time Attendant’s ‘Treacherous Orb.’ Moebius fails to rest on his considerable laurels here, instead creating a sinister and dark work, as scabrous in texture as it… Continue reading Dieter Moebius – Nidemonex (More Than Human)
Broetzmann / Adasiewicz / Edwards / Noble – Mental Shake (OTOROKU)
Wasting no time in getting started, Peter Broetzmann begins ‘Mental Shake’ with a harsh piercing buzz of rusted saxophone holler, the rest of the group wobbling into form behind him. Steve Noble (drums) and John Edwards (bass) are a proliferating complexity of beats and accruing rumble; Jason Adasiewicz’s vibraphone dropping small calm raindrop chimes into the… Continue reading Broetzmann / Adasiewicz / Edwards / Noble – Mental Shake (OTOROKU)
Matmos – Café Oto, Dalston, London – Sunday 1st June
Matmos. Picture by Dawid LaskowskiArriving to a packed Café Oto with blacked-out curtained windows was a disconcerting experience. The warm evening sunlight was left at the door, the interior an expectant gloom waiting to be filled with the scraping noise and strobe assault of Jeff Carey. He unleashed brutal screes of sharply contoured roaring… Continue reading Matmos – Café Oto, Dalston, London – Sunday 1st June
Aaron Dilloway – Medicine Stunts (Hanson records)
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1513306714/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=4273112161/transparent=true/The buzz of washing machines, a ruffling dusty sound, revolving and looping; the first piece on this digital release from Aaron Dilloway leaks weirdness and indistinct intent. Living chains dangling like tentacles from a ceiling lost in darkness, clanking hooks suspended in grey gloom, the occasional echo acting as a joyless dub chasm-drop. There is… Continue reading Aaron Dilloway – Medicine Stunts (Hanson records)
Ex-Easter Island Head – Daylight Music, Union Chapel – 24th May
Missing much of Mook and Papernut Cambridge, I arrived in time for the band that most strongly drew me to this session of Daylight Music at the Union Chapel. Ex-Easter Island Head began in an almost ritual manner, an invocation of sorts; four guitars laid upon tables, struck with mallets and resounding, appropriately given the… Continue reading Ex-Easter Island Head – Daylight Music, Union Chapel – 24th May
Isnaj Dui – Euplexia (Rural Colours)
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3157414525/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=4055312278/transparent=true/‘Euplexia’ is the new album from Isnaj Dui (aka Katie English); like her previous work it combines bass flute and electronics, with the addition of dulcimers on this release. Beatific and almost entirely peaceful, the songs unfurl like petals seeking the sun; organic and plant-like in construction and pacing, progress occurs in slow steady growth,… Continue reading Isnaj Dui – Euplexia (Rural Colours)
Cup and Bow – Bridge Physics (no label)
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3769227915/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=1619976273/transparent=true/‘Bridge Physics’ by Cup And Bow is an album for fans of looking under the bed at night. Using home-made instruments, synths and electronics; Cup And Bow create a creaking multitude of noise: fog horns and floating hover-menace; flickering peripheral shimmers; weary shuffling bass wobbles; waste-plain wind gusts; doom-trumpets ripping feedback from baked rocks. Siren… Continue reading Cup and Bow – Bridge Physics (no label)
Ears For Eyes 