Joseph Knowles steps back into short story mode whilst critiquing two of the most exciting experimental releases of the year, both from the Fonal Records stable.
Experimental
Arandel – In D
‘In D’ is an exciting, occasionally intoxicating and spirited album that owes as much to the spirit of its influences as it does to the desired mystery of its creator.
Black Carrot – Milking Scarabs for Dough
As wilfully odd as ever, Market Harborough-based Black Carrot return with a perplexing second album.
Eleh – Location Momentum
The release of this collection of microscopic events is an event in itself, for given that this will be the first full Eleh album not given a hideously-limited release, it is likely to be the starting point for many.
Celer – Close Proximity and the Unhindered Care-all
On Close Proximity and the Unhindered Care-all, Celer manage to create an almost alternative world, like exploring the travels and experiences of your day, but through someone else’s eyes.
Cluster – Qua
Qua is kosmiche legends Cluster’s first studio album for 15 years. It’s an oddly blank experience. Matt Poacher listens.
Picastro – Become Secret
Picastro have made a record unremittingly bleak, but it is nevertheless a constantly rewarding listen.
Red Sparowes return with new album in April
With a new album ready for April, Red Sparowes are back for more…
A Broken Consort – Crow Autumn
A stunning compilation of Skelton’s work: rich and verbose without a word ever needing to be heard. Ash Akhtar reviews.
Imaginary Softwoods – S/T
Recorded by Emeralds’s John Elliott in 2007, originally released on cassette in 2008, and now re-released on extremely limited vinyl, Imaginary Softwoods is a concatenation of amorphous, atonal and arrhythmic pieces of ambient drone that shift from metallic dissonance through to soft analogue idling.
Zelienople – Give It Up
Give It Up is a dark, brooding and pretty sinister album – the perfect soundtrack to dark, cold Winter evenings according to Rich Hughes.
Black To Comm – Alphabet 1968
Has civilization seduced Black To Comm? Is the freedom of the freaky forest subtly succumbing to the agreeable, if regimented, pleasures of the pop city? Joseph Knowles wonders…
Radian – Chimeric
Dark, raw, broken and unpolished… the latest album from the Radian trio has a bit of an identity crisis, but is worthy of repeated listens.
Steven R. Smith – Cities
Cities is something like the 30th release Smith has been a part of, and yet he still manages to create new and beautiful soundscapes that explore folk, post-rock and drone music.
Six Organs of Admittance – Luminous Night
Luminous Light is another step of crafty perfection that has become synonymous with Six Organs. Another triumph for Ben Chasny as he crafts his landscape of palatial dream.
Patrick Kelleher – You Look Cold
Pieced together in a couple of home studios, You Look Cold is as lo-fi an album as you might expect from something that employs a chocolate spread jar as percussion.
