Sankt Otten: Gottes Synthesizer (Denovali)

Denovali are a brilliant label - they take real pride and care to press their records beautifully and come up with such mindblowingly gorgeous vinyl colour combinations that you almost forget to play the bloody things, such is the wonderment as you gaze upon the objects of extreme desire. Granted, there are many records that are better viewed than heard - even the plain black variety, but Sankt Otten have come up with everything i love about music in 2011 on this amazing album. Synths have ruled my life this year, and i see no end in sight for the delight that they bring to my life. The glacial beauty that an analog synth adds to music is clean, pure and emotionally expressive far more than a box of wires and knobs should be. But then why should a stringed, or brass, instrument be any more 'real' than a synth? Are they not all just conduits to express emotion through? I remember the musicians union trying to ban synths in the late '70s under the impression that they needed no technical ability to produce music from, i have very vivid memories of hairy blokes with 'keep music live' stickers on their guitar cases sneering at the synth brigade. "Fuck 'em" - i thought then, and "Fuck 'em" i still think whenever somebody tries the old arguments.

And they still do, trust me.

As an example of how a synth needs the same technical ability as, say, a violin; put me in a room with a Korg and Stradivarius for an hour and then get me to play something. I guarantee that both will sound like shit.

Case proven.

Sankt Otten? Oh it's fucking beautiful, and you are doing your children a disservice by not having it in the house, but i can't really be arsed to go into all that now. Not after i've had a little rant.

Mogwai: Earth Division (Rock Action)

Just realised that i never wrote about the Mogwai album - t'was one of those things that i listened to incessantly and filed it away without writing about it. Lovely boxed set it was as well, and the best mogwai album in years - maybe even their best ever. This EP is more of the same, in that it showcases this new thoughtful highly artistic side to Mogwai whereby the music leads them - rather than the volume dynamics. Bookended by two subtle instrumentals that seem to function better as intros & outros rather than fully formed songs (and this is not a criticism - both tracks sound like edits of something much longer)  i feel that, if there is any failure here then it is that the tracks aren't 10 minute plus tracks. Standout track 'Drunk & Crazy' is fuzzed out static adventurousness either side of some beautifully arranged strings and succeeds in sounding far more epic than it actually is, such is the exciting structure of it. The only track that slightly fails is 'Hound of Winter' which, with it's 'normal' vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica, is a bold step but one that doesn't altogether work.

Mogwai are at their most exciting point, musically,  at the moment - they are creating a new sound that is a huge step forward but one that retains the same feeling as before, without endlessly rehashing the same old quiet/loud/repeat formula that, admittedly they did (do) so well.

Imaginary Softwoods: The path of Spectrolite (Amethyst Sunset)

Imaginary Softwoods is John Elliott from the massively prolific Emeralds and these ambient  synthscapes are beautifully lush and luminescent. They float around between the speakers in an expansive room-filling manner that hijacks your thoughts, commands you to take notice and attempt to follow the ever-evolving twists and turns. Which is exceedingly hard to do.

I bought a copy of this for Matt the Hat at the same time as i bought it for myself (he trusts my judgement, as should you!) and gave it to him by saying "it's a perfect tangerine dream tribute". Whilst the album certainly references TD, and Klaus Schulze's more ambient solo releases in particular, i did it a huge disservice by describing  it thus - as it is much more than that, Elliott has blended his own sensibilities into each track that means they stand out as very individual pieces of music. There's a lot of this stuff around at the moment - but this stands out as special as each track is a musical feast, with a great structure sadly lacking from a lot of ambient analog electronic music. It is all too easy to set a few tones going and leave the room for half an hour, and call it an ambient drone, some of us demand much more.

Nicolas Jaar: Space is only Noise (Circus Company)

For a producer of so-called dance music, 20 year old NY boy Jaar has created an album where the dancing is much more in your head that on your feet. Everything is slowed right down and the slow-mo house beats are peppered with found sounds, dripping water, voices, strings, (often fractured, sometimes vocodered) vocals and, more often than not, beautifully played minimalist piano. I love the weirdly unexpected journey that this album takes you on - whereby tracks start as one thing and then end up as another thing altogether, and this unexpected journey is repeated every single time that you listen to it - as there is so much going on. I know nothing of Jaar's other releases, nor his remixes, and so i don't know if this is indicative of the rest of his oeuvre but i really appreciate the time and effort that has gone into making this an album of great imagination and of unexpected delights. Since i got this the album has been recalled due to an uncleared sample on 'I got a' - that means that future editions will not feature the track, but this is no great loss as said track is not half as essential as most of the other tracks.

Dreamers of the Ghetto: Enemy/Lover (Temporary Residence)

As i mentioned in The Drift's review, Temporary Residence seem to be going from strength to strength by opening up the label to more and more exciting bands. Dreamers of the Ghetto are not the sort of band i would expect to find on TR but they might well end up being the biggest band to ever release something on the label. Everything i hear in their music points towards a hugely successful future - from Luke Aaron Jones'  gruffly strong vocals, to the swirling synthesizers that underpin the whole album , to the politely rocking guitars that carry the songs on their backs, to the solid drumming carrying on regardless despite all manner of rhythmic twists & turns, to the fact that they are not afraid to sound massive whilst still occupying a position of near-unknown-ness. The songs are unashamedly stadium filling slabs of melodic anthemic greatness, bringing to mind Unforgettable Fire era U2, but in a good way!

Hang on there, don't go, don't let me frighten you away. The Unforgettable Fire was, in parts,  a really good album - the title track, 'bad', 'a sort of homecoming', - these were all good tracks and all occupied a similar musical head space to tracks like 'Connection' and 'Tether' on here. Jones' vocals do have a bit of a Bono quality to them - the manly roughness that still manages to hold a tune, but these vocals convey a great sensitivity that Bono could only dream of giving over.

I have been playing and recommending this album to everyone i speak to, but always preface the recommendation with an explanation that this is big music in a way that is rarely seen these days and should be listened to as a whole. I also inform everyone, with a strange certainty, that within a couple of years everyone will know all about Dreamers of the Ghetto - just so long as they have plenty more of this under their belts. Which i'm pretty sure they must have - this is too exciting to be a one-off.

The Field: Looping State of Mind (Kompakt)

Being a bit of a late starter when it comes to techno, i first became aware of The Field via their standout remix from Miracle's remix album earlier this year, cracking the song down to a long ambient murky mush - in a similar way to some of the best tracks by Wolfgang Voigt's excellent Gas records. I touch a punt on this album, hoping it would be more of the same and was both excited, and slightly disappointed, to find that it was so much more than the near-gas experience of the remix. Whilst there is a fair degree of ambient noise as the bedrock of each track, there are beats bolted on to almost everything, which tend to override the other sounds to make you nod your head in time (as i'm doing now whilst it plays behind me) rather than to actually listen to what is going on. Whilst this is undoubtedly the reason most dance music exists, this is not the reason why i listen to music. Being not much of a dancer, and not very knowledgeable about the different streams of techno music, i rely on something to catch my attention rather than a beat to latch onto.

And there's plenty going on here for me to latch onto - the subtle instrumentation of each loop (and, as the title gives way, this music is pretty to heavily reliant on loops - albeit live played as opposed to sampling somebody else) is really effective and references many other non-dance sources. I can hear a strong post punk and shoegaze/dreampop element to a lot of these tracks and this is what sets it apart from many other techno things that i've heard lately. I suppose i need dance music to bring to mind strictly non dance things for me to be interested, as i come from a purely non dance listening background.

The repetitive loops on here generally work well in a hypnotic way, in a similar manner to the more rhythmic krautrock like Neu's 'hallogallo' but sometimes they can really grate. Case in point has to be the final track - 'Sweet slow baby' where it loops the same sound over and over and over and over again. And that sound is 'cleverly' created to sound like the needle is skipping, so us vinyl fans are sent backwards and forwards to the turntable to check what is going on. At one point during this track Helen walked in and asked if the record was stuck, i checked it and moved the tone arm. It sounded exactly the same. I moved it again and it still sounded exactly the same. I gave up.

Which is a sad way to end a generally great album.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen: S/T (Erased Tapes)

Adam Wiltzie is a busy chap. Not content with being half of the amazing Sleepingdog, he has also managed to team up with  the hugely talented pianist/composer Duncan O'Halloran - who has managed to hitherto slip past my radar (but not for much longer...) and produce this veritable masterpiece. There's very little i can say about this that hasn't been written about before - it seems to have been universally praised in every review i have read, but i love the way that this project seems to have turned Wiltzie into a more outwardly looking musician. I have always found his music generally quite insular - Stars of the lid, f'rinstance, being a case in point whereby most of the individual sounds seemed submerged into the general morass of the electronic drones. This is no bad thing but this album sees each individual instrument (mostly melancholy piano and keyboard - but also French Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello & Bassoon) given ample space to spread out and make itself heard.

I am frequently emotionally affected by music (as you will read in many other reviews here) but rarely have i heard a piece of music so quintessentially gorgeous yet unremittingly sad. The sounds that make up every perfect second of this wonderful record evoke feelings of love and loss but also evoke an atmosphere that is both solemn and reverential. I can only put these atmospheres down to the myriad of different recording locations - from churches to old radio studios - the effects are so noticeable but seem so natural.

The Drift: Blue Hour (Temporary Residence)

First of all.....just take a look at how completely beautiful that vinyl is. Can you get something so stunningly gorgeous via a fucking download? Or a compact bastard disc? No, of course you can't, and you never will - this is why i love vinyl so much and why it will live on through the next few technological changes, the sheer aesthetic beauty that can never be replaced - even if somebody finds a way to mirror the audio quality (and all i can say to that is....bring it on...).

Ok, rant over, let's get to the music.

This has been described as a new beginning for The Drift since the passing of trumpet player Jeff Jacobs, and i can see why in the sounds that fly out of the speakers. There seems to be genuine anger in the guitar playing in second track 'Barde 1' that i've rarely heard before in their previous records and this is where they come closest to sounding like labelmates Explosions in the Sky who they have, unjustly, been compared to on this new album. I can understand why some people make the comparison - this is a more rock  album than the previously more dubby sound but i feel that their use of space, texture and meditative rhythms (most notably on the hypnotic opener 'dark passage') still holds enough sway and creative excitement to be far above the dreaded fear of being justanotherbloodypostrockalbum. Like the Grails album earlier this year (also on the fantastic going-from-strength-to-strength-by-branching-out Temporary Residence label), this is an album that is not afraid to fuck with the expected formula. They could've made another album in the similar vein to 'Memory Drawings' - albeit by drafting in a replacement for Jacobs, but instead they decided to push the boundaries outwards and see where it took them. And it seems to have taken them on a bass-heavy (but decidedly undubby) journey where kosmiche influences sit happily with their past influences to produce a sound that is as spaciously new and genre-defying as it is touchingly faithful to their past.

I suppose this could be seen as more of a bridge between the old and the new, which makes looking forward to the next Drift album even more exciting.

Thisquietarmy & Yellow6: Death/Valley (Basses Frequences)

Two separate albums (one gold vinyl, one silver) detail one night of recording by two fiercely experimental guitarists, and their effects. The guitars work mainly as a distinct pair, whereby one sets a drone in action and the other delicately plays around the set atmosphere. Death, unsurprisingly - given its title, is by far the darker of the two albums - setting the scene of the desert as a foreboding place, that the ensuing journey will not be a happy one. Halfway through 'Furnace' (track 2 side one) a glimmer of light appears in the form of a soaring tone and you feel that it wont all necessarily end in tears. 'Salt' (the whole of side 2) begins with the lighter tone that 'Furnace' ended with and takes you on a long slow trip into a gentle hypnotic state before transforming, in the final few minutes, into a disturbing sound of dread. And then it fades out.

The silver album ('Valley') begins with the side long 'Dunes' and an altogether more pleasant atmosphere. Like the sunrise, the track begins with a flicker before gradually brightening the whole scene. By far the most beautiful of all  the tracks on the two albums, 'Dunes' unfolds into a symphony of restraint and subtlety - giving an impression of the two musicians in gentle contemplation creating something very special. Thankfully, the track never darkens and the mood is carried over to the final side. 'Creek' begins at a similar pace and sounds like it is going to build into something big - in the manner of something like GYBE's 'East Hastings'. Simply played - and with more reliance on notes than drones; 'Creek' uses this simplicity to mesmerising effect, looping and gently building on itself until it reaches its own mini crescendo which is very mini indeed. 'Flats' - the final track on these fine albums, is the positive ending that we all hoped for at the close of the first album. Drifting along with effects shimmering the notes, like the titular flats shimmering in the morning heat, the piece makes you feel alive again and ready for whatever the day will bring. Even if that 'whatever' is darkness personified.

Apparently the music here was all recorded in a state of improvised exhaustion and maybe that is why some of these tracks are so emotionally effective - that they were originally produced from deep down in the recesses of the musician's tired minds. 

Umberto: From the grave...(Permanent Records)

Umberto is the project by Matt Hill from Expo 70 wholly dedicated to produce music that sounds like it should be in a late '70s/early '80s horror film. In short, the music is a homage to Goblin - who, of course, also inspired the whole cult of Zombi/Steve Moore/Majeure that i have become so obsessed with this year. The bass plods suspiciously in the background, awaiting its moment of attack, the synths warble and whine their way across the speakers, often lending a tone of religious dread to the proceedings, and the drums nestle down quietly amongst the rest of the detritus. The album is set out like a good soundtrack should be - beginning with 'Opening titles', ending with 'End credits' and having tracks called things like 'Shower scene' in the middle. Hugely enjoyable throughout, i have another Umberto release - a cassette in a mini video case - to get through. And i'm really looking forward to that one.

Dadawah: Peace & Love (Dug Out)

Recommended by Chris, who had previously never recommended anything reggae based but certainly came through on this one. Often described as 'roots', Dadawah play music far earlier based than yer average roots musician -  group leader (and singer) Ras Michael pushes the traditional nyabinghi drum-lead sound forward, with minimal extra sounds provided by bass, guitar, organ and brass. It is a solidly spiritual experience listening to this music, the rastafarian lyrics preach the peace and love of the title and the gently moving grounation rhythms carry you on your way on a sea of stoned good vibes. Similar in feel to some of early Count Ossie recordings, these 4 long tracks are an ever-evolving trip into the laidback world of the countryman.

Mark Hollis: Mark Hollis/Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden (Ba Da Bing)

Two amazing vinyl reissues to replace the 2 i sold a year ago for about £100 each. I wasn't going to write about reissues on here (and generally haven't) but these two albums are such amazing recordings that i just wanted to mention them. They are utterly unbeatable in the originality stakes and are 2 albums that make you hold your breath whilst you listen, lest you miss something during the exceptionally quiet bits (and there's a lot of those here). 

Just get your own copies and stop wasting your time reading this.

Noveller: Desert Fires (Weird Forest)

Noveller is Sarah Lipstate, guitarist and film maker, and one time member of both Rhys Chatham's AND Glenn Branca's guitar armies. With that in mind i expected a free noise fest but instead she has produced a remarkably restrained album of ambient guitar tones overlayed with effects and suchlike. Similar in tone to some of Yellow6 releases, the pieces are generally subtly beautiful and full of interesting diversions to keep the interest high. Never relying on the tried and tested 'seek a drone/find a drone/stay on the drone' method of guitar ambience, Lipstate mixes gently plucked/hit notes with feedback to create an effect of a looping circular  journey. Very interesting and highly enchanting.

KW Jaz: KWJaz (Not not fun)

I love a double negative, and NNF is my favourite double negative based label. Apart from the genius grammatical content of their name they also have a really good ear for something indispensable. KW Jaz takes the form of 2 sprawling side-long musical mouldings of murky electronic druggy freeform psych. I don't know much anything about the construction of these pieces but the shifting moods/musical styles (from loung-ey piano to Latin rhythms to proggy fender rhodes to spacey drones to.........) moves the pieces on nicely and creates an air of expectancy. Often muddy in production terms (well, it was originally released as a lo-fi cassette so maybe that explains it) this gives the impression of something truly underground, truly original and truly exemplary in its chosen field of, err, whatever the hell you call this genre. 

Sleepingdog: With our heads in the clouds and our hearts in the fields ( Gizeh)

I've had the CD of this for a little while, after it was sent to me to review as i had raved so much about the last album by this  wonderful duo of Chantal Acda (incredibly touching and perfectly understated vocals and an array of instruments) and Adam Wiltzie (other electronics, string arrangements), but had failed to play it due to various reasons. Whilst perusing the Gizeh website i spied this beauty and snaffled it up, completely forgetting that i already had it on the horrid little silver disc.
Halfway through this amazing album i fell in love with sleepingdog all over again, remembering exactly why i loved the last album so much, and realising that this one was even better - the fragility of the vocals over the lush electronics, the string arrangements subtly enveloping the whole room in gorgeous swathes of sound, the utterly incredible all-encompassing  beauty of this amazing pairing and the feeling that, as soon as it ends, i will want to put it right back on again.
Adam Wiltzie has, quite rightly, since gained huge praise for his 'A winged victory for the sullen' album (review to follow) but this project/pairing/group is even better - in that Chantal's vocals take the whole thing into a new world of icy delicate grace.
Apologies for the seemingly endless use of hyperbole here, but it is totally justified.

Matana Roberts: Coin Coin chapter one (Constellation)

Beautifully packaged double 10" on Constellation scared the living shit outta me when i got it a few months ago, and each time i play it, it has the same effect. Much of it is a mix of wonderfully played free sax playing interspersed with  story telling spoken parts, and backed by a whole gang of musicians (playing piano, cello, trumpet, tenor/baritone sax, doudouk, guitar, violin, saw, bass & drums), and creating a spellbinding melange of sounds and emotions that draw you in.
And then it happens.
She fucking screams.
Like a wailing freejazz motherfucking banshee.
Or Yoko One being punched my Mike Tyson.
And i hate it, i really bloody hate it - so much that i cannot bear to listen to it and i have to take it off and put some Merzbow on for light relief. I completely understand her desire to show raw emotion (job absolutely done) but i just can't bear to listen to those parts - maybe this is all down to my white male liberal middle class ideals, but i can't cope with it. I will keep coming back to it and trying it again -  this i am sure, because i appreciate that it is a work of great depth and construction and (more importantly) i hate to be beaten.

This is, apparently, chapter one of a twelve part series.
Shit.

Expo 70: Inaudible Bicoastal Trajectory (Aguirre)

Couldn't resist this bugger - 2 side long tracks entitled 'Hypnotic brain cloud float' and ' Mystical bamboo garden cultivation' promised to be trippy and droney and to spirit me off into a netherworld not seen since i last dropped a few microdots all those years ago. Well, obviously, it didn't disappoint and this solo album by Justin Wright (who both is and is part of Expo 70) playing looped electric guitar, moog and a lovely old analog drum machine meanders its' way across 30+ minutes of psych-drone the manner (and quality) of which rarely heard since halfway through a Pink Floyd gig at UFO in about '67. In truth, not a lot of obvious stuff happens during 'Hypnotic......' - it just locks into a drone and hums along nicely whilst the eventually throbbing tone catches your brain and sinks in. 'Mystical....' locks in nicely as well but, about halfway through, Justin starts to play his guitar almost traditionally and this solo opens up the whole track beautifully and transports you into another realm of stoned meditation until the moog overplays it and it all comes crashing down. Makes me want to take drugs again, before climbing back into the wonderful world of Expo.