Rainbow Valley - Antisolar // NMMREM XXVI

Dreamlike. Buzzing. Charming. Warm. Colourful. Aesthetic. Wandering. Mysterious.

Rainbow Valley is an English artist whose 17 minute low bitrate release, consists of only one track. When in a mellow and patient state, it is a superbly quick and joyoys task to listen. If the start minutes give away a bit of creep, Antisolar turns to an emotional and wavy bright ambient hymn. Typical lo-bit micronoises in the background fill the majestic atmosphere beautifully. Very full and all encompassing sound. Great for naturewalks or sunday mornings. Among my favourite lo-bit tracks, in-line with Moon by Covolux.




8½/10
 
Download for free:
http://archive.org/details/siro241RainbowValley-Antisolar

Paavoharju - Tuote akatemia / Unien Savonlinna EP // NMMREM XXIV

Paavoharju is a Finnish folk / ambient band / collective which has a truly unique musical style (something along the lines of freak folk). Their both full-lengths Yhä Hämärää (2005) and Laulu Laakson Kukista (2008) are enchanting pieces. They combine mysterious folk, lo-fi, ambience and surprisingly catchy elements, somehow usually avoiding to be artsy or annoyingly indie and getting to huge depths of natural feel.

Between the full-length albums Paavoharju released a largely unknown Free Download EP Tuote akatemia / Unien Savonlinna in 2006. It is a varied effort, mainly in good sense. The EP starts with a bang; two tracks that are among the best Paavoharju tracks of all time, forebodingly beautiful Nuo Maisemat and a live version of Kuljin Kauas. Usually live versions are to be passed with a shrug but Kuljin Kauas (Lepovaunu-05 Live) captures the live feeling extremely well. It adds so much raw-power to the composition, it competes side-by-side with the original album version. I didn't know Paavoharju could be so heavy live!

Listening the album well over 10 times it is quite descriptive that a few months after the last listen, from the last 5 tracks I can only remember one, Pepe. Pepe is a left-over sounding Joose Keskitalo track, alike "Italialaisella laivalla" in Laulu Laakson Kukista LP (Joose Keskitalo is a Finnish singer-songwriter known of his Eponymous project). I do like Pepe and even had a short crush to it, but in my books, its quality is lower than nearly any track in first three Joose Keskitalo records (which are all near-masterpieces).

By no means is the end-album bad, it is just a lot less catchy and more of freaky ambient origin. Tavataan 12-7-2004 has some beautiful piano work. Mitä Sinä Et Ole nears worthlessness and is only saved by haunting female vocals. Tartu Tähän Hetkeen encompasses the Paavoharju ambient sound, but feels bit more raw and unpolished than most of the ambient pieces in their full-lengths. The last track Salatut Käyvät Julki is a melancholic pretty guitar and pump organ outro, very Rural-Finnish.

A good release with two extremely strong tracks and only one filler. Kudos to them for not trying to make money with a collection of oddities, but it really could have been a "real" release. It is almost as captivating and magic as their full-lengths, but not quite. If it wasn't a free download I would not recommend it for Paavoharju beginners. But as it is, if you enjoy the pieces here you will for sure love the full-lengths.

8+/10

Free Download: http://archive.org/details/mia061

Joose: "Nimenomaan tonin laulua!"
Hyvämakuinen yleisönjäsen: "Hieno."
Tarkasti analysoiva yleisönjäsen: "Tää on musiikkia."

Pollux - My Beautiful Melancholia // NMMREM XV

It took a while to find another Pollux album I really like after the brilliant Offer Their Souls a few years ago. No, I haven't tried them all, there are if not hundreds then dozens in between). Even though Pollux is a very productive artist, he still keeps a fine quality in his works. But the ones I've tried, mainly Abandoned Area, Lune Rouge and Wasteland have left me just quite pleasant aftertastes.

My Beautiful Melancholia which somehow has an enticing name, however leaves a very good impression. The varying beats give a lot of new grounds to the ambient of Pollux and make for a new interestspan. First track Absence (Blasted Version) even makes repeated hipsteresque background woman vocals work; without reminding of wool sweaters, MacBooks and instragram-jokes too much.

It is followed by Rain In Your Face & Stress In Your Mind (Loosening Version), which is rather a positive chillout vibe with nothing much happening except variation and growth circling around the same set of melodies. UAV Style (Plasma Version) continues the same but for me has a more complex variation. Not a huge amount of goosebumps but stellar progress and mild surprises.

Well, now with real eyes as well.

The real catch is the title track. Similar than Pollux's track "Black Hope", it is has a very Braid'ish melody; I can see the town in flames in the main screen in my soul's eye. The effect is very pretty. Pollux really works best when associated with a certain mental image. My Beautiful Melancholia even has a sort of evil twist in it, but it entwined between the beautiful parts that it doesn't bother like some evil horror ambient might bother. It just adds more to it.

One advice for even more enjoyable experience is to take any track from the all stellar Lune Rouge (lately i've preferred Espoir de Verre) and the intro of Wasteland "Fallout New Vegas - Goodsprings Wasteland, Day (Remix)" as the first and second track. Then you have an album that does last a bit longer and provides even a wider variety of welcome ambience. The darkness of Lune Rouge is brilliantly overtaken by pleasant ambient, beats and then My Beautiful Melancholia. As an outro the tense Corruption Eternelle is often my choice. It brings a nice, star-light eclipse wandering along the shining dust clouds in circles -effect to finish up the album, if you know what I mean.

As always, a free download: http://archive.org/details/siro416Pollux-MyBeautifulMelancholia

The nmmrem-extended album version as free downloads:
1. Espoir de Verre (archive.org)
2. Fallout New Vegas - Goodsprings Wasteland, Day (Remix) (bandcamp)
3. My Beautiful Melancholia (Whole EP)
4. Corruption Eternelle (archive.org)

Covolux - Paris // NMMREM XIV

As marketed for workplaces as a background music in an work environment

Covolux's Paris is an ambient release which is most suitable for light office work with little to mediocre background noise. The test subjects found this release most worthwhile while listening as a background music two to three times a day. Positive aspect of this release is also that the listener does not need a good sound system to enjoy it, the sound flows nicely enough from laptop speakers and provides a rich soundscape for concentration. Beautiful melodies flow on but only rarely fully consume the listeners attention (electric shock devices to prevent this from occurring can be bought at a discount from our store).


The legend of certain ambient noise boosting the effectiveness of work is definitely not untrue with this release. 80 out of 100 test subjects from the extremely picky group concluded that Paris is good concentration music and also sets up the mood for work with beautiful ambient tones keeping the mind light and intact. Just where you as a corporate businessman want your workers mind to be. We at Sirona-Records are permanently offering all our releases for free, so you and your massive corporation can boost your work-effectiveness for free! Forever!

Download for free: http://archive.org/details/siro170Covolux-Paris

Alex Tiuniaev - Treedreams EP // NMMREM IX

Surprisingly grand for a wee EP

Ever since I've been a kid I've been exposed to sequencer, synthesizer and ambient music from the likes of Klaus Schulze, Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarre etc. Even though they are undoubtedly geniuses, revolutinees of the music field and whatnot, I have never became very close to their music, though I have always kind of liked them. Still, Im sure this exposion has left some mark. Often things you've listened as a kid hit you hard later on and I think I finally found my first knack of sequencer-type music on Alex Tiuniaev.

Alex Tiuniaev is an ambient and piano composer from Russia. His EP Treedreams is a small piano driven release consisting of two tracks, both freely downloadable from last.fm. Small does not necessary mean simple, and minimalistic doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of textures. Alex Tiuniaev's work reminds me subconsciously of Klaus Schulze's sequencer outputs (which of them, I cannot say). 

Treedreams I consists of a rhythmic melody circling around a rhythmic beat. Treedreams II:n has a similar beat present but it is more piano driven, than sequencer driven.Of these two Treedreams I is the simpler and clearly more memorable having a great catchy melodyline which took a few listens to materialize to its full potential. Treedreams II is a fine closer having more variation and more ambient. However for me Treedreams EP is not complete without a track from Alex Tiuniaev's newest album Blurred. Another free last.fm download "The Wild Winds Weep" can be cleverly bootlegged to serve as a brilliant intro to Treedreams. The Wild Winds Weep is my latest random find; a full on goosebump effect in the middle of a walk.

While I have only listened Blurred once I can say it does have lots of potential, especially the cinematic "We Were All Fishes Once" caught me unaware on first listen. I cannot fully express why, but somehow Alex Tiuniaev's music is extremely likable. If Treedreams or any of the synthesizer-artist-household-names-above make any impression to you Treedreams is, and free-to-listen Blurred may very well be, a shimmering find.

Overall score (modified EP): 8-/10

Download Treedreams for free here: http://www.last.fm/music/Alex+Tiuniaev/Treedreams+EP

John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer // NMMREM VIII

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - VIII
[Siro247] John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer

Hu Creix vs John 3:16 - Ambient Double Header

Introduction

I am starting to believe that the hardest music to make successfully is ambient. Just think about it, music that is minimalistic and repetetive, and you have to craft it to be interesting.

In this double header I am taking a look on two Ambient releases. In this review: John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer and in the first part Hu Creix - The Present Forward. Both artists quite succeed in this trade, both with a fine release, but in the end fall in the same loophole. What is it? LENGTH. 

John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer

The release is best described as Psychedelic gospel ambient and hell, is this quite a mixture! Very original sound with surprising heaviness, chilly yet chilling soundwaves and odd vocal samples.

John 3:16 release is only 22 minute long, but has the same problem as Hu Creix's The Present Forward - in a minor scale. The first track, Eternal Sin Offering, lasts 16 minutes and is a bliss for the first 7 or so minutes, but for the last 8-9 minutes it closes in and for the listener, becomes more minimalistic. At the same time the track has a long  speech sample going on, but it is only vaguely hearable and thus doesn't really grow to its full potential; lacking a clear message or something to grasp in the speech. It is everything but bad. But it just doesn't have the same effect than wave-like transforming first half. Again, this track could really have been split up into two parts...

Did anyone mention Twin Peaks? Fortunately, the second track has an awestrucking Lynch-esque start. Nearly dropped me out of my chair. It is a remix and I don't know how much it borrows from the original Fluid song, but the melody is something i would love to hear in a great movie.

Conclusion

Both artists definitely know how to spice up slowly transforming songs by adding new interesting sounds. But when it comes to full songs, they only have a couple songs that are spot on and without a significant weak spot. Albums that have a lot of merit but in the end work best cropped.

Overall score: 8-/10

The album is free to download at: http://archive.org/details/siro247John316-SinnersPrayer

Hu Creix - The Present Forward // NMMREM VII

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - VII
[Siro229] Hu Creix - The Present Forward (Sirona Edition)

Hu Creix vs John 3:16 - Ambient Double Header

Introduction

I am starting to believe that the hardest music to make successfully is ambient. Just think about it, music that is minimalistic and repetetive, and you have to craft it to be interesting.

In this double header I am taking a look on two Ambient releases. In this review: Hu Creix - The Present Forward and later on: John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer. Both artists quite succeed in this trade, both with a fine release, but in the end fall in the same loophole. What is it? LENGTH. 

Hu Creix - The Present Forward

Hu Creix's The Present Forward clocks over 90 minutes. 90 minutes! Are you kidding me? After about 10+ listens I've gotten to a point where i love the first 26 minutes but after that get carried away and stop noticing the music.

By sense it is because the best 3 tracks The Detuned Awakening, Artist and One Thrill are placed as 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The next track I derailed is still interesting, especally because it has a major old-Scorn-like vibe (the Evanescence era). But the extremely repetitive Voodoo Bride and Dancing Fish are quite a fall. Having Voodoo Bride in two different versions, clocking over 20 minutes in one release doesn't feel like a good move for me.

However the best three tracks mix ambient, odd electronics and saxophone in a wonderful sense, making Hu Creix at best comparable to the Doom Jazz giant Bohren & Der Club of Gore. Something which can be transferred to two words. IMMENSE POTENTIAL. Somehow One Thrill manages to work great even without saxophone, with the help of an exciting tom-tom -drumbeat.

The record picks up its jazz roots in Lazy Shark and somehow manages to transfer it to sinister yet soothing trip-hop beat; crafting another fantastic event. However the ending is a trinity that resembles I derailed in quality, but falls slightly under it. Interesting, but not superb (and unfortunately also without the Scorn-nostalgy)

Im anxiously awaiting the time when all these good underground musicians stop to THINK before they release all their efforts in one packet. The Present Forward could have been divided in 2 packets, by easily just naming one part I and other part II. Now this 90 minute slab is just too repetitive and LONG to be fully enjoyed at one go. Unless you want fine sounds to turn into elevator music. Thats not really whats supposed to happen.

A release that manifests on listeners patience but can also provide immediate ambience; "filling up jagged spaces". Grows on time and certainly takes more than a few listens to completely open up. After digesting and excavating the sounds, some tracks grow but some lack the growth factor and end up on skipping wire. An enjoyable release packed with a lamentably common remark: "could have been a lot better".

Overall score: 7½-/10

The album is free to download at: http://archive.org/details/siro229HuCreix-ThePresentForwardsironaEdition

Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls // NMMREM II

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - II
Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls

Dark Ambient with a sense of melody

However clicheicly titled, this free to download ambient release is a real jewel in the weblabel rough. It was released in 2010 by TRASHFUCK Records and Kitty on Fire Records as a webrelease and a cd-r. When an album is co-released by two such brilliantly named weblabels it cannot be all bad! In fact, it turned out to be one of the best Dark Ambient records' I've listened and one of the ones that really got me in the genre, along with NOTHING (best known as a side project of JWW from Agalloch).

All the songs are freely listenable and downloadable from last.fm which is linked to the title of the track when first mentioned. For whole packet, scroll to the bottom of the review.

Master Toad starts the split with 4 tracks, and 3 are instant hits. The vaguely hearable I Stood Upon The Beach of Lost Souls has a scary atmosphere and an unexplainable dark tower vibe, somehow still manages to stay interesting. If I was you I wouldn't tune up the volume, as Dark Insects of the Catacomb whirrs right in with a dark egyptian atmosphere about 20DB louder. Extremely solid and gloomy, and fitting to the title! Curiously, the track delivers an atmosphere alike Mythological Cold Towers' release The Vanished Pantheon. A massive doom record that has been on my regular playlist again lately. Similar atmosphere continues with Frail Raft Through The Rivers of Hell and if possible, it fits its title even better. A grim journey, but stays pleasant by growing up to a wonderful guitar melody in the end.

Unicorn Dreams finishes up the first half with a lighter tone and a beautiful melancholic melody.

What stands out in Master Toad's side is that is so organic. As nighttime music goes, it is hard to top tunes that combine an interesting Ambient wall with a tangible story and as a cherry on the cake, a guitar melody.

Pollux's side is less organic, but it still delivers great melodies. Black Hope has a big Braid -vibe. As Braid happens to be one of the best indie games of all time, this is very pleasant, though again, quite unexplained. Blue Hope is, if possible, the best track on this album with a light piano and very pleasant pulsing soundwave. The album finishes up Ghosts (Eternal Version), which is an interesting dark ambient wall, with a similar scary vibe than I Stood Upon The Beach of Lost Souls, concluding this album in fitting manner.

In free download weblabel releases, you rarely hear such well crafted passion and skill packed in a compact packet without any fillers.

Overall score: 9+/10

Download the release: http://www.archive.org/details/kof078MasterToadPollux-OfferTheirSouls

Overall ranking so far (Clicheic album title inflation)

1. Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls
2. Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split








The text was originally released as a part of last.fm journal "Great albums you've never heard of I" http://www.last.fm/user/Takkeri/journal/2011/12/12/58q703_great_albums_you%27ve_never_heard_of_i_-_mythological_cold_towers%2C_blueprint_human_being%2C_pollux%2C_master_toad


Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music, why?

Being an avid underground rock/metal listener and huge fan in finding new music and genres I stumbled to TRASHFUCK Records, RedSK and their noise in 2009. A lot of their releases at best make me bored, scared and entertained at the same time. This impressesed me to try out more of the weblabel scene and introduced me to Sirona Records' Arnaud. I decided to start reviewing electronic music records after I realized Im really not sure what is going on in half of Sironas' releases.

Im trying to give my humble opinions on some new music, whose genres, I may or may not have any familarity, but sure thing is they are far from my normal music grounds. I have a feeling, if by chance I happen to stumble to albums with genre titles like "rave" "deathcore" or "techno", I might have a hard time saying a single positive thing, but nevermind that. You can always bypass it by the fact that im just narrow-minded metalhead reviewing experimental music.

Electronic artists which I can say im a fan of are few, but some. Including Venetian Snares, Scorn, Nothing, Boris Clitoris / The Amoeba, Master Toad, Godflesh, Slagsmålsklubben. P.S. I know its hip to hate dubstep nowadays, but some dubstep can be mindblowing.

Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split // NMMREM I

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - I
[Siro195] Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split

An emotional drone/ambient/dark ambient release by a Polish artist Golden Cloud and Swedish O.S.I.S., whose other projects include for example The Musk-rat Cult. Luckily the savvy title "Split" doesn't indicate that the music suffers from a lack of imagination. Both tracks succeed well in creating a specific atmosphere, but unfortunately for a listener wanting a full journey rather than individual listens, there is a big gap between the two counterparts.

Starting Golden Cloud track Clearlight flows brilliantly combining ambient with a steady bass beat. The ambient flows between noise and melody so effortlessly it has a severe relaxing effect. On first listen it even promises to become a vast explosion into brightness, but it never reaches that. Listening further I become quite satisfied that it doesn't have a genuine peak, its strength is the flow and the balance.

Some of the peaks for me are the 12 minute 20 second pleasant noise waves electrofying and fastening and the ambient in the end which almost transforms into a distinctive melody but stays distant enough to not quite reach you. The constantly varying background noise produces many similar satisfying effects and keeps you alert the whole time. Strongly recommended for headphone listening while falling asleep and strongly not recommended for hitting the freeway on a 70s' bus.

The O.S.I.S. Trismegistus, doesn't reach the emotions or beautiful melodies Clearlight does. On the other hand it isn't supposed to as it weaves it's path with grim atmosphere instead of brightness thus being a lot harder to listen upon. Also very hard to review as i've never liked too gloomy pc-games, and this kind of silent hill-esque horrorsound reminds me of just those. Very psychotic, has even a small background melody among the drone/dark ambient wall, but it doesn't blossom, being more of a murky wind chime. The track nears harsh noise but even more it is pure horror.

It's name Trismegistus is likely taken from the ancient Greek god Hermes Trismegistus who lead souls into afterlife. The O.S.I.S interpretation hints that the afterlife isn't a very pleasant place, or at least the way there is murky. If you feel like trying having a crack at your future afterlife (before it hits you) or just enjoy hellish tortures in general Trismegistus might be your kind of thing.

As stated previously, the split is pretty hard to listen in one go as it really turns out two sides of a coin. Clearlight is a bright track and Trismegistus a dark voyage. However both have enough length to be long enough listens on their own.

Overall score: 8/10

Download the release: http://www.archive.org/details/siro195GoldenCloudO.s.i.s.-Split

Overall ranking so far (Yeah... I stole this idea from Top Gear)

1. Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split

not much use yet, eh.







Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music, why?

Being an avid underground rock/metal listener and huge fan in finding new music and genres I stumbled to TRASHFUCK Records, RedSK and their noise in 2009. A lot of their releases at best make me bored, scared and entertained at the same time. This impressesed me to try out more of the weblabel scene and introduced me to Sirona Records' Arnaud. I decided to start reviewing electronic music records after I realized Im really not sure what is going on in half of Sironas' releases.

Im trying to give my humble opinions on some new music, whose genres, I may or may not have any familarity, but sure thing is they are far from my normal music grounds. I have a feeling, if by chance I happen to stumble to albums with genre titles like "rave" "deathcore" or "techno", I might have a hard time saying a single positive thing, but nevermind that. You can always bypass it by the fact that im just narrow-minded metalhead reviewing experimental music.

Electronic artists which I can say im a fan of are few, but some. Including Venetian Snares, Scorn, Nothing, Boris Clitoris / The Amoeba, Master Toad, Godflesh, Slagsmålsklubben. P.S. I know its hip to hate dubstep nowadays, but some dubstep can be mindblowing.