lauantai 4. elokuuta 2012

Playing with Nuns - 1805 // NMMREM X

God knows how manyth split of Playing with Nuns, 1805 is named after Mary Nuns, an infamous woman born in 1805 and also by one of the base books of nunnerism "The nuns of the desert, or, The woodland witches", released in 1805. No really im just shitting you. The nuns of the desert is a rather hilarious title of a book anyway.

Playing With Nuns is a noise/experimental artist hailing from Argentina and like previously mentioned, he has made over a hundred splits, cd-r's and webreleases in just a few years. Of these releases my favourites include 4-way split "Origami Chupacabras", Cd-r "North Korea in 5 minutes" and another Cd-r "Horse surgery". I'm actually shitting you again, I've never listened to any of these but you must agree that the names of the splits are entertaining.

Time for your own thoughts
by maxon / HBC
From this baseline I placed 1805 to my record player, alas an mp3 in foobar2000 audio player v.1.1.8, a basic drag and drop manouver in between the artists Plain Ride and PMMP. Head-on collision with a soundwave is the easiest description of the beginnings of the first track, "The consequences of a chain reaction". Huge soundwave some harsh noise but overall a more pleasant sort; I find myself not getting petrified by it, no matter where I am. My most enjoyable moment with this release is 3 am at lan party, where it worked well as seclusing myself out of this world.

The consequences of a chain reaction has an almost metal interlude at 10:05 with lovely bass-soundwave bursting in. But then continues mostly the same except for some entertaining oddities, for example mechanics at 13.00 which; if made by the British Death Metal band Carcass; could be titled "Chainsaw & Circular Saw Macabration of Mutes".

1805, the title track, is considerably more soft, mostly half-way gentle glitching harsh noise. The end of it advances to Rainbosws (name dropping an obscure artist you haven't heard about) like glitching pleasant sound. Almost like water pouring outside and dribbling against the glasses. After two different tracks the fittingly named "One more to annoy you" closes the album like it started.

For a harsh noise release based on mostly just white noise 1805 has some interesting variation, but lacks originality. With some track notes and linear specifications of the tracks and or themes, harsh noise tracks such as these would be far more interesting. If there is any? Is there ever, really?

I Like noise, most of it is entertaining to listen for one or two times when you don't know what is behind the next hill of the voyage. After that many noise albums tend to lose much of their initial interest, if they aren't filled with nuances. Playing with Nuns - 1805 is one of those albums though I can imagine listening two thirds of it from time to time when in need of seclusion and concentration; and ordinary music isn't doing it.



Download Playing with Nuns - 1805 for free here: http://archive.org/details/siro274PlayingWithNuns-1805

maanantai 2. heinäkuuta 2012

On comes the overall scores!

After reviewing quite a few releases I can finally start keeping track on the overall scores of every album (from 0 to 10). To sum up, here are all the releases on this blog so far and the overall scores; which will be updated to releases as well.
In alphabetical order:

Alex Spalding - Amos In Flames
Alex Tiuniaev Treedreams EP (modified) 8-
Fuck Your Speakers VOL 2 Disc 3 7
Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split 8
Hu Creix - The Present Forward 
John 3:16 - Sinner's Prayer 8-
Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls 9+
V3Rb tH3 N0un - Th3 dUbsT3p d3m0 5+

P.S. If you have a better word than "Overall Score" or "Ranking" throw it at me and i'll consider changing them all. I don't fully like the tone of "overall score".

The Skier representing me with Offer Their Souls Split by Master Toad & Pollux

torstai 28. kesäkuuta 2012

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

keskiviikko 16. toukokuuta 2012

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

maanantai 30. huhtikuuta 2012

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

maanantai 16. huhtikuuta 2012

Fuck Your Speakers VOL 2 Disc 4 // NMMREM VI


Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - VI
[TFR366] Fuck Your Speakers Double Header Part II Disc 4

Confusing = Entertaining Part II

A review with the most different sequels i've ever written I



The next part of Fuck your Speakers Double Header is sponsored by www.random.org, which im using to decide which disk i will review.  First part can be found here. Inserting numbers between 1 and 6 (the number of discs on Fuck your speakers) and pressing "Generate".  "3, okay I reviewed that part already". Pressing "generate" again. "3, meh, what are the odds to this?" "Generate" 4.





Fuck Your Speakers 2 - Disc 4 - Delicate Porcini-Flavoured goggles track-by-track first impressions (part 1?)

I actually had a quick glance of the opening track, Nathan Watson's Auf Deutsch, already. A very quiet 12 minute dark ambient epic I couldn't really listen last time as i was playing Nhl 2004. It officially got into my "Listen later with headphones" -list, along with Mutant Beatniks' drift (from CD 3). And yes, this is some really minimalistic shit, with echoed german speech and other well, echoes, in the background. At about 7 minutes it starts to gain more of an edge and scary sounds, jumping from one place to another. After continuing scary boosts for a few minutes it fades back to similar flow than in the beginning with only vague speaking. Fit with a well adjusted last.fm pic, bringing up, if possible nothing to relate to in regards of the track.

German dark ambient groovy hippie with an afro 

NB,PD! - Budapest In A Dyke's Spike

Glitching, is that german again? Breakbeat. This is nearly the kind of stuff i was expecting of this release, but even this has a melodic stellar beat.

NB,PD! - Gentle Nibbling Of Goat Babies And The Jealous Ramming Of Goat Mothers

NB,PD! is quickly becoming the foremost contender of best track titles of the album, with indeed, Gentle Nibbling sounds. The track becomes something that I would expect to happen in a twisted upside down world of Jack Vance's book, The Dying Earth. Adorable. Knowing that RedSK has multiple tracks in the end of the Disc 4, i am expecting him to take the challenge.

NB,PD! -  Trying To Tie A Ligature Around One Testicle

Definition of Ligature:
a. A cord, wire, or bandage used for tying or binding.

I imagine the first 1:20 are the actual process of tying a ligature in the testicle and after it we progress to the inner feelings of the other testicle, who seems to have quite a groove on. Horny, perhaps? The second part of the track is pure testicular love. Very different than the first half. 

Omajinaakoos - Aegrus

Noise rock? Quite groovy beginning with a riff hinting you to hit the highway, and melodic leads, er, improvised? The sounds are good, musty, thick and dirty. The track seems to just skip from one part to another incoherently. At 2:26 we can hear a vague keyboard melody in the back, along with the oncoming boredom of the listener. 2:55 minute mark suddendly puts in a black metal melodic lead, with slow drumming. Honestly that part could be a good basis for a song, very potential. It ends to a lead which almost manages to be good but avoids it somehow. Then a basic riff offering nothing special. I love the band title i love the song title, i just wish the song had something more compact to offer.

Pheonix FM - Cougar Town

Pheonix is a common typo, i suppose the artist is really Phoenix FM. First sounding like cheap folk, but having an uplifting chorus with harmonica. One thing lacking, whiskey, son drink more whiskey and then try singing again. The harmonica is joyously providing steady melodies throughout the song.

Pigeon Cadaver - Just the ordinary Terror

Speedcore, with a melodic glitchbeat. Memorable! Now we are addressing the best track so far. Turning a beat into a melody works. What helps the case is the nice logo of the project. Unfortunately the beginning beat which was clearly the most memorable part of the track doesn't repeat. It had a making of a fine chorus. Son, your track just needs a more coherent structure.

Pigeon Cadaver - Rhythmic Hetzjagd Action Terror

I have to admit the first love of Pigeon Cadaver wears off quite quickly...

But it comes back as quickly! Very African-spirited beat and a similar promising glitchy chorus at about 0:50 than in the first track. If we have some repetition this time, we are heading towards very memorable.

Pigeon Cadaver - Danphy Fanpy

I can imagine listening Pigeon Cadaver for an entire album. The atmosphere created by such beat oriented music is extraordinary when you are used to not having the beat as the main instrument.

Danphy consists of a hardhitting heavy metal-like beat with a small vague african voodoo vibe. Some doom interludes to launch a what? Galloping beat!? Again the great beats are a bit wasted of having no repetition of the most juicy parts, but another beat flowing after each other. Fluently, and definitely the track stays surprisingly interesting even without any melody.

Playing with nuns - Links to your parlante´s

Harsh Noise. A vision of an object trying to rise from liquid jelly: scratching on psychedelic colors the jelly reflecting glimmers. falls back inside the water, twists disproportionately to different directions. Ends midst of movement.

praytor - live your life

Ambient noise. Why not. Lots of intersting manouvers. Eclectic.

praytor - kogiga woodlands

For noise this is surprisingly calming. Fitting japanese samples and gentle white noise. Effortless.

praytor - melodii

Continues praytor's ambient noise aspects, with a real start up melodii reminding of a really fucked up wind instrument. The calming ambient wears off at 1.15 with evil sounds. Entertaining.

praytor - a name in death

The gentle white noise seems to be an ongoing topic of praytor.

praytor - gypsy curse

Yes there is a gypsy reminding melody in the background. Praytor is pleasant background music noise. Hell in a perfect world in the elevators of any regular mall, you would listen Praytor.

Purulent Headache - Brutal EBM

Expecting something VERY brutal, but... Haha, brilliant laughs. Slow europop with cookie monster growling. Another thing i never imagined of existing. Reminds a lot of a band called Nightsatan and one of their main idologies: "Laser metal or horror pop".

Purulent Headache - Clot of seminal fluid

Purulent Headache is a truly thrilling project! Oh my god, what a deep growl! Getting even lower than Demilich (oldschool death metal band from the 1990s). Another thing i did not know was possible. At least not naturally... I reckon this growl must be edited, Demilich got pretty far down, without any editing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxizB02d0gE) growling starting at 0.30.

Raiding The Crimson Tides - From A Grave (Feat Falcon Pawnch!!!)

Death metal and deathcore mixtured. The sounds are nice and muddy, except for the machinized drums. The deep growling is competent, the higher is clearly a notch down, though maybe it is just the deathcore aspect in that sound which brings it down for me. 1.27-2.00 offers an original breakdown with good guitar and synth melodies entwining. Unfortunately only for a short while as that was clearly the best moment of this track and showed that there is promise. The chorus and the synth melody are not very exceptional, however the synth manages successfully to avoid the worse casio sound.

A good break amidst all the completely electronic music. Will i listen this song another time? Probably once.

RedSK - Acoustics And LSD Part 2 (Feat. TJ Greggs & Lady Cumdumpster)

A guy playing off-tune guitar, laughing. The melody closes off being on tune but manages to avoid it. Idiotic. The 2:19 part is awesome. Clearly lots of fun (for about 5 seconds). I started laughing even before the music burst out of laughs. This is not ominous but Im sure this stuff would terrify any basic person on LSD. Im surprised if they weren't terrified themselves.

RedSK - Live Segment Beat Up Tape 1

Rising soundwave sliding pitch shift featuring inhuman cookiemonster

RedSK - Pretty Asian Painted Toenail (RedSK Remix)

Wrap the ace toaa toaa wrap the ace tooaatoaaa. This IS ominous.

RedSK - I Wanna Fuck That One Chick That Screams In Iwrestledabearonce

THIS is the very essence of Redsk's noise-sound. Raping loud soundwaves which are repeating in small sections inside each other. Volume changes are notable, this time the quiet section is in the very end.. Song ends soon enough for you to want a relisten.

The collection is free to download at: http://archive.org/details/TFR366-VA-FuckYourSpeakers2


Fuck your spankers!

lauantai 18. helmikuuta 2012

Fuck Your Speakers VOL 2 Disc 3 // NMMREM V

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - V
[TFR366] Fuck Your Speakers Double Header Part I Disc 3


Confusing = Entertaining


I am going to disregard my normal reviewing habits this time and make a double header of reviews solely based on first impressions of MAMMOTH compilation FUCK YOUR SPEAKERS VOL. 2, which has been released by multiple weblabels.

Inspired by Kai Nobukos review in archive.org of Sirona Records MONOLITH compilation Sincerity Is The Key (http://www.archive.org/details/siro300VariousArtists-SincerityIsTheKey, free download *wink* *wink* *nudge* nudge*). I decided to do the same thing but cut out the "i love everything" -aspect and take the ground in my own pessimistic way.

In this first part I am reviewing the record a day after listening and the second part will be a track-by-track review.

So if I will offend you by listening your tracks without the needed insight and deep constellation im sorry. (Actually im not but when you are angry you can pretend you didnt see this sentence). However collections like this tend to be listened only once or twice, after which the listener may or may not pick up a few favourite tracks for more constant repetition.


Fuck Your Speakers 2 - Disc 3 - Orange Nippled Hedgehogs

Fuck Your Spankers?
No, Disc 3 doesn't actually have a name but the title looks better that way.

So I decided to pick up CD 3 and expectactions didn't surely rise when I noted that the tracks are in alphabetical order. After discussing this with an anonymous internet person (anonymous cause im not sure he wants his opinion public) it seems im not the only one who considers that a cheap option. By the way the person was tooth_eye.

With heavy heart I have to admit that I was very pleasantly surprised of the quality. Expecting more pure noisechaos the instant highlight was the wondrous glitchy vibes of Assassins in the Sky by Kanellos.

The variation, interest and weirdly even quality of FYS Disc 3 seemed notable and along with Kanellos top moments include brilliantly promising Godflesh-esque industrial metal by Marc Broude. To go with that Lucky Oddy's Wet Fuzz (2011 Mix), which for me is just plain fun with stupid vocal-performances, making it even funnier. Is the guy really singing the extremely high-pitched vocals 1:08 onwards. Or is it a melody?

Lord of Sp33d's entertaining nintendo-speedcore piece also provides some giggles. A harsh beat with a Nintendo-melody always brings a smile on my face. I will also send cheers to "Umilaj Czas Czy Pedofil To Szum Widelczykowy Kutas", actually mainly cause I fucking love the sound of Polish letters. I cannot really be the only one who finds Polish extremely fascinating, especially when theres 4-5 consonants in a row. And hey the track itself also sounds clearly above average noise with lots of stuff happening.

Im likewise quite sure that mECHONATHEREG's Activate Damage's main riff is stolen from Doom! And I love that riff. Instant kicks! Otherwise the track belongs to the weaker side of the entity mainly because of the annoying vocals. I know, I must be a fucking sovinist as I can rarely stand screaming female punk / indie / vocals sang with attitude. However the male vocalist isn't making things any better. Talking about vocal performances, Machinoir = nice chaotic arrangement, but weak drum sounds and deathcore vocals, no thanks. Another vocal style I cannot stand.

The second mECHONATHEREG, Snipe hunt has a CRUSHING and so professional main riff it sounds like its stolen from somewhere. Unfortunately, this song either, is instrumental. After mechetaeytaqolgrep comes up Mitä? with two oddities. These tracks stand in the midst of the crushing sextet of Marc Broude, mECHONATHEREG and Mortal Void, making them largely inefficient.

Picking up the other weakest pieces is also surprisingly easy. The lovelily disgustingly named Lady Cumdumpster's Mothafucka!!! (Feat. Chasing Stupid) feels to have already reached the stupidity. Do I have to mention that her last.fm profile picture looks awfully out of place for such an artist name? Is that two 16 year old chicks singing Elton John? On second though. if that or similar indeed is the case the picture suddendly became fucking amazing.

Out of the blue. Mortal Void The Great Pretending sounds fucking solid on the second go, but on the first I got too overwhelmed by again, Last.fm. Just look at this artist-description (I cut the samples freely this is not the whole text):

"What is a mortal void?
It exists within a soul

It creates and destroys.
It loves and hates.
It lives and dies."

Seriously. Only the French can come up with artistic shit like that and Mortal Void isn't even French. Funnily, not seeing the Last.fm, my girlfriend commented that Mortal Void sounds like bodybuilding music imagining a big guy lifting weights and grunting. Not a far fetched image though im not sure if the body building-type can relate to Mortal Void's poetic imaginary. Probably they can as I cannot and im skinny as fuck.

Mutant Beatniks' drift also drifted largely past (lamest pun of the day) me as the huge volume difference to Mortal Void ate its power. Again, after second listen sounds like it could grow to be a fine track.

However none of the weaker tracks are without merit and some in their weakness actually provide a giggle to us fine folk who enjoy our bad music with the good. Entertaining entity with lots of variation, could even work as a background music for beer-drinking. For an open minded person wanting to have a mindfuck this CD is a great place to start. Mind expanding drugs may come next but don't ask me where to get them.

Overall score: 7/10

Overall ranking so far

1. Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls
2. Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split
3. Alex Spalding - Amos In Flames
4. Fuck Your Speakers VOL 2 Disc 3
5. V3Rb tH3 N0un - Th3 dUbsT3p d3m0