Various Artists - A Hydra Head Sampler Phoning It In

Artist: Various Artists 
Album: A Hydra Head Sampler Phoning It In
Label:  Hydra Head
Year: 2010

Tracklist:

1. Oxbow + Philippe Thiphaine - "Coalking" From Songs for the French (5:46)
2. Daughters - "The First Supper" From "s/t" (3:18)
3. Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - "Unkerich" From Dolores (5:31)
4. Knut - "Calamity" From Wonder (1:43)
5. The Austerity Program - "Song 27" From Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn (4:04)
6. Pyramids With Nadja - "Another War" From Pyramids With Nadja (15:27)
7. Helms Alee - "Lionize" From Lionize/Truly 7" (2:45)
8. Hayaino Daisuki - "Ghosts of Purgatory" From The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki? (2:43)
9. Harvey Milk - "I Know This Is No Place For You" From A Small Turn of Human Kindness (5:07)
10. La Gritona - "Tony Alamo" From Demasiado Tonto Para Los Ninos Listos. Demasiado Listo Para Los Ninos Tontos (4:38)
11. Stephen Brodsky - "Here In Spirit" From Here's to the future (5:54)
12. Jodis - "Continents" From Secret House (7:27)
13. Nihill - "Mundus Subterreanus" From Krach (5:16)
14. Cave In - "Retina Sees Rewind" From Planets of Old (2:30)
15. Kayo Dot - "II. Whisper Ineffable" From Coyote (11:13)
16. Keelhaul "THC for One" from Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to Obscurity (3:34)
17. Clouds - "New Bombs" From B Chuggas May Be Logging (2:08)
18. Xasthur - "UNTITLED 4/05" From 2005 Demo (7:02)
19. GridLink - "Amber Gray" From Amber Gray (1:06)
20. Greymachine - "Wasted" From Disconnected (8:43)
21. Bergraven - "Hunger" From Till Makabert Vasen (7:08)
22. Torche - "UFO" From Songs For Singles (2:01)

 Download

 Regardless of the fact I/we shouldn't need to convince the public to download this sampler because... well... sampler = free, I/we plan on doing a little persuading... Please refer to list of reason for checking out the sampler below:

1. Free Jams!
2. 22 Free Jams!
3. Contains Some Unreleased Jams For Free!
4. Free Photos of the Lovely HHR Staff Having a Laugh and an Ice Creams!

 Official site

Planete Sauvage - The Strange Mood Of The Dirty Rocks

Artist: Planete Sauvage
Album: The Strange Mood Of The Dirty Rocks
Label: Self Released
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. Image d'un objet recomposé (part I)
02. L'immanence des serpentines
03. L'éveil de Shemty (chap II)
04. Le spectacle du non vivant
05. L'éveil de Shemty (chap III)
06. The strange mood of the dirty rocks
07. Le retour de Biculah dans sa patrie (chap III)

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Planet Sauvage is a non expandable and unanswered aggregate. It was born on the first year according to the New Messiah (1996 of the older prophet age).
Combination of a gothic roman cathedral and a public dump, it's name is directly influenced by the Rene Laboux's animation film "La planete Sauvage".
It's judged as the first of the six miracles of the duality foretelling the second, the Azirh's king accession, Tresypult. The third being the born of his son, Amagimah, the fourth, the Biculah's resurrection, the fifth, the Semty's reincarnation. Lastly, the sixth, the Kroll's metamorphoses.

Official site

X:THC - The Human Condition

Artist: X:THC
Album: X: The Human Condition
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Hide
02. Monster
03. A Human Flood
04. The Creature From The Blackened Room
05. Sleeping With One Eye Open
06. Don't Cry
07. Mr. Happy
08. Like Violins
09. You 're Worth Fighting For
10. Tag, You're It

We do not offer a download link since you can buy the album from the band's site for as much as you want!!

So, finally, I got the CD in the mail! I listened to it and liked it a lot! Then I ripped it so I could put it in my MP3 collection, in my iPod and so on. But as soon as the CD was ripped I realized that I didn't know where to put it in my collection!! What kind of music is X:THC playing? Is it Trip Hop? Is it Dark Rock? Is it Ambient?  Chill Out maybe?
Yeap, you got it! X:THC have managed to melt various genres of music into a big music cauldron! From the dark spoken introduction in "Hide" to the jazzy "Tag, You're it" you have the impression that there is more than one band performing on this wonderfull CD. And yet, it remains coherent the whole time, kind of being a concept album.
So, if you like Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails and Chill Out music, then I bet that you re going to love this album!

X: THC’s Michael Nova is an existential explorer. A powerful performer, composer, filmmaker and producer, Michael is releasing his multimedia music and film project, X: The Human Condition, after over a decade of, at times, seemingly insurmountable challenges, countered by an innate creative perseverance. The project came about as many artistic ventures do – as a means of catharsis at a hard time in Michael’s life. However, hard times got harder, and when Michael became severely ill and almost went blind, X: The Human Condition seemed doomed. After completely revitalizing his way of life, Michael experienced a miraculous recovery, which in turn drove him to complete his magnum opus. Now he brings the work to the world, to inspire others to make a positive change as he did, and make a difference.

Synthesizing music, film, and an unforgettable live experience, X: THC is evolving and redefining how a live show is presented and experienced within the model of the music industry.

The central themes of the show are the universal human sentiments of isolation, loneliness, and detachment. By integrating different live media forms through “synesthesia” (cross-sensory experience), X: THC extends their own experiences to the audience, including them and affirming the fact that each of us is not alone.

The immersive, live concert performance is accompanied by Michael’s original film, X: The Human Condition, whose wistful and mysterious imagery creates an utterly unique and uplifting experience. Citing Tim Burton, Michel Gondry, Jean Cocteau, and The Brothers Grimm as major influences, Michael’s visual companion to the performance is a surrealistic trip inside the human subconscious.

In order to affect concrete change in others’ lives, X: THC has partnered with several charities dedicated to helping others who feel alone, alienated or "different". A portion of proceeds from ticket and album sales of X: The Human Condition will go to aid this vast community of people overcoming difficulties.

Official site
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My Silver Booster - Bunker

Artist: My Silver Booster
Album: Bunker
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009








Tracklist:
01. Orfei
02. Taci
03. Ciao
04. Grafica Bambaataa

Download

My Silver Booster are an experimental/ambient/post-rock band that create cold and slow minimal electronic tracks, straight from Italy. They formed in 2006, and released their first LP ‘Pane e Paranoie’ in 2007, and followed it up with Ambient Punk in 2008.
They are a 3 piece, with a 4th member enrolled only to make the visuals and videos for their live shows.

MySpace
Last.fm

The End Of The Ocean - Calm Seas Don't Make Sailors

Artist: The End Of The Ocean
Album: Calm Seas Don't Make Sailors
Label: Self Released
Year: 2009







Tracklist:
01. Docks
02. Romancing The Stars
03. Setting Sail
04. Siren Sound

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The End Of The Ocean is a five piece instrumental post-rock band based out of Columbus Ohio.
Engulfing listeners in waves of eerie nostalgia and sorrow, the ambiance of The End Of The Ocean becomes a self-voyage of life’s ebb and flow unfailingly finding a beacon of hope at the horizon.

Official Site
MySpace

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Paneye - Along The Way To The Bigtop, My Life Just Dissolved

Artist: Paneye

Album: Along The Way To The Bigtop, My Life Just Dissolved

Label: Secret Station

Year: 2009






Tracklist:
01. Along The Way To The Bigtop, My Life Just Dissolved
02. Brain Forests
03. The Sallow Flesh Of The Sky
04. Tidal Breeze
05. Caravans Of Moss Are Camped In The Woods
06. Tents Hide Creatures
07. Balloon Skin Suits Of Rainbow Gimps
08. The Elephant Keeper
09. Headfogmindsmog
10. He Found Scales On His Chest
11. Sick Faeries
12. The Clearing Where She Once Stood

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Ender - Ender

Artist: Ender

Album: Ender

Label: Darkroom Recordings

Year: 2008






Tracklist:
01. Part 1
02. Part 2
03. Part 3
04. Part 4

Download

Within the post-rock-encompassing skies of this four track EP, the listener finds herself confronted with the instrumental quintet Ender, who slaves over the most popular of instruments (guitar, bass and drum) to produce a self-titled audible calling-card. The album is made up of moody, yet powerful post-rock shrouded in a haze of gritty ambient. Imagine an cardboard egg-box branded "post-rock," filled with eleven battery-laid eggs and one odd-looking kiwi. Ender stands out just like that kiwi, with the familiar post-rock form, but without the clinical approach taken by so many others.

Like most of their Pacific colleagues, Ender knows how to manipulate the space and ambiance needed for their compositions to flourish and gradually evolve. The combined destructive weight of rhythm guitars and drums in the form of dragging riffs arch the elaborated structure that spans over the whole release. The introspective waves of evolving ambient and stacks of heavy hypnotic hooks are good for forty-two minutes of dark, enticing variations and a few spine-shivering moments, but never seem to deploy their full potential. Near the end of Ender, the band trades in their most heavy weight guitar sound for a piano, and tips the scale in favor of the conformist form.

Once the piano finds it's place in the closing composition, Ender brings it home with a less powerful but more subtle and emotional undertone. Without the drive - one that reminds the listener of European post-metal bands - of Ender's opening, the whole gives the impression that this is still not the best possible result. Their strength lies as much in esoteric explorations as in latent aggression, but I, for one, believe that the latter one - given some more attention - has a few interesting options to strengthen the whole.

Adding a few (distant) vocal accents would expose a more captivating, emotional side of their sound and thus engage the listener even more. At a certain point in "Track 2", the deep combined sound of the bass and guitar triggered a memory of a dirty-sounding Celtic Frost vocal line, fueling the dark tones of that dangerously fierce cloud-formation and accentuating the beauty of the redeeming matte light found in the ambiance. For obvious reasons, Tom Gabriel Fischer's vocals - or vocals in general - will not be the perfect solution to allow Ender to rise above the level of this EP, but if the outfit's drummer could batter their grayish blob of expressions with more depth and edge, they could have a decent shot at knocking me out of my socks. Perhaps then a reference to the hypnotic stoner doom slabs of Windmills By The Ocean is in order.- by Jurgen Verhasselt (thesilentballet.com)

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Bird From The Abyss - I

Artist: Bird From The Abyss

Album: I

Label: self released

Year: 2009

Tracklist:

01. Intro - Beginning At Center Of The Chaos Azathoth And Flute
02. Song To The Great Black Fox
03. Ways Of Slaughter
04. Abdul Alhazred's Anxiety

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Plug "Bird From The Abyss - I" to your headphones, take a trip to the darkness of your local forbidden forest and experience the unreal. Hailing from Finland, Bird From The Abyss is playing music from the unknown depths, according toancient Gods long forgotten. Primitive instrumental / fuzz doom folk / heavy psych.

Official site

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Thisquietarmy - Unconquered

Artist: Thisquietarmy

Album: Unconquered

Label: Foreshadow Music

Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Immobilization
02. Battlefield Arkestrah
03. Warchitects
04. The Sun Destroyers
05. Death Of A Sailor
06. The Great Escapist
07. Mercenary Flags
08. Empire

Download

pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Thisquietarmy is a solo project of young Canada-based artist Eric Quach. He is also known for being a guitarist in a renowned shoe-gaze band Destroyalldreamers. As Thisquietarmy, he explores never-ending spectrum of guitar ambience and loop drone sounds. From the mellow opening of "Immobilization", through grandiose "Battlefield Arkestrah" and "The Sun Destroyers", gloomy "Death of a Sailor", to closing notes of "Empire", Eric Quach manages to capture the essence of contemporary alternative guitar experimentation while maintaining disturbing but also captivating aural atmosphere.

"Unconquered" presents this musical project as consciously standing among the best artists of this genre, which is symbolized by the guest appearance of Aidan Baker. On the other hand, Thisquietarmy, already on his debut album, looks far into the future and crosses the boundaries, the best sign of which are the clean female vocals of Meryem Yildiz in one of the tracks – something not common in the field of ambient drone guitar music. Eric’s experience in Destroyalldreamers, numerous live performances, brave open mind and genuine artistic freedom allowed him to deliver his first official debut full-length album in a flawless and extraordinary way. -by (someplaceelse.net)

Official Site

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Matryoshka - Zatracenie

Artist: Matryoshka

Album:Zatracenie

Label: Novel Sounds

Year: 2007

Tracklist:

01. Sink Into The Sin
02. Slowsnow
03. Evening Gleam Between Cloud
04. Viridian
05. My Funeral Rehearsal
06. Tyrant's Miniature Garden
07. Anesthetic
08. Ezekiel
09. Beyond
10. February Lifesaver

Download

pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Look at that cover. Really look at it. At first glance, you’re staring at a lovely woman. Then you realize that one of her eyes is actually a mouth with blackened gums, and that the back of her head is decayed. Resting gently in her mouth, like an unused reed instrument, is a bone, from which flowers are blooming. A slightly mangled gift bow nestles in her hair. She looks alive, but neither happy nor in pain. Now you’ve got an idea of Matryoshka, a frightening yet appealing blend of cherry blossom and J-horror. This release may be pretty, but it has a scary edge.

Zatracenie may be Matryoshka’s first effort, but in 2007 it captured the Japanese zeitgeist and was named the nation’s best electronic album. Those who follow similar efforts know that the competition was fierce. Vocalist Calu possesses the intonation of the Cocteau Twins (a comparison that is made all too frequently, but in this case is apt), which shines forth in efforts such as the sparkling “Veridian.” Instrumentalist Sen conjures the feel of a mini-orchestra, reminiscent at times of Tokyo mates Mokyow and at other times of Piana. But what stops this release from tumbling into fluffiness is an ever-present sense that something dangerous is lurking in the background, waiting to pounce. Turn your back on this duo and you may find yourself without a liver, or worse.

The industrial drums on opening track “Sink Into the Sin” are an early indication that Matryoshka has more on its mind than producing innocuous, comforting tracks. Album standout “My Funeral Rehearsal” builds to a swirling crescendo before dissolving in cacophony. “Tyrant’s Miniature Garden” begins with orchestral flourishes, descends into pop, and re-emerges as a chamber rehearsal backed by a combination of snow-crunch electronics and military drums. “Ezekiel” is downright foreboding, a cinematic slow-burn that would make Lamb proud.

Matryoshka wears its influences on its sleeve, but instead of pirating the sounds of its predecessors, the group combines them in such a way as to create a distinctive sound. Zatracenie tucks surprises in napkins, dusts corners with strings, washes rusty drums with crystalline lullabies. It’s easy to see how the album won the heart of its homeland: the music is accessible enough to appeal to the masses, but raw enough to woo independent minds. A new album is not far behind; four demos have already been posted for the follow-up, which should emerge in the thinning light of autumn. Fans of the aforementioned groups are advised to investigate without delay. -by Richard Allen (thesilentballet.com)

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Mamiffer - Hirror Enniffer

Artist: Mamiffer
Album: Hiror Enniffer
Label: Hydra Head Records
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. This Land
02. Death Shawl
03. Annwn
04. Black Running Water
05. Suckling A Dead Litter
06. Cyhraeth

Download
pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Like an adamant darkening mist, Mamiffer’s Hirror Enniffer is a skulking presence that persists in its sense of despair only to evolve into distant calm right at the point when all hope appears lost.

Mamiffer is Faith Coloccia, a Seattle-based pianist, and a collective of song-weavers and visionaries. Under the watchful eye of Coloccia and her trusty tape recorder, friends Aaron Turner from Isis and Chris Common from These Arms Are Snakes have gathered to compile an environmental scourge of noise and atmosphere that is elegant, striking, and evocative.

Hirror Enniffer is Mamiffer’s debut and it breathes with all of the artistic sensibility one would expect from a musical visionary like Coloccia. Her sense of sound, her sense of feeling through sound, is exhibited in profound ways that intensify the experience with portions of classical, noise, and atmospheric rock.

At times, the air feels close.

But Mamiffer’s command of the atmosphere and the music is strong and the group exposes the elements, strips them bare, and places intricate song structures on top of sound and fog that more than likely was recorded in a dark, friendless field or perhaps in a Desert Hot Springs storm tunnel…

Hirror Enniffer comes like a dream, like an unrelenting vision that persists in deepening the tunnel until the bottom is all but forgotten. The tones are lush and somewhat damp, offering a glistening haze that carries through all six hypnotic tracks.

What really matters for Coloccia and Co. is the mood and the insistence of the passage of time. Chords hold and fade, easing through new notes perhaps by accident (“Death Shawl”) while still providing a clear direction. Other moments cascade like overlapping dreams, coating the listener in an episodic drama (“Black Running Water”) that subsides only when the full story is told.

Mamiffer’s Hirror Enniffer is dream music. It is the soundtrack in one’s head that winds through scenes of open fields, through hands on blades of grass, through moonlit mysteries. It is also the last stop as the dream passes from glorious cheerfulness to disastrous nightmare. The eeriness is pitiless and the alluring tide of darkness is often interminable like an endless hall filled with locked red doors (“Suckling a Dead Litter”).

Music like this cannot merely be described; music like this must be felt.

Mamiffer’s debut is a beautiful piece of unremitting dream music, an arc of soft diaphanous emotion wrapped in pieces of classical music and brilliant noise. Hirror Enniffer is constructed out of the materials that engage our minds, fuel our dreams, and reveal our hopes. (blogcritics.org)

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Our Ceasing Voice - Steadied Stars In The Morphium Sky

Artist: Our Ceasing Voice
Album: Steadied Stars In The Morphium Sky
Label: Self released
Year: 2009



Tracklist:
01. The Inevitable Fall
02. Of Lives Once Lost
03. As The Horizon's On Fire
04. Dazzled Eyes Are Shut

Download
pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Our Ceasing Voice is a post-rock band from Tirol, Austria that started in late 2006. The band consists of three members and after a few changes and musical identification processes the current line up is:
Sebastian: guitars and programming
Christoph: bass
Reinhard: guitars/ vocals

The EP was written and recorded from fall '08 to winter '08. The band recorded the ep theirselves in their home-studio and then it was professionally mastered.

The EP is licensed under a creative commons license, allowing everyone to download/share the material. However, Our Ceasing Voice also offer a physical copy of the record. Packaging is hand-made: a 5,25inch floppy disc with pictures and liner notes holds the actual CD and is enveloped by handmade sleeves, with delicate photography on them.

The band's sound consists of a mix of ambient sounds along with (sometimes heavy) guitar riffs and the result is really interesting and enjoyable during the almost half-hour length of this ep. Furthermore, though Steadied Stars In The Morphium Sky was self-produced in the band's home-studio, the sound of this ep is pretty solid. So, Our Ceasing Voice offers us, already, one really remarkable release for this new year... -by DE-LOUSED (post-engineering.blogspot.com)


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Spylacopa - Spylacopa

Artist: Spylacopa
Album: Spylacopa
Label: Rising Pulse Records
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. Haunting A Ghost
02. Bloodletting
03. Together We Become Forever
04. Staring at the Sound
05. I Should Have Known You Would

Download
pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com


What do you get when you combine one part The Dillinger Escape Plan (Greg Puciato), one part Candiria (John LaMacchia), one part Isis (Jeff Caxide) and one part Made Out of Babies/Battle of Mice (Julie Christmas)? Well, you have the supergroup project called Spylacopa, who are now releasing their self-titled debut EP on Rising Pulse Records. Not quite metal, not quite post-rock, but certainly something along the lines of avant-garde flavored rock, Spylacopia certainly mix it up here on this 5-song EP. Puciato's tortured screams and wailings work well alongside the gentle vocals of Christmas on the manic opener "Haunting A Ghost", LaMacchia's textured guitar work providing plenty of the fireworks for this otherwise varied opening cut. More of the same can be heard on the raucous "Bloodletting", giving way to melodic piano on the gentle "Together We Become Forever". They come back with raging yet funky extreme metal on "Staring At the Sound", a ripping number with crunch riffs, pounding drum work, and lots of effective vocals from Puciato, in what is no doubt the song that shows the most promise for this ensemble on this EP. The closer "I Should Have Known You Would" takes an almost Pink Floyd meets Isis approach to atmospheric & ambient rock, dreamy vocals meshing with Dave Gilmour inspired guitar work and plenty of dark overtones.


As strong as this is, it just seems like the tip of the iceberg. We obviously know of the pedigree of these folks, so now that we have a taste of what they can do, let's hope next time around they can give us a full blast of the potential that's shown here.-by Pete Pardo (seaoftranquility.com)

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The Amenta

Artist: The Amenta
Album: n0n
Label: Listenable
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. On
02. Junky
03. Vermin
04. Entropy
05. Slave
06. Whore
07. Spine
08. Skin
09. Dirt
10. Atrophy
11. Cancer
12. Rape

Download
pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Formed as a reaction against the retrogression of the music climate, THE AMENTA has breathed new life into ‘extreme metal.’ The Australian quintet’s critically acclaimed sophomore album, n0n - which mixes intricate guitar riffs, gut-wrenchingly scathing vocals, and avant-garde ambiance - has made a huge impact in Europe, receiving raving reviews in Metal Hammer, Kerrang!, and Rock Sound magazines. n0n is the soundtrack to a modern age.

Formed in 2000 by guitarist Erik Miehs and sampler Timothy Pope, THE AMENTA quickly came to embody a new movement in both the worldwide, and local extreme metal scenes. Fusing industrial noisescapes, brutal distortion, and mind numbingly complex riffs, THE AMENTA defined its distinctiveness early in its career. The band recorded and released the Mictlan MCD in 2002. Four tracks depicting mourning and intellectual decay set to unsettling industrial ambiance: Mictlan set the standard for THE AMENTA’s future releases. In addition to excellent reviews and significant praise across the globe, the MCD also gained the attention of France’s Listenable Records; in turn, setting the stage for the evolution of THE AMENTA from a local band to a group of professional artists.

Listenable Records released Occasus, the band’s 2004 full-length debut, worldwide. The album was recorded and mixed by Lachlan Mitchell and THE AMENTA at Room of Doom Studios, Que Studios, and BJB Studios in Sydney and mastered at Studio 301 by Steve Smart. The ten-track epic, which touches on themes of revolt against tradition; human stagnancy; slave society fostered by religion and socio-political dogma; consists of masterful riffing and melancholy ambiance. Occasus was received by the media with raving reviews, and by the end of 2004, THE AMENTA tied for second place in Terrorizer Magazines’ ‘Best New Band” category, and won “Best New Band” from Australian Kerrang!. Between the release of Ocassus and 2006, THE AMENTA toured Australia three times: opening for Alchemist, Behemoth, and as a headliner. In 2005, Mictlan was released on limited 7” vinyl, and Ocassus was re-released as a limited edition with a bonus “Virus” DVD/EP in 2007.

THE AMENTA returned to the studio in late 2007 to record their sophomore effort n0n. Rather than relying on the clichéd sound and style in which other bands are content to wallow, THE AMENTA has constructed an album built on new ideas, concepts, sounds and techniques. n0n is the fusion of white noise, shards of dissonant guitars, and dense layers of radio chatter. Lyrically, n0n is a newscast, contextualizing the listener into his vice-driven society with suicide bombers and evangelists: freeways, and dead ends. n0n is an indictment on today’s media and technology addicted hyperactive society. With each song featuring over 100 instrument and sample tracks, the album pushes technology to its absolute limits. The recording of n0n spans many countries and seven different studios, with a myriad of different contributors and performers including Jason Mendonca (Akercocke), Alice Daquet (Sir Alice), Alex Pope (Ruins) and more. Fusing the ugliest parts of extreme metal, electronic noise, and dub; with a ferocious and scathing world view, n0n is the future of extreme music! In October 2007 THE AMENTA toured Australia with The Berzerker. Due to overwhelming success and demand, the two will once again tour Australia and New Zealand in January 2008 on the Industrial Corruption Tour. n0n was released in Europe on 20 October via Listenable Records, and will be released in North America on 10 February 2009. THE AMENTA will hit European shores for the first time, supporting DEICIDE and VADER on the Winter Fest 2009 tour. THE AMENTA will deliver unrelenting brutality on a massive scale to dissidents worldwide, while redefining death metal.

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Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie

Artist: Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker
Album: Fantasma Parastasie
Label: alien8
Year: 2008






Tracklist:
01. Phantom On A Pedestal
02. Hymn To The Idea Of Night
03. Auditory Spirits
04. Skeleton Dance
05. Gallery Of The Invisible Woman
06. Dream Of The Nightmare
07. Fantasma Parastasie

Download
pass: lateralnoise.blogspot.com

Aidan Baker, guitarist of a thousand releases and the megalithic drone-metal project Nadja, and Tim Hecker, preeminent lord of the ambient landscape, have come together to record an album. Methought it was an odd pairing at first, but it works perfectly - Nadja's brand of metallurgy frequently hovers into ambience, and Hecker has always been at the noisier end of the ambient spectrum. The resulting amalgamation is Fantasma Parastasie, and it bucks the trend with most side-projects, in that it holds up well next to anything either artist has released on his own.

It's notoriously different to write evaluatively about ambient music, owing partly to Brian Eno's dictum that the music "must be as ignorable as it is interesting." Fantasma Parastasie isn't strictly "ambient" music as Eno envisioned it, nor is it entirely ignorable. It does have that quality, however, of being beautiful in a way that allows it to fade into the background, while being detailed enough to reward those moments when it surges to the fore. In other words, I can get work done to it, but still feel like I listened to it when it's over.

The balance of sound on the album is pretty remarkable. Hecker's fondness for incorporating jagged shards of electric guitar into his own compositions is part of the source of confusion, but, really, the two musicians compliment each other perfectly. "Phantom on a Pedestal" begins with an imposing sheet of guitar feedback that's met by an equally-imposing wall of electronic sound and - somehow - the result is beauty, even as it's cacophony. Hecker's synths sound like they're emanating from the same wall of amps that Baker uses, wrapping the entire song in a warm cocoon of static cling. The rest of the pieces follow suit: "Auditory Spirits" has that distant, ringing sound that defined so many Flying Saucer Attack songs; waves of ethereal guitar feedback are slowly shifted into gentle electronic drones and back again in "Gallery of the Invisible Woman"; the subdued title track relies on gentle, low electronic tones, with guitar squall occasionally flitting to the surface. It's all of a piece and, if you're not paying attention to the progression, it's easy to miss when tracks change.

None of this communicates why the album is good. All you really need to know is this sounds like an album from the same thought-patterns that birthed Labradford and Flying Saucer Attack. It doesn't sound like those bands, but the principles are the same - shoegaze-worthy guitar roar turned into blissful stretches of soundscape, in this case with Hecker's nebulous electronics alternately modulating and subsumed into the noise. It's the sound of entropy decreasing into order, or fixed patterns bleeding into chaos. Noise and silence, power and fragility are not so much juxtaposed as they are intermingled to the point where distinguishing them from each other is impossible - an impressive display of alchemy from two masters. by Lucas Kane (theslilentballet.com)

Official site
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The Pirate Ship Quintet - The Pirate Ship Quintet

Artist: The Pirate Ship Quintet
Album: The Pirate Ship Quintet
Label: Sound Devastation
Year: 2007








Tracklist:
01. Lost Science
02. I Kina Spiser De Hund
03. Pirate Ship

Download
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For a relatively small country, the United Kingdom has laid claim to some of the most significant contributions toward the "post-rock" scene, namely 65daysofstatic, Blueneck, and of course, Mogwai. Although newcomers in the instrumental world, The Pirate Ship Quintet already have some impressively prestigious associates. Producer Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), upon hearing the EP was so enamoured with it, he decided to add his talents to the mastering.

This high production quality is certainly evident on the EP. The instruments all have a clearly defined space to roam around in, a quality which is absolutely vital in a genre that relies so heavily on the layering of instruments. The strings and trumpet soar gracefully above the guitars, which, in keeping with traditional post-rock psyche, do not stray into the forbidden territory of solos/lead parts, allowing the bass to execute some delicious fretwork underneath.

The fact that one of the members plays with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is not surprising given the band's song structures, which flow with a steady orchestral grace. This influence is certainly evident in the opening track, "Lost Science." The song begins slowly, and serving as an introduction, with the instruments gradually adding themselves, one after the other to the mix like a more graceful, artistic warrior-mech assembling. The song then builds to a crescendo, and while the guitars are excellent in the quieter sections of the EP, in these parts they sound washed out and thin, and thus the build-up is not as engaging as one would like.

The following track, "I Kina Spiser Der Hund", opens with a doomy, Isis-like riff, complemented by metalcore-style screams. Unfortunately, instead of opening up a new dimension to the band’s sound, it turns the song into a game of spot-the-influence, and the tremolo picking that follows sounds like it was lifted straight out of an Explosions in the Sky album. The song eventually progresses into the quieter, quasi-orchestral territory of its predecessor, before returning to the opening riff. Unlike the flow of the first song, this sounds slightly disjointed.

Fortunately, this is not the case on the final song, "Pirate Ship." After a delicate beginning, the song builds into a mighty overture, backed by a thundering guitar riff. The dynamics are much better executed on this track, and while the song is heavily repetition-based, the song is constantly being driven forward, until it breaks into a sombre outro.

Although The Pirate Ship Quintet don’t do anything radically different to distinguish themselves from many post-rock bands, this EP will probably serve as a means of calibrating their techniques, and by incorporating influences from various bands, will gradually evolve into a sound of their own.(sonicfrontiers.net)


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Matthew Robert Cooper - Miniatures

Artist: Matthew Robert Cooper
Album: Miniatures
Label: Gaarden Records
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Miniature 1
02. Miniature 2
03. Miniature 3
04. Miniature 4
05. Miniature 5
06. Miniature 6
07. Miniature 7
08. Miniature 8
09. Miniature 9

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A proper album by Brian Eno and Philip Glass ranks near the top of my dream collaborations. The “Heroes” and Low symphonies don’t count, nor does the live transcription of Music for Airports Glass wrote for the Bang on a Can All-Stars: I’m talking about original collaborative work, something like The Pearl with Glass as Harold Budd. As Eluvium, Matthew Robert Cooper seems to dream of this collaboration, too, setting drones of Eno-caliber beatitude against piano and string themes of Glass-caliber austerity. But “Miniature 3″ is not an Eluvium track. By releasing it under his own name, Cooper signals a collapse of his usual dichotomy– theme and atmosphere blend into one liquefied mass. “Miniature 3″ evokes the gusty expanses of Christopher Bissonnette, or the hugely scaled ambiance of Stars of the Lid. Chords crest and break in super-slow-mo, and archipelagic bass tones wink in and out of a sea of stringed resonance. The longing that is so pronounced in Eluvium is here recessive and subtle, more insinuation than clarion call– the sound of a melody yearning for its orchestra.

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Grails - Take Refuge In Clean Living

Artist: Grails
Album: Take Refuge In Clean Living
Label: Important
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Stoned at the Taj Again
02. PTSD
03. 11th Hour
04. Take Refuge
05. Clean Living

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Now ass-deep in the new millennium, and “post-rock” has long since become the dirty word it always should have been. All well and good, mind you, save for the fact that it gets consistently trotted out for any rock-based band that decides to approach the dais sans vocals. There’s hardly anything to be said for the hollow art of the guitar-gasm at this point, and what worth may have been left in the genre died on a fictional football field in Texas sometime in 2007.

Portland’s Grails, however, wisely eschew such limp tendencies, favoring not the voiceless, dead-faced riff that supposed contemporaries in the “post-rock” field work until all meaning is stripped away, but instead a global, wide-angle take on psychedelic rock and improv. Since undergoing some major line-up shifts a few years back, it’s an approach they’ve worked like a charm twice before, both on Black Tar Prophecies, a series of off-the-cuff EPs, and Burning Off Impurities, their largely successful 2007 re-imagining of Turkish psych, blues-based Brit folk, and even a few subtle hints of Japanese-styled guitar malevolence.

When touring on this material Grails augmented their traditional four-piece line-up with drummer Ben Nugent, giving regular percussionist Emil Amos license to step to the front on guitar. Once off the road, the newly expanded group cut the five-song Take Refuge in Clean Living to document this latest chapter in their continued evolution. Though still walking much the same path that their two previous records did, this latest batch of tunes revels in a deeper expressiveness, one undoubtedly fostered by Amos’ non-drum contributions.

Coming in on the same high notes that carried their 2007 full-length, Grails open their latest with “Stoned at the Taj Again,” a lengthy composition that matches intricate guitar lines with delicate saz figures, building all the while to an ominous, percussive onslaught wrought with creeping dread. “PTSD” continues the strain, both in title and overall tonal sentiment, allowing gentle strums to take the lead, only to have them hit with the constant threat of capsize by a steadily encroaching wave of feedback and far-off tape manipulation.

Most surprising here, however, is “11th Hour.” Originally done in fine kitsch by the Ventures, Grails’ version retains only trace echoes, pulling the leads apart and muting the percussion until grim latticework of guitar remains. Better still is “Take Refuge,” a track that takes the group’s Turkish fascinations and blends in a flavor of Morricone, pairing a wheezing organ with spaghetti western guitars for a slow burn that gracefully fades into the distance, beginning the sweet finale of what is easily Grails’ third masterful record in an equally impressive run.-Michael Crumsho (dustedmagazine.com)

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Glowworm - The Coachlight Woods

Artist: Glowworm
Album: The Coachlight Woods
Label: Post Dog Productions
Year: 2008







Tracklist:
01. Periphescence
02. Contrails
03. The Captive
04. Lux
05. Nightshores
06. Cracks In The Desert Sea of St. George
07. Lith
08. Into The Woods
09. Glow Scraped From The Earth

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In late 2006, Portland musicians Kevin Davis and Jesse Robert W. drove over 1000 miles to reach a secluded cabin in the desert of southern Utah. They removed themselves from all familiar reality, letting their recording efforts become saturated by the surrounding atmosphere. The result is music affected by a lost time and place, resonating the desert’s sweeping horizons, blood red plateaus, and ancient, hollow canyons.

Glowworm's sound is that of carefully crafted orchestral and atmospheric rock, supported by tasteful electronica. The Coachlight Woods ranges from explosive feedback-driven guitar passages, to intelligent, emotive neo-classical string arrangements. It is a reverb laden struggle through uncharted territory, offering a unique take on style in a genre too often filled with copycats.

Glowworm shares current members of the shoegaze band Pacific UV (also releasing a new LP on WARM records in Feb.), and has released a split 7" on Other Electricities records (Small Sails, Jatun). The Coachlight Woods is Glowworm's first full length LP, and is currently scheduled for self release in the U.S. on March 4th of '08.

“…a solo project bending the lines between indie rock and electronic/ambient…doesn’t hesitate as it dazzles the listener with stunning guitar lines and shimmering electronic support… …into your ears and hearts quicker than you’ll know what hit you.”

- The Silent Ballet.com

For fans of: Mogwai, The Album Leaf, Hammock, M83

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The Land Of Nod - Reality Channel: An Introduction To The Land Of Nod

Artist: The Land Of Nod
Album: Reality Channel: An Introduction To The Land Of Nod
Label: Elephant Stone
Year: 2003






Tracklist:
01. Ice Station Nod
02. Half-Light
03. Quadrant Zero (out-take)
04. Timeless Point
05. Parabolic Velocity
06. Filtration
07. Reality Channel
08. The Land of Nod (sunrise)
09. Chronicle Blueprint No. 1
10. Inducing the Sleep Shpere
11. Eddy
12. Masaki
13. Luminosity
14. Cadence
15. Mooger Superior

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In the Land of Nod, percussion whispers, the bass whimpers, and guitars gently glide in a valley of delay effects. This collection of select tracks from its proper albums and radio sessions supports the U.K. duo's comparisons to Windy & Carl, Mogwai, and the ambient side of Spacemen 3. Guitarist Ant Walker and bassist Dave Battersby head up this ethereal journey through ambient instrumental rock, occasionally aided by piano ("Quadrant Zero") and percussion ("Chronicle Blueprint No. 1" and "Inducing the Sleep Sphere"). The eight-minute "Parabolic Velocity" is one of the Nod's finer moments, where a helicopter-like sound swirls around high-end, dreamy bass and ghostly tones. "The Land of Nod," a delightful piece that's reminiscent of mid-'80s Cocteau Twins or Swallow's Blow, soothes with its misty atmosphere. Other tracks slowly build, then drift away, bringing you along for a ride that induces a sleepy, sometimes trance-y state.-Kenyon Hopkin (allmusic.com)

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