Saturday, May 15, 2010
Compulsion on Locrian "Territories" LP
Locrian - Territories
Locrian's previous album Drenched Lands was an impressive combination of guitar and keyboard improvisations carrying elements of drone, noise and pitch-black industrial ambience together with a slight nod towards black metal. With Territories the core duo Andre Foisy and Terence Hannum further develop their blackened atmospherics aided by an expanded line-up, featuring fellow Chicago based musicians including Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded and proprietor of BloodLust! label), Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) and Andrew Scherer (Velnias).
Right from the off you're surrounded by the controlled feedback squeals and electronic pulses of 'Inverted Ruins'. It carries over the Locrian sound of Drenched Lands but the presence of the collaborators is obvious; in the distant holler of Solotroff and the simple rock styled drum pounding from Andrew Scherer. The doom pace is filled with stuttering synthesiser howls and industrial ambience ebbing out on pulselike throbs. The static buzz drone of 'Between Barrows', punctuated by short bursts of crashing cymbal rolls, is accompanied by some restrained sax blurt and further on it picks up some sustained tense organ drone.
Drenched Lands featured some stark and skeletal guitar work and that makes a welcome reappearance on 'Antediluvian Territory', the only track restricted to the core duo of Andre Foisy and Terence Hannum. Here spiralling shards of guitar are played off against ominous organ drone. It is wonderful stuff and way too brief. It's an approach I hope they pursue on future releases.
And while there's elements of noise throughout Territories there's a definite power electronics feel to the opening minutes of 'Ring Road' with Solotroff's haranguing holler over wavering shrill feedback and monstrous low-end roar. It doesn't stay too long in power electronics mode as it gradually leads into dense churning electronics, with some guitar improvisation and crackling textures.
One of the pivotal tracks of Territories, 'Procession of Ancestral Brutalism' starts quietly with feint feedback squeals and industrial ambience before upping the stakes with scorching black metal riffing, powerhouse drumming and screamed black hole aggro vocals spat out by Solotroff, Judd, Lamont and Hannum. 'Procession of Ancestral Brutalism' is inspired and dynamic like black metal filtered through the noise-rock of Zeni Geva or something. It may be black metal but with Locrian it is direct and resolutely shorn of the ideology or cliché.
I guess much will be written about the black metal influenced tracks on Territories but the focus of Locrian remains very much on improvisation. If it's black metal you're seeking then I'm afraid you're gonna have to wade through a lot of black atmospherics to get there. Just listen to the shared guitar improvisations that comprise the opening minutes of 'The Columnless Arcade' before it cuts to the surging metal riffing, martial snare drum rolls and distant tortured screamed vocals. As ever it doesn't wallow too long in one place as Locrian cast their net wide trawling through wigged out terrain casting off elements of black metal with post-rock tunings into dense psychedelic murk.
Given the amount of collaborators here Locrian never lose their identity; their sound is never engulfed by the collaborators. Territories is very much a Locrian record. All the hallmarks of their sound, as evidenced on their previous Drenched Lands release, can be found here. This time though with the aid of the collaborators they've been able to further explore areas only tentatively pursued before. Anyone interested in drone/doom sonics and noise/power electronics would be foolish to miss this as Territories is something of an avant metal drone fest. It's also a blast. As prolific as they are Locrian are running on a very low shit quotient and I'm already looking forward to wherever they go next. Great stuff.
BloodLust! May 2010 Update
BloodLust! New Release: B!154 BLOODYMINDED "Boston 2009" CD
Artist: BLOODYMINDED
Title: "Boston 2009"
Format: CD
Catalog Number: BloodLust! 154
Genre: Experimental / Industrial / Noise / Power-Electronics
Edition Size: 100 Copies
Specially released in a limited edition of 100 copies to coincide with BLOODYMINDED's appearance at the Heavy Focus Festival III, April 24, 2010, in Minneapolis, MN. This release features a recording of our set from the Northeast Noise & Power Electronics Festival II, November 7, 2009, in Boston, MA. For that very special show, we played our debut CD "Trophy" in its entirety, minus the 20+ minute long song "Overdrive." Why? Because a trip to Boston demands a fucking very special BLOODYMINDED set. Especially if it is a return to a completely over-the-top event like the Northeast Noise & Power Electronics Festival, which for the second year in a row, included a devastating line-up of the best-of-the-best in this scene. And particularly, when the boys in Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck have brought you out their to play. And, as it turns out, Boston is city where "Trophy" has taken on a certain importance. The folks in that scene have embraced the album in a particular way that somehow caused the idea to perform it seem like a really clever concept. Was it? Yes and no. As the show approached, I realized that from the 46 songs on tap, BLOODYMINDED had never even performed several of the songs on "Trophy" live, while other tracks had only had a small number of live airings since 1995. And let's be frank, I am not exactly known for my great memorization skills. But this was not a crowd that could be let down, so a minor mental miracle had to occur. And let's also factor in the distractions. While James Moy was tasked with holding down synth and mixer duties, as well as adding vocal leads and fills [if and when I stumbled], I had Pieter Schoolwerth and Xavier Laradji flying around me and accosting me throughout the set --- not to mention an extremely excited, physical, and verbal audience that was not content to observe the edge-of-the-stage boundary. It was an endurance test, it was a battle, and it was three-quarters-of-an-hour of pure jubilation. Here then, are the results, in all of their glory. The recording is presented as one continuous track, with all of the atmosphere of the occasion completely remaining intact. These are professionally duplicated CDs, with single panel, double-sided inserts, featuring color artwork; in jewel boxes with shrinkwrap.
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Tracklisting:
In The Mood / Over Before You Know It / Lake Street / Spread / Cost / Constriction / Knife / Down / Mantra / Rise / Perform / Hot / Crawl / Porn Lords /Cro-bar / Inside / Trophy / Chinatown / Muscle / Skin / Thigh / Lick / Brass Pole / Tears / Finger / Hand / Void / Her God / In-Back / Blind / Waste / Flesh / Cream / Wild Dogs / Wire / Slick / Spit / Wet / Make / Boost / Hair / All / Shape / Pulse / Sustain / Boy
(Total running time: 42:37)
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Price: $14.00 USA/$16.00 Canada+Mexico/$18.00 Rest of World @ postpaid
(Wholesale rates available to distributors, mail-order services, and record stores; please inquire)
Please use bludlust@mindspring.com for PayPal payments
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Jewelbox front:
Insert back:
Traycard:
Disc in tray:
Discogs listing:
http://www.discogs.com/BLOODYMINDED-Boston-2009/release/2231994
BloodLust! new release: B!153 Los Heraldos Negros "Vivir Mejor" CD
Artist: Los Heraldos Negros
Title: "Vivir Mejor"
Format: CD
Catalog Number: BloodLust! 153
Genre: Noise / Experimental / Industrial
BloodLust! is pleased to announce the label debut by Los Heraldos Negros from Mexico City. This heavy and disquieting noise work is the creation of Sergio Sanchez, who many in the noise scene will know from his Spanish language review blog, Ruido Horrible, as well as the vital label of the same name. When BLOODYMINDED went down to Mexico City in 2007 to play the r4wb1t5 Macro Fest, a week long multi-disciplinary cultural arts festival, we also wanted to play a show that was more closely tied to the small but dedicated noise scene there. So we made plans through a still relatively new contact, Señor Sanchez. The time that we spent with Sanchez and his group of friends was a wonderful added bonus to all of the great people that we had already met through r4wb1t5. Following an ultra-high-energy Friday night BLOODYMINDED festival show -- and an even higher-energy, adrenalin-fueled, high-speed police chase that involved the car that we were in, which was returning us to our hotel at dawn -- Sanchez had us meet him and his cohorts on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon at El Chopo, the famous, sprawling outdoor mercado that caters to the heavy-metal, punk, and gothic scenes. It was an amazing day, even in our rather delicate state. Needless to say, we have stayed in contact with the Ruido Horrible crew, and we have enjoyed the flow of music that has been making its way up from the D.F. since then. After I asked Sanchez to consider a Los Heraldos Negros release on BloodLust!, he simply told me that when a worthwhile piece of music was ready to be shared, he would send it along. I knew exactly what that meant, so I waited patiently. The striking and wholly satisfying results are "Vivir Mejor," which roughly translates to "have a better life," borrowed from the campaign slogan of Felipe Calderón, the current President of Mexico, who many feel has delivered the country into a bloody, full-scale war between drug traffickers and army and police forces, particularly in northern Mexico. This outstanding recording sonically parallels a certain mood within the country, deftly moving from sustained harsh noise sections to more unsettling, atmospheric passages, still adding a human element by skillfully and subtly weaving in what appear to be field recordings, which never become obvious or intrusive, but which function as a fully integrated part of the overall sound palette. Professionally duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided insert; black and white artwork with vivid photographs related to the Mexican drug war; in jewel box with shrink-wrap.
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Tracklisting:
1. Vivir Mejor (43:51)
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Price: $14.00 USA/$16.00 Canada+Mexico/$18.00 Rest of World @ postpaid
(Wholesale rates available to distributors, mail-order services, and record stores; please inquire)
Please use bludlust@mindspring.com for PayPal payments
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Jewelbox front:
Insert back:
Jewelbox back:
Disc in tray:
Discogs listing:
http://www.discogs.com/Los-Heraldos-Negros-Vivir-Mejor/release/2276659
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Thursday, May 13, 2010
Status - 5/13
- Fecalove 7-inch covers are in-house and look great. The master is at the pressing plant
- July 10 Wolf Eyes/Anatomy of Habit show announced:
Event links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116512125056195
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/event/1532131+BloodLust!+Presents
MySpace: http://tinyurl.com/285l3ub
Noisefanatics: http://www.chondriticsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=36882
- As it seems like Land o'Smiles Records is still in a long term hibernation, BLOODYMINDED has decided to move forward with the "PHASES : FOUR" 12-inch ourselves, rather than wait any longer for the Black Lodge Series to re-launch. It is necessary to get this final chapter of the "Magnetism" and "PHASES" era out in the world before we move on to new things. Details to follow...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Sleeping Shaman on Locrian Territories
Locrian 'Territories' LP 2010
In order to fully accommodate the full scope of their vision, the core duo of Locrian – Andre Foisy and Terence Hannum – have enlisted an ensemble of players from the various outer reaches of musical extremity and four, count 'em, FOUR separate labels so that the vastness of 'Territories' can be fully unleashed upon the unsuspecting world at large. As excellent as their last full-length, 'Drenched Lands', was, 'Territories' is, well, a whole 'nother territory. The sound world created herein is truly expansive, spanning Locrian's usual pitch-black droning minimalism, through to black metal on an epic scale, taking in meditative post-space-rock guitar and icy synthscapes along the way, and often ALL of the afore-mentioned at once.
The four collaborators that Foisy and Hannum have recruited for 'Territories' are Mark Solotroff of Bloodyminded, on vocals and synths, Blake Judd of Nachtmystium, on guitar and vocals, Bruce Lamont of Yakuza, on vocals and sax, and Andrew Scherer of the unknown-to-me Velnias, on drums. These four help to flesh out the sound of Locrian, allowing them to function almost as a 'band', in real-time. The additional members and instruments allow for a greater, more well integrated, palette of tonal variety, and a more obvious use of dynamics.
Opening track 'Inverted Ruins' has the spine of a pulsing, ebbing skeletal synth throb and funereally paced drums, overlaid with layers of minimal yet piercing feedback and choppy, skittering insectile electronics. Beneath this Solotroff spills slow-burning throaty bile about the collapse of civilisation, whilst adding further sonic weight to the juddering processed synth tones that cloak him. The track ends, collapsing under its own weight into nothing but a heavily delayed synthesizer squelch, stuttering into empty space. 'Between Barrows' is a dead-black organ drone exploration, with the saxophone of Bruce Lamont hoving into earshot between dense fog-banks of shimmering cymbals and echoing ambience, like a ship lost at sea and sounding its mournful horn into blank space in hopes of a reply. Two minutes into the third track 'Procession of Ancestral Brutalism' is where everything changes, as the full-on black metal guitar assault of Nachtmystium's Blake Judd explodes out of the black hole of sound that preceded it. An icy blast of trebly BM riffing, ala Wolves In The Throne Room, and full-tilt blasting drums blare out of the speakers, whilst the anguished screaming vocals of Solotroff, Hannum, Judd AND Lamont let rip from what sounds like an echo chamber several miles below the earth. This in turn then opens out into a space of throbbing, surging bass notes, and whirling guitar, the drums punching and splashing in emphasis. Sounding at once arctic, organic and totally venomous, the track is unlike anything Locrian have done before. Fourth track 'Ring Road' is another dark, throbbing exploration of the lower depths, along lines of the opening track, but DENSER and, dare I say it, DARKER. The squalls of electronic skree and the blocks of analogue synth in even more abundance. Next track 'Antediluvian Territory' is what COULD be construed as a 'meditative' guitar piece, with plangent, delayed guitar lines and chiming harmonics ringing out in a way reminiscent of Robert Fripp....that is if it wasn't for the indefinable air of impending dread being conjured up by the accompanying collossal bass drone and the snake-like hissing ambience. Meditate to THIS and say hello to nightmares and cold sweat.
'The Columnless Arcade', the final track on 'Territories' is where everything that has gone before comes together in one kaleidoscopic auditory hallucination. Echoing, delayed and heavily processed syhths and electronics whirr and endlessly collapse into a vortex, from which emerges that icy black metal blast once again, whilst enormous bass notes judder and depth charge below the serpentine mass of sound. Solotroff howls as the guitars entwine in a post-psychedelic black metal tangle, chiming and swooping at each other through acidic delay like Helios Creed by way of Enslaved, and it has that same feel to it as the serpentine guitars of Beefheart's 'Kandy Korn'. At once fragile and epic. The track is cosmic in the truest sense, and a fitting ending to such an all-enveloping piece of work.
The scale of 'Territories' is vast indeed, and such a project on such a scale could have easily failed and fallen into the trap of throwing TOO much into the mix, but it has succeeded effortlessly. 'Territories' is a triumph of sound, and deserves to be heard by EVERYONE of an adventurous musical leaning. Especially those of us who do not usually care for black metal.
- Label: At War With False Noise / Basses Frequencies / Bloodlust! / Small Doses
- Website: lndofdecay.blogspot.com
Contributed by: Paul on the 11/05/10
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Vital on Vertonen
VERTONEN - DROWING IN WET SAND (3"CDR by CIP)
VERTONEN - CRESTING (cassette by Bloodlust!)
Blake Edwards recently surprised us with three 3"CDRs and a split LP, now he arrives with the first of four, quarterly 3"CDRs as well as a cassette. The first 3" was intended to be a cassette release that never happened. The cover lists three tracks, but on the CDR there are only two, although its very well possible they are merged together. Its here that Vertonen works out his recent interests into deeply moving textured pieces of drone music. Although densely layered, there is some great subtleness gong in these pieces. Vertonen's music works on all dynamic levels and is put together in an excellent way. The two/three pieces mark his progression in this. The US counterpart to Eliane Radigue.
I expected the cassette to be somewhat more noise based, seeing it released on Bloodlust!, but its rather not. Vertonen's recent work deals, mostly, with drone like music, like on the 3"CDR, which is continued here, although altogether of a more heavy nature. Five tracks here, of which the first is a more quieter outing, but then 'Scotoma' is pretty loud and very dense. "Tackypnoea' is more quiet again. 'Mains Collapse' on the b-side is a more ambient industrial drone-scape, whereas 'Deep Water Blackout' sounds like airwave loops flying about. An excellent cassette release. Quite powerful, and highly varied. Not as delicate as the 3"CDR, but fine enough. (FdW)
- And FYI, I have been playing the 3-inch a good bit this past week and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the B! cassette, or who likes some tasty synth work...
Status - 5/11
- The Fecalove 7-inch covers have been printed and are due to arrive this week. The vinyl master is off to the pressing plant and if everything goes as scheduled, the records should be ready within four weeks
- The Fortieth Day is settling back into a nice practice and recording schedule at the Plague Bringer/A.o.H. space. We had a fruitful session last night, barring some frustration with an uncooperative Turbo Rat pedal
- Recommended viewing: Mammoth, by Lucas Moodysson. Not as "obvious" as "Lilya 4-Ever" and more expansive than "A Hole in My Heart." At times, it feels close to the films of Alejandro González Iñárritu, and not just because of Gael García Bernal being in it. It left me feeling pretty cold. Good cold...
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Quietus on Locrian - First an Insult, then some Praise
Although 'Locrian' can refer to either a member of the ancient central Greek tribe, the Locrians, or a musical scale used primarily by jazz and death metal musicians, this has nothing to do with Chicago's 'post-industrial noise' duo Locrian. To be perfectly frank, on first listen Territories is a pretty bloody arduous listen, but here perseverance is the key. What at first comes across as unstructured, poorly executed racket recorded in an oil drum by a monkey with learning difficulties, eventually it reveals itself to be an intense 50 minute drone odyssey; the multitude of seemingly random clicks, glitches and oddities making for a deceptively textured and engrossing album.
Sound Projector on Locrian - Mixed Results
Last year I was very pleased to discover the music of Locrian, a Chicago duo who seemed to be doing something exciting with their excessive amplified guitar and electronic sludge-drone, overlaid with Black Metal elements and wallowing in supernatural paranoiac slime. For Territories (AT WAR WITH FALSE NOISE ATWAR073 / BASSES FREQUENCES BF23/ BLOODLUST! B!147 / SMALL DOSES DOSE85), the duo of Foisy and Hannum have supplemented their power with players recruited from Nachtmystium, Yakuza, Velnias and Bloodyminded – all gloom and hate merchants to a man. The addition of vocals, synth, drums, sax and an extra guitar has certainly made the Locrian overall sound a lot thicker and, in places, more textured and detailed. I feel however that some of the relentless and obsessional qualities that they exhibited so convincingly as a two-man act have been slightly compromised by the need to co-operate with these other bloodthirsty musicians. ‘Procession of Ancestral Brutalism’ is one example of the new band dynamic, but in spite of its killer title it’s not much more than identikit Black Metal. However it would be churlish to deny that overall, this is an album of horrifying power, particularly on the slow and broody cuts like ‘Ring Road’ which over ten agonising minutes of painful squalor and heavy monotony soon convinces you of the presence of imminent disaster. Vinyl copy of this item known to exist, unless sold out by now.