Pestdemon – Helvetesljuset LP
Unrest Productions
Pestdemon is an act that I had reviewed before and found some potential in the sounds. The man behind the project is Andreas Johansson and the material here is beautifully presented by Unrest Productions with some really exemplary artwork. Definitely an LP worthy of procuring in physical format.
Side A contains 2 tracks the first Silhuett Av Tva Horn an excellent ambient/noise track using modified samples of orchestral music with heavy washes of distortion. I’m not sure when the composition eventually melds into the second track entitled …

AMFJ – Baen CD
FALK
Immediately striking is the design of the disc packaging here with a decidedly modern feel. Yet, it’s eye-catching in it’s minimalism and thought provoking in it’s maximilism. Contradictory? Sure. But I feel that is part of the allure here.
Before delving into the sound I inspected the information attached. From the design I expected some clean kind of experimental drone music with maybe even a touch of acdemic flavor. The inside information seemed to confirm this, with a note saying all music is composed with Jeskola Buzz, free …

Diatribes – Three Studies On The Failure Of Language To Comprehend C60
Self Released
I wasn’t able to find any info on this artist so I have to post without any available links. Diatribes is an act I am completely unfamiliar with and with this tape they present some messy packaging design coupled with swampy droning doom. The only thing I know about the project is that one member is Dean Costello also of the project Wasterlanders.
Side A is all slowly strummed guitar chords which is wholeheartedly not my thing. Maybe it’s …

Wastelanders – Cosmic Despair CD
Calls and Correspondence/Basses Frequences
Wastelanders is a solo side project by Dean Costello, who is also active in Harpoon, Diatribes, and Winters in Osaka. It’s quite the gamut of projects so it’s hard to predict what style of sound Costello will embrace for his solo project Wastelanders.
It turns out that what is offered here is slowly rotating pitched harmonic drone music. Judging on the inside photo I’m guessing most of the sounds are culled from a guitar, but honestly it sounds like an organ for the bulk …

Grunt – Someone is Watching CD
Force Majeure
This is a re-issue of an early tape release that was also on the Force Majeure label and originally released in 1998. As Grunt’s very first release was in 1994, this is quite early in the project’s lifespan and it’s certainly interesting to hear material from these formative years. The re-mastering on the album is quite pristine which makes the quality clear and abrasive, definitely a good way to start with a re-issue.
The defining characteristic between this earlier work and Grunt’s current work is …

Songs From the Otherworld – Mycophagy 3″CDR
Self Released
There are a few immediate warning signs just regarding the packaging of this release. It could be the shitty plastic sleeve that surrounds it, or the terrible type work. It could also be the photoshop filtered artwork but perhaps the most glaring thing is short explanation contained on the cover: “drone music for journeying: electronically altered reality.” Honestly I don’t know why you would have to explain something that is at the same time so meaningless, but also is something that is abstract …

Kevin Greenspon – Unveiling C25
Monorail Trespassing
Kevin Greenspon is a musician who focuses on guitar drone, electroacoustic, and noise. The latter two genres are a smaller percentage of his output which culminates under his own name.
What you will find here is kind of like an instrumental version of Grouper with melancholy guitar lines interwoven in ambient forms and layered, looped and affected to form sparkling stalactites of sound. The atmosphere is a peaceful but somber one yet is quite consistent throughout.
The noise elements here are few and far between but …

Funerary Call – Beckoning at the Black CD
Fall of Nature
Beckoning at the Black was originally recorded back in 2004. Now the album sees a reissue on Fall of Nature Records, the label that has already reissued The Black Root. Of course the questions that reissues always raise: What makes this reissue different from the original? Does this material stand the test of time? and finally, Is It really worth it?
With each of these questions answered it seems to lead to the next, and I can’t be too sure of …

Rale – I Sit By the Window and Watch Walls and Ceiling CD
Monorail Trespassing
I couldn’t help but brace myself for the excitement that the title of this album conjures. All jokes aside, I assumed this would be a minimalist, maybe ambient affair and it appears I was right. Rale is a project that is entirely new to me and they deliver some interesting quiet and soft atmospheres on this disc which totals about 50 minutes in length.
Luckily the song titles are actually much more exciting, or at least more intriguing …

Shiver – The Light Within has Turned to Darkness C20
Diazepam
I remember the last Shiver album to be more along a more noisy, power electronics vein, but here we have a good delivery of dark ambient/death industrial to mark a new turn in their work. I dig the packaging here with the j-card being printed on textured paper, simple artwork and text make the release have that kind of old school feel that is also recalled in the music.
The production of the tape makes it slightly more difficult to say how …