Human Larvae – What Lies Ahead C40
Unrest Productions
What Lies Ahead is the latest release in the works that chronicle this underrated German power electronics act. Utilizing the entire running time of this 40 minute cassette Human Larvae has crafted yet another exceptional full-length album that spans the genres of black noise, power electronics, dark ambient with a very subtle noir jazz influence. The tape unfolds over it’s running time with tact and precision where Human Larvae yet again tells a sordid narrative of loss, hopelessness and no redemption.
Side A consists …

Masaoka/Chen/Grüsel/Nagai – Masaoka/Chen/Grüsel/Nagai CD
Resipiscent
Now here is an odd amalgamation. “Kenta Nagai raises a Shamisan, Hichiriki and his throat together with the far voice and violoncello of Audrey Chen as Miya Masaoka conjures Koto with electronics and Hans Grüsel, rummaging in a suitcase of blippoo box and bugbrand weevil08, douses for… then detonates waveforms.” Definitely a strange collection of instruments and talents here which could easily result in a meandering mutual jerk off session, or an intensely profound and intriguing convergence of styles and instrumentation. Luckily for all of us, this …

A Death Cinematic – A Parable On The Aporia Of Vengeance And The Beauty Of Impenetrable Sadness 2xCD
Simple Box Construction
With a name that easily pigeonholes itself as overtly pompous, this colossal album does very little to live up to the pontifical nature of this droning, dull piece of work. Bearing a likeness in style to artists such as MGR and House of Low Culture (both Isis side projects. A total coincidence, I swear), A Parable On The Aporia Of Vengeance And The Beauty Of Impenetrable Sadness attempts to create a …

Swamp Horse – Oracle 3″CDR
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
Swamp Horse is the legendary Josh Lay and for this project he is joined by Morgan Rankin, the latter is a name that sounds somewhat familiar but I can’t quite recall where from. This is another quality release from Dumpsterscore Home Recordings, a label which is impressive with it’s consistent aesthetic and smart packaging. The simple lined black work on metallic gold paper being a nice touch to this minimally packaged 3″. I really love the 3″ format because with 22 minutes it provides …

Steve Bates – The Dim Coast CD
MoSo
With a sound that basically qualifies as a noise collage, The Dim Coast involves scraping, minimal noise, environmental effects and ambient tendencies to fill it’s time. The sounds range from cut up found sounds to meandering piano to spacey synth work with even a few post rock tendencies. While some tracks flow very nicely and effectively straddle the line between slowly evolving ambient works and minimal but noisy, others don’t boast the same effectiveness.
Our Previous George is apparently either an attempt at a mood …

Regosphere/Content Nullity – Claws Of The Witch C36 –
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
Claws of the Witch is an excellent split between two great up-and-coming artists. Both represent solid compositions of death industrial power electronics with a more atmospheric edge. The pairing of Regosphere and Content Nullity is a good one and makes for a coherent welding of styles.
Regosphere is up first with two forlorn death industrial tracks. The tracks feature thick beds of synthesized sounds, slow and plodding with rhythmic pulses of heated frequencies. I really dig Regosphere’s style in general, …

Troum – Ljubimaya|Daur CD
Abgvrd
This CD is a re-release of two 10″ records from 1998 and 2003. If you are at all familiar with Troum you will already know that they are one of the top acts creating guitar-based drone and ambient atmospheres and have been at it since the mid 90s. Luckily they never fell completely into the post-rock genre so even with the material from 2003 we can hear creepy airy ambience with guitar often at the forefront but no drums anywhere in sight.
The first 3 tracks are from …

Fermentae – Diaspora 3″CDR
Black Goat Records
Immediately making an impression on me is the excellent color design and packaging on this little disc. It’s a triple gatefold pro-printed digipak with a pro CDR. Very impressive looking. This being my first exposure to the project Fermentae, I had high expectations set by the visuals.
Diaspora is one long track of blackened industrial drone. The record label cites influences such as Wilt and early SUNN0))) which definitely isn’t far off. I would almost say it’s a healthy combination of both those sounds. There are …

+Dog+/Actuary – Concordia Dischord 7″
Love Earth Music
This is a split seven inch between two acts, the prolific +Dog+ and I’m guessing what might be a new project Actuary. Each artists presents one track per side, probably around 5 minutes or so each. The artwork falls on the better side of what Love Earth Music has created in the past with ink line drawings of devils stabbing people and-so-on and-so-forth.
+Dog+ is up first with Specific Ocean which is a glitchy noise piece that sounds like a bit of a step back …

White Reeves – Ultimate Pleasure Til Death C20
Dynamo Sound Collective
Here’s a tape from Ryan Emmett – the main person behind Hunted Creatures – and Micah Pacileo who is also from the same project. Apparently the material here is culled from hours of recordings, presenting only the best moments. I wish every noise act did it this way. The artwork here immediately stands out with a photo of David Letterman. I can’t really figure out how it relates to the sound.
Side a opens with a kind of wishy-washy stew of psychedelic …