Iron Forest – Pantechnicon CDr
Paradigms Recordings
Iron Forest is a project form the man behind A Crown of Amaranth and I believe is now a defunct project but he is still operating under the project name Auditor. Pantechnicon is the first effort for this new project and is coined by the label as “doom-step”.
That description may not be far off as this is somewhat based around odd angular beats with a good dosage of noise and distortion. Lots of experimentation and tangents here. Once you think you have a track nailed …
Cursory – La Sorcière 7"
Blossoming Noise
La Sorcière is my first exposure to Cursory a project which I know nothing about. Starting with the presentation of this release I can say it’s quite an effort where it has been beautifully yet subtly packaged by Blossoming Noise who always manages to put out quality material. Ultra heavy stock with silver silk screen art is very effective but leaves almost no information about the release to be shared.
Side A contains the track Some Men Look into their Minds and Find Naught but Pain …
Aphid Palisades – II C45
Fade Away Tapes
Aphid Palisades is the nom de plume of the collaboration between Lee Tindall (also of Belarisk, and Zerfallt) and Ryan Connolly (also of Sundrips). With II they create a beautiful sound of psychedelic experimental dronescapes.
Guitar is used in a very subtle and thoughtful way and combined with excellent synth work. Nothing feels canned or generic and there is a great sense of movement throughout the tape. The material shows an excellent combination of glassy and bright textures with warm analog goodness.
My only critique …
Tasuketekun – Electrical Lessons CDr
Obfuscated Records
Tasuketekun is a harsh noise artist hailing from Japan and creating noise in a the style of the Japanese greats like Merzbow and Astro. This disc holds roughly 42 minutes of white hot synth-based noise with tons of variation yet using droning synth pads as a base for each track.
Two longer tracks kick things off with Electrical Lessons featuring a low bass tone and cut-up distorted elements above the drone. It is quite consistent for the entirety of the track. Human Weapon is of …
Regosphere/Shiver – There’s Daggers in Men’s Smiles C20
Dumpsterscore Home Recordings
This cassette is an already sold-out split tape from two burgeoning noise artists both tending to lean towards the ambient/industrial realms.
Regosphere tackles side A with Wolf’s Head (Bleeding) which has a much more power electronics vibe than most of his material and I’m really digging it. Beneath the Sheath follows with more of Regosphere’s token sound but as always these tracks are very thick with excellent synth pads and layers of fuzz.
Shiver’s work here isn’t bad but I have to say …