SOISONG - xAj3z

Here's what Brainwashed says:
At Brainwaves last year, Peter Christopherson claimed that this album was the best thing he had ever done. Such a lofty claim raised eyebrows and now it is time to see if this is the truth. While I cannot agree with Christopherson, he and Ivan Pavlov have certainly made a fantastic album. It is of a far different character to their previous transmission under the SoiSong name; xAj3z is warm and vibrant compared to the fragility of their debut.

SoiSong

While I found SoiSong’s debut EP to be removed from either Christopherson’s or Pavlov’s style, xAj3z shares a large amount of its DNA with the electronic vocal twisting of Christopherson’s Threshold HouseBoys Choir and with the strange jazz-like sounds that ran through Coil’s posthumous releases. “T-Hu Ri Toh” typifies this approach: a peppy piano motif is slowly mutated as robotic vocals are mangled concurrently. The apparent simplicity of the piece disappears with careful listening as the slight alterations of the various sounds and multiple layers of detail create untold depths to reward deep listeners. This is true of the rest of the album where straightforward ideas are transmutated into something grander by simply shading in the details. For example, Pavlov’s guitar and Ddkern’s drumming on “Dtorumi” along with Christopherson’s electronics make for a track that is reminiscent initially of Portishead. However, through subtle use of processing and arrangement the piece becomes something more exotic and joyous.

What strikes me most about xAj3z is its celebratory mood. This is especially evident in the trumpet calls at the end of the album during “Ti-Di-Ti Naoo” and it is hard to not feel utterly content while the piece plays out (have SoiSong discovered the audio equivalent of Valium?). The contemplative vibe to this album is a marked difference between this album and the duo’s other works (including the SoiSong EP) despite there being so many stylistic similarities between them all. Even on the tracks that I found hard to get into at first (both “J3z” and “Mic Mo” are little too easy listening electronica for my liking), it is difficult to ignore the bliss that runs through the music.

The same care that went into crafting this music has also gone into the packaging for xAj3z. The sleeve is less infuriating than the “disposable” packaging of their debut but it is still quite annoying to try to fold back up. Importantly, it is beautiful to look at; all the angles and odd dimensions make it look like it was designed by Daniel Libeskind. The effort of trying to open it without tearing the sleeve makes the album feel more personal, its tactile nature forcing you to engage with it before it even reaches the CD player. Speaking of players, the CD is again octagonal which means that slot loading disc drives are out of the question (although burning a copy to an ordinary CD-R is the obvious solution). The album’s title also gives access to a section of the SoiSong website which at the moment hosts images connected with xAj3z which is supposed to be expanded in the future so there is a chance that this album could grow in some untold way.

Overall, xAj3z is not what I expected at all and the surprise of how it sounds has made it all the better. Both Christopherson and Pavlov have done a sterling job in creating such a remarkable album. Although it does not make their respective works pale in comparison, it does light them in a warm glow.

Here's what I say:

Delicate and pretty - I never thought I'd say that about Peter Christopherson's music (maybe hauntingly pretty and delicate makes it more believable...). That said, this is a GREAT album; however, whenever I listen I cannot help but to mourn the loss of Johnn. As good as this music is (and it is very good), I cannot help but wonder how much better it could have been as a Coil release...

Download:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yyy4kzwkyoq

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum

Boomkat says:
Not so much a band name as a succession of unrelated words, Black Moth Super Rainbow is a Pittsbrgh collective with a disposition towards electronically enhanced psychedelic pop, as typified by the vocoded fuzz fest 'Melt Me' with its 'New Pollution'-style Beck sound to it. There are some great vintage touches on the album, like the mellotron opening on 'Sun Lips' or the Boards Of Canada-alike 'Rollerdisco', in fact, this music could have shown up on some excruciatingly hip mixtape at any point in the past thirty-five years and it wouldn't have sounded out of place, or out of time. As is pretty much essential for any psych band wanting to stand out from the masses, these guys have some great song titles - practically pop hooks in textual form - 'Neon Syrup From The Cemetery Sisters', 'The Afternoon Turns Pink', 'Wall Of Gum' and 'Spinning Cotton Candy In A Shack Made Of Shingles'. If they're talking about shingles as in the roof slates, that's a fairly conservative piece of imagery but I'd like to think they're talking about a shed made out of grown-up chicken pox. That's way more in keeping with the kind of music this band trade in. Excellent.

I say: To offset the slightly dark mood I have established here, I present you with some lite, fun, catchy, psych-pop. It's great stuff for a sunny summer day, or when you wish it was a sunny summer day... Enjoy!

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dm0wqmm2zty

Ben Frost - By The Throat

Boomkat says:
Ben Frost's 2007 album Theory Of Machines caused quite a stir within the electronic music community, shattering genre conventions with its deft conflation of intensely dark metal, academic electroacoustics and blissful, drone-weaving modern classical touches. By The Throat takes these same principles and develops them into something altogether grander. This is an album of contradictions: during the opening piece 'Killshot', you'll be exposed to music that's both viscerally hard on the ears and achingly beautiful, combining gracefully cinematic dulcimer melodies and mesmeric swells of noise that swirl amid a sea of nerve-shredding electronics. The track segues into a dirge of howling wolves with 'The Carpathians', a piece of doom-laden menace that competes with the grimmest moments of SunnO))) or KTL in terms of intensity. We're only a couple of tracks in so far, but already this is shaping up to be pretty special. Despite opening with a tuneful flurry of string plucks, 'Hibakusja' soon reveals a darker side, collapsing into a horrifying mess of respiratory unpleasantness, as if soundtracking a drowning man trying to keep afloat - the field recordings of someone desperately drawing breath take on a creepily emotive timbre once immersed in serrated noise signals and melancholy string arpeggios. This is no easy ride, yet despite the disturbing undercurrents and horror soundtrack tactics this album never ceases to sound beautiful. Co-produced by Frost and the dependably excellent Valgeir Sigursson, By The Throat also owes some of its sonic prowess to contributions from Amiina, The Arcade Fire's Jeremy Gara and fellow Bedroom Community star Nico Muhly. This formidable and far-reaching body of work might be one of 2009's most singularly impressive listening experiences, and very likely the only record you'll hear this year whose repertoire consists of both luscious classical chamber compositions and the hunting calls of killer whales... A very high recommendation.

I say:
Wow, I don't know what to say about this yet; I've only listened to it once so far, but it was a great listen. Very dark and visceral!

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zwiqtkdkjye

Akira Rabelais - Spellewauerynsherde

Akira Rebalais is an artist cloaked in mystery, try unlocking the secrets on his magical website, an Irdialesque warren of coded messages, revelatory software programs, cryptic poems and serious essays. Musically he's never failed to make us take notice of his growing stature initially via his lost classic debut for Mille Plateuax's much missed Ritornell offshoot 'Eisotrophobia', then onto Faalt and then Orthlorng Musork. Undertaking a project to transfer from tape to digital some old tape recordings of Icelandic vocal lament songs presumed to have been recording in the 1960's Akira claims to have been completely obsessed by them to an extent where he wished to incorporate the vocals into his own music. '1382 Wyclif Gen. ii. 7' - the single voice swept up into an echoic overlapping framework, subtely falling apart until a strong wind blows across a group of microphones - astonishing. '1390 Glower Conf. II.20' is a more melancholic song, one which would lie perfectly within context in one of Ingmar Bergman's stark films like 'Winter Light' and 'Shame'. '1440 Promp Parv. 518/20' finds Akira hightening the ghostly quality of this vocal through reverb, echo and subdued time stretch that would make a Chris Morris disturbathon sketch even more effective. '1483 Caxton Golden Leg, 208b/2' stretches out for over twenty minutes feeling like a floating fogbound rework of Gyorgy Ligeti's 'Lux Aeterna'. To round up 'Spellewauerynsherde' brings to myself memories of loved one's passed, favourite films that haunt your consciousness for weeks after viewing and make you want to revisit your favourite spiritually enhancing CD's. Not many album's will move you in quite the way that this album does. Believe.

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gyirt5e1xdy

I love this album, but for some reason it drives Stacey crazy. It reminds her of a demonic mass in a Catholic church...
It is very minimal, atmospheric recordings with Icelandic songs of lament mixed in.