2007 Honorable Mentions, part deux
Lifelover - Erotik
Oddly, of the two albums this band has done, the one called Erotik is the one without the naked woman covered in red paint on the front. Lifelover is Swedish black metal dudes gone gothy. If you can get past the occasional rough patches of bad vocal crooning (which do not dominate the record), you will be treated to one of the better recent twists on black metal. Not that this is a black metal record--it isn't--but that's one of the primary wells it's sprung from. It's jangly and dark at the same time, and there is some b.m.-style howling here and there. I keep hearing people say Joy Division as a comparison, but Erotik is much more upbeat musically. Double LP, Euro press, 500 copies, no US distribution, and I got mine in trade for...an Aghast LP? WTF!
Wold - Screech Owl
Black metal meets Whitehouse. Crumbling, noisy, buzzing, repetitive riffs. Guitar in there somewhere. Not drums, a pulse. No one else is doing anything like this that I've heard. I actually prefer their first album, L.O.T.M.P., for it's inclusion of melodic ambience, a quality you will not find on the thoroughly abrasive Screech Owl. I feel stupid for having not listened to either album on anything but my crappy computer speakers. I'm sure I'm missing a lot. Both are CD-only releases for now, and I've been, perhaps wrongheadedly, holding out for vinyl.
Blood of the Black Owl - Svart Ugle
Yeah, another owl record. Thought this was an eponymous recording, but it loaded into my iTunes as Svart Ugle, so there you have it. Muddy and dirgey minimalist plodding from the guy who brought you the pagan/ambient/whatever project Ruhr Hunter, which I've heard and was honestly not impressed by. But this album is good stuff. Very repetitive but with lots of little changes that keep you interested. I haven't listened to this in months, it's due for another spin. But not just now, because I am listening toooo.....
The Austrasian Goat - s/t
Somehow the Aghast email account started getting updates from a French label called Solitude Records that I had never heard of. I played a clip of this recored contained in one of said updates and was impressed. I wrote and asked whether any US distros would be getting copies and was told no. I forgot about it for a while and then stumbled across it in a distro at Yellow Dog Fest. Totally worth it. Black doom very reminiscent of the non-ambient parts of Nortt but with a healthy sludge metal influence (they cover Grief). If I hadn't forgotten about this record until today, it may very well have worked its way into my top 10. Highly recommended.
A COUPLE KILLER HARDCORE REISSUES
Mob 47 - Karnvapen Attack EP
Larm - Straight on View/Campaign for Musical Destruction LP
Both bands helped nudge 80s hardcore in a faster direction - Larm with straight-ahead thrash and Mob 47 with raw d-beat. I wish these bands had been staples in my younger days, but I didn't get around to checking them out until fairly recently. My loss.
COOLEST OLDER RECORDING I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR
Henning Christiansen - Symphony Natura op.170 (1985)
Manipulated field recordings from the zoo in Rome. Animal calls are slowed down imperceptibly at first, and then suddenly you realize you're not in Kansas any more (uh, cause you're in Rome). There are also some identifiable instruments mixed in at the beginning and end of the recording (bells, saxophone). This was released in a super-limited vinyl pressing a year or two ago by the Dutch label Slowscan. I got my copy from the Hanson Records distro. Frigging expensive, but totally worth it. If you have time to listen to most or all of it in one sitting, you may do so for free here.
Oddly, of the two albums this band has done, the one called Erotik is the one without the naked woman covered in red paint on the front. Lifelover is Swedish black metal dudes gone gothy. If you can get past the occasional rough patches of bad vocal crooning (which do not dominate the record), you will be treated to one of the better recent twists on black metal. Not that this is a black metal record--it isn't--but that's one of the primary wells it's sprung from. It's jangly and dark at the same time, and there is some b.m.-style howling here and there. I keep hearing people say Joy Division as a comparison, but Erotik is much more upbeat musically. Double LP, Euro press, 500 copies, no US distribution, and I got mine in trade for...an Aghast LP? WTF!
Wold - Screech Owl
Black metal meets Whitehouse. Crumbling, noisy, buzzing, repetitive riffs. Guitar in there somewhere. Not drums, a pulse. No one else is doing anything like this that I've heard. I actually prefer their first album, L.O.T.M.P., for it's inclusion of melodic ambience, a quality you will not find on the thoroughly abrasive Screech Owl. I feel stupid for having not listened to either album on anything but my crappy computer speakers. I'm sure I'm missing a lot. Both are CD-only releases for now, and I've been, perhaps wrongheadedly, holding out for vinyl.
Blood of the Black Owl - Svart Ugle
Yeah, another owl record. Thought this was an eponymous recording, but it loaded into my iTunes as Svart Ugle, so there you have it. Muddy and dirgey minimalist plodding from the guy who brought you the pagan/ambient/whatever project Ruhr Hunter, which I've heard and was honestly not impressed by. But this album is good stuff. Very repetitive but with lots of little changes that keep you interested. I haven't listened to this in months, it's due for another spin. But not just now, because I am listening toooo.....
The Austrasian Goat - s/t
Somehow the Aghast email account started getting updates from a French label called Solitude Records that I had never heard of. I played a clip of this recored contained in one of said updates and was impressed. I wrote and asked whether any US distros would be getting copies and was told no. I forgot about it for a while and then stumbled across it in a distro at Yellow Dog Fest. Totally worth it. Black doom very reminiscent of the non-ambient parts of Nortt but with a healthy sludge metal influence (they cover Grief). If I hadn't forgotten about this record until today, it may very well have worked its way into my top 10. Highly recommended.
A COUPLE KILLER HARDCORE REISSUES
Mob 47 - Karnvapen Attack EP
Larm - Straight on View/Campaign for Musical Destruction LP
Both bands helped nudge 80s hardcore in a faster direction - Larm with straight-ahead thrash and Mob 47 with raw d-beat. I wish these bands had been staples in my younger days, but I didn't get around to checking them out until fairly recently. My loss.
COOLEST OLDER RECORDING I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR
Henning Christiansen - Symphony Natura op.170 (1985)
Manipulated field recordings from the zoo in Rome. Animal calls are slowed down imperceptibly at first, and then suddenly you realize you're not in Kansas any more (uh, cause you're in Rome). There are also some identifiable instruments mixed in at the beginning and end of the recording (bells, saxophone). This was released in a super-limited vinyl pressing a year or two ago by the Dutch label Slowscan. I got my copy from the Hanson Records distro. Frigging expensive, but totally worth it. If you have time to listen to most or all of it in one sitting, you may do so for free here.
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