Various - White Dot Music Best of 2011

Message to fucking arseholes representing Graveyard or their label. There is no Graveyard in this post, nor will there ever be in any future post, should there ever be one; just as I will never purchase anything relating to Graveyard, or anything on your label. There was no Graveyard either in this post, or the Mediafire links when you reported them all. I specifically removed anything related to a major label, then re-posted.
However, being the utter cunts that you are, you felt the need to report this blogpost, and links, which contained nothing related to you or your label; therefore which you had no legal stake in. Now my mediafire account has been suspended, all links are dead, and you have ruined a blog designed to introduce people to obscure music. Good job.
Nuclear Blast, folks. This is what you get when you sign a distribution deal with a major - you suck major cock.


3 month posting gap, blimey. Here's a kind of best of 2011 - there's a few omissions, like Radiohead, and Innercity's Terrestriality, which is a great album, but I don't have it on mp3. I've left off some metal, too - not a vintage year for metal, but I've also been listening to lots on older metal. I would say my favourites of the year were Ulcerate, Rwake, Cannabis Corpse, Azarath, Trap Them; and probably my favourite - Glorior Belli - The Great Southern Darkness. I've also been listening to tons of techno, and hope to get a mix together of recent stuff.
Best albums of 2011:
Bill Callaghan - Apocalypse
Grails - Deep Politics
Byetone - Symeta
Kronos Quartet, Kimmo Pohjonen & Samuli Kosminen - Uniko
The Fear Ratio - Light Box

What's left then? Lots of psych-synth-space rock. This is a slightly smaller list than the one I originally posted, which got reported because because because tiresome bollocks. Hopefully nothing on this list now contains anything tainted with a major label or distributor. If you are going to spend cash on music, don't buy anything on a major - support the independents, and buy direct from bands wherever possible.

1. D Charles Spee r - Markos's Cave (Arghil edes )

2. Deerhoo f - Must Fight Current (Deerhoo f vs Evil)

3. The Haxan Cloa k - The Fall (The Ha xan Cloak)

4. Six Organs of Admitt ance - Light of the Light (Asleep on the Floodp lain)

5. Byeton e - Black Peace (Sym eta)

6. Grail s - Future Primitiv e (Deep Po litics)

7. Uganda n Methods - Untitled (Mat Opu t 1/2 Vinyl)

8. Le Révélateu r - Age Maze (Fictio ns)

9. Locria n - The Crysta l World (The Crystal Worl d)

10. Mini Mansion s - Kiddie Hyp nogogia (Mini M ansions)

11. Oneid a - Pre-Human (Absolute II)

12. Anim a M orte - Devoi d of a Soul (Face the Sea of Dark ness)

13. Circle - Saarnaa ja (Infektio)

14. Surgeo n - Transparen t Radiation (Break ing The Frame)

15. Seefe el - Sway (Seefee l)

16. Alexand er Tuck er - His Arm Has Grown Long (Dorwy tch)

17. Evan Camin iti - heavy wh isper (When Califor nia Falls Into The Sea)

18. Bill Callaha n - Baby's Breath (Apocalypse)

19. Kronos Quarte t, Kim mo Pohjonen & Samu li Kosmin n - Unik o: III Sarma (Un iko)

20. Mind Over Mirror s - Round, Around (The Voi ce Rolli ng)

21. Master Musicians Of Bukkak e - Prophec y Of The White Camel / Namou arre (Tote m Three)

Part 1
Part 2

Genre for these tracks = 'white dot 2011'

You need both parts to unpack.

4E - 4E4ME4YOU

Back to Cologne for another freaky dose of the mighty Khan. Released in 1998, this is actually by Khan as his alias 4E 'introducing DJ Snax'. I'm not sure exactly what Snax contributes to this (just looking at the liner notes: co-wrote 2,3,10; additional keyboards and trumpets on 5 & 9) but this has Khan's personality stamped all over it.
This album is made up of the murky, granular and acidified instrumental hip-hop beats that were being released on the Pharma label, and by some of his compatriots who had moved on from the more bleepy spaced out techno of the early/mid 90s. Air Liquide pursued a similar path, but to be fair, they were doing it pretty early on. This loses none of the trippyness of the earlier work, but achieves the mong-factor through different methods. The beats are insistent and thuggish, and overlaid with freeform acidic splurges, manipulated vocals and a kind of lurching, drunkenly woozy danger; like a possibly scary dude looming in and out of your face speaking a loud foreign language at you in a strange club at 4am, when your eyes aren't focusing properly and you keep having to remind yourself where you are.
It's not all menacing weirdness - there are some cheeky tunes, like the perky 'Smoke Me Up I'm A Cigarette' and 'Stay Fresh', and 'Sleep Taster' and 'Swamp Foot' hit danceable speeds. My favourites, tough, are the slow moody numbers - 'Sonog' weaves some strangely manipulated Polynesian-sounding female vocals aroung a chugging fist of a beat, with some growling analogue. Probably the best of all is 'Iglesia Pentecostal De Electronica', which has Tie Fighter samples added to completely mashed vocals and disconcerting out of time industrial percussion.

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Ovil Bianca - Gravity=Love

I've had this one for years, and like many things I post here, I only find out the details about them when I'm making the post. Released in 2001 on avant/electronica label (K-RAA-K)³, it turns out that this is by a Belgian fellow called Tim Wijnant. He also released a subsequent album in 2003, which I'm now going to have to seek out, because there is some really excellent stuff on this one. The opening track 'Sermon On The Mount' was 10 years ahead of its time - it's blend of coruscating synth tones and sky-scouring drones is pretty similar to Emeralds or Cloudland Canyon. It builds in ecstatic, eye-shaking fashion, with roaring low end and powerfully disciplined distortion. This is balanced out with some wispy high lines, swathed in ringing harmonic tones. Gorgeous stuff - it should have been 10 minutes longer, but I don't think 20 minute drone epics would have met with quite the same level of acceptance that they are today.
This kind of cosmic overdrive is employed again on 'Casioland', in which tinkling minimalist arpeggios give way to the kind of gutsy techno distorted synth splurges that make you raise a fist in the air. Final track 'Daylight' is a dark, throbbing and atmospheric beast: surging sepulchral waves of bass underpin some distant and mournful wraith-like cries.
Elsewhere there are more experimental sound explorations: 'RadiIO' is a cut-up and phased blend of vocals, bleeps and synth that wouldn't have been out of place on an early Akufen 12"; there are Raster-Noton-like tone constructions, and some spooky and abstract creations with mumbled vocal samples. The whole album is artfully and painstakingly constructed, but is still highly listenable, and very engaging. A bit of a lost gem, really, and sadly out of print.

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Zombi - Spirit Animal

Excellent grooving synth-prog rock-out from 2009. Obvious comparisons are John Carpenter and Goblin, but with a more toughened up and streamlined sound - propulsive drumming and metal/post rock bass drive along the layers of vintage synth sweeps and arpeggios. The tracks also tend to be longer than the aforementioned people, who generally composed shorter pieces for soundtracks. On this album are lots of epic instrumental songs that evolve and develop, change pace; ebb, flow and build to sometimes euphoric peaks. This duo has a great sense of melody to back up their obvious musical skill, and they aren't afraid to chuck in a suitable key change when necessary, which makes this a wholly satisfying listen, rather than just an apreciation of old synths and cinematic references. It's brilliantly conceived and performed, and hugely enjoyable. Also, highly recommended for driving.
Most of their stuff is frustratingly out of print and expensive on LP, you may still be able to find their excellent new album 'Escape Velocity' on vinyl. Also available on cd as well as various Ts etc - buy direct from Relapse

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The Orb - Blue Room

This is the epic 39'58" mix from 1992, which is a single track cd single. I've listened to this a few times recently, and I'm sure it's not just nostalgia which has made it so enjoyable. Whilst this does transport me back to the early 90s, and the sound of this music is powerfully redolent of the spaced-out listening sessions I used to have, I still think this is objectively excellent. Alex Paterson always has had an inspired touch with samples and synth-scapes. I'm sure he is significantly aided by co-producers Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy from System 7, as well as Thrash, and of course, Jah Wobble.
The opening 6 minutes are classic ambient - spacey samples and synth washes, before a beat kicks in, followed shortly by Wobble's massive striding bass line. It is then just dubbed into oblivion over the next half an hour. Cheeky samples, cavernous breakdowns, percussion overloads, NASA type radio communications, and a great deal of liquid synth effects precede a very monged breakdown halfway through. It builds back up with a variation on the bass line, and chugs away into a blissful distant horizon.

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I highly recommend the U.F.Orb album, currently available from Amazon for around the same price as a pint of beer. Much as I love beer, a pint won't be providing me with much joy 18 years after I've consumed it.
Buy it - it's brilliant.

Pharaoh Overlord - IV

Time to get posting again, now that my insanely busy time has passed. This may involve writing a bit less about the albums from time to time, and this one is a prime candidate for less words/more music.
PO are essentially Circle, and to be honest there is not a great deal of difference between this and normal Circle music, except that this is maybe more overtly metal: 'See Me Evil' definitely has essence of Judas Priest. Don't let that put you off, though, because this has all the deranged atmosphere, heavy cyclical riffing and general psychedelic miasma that makes Circle so awesome.

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Family - Music In A Doll's House

I was going to post this on the 12th - the 2nd anniversary of starting this blog - but Blogger wasn't working. Here it is anyway: a classic psychedelic debut album from 1968, one I still get huge enjoyment from 20 years after I first heard it. There is plenty to love about it, most of which is displayed in the opening bars - Roger Chapman's amazing crazed vocals (double tracked, phased), unusual prog arrangements with strings and woodwind of a great song; and a general air of hash smoke and musical adventure that doesn't let up until the end. There is a lush string arrangement by Mike Batt for the hazy second track 'Mellowing Grey', and it's all produced by Traffic's Dave Mason with no oppurtunity to add some phaser or delay to that harmonica riff, or some bowed double bass. Indeed, virtually everything on the eastern-tinged 'Me My Friend' seems to be phased to varying degrees, which gives a very weird impression of the different phases of the song being recorded in different rooms, times, spaces. Later Family albums would all have a heavier R&B/Blues influence, but the music of the band's formative years is never that far from the surface, and bursts out on groovers like 'Old Songs New Songs', which rocks out with horns from the Tubby Hayes Quintet. Side two features the most psychedelic tracks - the strange guitar/harmonica riff that drives 'See Through Windows', and especially 'The Voyage', which is pretty far out. There is some great tape, feedback and voice manipulation in this one, and it is very trippy indeed.
The album tracks are programmed perfectly, and a nice touch are the handful of miniatures, under a minute each, that are variations on themes of songs on the album. These make it all hang together beautifully, and the album finishes with the band almost sending themselves up as a rather lovely song descends into a comedy vamp interspersed with an eastern sounding psychedelic groove before a farcical fade.
I recommend all family albums, as well as Chapman/Whitney 'Streetwalkers' - their first post-Family album, but in particular 'Fearless', 'A Song For Me', and 'Bandstand'.

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Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Released back in 1996 as the burgeoning post rock scene was rising to prominence, this contains what I think is still one of the genre's greatest ever statements - 'Djed'. This was the 21 minute epic that took up the entire first side of the album. At the time, it was a common characteristic of post rock that the bass would often lead the melody, and this piece is driven by a monstrous chugging bass line that provides rhythm and melody in equal measure, as an electric piano slowly comes in riffing over the top. Obviously a 21 minute track has to progress, as in Prog-ress, like all great tracks that take up an entire side of an LP. The beat slows down as the bass mongs out on one note, before some slightly Phillip Glass-esque syncopated keys and vibes arpeggiate all over the place in a rather epic section. Everything then spanners out as if your stereo has broken, then these broken sounds are looped into their own groove, while more instruments are brought in, until this, too breaks down into an ultra-low, slow pulsing bass groove. An awesome track, an inspired construction.
The rest of the tracks are also excellent, combining clenched brain jazzism with piles of bass blocks and electronic smudges vibraphones and a lush closer. The desertified beauty of 'Along The Banks Of Rivers' soundtracking an imaginary western where all the protagonists are having an afternoon kip in a hammock for the film's duration.

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Various - Reggae Vocal Groups

We've been hit by summery weather for weeks now in London, and I've been enjoying myself compiling reggae favourites. I had so many tracks that I had to separate them into vaguely themed groups, the first one being comprised of vocal groups. I've cheated a bit here, as some tracks aren't really much more than two part harmonies, and not all the tracks are by recognised vocal groups, but it all hangs together quite nicely. I think all the tracks are fabulous, but there are some of my all-time favourites in here; namely The Congos, Israel Vibration and the masterpiece that is 'Mystery Babylon' by The Heptones.
Hot weather is not necessary to enjoy this glorious music, but it does help. Also, that isn't London in the picture: I don't know where it is, but I would very much like to be floating on that boat listening to these tunes.
Album artist on all tracks = 'White Dot Reggae vocal groups'

1. The Congos - Don't Blame On I [V/A - Arkology]
2. The Upsetters - Natty Take Over [Baffling Smoke Signal]
3. Yabby You - Conquering Lion [Conquering Lion]
4. Culture - Natty Dread Naw Run [Cumbolo]
5. Byron Lee - Rat Race [The Essential...]
6. The Heptones - Mystery Babylon [Unreleased Black Ark Sessions]
7. The Meditations - Rebounce [I Love Jah]
8. The Gladiators - Dreadlocks The Time Is Now [Proverbial Reggae]
9. African Brothers - Hold Tight [V/A - Randy's 17 North Parade]
10. Watty & Tony - Rise & Shine [V/A - Rastafari Liveth In The Hearts...]
11. Lee Perry - Dyon Anaswa [Return Of The Super Ape]
12. Israel Vibration - I'll Go Through [The Same Song]
13. The Abyssinians - Abednigo [Satta Massagana]
14. Black Brothers - School Children [V/A - Studio One Roots]
15. The Gladiators - Belly Full [Trenchtown Mix Up]

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Michael Rother - Sterntaler

From 1978, this is the second solo LP by the Neu guitarist. He is quite clearly revelling in his freedom to be both more expansive, and more tuneful than he generally was in Neu. He has a good ear for melody, and the tunes on this album are very redolent of the period, too. Sometimes the songs veer toward the wistfully epic, especially combined with the driving, post-Kraut rhythms, which almost prefigure the headband-wearing sleeves-on-the-jacket-rolled-up excesses of bombastic 80s rock. However, these tracks always stop way short of cheese, because they are gorgeous, and because the love and enthusiasm of Rother is always shining through. Also it has Jaki Liebezeit on drums, but more importantly, is produced by Krautrock superhero Conny Plank, and therefore sounds lush, luminous and beautiful. What you have, then, is a set of guitar-led intrumentals with glorious melodies over driving, minimal grooves with shimmering, spectral synths, and it is rather wonderful.
I've seen Michael Rother play live with Moebius a couple of times, back in the early 2000s when Moebius was still using lots of analogue synths. They were both excellent gigs, but definitely had moments high on the cheese-ometer as Rother went into guitar hero mode, before reining himself in as the track gradually morphed into some warped analogue noodlings. They seemed to be semi-improvised sets, and hopefully they will team up again in the future.

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Senking - Ping Thaw

During a long-overdue rewatch of John Carpenter's The Thing last night, I thought of this excellent album, which is strongly influenced by both the soundtrack and the general ambience of the film, and contains some speech samples on 'Thaw'. This is a cd compilation of two 12" EPs from 1999 and 2000, both of which are highly atmospheric, with a sense of looming dread. There is a definite sense of Arctic isolation, and heavily reverbed sounds of ice cracking, and glaciers colliding, under washes of spacy synth. 'Risk' from the first EP heads into quite heavy industrial territory, but it's the later 'Thaw' EP that shows a more assured touch, and mastery of foreboding atmospheres, with growling low synths, and syncopated, dubbed out delay - definitely fits nicely into the Chain Reaction/Uusitalo/Vladislav Delay spectrum. Jens Massel is still producing quality electronica as Senking - last year's 'Pong' is excellent, and highly recommended - veering into the more abstract outreaches of dubstep.

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Ufomammut - Godlike Snake

I haven't posted any metal for a while, so here is some uber-heaviness. Ufomammut are an Italian 3 piece, augmented live and on record by tapes of theremin, synth drones and movie samples. They specialise in a kind of pounding psychedelic stoner sludge, which is most effective live. I would say they were the second best live act I saw last year - a close second behind The Master Musicians Of Bukkake. They achieve their superb effect with repetition, tightness and dynamics, as well as the aforementioned atmospherics; but they also have a mean guitar sound - ultra heavy and bludgeoning. Their grasp of dynamics is becoming more consummate with every album, as far as I can tell: the last album 'Eve' is basically a suite of tracks that don't deviate a great deal from the main blueprint, but it works fantastically as a whole, and is thoroughly recommended. This one is their debut from 2000, and is out of print - it's a good place to start, and a brilliant slab of mammoth spaced-out sludge groove.

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EDIT: Ufomammut are playing in London on Thursday October 6th - the Purple Turtle in Camden. I highly recommend this gig if you like all things heavy and psychedelic!

Marc Ribot - Asmodeus: Book Of Angels 7

This is Volume 7 in John Zorn's massive Book Of Angels series - a series I have found it pretty impossible to keep up with, what with all the other music in the world. Not to mention the stuff. The others I have heard: Secret Chiefs 3, Zorn with Medeski, Martin and Wood; Bar Kokhba have all been excellent, so it's probably worth checking them all out. Marc Ribot is perhaps most famous for playing with Tom Waits, but on this disc he is eschewing his tasteful embellishments in favour of acid-jazz/rock onslaught, in power trio mode with Trevor Dunn and G. Calvin Weston. The results vary from chugging heavy riffs such as the opening of 'Dagiel', to more free jazz explosions, such as the opener 'Armaros'. Whilst they stay in touch with Zorn's East European/Klezmer themes, they rock them up beautifully, and intersperse wilder, freer passages of group improv and fret burning. I don't mind admitting that I prefer the slightly more structured numbers, and 'Mufgar' and 'Sensenya' are fantastic masterpieces of controlled acid power trio chaos: superb riffs backed up by relentless chugging bass runs and beautifully swinging propulsive drumming.

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Kemialliset Ystävät - Kemialliset Ystävät

Self-titled/untitled 2007 album from this Finnish collective. Psychedelic is the only word for this - gloriously trippy and mangled. There is a real organic, homespum feel to this music; as if it was conjured out of homemade instruments and recorded onto a walkman. There is obviously some heavy effects work, but it all sounds so natural. At times it sounds like just about every instrument that exists was used - all at the same time: there is a woozy, lurching, deranged and cacophonous non-structure driving each track along with some inverted wood-elf logic, which is no logic at all, but sounds wonderful. Bubbling, burbling wobbly noises pootle about, over garbled mong vocals and cast-off Magic Band runs played on improbable stringed instruments, while some elaborate pump-driven mystical noise generator flings out squelches and belches. If this all sounds a bit improv, the tracks are held together with a driving harmonic unity and sense of euphoric glee, just about kept under control.
Excellent, beautiful, and very weird.
Recent album Ullakkopalo is also excellent, so buy that. Both albums are still available on vinyl, too (Norman Records in the UK)- I recommend Ullakkopalo as it has some excellent artwork on the sleeves.

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Blue - Mexican Church

A dark and classy electronica album from 1996. This was released on the venerable Andrew Weatherall's Emissions Audio Output label, and other than that I know very little about these chaps.
This draws heavily from industrial (and) dub sources, which is perhaps why it has dated better than most of the electronic music from 1996 - foregoing the crispy drums machines and crystalline synths in favour of a more murky and sludgy concoction. Some of the melodies remind me of Coil, which is probably why I like this album so much: the synths at the end of 'Gorgon', for example. There's nice use of backwards sounds, and slightly pitch-bent lines which inject that element of queasy psychedelia. They don't entirely abandon danceability, though - there are some squelchy bass breakbeat groovers ('Dark Blue', 'Lower') for the more mogadon discoteques. Weirdly, last preoper track 'Sand Stone' is a decent example of the more chirpy IDM sound of '96, and although it's good, I prefer the darker areas the rest of the album deals with.

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Golden Palominos - Dead Inside

The Golden Palominos was the art rock project of drummer and producer Anton Fier. Often featuring Bill Laswell and Nicky Skopelitis, it was a bit of a who's who NY outfit. This 1996 album has loads of obvious influence from the contemporaneous illbient scene - lots of cut up drum and bass percussion along with Laswell's thunderous bass, and some nice trippy sound design - even some acid lines! Somewhat akin to Meat Beat Manifesto. What sets this apart is the spoken word/poetry from Lori Carson on all tracks. Her delivery is excellent - covering a variety of voices, and is authoritative as well as rich. The words themselves are excellent - the first track is a first person account of an abductee locked in the trunk of the moving car of her abductor; delivered over an ominous, beatless tapestry of sound. The album's centrepiece is 'The Ambitions Are' - a bleakly dystopic vision delivered unflinchingly: the ambitions are "Wake up; breathe; keep breathing". A really good album for engaging your brain.

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Kangding Ray - Stabil

Kangding Ray is the project of David Letellier, and this is his first album, from 2006, released on the splendid Raster-Noton label. It is a suite of elegant, introspective and beautiful electronica. Lush yet airy synths glide back and forth in waves - a lot of reversed samples are used, and the percussion is mostly the purely electronic clicking, tapping variety, deployed in a restrained fashion. Some tracks are dominated by the highly musical synth arrangements, and others get a bit of a groove going - 'Sub.res' introduces a throbbing bass tone, some sampled acoustic guitar, and a wider variety of percussive noises to build a gently rocking rhythm. 'Mai' is an exquisite construction - gently pulsing arpeggios of a variety of sounds sweep across each other in a vaguely melancholic haze. 'Nine' rocks it up again, with an Autechre-like beat and some sub bass over a clanking machine noise, then the album finishes with a lovely, luminous synth-only piece called 'Wellen'. Fantastic stuff - also highly recommended is the Pruitt Igoe EP from last year, and his second album 'Automne Fold' which has some heavier beats, some vocals, and also some ominous and scary distorted synth waves used to great effect, but retains the rich musicality.

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Various - Acid Techno

January's a bit shit, isn't it? Here's some acid techno - it never fails to cheer me up. This selection runs from 1988: Bam Bam's sinister and brilliant 'Where's Your Child?' through to about 10 years later. I had to include a couple of Hardfloor numbers, obviously, since they are the absolute masters of the form. There's also a couple of Richie Hawtin efforts - an early, headfuck one in 'Substance Abuse', and the relentless acid epic of his System 7 remix. Some of my favourites are the slightly less well known tracks that rocked my socks back in the day - Gamma Loop, Hexagone and Cyan are particular favourites, and my vinyl copies are suitably crackly. (The mp3 of Cyan unfortunately has a skip). Actually, they are all favourites - the list could have been massive, but these are just the ones I've collected on mp3 over the years. For some reason I feel I should point out that I have all of them on vinyl except the Edge Of Motion one, which I've never got around to buying.
If you have trouble collating these tracks in your player, album artist is 'white dot acid techno'.
I hope these tunes soundtrack a spannered evening for someone, somewhere.
1 - FUSE - Substance Abuse (Warp)
2 - Gamma Loop - 4X3 (Hyper Hype)
3 - Robert Armani - Circus Bells Hardfloor Remix (Djax)
4 - Hexagone - Burning Trash Floor (Djax)
5 - Alaska - The Thing (F Comm)
6 - Hardfloor - Confuss (Harthouse)
7 - Bam Bam - Where's Your Child? (Tresor)
8 - Air Liquide - Psy 9 (Blue)
9 - System 7 - Alpha Wave Plastikman Remix (Butterfly)
10 - Magenta - Boost (Experimental)
11 - Cyan - Peacekeeper (Experimental)
12 - Barbarella - My Name Is Barbarella/The Spaceship (Harthouse)
13 - Edge Of Motion - Set Up 707 (Djax)

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Chrome - Blood On The Moon

Weirdo sci-fi new wave proto-punk from 1981. Edgy and slightly deranged, primitive grooves and processed vocals abound, with heavily phased, fucked and flanged keyboards and guitars panning around the mix. This falls somewhere in the middle between Simply Saucer and Weird War, with bits of Devo, Hawkwind and Low-era Bowie (or his band, at least) thrown in. It's all delivered with speed paranoia post punk energy, and speared through with searing guitar lines, and littered with enough kosmiche debris to make it freaky and unique.

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Etienne Jaumet - Night Music

This superb album came out in late 2009. Etienne Jaumet is also in synth duo Zombie Zombie, who are not ashamed to reveal their influences - releasing an EP of their interpretations John Carpenter music. Whilst the influence of John Carpenter can be clearly heard on Night Music, the influence of Carl Craig takes the sound away from the more retro synth-fest of ZZ, into a more techno influenced direction. Craig is credited: 'Mix directed and imagined by Carl Craig', so it's not clear exactly what he does, but the grooves are allowed to run here, opening up into spacious vistas. First track 'For Falling Asleep' is a 20-minute epic masterpiece, driven by an arpeggiating synth, and simple kick drum. The track is pulled into the stratosphere with restrained duelling saxophones lines with heavy delay, and some trippy vintage synth noises. Like most of my favourite synth based music, it looks both forward and backward in time, with a futuristic ambience perfectly suited to driving around ultra modern cities at 3am. Although this is clearly the best track, every track on here is brilliant. The fat analogue lines and simple, classic drum machine grooves are always perfectly embellished with great melodies, and lush, deep ambience. On 'Through The Strata', what sounds like a hurdy-gurdy adds harmonic richness - hurdy gurdy and saxophone are not instruments I would generally associate with this kind of music, but they are inspired choices. The saxes return on the beatless last track 'At The Crack Of Dawn' - a reprise of the first track, which rounds out this hypnotic, resonant LP. Utterly brilliant: this was probably my album of 2009. Also, it makes a good companion piece to the Sinoia Caves album.

Versatile records asked me to delete the link. I'm going to leave the post up anyway, because I wholeheartedly endorse this brilliant album. I bought mine on vinyl from Juno, but they don't seem to have it any more. You can get it here or here in the US.

Youtube clip of 'For Falling Asleep'.

Six Organs Of Admittance - Nightly Trembling

This is probably my favourite release by Ben Chasny's cosmic folk project. From 2003, it consists of two epic and glorious tracks based mostly around layers of vocals and guitar. 'Redefinition Of Being' has a wonderful chant for multiple voices that seems perfectly circular in nature; running on and on and into itself. This line is echoed in acoustic guitar, with some primitive hand drums offering laid back percussive impetus. There are numerous steel stringed guitars creating a chiming undergrowth of reverby harmonics. It generates a kind of occult ambience that I can imagine soundtracking some of the weirder end of 70s cult or horror cinema: the day for night scene of the Knights Templar on horseback from Tombs Of The Blind Dead springs to mind for some reason.
'Creation Aspect Fire' has more of a ritual feel to it, with a more intense delivery of vocals and instruments. This breaks down into a harmonic temple drone, with some high chiming bells piercing the churning ambience with crystalline clarity. This slowly gives way to a gentle combination of voice and gently freaking out acoustic guitar that echoes the first track.
Also recommended: Dark Noontide; The Sun Awakens; Dust & Chimes.

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21/08/2011 - just a quick edit to say that Luminous Night is probably my favourite Six Organs album right now, and the recent 'Asleep On The Floodplain' is also superb - both highly recommended.