I'm starting to catch up with albums I've put off for quite a while now and first to go is Procession, the 'latest' (since it's already two years old now) offering from my favorite ambient artist, Johan Levin. If you're not familiar with the project, here's a review of one of his previous albums I did sometime ago. Take it with a pinch of salt.
'Procession' is, by right, quickly identifiable for anybody who has listened to DM before. and I'm happy to report that the style portrayed here is somewhat closer to the first released albums. The sound is somber, without any apparent hooks or bravados, yet it works well as the core structure is retained to electronic instruments only, throwing way any and all real life similarities one might think of (well, aside from the title track with its infectious melody). It will simply drone, buzz and churn away in an off-beat key, always leaving room for more.
And that's why I like it as much as any of Johan's previous efforts, even if it might not equal them in complexion or originality.
Let me just start off by complementing the artist that worked the cover on this album. I mean gosh darn'it, it might just be one of the coolest things I've seen in the last years, while also complementing very well the nature of the music.
What music you ask? Well, they list themselves as ambient darkjazz and it's probably the most accurate depiction of their sound. Basically, if you can picture Bohren after a prolonged session of ganja, playing on the minimal side, with romanian folk influences thrown around and just a touch of metal here and there by some careful use of blast beat percussion (!!), basically this is Exit Oz.
Or you could experience it in any way you please, I just know that I've been listening to this LP for the last week and I can't seem to get enough of it. Mandatory listen, regardless of your musical preferences!
Great news comes forth from the throne room! Marco black metal stalwarts Wolves in the Throne Room have just unveiled a song from their upcoming album Celestite. This is set to be a departure from their old sound, yet still a familiar venture for WitTR fans: the duo's new album is going to be an experimental, instrumental work tethered to the themes and vibrations of their seminal 2011 opus, Celestial Lineage. The newly released track, called Celestite Mirror, sounds extremely promising: a vast, expansive ambient journey through dense woods, thick fog and bone-chilling blizzards; atmospheric synths, discrete bits of noise and barely distinguishable electronic ambiances all layer one on top of the other to create a magnificently beautiful work of art.
You can consider me stoked for Celestite, which comes out on July 8th. This is going to be one of the best albums of 2014. Can't wait to hear it all! Check out the new song below and let us know what you think.
I've been sitting here for a while thinking what to write about this album, but who am I kidding? We're no Pitchfork, as much as we like to joke about it. I don't feel up to the task of writing five or six paragraphs about The Haxan Cloak, because words don't do justice to it. It as a minimalistic ambient/experimental album about the afterlife, employing sub-bass frequencies, quiet and unsettling percussion, various creepy noises and discrete strings that bring forth an uneasy feeling. Excavation is a highly atmospheric album and you should only listen to it at night with the lights off, in bed, curled up under a blanket. It will make for the most terrifying sleep you've ever had.
Seriously, this is insanely good. And you can listen to it live tomorrow, in Bucharest. Jelly I can't make it, but at least I'll get to see TZEEEAC writer and sweet bro Daniel Witchfinder play heavy metal in front of an unsuspecting crowd. Should be good.
TAUUSK is the solo project of Răzvan Lazea-Postelnicu aka Zan aka Zann O))), bassist for Romanian psychedelic stoner band Nomega. As the Earth revolves around the Sunn and the other way around, so does TAUUSK cycle between influences, taking cues from the titans of drone and producing an album that's about as pure as drone gets.
When the first song on a drone album reaches a staggering 37 minutes duration and when there are four more tracks to follow, you know you're in for some serious meditation time. Refuge conjures an array of different moods and atmospheres through long, sustained synths and guitars and a knack for contemplative arrangements that will make you feel like driving to the nearest forest and burying yourself under a pile of moss, leaves and dead branches. Song structure and melody are forgone in favor of pure sound and texture, like ethereal sonic veils gently draping and coiling around you until you're immersed in a cocoon of sound. I was also struck to hear how similar some portions of Refuge are to the drone stuff I put out myself a few years ago as Hunting&Gathering - clearly, Zan and I operate on similar frequencies.
Overall, TAUUSK is a welcome surprise and a musical project that invites reflection and introspection. I'm glad stuff like this manages to trickle out of the Romanian scene and hopefully we'll see more bands experiment with sounds more freely. Mioritic drone doom, anyone?
Remember the story of Snow White, where the Evil Queen or whatever had a magical mirror? And every day the Queen would ask it: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" And the mirror would always reply that she, the Queen, was the fairest of them all, because the mirror was a beta faggot stuck deep in the friendzone who thought that if he hurled enough compliments at her, the Queen would finally see what a good mirror it is and undress herself in front of it. Until one day when the mirror grew some balls, let go of his obsession and got a cute girlfriend, at which point the Queen became jealous and ordered to have her killed by a hunky dude. The mirror understood just what a crazy bitch the Queen was, so he and his girlfriend moved to another city, got a nice apartment and lived rich, fulfilling lives together. That's a good story.
Anyway, our dearest Volo is kind of like my magical mirror, except for hardcore music. Whenever I ask him "Volo, Volo behind the drum kit, what hardcore band should I rock out to today?", he always replies with at least one band I've never heard of that turns out to be really, really good! Have a Nice Life is one of those bands, except they don't play hardcore, but a weird mix of drone, ambient and doom metal. In fact, if you listen close enough, you can pinpoint exactly the elements from each genre, like a musical puzzle:
dark, depressive lyrics from doom metal
a constant state of unease via long, sustained drones
gloomy atmosphere and weird, disintegrating sounds
Add to these the ghastly, almost hollow vocals that seem to float around the music and you end up with an album that kinda sounds like Animal Collective in their early acoustic period, if they were also going through some tough times and instead of dressing up like animals, they just sort of sat around, contemplating the emptiness and pointlessness of existence. All in all, The Unnatural World is one of those very atmospheric and special albums that you owe to yourself to listen to at least once. Although, in all fairness, I'm now listening to their first album, Deathconsciousness, and I think I might already like it a lot more. Suck it and see, as they say.
Oh man, this post is coming in waaaaaaaay too late, but for a totally valid reason: I've actually been too busy listening to this album instead of writing about it. It's that good. Who are Valerinne, you might ask? If you haven't followed Marco's previous coverage of their debut album, Kunstformen der natur, Valerinne are an instrumental post-rock trio hailing from Bucharest, consisting of Alex Daş (sup?) on guitar, Liviu Stoicescu on bass and Mircea Smarandache on drums. I've no idea how they got together, but maybe we'll all find out pretty soon right here on TZEEEAC ;)
WARNING: SWEET BOYS ALERT! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
So how does Arborescent fare compared to the first album? I'm stoked to report that it's a huge improvement in every step of the way. That's not to say that Kunstformen was a bad album, mind you - but Valerinne have really hit it out of the park with this one! There are five songs on the album and four of them blow way past they 10 minute mark, yet none of them ever feel boring or tedious. It might have to do with the soaring guitar lines and lush melodies that seem to simply pour out of Daş's guitar and plethora of pedals and effects, entwining into some absolutely mesmerizing soundscapes. Or it might have to do with the excellent songwriting - the songs never dwell in one spot; instead, they wander and shift through movements and tempos, forging beautiful atmospherics that evoke images of vast forests and alien landscapes. It might have to do with the tight rhythm section and Smaranche's dreamy, if somewhat restrained, drum parts that fit quietly into the puzzle and allow the melodies to shine through. Most likely, it might have to do with all of these! And the excellent mixing and mastering by Marius Costache draws everything together into five beautiful, emotional songs that you can listen to on repeat for days and days...
At the risk of sounding like a hipsterish buffoon who gets too easily excited, I'm gonna say that Valerinne are one of the best bands to come out of the Romanian underground scene and you should definitely keep an eye out for these guys if you enjoy post-rock, reverb and a nice cup of drO)))ne with your morning cereal. Oh, and speaking of drone, why not check out Modern Ghosts of the Road, a solo ambient/drone project by Alex Daş? In the meantime, I'm gonna stalk their Facebook page and wait for some new concert dates. My 2014 resolution is to finally catch these guys live.
It looks like my activity on this website has reduced to precisely dick these past few months. Normally I'd be pretty bummed about it, but seeing how great life outside blogging about obscure blackened post-drone bands has turned out lately, I'm not too worried. My writing dry spells come and go, as the TZEEEAC years have shown, so I'm pretty sure I'll return to full blogging form at some point in the future.
Anyway, for today's sporadic contribution, I decided to be a bit cheeky and show off some of my own music. My close friends (read: very big nerds that happen to know me for several years) are familiar with the now-legendary În Criptă, my one-man bedroom black metal/ambient/drone band that I was (too) actively involved in about 4-5 years ago. Basically, it was just me fucking around with a guitar and FL Studio while being heavily influenced by BEZNĂ TVCI, the true kings of Romanian bedroom black metal. I've managed to be quite prolific, releasing (read: uploading on Rapidshare and posting on forums about it) 6 albums, mixing black metal, drone, ambient soundscapes and field recordings in various quantities and with varying degrees of success.
Hearing everything again after all these years is weird and slightly endearing. Some of the songs are terrible, while others are amazing and they make me wonder "damn, you magnificent bastard, how the hell did you record these sounds?". A Forest of Ambiances is În Criptă's most ambient-sounding release and also the most soothing one, relying heavily on synth pads, simplistic programmed drums and some field recordings. I've probably fallen asleep while listening to it multiple times in the past.
And now you can too! I've discovered it's still up on my Mediafire account, so you can download it, have a listen and tell me what you think. I'm currently uploading the other albums too, so I might make a follow-up post and include the full discography. I am not above self-promotion.
John Carpenter - a name that's synonymous with horror, sci-fi and multiple orgasms. If you're reading this blog, you're probably among those that count Halloween, The Thing or They Live among their favorite movies. And you probably have a man-crush on Kurt Russel, which is totally understandable. Aaaand, your ear-pussy probably loves to be filled with the sweet sounds of Carpenter's distinct movie scores. So we're all on the same boat here. That's great, because today I wanted to bring to your attention some amazing musicians that take more than a few cues from John Carpenter's works. Some of this shit is pretty obscure, some of it is probably well known, some of it isn't really Carpenter-related, but it's good anyway. So get ready for another long post.
First up, here's the album that started it all for me. I stumbled upon this on a great blog focusing on obscure electronica artists - WEED TEMPLE - and I didn't even have to finish reading the dude's review on it that I KNEW I needed to listen to this as fast as possible. Matthew Akers has managed to capture the quintessential sounds of Carpenter's soundtracks: deep, pulsating synths, polished drumming with fake clapping, distorted guitar power chords - Akers has managed to masterfully combine these elements and craft something truly amazing. The Elders of New Detroit is a true blast from the past, enshrouding you in a retrofuturistic atmosphere that takes you back to the 80s, man! This tape is only three tracks long, but thankfully Matthew Akers has released another album called The Future Barbarians that carries on and offers even more sci-fi goodness. I've never seen a picture of this guy and I know nothing about him, except that I love him and I hope he keeps on making more music.
Zombie Zombie is a French indie electronic duo and A Land for Renegades is their first full-lenght album. This is purely electronic music with a great atmosphere that could easily be the soundtrack to a non-existent sci-fi movie. They also have an album called Zombie Zombie Plays John Carpenter, which features their reimaginations of several well-known John Carpenter theme songs, such as the ones from Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 or The Thing, so you know these guys are legit. And if you're somehow still unconvinced of Zombie Zombie's love for JC, check out the clip below. It'll make your day. BAGUETTE!
Gatekeeper are a macabre electronic duo, as their last.fm page puts it. Their myspace is kinda deserted so I haven't been able to find much about the band (except that they have an album called Giza which is pretty sweet and maybe another called Exo, but I'm not sure) BUT there are lots of Gatekeeper videos on Youtube. And most of them are trippy as fuck.
See what I mean?
Next up, we have Lazerhawk, a one-man project from Austin, Texas. I've pretty much stumbled across this a minute ago, but shit sounds legit. Here's what sole member Garret Hays has to say about his music:
His outrun electro is robot pop mixed with dark synths and the occasional lyric. Reminiscent of everything that was good in the 80s including Stallone, the Countach, VHS, Diet Pepsi, Miami Vice, Neoliberal Economics, Back to the Future, Neon Lights and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Synthesizer jams with gargantuan leads, hard toms, spaced-out melody and the pains of being pure at heart. His style is a fusion of fast driven 80s music with an electro twist.
Well, I'm sold. Go to his bandcamp page and give his latest album, Visitors, a whirl. I approve of this. His indie label Rosso Corsa looks well worth a visit, too. It's packed with 80s throw-back electronic music.
You might as well give this a spin, too, so you can see John Carpenter's immense movie scoring chops for yourself. The main Halloween theme is one of my favorite pieces of music ever. It's tense, suspenseful and, at the same time, beautiful and mesmerizing. The first time I watched Halloween was at night while I was home alone. As soon as the theme started playing, I got scared and had to double check that the door was locked, the windows were closed and nobody was hiding behind the shower curtain.
Another essential Carpenter-related listen is The Thing soundtrack, scored by renowned Italian composer Ennio Morricone. What is there to say? The man is extremely talented and he has come up with a brilliant soundtrack for an equally brilliant movie. The music is dark and introspective and somewhat minimalist, perfectly capturing the movie's grim, cold atmosphere.
Moving on, I'd also like to talk about a few artists that are inspired by the Italian giallo cinema. The movies made by directors such as Dario Argento (Suspiria, Tenebre, Profondo Rosso) and Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombi) and their soundtracks made their mark in the world and inspired countless artists.
Goblin were a progressive rock band from Italy and they're known for writing music for some ofDario Argento's most notable work, such as Suspiria, Profondo Rosso or Tenebre, as well as contributing songs to the soundtrack of George A. Romero's 1978 cult classic Dawn of the Dead. What can I say? These guys are legendary. Get your prog on!
Next up, we have Zombi.
Taking its name from Lucio Fulci's cult masterpiece, this Pittsburgh duo play a highly atmospheric mixture of progressive rock, krautrock and electronic music that sounds like a slightly up-to-date version of Goblin. Go to their bandcamp page and have fun!
FINALLY, here's Umberto, another one-man band that's sort of become a household name when it comes to music that could double as a horror movie soundtrack. Highly influenced by giallo cinema, Umberto conjures dark, proggy, melodic songs that evoke the atmosphere of 70s and 80s Italian horror/thriller movies. It's simultaneously ghoulish and groovy, with a penchant for occult keyboards and krautrock-inspired synth work. As the quote in From the Grave's description puts it, someone needs to make movies specifically with Umberto's music in mind.
As always, you can find Umberto's work on his bandcamp page, right here.
This about concludes my all-too-short exploration of John Carpenter/giallo-inspired music. I don't think this post even counts as scratching the surface, as I'm sure there's plenty more amazing artists to be found, if you look hard enough. But a nudge in the right direction is always welcome. So if anyone has any more recommendations, let me know. I've become hooked and I need more.
Auto-promovare nesimţită, să fie bine pentru toţi.
Hunting&Gathering este proiectul meu personal, entitatea muzicală hiperobscură în numele căreia mi-am sacrificat şi continui să-mi sacrific cam prea mult timp. A luat fiinţă în 2010, iar discografia completă numără cinci albume şi EP-uri de drone/ambient/synth experimental, rezultate în urma frustrării generate de faptul că, în ciuda căutărilor, nu găseam tipul exact de muzică necesar pentru a mă satisface în acele momente. Aşa că am zis c-o să-mi fac singur muzica preferată.
Spaceports & Distant Colonies vine după o pauză de aproape un an în care am stat departe de orice înseamnă producţie muzicală, preferând să mă concentrez pe ascultat. În urma unor descoperiri recente, am decis să abandonez (cel puţin pentru moment) piesele luuuuuuungi şi droning şi să abordez o estetică retro sci-fi mai user-friendly, cu piese scurte, bazate pe sample-uri şi loop-uri, ţesute în jurul eternei fascinaţii a cosmosului, călătoriilor interplanetare şi a sci-fi-ului, în general.
Pagina de bandcamp a Hunting&Gathering vă stă la dispoziţie pentru streaming şi download. Enjoy! Orice comentarii sau critici sunt binevenite.
Pe vremuri, în the mid '00s, o ardeam obscur pe un forum penal care cică se ocupa de grafică digitală şi de-alea, dar în principal era un loc unde o grămadă de indivizi ciudaţi (cei mai mulţi din SUA) vorbeau despre adidaşi scumpi şi jocuri de Xbox 360. Printre numeroasele threaduri despre tricouri de firmă, filme exotice din Europa şi gif-uri bizare, îşi făcuse loc şi un "POAST UR MUZIK" thread, unde fiecare îşi împărtăşea eforturile muzicale. Nu erau prea mulţi participanţi la petrecere, dar unul din ei mi-a atras atenţia. Nu mai ştiu cum îşi zicea pe forum, dar mi-aduc aminte limpede de proiectul lui muzical intitulat PUSSIUSIC.
Evident că am fost intrigat la maxim de nume, aşa că am descărcat curios cele câteva piese pe care le urcase pe megaupload, am dat boxele mai tare şi am dat play. Imediat după aceea, a trebuit să le dau brusc mai încet, pentru a nu ridica suspiciuni asupra activităţilor mele din spatele uşii închise a camerei. Aparent, PUSSIUSIC înseamnă beat-uri hip-hop şi sample-uri din filme porno. Rezultatul este surprinzător de ambiental şi nici pe departe atât de ofensiv pe cât s-ar putea crede. Poate că n-am umblat eu pe unde trebuie, poate că s-a mai făcut de miliarde de ori lucrul ăsta înainte, dar nu mai auzisem până atunci (şi nici de atunci încolo, excepţie făcând poate The Sexorcist al lui Necro) o piesă ambientală drăguţică peste care au fost împrăştiate gemetele satisfăcute ale unui bărbat dezbrăcat sau zbieretele frenetice ale neesenţial cărei actriţe porno anonime. Cum spuneam, nu este atât de hardcore pe cât sună, iar piesele sunt foarte scurte, deci PUSSIUSIC este numai bun pentru o sesiune rapidă de ascultare, încheiată, cel mai probabil, printr-un "wtf" sec şi un replay.
Aveţi aici colecţia mea personală de PUSSIUSIC, adică cinci piese pe care le-am adunat cu mânuţa mea de pe forumul ăla. Nu ştiu dacă a făcut şi alte piese în afară de astea. Din câte ştiu eu, a renunţat destul de repede la proiect. Aparent, a început să ia muzica electronică mai în serios, astfel încât acum a devenit DJ, operând sub pseudonimul DSTRYD. Are şi un blog şi un soundcloud unde-şi postează chestiile recente.
Din ciclul de succes "Trupe de care tot aud dar pe care amân la nesfârşit să le ascult iar când le ascult în cele din urmă sunt blown away şi mă întreb de ce dumnezei mi-a luat aşa mult să mă urnesc să le încerc", astăzi avem Barn Owl, un duo acoustic/drone/ambient/psychedelic din San Francisco, California. Foarte, foarte, foarte fain, atât am de zis. Atmosferă cât cuprinde, piese moderat de lungi, unde sonice care se înfăşoară în jurul tău ca un piton, note luuuuuuungi, susţinute, mult ecou, tone de reverb, un anumit aer de bedroom drO)))ne - Barn Owl sunt companionul ambiental perfect pentru o vânătoare nocturnă de licurici în pădurile nesfârşite ale subconştientului. Au şi o discografie stufoasă şi sunt destul de prolifici, astfel încât sunt destul de sigur că un nou opus este mereu după colţ.
Ah, şi au coperte foarte tari.
Barn Owl - From Our Mouths, A Perpetual Light (2008)
Şi asta înseamnă c-o să ascult o grămadă de albume ambient/drone/synth/noise whatever, so why not share?
Wooden - Birch Boulevard (2011)
Acoutic/folk drone făcut de un singur tip pe nume Angelo McCulloch. Chitară acustică procesată la greu care zbârnâie melodii simpliste, field recordings zumzăitoare pe fundal şi un feeling general de vară şi căldură sufocantă. Nu-i rău, iar ziua abia a început.
Drone/ambient mai lo-fi ca un cuţit din silex, înregistrat cu un webcam şi o cameră digitală. Fuck knows how, dar mai lo-fi de atât nu se poate. Aparent, sunetele au fost create cu o grămadă de instrumente (pian, chitară, ukulele...), dar au fost procesate into fucking oblivion şi tot ce a rămas sunt nişte drone-uri lungi, repetitive şi hipnotice, asemănătoare cu nişte vapori sonici care te învăluie şi-ţi îneacă camera în reverb. Se simte bine.
Foarte faină coperta, iar muzica este un synth ambient foarte atent prelucrat, aproape prea "inginerit" pentru gusturile mele. Aproape. Nu-i chiar stilul care-mi place cel mai mult, dar este foarte puternic din punct de vedere al compoziţiilor şi prezintă un control foarte strâns al synth-urilor. Mi-aş fi dorit totuşi să fie mai puţin "strident".
Dalt Wisney - Lifetime Psychedelic Dance Lessons (2007)
Electronic/chillout distractiv, amuzant, colorat şi de pe altă planetă. Un amestec foarte savuros de loops, samples şi beat-uri foarte faine, cu mult sirop de jazz pe deasupra. Este extrem de funky şi relaxant. Cred că-i cea mai faină chestie pe care am ascultat-o azi. "Dingbat the Singing Cat" este aur. Păcat că e foarte scurt.
Orange Crush is the moniker of musician Karl Endreson from Norway and under which he brings us his latest album "Autumn Reflections". For fans of his previous works, this album won't disappoint; the same beautiful nostalgic melodies, wavering synths, and slow lo-fi beats are present and even further developed. Revolving songs around various themes of nature, Orange Crush captures and freezes ephemeral moments, places where a listeners mind can wander through his hazy reverb drenched sonics. All of it is perfectly polished and mixed with samples and field recordings that give this album a brilliant atmosphere. Eu am de zis un singur cuvânt: superb.
Not bad at all, actually. Mă aşteptam la ceva mult mai cocalaresc, dar 4x4=12 este un album house sau cum sânge se mai cheamă zilele astea chiar ok. Unele piese sunt mult prea lungi şi mult prea repetitive pentru binele lor, dar, în afară de asta, o dă destul de gravone deadmau5.
UUUUUU este un proiect drone/ambient foarte interesant peste care am dat întâmplător. Primele lucruri care mi-au atras atenţia au fost numele (pe bune, UUUUUU?) şi coperta, aşa că am ascultat cu încredere, alimentat de promisiunea unei călătorii spaţiale slow-motion, la viteza luminii.
Nu eu am zis-o pe-asta, ci însuşi autorul proiectului, un scoţian în vârstă de 18 ani pe nume Derek McArthur. Procesul său creativ este unul extrem de simplu şi de sincer: pune microfonul de $5 în faţa amplificatorului, drO)))nează la chitară timp de numeroase secole, apoi ia tot ce a înregistrat şi le supune magiei prelucrării sunetelor în neesenţial ce program.
Rezultatul? 8 piese, totalizând 75 de minute, care evocă peisaje sonice fantastice şi pustii. Piesele par că evoluează într-un mod vag, abia perceptibil, dându-ţi senzaţia că asişti la un Big Bang derulat cu încetinitorul. Nu există voci, nu există percuţie, nu există absolut nimic în afară de undele sonore vaporoase care te învăluie pe nesimţite şi te poartă lin într-un voiaj celest rezervat numai celor care posedă virtutea răbdării.
În timp ce ascult albumul, începe să mi se releve semnificaţia celor şase vocale identice care compun pseudonimul lui Derek. UUUUUU reprezintă însăşi esenţa muzicii drone/ambient: generarea continuă a unor sunete fluide, monotone, repetate ad infinitum, dar nu şi ad nauseam. The Astral Travels este un album sincer şi profund şi o adevărată bijuterie a genului. Faptul că este produsul unei minţi atât de tinere îl face cu atât mai intrigant.
De multă vreme sunt fascinat de un anume domn din Polonia, pre numele său de scenă Wojnar, care face o muzică foarte plăcută pentru urechile mele, un blend interesant de folk şi ambient. Basically, îs melodii relativ simpluţe la keyboard/chitară, acompaniate de ceva tobe războinice, având pe fundal uneori diverse zgomote de bătălii, săbii încleştându-se, serbări câmpeneşti şi altele, totul asezonat din plin cu vocea marţială, dar totuşi duioasă, a lui Wojnar. Versurile şi titlurile pieselor îs în dulcele grai leş, deci nu prea am idee despre ce cântă, dar oricum, probabil îs legende locale şi povestiri cu tentă mitologică.
Recomand din toată inima, mai ales că se potriveşte atât ca soundtrack pentru vreo activitate mundană precum efectuarea de traduceri la miezul nopţii, cât şi ca full-time listen, pentru că oferă nişte momente extrem de faine celor care îi dedică întreaga lor atenţie. Nu a mai lansat nimic din 2009, dar cele trei demo-uri şi trei albume full-lenght ar trebui să vă satisfacă din plin poftele inumane de ambient şi pagan folk.
Dark ambient minimalist, repetitiv, ritualistic şi sumbru de la tăticii Beherit (sau ce mai rămăsese din Beherit, oricum). Da, The Oath of Black Blood e megatare şi are una din cele mai şmekere coperte din univers, iar Drawing Down the Moon se numără printre albumele mele preferate de black metal (Summerlands, fuck yeah), dar H418ov21.C, cu melodiile sale bizare, synth-urile care se repetă încontinuu şi vocile sale procesate, este unul din albumele mele favorite ale tuturor timpurilor. Chiar dacă există unele momente când pare făcut de mântuială, sub auspiciile unei leni crunte (de care n-am fost nici eu străin, ştiu ce rău e), H418ov21.C rămâne unul din cele mai atmosferice albume ambientale făcute vreodată. Singurul defect pe care i-l pot găsi este că nu este mai lung, pentru că unele piese sunt atât de faine încât meritau să se întindă pe cel puţin 10 minute.
We are all under the one sky
And the sky is beautiful
Dark and beautiful...
They Did This To Me este ultimul şi probabil cel mai experimental album Gigantic Brain, opus-ul pe care John s-a lăsat dus complet de valurile propriei sale creativităţi. Majoritatea pieselor constituie un mariaj între cele două faţete ale muzicii sale: grind-ul intens, acompaniat de vocile inumane ale unor creaturi venite din alte galaxii, şi ambient-ul calm, melancolic şi meditativ pe care fanii îl cunosc de pe World sau Betelgeuse.
Tobele sălbatice par că s-au mai îmblânzit puţin, iar momentele grind, per total, s-au rărit, lăsând mai mult loc de desfăşurare sunetelor atmosferice. Muzica are acelaşi aer “spaţial” ca întotdeauna, dar se simte şi o vagă aromă industrială (în special pe ultima piesă, You Taste Like a Pill), ca şi cum Creierul ar fi revenit printre ruinele încă fumegânde ale Pământului.
Este ironic, într-un fel, că Gigantic Brain a ales să estompeze tocmai elementul care l-a adus în atenţia publicului de la bun început, şi anume hypergrind-ul feroce de pe The Invasion Discography, în favoarea unui sound ambiental, bazat pe synth-uri. Din punctul meu de vedere, proporţia dintre cele două elemente pe They Did This To Me este ideală, fiind o semiîntoarcere la origini şi un final perfect pentru odiseea prin care m-a purtat măreţul Creier de-a lungul celor cinci albume. Presupun că ar putea intra în categoria “jack of all trades, master of none”, pentru că, luate separat, Gigantic Brain a strălucit în trecut pe fiecare din cele două ramuri abordate, iar They Did This To Me ar putea părea o combinaţie oarecum artificială.
Dar nu prea-mi pasă de toate astea. Creieru-i la fel de creier ca întotdeauna, iar vraja lui asupra mea nu are nicio şansă să fie spulberată.
I Swallow 16 Red Planets este probabil albumul meu preferat de la Gigantic Brain. Imaginaţia lui John Brown, omul din spatele proiectului, atinge cote maxime pe acest album, care este probabil cel mai îndrăzneţ, eterogen şi creativ efort muzical al său. Nu există o temă anume, ca pe albumele anterioare. I Swallow 16 Red Planets este o colecţie fascinantă de piese din cele mai diverse: avem piese ambientale şi meditative precum Seabirds, Earth Crumbles sau My Beautiful Sun, piese care amintesc de cele de pe World, cum sunt Beam of Separation sau The Burning Earth, cântece scurte şi violente (Through his Guilt, the Operation is Delayed, Beneath) sau ciudăţenii ca Just Pet That Kitty ori I Was Molested.
Deşi nu există două piese asemănătoare pe tot albumul, toate au ceva în comun: sunt produsul imaginaţiei colosale a Creierului, care pare de neoprit. Este cu adevărat un album extraordinar, care te va face să-ţi pierzi complet şi iremediabil minţile. I Swallow 16 Red Planets dovedeşte din nou că Gigantic Brain nu se dă în lături de la nimic şi că o să-şi exprime mereu creativitatea fix cum crede de cuviinţă, fără să-i pese ce sensibilităţi ofensează.
Betelgeuse continuă stilul adoptat de Gigantic Brain pe albumul World şi oferă 6 piese ambientale, totalizând 20 şi ceva de minute de space bliss. Nu-s prea multe de spus despre EP-ul ăsta. Dacă v-a plăcut World cu ale lui keyboard-uri şi synth-uri, Betelgeuse oferă cam acelaşi lucru, doar că blast-urile grindcore nu mai există deloc, fiind înlocuite de o chitară care dronează în fundal. Voci nu există aproape deloc, aşa că nimic n-o să stea în calea călătoriilor nocturne spre planete îndepărtate.
Nu este cel mai bun album al lui, dar fanii Gigantic Brain n-au niciun motiv să-l rateze.
În 2008, la patru ani după apariţia albumului The Invasion Discography, John Brown, alias Gigantic Brain a lansat un nou material discografic, intitulat World. Multă lume se aştepta ca noul album să continue sound-ul terifiant al materialului anterior şi să ofere o nouă doză de hypergrind sălbatic care să pulverizeze întreaga planetă.
Aparent, însă, patru ani înseamnă destul de mult când vine vorba de muzică. Gusturile şi gândurile se schimbă, apar noi influenţe, iar uneori poate că este bine să te opreşti complet din ceea ce faci şi să-ţi schimbi direcţia de mers. Creierul a realizat că are nevoie să evolueze, aşa că a summonat, din colţurile cele mai îndepărtate ale galaxiei, World, un album compus din 18 piese ambient cybergrind şi care a constituit o schimbare radicală de registru.
Ambient cybergrind sună ciudat, dar este modul cel mai bun de a descrie ce aud. World este mult mai puţin ameninţător decât predecesorul său, fiind în acelaşi timp mult mai melodic. În vreme ce The Invasion Discography a fost o colecţie cumplită de ultraviolenţă totală, albumul de faţă se concentrează pe crearea unor peisaje sonice ambientale cu ajutorul clapelor şi a synth-urilor. Există atât pasaje stranii, care duc cu gândul la planete îndepărtate, cât şi momente calme, contemplative. World nu şi-a lepădat cu totul obiceiurile vechi, astfel că există câteva porţiuni de grind presărate de-a lungul albumului, în care ne întâlnim din nou cu tobele demente şi zbieretele inumane pe care le ştim din materialul anterior. Atmosfera ambientală predomină, însă, iar vechiul Gigantic Brain are doar apariţii scurte, cât să nu ne plictisim.
Nu că aşa ceva ar fi posibil, oricum, pentru că fiecare piesă are ceva interesant de oferit. Synth-urile sunt minimaliste, dar imaginative şi reuşeşc să fascineze. Nicio piesă nu pare că este “de umplutură”, fiecare contribuind în mod egal la tonul albumului.
World este o abatere clară de la sound-ul impus de The Invasion Discography şi este întru totul posibil ca indivizii deranjaţi care l-au venerat pe cel din urmă să fie dezamăgiţi de noua direcţie în care se îndreaptă proiectul lui John Brown. Tot ce pot să spun este că World nu este menit să fie o continuare a albumului precedent şi că ar trebui luat aşa cum e: ca un album ambiental excelent, extrem de atmosferic şi care dovedeşte că Gigantic Brain este o bestie imprevizibilă, capabilă să masacreze miliarde de creaturi inocente dintr-o singură mişcare, după care să aştearnă un voal paşnic peste întregul carnagiu.
