Fear Falls Burning is the work of Dirk Serries, also known for his ambient project vidnaObmana. According to the label, Serries had decided to end Fear Falls Burning, but 'resurrected [it] for a concluding album statement . . . and a last salute.' I have previously reviewed one of the noisier releases from Fear Falls Burning ('I'm One Of Those Monsters Numb With Grace'), and although I quite enjoy noise, it didn't really work for me. This album, on the other hand, was wonderful. If this is what the future holds for his new Microphonics project, I need to check out where he's heading. In some ways this is a combination of the styles of both vidnaObmana and his other work as Fear Falls Burning. When I put it on, I was surprised at how much like vidnaObmana the opening track was. The guitar drone was present, but it was much more peaceful. The progression moves closer to the Fear Falls Burning end of the spectrum as we move through the album.
The final track, 'I Provoke Disorder,' includes yelled vocals buried in the mix of slowed down, dissonant guitar drone mixed with slow pummeling percussion. What keeps it interesting is the use of dynamics throughout, drawing the listener in through the use of calm, quiet passages. Overall, this is a slab of droning dissonant goodness that is well worth picking up. Evidently this also comes in a limited edition clear vinyl double 10 inch in gatefold sleeve, complete with a CD copy of the album (limited to 200 copies), and a CD in a deluxe mini album gatefold sleeve. I can't really speak much about this, because I just have a regular CD promo copy. This album weighs in at around 52 minutes.

I had not heard of Black Depths Grey Waves, but when I read the title of the album to my wife, I had to do it in my best black metal Cookie Monster voice. I was not far off. The label describes BDGW as 'a black occult industrial noise project from the sickened minds of Clint Listing (As All Die, Long Winters Stare, When Joy Becomes Sadness) and Saint Ov Gravediggers (Ordo Tyrannis, Grim Pig).' They describe the album as 'a full on noise industrial fest, yet within the intense noise lies a subtle and mellow darkness' and compare the album to MZ 412, Valefor, In Slaughter Natives, Schloss Tegal. OK, let's see how the album holds up to such comparisons. I would say that it really isn't bombastic enough to compare to ISN and it's a bit too repetitive to be Schloss Tegal, nor would I call it a full on noise industrial fest. It is pretty hypnotic ritualistic stuff, with spoken word (e.g., 'The Hunt For Greater Truth') and sometimes a kind of chanting (e.g., '3rd Candle For The Fallen'), but the music itself doesn't seem to change much. Although it does provide a sense of continuity throughout the album, it doesn't seem to progress much. It's nice and bleak, with metal scraping and deep drone, but I really would have liked them to push the envelope a bit. I know that Clint Listing, in particular, is capable of this from his work as As All Die. This album weighs in at around 44 minutes.

Who knows if Jack Tramiel aka Mr Commodore heard some SID sounds by one of his most skilled collaborator, Bob Yannes, a genial engineer, who later co-founded Ensoniq Corporation together with Bruce Crockett and Al Charpentier, while he was passing away (or powering down) last sunday, but I'm pretty sure many enthusiastic aged lads, who have been recipients of that computer literacy his brisk work fostered (being the main reason he managed to endear himself to many people), will be glad to know there's a rich underground production related to C64 sounds while joining in offering condolences to his family for such a bereavement.

One of the most exhaustive selection of tunes, mainly coming from glorious pixeled C64 videogames, is the one offered by Robot Elephant, which didn't beg the question the main diffuclty those composers had to face, i.e. the fact SID chips gave the possibility to record just three voices at once. But, so they remark, human beings' genius normally emerges when they have seemingly limited means, an attitude which looks like corroborated by many compositional pearls, which have been included in the tracklist: some tracks should be quite easy to recognize, such as "Last Ninja" - Armakumi's adventures against Kunitoki, the evil shogun of the Ashigaka clan, became very popular for his score as well, which has been remixed a plenty of times even in recent times - and "Trap" by Ben Danglish, a composer who keeps SID's memory alive with SID'80s, a protean retro C64 rock band, performing at notorious retrogaming and abandon ware events such as Chris Abbott's Back in Time or Retrovision, "Commando" (a real cult for C64 enthusiasts) and "Sanxion" (also known as "Thalamusik" from the name of Sanxion's developer Thalamus, inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre's "Zoolook") by Rob Hubbard, "Arkanoid" (his composer admitted it looked like a collection of farts and burps when speaking about the innovative process behind that!), "Wizball" (a gig for those ones who will buy vynil version of the release) and chiptune "Comic Bakery" (ohhh those racoons!) by Martin Galway, while other tracks are maybe less notorious, but equally amazing. My favorite ones are "Cybernoid 2" by Jeroen Tel, which is every bit as good as best italo-house and euro-dance hits, LEDStorm by Tim Follin, a mad 8-bit version of "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple (!), whose compositional approach was known for including many musical quotes of progressive rock (Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, John Martyn and so on) as it's clear from two tracks composed with his brother Geoff for Gauntlet 3's score, "Glider Rider" and "Panther", two thrilling tracks by David Whittaker, Chris Huelsbeck's "Giana Sisters" (which looks like inspired by Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough"!).

Not to be abandoned.

Press Play On Tape!

It's quite rare to find releases whose concept cannot be thought totally new, but sounding so carefully assembled that are still appreciable in the field of organic and aural ambient. This collaborative project named Listening Mirror, founded by Jeff Stonehouse and Kate Tustain, manages to reach that goal by a selection, wisely titled "Resting In Aspic", from some of their most intriguing recordings, mainly issued on out of sale EP, digital postcards or samplers of DIY labels such as Audio Gourmet, Rural Colours, Heat Death and Hibernate, by a thorough operation of extraction and filtration of what could be considered objectively beautiful from daily din which normally drills our ears. The listener could reckon a certain unutterable cathartic property while listening Listening Mirror's calliphonies, either when they insert simple piano melodies and other unobtrusive instrumental spell (like in "Falling Under" or "Outside Heaven"), field recordings grabbed from natural settings (it's really absorbing the swarming pond life portrayed in "The Leechpool" or the astonishingly moody lagoon scape of "Venice Boxhead") and social life of playing children (such as in "The Organist" or "Wet Roads", whose ethereal combination with searphical choirs and samples which visually recall a sort of liquefaction process of the air could remind some works by Robert Rich) or when they offer pure drones (like in the entrancing "Without Saying Goodbye", one of the highlight of this selection). This aspic sounds apt for intimate catharsis or sonic prophylaxis.

The Michael Vlatkovich Ensemblio is an eleven piece orchestra with Vlatkovich at the helm on trombone, and is comprised of noted musicians Harry Scorzo (violin); Jeff Kaiser (trumpet); Brian Walsh (clarinet); Jonathan Golove (cello); William Roper (tuba, euphonium, cimbasso); Wayne Peet (keyboard); Anders Swanson (bass); Tom McNalley (guitar); Mark Burdon (percussion); and Ellington Peet (cymbal).

'An Autobiography of a Pronoun' is a rather peculiar work, but certainly one full of interesting and provocative ideas in the realm of fringe jazz. Opening track 'leg belly kill climb unaware pride' begins with a melancholy string duet by Scorzo and Golove and some incidental bellish percussion but soon morphs an uptempo jazzy Argentinean tango and salsa-mambo mashup. Melodically though it's almost anything but that- much more adventurous like Zappa's experimentation in his exploration of extended themes. Thereafter it's a fantasia of improvisation with Scorzo initially leading the way as other instruments riff off the trails he leaves in their wake. Nearly everyone gets in on the improv act and though it sometimes threatens to go off the edge, somehow it all manages to coalesce, even when it gets so far afield from the original motif. Zappa would mostly likely have written out all parts but the major solos; I doubt these guys had much of a score to work from except for the basic ideas.

Imagine a semi-drunken jazz ensemble from the 20's playing in a Parisian cafe for Dali, Breton, Artaud and Magritte and you may have some idea of what the next track, 'more grey than white, more old than young' sounds like. It's free jazz but out of another age. Swanson's busy bass solo at the end of the track sounds like he's not even of this world. The 'jmz' suite in the middle of the album has distinctly different sections. The first rather slow and somber and string-based. The second uptempo and jazzy led by horn at first with Peet's keyboard taking over for awhile and Burdon dancing all over the drums at first; more constrained as the piece progresses. It's a playful adventure that melts into its inevitable conclusion. The third section is mostly chordal ensemble playing between the horns sans percussion and bass, and I could easily see this piece being used as music for a seriocomic silent movie.

'little rubber arrow and elephant sandwich' may sound like a Captain Beefheat song title (maybe even Zappa) but in actuality it sounds like one of the most adventurous tangos I've ever heard. This is the tightest playing so far. Angular, halting meloies abound. 'explain again why I can't drive faster than the car in front of me' (great title!) begins in sort of a big band swing mode but soon transits into a bopish extravaganza, but never loses its cool. 'queen dynamo' features some incredibly tight playing and instrumental interplay even when it moves into free jazz terrain, yet ultimately never loses sight of its main theme. I love when it switches gears and temporarily moves into low down cool jazz. Sweet! Final piece 'memories hold my hand' with its melodic chordal horn ensemble is the most sentimental track on the album, a fitting downtempo close to this work. 'An Autobiography of a Pronoun' won't tickle everybody's fancy, and if you don't particularly care for jazz this recording is unlikely to sway your conviction. However, as a quirky and skillful merger of traditional jazz with free and avant-garde stylings, the Michael Vlatkovich Ensemblio has recorded a work that is both delightful and thought provoking with top-notch performances all around. You can't ask for much more than that.