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Music Reviews

MURMER: murmer

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Artist: MURMER (@)
Title: murmer
Format: CD
Label: Bake Records
Distributor: Staalplaat
Murmer uses as sound sources different field recordings which are manipulated, processed and assembled with strategies that resemble some kind of ambient orchestration rather than stricter concrete music. There's a lot of composition behind these tracks. Take my favourite one, ".errum": sources are "air vent on a 73 bus, malfunctioning gas heater, feedback, escalator at Pimlico tube station" – the result is a massive work with tribal metal clattering, a tranquil droning passage, and a crescendo of tweaks becoming an ear-numbing noise storm. A similar pattern is used in ".mmeru", which is "air vent in a red austin mini, wind whistling through a 3rd storey window, air vent on a 73 bus" turning into a hypnotic series of loops. At times the feel is almost ritual, like in the percussive sounds and echoes in ".rumme". There are some minor defects (like a cut&paste feel in some passages, where one can sense the gaps between loops) and some arguable choices (I think the 1st track is a tad too long – 25' -, though the loop is pleasant in itself), but this is a truly great work which shows creative genius and good taste in composition.


DETRITUS: Sense/Martyr

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Artist: DETRITUS (@)
Title: Sense/Martyr
Format: CD
Label: Fleshmadeword (@)
Dave Dando Moore is a guy coming from Whitehill, UK and he's also the founder of a new label called Fleshmadeword. Detritus is his musical project and SENSE/MARTYR gathers his first two MCDs. Musically the eight tracks of the CD deal with industrial, noise treatments, various electronic sounds, orchestral arrangements and rhythmical extravaganzas. The first thing that catched me has been the way Dave treats samples, because there's always something that change into the track's structure, just like as the sound is evolving while the tracks is played and this is very useful to focus listeners' attention. Also the upbeat tempos used are very energetic and along with the use of sounds coming from different sources give to tracks like "Sense" or "Detritus" a dramatic sense, as it was an industrial soundtrack. Visit his website and give Detritus a try, it's worth it!


OTEP: Sevas Tra

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Artist: OTEP (@)
Title: Sevas Tra
Format: CD
Label: Capitol
Ever wondered to listen something like Lidia Lunch singing in a jam session which sees Korn and Brutal Truth involved? Nope? Well, if you listen to Otep's first album SEVAS TRA this could be the impression. I don't know why Capitol sent me an advance copy of their first album which contains seven out of twelve tracks but since it could be enjoyed also by industrial/gothic listeners, here I am reviewing it... Well, the particularity of a lot of songs is the experimental spoken pauses which serve to give a major dramatic sense to the following explosion of agony, where the distorted vocals sounds really wild, even if the singer is a girl. The band earned a spot on Ozzfest 2001 without a record deal and that live show allowed them to sign to a major label without a demo thanks to the power and the brutality of their live show. All the seven tracks of the CD are extreme and sound desperate and I think that you'll see them on MTV and similar channels really soon.


I ME MINE: Politisch Verdachtig

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Artist: I ME MINE
Title: Politisch Verdachtig
Format: CD
Label: DAC Productions (@)
Distributor: DEAF American / EU '91 / Napalmed / Deliria / etc.
If you like sick sounds this I Me Mine's CD is your occasion to feel insanity, because it gathers extreme noise industrial sounds and Belorussian folk elements. The seven tracks contained into POLITISCH VERDACHTIG are collages of random industrial sounds with some distorted rhythms here and there: something which could prove your senses, expecially the twenty one minutes of "Moving Away" with its sounds deconstruction which really proved my listening. I don't mean that this Dreaming About Cannibalism release is a bad one but for sure it isn't easy to enjoy. If you like noisy anarchic extravaganzas try this...


Robert Lloyd Anderson: Idolitry

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Artist: Robert Lloyd Anderson (@)
Title: Idolitry
Format: CD
Label: Best Boy Music (@)
Distributor: Latex Records


Buy from BUY NOW from LATEX RECORDS (LatexRecords.com)
Dark, Ambient electronic mood music. This first release by Anderson instantly takes the listener on a journey into a realm of the dark unknown. Combining elements of Ambient, Industrial and various eclectic and experimental self contrived electronic audio structures and even utilizes some tribal elements.

If you like music like Patrick O'hearn's album Indigo then you will love Robert Anderson's work as this is the closest comparison I could possibly make to this album.

You will find some New Age elements prevalent on some pieces while others are more tribal or industrial sounding. This is definitely great mood music for whatever purpose; meditating, message, trance, sexual intercourse, etc. The sounds are so originally constructed that they create a virtual landscape for the mind to contemplate, dark though it may be. The themes may even instill fear in some more timid listeners but will sound ethereally beautiful for those who enjoy a darker shade of life.

These compositions are originally composed and intended it seems for BDSM and other similar adult play.