I had heard of Anemone Tube over the years, but had not had a chance to check them out so I was quite interested to give this a listen. Anemone Tube throws down an interesting mix of noise and atmosphere. You can get a sense of the vein this artist runs in by looking who they have performed with: Inade, Svartsinn, The (Law-Rah) Collective, Hybryds, and Schloss Tegal are the ones that stood out to me. According to the label, this album is part of the 'Suicide Series' and 'is a concept album of fierce malignant power. In a poetic way Anemone Tube combines analytical realism of the phenomenal world with buddhist psychology and nihilist rhetoric influenced by the visionary authors H.P. Lovecraft and Yukio Mishima.' Although I quite enjoy noise music, I had a hard time finding the concept in it. For me, it is really enough to say that this is well constructed noise music that is not overly harsh. If you think that Inade and Schloss Tegal are not noisy enough but you think that Merzbow and Masonna are not atmospheric enough, Anemone Tube is definitely the band for you. Fans of Brighter Death Now, Inade, Strom ec, and Daniel Menche probably already have this, but if they don't, they should. The only issue I have with this is that it is rather short, weighing in at about 23 minutes.

This album is packaged with a bonus DVD that is a 16 minute collaboration between Brazilian video artist Gustavo de Lacerda and Anemone Tube. The work, entitled 1515, is a conceptual experimental film made in Rotterdam. The soundtrack is based on real-time field recordings made in Nanjing and Shanghai. Conceptually, the video sounded interesting. Take video of a wall at the same time each day and then edit it together. Like many things that sound good in theory the execution was not as interesting as the concept. The constantly changing shadow patters are a bit too subtle and slow moving to be interesting. Musically, however, I found this to be excellent. It serves as an interesting counterpoint to the studio recording that is at times brooding and subdued until it lulls you into a false sense of security, then unleashes a fury of noise.

This release comes packaged in an oversized 5 panel foldout that reminds me of the old Amplexus packaging. Quite nice. This release is limited to 500 copies, so you'll want to get yours before they are gone.

I had not heard of Nux Vomica, but I have enjoyed Voice of Eye for quite some time. There are the expected ethno-ambient and tribal sounds that one would expect, but there is also a bit of dissonance throughout that keeps it from sounding too sanitized. This is more experimental than I have heard Voice of Eye, so it is reasonable to assume that Nux Vomica is bringing out that side of things. The experimental quality is to be expected, as the liner notes state that this is 'part one of a continuous improvisation recorded on September 17, 2009.' The press sheet that came with the disc states that they 'have been involved in countless collaborative improvisations over the years and this is the first one that can be released in its full, unedited form, making it something remarkable.' All I know is that I would have very much liked to have been there to hear this live. From the opening track, 'The First Gate,' we hear lush atmosphere and female vocals that would be quite at home on the old Hyperium 'Heavenly Voices' compilations. 'House of Water' becomes a bit too repetitive for my taste, despite its slowly shifting, evolving sound. 'River of Heaven' is an odd mixture of space-age electronic atmosphere and lilting vibraphone-like music. If Harold Budd and Hafler Trio had to collaborate on a track, I imagine it would be something like this. 'Water Wheel Treaders' would fit well alongside Coil's 'Musick to Play in the Dark,' with its atmosphere and relentless, repetitive melody. 'Tripod of the Elixer' is, by contrast, a slow moving track with waves that crescendo and decrescendo as a bubbling soundscape boils beneath the surface. 'Golden Elixer of Immortality' is a wonderfully peaceful track with soothing female vocals and sparse synth pads. 'Original Awareness' slowly shifts gears, becoming a dark, claustrophobic track that would suit a good horror film. Overall, this is quite enjoyable. This disc weighs in at about 46 minutes.

I have to admit that I have not thought about Chris Connelly for a while. I have a fair amount of material with which he has been connected. If you were interested in industrial music in the late 80s and 90s it was hard to avoid him. In my collection alone, I have Acid Horse, PTP, Ministry, Murder Inc., Pigface, and he's been involved with other acts ranging from Revolting Cocks to Whitehouse. The musicians that assist in this effort are likewise diverse: Izi Coonagh (Sugar Bullet), Tania Bowers (Via Tania), James Marlon Magas (Magas, Lake of Dracula), Gordon Sharp (Cindytalk), Zak Boerger (These Wonderful Evils), Bill Rieflin (R.E.M., Ministry, Swans), Brent Gutzeit (TV Pow), Sanford Parker (Minsk, The High Confessions), David Levine (Mucca Pazza).

Musically, the closest comparison I can come up with right now is Current 93's amazing 'I Have a Special Plan for This World' or 'In a Foreign Town in a Foreign Land,' with their mix of spoken word and weird ambient atmosphere. I suppose this is somewhat fitting since Connelly dedicates the album to David Tibet and Gordon Sharp. According to the press sheet that came with the album, this is more a long poem performed by Connelly and collaborators than it is traditional songs. This is also not exactly feel-good kind of music. The press sheet notes that 'How This Ends is about death, genocide, homicide by corrupt powers upon innocents. It's about the people who didn't make it, the ones who either tried, or were taken by surprise.' The opening lyrics give an idea of what you are in for: 'The bloodflow moves like jagged ants in the strobe of the conflicted sunset.'

There are two tracks on this album, simply titled 'How This Ends (Part One)' and 'How This Ends (Part Two).' Part one is all over the place, with female spoken word that reminds me of the vocalist on Coil's 'The Angelic Conversation' alternating with male vocals (Connelly) at others. We have freakout John Zorn-like saxophone mixed with pulsating industrial soundscapes and analogue sounds. Add to this a lilting piano theme that runs throughout. If this sounds a bit disjointed, it only seems so. This hangs together well and pulls you in until it clubs you over the head with screaming and noise at an increased volume, which then gives way to the piano and calming spoken word. Part Two is much more traditional for the most part, sounding more like murder ballads with acoustic guitar. Overall, this is quite enjoyable, and makes me interested to hear more of his recent output. This album weighs in at 51.36.

I had not heard of Clutter, nor the other work of Shaun Blezzard. According to his website, 'all tracks were improvised using laptop, iPhone, Nintendo DS and effects then edited and mixed.' Field recordings also figure prominently. 'Yellow Light Discarded' uses a field recording of rain on a balcony in Plymouth and 'On Your Parade' uses sounds taken from Dalton Parade. The latter is particularly interesting as we hear chirps and high pitched drone mixed with police sirens. The result is rather engaging. 'Yellow Light Discarded,' on the other hand, sounds a bit like what you would expect Vidna Obmana to come up with. Calming synth mixed with the sounds of rain. 'Pollen and Scatter' continues the ambient synth vibe. It's nice, but not as engaging as the previous tracks until it begins to get a bit more noisy and chaotic toward the end. 'The Edge of Possible' is pleasant drone that kind of faded into the background; the silence is what made me aware that it had ended. Not too bad overall, although at times it seems a bit too new age for my tastes. This album weighs in at about 21 minutes.

After almost a year from their debut, Lazy Late Kids are back with a new EP titled FRANCIS AND FRIENDS. Coming from the fourth chapter of the Some Tunes compilation series, "Francis" has been remixed by four label's mates: Bronstibok, helped by Mc Complex, created a dance grinding track with catchy vocals, Aerotronic opted for stop and go formula with lfo filters on the wild, Klipar focused on a dubstep/pistolpop approach and Jey Key for sudden stops with reverbs, long pauses and exaltation of the key melodies. The release doesn't have only remixes, you can find also two original instrumental tunes: "Revenge" sounds as Lazy Late Kids were remixing themselves, because it recalls a bit the structure of "Francis", "Crusader", instead, has classic grinding bass lines along with cinematic strings/cembalo section and it sounds like a distorted dance version of a Morricone track.