The Tophet Prophet label is a window onto the flourishing industrial/noise scene in Israel and this Noise.il compilation documents the Tel Aviv Noise Festival 2005. Nine tracks ranging from Mortalmanifest's more experimental approach to moments of sheer sonic massacre in the Gedem and Wreck & Drool tracks, with some highlights in the hypnotic industrial mantra by Barzel (the only artist here that I knew before listening to this compilation, check out his awesome 'A Shield Of Defense And The Word Of The Son Of Blood') and the astonishing Drone Lebanon (!!) that melts religious chants into complex noisy backgrounds, I'm really looking forward to hear something more from this project. So if you're into those genres or if you're just curious of what's going on in Israel, this is a perfect place to start.

The Euphoria Of Disobedience" is the fifth OYC album after ten years from the previous "Equator" which was an unquestionable milestone in 90s ambient.TEOD features some radical changes in OYC sound - tablas and other ethnic sounds are replaced here by a post-glitch sound processing with the same overall dark and organic feel that is a trademark in all OYC releases. Dense dust clouds coat the second track called "In dreams, perhaphs" (featured in the soundtrack of Paul McGuigan's "Lucky Number Slevin" in which Andrew Hulme is also credited as editor / second unit director) where we hear treated guitar tones over a droney background. Things start to get darker in the third track called "Slither" with a stunning and sad synth melody. "Out Through The Skin" is one of the album's highlights and takes us into deeper emotional territories and harks back to that estatic stillness in Hulme's A Small Good Thing side-project. "Where she goes at night" is a spaghetti-western ambient nightmare and reminded me of the odd recurring tune in Arrabal's surrealistic masterpiece "Viva La Muerte". An amazing record that unfolds and grows in time, surely one of the best releases of the year. A follow-up is scheduled for release in late 2006 so stay tuned...

Ahasverus is the musical project of Swedish archaeologist/linguist Henrik Summanen. In the stunning booklet of his second work "Evocation", we find images of pagan (Mesopotamian?) gods. As for the music, there is a meticolous and ever-evolving mixture of dense "old school" dark ambient background mixed with distant chimes, bells and more environmental sources. The intricate network of sounds added to each dronework gives a less static feel to the compositions. An intrepid work that would definitely suck you into mystical depths, a must-hear for fans of Moljebka Pvlse and other non-conventional dark ambient artists.

Portuguese multimedia artist Vitor Joaquim has traced a singular path over the last 25 years starting with improvised music in 1982 and then composing for dance, theater, cinema, video, installations and multimedia. "Flow" is his latest work on the Crónica label. The main concept here is the confrontation between voice and computer and in almost all the tracks we can find heavily processed breathings and whispers among the swarming layers of processed instruments or even a sensual female voice(Filipa Hora's) as in the second track. Ranging from dissonant glitch to languid and dreamlike sounds with bursts of high-speed grainy loops - "Flow" is a complex work, only sometimes indulging in melodic moments. A fresh update to Markus Popp's lesson and surely a perfect listening for the autumn and winter to come.

Paolo Bandera (of the post-industrial cult acts Sigillum S. and Sshe Retina Stimulants) and Tiberio Longoni (former member of seminal punk and psychedelic bands like Jumpers, 198X and Peter Sellers and The Hollywood Party) joined their efforts for the Sidra project. Sidra's music goes far beyond the codified notions of rock, jazz, blues and even electronica and the stodgy clichès of post-rock. It sounds like a more structured and jazzy version of the so called post-post rock played by artists on the Intr_version label. As they claim with grisly humour on the cover, this record may not be for all ... but for the open-minded be sure that those ten sonic-ectoplasms will take you for some serious trips!