The artwork on the album gives you a good idea of what the music will be like. The artwork would be at home on a Cold Meat Industry release. The photography for the release was done by Laura Frances Purdy, the recently deceased fiancée of the main person behind the project, Daniel Tuttle. Tracks flow into one another, providing a sense of coherence throughout. This is like a soundtrack for your mind. Elements of dark ambient, neoclassical, and noise flow together. Sometimes the shifts are a bit jarring though, for example, when flowing ambience abruptly shifts to staccato strings in "?Time,’ she points again." Some high points on this album include: "?Time,’ she says," which has nice elements of ambience and noise with a ticking clock in the middle of it all. "This Peculiar Phenomenon," which combines crushing metallic beats with strings, synth pads, and spoken word samples. "Eclipse II" combines operatic female voice with noise to create a nice sense of discordance. "A Tide, Confusion" layers drones over audible, but barely decipherable voices. "Reluctant Memories of Conquest" is good dark ambient that reminded me of Lustmord’s album "The Monstrous Soul." The best part about this album is that you can have it for free by downloading it from their website, complete with cover art. And it is well worth downloading. This is a good mixture of sound, not quite noise, but not quite ambient. Highly recommended.

My first exposure to Kraken was on the sadly now defunct "Eyespark’s All Night Album Replay." I liked it, but it didn’t make a huge impression on me. This album, on the other hand, was pretty impressive. Nicely packaged as well. On to the music, beginning with disc 1. "Kamer 354" has some disembodied beats that only hint at rhythm with some spoken word woven throughout. These spoken word elements will continue through the disc to tie together the tracks. Much of it is in a language that I do not understand, but it seems as if there is a conversation taking place that is interspersed through the disc, which gives the album a sense of coherence. "In De Regen Gaat Het Ook" layers some spoken word and heavy drone. Elements such as male and female screaming and voices are just within the realm of audible perception. Sounds like it would be right at home in a horror movie soundtrack. Some clanking of metal interspersed through the drone. At 16:23, this is the longest track on the disc and there is plenty of time to build up an atmosphere. Shifts gears toward the end to bring in voices speaking a language I don’t understand that continues briefly into the next track. "Verraad Van Rijovego" has a lot happening, with sweeping noises, voices, traffic noises. Atmospheric sounds and the sound of something resonant being struck tie this together. Also ends with conversation that continues briefly into the next track. "In De Diepte Is Alles Goed" has what sounds like a processed trombone is the main element of this track with some clanking metal in the background. As with the other tracks, ends with converstation continuing on. "Drie Wegen Naar De Dood" seems more like an interlude track from the others, with bubbling electronic sounds that wash over what sounds like a couple making love and laughing. "Alles Wordt Wit" layers tape hiss and looped female voices. About halfway through the hiss ends and looped voices become male with pleasant, slightly shifting drone. Fades out nicely into "De Hoorn In Je Hoofd" that layers drones, voices, and a woman singing. This is one of the standout tracks on the disc for me. The track becomes noisier toward the end with brass instruments layered and distorted. Overall, this disc has a variety of sounds and styles, but toward the end, I found it to be a bit repetitive, as if I was listening to earlier tracks reworked.

Disc 2 is mainly one long track of almost 70 minutes and a shorter track of 0.49 seconds. Song titles are not listed for this disc. I really like this disc. It is a lot more subdued, with an almost subterranean feel to it. Deep drones with elements constantly surfacing, only to become submerged again. At about 18 minutes in, there is a man describing the mechanisms of the AIDS virus. From here on, voices in various languages come to the forefront. At times, an ethereal female voice sings and at other times, a man is speaking about cellular function. Track 2 is a nice short melancholy track done with what sounds like an autoharp. Overall, disc 2 is far more smooth and flowing than disc 1. Although the spoken word segments are interesting, I almost wish that they weren’t there because it intrudes on the atmosphere, but this is minor. If you like your ambience a bit more chaotic and noisy, disc 1 is for you. If you like it smooth, disc 2 should be up your alley. I liked them both, but disc 2 is the one that will be spending more time in my CD player.

I could not find anything about this album on the label website, which seems to be a CD duplication and recording house. The website that produced this festival, http://www.EclecticDetroit.com/, has been down for at least a week or two for server migration. Overall, this compilation is not bad, but there is nothing on here that I would consider essential. There were only three bands that I recognized before getting this disc, so a lot of new artists here. Unfortunately, many do not seem to have a distinct voice and sound virtually indistinguishable. So let’s move on to the specific tracks. Entluften opens the compilation with decent techno with synth new wave feel and Backspace continues the dance-friendly music with lush synth and a heavy beat that reminds me of old school industrial dance music (in a good way). Chiasm creates a weird dissonance between growling and ethereal female vocals that was not really my thing, but interesting. Some beats mixed with atmosphere but not quite as dance friendly as the previous tracks. Life Toward Twilight lays down some heavy, slow, metallic tribal sounding drumming mixed with noisy atmosphere. I don’t know what the dancers were thinking when this happened, but I like it. I reviewed their disc in this batch of reviews and it was really good (it’s free for download, so the price is right). Delien is the first of several on this disc that graduated from the Venetian Snares school of spastic noisy beats. They do this style very well. Iszoloscope delivers the expected Ant-Zen style noisy beats, but with a heavy synth undercurrent. A little more old-school techno than I expected. He builds layer upon layer until it sounds like 4 songs going at once. Di_sect lays down some complex beats with some slowed down voices, but overall, this track just didn’t really stand out. Xanopticon provides more music from the Venetian Snares school of spastic beats. Not bad, but a bit thin?it sounds more like a drum machine that is dying than a track. A bit too minimal for my tastes. Blaerg layers spastic beats over a flowing heavily processed acoustic guitar that would be at home on a Durutti Column album. Oddly peaceful and disconcerting at the same time. I liked it. Syne_lapse_variate is also a bit thin, but the beats are interesting. Not quite as spastic, but has some other elements weaving throughout that keep it from getting boring. OK, but not too engaging. Phallus Uber Alles provides one of the tracks that stood out. A nice groove with samples of a woman talking about being the future homemakers of America that shifts to heavy social commentary. The beat remains consistent – rather than the music shifting, it is the samples. Larvae’s track was also a bit too stripped down for my tastes, more like the foundation of a track than the track itself. Sound Extraction X lays down a nice groove with old school sounding beats but it went on too long. It sounds like a warm up track for a band rehearsal or a connecting track between two stronger tracks on an album. Necroplastic offers a short minimalist track with some light beats and a piano line. EclecticLiquid’s track is muddy, noisy, and distorted. It’s glitchy, like a techno track that has been completely overloaded, but it doesn’t really seem to fit on this compilation. Ghoulie ends the disc with an odd combination of bass line, cheesy casio synth, drum machine, and rapping. Not really my thing. Overall, this compilation is OK, but nothing on this disc makes me want to park it in the CD player for a long period of time. I’m sure that for those who were at the festival, it would be a good souvenir.

I had never heard of Magicicada before receiving this disc in the mail. Upon opening the packaging, you will find a photo of something I can’t really describe (maybe the underside of a crab?) and extensive liner notes which can also be found on the band’s website. The liner notes are pretty informative - here’s a sample: "4. I Demand My Fucking Cloud: Guitar, found objects, contact mics on faulty electrical lines, shruti box, voice, mics out the window, MARTA, Meredith reading in the corner, and Rob Clemens on 'inside your skull' keyboard. This was one of those days where everything just worked. Recorded in one take. The title comes from when Rob & me were driving about and for some reason, he yelled, "I DEMAND MY FUCKING CLOUD!!!" out the window, which is just such a great thing to say for no reason, ya know?" If this sounds interesting, you’ll probably enjoy the disc.

Overall, this is one weird disc, but I like it a lot. It’s not quite noise, but definitely out there – I suppose one could consider it "experimental." The nice thing about the disc is that the sound is constantly shifting and evolving. There is also a lot going on in the music. The tracks range from ambience to all out noisiness. Plus you end up hearing Steve Brand (Augur) on zurna (a woodwind instrument) – what’s not to like about that? Probably my favorite track on the disc was "For the Father," which had a nice noisy drone going which sort of reminded me of Hafler Trio (Kill the King).

The only track that didn’t really work for me was "Well Below." The music was not as interesting as the other pieces and the vocals were annoying after a while. But overall, this is a good disc with a lot of variety. This would be a good introduction to experimental music – it’s a bit more accessible than most without compromising the qualities that make it interesting.

I had never heard of this artist or the person behind it, Julien Ash. This is part 2, but alas, I do not have part 1, so I have no way of telling how it compares. Nicely packaged, but the liner notes could be more extensive. For example, I really like the woman’s voice on some of the tracks, but there are four different people credited with vocals as well as one person credited with "ghost voice." If I had to classify this, I would put file it under neo-classical. The press sheet states that "his works evoke Michael Nyman’s style, without forgetting Pascal Comelade’s or Jean-Philippe Goude’s universes." Because this kind of stuff is difficult to review, I’ll try something a bit different. After a few listenings, I listened to the track and wrote a play by play action – here goes: Track 1 – Starts off with what sounds like a child singing, blends then turns to nice piano. Track 2 – Piano, guitar, and a woman singing in French. Track 3 – Piano with violin, kicks in with some drumming. Sort of a Muslimgauze feel to it, which fades out just as it was getting enjoyable back to piano and guitar. Track 4 – This is a bit odd – the singing is back but almost reminds me of a weird mix of pop and goth violin. Doesn’t quite seem to fit in with the first 3 tracks. I like the woman’s voice though. Then shifts into a different kind of track about 4.5 minutes in, as if they decided to put two different songs on the same track. The staccato violin plucking on this one starts to wear on you after a while, but then about 6 minutes in, we’re back to the original feel of the track. Track 5 – Back to piano and guitar. Not bad easy listening, but there are a few instances of static interspersed, which is nice. Bells at the end is nice, but almost doesn’t fit with the previous track. Track 6 – More nice neo-classical. Track 7 – At 15:34, this is the longest disc on the CD. Guitars and drums kind of remind me of old Durruti Column, which is never a bad thing. But then at 4:45 in, it abruptly stops, changes gears, goes to piano with spoken male vocals. Then at 7:45, it shifts gears again, loses the vocals and brings in some bells/brass percussion into the mix. I really like this segment. Track 8 – OK, but the chorus of people singing doesn’t quite work for me. Track 9 – Pretty good piano track. The main problem I had with the disc is that the tracks seem to go on past what they should. It is as if they arbitrarily decided a length for a track, but when the piece had been completed and come up short, they added pieces of another track. Don’t get me wrong – disjointed can be good. It just doesn’t seem to work in this case too well, probably partly because of my own classical training and partly because it seems like the sonic equivalent to watching television with someone who changes the channel just as things are getting interesting. I think that there are a lot of good things happening here, but unfortunately the band switches gears just as you’re getting into it. Overall, this is pleasant listening. With the exception of a couple of tracks, it would fit right in with the rest of your classical collection but nothing too groundbreaking on this disc. For my tastes, the segments that were the most interesting were the ones where they incorporated a variety of sounds. The piano / violin combo just doesn’t do much for me. Your mileage may vary.