Hope.

This is the word the cryptic 9-piece of Canadian anarchists Godspeed You! Black Emperor used to project on a backdrop during their live performance, as a funereal string quartet mirrormelded with a terrifyingly good rock band to create something new, something powerful and beautiful. They were dancing in the ashes from the start, paranoid murmurings over crumbling court music, but it was always about the final kiss at the ramparts. About trying to maintain optimism, in the face of debt and depression. They created a genre, hordes of imitators, and classicism was becoming good again, and live shows were becoming ritualistic crescendoes.

And then the twin towers fell. And a shadow fell, and thousands held their breath, hoping the angels of death would pass us by in the night, hoping the black-hooded gestapoes would shy away from our doors for another night. The shiny utopias of '90s rave futurism faded into memory, and we just didn't know WHAT the future would bring. Godspeed You!'s lights went dark, and sometimes it seemed like all hope might be lost.

But GY!BE were not dormant during their 10-year hiatus. Many members delved into revolutionary cabaret mysticism with A Silver Mt. Zion and a million different permutations, where they showed a more human side, even featuring conventional songs and lyrics. Their records were always tasty and interesting, but nothing could touch on Godspeed You's elemental alchemy. Constellation records, their perennial home, continued to manifest quality works of adventurous art, consistently producing lavish sleeves and vinyl, becoming synonymous with Vinyl Fetish fame. And finally, Godspeed You! Black Emperor put out a new record.

''Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!' came out today, to baited breaths. Constellation have had to halt vinyl orders for a while, and we are all wondering: 'will it be as good as we hope?' Post-rock has become a sad joke in the last decade, pale Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky weak-kneed hippy noodling, an excuse to write long-winded opuses and try to impress chicks with yr long bandname. As with The Swans' record that came out earlier this year, the elder statesmen yet again school the imitators. 'A!DB!A!' is comprised of 4 parts, two long-players and two shorter, in traditional Godspeed You! form. The opening 'Mladic' comes on slow, with a Hebrew flavor that leaves a whiff of incense on the air. It was inspired by Rebitika, Greek protest music from the '20s and '30s, and finalizes with pots and pans clanging, recorded at a street protest. Godspeed you are still in the trenches. But there are differences... you begin to notice less of a classical air around the 9 instruments, and more of a tattered and trailing sound, like a ghost ship, washing in from sea. Middle eastern scales dance around a propulsive krautrock beat, before culminating in a Guy Fawkes' Day melee. Its more of an endless, jamming groove than this outfit has laid to tape previously, and its rendered in typical Hotel2Tango hi-fi has all the instruments breathing and hanging together lovingly, and is a large part of the reason why Godspeed You! smoke their lesser brethren, every time.

Its this classiness, attention to detail, and a clear artistic vision, that have allowed GY!BE and co. to rise above, to weather the storm, all these years. After years of gloomy soothsaying, re: the fate of the independent label, Constellation is still laying out exquisite gems of bending notes and honest sentiment. Godspeed You! have returned, and 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!' is a triumph. They are trying new things, while maintaining true to form. The two long-players, 'Mladic' and 'We Drift Like Worried Fire' are on par with 'Moya' from the 'Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada' EP for sheer awesome revelations, and should be experienced, if you missed this band the first time around. The two shorter middle tracks, 'Their Helicopters Sing,' and 'Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable' are interesting sound experiments, full of whirring, whoofing drones to meld with yr radiators and refrigerators, during the coming cold months. The shorter tracks were released on a seperate 7' in the vinyl edition, with the two long tracks on a 12' to give someone the option for going for dreamy ambiance or joyful clockwork trance bombast, if that's yr bag.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have shown that there is still hope, after all, and maybe Post-Rock is not dead, and mined out for ideas. Classical music has always been cool, and cynicism always gets tired. Let's build quiet armies, friends, let's march on glass cathedrals. The future is ours.

It seems like Dominick Fernow, aka Vatican Shadow, also known as Prurient, may be intent on becoming the next Muslimgauze. Since its inception in 2010, Vatican Shadow have spewed out 4 Albums, 2 EPs, and 11 assorted cassettes, downloads, and ephemera. The subject matter has been grindy, mesmerizing post-industrial techno, slathered in Gulf War propaganda and middle-eastern mysticism. Like muslimgauze, the material is largely rhythmic, trancey and repetitious in nature, luring you into a theta-state lull of grimey opium dreams. On 'Jordanian Descent,' one of 3 EPs offered up as digital downloads by Hospital Productions, seemingly to whet appetites for the forthcoming 'Ornamental Walls' LP coming out on Modern Love, later this month.

The question with Vatican Shadow is "do you like repetitious grinding, lulling techno?' If the answer is yes to this question, then you will undoubtedly love 'Jordanian Descents' 20-minute mantras. Both tracks kick and boom with a hypnotic low-end, characteristically warm and sanguine with Fernow's loving cassette-tape treatment. Vatican Shadow tend to play with a set-up of multiple tape decks, and assorted sound machines, synths and drum machines presumably. Songs tend to go on as long as the tape lasts, and Fernow gives the masses a sneak peak into the noise underground where he grew sharp and dangerous. With Prurient, he vomitted out twelve years of harsh-noise catharsis, but grew bored with the stale, predictable moves. He became more tuneful still playing synth with coldwave misanthropes Cold Cave, and developed an endless techno habit during constant touring.

'Jordanian Descent' seeks to hypnotize, endless crunchy beats with evolving layers of incoming soundscapes and sub-rhythms, clicking in like glass clockwork. They go on long enough, they can really pull you in and put you in a serious trance. Its like watching oily water, lightly rippling - through the layer of grit and scum, subtle ecosystems emerge. If you stare into the dark waters of 'Jordanian Descent' often enough, perhaps you might notice the care and craft with which it was preserved and brought to you? Originally released as a cassette, before becoming digitized, everything was lovingly analog and homespun. With Vatican Shadow's ubiquitous Gulf War graphic design, featuring Heroes of the Gulf War playing cards, it seems like Dominick Fernow is driving at a point, hacking out his slice of the world. After over a decade in the underground, making music and running his label/store Hospital Productions, we look to people like Dominick Fernow to see which way the ship is sailing.

The thing is, being surrounded by the BitStream, we must all pick and choose with allies we shall take on, which aesthetic we shall wear. Time is our commodity, and we don't have time for everything. With people like Dominick Fernow, they are unrelenting in their vision. They're doing their thing, and inviting you to partake. Delving into his catalog, current and past, can lead you to gloomy realms of inspired otherworldly darkness and joy, people like Regis and the Downwards Records crew or the aforementioned Muslimgauze. Beat junkies with camouflage and leather jackets - they drink from the same virulent well poisoned by William S. Burroughs and Throbbing Gristle. Smart punks with good taste, but often times unfriendly or socially awkward.

The two tracks of 'Jordanian Descent' draw you in, and keep you there. 'Jordanian Descent (Sharia Law)' is 20:06 and 'Jordanian Descent (Guantanamo Military Commission)' is 15:13. Both feature a consistent beat throughout, with other loops, rhythmic and melodic, shifting in and out, oftentimes imperceptibly. Each side is about long enough to walk to the store, or ride to work, and i highly recommend giving this a spin during yr commute. It can block out urban grit, and put you in a really sensual lull for the task that lay ahead. I can't wait to hear the other two singles, as well as the new full length. I am getting intrigued by this man and his actions. You should pay attention.

There's something for every Electronica enthusiast on this short-but-sweet offering from L.A. based The Hollow Hearts. Beginning with 'The Sea,' which begins with ambient field recordings of lapping waves, with crystalline synthesizer sequences fading in, so subtle as to be almost unnoticeable, until you are submerged in a psychotropic coral reef of wonder. It sounds like Drexciya's underwater fantasias, if they were remixed by Sylvain Chauveau.
'Belief' brings back '90s industrial existentialism to the dance floor, giving an unabashed nod to latter day NIN's, with its monochromatic deadpan rap. Its sexy, in the most dispassionate of ways, and it should sound great beneath the strobe lights. 'Forever,' a futuristic love poem with robotic vocals and churning dubstep LFO, could be three times as long, clocking in at a mere 1:46. 'Ashes' rounds finishes things, with its Twin-Peaks-By-Way-Of-Berlin distant longing. It sounds like a memory of romance, for people who grew up going to sweaty dungeon raves, rather than juke joints and speakeasys.

It seems like The Hollow Hearts are a little unsure of themselves, like they're afraid of taking up too much of yr time. This tiny morsel comes out to a scant 17 minutes. They should rest assured, they clearly know what they are doing. The mix is nearing perfection, with the drums, vocals, and synths appropriately levelled and spaced around the stereo spectrum. The Hollow Hearts is a lush and spacious affair. They have refined the strengths of 30 years of electronic music into something unique and personal. The Hollow Hearts manage to sound both classic and futuristic, simultaneously. Here's to hoping that this release will help usher in a new era of dancefloor romanticism. Their next release should be three times as long!

The Hollow Hearts can be had as a free download, and the classy flat-matte CD can be had for a scant 3 bucks. The sleek letterpressed logo and hand-written stationery that came with my reviewing package show a band that is invested in what they are doing, and they are practically giving it away. This humble and heartfelt music needs to be heard, equally at home in pounding techno clubs as driving down blacktop highways with the cruise control on. Highly recommended!

The Gate wield the power of Doom Metal with a New York thrash-jazz attitude. The unlikely trio of tuba, double bass, and drums makes for doom unlike anything you've ever heard. The glittering bronze bell of the tuba manifests marbled slabs of bass grit, with all the edge and bite that is a brass instrument. Destruction of Darkness is part classical, part jazz: part metal, part art.

Doom jazz is a relatively recent sub-genre, that shows great life and potential. It combines the mood, tempo and technique of many divergent styles of jazz, from COOL to FREE, with the bone-crushing plate tectonics of bands like Earth, Khanate, Sunn O))). They have isolated the power of the drop and distilled it to an alchemical singularity, honed and dangerous. The Gate are going for the same monolithic sound of the legendary Doom bands, but Destruction of Darkness is recorded like yr standard New York art affair, like John Zorn's Painkiller. or jazz assassins like The Flying Luttenbachers. The main difference is in how the record is recorded. Doom records tend to be extremely in yr face, the drums ane guitars are compressed like hell, and fall like anvils from heaven. Destruction Of Darkness is seeped in roomsound, which makes for a unique listening experience, but it has its ups and downs. The three long tracks breathe well, and convey an intimate sense of space. The sonorous tones of the bowed bass, especially on the epic second track Frozen Gods, deals particularly well with the breathing room, but the drums all throughout the record lose a lot of their power. Destruction Of Darkness, like another Carrier Records album i reviewed, comes off like a recording of an art event, the kind of thing you'd see at a minimal art gallery. It has a classical, documentary feel that is kind of raw and lovely, but defeats a lot of the intended goals. The interesting instrumentation alone makes it worth the price of admission, the wide phase arcs of the various low frequencies lazily twine around one another like drifting sand dunes. If someone is not versed in Modern Composition, or some form of improvised medium, you'd be best to shy away from this record. And metal heads! I recommend it, if only for the reason that it'd do you some good to listen to something without an exploded goat on the cover, for a change.

As we sit here, at the edge of the eschaton, all bets are off. Worlds are dying, daily, and we await expectantly to see what will come. One of the undecided questions is the role of the record label, and of the physical medium of music. What makes a band stand apart from the crowd? Are they worthy of yr time and attention? These are the questions i must ask myself, as a reviewer, and i return to you, the reader, with my results. It is clear, from the couple of records i've seen from Carrier, that every record they make is a labor of love. The sleek graphite cover, courtesy of Ben Garstein, makes DoD a tasty fetish item, the sleeve feels desirable in yr hand, and makes you want to play it. Since i was reviewing this on CD, i was able to listen on the CD player in my kitchen, and turn it up, and let the sprawling static tones fill my home. These songs are longform in the extreme. They make for excellent incidental music, or for times of introspection, but only play when you have time to really listen. Otherwise, it will just be line noise. And that's the thing, with every album that goes out into the air, every record label, every band. They all want a piece of yr time. They think what they are doing is the bee's knees, and feel that you would see it their way, if they could draw you in. It becomes the job of a journalist to curate and cherry pick, and to let you know if you will be getting their backpatch or logo tattooed anytime soon. With The Gate, they are doing extremely interesting thing, and any fan of jazz, classical, or slow crunchy metal will find something in here that hooks them. The way it is presented, however, as some chimera of avant-garde art record, mixed with New York fire jazz and colossal Doom, will turn of purists of each, and i'm just not sure who the intended audience is on this one. Its clear that Carrier cares, i just don't predict crossover success, any time soon. But for those that dig watching the permutations fly, in real time, will be banging their heads on the way to work, this fall.

One of the coolest aspects of avant-garde classical music joining forces with experimental music and improvised noise is the way that the various instruments are taken out of context, forced to expand their sonic vocabulary and discovering new nuances and techniques along the way. On 'K-Horns,' Suboko, a trio of French percussionists, are joined by Carl Ludwig Hubsch on tuba and Roland Spieth on trumpet, to create five tracks of rumbling metal, hissing breath, and obscure sci-fi textures from God Knows Where. The overall effect is of listening to some mutant jazz festival in an old warehouse, while rain beats down on the corrugated tin roof, and a flying saucer smoothly descends into the vacant lot next door. Oh yeah, there are mechanical rodents running around in the walls, broadcasting slowed down Hitler speeches through tiny tinny loudspeakers, also. Sounds surreal? It is.

59 minutes of improvised symphonic textures may not be to everybody's liking. There's nary a melody or rhythm to be had. Instead, the players are intent on exploring the lengths and depths of their instruments: Hubsch's tuba blatts border on bass wobble, while Spieth settles on more of a trad jazz freak trumpet flavor, whose conventiality makes the proceedings seem more bizarre. The strength and adventurous spirit of these five musicians makes it seem like they are actually breaking new ground, instead of recycling hashed-over micro-genres, and what we're left with is a mixture of free-jazz fire sermon with a San Fransisco Tape Music Center backing band, or a mariachi quintet covering Lustmord. Its unlike anything you've ever heard; they will ignite odd movies in yr mind, if you give them the time of day.

The production is superb, giving equal time and temperament to both the higher and lower registers, making for a full, lush recording. You are practically transported to the small wooden rooms these recordings were inevitably made in. The blurry light photographs by Axel Haller on the cover are also quite lovely, and set you in the mood to travel to these Teatros Grottesco. If ever you were looking to sneak a peak at what improvised electro-acoustic could sound like, or if yr a classical or jazz buff and you'd like to hear what else yr beloved brass instruments are capable of, look no further. Highly recommended.