Larsen is one of those bands Italy can be proud of. I discovered them in 1999 with their split 7" Ep with Mr. Bread on Bar La Muerte (Bruno Dorella's of Ovo/Ronin fame label), and since then they have managed to work with artists like Michael Gira, Jarboe, Nurse With Wound, David Tibet and more. A nice curriculum but not only mere name-dropping because Larsen have substance. This new work goes along 2011 "Cool cruel mouth", a kind of Extended Play, and still features the addition of Baby Dee on piano and Annie Anxiety on vocals. One long track divided in two, a long rarefied journey, a sort of atmospheric soundtrack starting with some drones and reaching the best moments on Annie's vocals, I'd dare a comparison with the mildest Swans, but luckily Larsen have an identity of their own. Since I'm reviewing just the mp3's, I'm wondering how 25 minutes of music will sound on a picture 10" though, a pretty long run for that format to keep the sound good. Anyway, to be released May 2012.

Music styles come and go, there's going to be a second chance for anything, and even a third, fourth... one. Actually goth has never disappeared but in the last few years I've seen several people related to the punk scene attempting to use their skills in that field. Bands like Deathcharge, Lost Tribe or The Estranged might be kinda outsiders to the "official" goth scene, but their punk roots make the whole thing pretty much fresh in a scene where everything is so standard and polished. It's a back to the roots of new wave attitude when impact and music were still overwhelming make-up. Horror Vacui from Bologna, Italy, are another good example of that, basically 5 punks on a new mission (oh, yeah, The Mission!). So obvious influences are Warsaw/early Joy Division, Skeletal Family, early Siouxsie, or Sisters of Mercy... yes, the Sisters most definitely, Horror Vacui are way more filthy, but guitar parts have an obvious influence ("Soldiers" for example) and vocals also, Koppa doesn't reach same Eldritch's depth of course but sings modulating in the same way. And why not, some genre cheesiness probably come to us from that side ("In darkness we all feel like... creatures of the night!"). Songs are very enjoyable and stick in my head, they have impact and catchiness, the guys luckily prefer listening to the Dead Boys rather than wasting time in clothing stores. The sound in general is not bad at all, I don't mean the recording (which is pretty much... home-made let's say, but it's just a demo), but the sound, under tons of reverb everywhere guitars are driving and bass pounding, that's another punk inheritage. Nothing new on the horizon, of course Warsaw/early Joy Division, Skeletal Family, early Siouxsie, or Sisters of Mercy did it better, and if you are afraid of discovering new bands stick to the originals, but Horror Vacui are refreshing and entertaining, so why not giving a try?

Do you know what "easy listening is"? Well, Ass-Olo not. This is a project by Madrasko of Barbarian Pipe Band, and this is something that I would not define "entertaining". I have a wide concept of that, to me even Masonna is entertaining because it has some organicity, it has a mood, it has aggression, it has headache. I don't mean that Ass-Olo has nothing, it actually has too much! The 10 compositions follow the path of a dadaist collage, spoken vocal parts (sampled and not), noises and oscillations coming from digital and analogic machines, classical music samples, some occasional deep rhythm beats (usually stopping before you can get used to them), concrete music'¦ all mixed together not randomly I guess but "dadaistically" at least. I have the feeling that sometimes samples and layers are kinda stuck on the rest like some "Post-It" sheets and not really blent in the composition, it's like windows opening suddenly and then closing. The tracks I like more, and it's not a case, are "EsEmpire" and "HoMe", though a bit flat they succeed in creating an atmosphere because they take the time to do it. I expect better stuff in the future.

I find not easy reviewing compilation, and usually it's because of compilations, not me. I think that compilations, unless vehiculating a specific project or background able to give a sense of unity to a bunch of different bands put together, become something not organic and easily boring, and you start skipping tracks one by one. Ok, that's might be not that bad, compilation are useful to get to know music, different projects, etc., but fact is that you skip tracks. And the only way to review the record would be writing down a pletora of single microreviews... boring. Zero State actually tries to give the whole compilation some organicity. "Zero State is a new futurist movement exploring the impact of accelerating technological growth on society [...]", "We want a new, healthy society - a new future - which embraces the compassionate use of technology [...]", "It is our ultimate goal to create a society in which involuntary suffering has been Abolished by the considered, compassionate application of technology [...]". As a background, I find it pretentious, metaphysical as well as naively optimistic, I have a completely different view about "technology", it doesn't put me in the best mood, and from mere titles and names I can't get the evidence of real criteria in putting all this music together, but I can always skip tracks. Actually I did it many times. As you would expect you find the good and the bad in this kind of compilations, so it's here. There's some interesting stuff, the highlights would be Prompter (up-tempo future pop, entertaining), Kommand + Kontrol (catchy modern ebm), Temp0rary (IDM related) and the nice electro-beats of Amon Zero and LXPK, then we have several variations on the "electronic music" theme, and some of the rest sometimes is even hardly definable electronic, a bit heterogeneous to keep the level of attention high. I would finally highlight Xykogen, probably the most original music on the compilation, worth checking out.

Grandchaos is the solo project of Ivanovitch Tcheleskov, already known for his other band Idlo. This album features basically only remixes plus a new version of "Ultra dark day" off their previous "Open source" album. The title-track appears with five different versions and, together with the other remixes, will appear in its original version on the upcoming "Rumours of my life" album. Usually remixes are released at the same time or after the "official" versions, but why not changing a bit. Hailing from Belgium and sounding definitely Belgian, though remixed, this is Grandchaos. Expect some old sounding EBM, pounding bass-lines, synth layers and deep darkened vocals. There are some futurepop moments, like "A new replica" (Grandchaos vs Operation of the Sun), the last and fastest track. As for me, I prefer the old EBM parts, but it's hard to judge a remix album, anyway, it makes me want to hear the "official" new one, that's a good side effect! and, by the way, I'm actually spinning a lot the Bak XIII remix of "A lot of pain".