Ekca Liena - Pathless

Genre: Ambient, Electronic, Drone
Label: Self Released

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"Pathless" is a brand new, limited edition self release by Ekca Liena. It comes in some fantastic packaging, each one individually made with a unique photograph and ink splatters with an ace screen printed disc of psychedelic colours and swirls. Musically, it's hard to believe that this collection of tracks is stuff that never had a proper home; as it is some of Ekca's finest work I've heard so far. The disc begins with wind chimes and piano, building a slow tension as all the sounds dance around your brain in a dark manner. The next track, entitled "Cloud Movements", starts off equally sinister before a sustained string sound builds into a layered choral sound. By now, the tone of the piece has changed and an light airiness takes over which is fantastically uplifting. "Fading Youth" and "Fading Youth 2" are, for me, the highlights of the album. Reversed pianos and voice samples play over smokey synths and haze. As is with most of Ekca's work, the tracks are so detailed; although on paper drone pieces, there is just so much going on within the tracks. The combination of the pianos and the voice samples, which have been brilliantly processed, is just staggering. The final part of "Fading Youth 2" is beyond belief, giving you an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, pain and regret. It is without a doubt, Ekca's finest track to date. The disc is bought to a close with "Lonely Nights End", a stark and bleak track with desperate acoustic guitar plucking over dense droning.

Anduin - Abandoned In Sleep

Part 1 / Part 2

Genre: Ambient, Electronic
Label: SMTG Limited

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This is a nice review from Forest Gospel. Following up his debut outing last year along with a collaborative release with Jasper Tx earlier this year, Anduin (AKA Jonathan Lee) sounds like he’s has finally achieved something really incredible with Abandoned in Sleep. That’s not to say that his previous output wasn’t good. Anduin seems to be defined at this point by impressive textures and colossal drones. Yet, it has only been with this newest release that I have really been taken aback by and become truly engaged with his work. In terms of 2009 releases, Abandoned in Sleep is most similar to Ben Frost’s By The Throat. On his sophomore release, Anduin has achieved a similar minimalist danger and psychological tension to that of Frost. What is possibly more importantly of note here is, despite the album’s similarities, Abandoned in Sleep's ability to stand so closely and competitively with Frost’s work without losing any of its individual edge or primal energy. The message here is this: if you enjoyed By The Throat in any measure, you’re going to love Abandoned in Sleep. There is a magnificent claustrophobia present on the album that feels muted and heavy, encroaching steadily on the space left in your mind. Heady stuff for headphones and speakers alike, though I would most encouragingly recommend an isolated listen with the nicest set of headphones that you can get your hands on; the textures Anduin has created reward sophisticated headgear. I think that the generous improvement Anduin has made in terms of this record and his last is the diversity and mobility of his compositions. His debut set a standard for textures, but remained relatively stagnant after achieving said textures. On Abandoned in Sleep you can tell that Anduin has taken efforts to make his sounds live and breathe. There is a heart pumping within this record, slowly and assuredly, masking the intents of the beast it supports and its intent on devouring its listener whole. To the extent that being devoured by music can be enjoyable, Abandoned in Sleep is exceptionally gratifying.

Please, Buy this record.

Xela - The Divine

Not The Original Cover Art

Genre: Ambient, Noise, Drone, Experimental, Abstract
Label: Digitalis Industries

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oh xela, what's left to say? just in time for john twells' move to the united states, "the divine" drops at your door. whereas it's predecessor, "the illuminated," was a dark, twisted trek through the most uncomfortable reaches of the xela psyche, "the divine" looks toward the light, attemping to find solace but, again, finds nothing to hang on to. and it's one hell of a jam.

starting out with endless loops of church bells battering your skull into a reverie, the next thing you know it's like you're suddenly a cockroach in the house of god. cryptic voices haunt the bells and get dragged through the dirt. everything and everyone is lost in the static. toward the end, a choir of voices emerges, escaping the black hole plague.

but twells ain't done yet. flip things over and it leads to something else entirely. an electronic stew is the bedrock and twells' voice is the steeple. washed-out drones build momentum until the only place to escape is into the galaxies beyond. there's something sickly beautiful at work here with everything under a layer of frosted glass. twells wails, a siren song to certain doom no doubt, but it's a choice we make time and time again to embrace our delicious demise.

Grouper / Xela - Tsuki No Seika: Volume 1

Genre: Drone, IDM, Ambient
Label: Root Strata

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Strictly speaking, this split 7" from Grouper and Xela is a subscription-only release, and so shouldn't really be available to shops.
This record marks the very first installment of Root Strata's 'Tsuki No Seika' series, a sequence of four 7"s that will go on to include contributions from Christina Carter, Richard Youngs, Islaja, Zelienople, Hisato Higuchi and Valet. The common theme running throughout is a restriction to acappella compositions, and the overall air of autonomy and self-sufficiency is even carried over into the artwork: each artist illustrates their own side of the sleeve. Grouper's musical contribution has something faintly festive about it, sounding like the warm-up hum of undead Christmas carollers. The piece acquires the seamless, fog-caked, drone-like quality that characterised Liz Harris' earliest output, momentarily abandoning her more songwriterly instincts for a return to the brilliantly intangible and esoteric qualities of 'Way Their Crept'. The Xela side is more discernible as a vocals-only piece, and avoiding droned-out abstraction he layers darkly reverberant falsetto recordings that tap into the almost Arvo Part-like streak recurrent in his work of late. The tone encroaches on something that's at least similar to ecclesiastical music, taking on the improbable aesthetic of a one-man church choir from the fourteenth century. Only the song's title upsets that logic: it's called 'I Drowned Her In A Dreamless Sleep'. This all makes for an exceptional start to the series, and with the likes of Carter and Youngs - both seasoned purveyors of unaccompanied vocal recordings - waiting in the wings, this bears all the hallmarks of an absolutely classic collectors edition.

Kuupuu - Lumen Tädhen

Genre: Weird Folk, Acid Folk, Experimental
Label: Time Lag Records

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Jonna Karanka has been slowly leaking out little Kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow it's taken just that long to materialize her first 'proper' album. Maybe it has something to do with the time she's devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, included Hertta Lussu Assa (with Islaja and Lau Nau), Anaksimandos, Avarus, and many others. But, you know, I always figured Kuupuu music didn't have much to do with 'time' anyway. It's music from another reality, to put it bluntly. A beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. You could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much. Post-everything? Pre-birth folk? Bedtime acid-art? Naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? Maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop. The sound of tiny bioluminescent insects systematically devouring an urban cityscape in hyper-speed, while just as quickly slithering neon flora entwine the metallic gray remains, only to then be gobbled themselves by a leaderless army of pulsating micro-robots. Got that? Now play backwards in slow motion. Surreal might just be an understatement. Packaged in a stunning ultra-heavy laminated full color gatefold cover with full color art labels, all created by Jonna.

Aidan Baker & Noveller - Colorful Disturbances LP

Genre: Drone, Experimental, Noise
Label: Divorce Records

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Guitars warped so hard they dissolve into pure consciousness! Seriously, this record had to happen because these two are the NOW of transcendental guitar weirdness. In families like ours where deformed music of one kind or another pours out of the speakers all day long, Toronto's Aidan Baker is a household name. He is no doubt one of the most imaginative experimental musicians of the new generation, quickly creating a universe of limitless sound with his bursting discography. He offers this record an extensive piece which mixes drone, texture, and an ever-bowing foundation--imagine the sound of falling backwards...forever. The new blood on this split is guitarist Sarah Lipstate from Brooklyn, New York (aka Noveller). Sarah's prepared twin guitar works up a slow hypnotic force, gently pulling way out to the furthest deep end of pulses and patterns. Beautiful repetitions effortlessly skirt over a dark undercurrent. Edition of 600 copies.

Valgeir Sigurðsson - Draumalandið

Not The Original Cover Art

Genre: Neo Classical, OST, Ambient
Label: Bedroom Community

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Dreamland is a truly epic film about a nation standing at cross-roads. Leading up to the country’s greatest economic crisis, the government started the largest mega project in the history of Iceland, to build the biggest dam in Europe to provide Alcoa cheap electricity for an aluminum smelter in the rugged east fjords of Iceland. The mantra was economic growth. Today Iceland is left holding a huge dept and an uncertain future.
Dreamland tells the story of a nation with abundance of choices gradually becoming caught up in a plan to turn its wilderness and beautiful nature into a massive system of hydro-electric and geothermal power plants with dams and reservoirs, built to power the increasing heavy industry that will soon make Iceland the largest aluminum smelter in the world.
This was a limited edition release of 200 cd sold at the Whale Watching Tour. It´s sold Out