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Roseland - Roseland - 20-May-08 04:08 PM
Roseland is a strangely obscure collaboration between film score composer Tyler Bates (300, Doomsday) and Azam Ali from bands Niyaz and Vas. Both artists’ historical output is amazing. However, this album is quite a departure for both of them, though no less competent.

Roseland reminds me a bit of trip hop, think Portishead or Massive Attack, injected with a healthy dose of Siouxie and the Banshees style gothic rock. It is a largely electronic recording with scattered riffy guitar work. There is a solid groove with a strong down beat, making this music a seductive dance floor choice. Each track is memorable, without annoying pop hooks, and work together to make a good, complete album.

Azam Ali’s vocal work is simply divine. Her range, and vocal depth are staggering. Her work here is commanding, intense, passionate and utterly beautiful. Even though Ali’s vocal work is quite potent, it is noteworthy that in no way does it overwhelm the overall mix or composition. This is a normal point of contention I have when a band showcases such a prominent vocalist. This is not just a showcase for how wonderful a vocalist she is. This is definitely an even collaboration between these two competent artists.

Roseland is not quite trip hop, but it is difficult to classify and I suspect anyone into bands like Massive Attack will enjoy this album. I would also recommend this to fans of darkwave/ethereal acts like Dead Can Dance or The Creatures.

Orion Rigel Dommisse - What I Want From You Is Sweet - 20-May-08 04:00 PM
Orion Rigel Dommisse’s album, “What I Want From You Is Sweet”, is a perfect example of an album that is so great, it makes it difficult for me to review it. I want to lavish praise on it for being highly original, emotive and wonderfully peculiar, but end up wanting to write, “It’s awesome, just listen to it”.

Of course, it isn’t necessarily for everyone, so I’ll describe it the best I can. It is a collection of depressing folk oriented songs. Dommisse’s vocal work remind me a bit of Melora Creager from Rasputina, but much more soft and not quite as devilish. The lyrics are extremely crafty, largely being songs about death and tragedy. This is seriously dark music, with sort of a girly, powdery kiss that makes it feel almost like a set of demented nursery rhymes. Or even more accurately, it is music that would work well for narrating very dark fairy tales or folk legends. It is definitely music for deep in the forests.

I would recommend checking out this album if you enjoy the idea of a very mellow, folk oriented Rasputina, or like anything by Marissa Nadler. It is hard to draw comparison’s to Dommisse since her music is so unique.

Earth (2) - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull - 20-May-08 07:46 AM
Earth is a band that gets tagged with a lot of descriptions and genres that do not really apply to its current sound. I am constantly reading their music being described as "stoner rock" or "doom metal", which do accurately describe the bands style from many years ago. In more recent times, the band's sound has moved to a more ambient, old west styling, which is the case on the recent album, "The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull".

This album does not quite fall into any sort of true ambient territory, as there are very solid and noticeable musical progressions. This almost seems more like movie soundtrack work than true ambient or background music. The bulk of it is filled with really dense and highly styled guitar washes that invoke a very serious "Wild West" atmosphere. I can't really compare it to Ennio Moriccone's western soundtracks as the music is very different. However, I think "The Bees Made Honey..." could be substituted and used as a soundtrack to many of the great Leone westerns. Instead of lush orchestrations, you have almost a rock sensibility that could be coming from a lone cowboy traveling alone in the desert. Although, this cowboy happens to be carrying around some impressive guitar amps. The sound is not epic in scope, but rather more introspective.

Personally, I look forward to taking a trip out west, and playing this while going through the desert. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the scarce few examples of "western ambient" like A Small, Good Thing or Steve Roach and Roger King's "Dust to Dust". It might also work for people who are really into western movie soundtracks of any type, particularly the recent soundtrack work by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis for movies like "The Proposition" or "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford".

Static North - Static North - 14-May-08 06:55 AM
Static North is a criminally obscure artist from Toronto, Canada. The debut is a six track, self-title album that creates a unique type of ambient music by fusing elements of ethereal, shoegazer and drone.

The songs are built using an almost soothing, ongoing feedback, mixed with shoegazer type guitar work. Occasionally a subtle bass line moves the tracks along. The whole album is extremely beautiful in composition. The tracks have a much more song oriented structure than a typical ambient album, which actually makes it very easy to pay attention to. The artist describes on his Myspace an interest in ethereal music, and it really shows. There is a certain Projekt Records sensibility present, though it differs in that there is a serious post-rock influence present as well.

The music is cold and crisp, but very much alive and reminds me of the Aurora Borealis. It is difficult to draw comparisons with this album, but I'd recommend Static North to anyone who likes Lycia, particularly their 1997 Bleak side project. It might also appeal to anyone who enjoys Clint Mansell's soundtrack to "The Fountain". Static North is a much more subdued and minimal than these works, but it carries a similar mood and style.

Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness - 13-May-08 06:07 AM
I have heard Have A Nice Life's "Deathconsciousness" compared to more different genres and artists than anything before it. It is also heaped so much praise, it is somewhat challenging to listen to it without bias. I was immediately inclined to judge it as over-hyped. However, once I got past the hype and really got into the heart of the album, I found a very enjoyable piece of work.

Let's start with the comparisons. The name drops I've heard when people are sizing up this album have honestly been a pretty wide variety of bands which includes Joy Division, Sunn O))), Skinny Puppy, My Bloody Valentine, and many others. Ignore the comparisons. Elements from these various bands are indeed present, but this album really does stand out as a rather unique recording. A number of the tracks are catchy and memorable. A few of the songs really stick with you, but not so much because of clever pop hooks. If you're a fan of ambient / noise / industrial work, these elements are present throughout the whole album, but are more ornamentation to the song writing. They are present in a very tasteful, unobtrusive way that makes the whole album very rich. The guitar work has strong shoegazer and drone elements. The song writing could appeal to fans of older bands like Joy Division or even The Cure. It is really a superb collection of styles that work in a very unique way.

The album certainly suffers from way too much hype, and is a bit inconsistent at times. Some of the production is dubious, and would be marked against it if this somewhat flawed production style didn't accentuate the diy feel of the album, which really is part of its charm. After I got past the albums minor faults, I found an album that I feel should be heard by any fan of interesting and usual music.

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