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Moodring - Scared Of Ferret - 23-Nov-09 02:15 PM
Moodring started a side project to Rollerball, an outfit that already pleased me with their contribution to a Silber Records compilation. At the time I tagged Rollerball as slightly jazzy and Moodring continues in that trend, albeit it a bit more psychedelic. Scared Of Ferret seems to be their first proper album, after a previous untitled CDr.

After a short intro and the slow "Rintin Fire" the album serves you the hypnotising "#9" on which Mae Starr showcases her voice. Abrasive drumwork, a clarinet and other odd sounds complete the whole and make it into something to which you can only nod your head. Songs like "Shaker Tab" and "Into The Doom" are rhythmically similarly excellent and near-addictive. In between these youll find spacey songs like "Colin Wilson" or "Bulbul Tarang", the latter building to a fantastic climax. There are also several short experimental tracks in between which feel a bit like fillers.

Scared Of Ferret is, simply put, the shit. Laidback, jazzy and slightly psychedelic music with some excellent vocals. Sometimes it dwells a bit on experimental terrain, but when the band get their act together, there is no stopping them. Recommended.

- originally written for the Dutch weblog IkEcht, English translation by the author.

Horchata - Curuá Una - 08-Nov-09 06:22 AM
How some scientists do it is a mystery to me, but Horchata, the name under which Michael Palace records, manages to have an artistic career next to his scientific one. Not so long ago I reviewed his album "Isolated House", released on the net label Dark Winter. "Curuá Una" continues the theme and is based on stories and pictures of colleagues who ran into an abandoned meteorological station during fieldwork in Tapajos National Forest, Brazil. Another soundtrack for derelict buildings then.

This time Horchata opts for one long 53-minute drone. Apparently there are also field recordings in here, but they have been buried under layers of drones and reverb. As a reviewer you can usually be quite short about these kind of one-track albums. You either like them, or you dont, and Im finding "Curuá Una" to be a bit of a tepid affair. It drones and rumbles away, but doesnt manage to catch my attention and in the end outstays its welcome. A shame, as Horchatas minimalist approach worked so well on "Isolated House".

- originally written for the Dutch weblog IkEcht, English translation by the author.

Plumerai - Electrical Mess - 28-Oct-09 02:03 PM
I greatly enjoyed Plumerais debut album "Without Number". Since then, the band has been working on smaller things left and right, including a web EP and a 7" with The Brother Kite, and now they have released an EP on their own label darushka-4.

The EP contains two new songs, "Electrical Mess" and "Die... Die Slowly". The first showscases the bands upbeat sound, whereas the second is somewhat darker and more sober. This is followed by a remix of "Shapes And Trees", a song from the web EP that was released earlier this year. I have to say that Im not very fond of it as Elizabeths voice and the musics timbre clash. The last two songs are bootleg recordings, made during a short tour in Greece in 2008, of again "Shapes And Trees" and "Blues And Greens", which is a song from their debut album. The recordings are of quite poor quality, but they do make clear that the bandmembers sound as good live as they do in the studio.

Altogether I would say that this EP is more of a collectors item. Even if the new songs would not appear on a new album, I cant say you would be missing their best output so far if you decided to skip this one.

- originally written for the Dutch weblog IkEcht, English translation by the author.

TriORE - Three Hours - 22-Oct-09 04:13 PM
Recently this album was announced by Cold Meat Industry, and once I figured out that TriORE would be a collaboration between Christian Erdmann of Triarii and Tomas Pettersson of Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, I became very enthusiastic. They just so happen to be two of my favorite artists in the martial / neofolk genre. They have already worked together before, for instance on the song "Roses 4 Rome" of Triariis album "Pièce Héroique" and that song was quite something. Dedicated readers of this blog will know of my fondness for ORE, but I have also savioured every second of above-mentioned album of Triarii. His most recent album, "Muse In Arms", was a little less to my liking, even if only because of a perceived ideological swing to the right. Anyway, as soon as the news of "Three Hours" broke, I placed my order and last week it arrived.

Judging from album and song titles, as well as the artwork of cogs and gears from watches pictured in the booklet, the theme of this album clearly is "time". The opening track "The First Three Hours" resounds with Triariis bombast, but most songs steer a middle course between the styles of these two acts and are little different from what they normally do. In this case certainly not a bad thing! Tomas takes on vocal duties and acoustic guitar, whereas I get the impression that Triarii is more responsible for sampling and percussion. Upon superficial listening one might think that this sounds like another ORE album, but that is not quite true. Both gentlemen also sing together on several occasions and on a track like "Pleasures & Tortures" the result is especially goose bump-inducing. Tomas singing seems to have improved again anyway and on songs like "The Missing Hour", "Another Love, Another Hate" and "No Tears Are Shed For You And Me" I find his voice to be outstanding and to sound very powerful.

I can be short on this one. Those who dig the sound of, especially the older, ORE and also drool at what Triarii is producing; you cannot miss this album. Certainly one of the top productions in the martial / neofolk genre. I raise my glass to many more collaborations between these two artists.

Completely unrelated, but am I the only who is curious what kind of audio-hell these two could unleash if they were to cooperate with an act like Elend?

- originally written for the Dutch weblog IkEcht, English translation by the author.

Niko Skorpio - NeitherSphere - 25-Sep-09 12:19 PM
Not so long ago my colleague IkEcht reviewed Niko Skorpios album "Half Born In Half Light". Already then he was quite impressed with the track "NeitherSphere". Well, Niko has released another EP at the beginning of this year with this track and alternatives of it.

The EP opens with the 7" Shoplifters Mix by Niko himself that makes for an even more dancable and dancefloor-friendly piece of music. Dont get me wrong, it would still be out of the ordinary in most clubs, but as far as Some Place Else goes, this is very accessible. Karni Mata gives us a dub remix that sits somewhere between the original and the first mix and is a nice interpretation of the original. Last up is the ten minute original. Its a small, but excellent EP of about twenty minutes that is suitable for those who are unfamiliar with the label and are curious, or for those who find Nikos regular sound a bit hard to digest.

The EP can be obtained as a limited 7" vinyl or a CDr, with 200 copies available of both, or as a digital download, either 320 kbit mp3 or FLAC files for only €2.50, or a free 128 kbit mp3 version.

- originally written for the Dutch weblog IkEcht, English translation by the author.

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