cassette

I can’t say much about this Portuguese band – who are they (or is it a one-man army), where do they (he / she) come from, what’s the story behind the project, and so on. The only thing I know is that Adverso did release a first demo (on tape), called Bringer Of Death, at the very end on 2017 via Purodium Rekords (also from Portugal’s black-scorched soil), and this very same label recently released the sophomore demo-tape, Ex Inanis (which is Latin for ‘from the void’, or ‘from emptiness’).

For about a decade, Swedish sound artist Michael Idehall creates a very own-faced form of Industrial under his own name. before, he was active under different pseudonyms too, but as Michael Idehall, this guy from Gothenburg is the most successful one. He always ‘tries towards manifesting an opening to a world beyond mundane. The creative process involves honing in on the nexuses between the flows of mind, matter and spirit. Nexuses which exist inside the human being, but also in the outer world, as conglomerations of energy and matter.

Last year I was sort of surprised positively by Cream, a two-tracker released on tape and digitally via the Italian label SØVN Records. it was a huge contrast to another tape by Jessop&Co., Skin Blade, which was released about half a year earlier, this time via Spain’s finest Craneal Fracture Records. I will come back to that release immediately. First a short introduction on the band.

Very recently I came in touch with a new label, based in Boston, MA, US of A. Main reason was the cassette release of a new EP by Cryostasium, a unique love-it-or-hate-it one-man orchestra by Cody Maillet. I will come back to this immediately. Yet first I want to express my astonishment yet huge respect for the label, and this because of its raison d’être. Fish Prints was started just a couple of months ago by Cody’s twin brother Thor, releasing ‘curious sounds, past and present’.

If I’m not mistaken, Kazemat hail from Switzerland. This experimental project released a couple of recordings via Spain’s Craneal Fracture Records, one of the most influential labels when it comes to Noise / Drone / Experimental Music.

Suzana’s Bauten is an act from Salvador, Brazil, with a logo visualised as 2V54n42 64V73n. This trio has a modest curriculum vitae going on (and most of the material was released via the great Spanish Noise label Craneal Fracture Records, and quite some stuff as well on, for example, Murmure Intemporel). So it goes for Nucleo Duro too, that Craneal Fracture Records release, available both digitally as on tape.

Two years ago, Cop Fetish, a project by a guy called Jeff Williams, originating from Olympia, State of Washington, uSSa, signed to Lurker Bias with the aim to release his first recording under the Cop Fetish-moniker, Transuranic Waste. That tape was (and still is) a monster of a release!

What I do appreciate when referring to Spain-based Craneal Fracture Records’ roster is the diversity Jose Murcia and his crew have to offer. Everything that dwells within regions of Harsh Noise, Musique Concrète, Experimental Drone, Field Recordings, Noise Wall, Power Electronics and the likes might pass by. Even some extremer sub-genres of the Metal area are represented from time to time.

Keys of air, keys of fire, throw my soul, rise it higher…

Friuli is a region in Italy, in between the Gulf of Trieste (the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea) and the Dolomites, somehow at the feet of the mighty Alps, near the borders with Slovenia and Austria. Nature-wise it’s a fabulous area, quite unspoiled, with only a handful of larger (mainly ancient and, therefore, not that ugly-industrialised) cities. Oops, I sound like a touristic guide…