OV - Noctilucent Valleys (Soft Abuse, 2007)

1 Arms Of The Mountain (2:13)
2 Spring Clock (5:03)
3 The Noctilucent Valley (3:37)
4 Bone Of The Bone Scholar / Moon Of The Moon Scholar (10:23)
5 Ghost Of The Future (4:59)
6 Centaur In Saturn (3:36)
7 Soul Of Swan (1:54)
8 The Noctilucent Cloud (8:03)
9 Canals (11:51)

Drones, lo fi, psych, free folk, etc, projet de Loren Chasse et Christine Boepple....

Ov is the collaborative project between Christine Boepple and Loren Chasse (a leading figure in Jewelled Antler groups like Thuja), and sees the duo taking on a kind of organic approach to soundscape abstraction. There's a genuine sense of magic to these recordings, which although steeped in a lo-fi haziness nonetheless manage to capture a real sense of compositional rigour and all-round thoroughness. 'Spring Clock' is the first track to really get the balance right between the degraded sound quality and the musical intricacy of the piece, and following on from there the album's title track features some of the most withdrawn, low-key vocals you're likely to hear on any record, while a corona of cymbal swell gives breadth to the otherwise rather small stereo field the album tends to occupy. The song itself is most clearly redolent of Charalambides at their very gentlest and is, frankly, incredibly beautiful. Taking a cue from Chasse's own field recordings album (The Air In The Sand) from a couple of years back 'Soul Of Swan' begins with a simply gorgeous watery ripple, making a bed for ancient-sounding guitar chimes. Even further removed from conventional song structuring are the droning bow strokes and sustained tones of 'Centaur In Saturn' and the closing driftscape, 'Canals', which over its 12-minutes incrementally converges on a bewitching sense of calm. Highly recommended.
Boomkat

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Seht - Dronemusic (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, 2001)

1 Nil Music 1 2:02
2 The Dark Room 16:17
3 110 kV 3:11
4 Waste Water Drain 4:04
5 Nil Music 2 4:03
6 Jet Raga 4:08
7 Chimnon 2:41
8 Nil Music 3 1:56
9 All Quiet On Howth Now 4:28
10 Live At The Space 11:57
11 Bury Yr Dead 1:49

Onze drones variés évoluant de la free folk au minimalisme...

We at AQ have long been fans of Campbell Kneale and his project Birchville Cat Motel who along with the Dead C, Omit, Gate and a handful of others have helped to define one of the richest free-rock-noise-drone scenes in the world. For years Kneale has been releasing cds, lps and cassettes (most of them quite limited) of noisy electronic soundscapes and gorgeous organic drones. So when we discovered Kneale also ran a label, we figured it was definitely worth checking out. And how right we were. Not only is all of the music on Celebrate Psi Phenomena amazing, but the packaging is perfectly and stunningly designed as well (quite nice considering this is a cd-r label. See our crappy cd-r packaging rants in the last three or four lists) with each cd in a plastic sleeve nestled between two sheets of old fashioned textured wallpaper, printed, and sealed with a gold star.
Dronemusic indeed. Seht is one Steven Clover, who has released a handful of limited lathe cuts under different names. On 'Dronemusic' Clover crafts deep, rich sonorous drone music, seemingly simple but lush with harmonic overtones. As the record progresses, the drone becomes less and less obvious, from looped guitars and spastic rhythmic guitars to vaccuum cleaner drones and distorted woofer rumble to super austere almost Bernard Gunter-esque minimal dronescapes.
Aquarius Records

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Christina Carter - Bastard Wing (Eclipse Records, 2004)

A1 Mixing Place
A2 In Current Grief
A3 School Song / Desire To Play And Play
B1 Quiet Love
B2 For All Death / Be, Come

Premiers enregistrements solos de Christina Carter au piano, au milieu des années 90, sortis par Eclipse en 2004...

"Christina's first solo piano recordings, begun in a rotting boathouse in the shadow of the Southwest freeway, Houston, 1995; and finished with guitar and vocal overdubs over the course of a half dozen or so years' of long Texas living room nights and a half dozen disintegrating master tapes (lovingly restored & remastered by Rob Vaughn). Inviting, quietly (and not so quietly) turbulent, and thick with inner mystery and self invention."
Tom Carter

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Anders Dahl - Hundloka, Flockblomstriga 1 (Häpna, 2006)

1 Hundloka - Guitar, Bouzouki, Violin, Prepared Speakers (19:45)
2 Hundloka - Percussion, Guitar, Bouzouki (6:22)
3 Hundloka - Clarinet, Recorder, Computer, Guitar, Bouzouki, Percussion (12:37)

Quelque part entre free folk et drone...

You can always count on Hapna for providing you with a sparkling slice of the avant-garde, and Anders Dahl's florally titled latest is no exception. Taking a whole host of interesting acoustic and electric instruments, including Bouzouki, Clarinet, Violin, Recorder and the humble Guitar - Dahl has prepared three pieces here of devastating drone. Similar in many ways to the drone work of Jim O'Rourke, feedback is layered and instruments are bowed to create extended and subtly beautiful extended compositions, somewhere between ambience and noise. As the instruments fight for supremacy, broken speakers crackle and hum slowly gathering momentum. Guaranteed to appeal to paid up members of the Touch fan club or followers of Mego's more harmonic items of distraction this is a subtle addition to the drone canon and comes with a hearty recommendation.
Boomkat

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Jack Rose / Silvester Anfang, Split (Funeral Folk, 2007)

A1 Jack Rose - How Green Was My Valley
A2 Jack Rose - Buckdancer's Choice
B Silvester Anfang - Geen Vlaemsch, Geen Senzen

Split entre Jack Rose et Silvester Anfang, groupe belge se définissant lui même comme du krautfolk post-satanique. Ici Jack Rose reprend le "How Green was my Valley" de John Fahey et le "Buckdancer's Choice" de Sam McGee, selon sa technique éprouvée du fingerpicking et c'est comme si chacun de ses petits doigts étaient animés de sa vie propre. Quant à Silvester Anfang ils signent à nouveau un morceau de free folk foutraque....

The first thing that strikes you about this split tour 7" from guitar maestro Jack Rose and Belgian occultists Silvester Anfang is the eerie sleeve art, bringing to mind the diabolical engravings in that book from The Ninth Gate. Entirely in keeping with that tone is the all-out creepfest 'Geen Vlaemsch, Geen Senzen' on the Anfang side, one of the group's more concise statements to date, held together by creaky string drones and out of step drumming. Jack Rose supplies two solo pieces, the first being a rendition of John Fahey's 'How Green Was My Valley', immaculately plucked out on lapsteel, the second a more blues-oriented fingerpicking of Sam McGee's 'Buckdancer's Choice'. Superb.
Boomkat

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