Despite all the predictable complaining and doom prophets, there was a huge amount of amazing industrial music released in 2013. Picking 10 standouts was really hard, but here it is. This was a year dominated by Tympanik Audio and Malignant Records, with Hymen a close competitor. A bit sad to say that no Ant-Zen albums made the list (Diaphane's "Lifeforms" came very close), but there you go. Cold Meat Industry seem to have folded up indefinitely (permanently?), but that is a story for another day.
10. (ghost): Departure (n5MD). Departure is the debut album of a promising solo artist (ghost), from the US, on the respected n5MD label (started by the guys from Gridlock; nuff said!). It's a really nice, quirky and subtle electronica / IDM album, that works well as background music while working / reading, or can be listened to carefully, with nice production and melodies to be found. Firmly rooted in the Hymen / style of modern IDM, (ghost) still has his own sound and I think is definitely be one to watch. Track 2 is particularly good. And n5MD have all their stuff on bandcamp, so just go have a listen already!
9. ESA: Themes of Carnal Empowerment pt 2: Deceit (Tympanik Audio). One-man UK act ESA is a quiet and consistent achiever in the industrial power noise world; never signed to one of the bigger German labels (Ant-Zen and Hands), but he's been plugging away putting out some consistently good albums for some years now. The latest is no exception; I'd daresay it's as good as it's predecessor (Themes of Carnal Empowerement part 1: Lust), and packs some outrageously powerful tracks, including the best, No-one will ever Touch You (which ended up getting its own EP). Who says power noise is dead!
8. Zinovia: The Gift of Affliction (Tympanik Audio). I'm really in love with this stunning debut on Tympanik Audio. This solo female act comes out of Greece, and as I understand she's been working away on music for quite some time, but never got around to releasing any of it. Well the album is here and it's a doozy. Drifting, dreamy and moody electronica for sad Sundays and rainy afternoons, Zinovia's music merges the subtlety of analog sounds with the sophistication of beautifully produced electronica.
7. Trepaneringsritualen: The Totality of Death (Malignant Records). I raved about this album elsewhere; in fact I put it on my top 10 death industrial albums of all time. And for good reason - it's killer. Crushing, suffocating death industrial, in the finest Swedish traditions. Who needs Cold Meat Industry when we have these madmen running loose, inflicting their music on the world? Malignant Records show they are not a force to be messed with.
6. Architect: Mine (Hymen Records). For quite some time, Architect has been the IDM / electronica "side" project of EBM legend Daniel Myer aka Haujobb. But let's be honest, in the last 10 years, Architect has put out more and better music than Haujobb, and Mine is most certainly continuing in that direction. In fact, it's a serious candidate for best Architect album (a title previously held by Lower Lip Interface, in my opinion). It's not just the quality of the tracks here, it's the diversity. Myer shows he can move effortlessly from downtempo to glitch to trip hop to techno, outsmarting and outproducing the majority of people in any of those genres. Scary stuff.
5. R.roo: Innerheaven (Tympanik Audio). I liked R.Roo's first album on Tympanik Audio, mgnovenie, which came out early in 2013; it used a lot of pianos and strings to really good effect, and created some powerful emotions. Overall though I felt it was a bit too tense and restrained. This talented young Ukranian has followed it up quickly with Innerheaven; this moves beyond its predecessor and delivers an even more impressive album, with better consistency of production and quality of sound. There is some truly outstanding music here and it deserves to be heard. Tympanik have a bandcamp site too so you have no excuses to not go listen to this right now. (bonus extra: cover artwork by s.alt of Ant-Zen!!)
4. Navicon Torture Technologies: Your Suffering will be Legendary (Malignant Records). Huh? Wasn't 2009's the Gospels of the Gash the final album by NTT? Yes...... kind of. This isn't really a "studio album", but is a release of bonus tracks from a super limited edition of Gospels of the Gash, each of them done as a collaboration with another artist. I've raved and raved about how amazing NTT is before and I needn't do it again here. Suffice to say that on this album, as on others, he produces some of the most intense and mind-bending music you'll ever hear. This isn't quite as good as his other recent albums, but it's still NTT and it's still essential.
3. Tineidae: Lights (Tympanik Audio). There seems to be some secret facility in Ukraine that Tympanik have set up that spawns out amazing electronic musicians at a rapid rate. First R.roo, now another Ukrainian newcomer, Tineidae. Nothing was known about this act until this album dropped, and it dropped like a bomb. This is IDM firmly in the futuristic Hymen / n5MD camp, but I'd say it's some of the best music released in that style since Gridlock, and that is not a statement I make lightly. The production and composition here are jawdropping. The demand for the digital release of Lights caused Tympanik to do a physical release, which is nice. Just turn off whatever crap you're listening to now and get this. The only disappointment is the feeble final track (a topic I'm going to rant about on this blog at some point in the near future).
2. Phelios: Gates of Atlantis (Malignant Records). Massive. I can think of no better word to describe this album. The opening track, an amazing meld of cold dark ambient and intense tribal drumming immediately conjures images of colossal forgotten temples buried under thousands of miles of cold ancient water. And that is just the beginning of the journey, through deep space, abandoned ruins and cursed tombs. Phelios' previous album, Astral Unity, was extremely impressive and one I didn't think could be easily topped, but Phelios has done it, and is well on his way to cementing his claim of being the top dark ambient act active in the world at the moment.
1. Comaduster: Hollow Worlds (Tympanik Audio). I agonised a bit over the rest of this list, but there was never any doubt as to which album would be number 1. This crazy Canadian has released not only the best of 2013, but one of the best albums I've heard in years (if it wasn't for This Morn Omina's last album in 2012, it would probably be better than anything in that year also, and almost anything in 2011). The fact that this albums has a heavy dubstep sound to it, and I still love it, is a testament to how good it is (because generally I fucking HATE dubstep). Part EBM, part dubstep, part noise, part weird electronica, all awesome, Hollow Worlds is really, really hard to describe, but it's very easy to listen to and enjoy. So I suggest you do so. (Again, bandcamp, people!)
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Great Bandcamp labels you should check out
Ant-Zen and Hymen
This one is a no-brainer; Ant-Zen is one of the best if not the best record labels in the world for power noise, and its sister label Hymen is arguable the best IDM / electronica label in the world (yes I know about Warp Records, I don't think they're anywhere near as good as Hymen, I don't care how sacriligeous that is). Both labels have pretty much their entire discography of the last 10 years on Bandcamp, where you can stream and listen to however much you want for as long as you want with no ads, or buy albums for a very cheap price (usually about $10 per album), with a big chunk going to the artist. How good is that! Want to find out which Synapscape album is the best? Keen to finally discover the tribal sounds of This Morn Omina or Tzolk'in? Knock yourself out!
Love Hz
This is a recent discovery of mine. It's a bandcamp-only label, and it is really interesting and unique music and I am totally in love with it. Love Hz (get it? cute title huh) produces basically hardcore techno, with a cinematic / emotional / atmospheric feel to it. Some strings, pianos, pads, etc, running alongside dark crunching German / Dutch style hardcore techno make for a wonderful combination. Even the aggressive German hardcore legend Stormtrooper released an EP on Love Hz, and it is fantastic. Definitely one to watch!
Cryo Chamber
This label was started by Simon Heath aka the busy dark ambient act Atrium Carceri, who put out a whole bunch of good albums on Swedish juggernaut Cold Meat Industry before they went into indefinite hibernation. I thought they were a bandcamp only label (especially as they advertise themselves as a 24 bit label, and audio CDs only store music at 16 bit resolution), but it seems they put out CDs as well. Anyway, Mr Atrium Carceri has put out a couple of recent albums on this label, a cool science-fiction themed ambient side project of his called Sabled Sun has put out a few albums, plus a whole bunch of new up and coming dark ambient artists have albums released here also. I guess they all have to find a new home now that Cold Meat is gone... and despite the name, Cryo Chamber seems to be a very warm and welcoming home. Go get yer dark ambient on right now dammit!
Industrial Propaganda Records
Well this label does what it says on the tin: it releases big, bad, ballsy hardcore industrial techno. Mainly via EPs, plus some compilations, and some old fashioned mixes. I don't recognise most of the bands on this label but who cares, they all sound awesome!
This one is a no-brainer; Ant-Zen is one of the best if not the best record labels in the world for power noise, and its sister label Hymen is arguable the best IDM / electronica label in the world (yes I know about Warp Records, I don't think they're anywhere near as good as Hymen, I don't care how sacriligeous that is). Both labels have pretty much their entire discography of the last 10 years on Bandcamp, where you can stream and listen to however much you want for as long as you want with no ads, or buy albums for a very cheap price (usually about $10 per album), with a big chunk going to the artist. How good is that! Want to find out which Synapscape album is the best? Keen to finally discover the tribal sounds of This Morn Omina or Tzolk'in? Knock yourself out!
Love Hz
This is a recent discovery of mine. It's a bandcamp-only label, and it is really interesting and unique music and I am totally in love with it. Love Hz (get it? cute title huh) produces basically hardcore techno, with a cinematic / emotional / atmospheric feel to it. Some strings, pianos, pads, etc, running alongside dark crunching German / Dutch style hardcore techno make for a wonderful combination. Even the aggressive German hardcore legend Stormtrooper released an EP on Love Hz, and it is fantastic. Definitely one to watch!
Cryo Chamber
This label was started by Simon Heath aka the busy dark ambient act Atrium Carceri, who put out a whole bunch of good albums on Swedish juggernaut Cold Meat Industry before they went into indefinite hibernation. I thought they were a bandcamp only label (especially as they advertise themselves as a 24 bit label, and audio CDs only store music at 16 bit resolution), but it seems they put out CDs as well. Anyway, Mr Atrium Carceri has put out a couple of recent albums on this label, a cool science-fiction themed ambient side project of his called Sabled Sun has put out a few albums, plus a whole bunch of new up and coming dark ambient artists have albums released here also. I guess they all have to find a new home now that Cold Meat is gone... and despite the name, Cryo Chamber seems to be a very warm and welcoming home. Go get yer dark ambient on right now dammit!
Industrial Propaganda Records
Well this label does what it says on the tin: it releases big, bad, ballsy hardcore industrial techno. Mainly via EPs, plus some compilations, and some old fashioned mixes. I don't recognise most of the bands on this label but who cares, they all sound awesome!
Friday, April 11, 2014
Great Mixcloud channels you should follow
I've raved enough about how much I love Mixcloud. If you love Mixcloud too, make sure to check out and/or follow these cloudcasts:
Headphone Commute
This one is a no-brainer; Headphone Commute is a pretty serious weekly podcast for ambient, experimental, IDM, cinematic, etc music. They have a sizeable presence outside Mixcloud, and is one of the top 20 Mixcloud channels, with over 25,000 (!!) followers. The casts are usually guest DJs and I find they cover the experimental, ambient and cinematic end of things very well, the IDM and electronica end of things not quite so well. Still definitely worth following though, and also worth having a look through their back catalogue of mixes. The guest mix by Tympanik Audio / Ad Noiseam ambient artist Subheim is superb!
Low Light Mixes
This cast specialises in the very minimal ambient end of things, and does a really good job. Casts are usually "themed", e.g. based around the sun, air, ice, and so on, which is a bit wanky, but nice.
Led Manville
This Spanish fellow is a very solid DJ, who can beat and keymatch with ease. His regular mixes are of an exceptional level of quality, and he's also produced a whole bunch of fun industrial / synthpop mashups (though those seem to live mainly on youtube).
Neuromancer
This crazy Columbian is my favourite "hard" DJ on mixcloud. He plays a mix of club industrial and hardcore techno, and completely rocks! I wish he put out mixes more often (though I can't talk, I only put one up every few months).
End: The DJ
The most famous industrial DJ in the world. If you want to hear where industrial club music (e.g. EBM, aggrotech) is up to, listen to End: The DJ. End and Led Manville are currently the best in the world at this stuff.
Thingstocome aka The Horrorist
I don't actually love The Horrorist's music (I like a few tracks here and there but a lot of doesn't do much for me). However, he is one hell of a DJ. He plays regularly in New York and uploads his mixes pretty often, which are a weird but awesome combination of weird old acid, techno, electro and old-school EBM.
Leon Tranter aka DJ Dasein
Bit of blatant self-promotion... that's me! Go follow if you haven't already.
Headphone Commute
This one is a no-brainer; Headphone Commute is a pretty serious weekly podcast for ambient, experimental, IDM, cinematic, etc music. They have a sizeable presence outside Mixcloud, and is one of the top 20 Mixcloud channels, with over 25,000 (!!) followers. The casts are usually guest DJs and I find they cover the experimental, ambient and cinematic end of things very well, the IDM and electronica end of things not quite so well. Still definitely worth following though, and also worth having a look through their back catalogue of mixes. The guest mix by Tympanik Audio / Ad Noiseam ambient artist Subheim is superb!
Low Light Mixes
This cast specialises in the very minimal ambient end of things, and does a really good job. Casts are usually "themed", e.g. based around the sun, air, ice, and so on, which is a bit wanky, but nice.
Led Manville
This Spanish fellow is a very solid DJ, who can beat and keymatch with ease. His regular mixes are of an exceptional level of quality, and he's also produced a whole bunch of fun industrial / synthpop mashups (though those seem to live mainly on youtube).
Neuromancer
This crazy Columbian is my favourite "hard" DJ on mixcloud. He plays a mix of club industrial and hardcore techno, and completely rocks! I wish he put out mixes more often (though I can't talk, I only put one up every few months).
End: The DJ
The most famous industrial DJ in the world. If you want to hear where industrial club music (e.g. EBM, aggrotech) is up to, listen to End: The DJ. End and Led Manville are currently the best in the world at this stuff.
Thingstocome aka The Horrorist
I don't actually love The Horrorist's music (I like a few tracks here and there but a lot of doesn't do much for me). However, he is one hell of a DJ. He plays regularly in New York and uploads his mixes pretty often, which are a weird but awesome combination of weird old acid, techno, electro and old-school EBM.
Leon Tranter aka DJ Dasein
Bit of blatant self-promotion... that's me! Go follow if you haven't already.
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