James Hoehl – Called Alien Transmission (2023)

Etched Traumas/Archive.org

Ambient/Electronic music/Ambient drone/Minimalism/Kosmische Musik/ Post-rock/Space ambient/Microtonal/ Shoegaze

Varasemast on käesolev autor esindatud päeva lugudega kolmel korral blogis -- olen markeerinud Hoehl'i muusikat küll droonmuusikana, küll ämbiendina (nii tava- kui tumevariandina), isegi New Age-virvenduste ja progressiivelektroonikana. Ka mikrotonaalsus on läbiv märge. Käesolev teos püüab tulnukate signaale avakosmosest, mis on ühtaegu nii kasin kui ülev protsessi ja tulemusena. Droonhelid kõlavad kohati (pool)sümfooniana, mis siiski näikse avaruumis kihutavat tohutul kiirusel tundmatusse; siiski pakkudes vaheldust emotiivset pinget kruttides ja maandades. Kohatine polüfoonia on rabav -- seda nii väheste muutuste, spetsiifilise vibratsiooni, inimhääl(utust)e kui tektooniliste efektide kasutamisega. Isegi helikriukse-läägamist on sisse kootud. Eraldi tooksin välja loo "Go Into Exile", mis kõlab sarnaselt mõne kosmilise postrokk-kombo või atmosfäärilise kingapõrnitsemispundiga. Tõepoolest -- kitarrid, trummid, tagurpidi raadavad heliefektid mõlemas helikanalis --, millest omakorda kasvab välja hõõguv bassine droon -- tekitavad uue sünteesina meeliülendavat hingeärritust. Kindlasti üks selle aasta lemmikalbumeid.

8.5 (8.0-9.5)

getdizzzy – Long Normal Dream (2017)

Etched Traumas

Etched Traumas

• Improvised music 
• Avant-garde 
• Electronic music 
• Experimentalism 
• Crossover 
• Downbeat 

Comment: undoubtedly it is very problematic to categorize this issue. Furthermore, after the first round of listening I did have problems to identify it somehow because of having so many stylistic references within it, and because of changing permanently throughout the course. I guess the most proper tags to pigeonhole it might be such generic tags as electronic music, and experimental music, improvised music. By listening to such a track as Unfortunate the case will be even more complicated because the beat represented over there can ideologically be considered a thread from hip-hop music but in reality it is more a downbeat case. Walkwalk is an example of psyched-out electro-free jazz. It is not surprising at all with regard to the fact he comes out of Chicago, Illinois, USA which has been a fertile platform for amalgamation and flourishing of different styles, from improvised music, post-rock, to free jazz. The issue is a bit in the discography of Etched Traumas.

Pineal Neuron Trauma – The Story Of… (2017)

Etched Traumas

• Post-industrial 
• Avant-garde 
• Dark wave 
• Electronic music 
• Drone 
• Experimentalism 
• Dark ambient 
• Electro-acoustic 
• Psycho-acoustic 
• Leftfield 
• Illbient 
• Neoclassical 
• Noise 
• Experimental electronica

Comment: it is one of the most voluminous if not the most voluminous release having ever been appeared at RMH. It clocks in at a 197 minute (based on the set of 24 tracks) which exceeds more than 3 hours of pure music. The reason is actually simple – it encompasses all the sounds having been produced by the artist. The status of the combo is unknown due to health problems, and collaborative disagreements between the members. The only constant member behind the project has been Tim Van der Schraelen from Antwerp, Belgium, and the members also have been Mattia P. (Italy), Theofil Tsiolakakis (Thessaloniki, Greece), and Joseph (Athens, Greece). In truth, a couple of tracks are added as the oeuvre by Drowned In The Sewers (a collaborative act between Tim, and Theofil). Contingently I tagged the music as post-industrial (among many other tags) because it is a contemporary example of industrial music though by its attitude, approach and characteristics of sound it may even more remind of early old school industrial and noise music acts like Zoviet France, for instance. Second, it also comes very close to neoclassical and dark wave artists because in some tracks the soundscapes are loaded with ominous and depressive seeds and even sickening milieus reflecting upon the shortness and decay of the human being`s life. Indeed, that has always been a moral statement of such sort of music. Given the extent of time, and the nature of music the listener can be very sure to be flooded by intriguing sounds and obscure and morbid moods of different kind. Experiments with disparate timbres and varied rhythms. And you should be warned again – it is very far away from an innocent fun. It more a kind of music providing you a stark accompaniment while walking through a catacomb or a graveyard. Such sort of sound (I mean noise music) is universal in a way because it used to incorporate so many sounds within it (lo-fi, spoken word, sample-based music/plunderphonics, electronic music, drone, improvised music, ambient, electro-acoustic) and while needing no any further categorization and explanation. It is more about the method rather than about certain sounds. The style is being an all-devouring phenomenon. The prodigious issue both by its physical, psychic and intellectual extent is a part of the discography of Etched Traumas, the imprint headed by the same Joseph being mentioned above.   

Lezet – Intimate (2017)

Etched Traumas

Bandcamp

• Electronic music 
• Improvised music 
• Alternative
• Primitive music

Comment: I am quite stricken of how and at which degree Igor Jovanovic decided to change his mind and path in comparison to his previous outing Aether (2016, Kermesse). He abandoned his way of previously walking along modern classical, drone, chamber music pieces to recently provide something which can be described as if slow burning in improvised music on a helium-filled keyboard which sounds due to relentless tooting quite similarly to a treated bagpipe. It seems to be so primitive and gawky it will make fun to a listener. Is it the music of the free jazz musician who lost the gravity? May it be way too intimate being only understandable to the composer only? The only exception in the row of short-running compositions is Teeth wherein one can hear remarkably cranked-up sound yet the formula is analogous. This 7-notch outing is a bit in the discography of Etched Traumas.

23RedAnts – We Are Not Dead Yet (2014)

Etched Traumas

/Improvised music, Experimental electronica, Drone, Glitch, Experimentalism, Live session, Avant-garde, Electro-acoustic/

Comment: 23RedAnts is a duo from Vigo, Spain whose 2-track whole consists of setaceous cello based drones and laptop supported electronic effects. In general, Macarena Montesinos and Niet F-n`s music is a drift between silence and glitched-out noise, between electronic wobbles and acoustic configurations, between grey penumbras and clear-cut occurrences in sound, between superimposed torpor and unexpected stings into the listener`s brain. Because of it these 14 minutes seem to be composed of real and invisible, fictional patterns and perceptions.