Arte Sacra Atelier – Piano (2016)

Kermesse

• Modern classical 
• Ambient drone 
• Post-classical 
• Art music 
• Ambient 
• Experimentalism 
• Avant-garde

Comment: the piano as an instrument has been often considered as the synonym of the classical music but for an average contemporary person classical music is obviously being considered as boring. Of course, it is a superficial approach because in the first place there is interesting music within the genre and secondly you can hear such artists as Nils Frahm, Hauschka, Lubomyr Melnyk, Max Richter who have given the piano a contemporary approach. Of course, the piano as an instrument alone is restricted but by adding to it some electronic extensions, and sonic effects and the result is generally great. Arte Sacra Atelier, an artist from San Antonio defines himself/herself more broadly, or at least beyond the borders of piano at his/her Bandcamp site (an Italian noise crooner). On the other side, though, the recent 5-track issue is entitled as Piano. However, the result is synthetic. A listener can hear experiments with lone piano chords being embraced by echo effects and wondrous ambience and on the other side there are represented massive ambient and drone quests. In a word, it is another great experimental work you can find out at Kermesse.

Balogh=Double Sided Double Density (2011)

Kermesse

• Electro-acoustic 
• Avant-garde 
• Experimentalism 
• Leftfield 
• Noise 
• Plunderphonics 
•  Improvised music 
• Sampledelic 
• Avant-blues

Comment: Jared C. Balogh is a man who has done very much for the sake of the weblabel/netlabel world. He has been leading an imprint, Altered State Of Mine and released a bunch of albums. So it can be said he has had very much to say even if having a focus upon his particular albums. One of them is over there being released on Kermesse, an Argentine imprint. The description of it at the release site is apprehensible – 4 tracks of layered first take improv. And it works in its roughness and raggedness, having made it on guitars, the drums and electronic/sonic effects (accelerations, manipulation with hisses). One can feel curious of what is going to happen during the next steps. The second track Sad Alert Alarm Emergency one can perceive that below those distorted guitar-based overdrives is the simplistic theme progression which reminds me of Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones. However, later tracks embrace clear-cut samples from pop songs. It is all about distortion and disruption in a straight and indirect sense. You can hear chopped and sliced rhythmic patterns, unusual sonic combinations being obviously inspired by cutting-edge jazz, dada music, Captain Beefheart's deranged soul. Get this miscellany of intriguing compositions and sounds.

Lezet – Aether (2016)

Kermesse

Archive.org

• Post-classical 
• Art music 
• Modern classical 
• Chamber music 
• Avant-garde 
• Drone 
• Experimentalism 
• Minimalism 
• Electro-acoustic

Comment: The Serb Igor Jovanovic aka Lezet has been a musical hero within the webaudio/netaudio world with his 68 albums for almost 10 years. Indeed, the amount of the issues is immense and only such artists as Buben, The Implicit Order, Cousin Silas, Cagey House/Dave Keifer and Wings Of An Angel can compete with him in this regard. Of course, music is not a topic for competition (only some decayed forms of it like the Eurovision Contest are subject of it). Lezet`s music has been a state of art, a sort of it. He has issued music on such great imprints as Dog Eared Records, Clinical Archives, Sirona-Records. SuRRism-Phonoethics, Buddhist On Fire, PICPACK among others. Aether is a short-running, 3-notch issue under Argentinian imprint Kermesse Records consisting of a simplistic structure at first sight. Indeed, I have to accentuate for once more – at first sight. In truth, those cello-alike major and minor chords have been managed in the way to conjure up enough emotions, fantasy depictions from one`s mind, and awe towards something/someone. One cannot deny its overwhelming touch and impression confluencing at a crossroad of electro-acoustic, minimalism, drone, and post-classical music. In spite of the tags it is primary to perceive all the shades and penumbras of the whole. For instance, one can discern attractive loops and iterative patterns as if running due to inertia and then, at a time it will be jettisoned for impulsive chords and structures. It is one of the best issues in the list of the best albums of 2016. The cover art is painted by (another musician) Jared C. Balogh.

DaRKRam – Stone and Death (2016)

Kermesse

• Darkwave 
• Art music 
• Neoclassical 
• Improvised music 
• Drone
• Dark ambient 
• Space rock 
• Blackgaze 
• Avant-garde 
• Post-industrial 
• Ambient rock 
• Abstract 
• Experimentalism

Comment: this 9-track monster by Argentinian musician and trumpet player Ramon Moro could be imagined in different ways. Firstly, it is a neoclassical and dark ambient composition with dodges into something remarkably madder and ominous which frequently reject classification and simple logic output. Secondly, it is a mourning post-industrial record with hints at spaced-out rock and orchestrated music. The layers is getting incessantly piled on throughout the course ranging from dull yet arousing droning and emotive blackened ambient to menacing forms of shoegazing and reverberating ambient rock. DaRKRam is both adept in creating climactic moments and manipulating on feelings of the suspenseful listener while the premisses set up by Moro used to progress stepwise to its unforeseeable consequences. The soundscape of him used to bulge and thump, used to dilate and soothe. In a word, it is filled with many putative contradictions though all these ones are merged into an organic, mesmerizing whole. Given that the issue could be considered a general issue to gather together the artist’s ideas. From within on I guess DaRKRam does have many ways to develop on more in a specific manner. One of such ways could be heard at XVI wherein the artist resorts to a motorik rhythmic pattern to round out the improvised buildup. A sort of psychedelic music is also embedded in that. It is just a possibility for an accomplished musician to bring fort his/her ingenious side. And the cover print of it seems to be as if extracted from a horror movie – it is captivating in its awe. At the moment, however, it is one of the most striking and brilliant issues in 2016 so far. Like ancient Americans used to say for such a fine-grained appearance: holy shit. The issue is a part of the discography of Kermesse Records.