Due Samoani - Just Guitars (2012)

Paragrafo

Bandcamp

9.0

/Art rock, Blues rock/

Comment: Due Samoani is an Italy-based experimentalist who has dragged his approach over the realms of blues, post-rock, and indie (check it out his excellent albums, called Early Tapes, and Saturae Cubilculae). This time his concept used to be quite minimal and linear because of playing on electric guitar only. On the other side, it involves a loads of arpeggios and intensified chords shifting seamlessly in between blues and artful pop. Just guitars.

Exihibition Poland and the Helmut Orchestra - Like All The Leaders (2011)

Paragrafo

9.1

/Avant-garde, Martial industrial, Spoken word, Experimentalism, Dark ambient, Illbient, Neoclassical, Chamber music, Ambient drone, Musique concrète/

Comment: as so characteristic instance due to the aesthetical platform of the Italy-based Paragrafo Records, this issue comprises deliberately vanguard-ish progressions made up of the snippets of spoken word (more concretely, Parts of Speech), martial industrial-relied brooding epicness, glooming but dirty ambient droning, chamber-soaked or even jazz-esque bits and minutiae, however, all these tendencies are infiltrated with naturalistic shades and dust. Indeed, despite of many elements within it the issue is solidly produced, having neither shortfalls nor deficiences.

Mogadiscio Ensemble - Super Bone Bionde (2011)

Paragrafo

8.8

/Techno, Experimental techno, Industrial techno, Noise, Avant-electronica/

Comment: Mogadiscio Ensemble is a collective from Italy formed by Riccardo Nava (synths and noise effects in My Silver Booster and § as solo), and Riccardo Canta (keyboards and sax in Il Cubo di Rubik Monocromo, and Gonzo Caravan). They issued the debut issue Afro Affairs under the Karuso label in 2010. However, the duo`s brand new heavy comprises a pair of tracks which are imbued with defaced chopped-up breaks, dirty reversed loops, and gloomy layers above it. Noise-infiltrated compositions. All in all, the release is hirsute and bouncing, it is a sort of techno music, yet, thought for night clubs and chill out venues. Instead of it you can hark back to the traces of machines and the brothers Russolo`s legacy on it.

My Silver Booster - 41 (2011)

Paragrafo

8.7

/Experimentalism, Avant-garde, Noise, Improvised music, Experimental rock, Primitronica, Psychedelia/

Comment: just one, 42-minute improvised free form notch. It comes from Italy and its appearance is quite freaked out thanks to its slowly toiling and roughly resonating guitar work which is permanently undermined by unpolished, bumpily billowy electronica and greige sonic effects. The issue is released on the Italian avant-garde/experimental label Paragrafo Records, however, you should listen to other ensembles (analognoisemonster, due samoani, awaycaboose and some artists as much again) under it too.

Due Samoani - Saturae Cubiculae (2011)

Paragrafo

9.4

/Experimental rock, Art rock, Avant-blues, Experimental indie, Avant-rock, Noise rock, Post-industrial/

Comment: this is a classy sequel to Samoani`s masterpiece Early Tapes (2011, Paragrafo). If Early Tapes did have concentration more on krautrock-ish and wicked rock explorations then this new one used to gather both grits of experimental rock and innovative indie touch. Of course, there are represented much more as well (Captain Beefheart-esque abrasive blues rock, noisy art rock). By the way, all these instrumental notches are entitled with the names of famous basketball players worldwide.

Exihibition Poland and the Helmut Orchestra - Poland Skulls (2011)

Paragrafo

9.2

/Psych-rock, Classical music, Dark ambient, Avant-metal, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Ambient, Avant-rock, Crossover, Sampledelic/

Comment: Similarly to all of those issues released on the Italian label Paragrafo Records, this set of 13 tracks reflects upon a very strange mix of experimental music veering from Bardo Bond-esque slowly grooving psych/drone rock/metal and panoramic (dark) ambient to the snippets based on piano driven classical music being blended with Latin-hued rhythms or ancient sounds (resembling of Caretaker) and such kinds of sounds having no source and time. At times these sounds are slightly mutilated or seamlessly growing from one genre to another one. However, everyone can fix up this puzzle in its own way. An impressive accomplishment for sure.

Radiokoala - Meerkat Approved (2011)

Paragrafo

8.7

/Avant-garde, Non-music, Avant-industrial, Noise, Weird, Experimentalism, Electro-rock/

Comment: Aarghhh...it is a really weird notch from Belarus. On the other side, all the topics under Paragrafo Records have been used to be very strange odes to the pop music so far. The first track Here We Go Spastic, Movement I. Grand Booze at the Hennery kicks off as a warped electro-rock hallmark, and the second track Ants-Conquerors Astride Aeneous Mammoths is getting more into a hell-ish flag, mixing up the indistinct borders of rock and nihilistic (proto-)industrial music and flash backed hauntology into each other. Furthermore, hazy experimenting with the radio waves has been one of the extremities of the experimental music for long time, thereby Radiokoala is intended to give it a serious launch at Badger Circuit-Bends Himself by Inadvertence - by hearing those dense tunings of shortwaves with diverse frequencies will make up some melomans remember for lots of worthy memories from the past times for sure. After all of this abovementioned bunch of sonic mayhem, however, intriguing chopped-up sounds, explorations in the spoken word world and heavily clattering riffs will be conjured up.