Pogohm ‎– Raptor Jesus (2012)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

 

• Electronic music 
• Alternative dance 
• Lo-fi 
• DIY 
• Eurobeat 
• Vaporwave 
• Breaks 
• Trance

Comment: behind Pogohm is a French musician Arnaud Barbe who is better known and being more prolific behind a nom de plume, Pollux. He leads also an imprint, Sirona-Records, and the recent 5-notch outing is also a part of it. If someone asks for the point of Pogohm and difference between the two aliases then the first thread one can hear coming out of Raptor Jesus is an appealing VHS quality embracing all the sound. A second characteristic is a cheesy rhythmic sound being something between Eurobeat, and German trance. Given that Arnaud Barbe's profound experiments with ambient and electronic music as Pollux one may see it as a Barbe's guilty pleasure or seedy self-indulgence, however, despite its simplistic rhythms it chimes in an alien way coming close to Vaporwave sound. In a word, it is an enjoyable experience full of bittersweet nostalgia and passed times. Nice shit making your day.

Vincent DeVine – Wer von fernen Menschen träumt (2012)

Sirona-Records

• Digital hardcore 
• Cybergrind 
• Electronic music 
• Spoken word 
• Cover

Comment: this batch of 13 tracks (clocking in at a 24 minute) can be interpreted differently. Given that the lyrics are in German and the music is highly intense and energetic this can be interpreted as the world view of an average German who is born after the WW II being imbued with shame and angriness and anxiety. However, for German culture and for all of us in general it would turn out as a positive consequence thanks to the appearance of Karlheinz Stockhausen, and krautrock. The first of them showed how the recording and studio technique must be employed for future poppy and artsy juggernauts like The Beatles, Pink Floyd and the latter as a liberatory artsy sonic movement to have influenced post-punk, ambient, electronic music, hip-hop and indie music. For instance, the alien-alike aesthetic of Kraftwerk did provide an outlet for oppressed afro-Americans to take a next step forward. However, it seems to me Vincent DeVine has produced the album with tongue-in-cheek attitude as well because it is exaggerated in lyrics and sound and shouting singing through unexpected yet funny samples. In a word, the intention of an artist can not be underestimated. At times it is deliberately kitschy and campy, but it can be taken seriously only with humour and fun. Otherwise it may be as bad as shit. Moreover, some clichés are fixed to blow them to a ridiculous extent. It may be as punk as your granny behind the bongos. This wild ride is a part of the French imprint Sirona-Records.

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness – Old Norse Mara (2013)

Sirona-Records

Free Music Archive

• Apocalyptic folk 
• Dark folk 
• Neofolk 
• Psych-folk 
• Improvised music 
• DIY 
• Improvised music 
• Lo-fi

Comment: with regard to the title and first of all to the nature of music it is a very unusual case of folk music. It is like an example of folk music which were a more conventional case if European nations would have rejected Christianity and gotten overwhelming power from their gentile roots. Like their mighty precursors Vikings and Celtic tribes having power to fight like berserks and having much in common with Nature which is a true face of God. Christianity is a bloody occult of the guilt. The more you are the so-called civilised the more you think of yourself to be sophisticated the more you used to be more declined and rotten in reality. This bunch of 7 tracks is something getting its frenzied power from the remote past. Of course, any kind of life used to provide some sort of interruptions and disturbed visions yet the main course of this thing is right. Additionally to neofolk and dark folk threads one gets impressed by lo-fi approach and free form psychedelic folk numbers a la Sun City Girls. Old Norse Mara was the artist's debut outing released on Sirona-Records, and Chaos Of The Stars.

Shokushu – Reverberations Of The World (2012)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

• Electronic music 
• Alternative 
• Chilltronica 
• Mood music 
• Kosmische Musik 
• New Wave 
• Ambient 
• Krautrock 
• Musique concrète 
• Organic electronica

Comment: these 26 minutes to be embedded in eight tracks create different moods through bubbling electronic explorations and serene chill explorations. But not only – you can hear an even more technical approach to it – a track called Brainforest chimes like being created by someone from the so-called German Kling-Klang mindset. At the same time it is wrapped up by organic, true sounds yet as the result it is as if coming from an insular, paradisiacal area inhabited by beautiful and sensual people having no idea about self-destructive shit and stupidity of the rest of the world. And the course goes on and on except the sounds of the Kosmische Musik to be added to the mix, especially sultry and spaced-out imbued parallel universes reminding of Tangerine Dream. At times those halcyon ambiances are interfered with (un)expected incisive, acid throwing synthesisers. The enchanting release is a part of a prolific French imprint, Sirona-Records led by Arnaud Barbe aka Pollux.

Quint Baker – Psychic Cat'z Enochian Boys (2017)

Sirona-Records

Free Music Archive

• Psych-pop 
• DIY 
• Indietronica 
• Alternative pop 
• Synth-pop 
• Art pop 
• Electro-indie 
• Lo-fi 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Dance rock 
• No Wave

Comment: undoubtedly Quint Baker is obsessed with psychic catz because the title of any album by him used to start with this couple of words. There is no doubt those mystical creatures who make miaow and purr are women in fact. God, I thank You for these beautiful creatures except the vixenish feminists, however, who ultimately make me laugh by their silliness probably having no better goal to deal with and maybe by high oestrogen-level in blood. No, it is not the sexist stance because a smart human being has no need to go against the biological, physical, natural and moral limits set up by God and nature. And if you are intended to do it then you have probably lost common sense and used to gad about in a sophisticated quasi-theoretical stupidity. In any cases, it is your right to do it. Yet you should then be ready to tolerate the consequences of your incomprehensiveness. Let`s the life arrange the things organically and normally. Less country, less regulations. I guess God is a taboo thing nowadays because some prominent of us would like to hark back to the ape, a stupid animal. The women arouse my masculine side. I assume if there had been up gender neutrality propaganda for many decades earlier I guess we could not have had such great albums as Different Class, and This Is Hardcore by Pulp, for instance. As you can hear on this course of 13-track Quint Baker may feel similarly with regard to the women. Another good appearance (solid album) is created being inspired by already existing good one. It starts off with a fantastic electro drenched dream pop flicker, Touch Play On The Tape Recorder. As similarly, there will surface those glacially shimmery yet warm synths here and there to create suggestive and dynamic impulses at the same time around one`s head. It is a kind of aphrodisiac. As if a young Ariel Pink were simmered on electro acid. Tamed is based on a restrained buildup including seducing accordion chords from the streets of Paris. Minty Fresh is a cutting-edge progression of the contemporary dance-appealed No Wave music. The first half of the album is superb as I hinted at it, it would be superb as a whole if the second part would have had more teasers and dynamic, extrovert songwriting. The issue is a part of the discography of Sirona-Records, led by French musician/producer Arnaud Barbe.

Erebus Redemption – A Pawn of Darkness (2012)

Sirona-Records

• Death metal 
• Brutal metal 
• Extreme metal 
• Electronic 
• Lo-fi 
• Cybermetal

Comment: this set of 12 tracks is as abrasive as an exceptional outing in the roster of Sirona-records used to be. It is overwhelming and suffocating in its excessively powerful leaps and mad steps. Mostly it is death metal with some exceptions into muddy, lo-fi electronic music. The ambience around the listener gets razed and destroyed so think twice if you would like to get into a dirty manifesto of power. It may push on your sinful mind and trigger some unintended emotions. And the cover print is great.

Hu Creix – Gorgeous Sins (2012)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

• Electronic music 
• Electronic pop 
• Art pop 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Alternative 
• Dark ambient 
• Techno pop 
• Electro-indie 
• Synth-pop 
• Electro pop 
• Krautrock 
• Dub 
• Ambient pop 
• Psychedelic

Comment: Hu Creix is an interesting artist at least it can be assumed while listening to this 10-notch outing. Unfortunately I have not had enough time to put spots on other releases by him. As the title says it is about sins as much or less as he used to sing and recite here and there. These are small things and habits on its own but important to him. Or giving a fuck to more murky themes like death and having no future. Indeed, most of the compositions presented over there are instrumental ones. It must be said it is an album of balance both emotionally and musically and even stylistically. From chugging electronic and indie tinged music to some gloomy ambient glimpses. For instance, the title track reminds me of Kraftwerk when the legends were to move forward from early motorik to tranquil electro and techno pop. Hydro Key continues with the same path while adding dub inflected electronic effects and spaced-out psychedelic music and cool jazz whiffs to the mix. Astonishing stuff. Great dub. It talks about smoking as well. The release is a part of the discography of Sirona-Records, the prolific French imprint. Oedine is a beatific, atmospheric progression based on a pitched-up, lengthy droning of a Southeast female voice and being backed up by calm rhythms and swirling electronic effects. The most blissful composition on it without any doubt. That reminds me of Holger Czukay's Canaxis 5 and a composition called Boat Woman Song. RIP Holger we miss you! At Shoot Me Hu Creix sings I look out of the window I hear the birds are singing but I don't care. Oh yeah, it sounds so elegantly arrogant and lofty and even absurd yet the result is all but absurdity yet it makes my face smiling. In a nutshell call it excellent yet deformational (pop) music.

Golgotha Communications Ltd – Music That Doesn`t Exist (2013)

Sirona-Records

• Electro-acoustic 
• Abstract 
• Electronic music 
• Post-industrial 
• Noise 
• Avant-garde 
• Experimentalism 
• Minimalism 
• Acousmatic music 
• Microtonal 
• Non-music

Comment: Golgotha Communications Ltd is a collective from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA whose 14-track issue continues the artist's peripheral and uncompromising tendencies within the post-industrial scene. And the imprint is very proper fro that – Arnaud Barbe aka Pollux led Sirona-Records. More profoundly, it is filled in with repeated sounds, with a minimized approach to make the listener to be subjugated to certain sounds and certain sonic combinations. Indeed, the listener can discern shifts between harsh yet easy-going shapes and remarkably more strained noise drenched sounds and rough sonic effects as if coming out from a very tiny slot. Mind-provoking and challenging. By following and analysing the title it can be interpreted in different ways – it is indeed a sort of music which does not exist anymore after it is performed (the sort of acousmatic music). If the repeat button is switched off it will not be heard through earphones and speakers. And if it will be repeated again the listener`s perception will perceive it differently because of being alien and involving way too many elements to be remembered in the same way. Secondly, it can be interpreted as a sort of anti-music in terms of pop music. It is way too radical for the bourgeois` scene. It may even involve some “comfort” sounds but they are subjugated to algorithms having nothing in common with the pop scene. It is protestant and it is painful. And it is very impressive.

BVBEL – // (2015)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

• Chopped and Screwed 
• Experimental hip-hop 
• Vaporwave 
• Hip-hop 
• Sampledelic 
• Witch house 
• Leftfield 
• Avant-hop

Comment: these 17 minutes are obviously first vaporwave and witch house vibes and moods ever personally heard on Sirona-Records, a French record label with immense catalogue. BVBEL is a producer from Belgium who in turn owns the huge list of outings at Bandcamp (16 releases in total). Lurking, bold-faced rhythms and greyish noir milieus are predominant on it being adorned with sheer samples as if narrating about blackened themes and grime situations. I guess the sun glimpses and friendly laughing are not supposed to be out there. In a word, it is a solid listening span being craftily balanced between the content and format. This is what we suppose to get from an instance of outstanding music. 

Isoleren Lawaii – On/OFF EP (2012)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

• Dark ambient 
• Post-industrial 
• Neoclassical 
• Musique concrète 
• Illbient 
• Breakbeat 
• Ambient techno 
• Glitchtronica 
• Synthwave 
• Alternative

Comment: Isoleren Lawaii is a one-man-project from Nimes, France who is also known as Syndrôm, Egg Nebula and establisher of the experimental music imprint Pavillon36 Recordings. Similarly his own music is exquisitely experimental operating with rhythms, glitches and sublime drones. The EP clocks in at a 24 minute, however, embracing a bunch of intriguing sonic combinations, ill-omened echoes and rhythmic solutions (from glitched-out techno debris to overwhelming broken beats) which are markedly influenced by more serious, ominous genres such as dark ambient/illbient, and neoclassical music. Turn Off Your TV is a different turn where a spacious synthwave layer and vague techno rhythms are interspersed among tittle-tattle of the children. Emotionally it is depressing and ennobling at the same time. The issue is a part of the discography of Sirona-Records, another label headed by the Frenchman (Arnaud Barbe aka Pollux). In a nutshell, the result is captivating in its menacing ambush.

Loose Link And Option Command + Various – Karramantha (2011)

Sirona-Records

• Breakcore 
• Remixes 
• Alternative 
• Electronic music 
• Rhythmic music 
• Ambient 
• Bass music 
• Avant-garde

Comment: this is an immense issue because of containing two original tracks and 17 remixes of them and involving a loads of facets which could be perceived differently. Undoubtedly it is a sort of rhythmic music the question is is it the sort of dance music? I guess it is not because there is up a bunch of counterpoints to it – from rattling noises, dejected hisses and labile yet profound bass thudding to more undermining sequences and spaced-out yet ill-omened frequencies. Indeed, the artist makes no compromises to adhere more listeners to the concept. With regard to the dance music the artist exploits its algorithms but the code of it is deliberately hurt to produce an unsteady monster ultimately. You are thrown into a maze being inhabited with lurking beasts. He is here right now to do it for the sake of the art. Even if it might sound in a clichè way it is so right. The issue is a bit of the discography of the Sirona-records.

Sister Soleil – Haunted EP (2012)

Sirona-Records

Bandcamp

• Alternative pop 
• Indie rock 
• Electronic pop 
• Remix 
• Trip-hop 
• Power pop

Comment: it is an intriguing issue by Sirona-Records firstly because of twofold appearances in sound – because trip-hop beats meet indie rock and Russian language is intertwined with English. And indeed, it is frequently about Soleil (Sun), and obvious escapism from the world of the human race. Mostly it is power pop inflected sound, at times it is immersed in heavy echoes and stomping beats and ominous hip-hop chants. That's all – the words do not have enough power to convey the essential impression of it. It is quite simple and sophisticated at the same time – thereof being mind-provoking). At times it is conveyed by a female vocal, at times by a male vocal, and it is captivating thanks to those sultry labyrinthine meanderings and spaced-out electronic hovers which open up a free entry into a mystical world. It is a freeing experience where it is also represented the touch of famous Trent Reznor (at Illum Tangendo). Get it and listen to the project of the Greece born Stella Katsoudas.

Pollux – Naked Lights (2016)

Sirona-Records

Sirona-Records

• Electronic music 
• Dark electro 
• Illbient 
• Neoclassical
• Dark ambient 
• Lo-fi 
• Experimentalism
• Crossover 
• Avant-garde
• Synthwave

Comment: I guess these 17 minutes are as interesting as the life of the Frenchman Arnaud Barbe being known as the prolific musician Pollux, and heading the popular experimental music imprint Sirona-Records. Indeed, these 1036 seconds are the truly intriguing which in turn can be compared with a cross-section of the records. It could be said he is here a little bit more self-indulgent in comparison to his other ones, or at least most of his issues, because it consists of disparate musical styles frequently. For instance, ominous ambient progressions are followed by free form synthesizer or MIDI-led emulation-based improvised snippets. Even some lo-fi and primitive music cuts are represented over there. Let’s add some electro-acoustic experiments with buried piano chords (or are they the prepared strings rather?) By their own point these are very interesting sounds but they create an additional value due to those mind-blowing transitions and then relations between the aforesaid styles. Last but not least - if the lights are naked then all is naked beneath and within it. Thereof the fun is guaranteed, life is beautiful and give it a proper place.  

Blok - Самый Первый Альбом (2013)

Sirona-Records

• Pop punk
• Hip-hop
• Crossover
• Post-grunge
• Rap

Comment: this is unfortunately bothersome album throughout the 3-track issue which chimes like people with a grunge-y background decided to start a new beginning for themselves, this time with hip-hop explorations. All the songs are sung and chanted in Russian, providing plain, even cliché inclined approach to topics. Indeed, lyrically it does have not much appeal by just repeating already known, worn statements. By the promise of the tag it should have been “garage hip-hop” but it is not. No way. At times one could feel it was produced by teenage schoolmates who needed to express their anxiety through music, however, having no killing effect to realize it. Some refrains are truly disturbing because doing it by using pop/faux punk-y noise walls a la Blink 182, and Green Day because of lacking crispy and nihilistic seeds within it being so characteristic to genuine garage and punk music. In this case all is commonly predictable. Let`s hop their next issues will be produced more sophistically.

Alyiann - Gravity Escalation (2011)

Sirona-Records

• Chillstep
• Chill out
• Dubstep
• Mood music
• Electro
• Electronica

Comment: there are up a couple of tracks which will clock in at an eight minute created by Warsaw, Poland-based artist Alyiann. In principle, it is a chill-out, moody album in spite of manipulating with dubstep and electro rhythms . The self-titled piece is led by a marvellous motif which feeds back both the bold rhythms and firework around the issue. It reminds of something very strongly but I am not able to remember it at the moment. Another track called How To Obey launches off with more restrained synthesised chords which will evolve into a melancholic, even nostalgic insight of electronic music. The issue is a part of the discography of Sirona-Records which is led by Pollux aka Arnaud Barbe.

Loose Link And Option Command + Friends – Karramantha (2011

Sirona-Records

• Chopped and screwed
• Hip-hop
• Rhythmic noise
• Cloud rap
• Avant-hop
• Noise
• Ambient
• Experimentalism
• Remixes
• Experimental electronica
• Leftfield
• Vaporwave

Comment: by listening to this huge 19-track issue (the total length reaches 90 minutes) it arouses different moods and attitudes inside one`s soul. Its rhythmic structures are thoroughly angular and imbued with noisy bits thereby at times chiming like an example of pop music for robot and human being crossed creatures on Earth in the future. On the other side, those rhythms are quite obsessive ones on its own on account of wobbling vibes based on microscopic short-running samples and iterative sonic effects. Frequently the music chimes like a stoned example of being channelized through slow-motion lenses and broken maze-alike wire systems. If to listen to such track as Karramantha (Clockwork Keyboard Remix 2) it could be considered an inverted and skewed hip-hop piece by exploiting nowadays technical support to deform the structure of the issue. Although the artist`s remix makers do exploit deconstruction as a negative approach on its own (because of not creating something new by itself) it results truly impressively though. The music industry will be dead sometime and Bandcamp will have been dominating in the future and such sort of music will be one of the cornerstones of the fabulous platform of combining both commercial tendencies and free music world. In a word, it is an ingenious outing because of brazing poppy and cutting-edge elements into the organic whole eventually. It was an avant-garde one 4 years ago and it is still on. It had been issued under gorgeous imprint Sirona-Records headed by Arnaud Barbe aka Pollux.  

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – Stained Glass (2013)

Sirona-Records

• Post-punk
• Neo-progressive rock
• Alternative rock
• Synth rock
• Electro-rock
• Crossover
• Dance rock

Comment: this notch takes on a borderline of such styles as post-punk, progressive rock, symphonic rock, electro-rock/synth/dance rock. To add all these elements into one melting pot at a time it is not very ordinary even today at the time of postmodernist approaches and practices wherein different styles are crossed and recontextualized into something familiar yet different. All the compositions are instrumental and could be quite contemplative (Let It Burn!). Many patterns of synths, many patterns of guitars, many patterns of rhythms are interlaced with each other into the organic whole. It is the one-man-project of Maxim Khorsun from Simferopol, Crimea peninsula, Ukraine which is occupied by the Russian Federation at the moment.

Golgotha Communications Ltd. - Helen McPhee (Galgen 2B) (2012)

Sirona-Records

Lastfm

/Experimentalism, Lobit, Musique concréte, Non-music, Acousmatic music, Post-industrial, Avant-garde, Microtonal, Minimalism, Microsound, Abstract/

Comment: Golgotha Communications Ltd. is a combo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA who emerged within the webaudio world at the end of 00s. Since then on, they have issued a heap of issues under different imprints. Stylistically the project`s music explores the behaviour of sounds in the compartment of post-industrial music. This issue consists of two compositions one of them is 16-minute long, another 4-minute long. It starts off from nowhere to progress into looped exhausted vocal samples and hazy frequencies around it emerging like a lobit example. Later on, a little will be changing throughout the course. A Night`s Rest is the turning point because some street sounds are organically added to the mix thereby establishing a more haunting ambiance around your cerebral focuses. The outing is a part of the discography of French electronic musician Arnaud Barbe (aka Pollux) led record label Sirona-Records. 

The Nutries – The Nutries (2013)

Sirona-Records

Archive.org

Bandcamp

• Hardcore punk
• Death punk
• Brutal punk
• Trash punk
• Screamo

Comment: The Nutries is a quintet from Italy who used to play punk in a hard-core-ish and trash-y way. Their 7-track gift is highly intense due to a great frequency of thudding drum banging, strident screaming in Italian in your ear, and raggedly rushing guitars in between. At times the quintet used to slow down to mosh for seconds to accelerate their pace once again. Stylistically they melt both diverse elements of metal and punk into a mix. Particularly prominent tracks seem to be Raptus Infernale, Tre Parole, and Libero+B.B.B. In addition to such labels as Makadam Circus, and Sputo Records the issue is released by a prolific label, Sirona-Records headed up by the French electronic experimentalist Arnaud Barbe. In a word, discover the Nutries` discography and varicoloured discography of Sirona-Records.             

Kamikaze Deadboy - The Death Of The Nocturnalist (2014)

Sirona-Records

• Dark ambient
• Sampledelic
• Spoken word
• Avant-garde
• Experimentalism
• Neoclassical
• Trip-hop
• Rhythmic noise
• Downtempo
• Breakcore
• Abstract
• Ambient techno
• Breakbeat

Outstanding tracks:

Deus Est Mortuus
Ghost Child
Antifascist Action
Purity
Ambassadors Of Mars