Lhas Fawn – Numb Terra (2021)

 

Vulpiano

Bandcamp

 

• Drone 
• Electronic 
• Experimental rock 
• Minimalism 
• Avant-rock 
• Krautrock 
• Psychedelic 
• Motorik 
• Art rock

 

Soomlase Jetro Kaikkose 3-looline teos äigab ja kussutab samaaegselt. Algab motoorse droon- ja basstrummi hüpnodialoogina (millel omakorda rullub sünteetiline analoogstiihia), mis on allutatud minimalistliku kontseptsiooni saladusele. See saladus on küll tajutav, ent sõnadesse raskesti pandav. Kui selles pikalt kestvas loos (ka ülejäänud kaks kompositsiooni kestavad vähemalt 16 minutit) on kidrad tasalülitatud (Suppurate), siis järgmistes lugudes muutub pilt hajusamaks, lõdvemaks ja lõtke sisaldavaks. Motoorne pinge ja läige taanduvad, alles jäävad korduvad tsüklid elegantselt loiu trummeldamise ja sordiini alt kostuva kidratööga, mis pikapeale hakkab välja venima, elektroonilisemat ja kriipivamat kuju omandama ja üleüldse pööraseid pöördeid omandama – vist meenus loojale avaloo ind ja kompromissitus. Nimilugu-lõpulugu algab taas sulnilt ja aeglaselt, tagurpidi käänduvate kitarride ja ümberringi pühkivate elektroonilise uhtmetega, mis osutavad temporaalsele suhtelisusele – kõik sõltub taustsüsteemist ja horisondist. Kui see taustsüsteem koosneb huvitavatest eeldushelidest ja kontseptsioonidest, siis kuulajal ei teki mõtet asja tüütust venivusest ja kiusatus sellest loobuda. Nõnda see lugu elliptilisi mustreid esile lohistades lõpule jõuab. Väga korralik teos kokkuvõtvalt. 

 

8.5 (8.0-9.0)

Lately Kind Of Yeah – Poindexter (2012/2019)

Vulpiano

Bandcamp

Free Music Archive

• Indie rock 
• Avant-rock 
• Art rock 
• Lo-fi 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Post-rock
• Americana
• Minimalism
• Post-psychedelic 
• Drone rock
• Shitgaze 
• Experimental rock 
• Alternative rock 
• DIY 

“Twin Peaks`is” oli meeleolukas episood, kus kaks palgamõrvarit olmetüli käigus ühe suva jorsi poolt tänaval auklikuks lasti. Selle peale üks Mitchum`i vendadest – kes seda episoodi juhuslikult pealt nägid – ütles teisele, et mis paganama kohta me sattunud oleme!? Teine vend manitses seepeale, et saa aru – inimestel on stress. Äkki Lately Kind Of Yeah`i tüübil oli seda 16-loolist albumit (Vulpiano Records`i täke) tehes samuti depressioon – kõlab ju autentselt, kõlab ju hingestatult ning teisalt apaatselt; kahinad-sahinad ning ilmselgelt tuima pilgu saatel lauldud laulukesed (niipalju kui neid seal on) heidavad valgust võimalike destruktiivsete meeleolude esilekerkimisele ja olemasolule. See on nagu elutsüklite vaheldumise nentimine ja kirjeldamine inimese elus – kuni keegi nähtamatu sellele käe ette paneb. Närid tühjalt vaimu, ning selleks korraks siis kõik. LKOY puhul on vaimu närimine olnud viljakas – kui kümmekond korralikku albumit (sh eksperimentaalelektroonika-ämbient-albumid) on selle käigus maha saadud. Käesoleval lohistab ta kitarridega transgressiivseid mustreid, nihestatud keskkondi ning kummastavaid meeleolusid esile manades – nii lummavast Ameerika kitarriprimitivismist, kuulsusrikkast kodus salvestamise traditsioonist, tektoonilisest minimalismist kui “õige” muusika ja “korralike” produtseerimisvõtete põlgusest inspireerituna. Sitaks hea.

Nicolas Tourney - Sightline (2020)

Vulpiano

Archive.org

Mediafire

Bandcamp

• Avant-garde
• Microtonal
• Epic
• Abstract
• Experimentalism
• Drone
• Ambient drone
• Electronic music

Prantsuse eksperimentaalmuusik Nicolas Tourney on uue aastakümne elik käesoleva aasta sees üllitanud juba kuus albumit. See on ilus muusika – kui seda saab niimoodi üldse nimetada. Aga saab küll – ma vist äsja tegin seda. Taas seotud ärkamise, kasvamise ja vaibumisega. Mis ei ole mitte karvavõrdki kulmukarvasid kergitamapanev, kuna tegu on kaheksateistloolise droonhelidele keskenduva teosega. Ja see nõuab kahtlemata tähelepanu, et kõiki pealtnäha olematuid detaile ja intensiivsusi selles tajuda. Häid hetki on sellel meisterlikul üllitisel rohkelt, aga mingi eriliselt kaasahaarav puude kaasneb elektriliselt laetud pulseerivate lainesagedustega. Justkui kõige minimalistlikuma minimalismi tantsupidu. Eks seda tüüpi muusika ongi erinevate lainepikkuste presentatsioon kõrvuti helide rohkem või vähem ämbientsema paisumisega. Ja erinevusel ongi see põhirõhk – ei pääse interrelatiivsest lugude vahelisest võrdlusmonendist – see on suisa eelduslik. Üllitis on täke USA leibeli Vulpiano diskograafias. Suurepärane torude-juhtmete ventileerimine.

Lately Kind Of Yeah – Two Shades Of Apart (2006/2019)

Vulpiano

Free Music Archive

Bandcamp

Archive.org

• Improvised music 
• Avant-rock 
• Experimental rock 
• Art rock 
• Noise rock 
• Electro-acoustic

Comment: this set of 14 tracks is just a fine dedication to guitar playing but nothing else by employing different techniques, timbres and colours. A listener can hear feverish chord changes, dynamic arpeggios, and arousing strumming here and there. At times the guitar seems to be "tortured" on prepared setups and arrangements full of slamming noises, elliptic sonic effects, electro-acoustic shrieks, warped chords and majestic wall of sounds. It is mostly all about the technical possibilities one could get out of the instrument. That also can be tagged as non-guitar music because its intention is to go far away from a weary imagination through phantasms, interruptions, filters, deviations. But not only. Beyond that melodic progressions and silent incantations used to surface in the middle of the tumult by balancing the result. Indeed, at times it chimes like a lighter version of Glenn Branca or Sonic Youth. For sure, emotive side is strong enough on it because it contains the earliest experiments by the artist then aged 15-16 years old only. Very accepted to waft the upstream of an ordinary guitar template; the album is being released on Vulpiano. 

Natural Snow Buildings – Aldebaran (2016)

Vulpiano

Free Music Archive

Bandcamp

Archive.org

• Experimental folk 
• Free folk 
• Ambient 
• Drone folk 
• New Weird France 
• Avant-folk 
• Epic 
• Post-folk 
• Minimalism 
• Psych-folk 
• Ambient folk 
• Improvised music 
• Drone

Comment: I can remember for my first hearing about Aldebaran was related to a Soviet movie, The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981) being accompanied by a great electronic musical background of Aleksandr Zatsepin (which is now sought by many music lovers worldwide). Aldebaran is one of the most luminous stars in the Universe and it is something which inspired the enigmatic French duo of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte (being active as NSB since the end of the 90s) to create this 25-track magnum opus. Musically it is thoroughly hypnotic without any exceptions full of droning, intensified guitar and cello chords and lofty feedback-trodden reverberations in the course of almost six hours. A smouldering symphony as an output for something colossal and beautiful. Beyond all the sonorous sounds and faint effects (at times one hears a bagpipe, a melodica, a flute, electro-acoustic clanging, vowels and spoken words) one could discern the structure of songs used to rely on minimal ground through smooth shifts thereby providing a strong wondrous impact on a listener's perception and consciousness. In some sense, it is like a folk/drone version of vaporwave music due to strongly retrodelic, past anchored timbres at first sight yet nevertheless all the result seems to go ahead of our time, go ahead of us like very distant stellar objects do shine to us like being mixed up of reality and mysticism. The whole (sound) resonates physically and seemingly consciously through air. It is called cosmic om, isn't? The album inserts healing awe and purgative wonder to get distracted from surrounding crap and start feeling oneself again to be an integrated part of this tremendous solemn village. In some sense, unfortunately, the release is a bittersweet elegy to our malignant existence on Earth (the issue is finished off with an emblematically entitled track, The Drowned Church). The magnificent issue is a part of the discography of Vulpiano. Simply irresistible magical glimpse.

Lately Kind of Yeah – Galaxie Depression (2017)

Vulpiano

Bandcamp

• Ambient rock 
• Art rock 
• Alternative 
• Minimalism 
• Experimental rock 
• Avant-rock 
• Post-rock

Comment: first of all, this 7-track issue comes out from the US-based imprint Vulpiano Records and contains a couple of long-running compositions (for instance, Resonanz, and Erinnerung reach the mark of 20-minute, Adaptieren even more, clocking in at a 31-minute). Secondly, Vulpiano Records is a home record for some albums by the France-based Natural Snow Buildings, one of the most outstanding artists within the experimental folk/post-folk/New Weird movement. Galaxie Depression does have some common threads with Aldebaran, The Night Country, and The Alpha Centauri due to its minimally changing approach through long progressions while being imbued with spatial instrumental incantations. In true, Lately Kind Of Yeah`s music runs in the vein of (post-)rock music, that`s the main difference. Although it says something there are up many additional elements either. The artist likes to improvise on the guitar by cranking up the volume and crafting intriguing zig-zag-alike patterns and crackling effects as if playing it through a broken amplifier on the instrument. The instrumental incantations are interspersed with enchantingly iterative cycles, wide guitar bows and even ear-deafening outbursts. By listening to Resonanz it is an example of eargasmic music. All the titles are in German and referencing to the nature of a certain track. In a word, there are up fabulous 95 minutes.

Microscopes – Points of Interest (2010)

Vulpiano

Free Music Archive

• Lo-fi 
• Space pop 
• DIY 
• Indie pop 
• Bedroom pop 
• Synth-pop 
• Art pop 
• Soul

Comment: given that the issue was released in 2010 and while listening to the duo`s music I would like to assume their points of interest are closely Zeitgeist-ridden drawing on lo-fi and DIY approach which made a renaissance in the beginning of the 00s. Moreover, their music does away with sterile studio production and even incorporating hirsute and noisy developments into the 11-track mix. Dusty or spaced-out synth pads which used to come in and go out and Fred´s singing rather in high registers add an extra value to the blend. At times it is soul, at times just deranged mumbling out of a bedroom, at times like an example of proto-house. On the other side, it involves every kind of classical pop tendencies so by matching the two aforementioned tendencies the result is intriguing enough as have showcased such lo-fi luminaries as Ariel Pink, and R Stevie Moore and many more before the year of 2010. The favourite tunes of mine are artsy Wolfman, and Child`s Play. The issue is a part of the discography of Vulpiano Records.

Neurotic Wreck – Glow Ghosts (2016)

Vulpiano

Bandcamp

Free Music Archive

• Synth-pop 
• Indie pop/rock 
• Krautrock 
• Punk funk 
• Alternative pop/rock 
• New wave 
• Post-punk 
• Art rock 
• Electro-indie

Comment: Neurotic Wreck is the Englishman Daniel Shea with some of his friends. St Helens, Merseyside resident has been active since 2011 though the most prolific year for him seems obviously to be the previous year. He is an artist who is having ability to compel a listener with a bunch of great songs within 13 tracks and a 53 minute. Dan Shea is a contemporary artist who has exploited the past to reconstruct catchy melodies and enchanting harmonies in the vein of new wave, post-punk, noise pop, synth-pop, and krautrock. However, the aforementioned list of the styles is not restricting and suffocating at all, it is just a notice you can follow while driving through these 53 minutes. By contemporary artists he can be compared with Alan Driscoll aka The Womb though there can be drawn parallels to the likes of a murky Pulp (at Speak In My Voice), The Jesus & Mary Chain (at I´ll Always Care), The Cure (Never Enough), XTC, Human League, Talk Talk, Joy Division (it is another list of remarks). The issue is a part of the discography of Vulpiano Records. 

Worthy Eardrum Party – Lost Property (2010)

Vulpiano

Vulpiano

• Alternative rock 
• Indie rock 
• Folk indie 
• Psychedelic rock 
• Noise pop 
• Indie folk 
• Blues rock 
• Shoegaze

Comment: all these 11 songs are composed by Angus Rudd, and it is done adeptly and refreshingly for sure. However, this my understanding after listening to a couple of first songs. Even if it might be he did not succeed in vamping up the rock and roll tradition he did follow his own heart and soul to make up a good song-writing at his most earnestness. Moreover, it is an interesting creation through folk-littered guitar music which is spruced up with reverse effects, and psychedelic twists and feedback noises here and there. If one thinks of it as a retrospective one it is much more than just a bare copy of the rock and roll legacy. Angus Rudd is a contemporary man with the influences and visions and that is what makes possible to bridge different eras with one another. You could not find a chink in his armour. If you are listening to his more blaring, cellophane-alike compositions you could hear how it used to decompose and then elevate through the abrasion between those layers. At Watching the Spiral the listener can enjoy the electrification of blues rock which step by step is progressing into a psychedelic exaltation. It is not a case where you could see clinging to sidelong styles and charmless emulation. The self-ironic I Just Can't Write is a churning row of noisy bars and meshes within the auteur is immersed in the idea of a lopsided psychedelic shoegaze progression where beauty and pain are the different sides of the same coin. It is warranted by the churning power and in fact that is enough to get the indulgence for the track. Eventually I have to confess it is an outstanding issue and while would having had a proper place and time it could have had a ground-breaking influence. Listen to it and you will get understand the ennobling point of it. The gem is a part of the discography of Vulpiano Records.

Natural Snow Buildings - The Night Country (2014)

Vulpiano

Vulpiano

Mediafire

/Drone folk, Avant-folk, Chamber folk, New Weird France, Ambient folk, Space folk, Free folk, Dream folk, Post-folk, Experimental folk, Baroque folk, Leftfield, Epic/

Comment: depending on my mood I would call the French duo Natural Snow Buildings the best recent group worldwide in several times. No joke. Indeed, Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte have been solidifying their inner and outer space experience on approximately 20 issues since the beginning of the 00s. Their music is actually much bigger than a sum of its components, however, creating the fabulous vamp over the listener`s ears on The Night Country. Although there are up 80 minutes to go it does not sound worn and boring at all throughout the course. In fact, the issue is craftily balanced due to representing spaced-out glimpses juxtaposed next to woolgathering and idyllic explorations (for instance, Eli`s Song, Season of the Slasher). Furthermore, it is quite pointless to categorize the moments of pure beauty and transcendental bridging from one galaxy to another. If you are feeling yourself a little bit lonely and depressed in the apartment in a town then this 11-track gives wings to you to fly outwards and farther until the spot of you is going to fade away. By denoting the duo`s sound by tags above I shall have to admit it is quite ill-suited to call this sound “weird folk” because such sort of soundscape seems to be thoroughly immanent, natural and full-fledged. However, by doing it nevertheless I assume you do know why I did it and what I meant. Given that a drawn-out talk is a shitty case and to end it I just say grab this divine issue and let`s immerse in a fragment of music of the spheres.

Hanetration - Torn Heat EP (2012)

Vulpiano

9.4

/Drone, Modern classical, Noir, Experimentalism, Avant-industrial, Post-Pyschedelic electronica, Electro-acoustic, Avant-garde, Dystopbient, Hauntology, Psycho-acoustic/

Comment: one thing is obviously clear - it is quite problematic to give the clear-cut definition for the sophomore issue of London, UK-based combo Hanetration to be categorized for. In fact, Hanetration`s soundscape comprises different aspects veering away from contemporary classical and ghostly droning to somehow exhausting, even psychedelic electro-acoustic pulsations and industrial-tinged dystopism and noir spiced electronica. Emotionally it does have a huge impact on the listener because of providing anguished pictures. The good thing is the whole of 4 compositions does ring in a solid way setting your imagination free. Furthermore, I am not able to mention some souls reminding of it. It might be Penguin Cafe Orchestra would have chimed in this way produced by the members of Throbbing Gristle, and Stuart Pearce (Death In June) and Boyd Rice aka NON, for instance. Maybe not. However, I can imagine I like those machines behind this creative process.

Bisamråtta - Bisamråtta (2012)

Vulpiano

Mediafire

Lastfm

10.0

/Post-rock, Ambient, Experimental rock, Soundscapes, Post-folk, Epic/

Comment: if I can remember it accurately for Bisamråtta was a philospher in the Moomin Tales, a minor character in one of the most beloved (children) books worldwide written by Tove Jansson. This time Bisamråtta is the Russian artist Vlad Luchansky who provides a batch of 3 mesmeric compositions based on blissful guitar-shaped massives and otherworldly beautiful turns and heart-breaking ascensions. Theoretically, if the listener is interested in to localize the possible place this soundscape would be born once then you have no choice to figure it out. In fact, these tracks used to sound like perfect anthems for possible futuristic, more humanistic polities. In addition to it I recommend to listen to the likes of Natural Snow Buildings, Pan American, Woodworkings, Tudo de Volta.

Fire Island Pines - Bratislava EP (2011)

Vulpiano
Bandcamp
Lastfm
Soundcloud

8.8

/Indie pop, Twee pop, Alternative pop/rock, Baroque pop/

Comment: FIP, a Britain-based sextet have just issued a brand new release, called Richie Lee Jones EP but Bratislava EP is their previous one. The parcel consists of a handful, convincing ditties taking on sonorous but a little bit melancholic twee/indie pop soaked melodic hooks and harmonious turns. Slowly surfing guitar chords are variegated with the shuffle of drum brush sticks and suggestive trumpet gliding. The listener can draw parallels upon the roster of Sarah Records and on the other side wave to the US-based alt-country folk movements.

Vulpiano - Sampler EP: Vol. 3 (2011)

Vulpiano

8.8

/Doom rock, Alternative rock, Fuzz pop, Indie rock, Psych-rock, Experimental rock, Electronic pop, Crossover/

Comment: First off, what a pity that Natural Snow Building, the most well known artist (and one of the best/deepest/idiosyncratic combos worldwide at all) on Vulpiano Records is not represented herein now (though, this time the compilation features the new Vulpiano logo designed by Solange Gularte). Yet, this is an intricate volume hinting at Vulpiano as the strong label. It veers from King Elizabeth-represented slowly evoking doom rock to Red Bellows´s psych/post-Britpop sound a la Campaq Velocet, from an vital electronic pop vision by J.G Hackett to a sultry introspection by Lately Kind of Yeah. Furthermore, you can perceive influences veering from pop psychedelia a la Boo Radleys and Blur to fuzz pop. Indeed, by its dominating alternative rock/and pop-inflected electronica-based approach it reminds of miscellanies compiled by NME in the second half of 90`s/first side of 00s.

Anton Rotschild The Year of the Kitten (Vulpiano)

Tuntud pankurisuguvõsa nime kandev, kuigi väidetavalt nendega sugulust mitteomav Inglise muusik reliisis möödunud aastal Dainty Records`i vahendusel silmapaistva "The Diffident"`i, kus miksis omavahel kokku folki, elektroonikat, indie dance`i ja kammerlikku poppi, milles võis märgata sarnasust nii Scott Walker`i, varase Pulp`i kui ka Patrick Wolf`i ja The Arcade Fire`iga. Meisterlik singer-songwriterlus, milles oli hoogu ja unenäolisust, pingestatust ja vabalendu.

"The Year of the Kitten" EP on vahetanud plaadifirmat ning ka helikeelt - õieti küll selle põhisuunitlust. Nimelt folgilik-folktrooniline element on asendunud indie pop`i sentimendiga ning ka kõlab märksa elektroonilisemalt. Ava- ja ühtlasi nimilugu on nakkavate käikudega päikesepop, Eurostentialism ja The Completist otsivad tuge electro-indie`st a la Hot Chip. A Town Beside the Sea ja Mouser pöörduvad sissepoole, kuigi saavutamata seda mõjusust, mis oli eelmisel üllitisel. Kaunite püüdluste ning hetkedega 22 minutit sellele vaatamata.

Kuula albumit siit

8.5

Natural Snow Buildings The Centauri Agent (Vulpiano)

1997. aastast tegutsenud Mehdi Ameziane`i (aka TwinSisterMoon) ja Solange Gularte`i (aka Isengrind) projekti võib arvata Prantsuse eksperimentaalmuusika koorekihti kuuluvaks. Nad on olnud produktiivsed ning ka piisavalt respekteeritud - näiteks nende kaaslasteks erinevate plaadifirmade all on muuseas olnud Devendra Banhart, Keijo, Barzin, Melmac, Half Asleep, Ryonkt, Celer, Uton, Xela, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Greg Davis, Kenji Siratori. Ei ole paha nimekiri, mis?

"The Centauri Agent" koosneb kahest osast - esimese moodustab monoliitne 41-minutiline kompositsioon Our man from Centauri. Kas kujutate ette, et mismoodi võiks La Monte Young`i ja Edgar Froese (või Klaus Schulze) ühine koostöö kõlada? Minimalistlik drone-tardumus eepilise kosmische musik`i ruumis? Siin see on. Võrdlus Tangerine Dream`i "Ricochet"`i või "Rubicon"´ga peab väga paika. Enamgi veel - lõputu digitaalne sirin lisab kosmilisele muusikale uued mõõtmed.

Ülejäänud 10 lugu ja 65 minutit muutuvad maisemaks, kaotamata seejuures midagi oma vahedusest ning ilust. Kuigi ka avaloos võis aimata (drone-) folk`i mõjusid, siis näituseks Black holes ja The storm of resurrection oma harmoonikasaundidega peegeldavad kosmost Maa kaudu, Moscow Sign sentimentaalitseb M83 võtmes, minemata seejuures banaalseks, Phantom twin on "laisa" kulgemisega psühhedeelne ambient-rock, Stuttering probe peegeldab minimalismi põhitõde - kasin, kuid efektiivselt emotiivne, Solar flares kirjeldab päikesetõusu vanamuusikalises võtmes, Emergency network farewell broadcast on läbikasvanud kihtidega imetabane segu eksperimentaalfolgist, vaevukuuldavatest häälutustest ning field recording`ist, lõpetav Memories found in a bill from a small animal vet peegeldab, kuidas intensiivne helikeel järk-järgult kaotab jõudu, kuni saabub loogiliselt (ja demonstratiivselt) vaikus. Vaikus.

Ei näe ühtegi põhjust, miks "The Centauri Agent" oma immanentses ilus ei vääriks maksimumpunkte. Kuula ja imesta. Kaheldamatult üks selle aasta reliise.

Kuula albumit siit

10.0