[Music] Troum – Acouasme

Stefan Knappe is a man who wears many hats. He runs Drone Records, which releases some of the best in dark ambient and experimental music, and serves as both a mailorder and distributor of music not directly found on his label as well.

The talent we wish to concentrate on is as a composer with his project TROUM. In this release from 2015, Knappe unleashes a cascade of some of the darkest experimental music I’ve heard in some time. It is dark, however, in a way that is not vulgar or cheap, as too so-called ‘noise’ bands are wont to be. You won’t hear any children with vile fetishes for rapists or serial killers who turn on their vacuum cleaners and try to sell this as ‘music’. No, in this case, Knappe actually goes through the process of crafting something worthy of being a soundtrack to a very intense film. There is a lot of sub-bass throbbing and pulsating, but all of it done with the precision of a master surgeon who knows how to weild his scalpel. TROUM is always releasing music of note, or collaborating with others to do the same.

If you have a Bandcamp account, follow his work. You will find no disappointments there.

[Music] A.M Ferrari Fradejas – Dominique Worships The Sun

A.M Ferrari Fradejas is a composer based in France who also happens to be the wife of noted guitarist and composer Santiago Frajedas, whose amazing work has graced these pages in the past.  Ferreri Frajedas’ new release is an absolute delight to listen to, and it came as a shock to my ears.

I was expecting progressive rock, and I was rewarded with that in spades.  What I didn’t expect to find was a deep thread of ethereal music, some of which reminded me of past bands like Chandeen or Love Is Colder Than Death.  There is also a touch of cabaret music here, as well as reminisces of groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Dagmar Krause’s solo work. Fans of Laurie Anderson might find something familiar here as well.

It was weird, hazy, and utterly fun listening for me.

[Music] Breatherrr – Chantrieri

I NEVER get mail from local bands or record labels. It’s been a constant since I started writing to musicians. Part of it was because I could see them at my leisure, but part of it was because it wasn’t ‘cool’ to talk to local indie rags, only to people from the outside. Well, today, I can say that I can finally promote a local person. Breatherrr is a trip-hop act with retro influences which bring up genres like electro and new wave. I’ll have to investigate further.