Time flies. I had the pleasure of meeting Karl Blake during the Sol Invictus West Coast tour of 2000. He was certainly decent, and played fine, but it’s really a shame neither he nor his work with Shock Headed Peters has been given a proper retrospective. A proper label should collect his works and remaster them, as the music still holds up nicely.
Gothic
[Music] New Drone & Darkwave from Koyl, Cloaca, & Premature Burial on Silber
From our friend Brian John Mitchell at Silber Media – the company has some great new releases on the way:
Hello,
Hope everyone is doing well. Life is good here at Silber even if I am struggling to get everything to happen in a timely manner. The hurricane that came through & flooded a lot of communities around me had no effect here in the new Silberia. The power didn’t even go out, but then walking around the neighborhood I saw an oak that feel splitting a neighbors house in two, so I count my blessings that things are so good for me. My little drone cub just turned one & in good health & spirits & that she vacuums up all my spare time is something I don’t mind. Silber has always been about family to me anyhow & it’s interesting how huge of a percentage of Silber artist. So anyway on with what’s up lately including three new 5in5 EPs.
Koyl comes to Silber with five songs in five minutes, one about each finger. But are the fingers originally on one hand or are they fingers from dead men stitched together to tell tales of angst & woe? No matter, now they all are part of the one & making incredible soundscapes with a guitar & lapsteel.
- Buy or listen on Silber: http://www.silbermedia.com/5in5/koyl-fingerprints.shtml
- Buy or listen on Bandcamp: https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/Fingerprints
- Listen on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/0RGPOSGY42MBliHNbjjJt2
Joshua Heinrich (Fornever/Black Wedding) returns to Silber for a 5in5 EP with his Premature Burial project. Mixing industrial & ambient elements, f/a/c/t/i/o/n/s paints a portrait of the current political climate of divisiveness & corruption. The bureaucracy is spreading like a Kafka novel. Listen to Premature Burial while you’re on hold for hours.
- Buy or listen on Silber: http://www.silbermedia.com/5in5/PrematureBurial-factions.shtml
- Buy or listen on Bandcamp: https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/factions
- Listen on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/71nRox49Xq7Xr09ixIiPN5
Cloaca has offered up five minute long aggressive ambient drones created with pedals & a mixing board. Numbing & overwhelming like the chemicals in your IV before brain surgery….
Buy or listen on Silber: http://www.silbermedia.com/5in5/cloaca-almsgiver.shtml
Buy or listen on Bandcamp: https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/Almsgiver
Listen on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/3LFDxh9rqp5nv8HpXCDVbK
Something went weird recently where some of the Silber Spotify playlists went private, but I fixed it & you can check them out here:
Last Ten Releases – https://play.spotify.com/user/silberspy/playlist/4nuz7tocaNt9OkFetPsHhG
Entire 5in5 Series – https://play.spotify.com/user/silberspy/playlist/7ge7yufxSf6IR9Tpu7YIgh
Entire Silber Catalog – https://play.spotify.com/user/silberspy/playlist/27NjmkRh1NqqDYIf64Fmp1
New Releases coming soon from Ms, Fullness Off Lack, Jon Dawson, Moodring, Hotel Hotel, Lum, DR, Remora, Small Life Form, Magnetic Ghost & before you know it Christmas EPs from Electric Bird Noise, Yellow6, Remora, Small Life Form, Baptizer, & more. A batch of comics about Robert E Howard coming soon (all drawn, just need to set them up to print). & of course inevitably a new QRD.
Thanks for your interest & support & spread the word about the new releases if you can & if you want to be taken off the mailing list just let me know.
Hrt
Brian John Mitchell
www.silbermedia.com
https://www.facebook.com/silbermedia
http://twitter.com/silberspy
https://play.spotify.com/user/silberspy
[Music] WIRED: Let’s All Obsess Over This Intricate Map of Alt Music History
WIRED Magazine, you’ve made my day with this chart!
[Music] Destruktionsanstalt – Swedenborg
Though it must amuse my confessors to no end, I grew up enjoying the bleakest of sounds in early Industrial music and the black ambient music which followed about a decade or so later. The best of the lot seem to be growing out of the calm climes of Scandinavia, and the best of that lot is coming, these days, from Denmark. Per Najbjerg Odderskov, known by aliases like Destruktionsanstalt, Liller_Per, God Cancer, Left Hand Of God, Lidane Livering, and The G.R Orchestra, has a long, storied history in the saga of black ambient music.
As Destruktionsanstalt, Per graces us with one of the most beautifully bleak compositions I’ve heard in quite some time. In a scene where children think they’re being cute by inverting a cross (sorry, St. Andrew beat you to that one) and turning on a vacuum cleaner, and then having the nerve to try to sell this to an unsuspecting sucker, it is good to hear a master craftsman carve the equivalent of a Caravaggio out of pure black matter.
Going through the tracks, one can feel a lot of heavy vibes, deep emotion, and perhaps despair. This isn’t meant to make the CD sound like a gruesome experience, however – far from it, in fact. There’s a beauty even in the darkest of music, as the act of composition itself is a life-bringing experience. The packaging for this CD is also quite exquisite, done more to look like a book or a piece of art rather than a mere jewel-case.
For connoisseurs of black ambient, it’s quite an honor to present to you a crowning jewel for your collection.
[Music] Disemballerina – Poison Gown
‘Poison Gown‘ is a release which came to me via my inbox, and I find it to be a wonderful stroke of luck that Myles Donovan and his bandmates in Disemballerina decided to ask me for a review.
The release sets itself quite favorable with bands who do this type of gothic/classical hybrid. The tracks tend to be dark but delicate, and, should the band decide to aim their focus in this direction, they could produce a perfect soundtrack to any Tim Burton movie.
[Music] Thanatoloop -TorturadorTorturado
Thanatoloop is a side project from the Chilean experimental musician Michel Andre Leroy Valdes, famed for his work with his main band, Un Festin Sagital. This peace is a look to a surreal hazy scene which would go perfect with absinthe and reading Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont.
[Music] Depeche Mode – But Not Tonight
Depeche Mode have many wonderful albums, but Black Celebration is, for my ears, their crowning jewel. This song was my favorite of the lot.
[Music] Flowers for Bodysnatchers – Memory (Night To Void)
Flowers for Bodysnatchers are the best of a new, burgeoning black ambient scene. I haven’t heard anyone this good since Lustmørd was at his peak a few years ago. I expect Duncan Ritchie to continue on this trajectory. His work, thus far, has been amazing listening.
[Music] The Fifth Path Magazine Now Online And Scanned
Many thanks to Kenn Wilson for taking the time to reintroduce the public to The Fifth Path, one of the most important magazines documenting post-Industrial music and the genre which would come to be known as Apocalyptic Folk.
[Music] Tomáš Kočko & Orchestr – Velesu
Tomáš Kočko and his orchestra hail from the Czech Republic, and have been storming their way up World Music Charts Europe recently. It’s pretty easy to see why. The music mixes Moravian music elements in an updated framework, adding touches of progressive rock, neo-folk, and even trends in electronic music. Ancient Great Moravia comes to life in this album, and its sound is breathtaking.
Here’s a taste from the upcoming album:
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 