Spectres – Nothing To Nowhere Label: Artoffact Records – AOF356CD Format: CD, Album Country: Canada Released: 2018 Style: Post-Punk, Punk
Originally released in 2012 as a vinyl-only edition through Germany’s Sabotage Records (White Lung, G.L.O.S.S., Arctic Flowers), the second album from Vancouver post-punk darlings SPECTRES has never been released on CD. Finally, years after the initial vinyl pressing sold out, Toronto-based Artoffact Records breathes new life into this Canadian classic with a remastered CD edition.
Khôrada – Salt Label: Prophecy Productions – PRO227 Format: CD, Album Country: Germany Released: 20 Jul 2018 Style: Progressive Metal, Alternative Rock
Rising from the ashes of Agalloch and Giant Squid, a new group is born: Khôrada. Featuring former Agalloch members Don Anderson (guitar), Jason Walton (bass) and Aesop Dekker (drums) alongside ex-Giant Squid guitarist / vocalist Aaron John Gregory, Khôrada creates colossal, textured, and emotionally powerful music. As a completely fresh concept, Khôrada is an opportunity for the musicians to explore new soundscapes while challenging themselves creatively. With their debut album «Salt», Khôrada forges breathtaking swathes of sound that swell, stretch, submerge and recede with panoramic power.
At once atmospheric, aggressive and apocalyptic, the album’s emotion is driven by the band members’ view of today’s world; these are precarious times. «Salt» was written under the pressure and uncertainty of the beginning of the Trump-era, standing as a musical exploration of the routine madness we now live. Paired with the surreally visceral artwork of internationally renowned painter & sculptor Cedric Wentworth, the visual explorations prove to be as haunting as the ethereal vocals of Aaron himself.
The dissolution of two of America’s most beloved underground groups has resulted in the formation of perhaps the scene’s most highly anticipated new band. With a sound built upon a resolute sense of purpose, Khôrada has arrived.
Tracklist: 1. Edeste 2. Seasons Of Salt 3. Water Rights 4. Glacial Gold 5. Augustus 6. Wave State 7. Ossify
Ulver – Drone Activity Label: House of Mythology – HOM 018 LP Format: CD Album Country: UK Released: 11 May 2019 Style: Ambient
It all happened in a haze. I am not sure everyone was prepared to obey the summons and forsake the shore in order to be pulled under by the loudness of sound. Yet the ethos on that crisp October night was clear in its wording: Drone Activity.
Upon entering the old fish-warehouse, now converted into an activity hall, on the new Oslo waterfront, the security guards barely cared to check our tickets. Even mammoths would have been able to hide in this enormous dark space, illuminated by a few logos and stalls of sugary drinks, about to disappear in a sea of smoke.
Disappearance comes in many shapes in the age of extinction. Following the Danish noise act Damien Dubrovnik, Ulver started out in a subtle manner, carefully examining the territory, vast and waste. Screeching sounds echoed distant roars from the approaching edge as snowflakes pierced the air with ferocious speed. Where to go from there?
A retreat into the sunken paradise. Half-buried misty temples, giant creatures and vaguely prehistoric figures emerged as depth and time intertwined, from the ancient Atlantis to the northernmost seas.
We stayed there for 90 minutes, of which 70 have been meticulously mixed and mastered for this release. All of them are new sounds. Darker and more dire, yet containing the vibe of their previous semi-improvisatory sessions, documented and catalogued on the “Zodiac” album, ATGCLVLSSCAP (2016).
If that Zodiac album was a free-form Ulver interpreting the signs in the stars, Drone Activity stares into the abyss, documenting those moments after the last rays of sun speckle the surface and careless subterranean streams start determining the course.
“Something murky and liminal emerged, in sound and space,” the band states in their liner notes. I can’t think of a more apt description of what, and to where, Ulver brought us that night. There is no shoreline a thousand feet down.
TORE ENGELSEN ESPEDAL, on the ferry from Naples to Palermo, March 2019
