Yorkshire Sculpture Park February 2014

A small selection of photographs taken at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

Amalthea – In the Woods album review

Amalthea first came into being in 2004, although the members had been playing together in a variety of groups prior to this in and around Sweden. The vocalist and guitarist Per Skytt, bassist Jeremias Valsten and drummer Erik Skytt played together in a post-hardcore band, which employed vocalist and guitarist Simon Mellergardh in 2003. In 2005 the band released their first 7″ as a new four-piece group which was heavily influenced by 90s “screamo” and post-rock. Move on six years and in 2011 “The World Ends With You” EP was released, leaning even more towards post-rock and replacing the screamo with a heftier doom/post-metal sound. And so, in 2014, the band release their second full length entitled “In the Woods”.

Scandinavian culture is very much in fashion at the moment, what with the success in the UK of television dramas such as “The Bridge”. The music on “In the Woods” perfectly mirrors the aesthetic that many people bring to mind when they consider that particular part of the world. The atmosphere is spacious whilst maintaining an undeniable barrenness. The opening nine-minute ‘Rain’ could almost be the theme music to a melancholic crime drama series in itself. The mood is thoughtful and considered and at times teeters on the edge of developing into an upsurge of sound, but teases the listener.

‘The Fall’ continues very much in a similar vein, with subtly placed chord progressions that weave a foundation on which some heavier vocal and instrumentation can take off from. Again, however, the atmosphere is ponderous and at times almost lachrymal. ‘Harm’ and ‘Field’ succeed in elevating the mood somewhat as they allow themselves to go over the edge into some frenetic cacophony of sound that seems almost cathartic in essence, whilst ‘Vapour’ pushes the momentum even further and shows an altogether more muscular sound.

A dark fragility informs the sound on ‘Rust’ which meanders delicately through those mournful Scandinavian landscapes. All these elements seem to coalesce on the closing track ‘End’, which twists and turns between sadness and optimism on a background of carefully calculated and scholarly chord progressions...

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Dementio13/Various – “VTOL” album review

Dementio13 (Paul Foster) has now built up a reputation for releasing some truly innovative album projects that encompass the qualities of Krautrock, ambient electronica and pop culture, and pieces them together to create some unnervingly sophisticated music. “VTOL” on first hearing is, thankfully, no exception. This time, however, a number of collaborators have been drafted in to provide further assets to the release. “Creased” which opens the album, and “A Shallow Grave”, are slightly reminiscent of chip tune, or 8-bit music, and harks back to a day when computer games generated music was far simpler and less refined. The chip tune feel carries on into “Finish Line” which is the first of three collaborations with Juanita Alvarez as Nita Disaster. Cold, unadulterated lines of dialogue combine to build up a futuristic urban landscape, whilst the instrumentation augments the abrasive atmosphere. “Pollution”, also featuring Nita Disaster, creates a similar sense of anxiety but somehow manages to cloak it in approachable swathes of electronic beats, whilst “These Days” has a futuristic jazz undercurrent which matures into music more delicate and affable.

 Douglas Deep (Steve Kelly) lends “Stelian” a no less desolate edge whilst incorporating frantic chip tune beats and demented vocal samples to create an uneasy amalgamation of sounds. “Genes” featuring James Reichelt as Alone and Dementio13 has a twisted “Aphex Twin” feel to it which gradually builds up the momentum and lavishness over its’ six minutes into something quite majestic. The album is not without its tongue in its own cheek in places however as can be seen on “Alcohol”, a collaboration with Snippet (Johnno Casson), and which features delightfully memorable electronic lines surrounding morsels of booze related lyrics and vocal samples. Pixieguts (Marie Craven) collaborates on “Rodeo Days” which progressively builds in intensity through skittish electronica and intimate vocal narrative. Here we have that sense of anxiety and melancholy that is becoming a feature throughout “VTOL”, and which gives is an almost ultramodern fascination. This futuristic ambience is further evidenced in “Self Doubting Thomas” featuring Ian Thistlethwaite. Deadpan vocals over anxious beats create a tension which looks to the future in a way that is common in the twenty first century, not as a utopia and something to be proud of, but as a dystopia and something to be distrustful of.
“Theme Four” seems perfectly placed near the end of the album as the subtle, elusive ukelele bass, fretless bass and guitar lines of Alun Vaughan weave through hopeful beats and lead carefully into the ominous but oddly optimistic “Bondage Bus”. It is a dramatic ending to an album that is peppered with a disparate number of collaborations, which, through thoughtful production and track listing, form a high-tech narrative, which can almost, to these ears, be thought of as urban film music for the twenty second century. 

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Hazzard’s Cure – The Ugly album review

“Dirty metal from the streets of San Francisco” is the approach Hazzard’s Curetakes, according to their Facebook page, and this three-track EP release would certainly support that claim. This is the second release from the band, whose first album release was described in some circles as, “epic blackened stoner thrash”.

The gentle, meandering opening to “Terminal Frost” very quickly develops into a maelstrom of cyclone percussion, demented guitar chords and belligerent vocal. The production is deliciously raw and organic which gives the music the ideal platform. “The Ugly” sets off on a thunderous journey from the outset, with that, by now familiar, relentless drumming and bass onslaught. Within a few minutes however, a corner is turned into what could loosely be described as more melodic and considered territory. The pace has slowed, and the guitar solos have become discernibly more melodious. Not long, however before the mood becomes more onerous. The final track, on this all too short EP, “The Amorphous Body”, appears to incorporate all the previous elements into a glorious seven minutes of heroic sounding chord progressions, boisterous drums and merciless vocal.

The short EP format here may not be the most ideal to evaluate the music of Hazzard’s Cure as there is the feeling that this music needs space and time to develop and mature. That said, the three tracks available would be of interest to devotees of a wide range of musical genres incorporating as it does Black Metal, Sludge, Stoner, Doom, “Progressive Metal” and, to some extent, Post Rock. 

Read the full view here at This Is Not A Scene

Hemelbestormer Vs. Vanessa Van Basten – Split EP

This release comes about as part of the ConSouling Sounds collaboration EP series, and is made up of six tracks that feature a combination of contributions from Italian post-rock, sludge instrumental band Vanessa Van Basten and Dutch sludge, black metal and hardcore Hemelbestormer (which literally translates as “stormer of heaven” and is used to indicate one who has revolutionary views).

The EP opens with Hemelbestormers’ ‘Alpha’ a ponderous and capacious nine minutes of majestic guitar riffing and subtle atmospherics that have an almost glacial feel in their development. The production is gloomy and viscous which captures perfectly the overall mood. ‘Portal I’ and ‘Portal II’ are a partnership between the two bands and open with sheets of practically white noise eddying around and through the mix. As the noise recedes a mellower, more melodious guitar takes over, punctuating the ethereal sound with fragile lines. ‘Portal II’ continues the theme, but is altogether more accessible and tender, evoking imagery of new, distant realms.

Vanessa Van Basten‘s two contributions are less spacious and overall tighter in production. ‘Odyssey Song’ and ‘Hidden Under Terms Like’ are no less substantial than Hemelbestormer but appear more melodic. Obviously the lyrics on these pieces help to lift the temperament, and are delivered in a variety of styles that veer from spoken word, to venomous screams. Changes in tempo and pace lend these tracks an unsettling quality, which adds to their overall charm. The final track, ‘Omega’ returns toHemelbestormer and continues with the theme introduced on ‘Alpha’ of guitar riffs like dinosaurs roaming the landscape devastating everything in their path. The intensity is taken up a level but the momentum is never lost....

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Selim Lemouchi and His Enemies – "Earth Air Spirit Fire Water" album review

For many, the sad demise of Dutch band The Devil’s Blood in 2013 after six years was an unanticipated shock. For Selim Lemouchi it proved to be an opportunity to take his music in another direction, and so Selim Lemouchi and His Enemies was born. The first release by this new project, “Mens Animus Corpus”, was thought to be an eclectic collection of material, at times described as stoner rock encapsulated in a psychedelic drama. The drama is no less evident on this latest release “Earth Air Spirit Fire Water” which has an almost theatrical feel to it throughout. With only five tracks, three of which are over ten minutes, there is time to push the boundaries of straight ahead rock into a more experimental arena.

“Chiaroscuro”, the opening piece, for example, begins with a lengthy narrative sample, which develops into an unsettling journey through grandiose chord progressions and percussion, with a chorus of demented sorceresses layered over the top to take the listener further and further down. One could almost think of this as music for an elaborate stage play dealing with the inner turmoil of mankind. The repetition, the entwining vocal lines and the over whelming production seem to envelop the music and draw the innocent in. The authority gently descends into the next piece “Next Stop, Universe B” which takes off into a more easily recognisable arrangement of bass, guitar and drums bounding onward and allowing the listener respite from the menace suggested at by its predecessor. Almost its natural successor on this journey is “The Ghost of Valentine” which drifts through the atmosphere in much the same way that some of Julian Cope’s more extended ambient pieces do. Reminiscent of early Tangerine Dream, with no palpable melody or rhythm to provide familiarity, the listener glides through his or her own subconscious.

“The Deep, Dark Waters” lures the traveller into a false sense of security after the mind manipulation of “The Ghost of Valentine”. Again we have guitar, bass and drum passages, which, on the surface appear to offer hope and familiarity, but reading between the lines the music takes on an ominous undertone. After a moment to regain the senses, the intensity raises itself again allowing the guitar to ascend and screech for all it is worth. The journey ends with “Molasses” which in many ways can be seen as a summing up of the four previous tracks. There is relentless guitar riffing underpinning swathes of intergalactic keyboard, cut through with the wraithlike vocal lines of Lemouchi’s sister Farida…

Read the full review here

Rattus – Turta album review

One of the most widely respected hardcore punk bands to come out of Finland;Rattus began life in 1978, in Vilppula. After a thirteen-year hiatus, between 1988 and 2001, the band began working again as a major concern and released two albums “Rattus” and “Uudet Piikit” in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Alongside outfits such as Terveet Kadet and Kaaos, Rattus were at the vanguard of Finnish punk and helped provide a template for the scene to develop. With a new vocalist Jopo Rantanen, 2013 sees the release of the mighty “Turta” (“numb” in English). Compared in some circles to the ferocity of bands such as Discharge, whom they cite as an influence, Rattus have the rage and the vitality to support that comparison, but somehow lack the menace. Hopefully this will not be misinterpreted as suggesting that Rattus lack street punk credentials, as this is most certainly not the case. Each one of the fourteen tracks here are an aural assault on the senses, which evokes an evolving scene at its’ most dangerous and exhilarating.

Essentially now Rantanen on guitar and vocals, V-P Hyvarinen on drums and Tomppa Marjamaki on bass, the trio format is utilised to blistering effect. From the opening torrent of ‘Uskoton’ to the closing furious bars of ‘Voimavara Viha’, “Turta” delivers precisely what an old school hardcore punk should be delivering, a twenty first century old school hardcore punk that sounds as fresh and relevant today as it did when the scene was in its infancy. The production techniques may have improved to the extent that each instrument is able to cut through the mix, but the spirit is still here in bucket loads of loose guitar riffs and furious percussion. The fact that the lyrics to these tunes will be indecipherable to anyone who is not fluent in their native tongue is irrelevant, as music speaks to anyone who is willing to listen, and the music on “Turta” is essential listening for anyone who is interested in genuine, no compromise, soulful music…

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