Monday, February 22, 2010

Burzum - Belus (byelobog productions 2010)



The Return of Burzum

Varg VikernesIt's been 11 long years and now the world will see the return of Burzum. The highly anticipated new album is entitled "Belus" after the name of the ancient European solar deity of light and innocence. "Belus" is not a religious album or an anti-religious album, nor is it a political one, but an attempt to explore the myths about Belus and unveil the oldest roots of our cultural heritage. The album deals with the death of Belus, his sombre journey through the realm of death and his magnificent return. In essence the album and the story of Belus is meant to be an entertaining story about something that once upon a time played a major role in the forming and shaping of Europe.

"The album has been made according to my heart and spirit, and not to fit into any particular genre or category, or to live up to anyone's obvious expectations". The music can best be compared to the music of some of the old Burzum albums; in particular the ground breaking "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" and the atmospheric brilliances of "Filosofem", only the ambient parts present on these albums has been almost completely left out on "Belus". "There is no special reason for this, other than coincidence and the fact that I have for some time made more and better music on the guitar rather than on the keyboard".

"Inspiration for the album has come from a variety of sources, and I find my inspiration from fairy tales and myths, from classical music, from memories of what once was, from traditional music, from fantasy, from the wind and weather, from deep forests and running water, from the sky and the sunset, from misty mountains and from yellow leaves falling from age old trees".

"My ambition with "Belus" is to create something I - and hopefully others too - can listen to for years and years to come without ever growing tired of it, and at the same time to share with my audience the experience of getting to know Belus, as he might have been perceived by the ancient Europeans". The combination of lyrics and music makes this a fairy tale different from most others, and should appeal to all those who like transcendental music and love to see different things from a different perspective. "If I can make you dream when listening to this album, I believe I have done a good job".

"I am aware of the black metal association with the name Burzum, and I have no real and serious problem with that, but I personally see no reason to place "Belus" in any category. I think "Belus" musically transcends all existing categories, but if I have to choose one - and for the sake of simplicity - I will simply place it in the metal category".

"Belus" will be released worldwide on Byelobog Productions on the 8th March 2010.

Fursaxa - Mycorrhizae Realm (atp 2010)




...following
Fursaxa’s role as part of The Valerie Project, a live soundtrack for the 1970 Czech film "Valerie and her Week of Wonders", Tara enjoyed playing with a number of musicians so much she enlisted their help for her new album, Mycorrhizae Realm...Greg Weeks, Mary Lattimore,
and Helena Espvall, all fellow Valerians, feature here. Greg recorded the album at his studio; Mary contributes harp on 4 of the tracks found here as well as co-writing ‘Well Of Tuhala’ and ‘Charlote’; and Helena contributes cello on ‘Poplar Moon’, ‘Celosia’ and ‘Ode To Goliards’. It is an exercise in symbiosis. atp

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Creelpolation 1 - 7" Singles (1961 - 1972)

Creel Pone was initially set up as a vehicle for small, CD sized reproductions of vintage and obscure electronic record covers, with strict attention to detail, though at first there was no actual music involved. The source material for these came from the personal collection of "Mr. Creel Pone" himself. Soon, after high demand, the actual music started to be included on CD-R, via high quality vinyl transfers. Each title is created in a limited edition run of 100, and packaged to appear as miniature lp sleeves, complete with mylar plastic slip covers and the ubiquitous Creel Pone sticker - all creating a very appealing product.

The music represented is typically of the avant-garde variety, yet covers a vast plethora of sounds:
from early concrete explorations, to egghead spacetronics, to novelty cult records, to dissonant library noise, the odd "tuneful" diversion on occasion, and everything else in the wide, mostly uncharted world of electronics.

Creel Pone remains an unauthorized/bootleg venture. These are not official releases, however, due to the extreme obscurity of the titles, they remain an invaluable resource for much of this long-lost, long-forgotten music.

To celebrate their 50th release, the great Creel Pone label whipped up a 3 disc set of 7 inches, rarities, and collected oddness. Volume 1 has lots of short tracks and some more famous names like
Daphne Oram or Vladimir Ussachevsky.

Thomas Köner - Unerforschtes Gebiet (2003)



"Eventful at its own pace, the piece is immersive and gains in attraction with every listen. Deeper is the relation between the icy world of "Unerforschtes Gebiet" and the interstellar vacuum of "Les Soeurs Lumière." The cavernous sounds are few and far between but they resonate for long stretches of time, moving around like gusts of solar wind. They provide a backdrop for the reading (by Vanderborght, presumably) of letters between two pen pals, Stella and Lucia." (allmusic)

Download (part 1)
Download (part 2)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Keijo & Uton (om ha sva ha ksha ma la va ra yam 2009)



Space ambient drones meets the blues, simple and out there" om ha sva ha ksha ma la va ra yam
First duo collaboration of keijo and uton. Here is seven songs of droney and spacey blues jams, sometimes far away in cosmos, sometimes rockin' the ground again.

Annapurna Illusion - Dance Of The Mesozoic (Winged Sun 2010)


"Annapurna Illusion is still confidential but this is like High Wolf alter ego in a darker / krautrock aesthetic, with previous releases on Earjerk and Reverb Worship before cassette coming soon on Peasant Magik . Here is two long tracks alternating kosmiche synthetizer, psychedelic jams and doooom voice mantras. The other side of the Winged Sun looking glass." winged sun

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

V/A - 16 Dance Party Smash Hits! (16x7" Boxset, Various 1985)







































Discs 1 & 2: Faust-Extracts





Disc 3: Peter Blegvad-Alcohol




Disc 4: Univers Zero-Triomphe Des Mouches




Disc 5: Art Zoyd-Manege






Disc 6: Joseph Racaille-Six Petites Chansons




Disc 7: Art Bears-Coda To Man And Boy





Disc 8: V/A-The Recommended Sampler EP



Disc 9: Art Bears-Rats & Monkeys/Collapse






Disc 10: Lindsay Cooper-Pictures From The Great Exhibition




Disc 11: News From Babel-Contraries





Disc 12: Chris Cutler & Fred Frith-Limoges



Disc 13: David Thomas, Chris Cutler & Alan Ravenstine-Didn't Have A Very Good Time




Disc 14: Cassiber-Time Running Out






Disc 15: Mnemonists-Nailed/Tic



Disc 16: Vogel featuring Ivor Cutler-Guten Morgen Arschloch


Well, this sprawling beast (clocking in at around 2 1/2 hours of music) took two full days to pull together, so it's gonna be my sole post for this round, but hopefully it's one that'll fill in a lot of desired blanks for those that recognize the centrality of R.I.O. in general and Recommended Records in particular to any discussion of adventurous music, as the contents herein offers both a spot on crash course in the idiom for the uninitiated and, for those already keyed into this vibe, a trawl through the obscure odds 'n' ends bin of some of the most radical bands of the last 30+ years; this jaw-dropping doorstop of a boxset serving as the repository for all of the accumulated bonus singles that had come with subscriber's editions of albums issued by this nonpareil Rock In Opposition imprint over the years (barring the Art Bears' Rats & Monkeys single, which was issued by Ralph). Sure, some of of this stuff has appeared elsewhere in the intervening years (most notably the four Faust sides, which were later repurposed for their Last LP and the subsequent 71 Minutes Of Faust CD), but it felt essential to make this set available in it's complete form, as the cumulative impact of experiencing all this back to back makes this one of the most impressive artifacts of the scene in existance, not least for the inclusion of the Art Bears' quietly harrowing Coda To Man And Boy, which gets my vote for the most sublime guitar work that Fred Frith has ever laid to tape. All the aforesaid does however come with the proviso that the 11-13 minute per side duration of the Art Zoyd single and The Recommended Sampler EP make both sound like they were pressed on recycled truck tires.

Contents:

Discs 1 & 2: Faust-Extracts
Disc 3: Peter Blegvad-Alcohol
Disc 4: Univers Zero-Triomphe Des Mouches
Disc 5: Art Zoyd-Manege
Disc 6: Joseph Racaille-Six Petites Chansons
Disc 7: Art Bears-Coda To Man And Boy
Disc 8: V/A-The Recommended Sampler EP
(Peter Blegvad, Ici La Bas, Faust, R. Stevie Moore)
Disc 9: Art Bears-Rats & Monkeys/Collapse
Disc 10: Lindsay Cooper-Pictures From The Great Exhibition
Disc 11: News From Babel-Contraries
Disc 12: Chris Cutler & Fred Frith-Limoges
Disc 13: David Thomas Chris Cutler & Alan Ravenstine-Didn't Have A Very Good Time
Disc 14: Cassiber-Time Running Out
Disc 15: Mnemonists-Nailed/Tic
Disc 16: Vogel featuring Ivor Cutler-Guten Morgen Arschloch

Get pt. 1 (music) via Megaupload Here

Get pt. 2 (music) via Megaupload Here

Get pt. 3 (artwork) via Megaupload Here

Get pt. 4 (artwork) via Megaupload Here


Get pt. 1 (music) via Rapidshare Here

Get pt. 2 (music) via Rapidshare Here

Get pt. 3 (artwork) via Rapidshare Here

Get pt. 4 (artwork) via Rapidshare Here

*special thanks to Mutant Sounds for posting this (it was too tempting for me not to repost it...)