Five more pieces of music, okay, six then, six pieces of music in no particular order, the art of noise, or the art of quiet, electric eclecticness and a gathering together in one place in the hope of some cross0pollination or something like that. Just signposts really….
1: Black.Smith – Now things aren’t as obvious here as they may apear at first, let it flow, let it slowly come to the boil now. Witch House 66 is an album released on London’s Dog Tunnel Records, a lightly sinister thing, dark, brooding, brooding colour though. Moody electronics, syvths, Cackles, screams, animal noises, threats of witchcraft and evil…. Find it on Bandcamp while we still have Bandcamp
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“A simmering slow-burn of dark synth and an exploration of sonic texture as improvising musicians and analogue instruments investigate and interpret the Witch House genre against the story of a troubled occultist enthralled in the sinister world of witchcraft, nothingness, and disassociation from the world of material things. Dabbling in ritual magic opens a world of gothic dread played out over 6 tracks of experimental, improvised, analogue Witch House.
Long associated with digital sound culture, Witch House showcased a cold sound of frozen reverbs and computer-constructed rhythms, and a love of esoteric digital fonts among its disciples. Black.Smith’s enthusiastic take on the genre gleefully subverts these conventions,
comprising improvised music played and recorded live in the studio on analogue instruments, with the vocal assistance of visiting witch Suze Harper and occult enthusiast Josh Steed.
Graduates of the more obscure end of the free jazz circuit, Black.Smith have previously performed at Super Sonic festival, played live in the Resonance FM studio, and sound-tracked a spoken word EP of beatnik poetry with the late Jazzman John Clarke. The duo, comprising drum programmer Dan Black and multi-instrumentalist Peter Smith (Band of Holy Joy), are back with new collaborators for this off-the-wall analogue interpretation of Witch House.
2: Plague Arish and Paradox Encounter Group have a tape album called Tarred And Feathered, more that that we can’t tell you, they are vague in terms of information, I kind of like that they are. All we really know is this is “a collaborative work of experimental sound art that melds modular synths with noise, dark ambient and industrial atmospherics into unsettling, thought-provoking soundscapes”.
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3: Dellarge – A cross-cutting label exploring the boundaries between different disciplines based on deep listening and music research, Modern Obscure Music is set to release ‘INRI’ (Industria Nacional Del Ruido Infinito) on the 1st December, the new album from Dellarge.
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“Inspired by the scenic beauty of his studio’s surroundings at Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacan, Mexico, Alejandro Barba, aka Dellarge, delves deep into the depths of his artistic consciousness to craft a spiritual album that encapsulates the essence of the place. ‘INRI’ stands for Industria Nacional del Ruido Infinito (National Industry of Infinite Noise) and serves as a vessel for Dellarge’s innermost self-expression and reflections on the potential of humanity.
A multifaceted artist and veteran of the music industry for over two decades, his latest musical creation is an intimate and personal album and a departure from previous Techno/EBM-orientated Dellarge releases. ‘INRI’ offers a mesmerizing blend of ambient, futuristic, and industrial sounds that transport listeners into a realm of mysticism, futurism, and duality and stands as a testament to Dellarge’s artistic growth and his ability to transcend boundaries, offering listeners an immersive experience that connects them to his world.
Drawing inspiration from numerous sources, Dellarge found creative fuel in books such as ‘El Arte de los Ruidos’ by Luigi Russolo, ‘Manifiestos y Textos Futuristas’ by F.T. Marinetti, and science fiction classics including ‘Congreso de Futurología’ by Stanislaw Lem, ‘Neuromancer’ by William Gibson, and ‘Dune’ by Frank Herbert. Musically, he delved into the works of Coil, Michael Bundt, The Threshold Houseboys Choir, krautrock legends CAN and Popol Vuh, early Kraftwerk, Arthur Brown, Yello, Esquivel, The Residents, and Hector Lavoe for inspiration”.
The single or lead track ot whatever it is, featured here, is kind of typical of what is a rather fine album, an album alive with crisp detail, with filmic warmth at is at the same time cold in a rather positive way
“When asked about the creative process behind the album, Dellarge revealed a disciplined routine that involved immersing himself in the sounds, focusing on minute details that connected with the vivid world he envisioned. Ethereal tracks such as ‘Viento Androide’ and ‘Viaje al Sol’ offer a glimpse of a hopeful future, while darker compositions such as ‘Corpus de Sangre’ and ‘Toro de Falaris’, explore the wickedness and compassion within humanity. Each piece in the album represents a unique sonic journey.
‘Viaje al Sol’, the first single to be taken from the album, is set for release on the 27th October, and is also available as an EP which includes a remix from Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant. The remix is also included on the digital version of the album and available on 7” vinyl alongside an exclusive reworking of ‘Cascabel’ by the founder of Modern Obscure Music, Pedro Vian”.
Find more Dellarge via Bandcamp or here
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4: Autojektor – A piece of music, a piece of sound art from visual/audio artist and rather delicious somewhat mysterious London film maker Autojektor. Find more Autojektor via Cultivate’s latest online art exhibition Mixtape No.6…
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5: Maya Shenfeld – “Following live premieres at Atonal Festival, Semibreve Festival and more, Berlin-based composer Maya Shenfeld announces her expansive, kaleidoscopic new album. Under the Sun will be out on February 23rd of next year. Composed and produced over the last two years between a studio in Berlin and on site at one of the world’s deepest marble quarries in Portugal, the album’s powerful sounds are a meditation on the natural world, wrestling with the looming threat of catastrophe and crisis, and the power of community and collaboration to enact change. Under The Sun’s slowly evolving, hypnotic electro-acoustic pieces that make canny use of repetition, space and silence to play with our very sense of time and our relationship to our surroundings.
Alongside the announcement, Shenfeld shares the mesmeric video for lead single “Interstellar”, directed by Pedro Maia. The video was shot in 2022 in the same marble quarries in Vila Vicosa, Portugal, where the album was produced. Through a cycle of electroacoustic pieces for analogue synths, woodwinds, voice, and field recordings, and imagery shot under the scorching sun of the hottest summer on record, Shenfeld and Maia explore change and repetition, deep time and the ephemeral moment, equilibrium and imminent threat. Pushing the boundaries of Super 8 film and drones shootings, Maia’s analog film processing is brought into dialogue with Shenfeld’s layered textural compositions to create an immersive radiant live audio-visual experience.
Maya Shenfeld’s music is as illuminating as it is exquisite. Classically trained, Shenfeld has fast grown into one of contemporary music’s most exciting, vital voices. Every aspect of her dazzling, multifaceted output interrogates the way we experience the world around us – be it solo microtonal explorations, site-specific installations or commissions for leading New Music ensembles. Under the Sun provides a daring expansion of that musical vision”. Album details
We can have six can’t we? Penelope Trappes crossed our path earlier this evening when she srarted following us as a result of that Gazelle Twin live review we posted this morning. See, we do check out people who follow us via our various feeds, it is;nt ever about the numbers, always about the people. Penelope is new to us, looks like she has a healthy reputation, sounds like a repuatation well deserved…
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6: Penelope Trappes – She’s from Brighton, well she’s based in Brighton right now and this rather intimate release, Heavenly Spheres, from April 2023, appears to be her latest warm offering. Dark yet light, rather glowing, eight delicious slices of solitude. Powerfully quiet pieces that invite you in, deliciously detailed minimalism, I want to say stark but it really isn’t, there’s a lot in here, beautifully coloured…
“UK based Australian born vocalist, musician and ethereal soundscaper, PENELOPE TRAPPES has announced details of the first release on her new imprint, Nite Hive. The label will launch with Heavenly Spheres, an 8-piece album recorded during a two-week residency for Britten Pears Arts at the house where the composer, teacher and musicologist Imogen Holst lived in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Heavenly Spheres is the result of the artist experimenting with only her voice, an upright piano and an old German reel to reel tape deck. Trappes explains, “I immersed myself in solitude and often deafening silence, and coexisted with an enormous amount of history and books. I grew to love this unfamiliar space as I recorded sound outside of my normal way of working, took long and sometimes psychedelic walks, channelled ghosts on tape, and ended up with about 35 pieces of music and sound art. This album is 8 of those pieces which I fell in love with.”
The album is an often-delicate study with unearthed sounds seemingly rising from the integrated tape hiss. Across the 8 pieces, disembodied voices and delicate piano figures dance around hypnagogic songs at the edge of consciousness.
Nite Hive is Penelope Trappes’ new imprint, designed as a label run by – and for – women and gender nonconforming artists to allow the free exploration of their approach to experimental music. Nite Hive aims to expand the template by welcoming audio work from the edges of sound, art and beyond – creating without restriction nor question to shift paradigms within the music industry. All of these will be released digitally and on limited-edition cassette tape – accompanied by a podcast interview with each artist about their creative process.
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THE ORGAN 
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