Split cassette featuring two long form jams from drone duo The Transcendance Orchestra (aka Daniel Bean and Anthony Child) and label owner Ali Wade.
The A-Side features five melded movements: entrance, acceleration, abstraction, revelation and obliteration. Which range from contemplative tones, to hyper spatial widescreen drones. Flipping for Demon’s and Wade goes on an off-grid excursion, visiting some varied and impeccably produced textures, from clean and shiny, to the soft and clouded.
Looks like this is already sold out, that was quick. Digi still available on their Bandcamp.
It’s hard to keep up with all the amazing DIY labels these days. Woodford Halse is one particularly prolific outfit, releasing a couple of tapes and CDs every month. Here’s a quick round up of what to expect in June/July 2021.
As usual, lots of music from the label features in our monthly radio show. Pick of the bunch for me is the Xylitol tape ‘Inside a Stone of Cream there is a Language’, with bubbling resonant synth tracks like Popcorn evoking some serious Raymond Scott vibes and mellow library-esque moments with Business Direct.
Consider this post a heads up, as generally these releases sell out on pre-orders, so stay frosty people and keep an eye on their Bandcamp.
Artist– Giants of Discovery (UK) Title – Orpheus Label – Woodford Halse Catalogue Number – WF 32 Format – Cassette album with multi layered artwork (die cut outer sleeve, die cut j card and ‘cigarette card’ insert). Pre Orders – 4th June Genre – Electronic, Ambient, SoundscapeArtist– Ffion (UK) Title – Sessile Label – Woodford Halse Catalogue Number – WF 29 Format – Cassette album with multi layered artwork (die cut outer sleeve, die cut j card and ‘cigarette card’ insert). Pre Orders – 4th June Genre – Electronic, Techno, AmbientArtist– Quiet Clapping (Cork, Ireland) Title – The Abbey of the Black Hag Label – Woodford Halse Catalogue Number – WF 41 Format – CD album with multi layered artwork (die cut outer sleeve, ‘cigarette card’ insert and booklet). Pre Orders – 2nd July Genre – Ambient, Drone, Experimental, Minimalism, Post RockArtist– Xylitol (Brighton, UK) Title – Inside a Stone of Cream there is a Language Label – Woodford Halse Catalogue Number – WF 30 Format – Cassette album with multi layered artwork (die cut outer sleeve, die cut j card and ‘cigarette card’ insert). Pre Orders – 2nd July Genre – Electronic, Lo-Fi, Minimal Synth, NDWArtist– Salvatore Mercatante (New York) Title – Tre Sfere Label – Woodford Halse Catalogue Number – WF 26 Format – Cassette album with multi layered artwork (die cut outer sleeve, die cut j card and ‘cigarette card’ insert). Pre Orders – 4th June Genre – Electronic, Techno
Since free market reforms and opening up to foreign trade in the late 1970s, China has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies. Along with pulling 800 million people out of poverty, it has also become the world’s largest economy and with it a growing cultural and arts scene.
China’s experimental music and sound art scene began to take shape in the post-Tiananmen era in the late 1990s. A few musicians from the mainland’s underground music scene started to experiment with new ways of making music while the music industry co-opted the once revolutionary and independent rock music scene.
This particular collection of pieces runs the gamut of experimental styles, from music concrete to drones, arpeggiated synth pieces to field recordings. All achieved in a pure and focused dedication to the sound. A really stunning anthology musically and excellent curation from the label.
Deep and dark, residing in the zone where EBM and techno dwell. Various remixes of Black Light Smoke tracks on their Death Decay Magic imprint, all versions keep it down to the nitty gritty.
Choice pics for us are Black Smoke’s own off kilter remix of ‘Your Own Hands and techno legend The Hacker’s stripped down version of ‘Lines’. Check my show on Mutant Radio this week (14th April) for previews on both of these.
Big, bad and heavy. Longtime supporter of the the weird and wonderful side to techno music, Toronto’s Trevor Wilkes runs the Fun in the Murky blog and label. He is also an amazing DJ/Selector and has been broadcasting his radio show regularly online, long before the days of facebook live.
In his words, the immense 4×12″ box set “represents the artists whose music I play the most on Bleep Radio. Literally and objectively played the most. I’m a big number crunching statistics nerd and have trended my own track-lists for years as many of you know. As a Canadian, far removed from where the music I like shines the brightest I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to meet with and play alongside a lot of these folks in person and not just via the stream.”
All the tunes bang as to be expected (including one of mine ;), however the super-standout track for me is the Ben Pest ‘Tilt Lock’, serious bang time !!!
Twinkle3 – I Rode A Tiger But Dared Not Dismount(2/4/21)
Great to see local sound experimentalists and noise enthusiasts, Eastern Ear (formally NNSAC), have started releasing recordings of music performed at their events.
Their first release by Twinkle3, consisting of Clive Bell (shakuhachi and other woodwind), David Ross (drosscillator and percussion) and Richard Scott (electronics and analogue synthesiser), was a very memorable gig. So it’s great to hear the sounds again, in clean digital form (especially that wonderfully blooping and burbling EMS Synthi).
A mesmerising blend of futuristic alien rhythms, electro-acoustic interludes and 1950’s synthesis.
