The Rock Blogger

Maeror Tri - The Beauty of Sadness. 1996. 5 stars.

This an exquisite and emotional drone/ambient album from this now defunct German trio. Deep bass lines and subdued guitars underlay the brooding moans of synths which lapse over each other in densely layered compositions. Jangling riffs are contrasted against airy ambiance, evoking desolate spaces broken only by soft pillars of light.

While many experiments in the genre have crafted moody atmospheric pieces, they cannot compare to the fluidity of Maeror Tri’s progressions as they slowly build around shimmering motifs. The cascading waves of sound, the resigned melodies against buzzing effects, is musical transcendentalism at its most refined. The Beauty of Sadness avoids the tedium of minimalism and the harshness of hard noise to find the golden mean between experimentation and tragic catharsis. Like a Mark Rothko painting set to music, Maeror Tri chart the landscapes of sleep and find hollowed ground. If you are familiar with Labradford, William Basinski, and Stars of the Lid you will certainly appreciate the fine nuances of this record.

Oren Ambarchi - Intermission 2000-2008 . 4 stars .

Intermission is a meditative compilation of drone and ambient pieces from this prolific Australian artist. Consisting mainly of subtle guitar and bass tones, these plodding tracks are drawn out over long periods of time to the point where they loose their deliberate instrumental quality and become natural background noise. While the gradual processes of the record take their sweet time, the effect is quite stunning once it sets in - evoking calm ocean waves or a placid morning sky. Pieces like "The Strouhal Number" are weightless pieces of ambiance, only punctuated by the low rumble of bass tones and the sleepy crackle of static.

While the album passes through an otherworldly atmosphere, it avoids the symphonic excess of most ambient records - these are meticulously crafted experiments in sound manipulation that sift through your memories, rather than just lulling you to sleep. It is certainly a challenging collection, and it is not as forceful as the psychedelic drone of Birchville Cat Motel or Natural Snow Buildings, but it still carries on a deeply cerebral undertaking with care. Anyone interested in experimental music will be fascinated by its many crevices.

YOGA. Megafauna . 2009. 4.5 stars.

A fascinating drone album that oscillates between airy dark ambiance and raw experimentation. YOGA’s mystical surrealism opens up a sonic space punctured by bursts of distorted guitar noise, warbling synths and martial percussion. There are no voices echoing across this landscape, only the chirps, grunts and groans of unknown animals (cryptozoology).

The atmosphere is dense and absorbing, lulling the listerner into an eerie dream, or worse, repressed memories. Megafauna is nothing short of vision quest, using organic textures and subtle progressions to trace paths in the forgotten forests of the mind. While some of YOGA’s noisy bursts are odd, if not unsettling, they are used to light up the caverns they plunge into. Megafauna is a unique piece of psychological terror that challenges the listener to go beyond melodic structures and stand in a primordial clearing.

Ulaan Khol. I and II. 2008. 5 stars.

Glorious psychedelic drone music from the prolific Steven R. Smith (of Hala Strana). Both of these albums are largely guitar based, sending distorted space-rock riffs through hazy ambient mist. Loose, jangly melodies crackle in the arid and ancient atmosphere, sounding like weathered field recordings from Mars. Light noise hovers above the drawn-out instrumentation, painting a beautiful autumnal skyline for the music to dance against. Chords warble and twist like the pitched lure of the snake-charmer.

Ulaan Khol manages to be epic and absorbing without building up steady cresendos or crushing finales - this music deserves meditative patience much like the venerable Natural Snow Buildings. These albums should not be described as walls of sound but more as bubbling streams of consciousness. The expereince is a deep and mysterious one, full of texture, nuance and cosmic wonder. Smith’s compositions wander and haunt like specters over a vast alien landscape, never reaching their destination, but content in their long, winding journey. Simply masterful.

Njiqahdda. Yrg Alms. 2009. 4.5 stars.

2009 ends on a high note with this dense and highly immersive album from the prolific Njiqahdda. The duo delve further into their mystical aesthetic, merging the oppressive atmosphere of black metal with dark ambient textures and cascading post-rock guitars. Yrg Alms is easily their most refined and creative effort so far, pushing their heavily layered compositions to hallucinatory limits. Lyrical content here is void, leaving the listener to meditate on drawn-out and distorted vocalizations that rush over the music like gusts of wind. At other times, like on the sorrowful “Sombre Fortu”, something vaguely human creeps in, though the voices are unintelligible (but emotionally stirring) mantras.

The guitars are intricate and complex, either pulsating through fluid arpeggios or rumbling under ominous noise. They provide the album with a surprising cathartic energy that provides consistent momentum across its lengthy duration. While portions of these epic tracks do meander (like in the extended droning bridge of “Yrg Alms”), the serpentine guitars always manage to bring the journey back to a cognizable path.

A fitting companion for the harsh winter months, Yrg Alms is an intense effort that compensates for its less cohesive sections with its raw, creative and uncompromising vigor. There are few albums within the already diverse metal subculture that push against convention quite like this, though its sheer density will likely leave casual listeners puzzled. Nonetheless, there is a compelling artistry that Njiqahdda possesses that is consistently evolving into a stronger and deeper creature.

Natural Snow Buildings. Shadow Kingdom . 2009.

Another masterpiece (if not their finest achievement to date) from this prolific avant/drone duo. Delicate, ethereal folk songs are interwoven with wispy psychedelia, eastern-tinged guitars and mysterious, ambient noises. A soundtrack for levitation. Shadow Kingdom is an incredibly exhausting and expansive album (over 2 hours) that is full of awe-inspiring moments. It may take dozens of dedicated listens to unearth all of its riches.

Oceanus Procellarum. Amidst Nature . 2009.

Low, rumbling drones and minimal acoustic accents run through this deep and challenging album. Subtle transitions lumber in the caverns of these five evocative pieces, sounding like lost requiems, left to rot in the woods.

Starbird. Nanook of the North. 2007.

A very unique piece of drone/ambient/free-folk music inspired by the famous Canadian documentary about the Inuit in Quebec. Strange percussive instrumentation, chimes and woodwinds grant this album an authentic, indigenous atmosphere. The sonic landscapes may be sparse, cold and foreboding, but Starbird’s eclecticism also makes them strangely inviting, finding a primordial connection with the open North.

Radical drone, imploded wonder, insomniac trudge, clearing by fire, the blinding light of morning.

Birchville Cat Motel. Our Love Will Destroy the World . 2006. New Zealand

Harsh, dissonant noise coupled with pulse-pounding drums make for one of the most caustic and powerful albums of its kind.

Menace Ruine. Cult of Ruins . 2008. Montreal

Blackened drone, oppressive and mystical. Creative use of both male and female vocals, wailing from the dark tower.

Boris. Feedbacker . 2003. Tokyo.

A classic drone doom record. Long, stoned dirges that slowly build into monolithic walls of sound. The band’s most patient and celestial album.

Jesu. Infinity. 2009. The U.K.

The newest release from Justin Broadrick. One 45 minute track that encompasses both digital experimentation and guttural throwbacks to his industrial (Godflesh) days. Not nearly as gripping as Conqueror but still a finely crafted and hypnotic work.

Corrupted. El mundo frio . 2005. Osaka.

A tour de force, bringing togehter steady post-rock arpeggios, lumbering bass drones, gritty sludge guitars and a haunting, desert atmosphere. One mesmerizing 71 minute track that lurches menacingly across an arid landscape. A massive effort that rivals the best of doom metal.

Have a Nice Life. Voids . 2009. 4 stars.

Voids is a fan made compilation of demos and b-sides from last year’s stellar Deathconsciousness . This collection is split in two, with The Powers of 10 consisting of demos/remixes of older songs and What Came Next Was Worse featuring 5 unreleased songs. While the demos are a nice addition, they don’t compare to the raw, gritty energy of the "new" tracks, which is compelling.

"Human Error" is a catchy instrumental track featuring jangly shoegazing guitar riffs and stark percussion. "Trespassers W" is a punchy post-punk song driven by fluid bass lines and simple kinetic riffing, reminiscent of Joy Division’s minimalist dynamics. The urgent pacing of this track expands on the tense and claustrophobic feelings of Deathconsciousness with clearer direction and furor.

" Defenstration Song" follows along the same line, with dirty, distorted guitars and haunting vocals murmuring and wailing under the densely layered mix. The pounding percussion has become more sophisticated, and the crunch of guitars is also more ominous. With these two songs, Have a Nice Life seem to be following the punkish trajectory set out by "Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail" and "The Future", showing a rougher and more immediate side of their complex sound.

"Sisyphus" is a cold, slow-boiling song that broods over droning guitar noise before leading in ethereal vocal harmonies that overlap and become ghostly ambiance (a la "Bloodhail"). It’s a long and patient song that shows off the band’s intricate use of layering to bring out deep and troubling emotions.

"Destinos", the final song, is the most distrubing, as it intersperses samples of a fundementalist sermon about Hell and Sin between forebodding acoustic strumming and drawn out synths. The echoing vocals build powerfully and capture feelings of resignation and defeat before crackling noise starts to rupture. Gloomy piano lines then hammer sparesly over the groaning distortion. The effect of these transitions is unsettling, evoking the vexing, demonic spirit that lurks within their work.

Overall, Voids is an intense and revealing collection that expands on HANL’s depressive atmosphere and shows hints at powerful things to come. While it is obviously not nearly as polished or detailed as Deathconsciousness , these offerings still cut like a knife. You can download it here .

Isengrind / TwinSisterMoon / Natural Snow Buildings. The Snowbringer Cult . 2008. 4.5 stars .

This two-disc album comprises three projects of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte, the French drone/folk artists that brought us Natural Snow Buildings. These incredibly lengthy movements share the same hazy, free-form structure as their main project, with some tribal percussion and drawn-out woodwind passages rounding out the Isengrind tracks. Wordless vocals move ethereally over the sparse instrumentation, as if caught in a deep, psychedelic trance. The entire affair sounds like a sample from some shamanic ritual, with each coo, chant and chorus exalting the slow, meticulous consumption of Psilocybin.

The TwinSisterMoon pieces follow the same ritualistic path, with a greater focus on sustaining a fluid, relaxing drone, as each layer of instrumentation bleeds in together. The vocals become more gentle and soothing, reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan’s sleepy style. The music moves like a dream, transient and indefinite, as the dense wall of sound oscillates into pure ambiance.

The two projects then converge into Natural Snow Buildings, the album’s concluding side. The drones here are flatter and more stretched out, sprawled out like some distant alien landscape. The atmosphere here is harsh, icy and strange, with haunting pulses of noise looming somewhere on the horizon. Percussion rears its head again towards the end, evoking the tribal circles of the north, extended tributes to the Aurora Borealis.

While the sounds on this collection can be bizarre and unsettling, they also carry a deep-seated wonder, an appeal to the frozen abyss. It’s daunting length, experimentation and meditative effects make this a challenging, and certainly rewarding work. While NSB’s Daughter of Darkness overshadows this effort in terms of scope and consistency, this three-way split is still notable for its eclecticism and Inuit lore. A gem for wanderers.

Ben Chasny’s Six Organs of Admittance is one my favorite projects at the moment. Given my hectic schedule as of late, deep, meditative music like this is vital. These videos bring out the texture in this music and have a Stan Brakhage quality to them. The newest SOA album Luminous Night marks a departure from drone/noise influenced psychedelia to more straightforward folk. I suggest you check it out.