The Leaden Echo
Portugese bassist Margarida Garcia remains one of the most distinctive improvising voices on her instrument even as she moves well beyond contemporary improv praxis with an umbilical that runs deep into the contemporary psychedelic underground. This new LP, released in an edition of only 200 copies on guitarist Manuel Mota’s Headlights imprint, sees her exploring some darkly dramatic arco drone space with enough F/X to sink the Titanic. The territory is murky, sub-aqueous, giving the nod …
Bless them that curse you
'Bless Them That Curse You captures an unprecedented balance of claustrophobia and solace. It's a strange alchemy to render something both inviting and alienating; it requires a special kind of skill to create music that sounds like it's rattling apart at its seams, unraveling in a torturous but compelling fashion. It demands an acknowledgement of the fine line between noise and racket, between tension and tedium. Finding an interpersonal chemistry to pull it off can take years of searching and …
Pendulum Nisum
Pendulum Nisum are Reto Mder (Ural Umbo, Sum Of R, RM74) and Mike Reber (Herpes Ö DeLuxe) from Bern, Switzerland. The 8 pieces on their debut album are built on majestic organic drones and hypnotic, sinister melodies - a complex structured sound built from horns, organ, piano, analogue synthesizers, shades of guitar sounds, voices, found objects, electro-acoustic processes, and, most of all, an unusual strong presence of field recordings. The powerful but warm and gloomy sound, based on acoustic…