The Summoner comes 4 years since the last Kreng album Grimoire and 3 years since the massive retrospective box set Works for Abattoir Férme 2007-2011. A lot has happened in between, and this new recording can be seen as quite the departure from the aformentioned. 

His most personal album to date, The Summoner is based around the 5 stages of mourning and is made after a year of losing several close friends. Hard enough material to work on, he decided to add a 6th stage, entitled The Summoning to be able to arrive at the finalé, Acceptance. 

Conjuring up the spirit of György Ligeti, the first half of the album is made entirely of 12 string players being directed to play around, make noisey clusters and crescendoes, moving you between Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression. In fact, The Summoner is the first Kreng album NOT made by hordes of samples. Music to really dig deep in to. 

Following into the second part of the album, twists and turns are taken and it's hard to know where exactly you are. The Summoning's haunting organs and smoke-filled chambers lead you in to an earth- shaking wall of guitars, drums and bass courtesy of Belgian doom band Amenra. Leaving you in a state of shock, the album closes in an incredibly heartfelt and quiet way with the fittingly named Acceptance.

Kreng - Depression

Rejuvenate the soul with healing frequencies, frequencies 

Cells Align Healing Complete

"Long Swim" from Joseph Shabason's debut Aytche available August 25th from Western Vinyl

Pre-Order Aytche:
Bandcamp https://josephshabason.bandcamp.com
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/aytche/id1245245891?ls=1&app=itunes
WV http://westernvinyl.com/shop/wv165

Joseph Shabason
Twitter https://twitter.com/JosephShabason
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/josephshabason/

Saxophonist and composer Joseph Shabason’s debut Aytche builds a bridge off of the precipice his forbears established, skirting jazz, ambient, and even new age with the same deliberate genre-ambiguity that made their work so interesting.

Aytche is a document of exploration both inward and outward. Every step taken in sound-design mirrors a stride in emotionality, as Shabason employs a variety of effect pedals to coax rich moody textures from his instrument.  He explains, "I feel like robbing the sax of the ability to shred by effecting it and turning it into a dense chordal instrument really helps the instrument become something that it's not usually known for."  Aytche deals with themes of degenerative illness and assisted suicide with eloquence that instrumental music rarely achieves regarding any subject, much less such difficult ones.

Album highlight “Westmeath” approaches Aytche’s subject of inspiration head-on. Here, the album’s only verbalization appears in the form of an interview with a man discussing his father’s trauma and eventual suicide after surviving the holocaust.  Though we only hear a few obscured words and phrases from the interview, the impact is powerful.  For Shabason, whose grandparents survived the holocaust, this selection is anything but frivolous.

Joseph Shabason - "Long Swim"

Efrim Manuel Menuck
Pissing Stars

Constellation
CST129
Out 02/02/18

Efrim Manuel Menuck • "LxOxVx / Shelter In Place"

Stream & Download: http://smarturl.it/GoneRoguePlaidRemix
Gone Rogue, from the album Elytral, available now: smarturl.it/Elytral

Written by Mary Epworth
Remixed by Plaid
'Gone Rogue' produced, engineered and mixed by Thom Monahan.
P & C 2017 Sunday Best Recordings under exclusive license to PIAS.
Published by Duchamp, Inc.

13-12-17

Gone Rogue (Plaid remix)

Album ● https://Groeni.lnk.to/Nihx @Groeni

Nihx

BUY MARBLED LP/DIGITAL

Groeni - The Pharmacist (Nihx - Project: Mooncircle, 2018)

Composer and drummer of Dawn of Midi, Qasim Naqvi, releases his debut album for Erased Tapes on May 3rd. 'Teenages' captures the sound of electronics living, breathing and mutating of their own accord – almost autonomously – with only subtle, sparing but perfectly-judged and masterful guidance.

This album is one singular synergy between Qasim and his machine within a broader milieu of sound, also explored by contemporaries Sarah Davachi, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri and also the forefather, Morton Subotnick. At points tonal, textural and rhythmic, over six evolving and growing audio organisms, the album flourishes upwards in stages, from initial micro-sonics to something bigger, brighter and anthemic.

With 'Teenages', Naqvi summoned all the material on an analog modular synthesizer – a voltage-controlled sound generating system comprised of multiple modules. Naqvi built this synth over the course of two years and amassed a collection of works for this album. The album chronicles both Naqvi’s understanding of writing for this type of instrument and the growth of the instrument itself:

“I started with just a few modules. And naturally things had to be layered and pieced together but as the synthesiser and its components grew over time, I was able to create broader and more complex strokes in the moment. And by the time I got to ‘Teenages’, it was possible to create a robust, large-scale piece spontaneously. This is very much an experiential album for me because it was borne out of my direct experience of learning the instrument. And as the synthesiser grew over time with more components, it matured. At times I felt like it was even rebelling against my instructions or surprising me with what felt like its own choices. When everything was finished and I was thinking about track titles, this idea of artificial intelligence came into my head; a machine that reacts to your impulses and is capable of giving you something different from what you ask, and even defying you. It felt like different stages of growth and adolescence, and that lead to the album title, ‘Teenages’.”

Deeply rewarding on close listening, Naqvi has created an inspiring and synapse-stimulating new masterwork, within the analogue/modular cannon.

· pre-order 'Teenages' on LP/CD/DL: https://idol.lnk.to/QasimTeenages

Teenages

No Tongue

Buy LP/CD/DL

Qasim Naqvi - No Tongue

Gold and Soil's self-titled debut album is available 11/13 (Digital) and 11/20 (Vinyl). Pre-Order vinyl now - http://nonprojects.bigcartel.com/product/gold-and-soil-gold-and-soil

Originally premiered on The FADER - http://www.thefader.com/2012/11/01/stream-gold-and-soil-of-our-earth/

Gold and Soil - "Of Our Earth"

Object Is A Navigator

Object is a Navigator

Taken from the forthcoming album MeYouWeYou on Smalltown Supersound, coming in July...