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v/a – Decoder (ost 2025)

Cold Spring announced the release of the soundtrack of a film the title of which did not ring a bell. Still, this 1984 movie has a soundtrack with Genesis P-Orridge (with and without Dave Ball), The The, Soft Cell, FM Einheit and Einstürzende Neubauten. Did I really miss that?

According to the label, this is the first “complete edition” of the soundtrack. Discogs lists several earlier releases from other labels, but it seems that these versions miss the Soft Cell track.

The film is about a man who finds out that when he plays “”noise” music”, people start to riot. There is not any noise on the soundtrack though. The music is rather soundscapish, sometimes a bit jazzy and a bit industrial here and there. Not too bad, but I think this will suit people who like the Psychic TV approach to music better. The soundtrack of the film itself is more experimental industrial. I did not recognise much music from the soundtrack.

The cd is out on 5 september, but is ready for preorders.
Thank you Cold Spring for bringing the film to my attention.

Link: Cold Spring

Aquavoice * Grey (cd 2013)

This is a very cool album! “Grey” opens with some pretty dark ambient and immediately goes over into something rhythmical (no, no ‘trance ambient’) and gradually grows into a weird sound collage (with ‘trance ambient’ elements), not as minimalistic as Zenial, but “musique concrete” also applies to parts of this album.
I had never heard of Aquavoice, but there have been three previous releases in the past decade. My first encounter is a positive surprise for sure. The album goes from dark to atmospheric and from minimalistic soundscapes to trance ambient, it is all well executed and sounds interesting.
Links: Aquavoice, Zoharum

Zenial ‎* Chimera (lp 2013)

That is funny. Just like the previous album of Zenial that I reviewed, I was going to say that Zenial makes music that I would normally not like, but yet I do. “Chimera” has very experimental soundscapes, is minimalistic and has little structure. Normally that would annoy me, but in this case I again like this album. There are ‘industrialistic’ rhythms (to not give you the idea that this sounds like industrial music like we know it today), soft noise and enough happens to keep drawing my attention. The music sounds like it is made with some stoneage electronic equipment and on Discogs I noticed that the release was tagged “musique concrete”. Should you know what this term (used to) refer(s) to, you might have a good idea of what this album is like. Like the previous album: interesting.
Links: Zenial, Zoharum

Hati ‎* Zero Coma Zero + Recycled Magick Emissions (cd 2013)

Two hard-to-get releases of Hati on one cd. Both releases were made available in very limited editions in 2005. Hati has that ‘Zoharum sound’; weird ritualistic soundscapes with (mostly) real instruments (or ‘instruments’).
There is nothing much for me here, but if you like things like Z’ev, Soviet France or Nocturnal Emissions, this might be something to try. Or of course, when you love Hati (beware that there are more artists with the same name) and have been looking for these limited releases, know that you can finally get them.
Links: Hati, Zoharum

De Geconcentreerde Consumentenbond & Donné et Desirée & Syntax Pony ‎* 3×12 (cdr 2012)

On Discogs I saw that Peter Johan Nijland has another project (together with Oscar Wyers) besides Distel and Hadewych and that a cd has recently been released with this project on it. “3×12” Is a weird release. It comes in a cdr package with cardboard glued to it and has three tracks of about 12 minutes, hence the title. The opening track is of De Geconcentreerde Consumentenbond (‘the concentrated consumers’ society’) and is a strange sound-collage / soundscape kind of thing. Next up is an even more minimalistic sound-collage / soundscape kind of thing of a project that recently seems to have released an album that Discogs has tagged as “free jazz”. The third track is of Nijland/Wyers’ Syntax Pony and they too made a 12 minute sound-collage. This is the more interesting of the three, but I am not too good with sound-collages. Syntax Pony made more of a composition though than the other two projects. If you do enjoy such a release, you can get this album from the label’s Bandcamp and if you prefer a hardcopy, that is possible too.
Link: Oggy Records (also on Soundcloud and Facebook)

Pas Musique * Abandoned Bird Egg (cd 2013)

Like a little over a year ago I got an email from Alrealon Musique if I was interested in reviewing some of their material. Of the musical snippets that I could listen to, most stuff was way too weird for me, but PAS Musique (or simply Pas) sounded interesting enough to ask for the rest of the release. Well, “Abandoned Bird Egg” is a pretty damn, weird release. The music is mostly ‘soundscapish’ with all kinds of strange sounds and little structure, but other tracks are more post-industrial and some go in the direction of IDM. Perhaps this is a relatively ‘easy’ release for the label, but it remains weird music for weird people.
Links: PAS @ Facebook, Alrealon Musique

Philippe Petit * Eugénie (10″ 2012)

I got an email of Alrealon Musique if I was interested in reviewing a release of theirs. Some experimental indierock album, interesting, but not my taste, so I kindly turned down the offer. Then they said they have another release of Philippe Petit that may interest me more. Petit proves to be an active musician with numerous releases on his name. I think this is the first that I hear from him. He makes soundtracks too, so perhaps I have heard music of the man in some other way. The press sheet says: “Philippe Petit: processed acoustics/field recordings + electronics + turntables & glass manipulations + keys”, so I guess that debunks my original idea that this is modern classical music, but there are real instruments on this recording other than a whole range of strange experimental sounds. The music reminds of bit of the strange post-industrial sounds with violin of Hermann Kopp here and there, but it is mostly very strange soundscapes made with a whole range of things that make noise, rather than electronics. Strange stuff for people who like the more experimental side of music. This 10″ comes with a download link and lasts for about 25 minutes.
Links: Philippe Petit, Alrealon Musique

Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule * 156=Musick=Babalon=Kaos | The HermAphroditic ChAOrder of the SILVER DUSK (cd 2011)

I do not get many promos. Now I got two from Zoharum. One I already got, the other one is really not my cup of tea. This Musick Babalon Kaos cd consists of ritualistic experimentations with voices and sounds, very monotone and pretty uninteresting. Things get slightly better when there are some elements of psychedelic folk, but for the most part, I really cannot get around with this album. Perhaps it is one for people who like the weirder Current 93 stuff.
Links: Orryelle, Zoharum

Hermann Kopp * Under A Demon’s Mask (cd 2008)

Under A Demon's MaskOk ok, I take back my words that Galakthorrö projects tend to sound like eachother. Hermann Kopp is something completely different from any Galakthorrö release. In fact, it is different from anything that you ever heard. Using a violin, sampling it and by adding samples and sounds, Hermann Kopp creates strange avantgardistic soundscapes and sound experiments. However the label speaks of “sublime violin playing” I sometimes have the idea that it is out of tone, but that aside. The music is hard to describe and after quite a few listenings, I still cannot really get into the music. There is but one great track, the rest is just alright or downright boring. Nope, this is not the best release from this great label, but definately something different.
Links: Hermann Kopp, Galakthorrö

Kasper van Hoek * The Past And What Became Of It (mcd 2007 heilskabaal)

Kasper van Hoek is the very active man behind the HeilsKabaal label. On this 3″ cd Van Hoek seems to follow the tradition of the famous Dutch Staalplaat label: minimalistic and experimental electronic music; I think I best describe it by the term “soundscapes”, but the term “audio-collages” that the label uses is probably a more fitting description. “The Past…” has one track of almost 24 minutes and is a remix of a live performance done with eight speakers in a special set-up. Nothing much happens in the music and I can only say that this is not my cup of tea.
Links: Kasper van Hoek, HeilsKabaal