"Need for A Crossing: A New New Zealand Vol. I" CD

Aaah, a glorious return to the noise stomping grounds of olde. It's no secret that New Zealand is home to some of the greatest weirdo/narcoleptic/stumbling/damaged noise guitar bands out there-this disc is packed with big names for those in the know-but what's amazing to me is how serene this new compilation is, and despite the number of artists involved, how well the entire set flows together. The lead off track is by Birchville Cat Motel, one of my all time faves and more or less the reason i threw down $21 for this disc (Table of the Elements schwag does not come cheap!) and it's a destroyer-"Skies Crimson Tears" is the name of the track and sure enough it makes good on the Slayer reference by using the backing track of "Raining Blood" as it's palette, upon which Campbell Kneale drops all manner of droney guitar lightning bolts. Alas it's only six minutes, as it's fading out you feel like he was really only just getting started, but hey, a good track is a good track and this one is a pretty great little fix of BCM. Blowfly Saint appears next, turning in some damaged electro folk that sounds like a field recording from the sixties, or maybe a more straightforward version of the Dead C (and where the hell are they on this comp?) if they played lullabies. Not as entrancing or destructive as the BCM track but just as lulling. Greg Malcolm appears next, with one of his two tracks that appear on the set, and both are pretty indicative of what he does-a lot like a really stripped down version of the mighty Pelt, using guitars to make a background of cosmic drone over which he fingerpicks/strums/improvs raga-esque figures, just with a more psychedelic/outsider lean. It's liquefying stuff, just check out some of the records he did for Celebrate Psi Phenomena and let yr head get free (i have a bunch of his records laying around here somewhere...). Pumice turn in two tracks back to back next and it's about as close to real actual pop songcraft as anyone on this collection can get, although by Pumice standards these tracks are on the quieter side of things-but still two gorgeous, fractured pieces of heartache full of razor sharp jarring guitar squiggles and a cloud of murk spread over the top. Gfrenzy turns things around in another direction with their short contribution, which sounds like some sort of weird trip hop filtered through a drip press of folk music, like a cup of coffee made thick and sludgy with sawdust. Probably the track that's furthest out as the source isn't really guitars as much as it is cut/paste computer work and a personal take on US hip-hop. Leighton Craig pulls us under next with his piece for droney keyboards, another track that is far too short in my humble opinion. Extremely gorgeous and soothing pulse tones strung together to create a hymne that's not entirely mournful but not very happy either, almost reminiscent of the stuff Tim Hecker did on his Alien8 recording (i forget the title right now, sorry.) Anthony Milton and Peter Wright close the disc out with a lengthy piece each of good old fashioned New Zealand guitar skronk and drone, as feedback piles on top of itself and makes a thick fat cloud of buzzy hissing drone, each artist seemingly out to prove that they can do what the Dead C do just as well as the masters themselves-i like that the disc closes out this way because even though this collection strives to be a documentation of what's going on in New Zealand right now, the influence of what's been happening there for years is obviously felt by everyone involved on the comp. Great stuff all in all and a good introduction for someone just getting into New Zealand noise (although it's got enough appeal to have completists like me drooling all over it, too!)

ATAVIST/NADJA "12012291920/1414101" CD

Maybe it's the tense, nervous weird moods i've been in lately, but this ambient styled heartbreak shit is really sitting well with me right now. And Nadja is so fucking good at it that i can't really give this album anything less than a "jesus christ go buy it right now" sort of assessment. That being said i was actually pretty taken aback by this record's direction. Being that this was a collaboration between Atavist and Nadja, i was expecting some pretty heavy, in fact damn heavy, guitar sludge. Certainly not the misanthropic hate gobs that Atavist toss out on their own record but something veering more towards the doom side of things, with Nadja's fluttering melodicisms and ultra heavy ambience sprinkled on top. Instead we get a very very tranquil, peaceful, quietly gorgeous album packed with little flourishes of sound and whispers that caress your ears and lull you off to some sort of mournful place-but it's not sad, no, it's rather that sort of triumphant melancholy practiced by the likes of Mogwai, Jesu, Final, etc-stuff that makes you feel happy for every experience, be it good or bad. It's the musical personifiication of the cliche "it's better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all.." And even further indicative of the weird moods i've been having is the fact that i attach feelings of love or romance or whatever sort of heart fucked-upedness to this record. I have no idea if that was the mood they wanted to convey with this one, it's just what i get out of it. although Nadja tends to take me to that place every time anyways. Weirdest thing about this record-no drums. Everyone is playing guitars or basses or synths and the whole record is a thick marsh of warm, sweet pillowy drone hum. tons of things going on all around your ears. A record for the headphones, absolutely. It's hard to keep up with Aidan Baker and Nadja-i have to be really selective about which of seemingly endless records i'll shell out for-but i'm glad i picked up this one, even though it was a little pricier (plus Atavist and Nadja together??? it's gotta be pretty damn cool.) So yeah-highest recommendation.

"Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" dir. Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola

"Apocalypse Now" is without question one of the greatest, most fucked up films of all time. It stands in a tie with "Full Metal Jacket" for me as the greatest war film put to tape (although if forced i'd have to choose FMJ, just because i'm a Kubrick loyalist.) The films are similar in the sense that they really aren't about the war at all, instead they are about the way that the war and the ides of war change the protagonists and warp/scar them in deep psychological ways. And both are what i'd call psychedelic films, although "Apocalypse" goes way further down that road than FMJ, getting into some seriously dark, brooding, competely removed mindfuck territory, like the heart of a bad acid trip. So it seems especially weird after seeing this fine documentary on the making of film, as we watch Francis Coppola mirror the road travelled by his protagonist Willard as he attempts to create "Apocalypse" and bring his bizarre, grandiose vision to life. I was enthralled with this film from the beginning-i love to see how things were made in the world of music and film and especially love seeing the process of the creators in the field-and it's just fucking crazy to see Coppola follow the film's path. it's pretty simple: he started out with a script and a true narrative structure (much like Willard starts out with a clear mission in the film) and by the end of shooting, Coppola is not working with a script at all, totally shooting nothing but improvised footage between Brando, Dennis Hopper and MArtin Sheen with no clear idea of an ending or a theme or anything (similar to the degeneration of all reality at the end of the film.) Along the way we get to witness ritual animal killings by native indians and surprisingly funny/candid interviews with people involved, including Dennis Hopper, George Lucas (who makes very apparent the differences between his style of filmmaking and Coppola's) and others. These guys are really upfront about what went on and how they were directed by Coppola and how they got into character (most often: alcohol and drugs-lots of both.) It's pretty amazing to watch Sam Bottoms not even begin to dodge the question of wheteher he acted in the film while on acid (he did.) And it's equally amazing to watch Mrtin Sheen push himself into his nether realms of openness via enormous alcohol consumption and then commit an amazing performance to film. It's almost scary how much this project cunsmumed these people, and how terrified Coppola was that he was making a bad film, a pretentious film that no one would want to see, when instead he created one of the greatest studies of psychology decay and all out psychedelic horror that we as film fans have ever been exposed to. Of course the film's success is it's vindication. It's easy to draw comparisons netween "Hearts of Darkness" and Les Blank's study of Herzog, "The Burden of Dreams"-both directors were absolute creative whirlwinds struggling against every obstacle, themselves included, to bring to life these gargantuan ideas and images because it was in their hearts and that is what they do. I find immense inspiration in Coppola's final words in the documentary, because i think it really says everything that needs to be said about film (and please don't fault me too much-i'm paraphrasing): "...and now with 8mm cameras some fat 8 year old girl in Ohio is going to create this beautiful film and be the next Mozart...and when the professionalism of making films finally gets broken down and destroyed, that's when it will really become art." Magnificent.

KTL "2" CD

A continuation of what was began in their first record, released just a few months ago. The music is a companion to a film (i think) that has yet to screen at any US locations, but if it does, i'll be there. KTL is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley and some other guy who makes noise records for Mego (sorry i don't remember his name but i'm an O'Malley guy anyways.) The first record was supposedely some kind of filtration of black metal ideals into the form of cold, droning noisy soundscapes-the artwork was grey and the whole thing had kind of a faux coldness to it that didn't necessarily translate well into musical form. I recall one stellar track from the first album that actually did seem to come from the nether pools that spawn black metal but otherwise the whole thing was, forgive me, Sunn 0))) people, rather tedious. So curiousity got the better of me and i picked up this new one, expecting more of the same, and i'm very happily surprised. This is a whole different kind of drone spread across four massive tracks, diving into a strnge pool of radiant shimmers and gorgeous glistenings. The high point is the second track, a 27 minute buildup of high guitar whine and electronics that seems like someone is breaking a rainbow into 1000 pieces and shoving the pieces in your ears. It's gorgeous stuff, cut from the cloth of Matthew Bower's Sunroof! project and the always mighty Birchville Cat Motel. I didn;t see this one coming at all-it's a very inviting piece of music and it's pretty damn blissful. The third track goes down a darker path, more or less another 20 minutes of darkened guitar drones but more open and echoey than Sunn 0))). It's good to see O'Malley feeling freed from the confines of the black drone practiced by his main gig and expanding his sonic palette (and really, this is the first project from him where i've ever heard any real or exciting differential.) The final track winds things down with some wind machine style sounds and some lonely melodic guitar lines that wouldn't seem out of place on one of the new records by Earth. All in all a great record that caught me way off guard and just makes me all the more curious about the visual portions it supposedely accompanies.

KLABAUTAMANN "Der Ort" CD

And then there are the black metal bands who totally rewrite the genre and break every "rule" to create something beyond original, something that really has only tenuous links to BM but makes the genre all the better for being included. Klabautamann is one of those bands-after hearing this astonishing record i would have to rank these guys right up there with Leviathan, Xasthur and all the other overlords of BM who are reiventing the way things are done. Klabautamann is a band comprised of members of the amazing post-rock band Woburn House who put an equally astonishing album earlier this year on the wicked awesome Paradigms record label. The Slint styled approach that Woburn House employs shines through in spades on the Klabautamann record. Elements of black metal are certainly there, in the forms of incredibly fast, melodic guitar buzzsaw riffs, furious double bass and rasping vocals but more of the record is ceded to incredibly complex clean guitar figures, on both electric and acoustic and some crushing prog style riffs that wouldn't sound out of place on a record by, say, Tool or Keelhaul. All this paints an incredible picture, one of black metal that is more or less devoid of, or disregards, any sort of outside influence. It's amazingly creative, borne of total insular vision, and for that it towers above most of what comes out. As i said in the Be Persecuted review that preceded this, there's nothing wrong with throwing on the Burzum feedbag and puking up what comes out of your binge, but to creat something like this, that really just has to be heard to be truly appreciated, takes a serious level of talent and commitment. This record reminds me a lot of Ulver's "Madrigals of Night" album, where you're confronted with a band that you know could pretty much do anything they wanted to and have it come out glorious. The last track on "Der Ort" is breathtaking, featuring some little chanteuse singing beautifully over some crushing metallized riffs. I'm left feeling like the sky is wide open and blue and everything is there and waiting for me. And this is a black metal record!! Awesome stuff, totally awesome-gets a serious recommendation from me.

BE PERSECUTED "I.I" CD

I love black metal. I've said it before, i know, but it bears reiteration. Black metal is one of the few genres where bands can write and rewrite the same riffs over and over again and still have it come out sounding amazing and original. It's the familiarity and the knowledge that some tried and true chord progressions just don't get old. And that brings us to this opus from China's Be Persecuted, unleashing their extremely noisy brand of BM on unsuspecting ears. China isn't very well known as a solace for BM acts, i can really only think of a handful, and for some reason they're all super noisy, more so than the average BM album. It's like there's an extra chromosome of aggression in Chinese BM bands and the result ends up being tremendously razor-esque recordings of above average harshness. All this blends in well with Be Persecuted's approach to the dark arts, a very mournful, surprisingly melodic take on the black metal form that doesn't really bring anything new to the table but does an amazing job of working within the set paarameters and crafting an album of epic sorrows and truly mournful sound. The obvious influence here is Burzum and lots of it-Varg wrote all these riffs years ago in some form or another and BP doesn't seem to mind throwing open the vaults and plundering the musical riches inside. Even the guitars sound amazingly Burzumic, albeit a bit more chaotic but totally fuzzed out and almost incomprehensible. The vocals are super extreme, which is great, definetely along the lines of the mighty Urfaust or Silencer, creating windy howls and pained banshee wails over the wall of fuzz torture. The riffs are reptetitive and cyclical and the whole records ends up becoming very very hypnotic and mesmerizing, which is one of my favorite things about black metal. You almost approach a drone, a zen place of hurt and aggression. The only thing that suffers hear is the lyrics, i can't tell if they're sung in English or Chinese but they're all printed in English in the books and due to translation problems they make almost zero sense. But i have to say, i haven't run across many better song titles this year than "Resented for Livelihood." Hilarious. Lyrical confusion aside, this is a great record, it is one that i feel will certainly grown on me, and i hope to hear more from Be Persecuted in the future. it'll be interesting to see how they evolve beyond the Burzum worship, or if they don't, how they continue to work off the formulae and ideas.

AMBER ASYLUM "Still Point" CD

Released by Profound Lore jointly with the new one from The Angelic Process comes a record that stands in stark contrast but is no less weighty or, in its own way, heavy. Amber Asylum are a group of female classical instrumentalists who create very stately and austere compositions with one foot firmly in the world of post rock. Their music reminds me a lot of what Mogwai might be if they were all strings and very little cathartic explosion. Amber Asylum are much more interested in setting a mood and in that manner i guess they have another foot placed in the world of ambient/krautrock/drone music (but that association is a bit tenuous-they're really not very droney.) My first exposure to them came from an interest in exploring the work of AA frontwoman Kris Force-after learning she was responisble for pretty much all the string/cello arrangements on Neurosis's "Times of Grace" (one of my favorite records, ever), i decided to check out her band as well. At the time i wasn't quite prepared but i held on the albums, seemingly knowing that further along my own musical evolution i'd open up to them. I'm glad i did. "Still Point" is a haunting, cold record, but not off-putting-there's just a sort of mortuaryesque stillness to the music that evokes a sensation of patience, grace and a tinge of sorrow-or maybe regret would be a better choice. A lot of the songs feature a band style arrangement with drums and guitars here and there (some courtesy Tim Green of the Fucking Champs, who recorded this record at his own Louder Studios!) as well as some very choral-style female vocals, resulting in pretty much what i said earlier-a sound similar to the 'gwai but with less distortion and more classically derived menace. This one is hard for me to describe but i like it a lot, i think Amber Asylum have done a masterful job creating a certain feeling and certain sense-it seems fitting to me that the record artwork/layout is done all in gray, as the music gives one the feeling of being lost in some unending gray dream, where things are cloudy and rain is coming, but you don't when. You might get soaked and you might get chills and it might just kill you, but right now looking up those gray cloudy skies seems comfortable and right.