SCHEERLING / THAUMATURGIST
"Vertroeven Lvi/Mysteries Van De Droom"
(Oggy Records)




Side A is Scheerling's 20 minute opus, entitled "Vertroeven Lvi." Scheerling has some deep soundscapes, and it stays there for the most part, with loud echoing clicks, beeps, and boops intervening throughout. It felt like floating in a pool drinking a beer that had accidentally swallowed some pool water; melancholy and lethargic, somewhat disappointing but in a very accepting way. It's dark and alright. 

Side B had the real meat of the album. Sporting the name of the second half of the title of this strangely paired split, the side starts with a repetative drip synth with static phasers in the background and builds perfectly; adding more and more synths, eventually becoming overdriven and blown. A step-sequenced drum track clicks in, giving it a little bit of a polyrhythmic world psych vibe. More synths come along, the drum track changes, and by this time I was fully immersed. The second song is called "182" and has a totally different vibe, like that of the soundtrack of a terrible sci-fi movie with eerie lounge electric piano.

A split out on Oggy Records, a psych and noise label out of Ghent. I'm excited to check out more of their output after flipping through the back catalog. Some very interesting stuff, and an overall interesting split.


-- Jon Carper