ANARCHIST MOUNTAINS TRIO “La terre et la force” (Amek Collective)

 

When you think “anarchist mountains,” you’re thinking huge, am I right? Massive geographical formation, towering in the sky, and not beholden to anyone’s rules. Punk weight, right there on the face of the planet, in everyone’s line of sight. Well, Anarchist Mountains Trio, a trio (duh) consisting of brothers Jordan and Stefan Christoff and joined here by Joseph Sannicandro, are even more anarchist than you think: instead of vying for your attention with a sound as big as their name, something of the ear-splitting variety, they 180 that thought into the quiet spectrum, turning inward, not beholden to anyone’s rules, even their own. Or something like that.
 
And thus La terre et la force, or “Land and strength,” understands the limitations of how humans relate to things that are bigger, older, and relatively incomprehensible. Again, instead of tectonic sounds to shock the system, the trio approximates the movement and the scope and the energy of the growth of something like the mountain range of their moniker over millions of years and distills that vision, one clearly observed from beyond a terrestrial position, into a graceful reverie. Don’t get me wrong, this thing is filled with awe – how can it not be – and the synths, guitars, and field recordings intertwine as if they were stardust reconstituting on the surface of the planet. You’re breathing these sounds and reveling in silence, never once considering that the air particles in your lungs are the size of continents. There really is some relativistic chicanery going on here!
 
But this is perfect for Amek Collective, beloved Bulgarian label. La terre et la force redefines the rules even as they’re being redefined, keeping everyone on their toes at all times and causing incomprehensible discombobulation – all while being as chill as chill can be. This one requires a deep dive – take it, I beg you.
 
https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/
 
--Ryan

NON PHOTO BLUE “Dépaysement” C40 (Amek Collective)

 

When Daniel Donchov, aka Non Photo Blue, feels out of sorts, out of place, he can really get to the heart of it. In his recordings he taps into unfathomable emotions with remarkable insight, laying bare the frayed nerves of missed connections and lost attachments while blanketing it all in an effervescent mist of synthesizer tones and gentle field recordings. His work is depressingly ambient, yet it manages to plant the seeds of hope and fertilize their growth with a wisdom gleaned from heartbreaking experience. In us, the listeners, is cultivated a sense that with each passing trauma or tribulation there exists the spark of healing and renewal. It’s the grief that keeps on giving.
 
Dépaysement is the sound of longing, then, of being far from home in an unfamiliar land and allowing the anxiety of it to overwhelm you. And that’s where it comes from, with Donchov traveling through several U.S. states during the wild and wistful autumn before our immaculate quarantine. The Netherlands-based Donchov is clearly inspired by the change of seasons, but just as that change portends winter, so too does Donchov drift into melancholy as he seemingly longs for home while upon foreign soil. And to think that I can’t even imagine the America that Donchov was able to see, let alone what it’s become – there is so much unrecognizable about it, so much tragedy upon it. Surely that’s not to place its plight above anyone else’s on a list of importance, but it still weighs heavily on the mind.
 
Donchov’s Dépaysement weighs heavily on the heart, but with the glimmering blue hope of a light at the end of a long and lonely tunnel. Here’s to that: to something bigger than us that we can latch onto, that we can turn our focus to and embrace with a collective affinity. But still, it’s the dark moments like those on Dépaysement that get us through, that cast everything into stark relief. The darkness is important too.
 
Sounds like an Amek release, doesn’t it? You’d be right about that.
 
https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/
 
--Ryan

NATT “The Way You Were Made” C42 (Amek)

 

Polish producer NATT fits right into the Amek Collective, from the j-card featuring a blurred silhouette against a stark white orb that’s about to be engulfed by a black abyss to the blurred silhouette of dark ambience of the recordings themselves, set as they are in stark relief against a bleak reality but still about to be engulfed by a black abyss of mood and tone. DARK AMBIENCE: let it be a lesson to you, a polestar to guide you through a murk of negative energy that nonetheless thrills in its capacity for catharsis. NATT grasps the humanness of disappointment and despair and grips it until it’s choked purple and black, wringing every last ounce of remorse and regret out of it. Then NATT takes the byproduct of this nefarious deed and distills it, then chugs it, then creates. That’s The Way You Were Made.
 
That’s why NATT fits right into the Amek Collective – NATT is able to turn grief into digestible sound, somewhere between desolate electronics and despondent IDM, all smeared with a hollowness of reverb and echo to accentuate the part of the person that has been ripped away or is missing. But what these Central Europeans (Amek is located in Bulgaria) have going for them is that they’re able to tap into a vitality within the grief, an energy that crackles just out of earshot but is inherently present in their work. So where NATT’s music may be all about the gloaming of regularity and routine following a disruptive event and the sculpting of a psyche through trauma, the “way [that personality] was made,” on the other side of it, the disruption itself brings forth a grim vigor that propels the sufferer forward, hopefully to a less dismal outcome. But to find out, through NATT’s endeavors, is an exciting proposition!
 
https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/
 
--Ryan

CONJECTURE “∫V” C30 (Amek Collective)

 

Conjecture, aka Vasilis Angelopolous, dropped V (for vinyl? Probably not) on Amek in 2019, but Angelopolous wasn’t done there. He had some extra tunes that didn’t make the cut, and he wanted to complete the document V and get everything out there in the world that he intended. Thus we’re treated to ∫V, which, surprisingly or not, depending on how mathematically inclined you are (I’m not), translates to “complete V” in mathematical language, with ∫ being the symbol for “complete.” Now that I’ve knocked your socks off with that titillating bit of arcana, we can get down to business – the business of finishing up V as God and Vasilis Angelopolous intended. [Ed note: “God” is not intended to equal “Vasilis Angelopolous” in that sentence.]
 
We play around with the idea of singular vision, and we certainly find a number of artists who purport to express that vision, whether we agree with it or not (and really, who are we to disagree with another’s vision?). But Angelopolous had a vision for his work as Conjecture, and he truly completed it with ∫V. The three tracks appended to the original idea are supermassive black holes of colorless density, great subterranean aquifers of viscous albumen, molten rivers of liquefied steel. In the language of sound and music, not metaphor, we’re dealing with an onrush of nimble proto-industrial electronics, or ambient synthwork with a decided pulse. Maybe if Orbital completely melted down in a blast furnace and the sound was barely Orbital anymore, you might start to get there. Or you might just be like, “This is on Amek?” and you’d be equally if not more so in the right spot.
 
The three new tracks also get the remix treatment from Amek family members antechamber, Талос, and LATE, so there’s a shattered-mirror effect going on here with the revisions. (LATE was one of my introductions to Amek, and so I’ve got a soft spot for the project.) Basically, ∫V is like one of those 1990s maxi-singles with a bunch of remixes, like something from KMFDM or, uh, Busta Rhymes. (I LOVE Busta.) It’s actually kind of brave of Angelopolous to let others in on his vision, giving them free rein to retool his work. Good thing it turns out incredibly well, otherwise this Conjecture material might have ended right back up in the vault.
 
https://conjecture-project.bandcamp.com/
 
https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/
 
--Ryan

KRĀLLĀR “big sad” C54 (Amek Collective)

 

A tape is always a winner when it starts out recalling the incidental music playing over the bottom-of-the-wishing-well scene in Goonies (is that rich stuff?), that sparkling melody of wonder and awe, the minor key suggesting something’s just off enough to set that fascinating discovery on edge. I guess if you’re a bunch of kids dodging the booby traps of a long-dead pirate while being chased through hidden tunnels by wanted felons, then any such moment will be a little more stressful than it needs to be. But that’s what growing up is all about, isn’t it? Being able to handle the massive amounts of disappointment in between fleeting instants of satisfaction.

These kids have grown up and are krāllār, at least the ones who get it, you know? (Not the actual Goonies – they grew up to be adult actors, except for Chunk, who’s a lawyer!) The human entity behind krāllār is actually called Ivan Shentov, and Ivan premiered the material that would become big sad at Amek Bummer Nights 2019, a live event hosted by Sofia-based tape label Amek Collective (Sofia’s in Bulgaria, and Amek must be gotten hip to by you if you have not been hipped yet). Shentov makes huge sounds, which might seem odd considering Shentov works his magic in drone (and, sure, noise I guess), but if you haven’t figured it out before now, Shentov’s “drones” can work incredibly as soundtrack material. It’s amazing what you can do with a mastery of tape collage!

Because that’s what big sad is: a massive slab of collaged tape loops and feedback and effects. After the Bummer Nights performance, Amek’s Angel Simitchiev begged Shentov to record what he’d just done, just so Amek could properly introduce krāllār to their exponentially expanding (I can only imagine) audience. In a studio setting, the material was brought to insane life, as if it was conjured via black magic and properly mixed and mastered. So what you hold in your hands (I imagine you’re holding it in your hands, and if not, please rectify that) is an incredible document of the overwhelmingness of life crushing down on you, but it’s only overwhelming because you started out with so much hope anyway. That hope’s not all gone, but it’s sure running out. It seems like krāllār’s just as confused and bitter as you are. You guys would make a good team.

But all that hope ends the minute you ride up Troy’s bucket.

https://krallar.bandcamp.com/

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

VALERINNE “A Ghost Year” C52 (Amek Collective)

What’s with all these jokers getting right into my headspace about the year we’re having? Atmospheric Romanian trio Valerinne continue the trend, swirling the melancholy and droning post-rock of A Ghost Year at the periphery of reality, right at the spot you can’t quite pinpoint without catching it in the corner of your eye, forever keeping itself at an unfortunate distance. Hidden behind clouds of sweet, thick drone, A Ghost Year was the year we could have had, the one where we all hugged and everyone was healthy. That year is a total figment right now.

For a group billed as a noisy one, Valerinne really shows immense restraint, going full Eno in their cavernous, supernatural concoctions. Each of these five lengthy tracks descend like specters, obscuring reality and intent and infiltrating your mind, body, and soul. They warp your outlook until you’ve shifted focus to the Valerinne way of thinking, the dream of a different life through a different lens that seems so impossible a majority of the time these days. But don’t fool yourself into thinking A Ghost Year is the real year – we still have to keep our eyes ahead, because we’ve got a lot of work to do. But for a quick excursion to somewhere totally other, Valerinne has you totally covered with A Ghost Year.

https://valerinne.bandcamp.com/

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

OMORI “Embryogenesis” C28 (Amek Collective)

It’s pretty dark right now, for everybody. In Bulgaria it’s also dark, for Omori, aka Stoyan Yovchev, and Amek Collective, who are isolated from a lot of the world due to this damned COVID! Damn you, COVID! But if Embryogenesis is any indication, this whole thing is a process, a trial run, for bettering ourselves in anticipation of life on the other side. Because, folks, let’s not forget – there will be a life on the other side.

So Embryogenesis, while created before the pandemic, is perfect meditation music for people in our position. We can’t get out and do the social things we want to do, so we do the indoor thing and cogitate, letting the waves upon waves of electric sensation mentally tune us up. Yovchev’s not kidding when he breaks out “I Didn’t Realize How Fast It All Ceased to Be” or “Struggle Against Chaos,” his dark ambient ripples lapping surprised and confused internal shores. And while it’s probably unfair to keep reminding everyone that Yovchev is a youngin’ – he’s only twenty, people! – it’s remarkable that someone so young can hit emotional notes so deep. By the time “There Are Other Worlds” rumbles out of the speakers, it’s like the sky has opened up and a portal to some-wherever-the-heck else has appeared, reminding us of our utter smallness.

Perspective: a lot of us need it at this point.

So it’s time to get inside your own head, maybe a little more than you have in the past or that you’d like to admit because it’s too difficult a thing to do when the world is in utter upheaval. But if you’re gonna do it, let Omori guide you around in there – he seems to have the situation under control. (Well, as under control as he can control his own personal outlook, but you know what I mean.)

EDIT: And then there was this. Angel Simitchiev, who runs Amek, passed on the horrible news that Stoyan Yovchev took his own life in April. Here is a link to a lovely memorial by Amek artists. In the United States we have organizations such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and I encourage you to utilize this or its equivalent in your country if you need help. Keep each other on our minds, always, especially now!

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

LATE “Color Drained” C22 (Amek Collective)

I think I’m gonna hafta pay attention to these Amek Collective releases – they’re pretty friggin’ great if you ask me. That Giuseppe Falivene tape I reviewed a few days ago? Please. So tight. Now “Color Drained” by LATE? Amek, you’re gonna make me lose my shit, aren’t you? Please don’t make me lose my shit. You wouldn’t like me in that state.

But it’s close to happening, so let’s embrace the madness while we can. We’ve only got twenty-two minutes to do so anyway, as “Color Drained” is just a mere EP, a taste of what’s in store from LATE. (Given the ungooglable nature of LATE’s name, I’ve got no idea what kind of discography the producer has.) We’ve got black-hole-dense electro, black-hole-dense ambient, black-hole-dense techno – heck, if LATE was an actual black hole masquerading as a DJ, I wouldn’t be surprised! But the utter destruction of the sound frequencies LATE dabbles in should be an indication: nothing will escape LATE’s gravitational pull, and that’s OK, as nothing should.

But you can still hear the destruction in progress as it pulls apart your atoms, and that’s what makes “Color Drained” such an exciting listen. It shreds whether the pace is breakneck or glacial. It envelops you. It doesn’t let you escape its grasp.

… Nice work!

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

GIUSEPPE FALIVENE “Air Chronicles” C44 (Amek Collective)

I do believe “atmosphere” is the operative word for Giuseppe Falivene’s “Air Chronicles” – the idea of it is emblazoned all over the j-card after all, what with the billowing clouds surrounding peaks and whatnot. The red filter’s a nice touch on the triangle that receives it. Kinda makes that atmosphere look dangerous.

That atmosphere manifests itself in heaving disruptions throughout the tape, punctuated by passages of lush drift. Or is that the other way around? Either way, conditions are ripe to burst at any time, and the energy simmering in the air is constantly palpable. All we need is a little friction, a little spark to set it off, and then potential becomes kinetic with a finger snap. (Oh, maybe that’s the catalyst!)

Drone meets noise at the foot of an upside-down mountain in a thunderstorm. There is so much movement, so much going on, that it’s impossible to restrict this tape to those two stylistic descriptors. Might as well throw them out and start fresh, but make sure you bring the atmosphere into it. Always mention the atmosphere.

https://giuseppefalivene1.bandcamp.com/

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

NELEGAT “Intolerance” C40 (Amek Collective)

Nelegat’s take on deconstructed techno serves as a reminder to duck your head when being bombarded by digital shrapnel. That’s right, “Intolerance” is a granular study of electronic overload, the minute details piling on top of one another until they’ve overwhelmed you completely. It only takes a spark to ignite the mechanism, then BOOM! All that metallic debris just comes flying right at your face. Again, it’d behoove you to duck.

Or you could listen up when Nelegat’s commanding the room. The noise gets under your skin, eats away at your mind, riding strange waves of rhythm. It’s like a sick trance, one that’s not really going to put you to sleep but instead will make you suggestible to nefarious deeds. Nelegat is raising an army apparently, an army to clandestinely perform his dirty work for him. The trance is overwhelming, and I think I’m getting some ideas pumped into my cortex. What could it all mean?

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

GIUSEPPE FALIVENE “Air Chronicles” C42 (Amek Collective)

Consonant chaos. Slippery, cyclic deconstruction. Glorious glitch of blown out bliss. Sleepy explosions. All rhythmically barren, save eroded ribs, thus hosting thick carpets of velvety moss.

With their release of “Air Chronicles”, the visionary Bulgarian dark ambient label, Amek Collective, welcomes intrepid Italian noisedronexplorer, Giuseppe Falivene, into their fold for this brilliant thesis on all interpretations pertaining to the term “static”; façade, cathode-ray-rice&beans, scrambled reception, ionic compulsions…all this intensity matched only by it’s nervous lulling of the senses. 

Chalk another psycho-acoustic shocker up for Amek!

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/album/air-chronicles

and/or

https://giuseppefalivene1.bandcamp.com/

— Jacob An Kittenplan

VAGUE VOICES “Гробник” C58 (Amek Collective)

Bulgaria’s AMEK COLLECTIVE have released one hell of a sprawling beast in this collaboration between Angel Simitchiev (Mytrip) and Stefan Bachvarov (Cyberian)! Гробник highlights a stifling barrage of dark-ambient, pea-soup fogs with vaporwave-accented industrial strobe flickerings and notes of 90s style, synth-led blackmetal pyrotechnics-beyond-the-gates, these three disciplines each spinning about in endlessly haunted yarns that tangle, strangle, & soak up all the blood and grime one could possibly daymare about, betwixt the headphones. 

The dynamic mixing here cannot be celebrated enough, too, lending equal punch to the likes of distant fireworks, neighboring tea-kettles, foot-crunchy deciduous trails, and rusty train brakes. A psychological thriller-gone-dance-party for the pleasantly uneasy, Vague Voices delivers!

https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/album/-

and/or

https://mytrip.bandcamp.com/

— Jacob An Kittenplan