WINTERBLOOD “I Signori Oscuri" C41 (Ephem-Aural)

NYC’s own Ephem-Aural label have just put out one brooding behemoth of an album by Florentine dungeon-synth-esque, minimal/new-new-age masters WINTERBLOOD. These Italian anti-maniacs have been catatonizing people across the globe for about a decade now, and “I Signori Oscuri” is yet another finely permafrosted soundscape for the rest of us to get to know them by.

………………………………………..


Cold.
Cold.


It cannot be said enough times.

Cold.

Winterblood have made it their overarching mission to viscerally embody and embolden what it means to be clinically removed from mirth and livelihood; what it means to be an ego-less observer of all darknesses inherent in humanity’s toils and tribulations. Through somberly strolling, barren synth phrasings that echo and linger, these moody lifelines freeze and dissipate, giving way to an infinite cache of Neptunian narratives, all crystalizing and melting, within each and every revolving measure.

Cold.

Listening to this tape BLASTED on a tropical beach would easily drop one’s internal celsius count a full degree. Maybe two.

https://ephem-aural.bandcamp.com/album/i-signori-oscuri
and/or
https://winterblood78.bandcamp.com

-- Jacob An Kittenplan

ARIAN ROBINSON "An Eternal Sleep" (Ephem-Aural)

This album opens up with a creepy dissonant track which is just named "I-II".
There are only three tacks on on this album, and they are just numbered, using roman numerals. The tracks average about 15 minutes long each.

The second track (titled "III") gives the impression that I am under an overpass, maybe in a river, then just when you start to get settled in, a jarring scream scares the shit out of you.

The last track makes me feel like I am at factory. Thats the thing about art music, it is all subjective. You might have different feelings.

Arian lives in Germany and makes art music. An Eternal Sleep is 45 minutes of Arians' work. As the cover art suggests it is very ambient and moody.

The noise floor is little bit high though. I recommend you turn on Dolby B, it actually works very well with this album.

https://arianrobinson.bandcamp.com/releases

-- Chuck Wolfe

DEADMAN'S GHOST“Hypocritical Oath” (Ephem-Aural)

Belfast artist Jason Mills’s Deadman’s Ghost is nothing if the adjective “haunting” is not in front of whatever description you come up with. Death, ghosts, dead men, spirits, corpses, sprites, tragedy – all this stuff (and I realize most of these words are synonyms for each other, especially within the world Mills is creating) permeates the songs of Hypocritical Oath, an electo-folk excursion where Appalachian-backporch-acoustics (think Nick Cave or David Eugene Edwards at their most earthy) meet synthesizers and other electronics in the air, in the clouds, literally raptured and well met by the risen Lord Jesus Christ, returned to judge and to save. Wow! There’s, uh, at least banjo and some serious self-reflection that I imagine turns up in the Bible Belt here in the United States, and probably in Ireland too at points. Who is really to say anymore – it’s all just a big swirly pagan mess in a cauldron simmering for maximum jucifying, leavened with thick slabs of meaty synthesizer at points to remind you that you’re not really in an un-air-conditioned church in the heat of the rural Alabama summer handling venomous snakes. At least “Neck Romancer” has the decency to drop a beat! “Neck Romancer” … I get it. Hey, you should get it too! This tape, I mean. I’m digging it.

Deadman’s Ghost

Ephem-Aural

--Ryan Masteller

INTERNATIONAL SURREALIST BULLETIN “Communitas” C40 (Ephem-Aural)

In the Grand Tradition of projects forming their own mythos around themselves, an overarching aura of mystery and intrigue, International Surrealist Bulletin, a duo comprised of Ben and Nicholas Dumbauld, have gone the way of far-out experimental auteurs like Akkad the Orphic Priest and Ak’chamel and crafted a full-length album that both questions the very fabric of reality and demands that it replace your perception of that fabric of reality. As ISB they weave a vast spiritual landscape of the titular “communitas,” a sense of equality within community that they imbue with almost overwhelming sense of reverence, perhaps for that sensation of oneness itself. The entire tape, five tracks, forty minutes, plays like a hymnal to this new idea, each raw paean an unmitigated glorification of the singular focus. The music is tense, barely contained, and threatens to shatter outward with the weight of its own existence if it’s not careful. But that’s just how I like my “intense,” “droney,” “experimental” “worldscapes”: dangerous, unfiltered, and demanding converts to its cause. The Dumbaulds, whether they intended to or not, have laid the foundation for an entire worldview and provided its eternal soundtrack. They join their legend-building brethren in crafting a new path forward through the muck of human existence, propping their ethos on a foundation of breathtaking sonic architecture. Here’s hoping they emerge from their next conclave with the equivalent of the New Testament.

International Surrealist Bulletin
Ephem-Aural

--Ryan Masteller

INTERNATIONAL SURREALIST BULLETIN “Ten Wounds Wiser” (Ephem-Aural)

If you’re not familiar with Psychedelic Accordioncore, as the ‘intsb’ describe themsleves, this can easily be remedied. Over the course of 50 minutes, the International Surrealist Bulletin, brainchild of Ben Dumbauld, flesh out a treatise in multi-instrumental, multi-cultural music history and music-present. Slightly obscured samples of spoken word, maybe poetry recitations, are embedded into several tracks. It becomes apparent by the third track, “Replicant” that there is a proficient vibraphone player in the band, in addition to an accordionist (unless it is the same person).

“Fetish Consumption” merges a 1930s smoky jazz café with 1990s NYC psyche-rock, while “Stars and Angels” has a distinct dub direction. “Quince Brigada” answers the question: “What does a gypsy band playing Dick Dale sound like?”

This densely packed record was mastered in 2013 by Andy Ortmann, who also DJs at WFMU.

If you find any of what I describe interesting, be sure to visit their bandcamp page, which also features 2014’s ”Thieves and Shadows”(not on cassette…yet?). Give them both a listen, as this year’s record has covers of Erik Satie and Ornette Coleman! While you’re at it, be sure to see the video for Plague Engine, especially if you dig ice-skating.

http://intsb.bandcamp.com

--Adam Padavano