Music In 2015: A Not-So-Sociable Ghost

Derrida spoke of hot corpse, burning meat, when writing on Marxism in early nineties (Spectres de Marx); the question is, how about when the said ‘ghost’ is either too busy to carry on, riled up by the multiplicity of the priests, or just not interested.

The ghost was that of music in the year 2015.

The following, arranged at random and commonly known as the albums of the year, are in point of fact, sonic ingredients for the haunt.

Scott Fields – “Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame”

There is a quaint go-togetherness to Scott Fields and the acoustic guitar that has made missing any new work by him an impossibility for me ever since I listened to “Afiadacampos,” and that is regardless of the fact that Fields has composed for a variety of instruments. Latch the microtonal alter-ego on and you have yourself a masterwork.

Dave Phillips & Hiroshi Hasegawa – “Insect Apocalypse”

Mother nature’s out of her tree.

Teorema – “Teorema”

As if Black Cobra paid a little visit to the underworld. Chaos abound, sludge metal of the year — surrealist maggot manifest, ugly, bloodied, ominous.

Galaxxu Pair – “Penumbra”

Freeform fuzz-jazz.

Nanoschlaf – “Die Trockene Familie”

Semi-tribal improv unit from inner space.

Harris Eisenstadt – “Golden State II”

Be bop, be bop, be bop, be bop, be bop. I’m blue, I’m red, I’ll be bop. Never. Sometimes.

The Quash Wagon Reclusion – “Introducing: A-Question-Of-Will T’retett”

Krautmetal is a thing, in case you haven’t been paying enough attention.

Actis Dato Quartet – “Earth Is The Place”

Too much witchcraft in yesterday’s jazz scene makes the semantically silent record feel like a manifesto. If one, it is just as western; eastern, earthly; metaphysical.

Gianluca Becuzzi – “Deceptionland”

Link to feature

Charlemagne Palestine – “Ssingggg Sschlllingg Sshpppingg”

Link to review

Kosmose – “Kosmic Music From The Black Country”

If Pärson Sound were to be interpreted as proto krautrock, Kosmose would then be post space rock. Both unearthed years after their conception, each claiming its own territorial domain.

Roger Turner / Otomo Yoshihide – “The Last Train”

Dense, deliberate, with an exceptional flow. Turner cuts through and then stitches back; Otomo assuming the role of the wound.

Messerschmitt – “No Dread To Kill”

Link to review

Omri Ziegele Billiger Bauer ‎– “So Viel Schon Hin. 15 Herbstlieder”

The ensemble broods over a fraction that in turn reappears as the whole schmear, simultaneously forming connections between dada, orchestral set-pieces, vocal, serial and improvised sequence.

Manas – “Manas”

A no wave emptied out of its physique.

Sonar ‎– “Black Light”

Post-rock is dead; or, necrophiliac’s rock-symphony mathématique. Owes more to Chatham than Fripp.

Grave – “Out Of Respect For The Dead”

Riff-centered, absolutely chaotic, massive, and full-of-filth punk death metal — proper continuation of the death-to-false-tech-and-brutal-death-metal sonic statement that was heard on “Endless Procession Of Souls.”

Grix – “Penetralia”

Reeds are not to be underestimated.

John Bunge – “All The Colors”

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Space Invaders – “Dreadnought”

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KK Null × Kawabata Makoto – “Psychetronic!”

Link to review

Doomraiser – “Reverse (Passaggio Inverso)”

As compared to “Erasing The Remembrance,” a record that is synonymous with progressive doom in my book, and a record which also possessed a strong Vitus aura especially in the guitar tone faculty,“Reverse (Passaggio Inverso)” is next to nothing. On its own, or — as in our case — when discussed with the specific year-span in mind, it’s more than a contender.

David Maranha & Helena Espvall – “Sombras Incendiadas”

Needful Harvestman deja-vu.

Swami John Reis & The Blind Shake – “Modern Surf Classics”

“Look–
the stars have again been beheaded,
the sky
all red with the blood of slaughter!
Hey you,
heavens,
I’m coming,
d’you hear?
Take off your hats,
or…”

Samuel Blaser Quartet – “Spring Rain”

Fuguelike, violently.

The Sonics – “This Is The Sonics”

The Sonics just raised the bar for rock n’ roll adrenaline. In fact they raised the bar so high even metal bands should start getting worried.

Ifa Y Xango Tentet – “Twice Left \\ Handed Shavings”

Link to review

United Slaves – “United Slaves #2~3”

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Luiz Moretto Quintet – “Vampyroteuthis Infernalis”

In parts laconic folk jazz, in others; rhetorical mimicry.

Mint – “Vintage Bad Stuff”

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The Blunder Of A Horse – “Zoantrophi”

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Gard Nilssen’s Acoustic Unity – “Firehouse”

It’s almost terrifying how the collective are locked together — each member pulling the strings of another in a chain with no apparent end.

Malevolent Creation – “Dead Man’s Path”

Vicious, thunderous powerhouse return.

Know Nothing – “Well Deserved Human Suffering”

It bugs me to infernal regions that almost every single promising new metal band I’ve heard in the past four years has been unsigned. Now, if that were to signal the end of the big-label sovereignty, I’d gladly embrace it, but unfortunately it doesn’t.

The Tomorrowmen – “Futourism”

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Weasel Walter – “Half-Death”

Companion soundtrack to Thompson’s “Screwjack.”

Ballister – “Worse For The Wear”

Dance like a madman, a beast.

The Pitch – “Frozen Orchestra (Amsterdam)”

Running scared.

The Turbine! – “Entropy/Enthalpy”

That heat — which is capable of collapsing, has dimension(s).

Abbotoir – “Autotelic Sentience”

Link to feature

New Monuments – “Long Pig”

Fever manifested in sonic form.

John Russell / Steve Beresford / John Edwards / Ståle Liavik Solberg – “Will It Float?”

Depends on whether it comes with a spherometer or not. “They make them with the microbes of God.”

Dave Douglas – “High Risk”

Islanded, cloudless, and least hectic.

Stuart Russell – “Inveniam Viam”

Having been skeptical of the contemporary ambient music scene in general, I had prepared myself for the worst when I got “Inveniam Viam.” My skepticism has mainly to do with the fact that most of what gets called ambient music, today, is the remaining of the works of some IDM joker of a musician that’s been bungled into pieces and left there for the sake of granting itself some pseudo-artistic value. In Russell’s case, however, one could hypothesize a promising result while looking at his background, which is more or less rooted in electroacoustic and sound art. More or less, because the Berlin School seems to have also shaped his views on music, and that has been rarely good news, or at least whenever I hear an electronic composer claim it. In spite of all, I was overwhelmed by the narrative-driven, icy and decidedly isolated sound-work.

Hans Theessink & Terry Evans – “True & Blue”

To this very day, Fred McDowell’s “Standing At The Burying Ground” remains one of my most beloved records of all time, and that was a live recording, posthumously released but nonetheless live and before all else a powerful record. That is to say, blues, especially early blues of the delta and Mississippi variety, has got itself quite a lineage of great-sounding live records, and in case of “True & Blue,”  it just couldn’t have sounded any better.

Henry Kaiser & Ray Russell – “The Celestial Squid”

Whereas Kaiser was the reason I got the record, I had little to no idea who Ray Russell was. And he was credited as the composer of two of the album’s most engaging tracks, so I had to look for at least one record of his. I still haven’t found time to do so.

Zone Six – “Love Monster”

Zone Six at their very best; raw, robust, and genuinely emotive.

Yachtburner – “Stale Mates”

Audacious noise rock with a voice of its own.

 Radium Jaw – “Choose Death”

Absolutely hideous, horrid, and above all, evil.

Scissortooth – “Novagomorrah”

Scissortooth are not your average metal band, and the fact that they’ve been billed as one, apart from making no sense, is overly misleading.

Weedeater – “Goliathan”

Link to review

The Gash – “Ausgedörrt”

Rapid-fire, nomadic thrash in the vein of Onslaught and Sadus with a slight Priest bent.

Nate Wooley – “Battle Pieces”

Explicitly inexplicit, e.g. “Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.”

Poison Idea – “Confuse & Conquer”

Not as juicy as D.O.A.’s “We Come In Peace,” but quite as focused.

Kris Davis Infrasound – “Save Your Breath”

A belonging artwork at last!

Whiskey Daredevils – “Nashville Surprise”

Link to feature

Per Bloland – “Chamber Industrial”

“And if thy hand causeth thee to fall into sin, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.”
“And if thy foot causeth thee to fall into sin, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.”

Atomicide – “Chaos Abomination”

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Holocaust – “Predator”

Holocaust are — undoubtedly overlooked in that regard but nevertheless — responsible for five of progressive metal’s finest records, though more frequently remembered for the key role they played in the formation of NWOBHM during their initial incarnation. Now, “Predator”‘s premise is a return to basics, and while that certainly is the strategy, the record in actuality plays like an amalgamation of the two epochs, with naked homages made to, respectively, 90’s supernal sound (e.g. the outro to ‘Shiva,’ ‘Lady Babalon’), and “Primal”-era rabidity (e.g. ‘Revival’).

Inhuman – “Conquerors Of The New World”

One of the very few promos I received during last year that didn’t disappoint.

Distruzione – “Distruzione”

A shape-shifting demon indwells in the narrowly bolted sonic setup of Distruzione. It had previously put the hex on the likes of Soilent Green, Electrocution, and Entombed.

M.C. Schmidt – “Batu Malablab”

Backslidingly exotic.

Scherzoo ‎- “03”

Soft Machine gone zeuhl in a uzed automobile.

Wayne Horvitz – “Some Places Are Forever Afternoon”

Tells it like it is, and it is as mystifying as the hour itself.

Nurse With Wound / Graham Bowers – “Mutation…The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum…”

Coldest.

Batpiss – “Biomass”

Batpiss remind me a great deal of Cop Shoot Cop — in a more metallic manner that is.

Malaclypse Sax Quartet – “Why Cabbage?”

Link to feature

Reptensol – “Maelstrɔsm”

Slayer listened to hc and NWOBHM and they played what, the finest brand of thrash? Well, Reptensol seem to have devoured not only space and stoner rock but no wave, surf, and death metal as well — as a result, molding a brand of progressive metal that is equally bold and panoptic.

Uneven Eleven – “Live At Cafe OTO”

Brace yourselves for one of the heaviest jam records in the history of rock n’ roll.

Axis: Sova – “Early Surf”

Retro acid pub done inside a submarine.

Die Like Gentlemen – “Five Easy Lies”

Lie no. 1: They play not sludge but a doom metal that slips into Zebulon Pikean prog here and there. Yes, categories are as paradoxically vain as they’re a given, and the media has done a piss-poor job regarding the Sabbath domain in the past few years that I’d rather have it entirely diminished more than anytime before.

King Automatic – “Lorraine Exotica”

Because Alex Cox.

Wim Mertens – “Charaktersketch”

I never liked Mertens, Glass, or even Nyman for that matter, enough — much like Wittgenstein in philosophy, it’s an area that escapes me, it’s irrelevant at best. Yet, I’m positive Mertens outdid himself in “Charaktersketch” and for that reason only, it’s worthy of mention in our list — Let’s not be too self-indulgent, right? Wrong. I still don’t find the enforced uplifting ambiance conducive as it tends to reduce the compositions to pulp, thematically, like — but not the same as, since with Mertens there’s always a good degree of variety as a result of the classical variations and dynamics — the last Lubomyr Melnyk record which was beyond awful in and out of itself.

Hooded Menace – “Darkness Drips Forth”

Even though they killed ten minutes off the 50-minute deal this time around — and you’ll eventually find out where those ten minutes went to if you keep reading the list ’til the end — the Terror Ciego delivered the much expected, in our camp at least, damage, with their new record.

Gol – “Habit Entwined In Horns”

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Michael Henning & Philip Ringler – “Supplemental Dimensions”

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John McLaughlin And The 4th Dimension – “Black Light”

McLaughlin fell out of my radar a long time ago, and for a lot of good reasons, too. In the case of “Black Light,” it turned out many of my concerns were not far from truth, though it also turned out I had not taken into account one most signal piece of the puzzle: that McLaughlin was after all one born out of the free jazz scene and hence, markedly different from any of the so-called virtuosos his work later posited him alongside.

Transmit – “Radiation”

Swans are fond of The Necks, and as it appears, that’s not the only way it goes.

Solitude – “Reach For The Sky”

To bleed and cry — senti-metal.

House Of Laurence – “Awake”

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Beithíoch – “Conquest”

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Chier – “Necronymphomaniacs”

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Coffin Hoarder – “Cemetery Communion”

Like early Leviathan? Disembowelment? Daniel Higgs too? How about “Körkarlen”?

Colapso – “Portales”

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Janne Westerlund – “Marshland”

There’s not a filler on this brilliant, this sorcerous record.

Hammerhead – “New Directionz”

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Skag Arcade – “Post Tenebras Lux”

Harsh noise executed with much agility.

Extreme Noise Terror – “Extreme Noise Terror”

While “Law Of Retaliation” was a step in the right direction, the selftitled release is the destination itself.

Frank Rosaly – “Malo”

A habit of ours — to have for the very least one percussive record on the list, and this time it’s another relatively new artist — after Tim Feeney a year ago. Unlike Feeney, Rosaly is mainly interested in de-systematization of rhythm, meter, and less concerned with tonality. In doing so, however, he does recur to improvisation and, broadly speaking, suspension and parallelization of sporadic electronic soundscapes that accompany the drums, and therefore, the two are but radically different, Hegelianly speaking.

Gaspar Claus & Matthieu Prual – “Live At La Bascule”

Unmeditated and unmediated.

The Yeqy – “Omnivorous”

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François Tusques, Itaru Oki, Claude Parle & Isabel Juanpera ‎- “Le Chant Du Jubjub”

Accordions, not to be underestimated either. Especially when they’re part of dialogue with the piano played by someone like F. Tusques.

Z’EV ‎- “Eleven Mirrors To The Light”

People regularly come up and say why don’t you post the list before the new year, and while my answer varies every time, here’s one recurring motif for you: see the record above? It was released on 29th of December, 2015. So, yeah, that’s why.

Mini-Albums, EPs, & Splits Of The Year:

Chronoboros – “Dialing Up The Cutter”

Punched up to the max.

Clear Fluids – “Sicariidae”

Dungeon electronics, spider synths, Popul Vuh, and LaVey. Haunted; beautiful.

John Pil – “Theory Of Turbulence”

Solo improvisation can either be a drag or incredible. With John Pil, neither is the case — it’s hoboistic, in the same sense as that of Beefheart.

Exosphär – “Rhõk”

As if deathrock, grunge, and doom metal were one and the same. CATEGORIES.

Fatso Jetson Split W/ Farflung

A new Fatso Jetson full-length is dreadfully needed. Just saying.

Magma – “Šlaǧ Tanz”

Short and sour.

No Skin – “Asking For It”

Link to feature

Kryptdyp – “Magia Posthuma”

Blackened dungeon sludge.

Turtle Rage – “Chambers Of Peace”

Toxic amount of fun.

Bleach Everything – “Free Inside”

Had Neurosis existed in the early 80’s, they would have sounded something like this.

Contwig – “Freibad”

Link to feature

The Last Oath – “Pernicious”

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White Spot – “Father Songs.”

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Gall – “Lack Of Endorphins”

Lo-fi magnetic drone made the metal-in-opposition way — aleatorial/cosmogonal.

Ruinebell – “Embers’ Grave”

This is where the ten-minute corpse mentioned earlier went to.

Burrows – “Mar”

Link to feature

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Annual anthology lists from previous years can be found at Holy Grail From Hell Archives. Below are the individual links gathered, for your ease, in one place:

2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014