Reviews published by the Connexion Bizarre website at www.connexionbizarre.net
[CD, Àsino Elettronico]
Transitional is Koneyn’s debut solo release for Serbian label Àsino Elettronico and follows two self-released EPs – Stormfields and Enclosed – both issued during 2008. Released digitally and also as a limited pre-ordered edition in nicely produced handmade packaging, Transitional consists of five fairly short tracks covering a 20-minute duration.
[CD, zang:records]
De Frie Elementer is a live recording of guitarist Alf Terje Hana and vocalist Line Horneland performing as Sonarophon at Helgåleiren kunst- og kulturfestival in Ogna on 5th November 2008. Composed around a core of experimental and ambient electronics, their set features the six string skills of Hana combined with the vocal yet wordless vocal techniques of Horneland. Recorded as it was performed, De Frie Elementer comprises of a single 24 minute track split into a number of linked elements.
[CD, Boredom Product]
Auto-Reverse is a low-priced label compilation with a difference; it features 17 tracks from the French label Boredom Product’s back-catalogue with each covered by a range of artists including their own bands Celluloide, Dekad and Foretaste alongside Komputer, Psyche, People Theatre and The Rorschach Garden amongst others. Most contributors choose to cover Celluloide tracks as they feature most prominently in label’s discography dating back to 2002.
In keeping with Boredom Product’s agenda, Auto-Reverse compiles a series of modern electronic covers with a distinct retro feel harking back to the classic 80’s synthpop/new wave sound. This isn’t however an attempt to replicate or resurrect that sound, these tracks draw on that influence but bring it up to date using new technology and mix it with modern electronic sensibilities.
[CD, Tympanik Audio/Spectraliquid]
Rob Lioy is a 25 year old electronic musician from New York with an avid interest in all things cyberpunk. So much so in fact that he named his musical project Access to Arasaka after an evil corporation in cyberpunk related card game Netrunner. A big fan of art in its many forms and of visionaries such as esteemed American writer William Gibson and Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, Lioy has been composing music for the best part of the last 10 years. Self-releasing several EPs (that are still available) through his own website and a an album and EP through net label Illphabetik, his debut release Oppidan – named after a building in his own as yet unfinished story set in Detroit in the future – is jointly released by the respected US label Tympanik Audio and Greek label Spectraliquid.
[CD, Tympanik Audio]
Now with five albums and numerous remix and compilation credits to his name, Toronto-based electronic musician and visual artist Michael Morton – otherwise known as Displacer – has found a new home with US label Tympanik Audio. Having released his first three albums between 2003 and 2006 on French label M-Tronic, Morton releases X Was Never Like This, his second album for Tympanik in as many years.
Like The Witching Hour before it, X Was Never Like This is a combination of new tracks with a couple of collaborations and several remixes from an impressive line up of artists including Daniel Myer of Haujobb/Architect, Keef Baker, labelmates Lucidstatic, Marching Dynamics and Morton himself.
[CD, Electr-Ohm]
Japanese experimental artist and Electr-Ohm label head Sunao Inami releases Disinfectant, his seventh album under his own name. The album is composed of tracks recorded live in Tokyo in May 2003 which have been cut up and remixed with the intention of to creating new material whilst maintaining the live feel inherent in the original tracks.
[CD, Klanggalerie]
Formed by John Zewizz early in the 1980s, Sleep Chamber like many other underground bands of the time featured an ever-changing cast of members. They also have a long list of single and album releases on many labels to their name over the years covering such genres as experimental, ritual ambient, EBM through to rock in the 1990s.
[CD, Faith Strange Recordings]
“To the Last Man / Index of Dreaming” is the debut 2CD release from Mike Fazio – the man behind Orchestramaxfieldparrish – in the guise of ÆRA. Packaged in a mini-gatefold sleeve, the first 50 copies also come with a bonus three inch CD of the exclusive track “Pæan No.1 – Paradise Syndrome” that is exclusive to this disc.
[CD, Hymen Records]
Keith Baker has maintained a steady output of an album almost every year since his debut, “The Widnes Years”, on n5MD in 2004. Having recorded albums for Ad Noiseam and n5MD, Baker has found a home on Hymen Records, the sister label of respected German label Ant-Zen.
[CD, Ant-Zen, 2009]
Mika Goedrijk is better known as the man behind projects such as This Morn’ Omina, Pow[d]er Pussy and Project Arctic. Whilst spending time considering the motivation behind a director’s inclination to reject certain scenes or elements of filming in defining the final cut of their work, Goedrijk decided to revisit some of his own discarded ideas and sounds as the basis of new material.