Mail order update: Haus Arafna, Maska Genetik, Cisfinitum, Bad Sector
For mp3 samples and ordering, please go to the catalog page.
- Latest catalog additions -
Cisfinitum & The [Law-Rah] Collective - [ANS]werk CD (Fario)
Maska Genetik - Strada CD (Galakthorrö)
Haus Arafna - New York Rhapsody CD (Galakthorrö)
Haus Arafna - Children of God CD (Galakthorrö)
Funerary Call - The Black Root CD (Fall of Nature)
Funerary Call - Dark Waters Stirred CD (Fall of Nature)
Subklinik - Musik For Dekomposition CD (Fall of Nature)
Bad Sector - Transponder CD (Infinite Fog Productions)
- Detailed list of additions -
Cisfinitum & The [Law-Rah] Collective - [ANS]werk (Fario)
Label info: "Russian one-man outfit Cisfinitum and Dutch duo The [Law-Rah] Collective are both dark ambient masters. They dedicated this split and common work to one of the very first synthesizers in the world, the ANS.
The ANS, created by Russian engineer E. Murzin from 1937 to 1957, is an incredible response to the synesthesia theories (the letters ANS stand for Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin who linked tones to colours). The ANS synthesizer (only one copy exists and is kept in Moscow) generates special frequencies from drawings ("it plays what you have drawn") and in the opposite it can also create a visible image of a sound frequency. Artists such as Coil, Edward Artemiev (for Tarkovsky's Solaris soundtrack) and Alfred Schnittke used the ANS in their compositions.
For this album, The [Law-Rah] Collective and Cisfinitum based their music on original sounds from the ANS as well as additional recordings of various analog synths, fractal and granular synthesis, voice, violin, field recordings."
Note: the 23-min track by Cisfinitum is an amazing composition of shimmering drones and ghostly melodies that is not be missed.
(CD, oversized color sleeve, $16.00)
Maska Genetik - Strada (Galakthorrö)
Long-delayed and previously cancelled album from this mysterious Moscow project who grabbed everyone's attention with stunning tracks on the "Kosmoloko" compilation and the Quarantine 7". A personal synthesis of the various Galakthorrö strains with a unique touch. Spring is coming.
(CD, jewel case, $22.00)
Haus Arafna - New York Rhapsody (Galakthorrö)
Haus Arafna being commissioned to write a soundtrack album for a New York fashion show seems about as comically mismatched an idea as the Grey Wolves headlining a Christian rock festival, but "New York Rhapsody" dismisses any initial apprehensions rather quickly. While the aggressiveness has definitely been dialed down to some extent to emphasize the more textural and constructed aspects, the ingredients - electricity-charged static, dour tones and metallic noises - are consistent with what you'd expect from the current sound of Haus Arafna. Secondly, the album's theme hardly constrains it musically or lyrically, and this isn't some dull scholastic effort with some tacked-on references to the catwalk or what have you. Ultimately little aside from the photos by Nikolay Saveliev (Levoi Pravoi) and the blurbs tie this album to fashion, and if anything it could be argued that it's more about New York at large ("45 Minutes in New York", "Ground Zero"). Overall, a very nice little surprise.
(CD, jewel case, $22.00)
Haus Arafna - Children of God (Galakthorrö)
Where the pathology began for most of us, over a decade ago. Bleak, fierce and essential Haus Arafna material, just as powerful and impressive today as it was then.
(CD, jewel case, $20.00)
Funerary Call - The Black Root (Fall of Nature)
Label info: "Sepulchral, brooding Black Ambient from one of the most enigmatic and spectral entities the genre has produced. "The Black Root" saw it's first edition as a very limited vinyl release in 2004, now completely remastered on CD with new artwork, exclusively for Fall Of Nature."
(CD, jewel case, $11.00)
Funerary Call - Dark Waters Stirred (Fall of Nature)
Label info: "Heralded as one of the progenitors of black ambient music, Funerary Call returns from dormancy with his darkest release to date. "Dark Waters Stirred" is a ceremonial maelstrom of ominous electronics and dark ambient textures, an audial descent into ritualistic obscurity and misanthropy. Features guest appearances from the likes of Deathlord (Blasphemy, ex-Conqueror), and Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R., Seelenlicht) amongst others."
(CD, jewel case, $11.00)
Subklinik - Musik For Dekomposition (Fall of Nature)
Label info: "Since 1996, Subklinik has continued to create some of the darkest Death Industrial / necro-soundscapes in existence. Enter "Musik For Dekomposition", the latest full length from Subklinik, featuring six torturous expressions that convey a foreboding atmosphere abundant with feelings of death, and isolation, manifested through a sonic vortex of analogue filth and decay."
(CD, jewel case, $11.00)
Bad Sector - Transponder (Infinite Fog Productions)
Re-release of a long out-of-print 1999 album on Blade Records with 2 new exclusive tracks from that period. This is vintage "Dolmen Factory"-era Bad Sector, the sound of communion with the machines.
(CD, digipak, $15.00)