MAD/MOD – ‘Neurinomes’ CDr $10
Pro-duped thermal -printed CD-R. Hand assembled cardboard folders. Numbered edition (second limited run of 25). 79 mins. $10. Shimmering drones and angular melody lines dance and collapse against hazy ambiance and fractured glass surfaces; ecstatic meditations give way to deep noir melancholy and fiery avant expressionism. Neurinomes (a type of nerve tumor that can affect the inner ear) is the haunting debut by the duo of Montreal-based reed player Marc-Antoine Dagenais (Mad) and guitarist Dominic Marion (Mod). The album revolves around improvisation, rewriting of improvised sounds, resonant mappings, organic acousmatic, combination tones; a process one may call recomposition, using recordings of spontaneous interactions as draft mapping, free to be reinvestigated and refined. All timbers were produced solely by miking acoustic sources. With the exception of a wine glass slowed down to a low drone, these soundscapes remain faithful to original acoustic production. The duo has developed their own vocabulary through research of improvised music based on harmonic specters, thoroughly experimenting in the fields of peculiar textures and frictions that their instruments can provide. Marion often, but not always, treats his guitar signal through a certain range of effects, working a specter of textures, going from delicate jazzy chords to screaming organ like sounds. Blending with those amplified sounds, Dagenais uses different extended techniques (trumpet sounds, multiphonics, screams, circular breathing and others) on the saxophone and flutes as well as different parts of the instruments to produce unusual soundscapes.
SEMEN PRIEST C40 $6.66
Pro-duped, edition of 30. Electro-funk, post-punk dystopian dub nightmares. Chilled psychedelic pop daydreams. Futuristic streams of anime unconsciousness. Gothic bubblegum doom fantasies. Romance. Violence. Action. Wealth. Decay. Mystery band SEMEN PRIEST came to Arachnidiscs’s attention with a demo package, mailed anonymously from somewhere in Canada, containing a blood-filled condom and a vaguely threatening letter (“You should do our tape. xoxo Semen Priest. PS- We know where you live.”). Easily the most unusual demo-package the label had ever received the CD-R of SEMEN PRIEST’s album that accompanied it prompted Arachnidiscs to release their tape instead of notifying the RCMP
A SACRED CLOUD – ‘Ensoleillé, 1972’ C40 $6
Ecstatically bleak retro-futurist android sheep daydream of Vangelis-in-hell on a cloud that’s only silver linings. A Sacred Cloud is the Montreal based experimental electronic/guitar/drone/ambient/noise duo of Maggie Cho and Johnathan Woo. The album was mastered by Sandro Perri. Vinyl LP edition will be released by Jeunesse Cosmique in November, 2013.