Ssleeping Desiress – ‘Ssleeping Desiress’ LP
Coldwave / darkwave debut album by San Fransisco based producer Gabriel Ramos. While the band has gone through some lineup changes Ssleeping Desiress has essentially remained the sole recorded output of Gabriel Ramos, who has been the only constant member. The album runs the boundaries between minimal synth, coldwave, and electro with lyrical themes spanning gentrification to coping with loss. Ssleeping Desiress is certainly a gem in the electronic underground with the only official release so far being the great A Voice / Sister 7inch on the FlexiWave label in 2012 and a handful of other songs appearing on numerous new wave compilations. The self-titled album presented here takes the project to the next level. Kicking off with an echoing caterwauling drone over repetitive drums and outbursts of synths & guitars, the album slowly moves towards a more darkwave sound on the second half. Gabriel Ramos started making solo recordings while living in Portland, Oregon around 2005. He was inspired by the DIY drive of the city, hosting live shows at his house, (which frequently would consist of friends’ bands from San Francisco) and his growing fascination and voracious consumption of music: “I can really trace it to the first time Spector Protector played at my house and getting a tour cassette afterwards from one of the two members, Eric Davis. That and being freshly exposed to groups like Suicide and Arthur Russell were very inspirational to begin recording music on my own, which was something I had been doing though fairly aimlessly up to that point. In terms of sonic influences, I try and change my process as much as I can (usually through collaboration) and vary the instrumentation. My visions of songs usually end up as a clunky homage to late 70s punk rock, a marriage of dub and krautrock repetition and cavernous space.”
Twilight Ritual – ‘The Ritual’ LP
FINALLY the time has come to re-release the first ever recordings by Belgian minimal synth masters Twilight Ritual. Released in 1982 in a tiny cassette edition this album has not been heard by many people. “The Ritual” includes some of their best work, from mysterious dark synthpopsongs (Elegy) to club music (Webb-men) and the epic 14-minute track (Up To Now).
Twilight Ritual was/is the main project by Geert Coppens and Peter Bonne. During the early eighties they were involved in many other bands including Autumn and Linear Movement (both re-released on Minimal Wave), but Twilight Ritual is by far the most inspired project. The spirit of the band lingers on beneath the work of Autumn through A Split Second and stands besides the best tracks of bands such as Oppenheimer Analysis and League Of Nations.