Category Archives: UPDATE

PATRICK LOMBE 7€
back in solo after a neverending wait. forbidden manipulations, secret guitars & vocal shamanism. years of mental fabrication finally in yr hands.

RIRETTE 7€
baroque electricity & laser gregorian chants. sound surveillance & futuristic raised fists. the dream soundtrack of a dystopian fiction. rirette is mifan + sy.

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Dvanov – ‘Functional Music’
Starting out in 2013 as Voda-i-Ryba, before changing their name and moving to Saint Petersburg (Russia), DVANOV have released numerous EPs and albums over the past 8 years, channeling their engaging electro post-punk segued by waves of Krautrock, synthpop and garage psych. “This is a deluxe edition of our last LP ‘Functional Music’, which also includes songs from the ‘Hyper-Suburb EP.’ . This is the last release of the band with vocalist Vlad Kilin and the beginning of a new stage in the Dvanov’s life. In these songs, the cultural memory of revolutions and childhood memories of anxious summer nights collide with the ghosts of modern capitalism. There are the evening and the ringing of endless fields behind the walls of supermarket, cicadas crackle and there’s nowhere to go. We are releasing this at a tragic time when our country has waged an imperialist war. No war! ” (DVANOV) ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO PEOPLE IN NEED UKRAINE CRISIS SUPPORT.

Upward/Charlie Butler split
Charlie Butler and Upward celebrate their mutual affection for fuzzed-out drones and the defiance of passing time. The Upward side is based on the opening minutes of “Fratres” by Arvo Pärt, holding each chord until the drones feel like they’re writhing away from each other, turning the fluttering unease of the original into a persistent, viscid disquiet. Butler’s piece hits a resolutory guitar chord at five minutes and then resists its own fadeout for the remaining 10, with tonal residues perished in the gathering fires of amplifier noise.

Aidan Baker – ‘Tenebrist’
Aidan Baker is a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist from Toronto (now resident in Berlin) with the electric guitar his primary instrument. Using prepared and alternate methods of playing the guitar, along with various electronic effects, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genre but draws on influences from rock, electronic, classical, and jazz. A highly prolific artist, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with various group projects, including Nadja, ARC, Caudal and Mnemosyne. ‘Tenebrist’ is Baker’s second release for CN, following 2021’s ‘Stimmt’. Where that was big on atmospherics and abstraction, ‘Tenebrist’ shoots a bullet straight into the heart of the riff and explodes it, in all its scorching white-out fuzzed-up glory. Low-down and heavy, it serves up swathes of grunge, pummeling the senses and scattering rhythms through its maximalist energy.

Holy Island – ‘Midnight Empire’
The debut outing for Manchester-based Graham Blyth’s (Easter / Sun Skeletons) solo indie-alt-pop project. With nods to C86, Creation and Sarah Records, along with a bit of classic Felt, this album encapsulates the halcyon days of shimmering guitar melodies fused with garage rock and psychedelia

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End Now – ‘Half Live’
Geordie post-hardcore riding on a SWERVEDRIVER, HARVEY MILK, LEATHERFACE, UNWOUND tip. Featuring members of legendary North East UK pop bands, MARZURAAN; R.Y.N; JINN; BALLPEEN; GRACE. This is the only recorded output from their brief two-year existence (2010 – 2012), re-mastered and finally seeing the light, 10 years later.

Friend Of God From The Oberland – ‘II’
Side project from the folks involved with Finnish psych band, Vahvistusharha. A selection of wide-ranging multi-instrumental hypnotic improvisations, recorded across two sessions in 2020 and 2021, perfectly capturing the spirit and oeuvre of Finland’s DIY psych scene.

Zebularin – ‘Hegemon Amour’
The Stuttgart free-form collective return with 8 new compositions ranging from intoxicating psychedelia , jazz and shapeshifting drone onslaught. “Hegemon Amour” focuses on the endless story of power and submission, the eternal ebb and flow of hope and despair in a world full of discord and malevolence. Collecting the shards of indestructible beauty and surreal meditation. Rearranging them into a blossoming aural tale of collective triumph in challenging times.

David Colohan – ‘A Map Of Where The Leaves Fall First’
Recorded in Ballymahon, Dublin & Todmorden, this latest instalment from the United Bible Studies mainstay is dedicated to the memory of American poet, painter and social activist, Lawrence Ferlinghett. The two 20-minute pieces which make up the composition, ebb and flow through harmonium drones, delicately plucked mandolin and string orchestration, underpinned with minimalist vocal accompaniment from Sophie Cooper and Alison O’Donnell. Undulating and shimmering: the beautiful song of the Silver River Gorge.

Whirling Hall Of Knives – ‘Blown Vestige’
The 15th album (?!?) from the Dublin duo (and their 4th for Cruel Nature), this sees WHOK in a more down-tempo, contemplative mood. Largely devoid of the trademark beats, ‘Blown Vestige’ layers fuzzed up soundscapes and glitchy electronics, at times straying into dark corners to find My Bloody Valentine hanging-out, cowering from the light.

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RUDOLF EB.ER & WILL GUTHRIE – ‘Hilt’ LP
Based in Osaka and Nantes respectively, Rudolf Eb.er and Will Guthrie have both forged unique and quite different paths in numerous disciplines of experimental music over the past decades and created extensive bodies of work, both as soloists and in collaboration with other artists from around the world. Austrian-born Eb.er (aka Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck) might be best known as the initiator and head of the Swiss artist collective Schimpfluch-Gruppe, which has constantly been pushing the boundaries of extreme music and performance art since its foundation in 1987. Among his many audio releases, »Hilt« is his third work for Fragment Factory, following »Nigredo« (as Schimpfluch-Gruppe, 2013) and »Wellenfeld« (with Joke Lanz, GX Jupitter-Larsen and Mike Dando, 2014). Australian-born Guthrie, on the other hand, has become synonym for breaking new grounds in drumming and percussion, delivering the missing link between radical and forward-thinking jazz, traditional musics and experimental/improvised electronic music. Rather recent collaborators include the likes of Jean-Luc Guionnet (note: »Stones, Air, Axioms / Delme« w/ Thomas Tilly, Fragment Factory, 2015), Mark Fell and Oren Ambarchi. »Hilt« is the first collaboration of two artists who, based on their previous musical work, seem very different at first glance. However, it quickly becomes apparent, that the distinct approaches to composition and sound complement each other perfectly and make this album a very special and exciting affair. The closer you listen, the more you will be drawn into it and realize that the rhythmic drumming, the careful arrangements of hiss, crackle and eerie muttering paired with fragmented bits of percussive noises make »Hilt« a very coherent whole. A very organic and ritual-like album I would say, captivating and a little daunting at the same time. Fragment Factory is thrilled to present »Hilt« in its final revelation, pressed in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl with smashing artwork by Alice Kemp, long-time friend and co-conspirator of the label and Herrn Eb.er.

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EXPO ’70 – ‘Psychosis’ CS
ORIGINALLY RELEASED BY PEASANT MAGIK ON LP (2009). Two side-long inprovised recordings between Justin Wright & Matt Hill (Umberto). First time released on cassette or digitally. “Heavy crumbling blackness settles atop hushed drifts of crystalline melodic shimmer, eventually transforming into something much more songy, a super druggy spaced out psych jam of the highest order, sounding a bit like Santana fronting SUNNO))), dense rumbling buzz drenched swells beneath super emotional almost wailing leads” – AQUARIUS RECORDS (R.I.P.) Limirted edition cassette of 65.

EXPO ’70 – Cleverly Mystique’ CS
SPLIT LABEL RELEASE WITH 5NAKEFORK, originally released in 2017, the cassette was never packaged & sat in a warehouse for over 4 years! Last recording at Wright’s home studio that produced “Black Ohms” / “White Ohms”, this recording captured similar moods and themes as those albums. A collection of more nods to early Krautrock and New Age minimalism with bouncing melodies and shorter themed tracks. “Cleverly Mystique” was captured back in 2011. Finally mastered for release on vinyl and CS, both in limited editions. Edition of 100, updated Jcard for the 2022 release.

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VHS¥DEATH – ‘Corrupted Geisha EP’
VHS¥DEATH is the solo production project of London-based Natalie Wardle (also of industrial/art-punk band Returning Videotapes). ‘Corrupted Geisha’ is her following up to 2021’s ‘La Llorona (Love & All The Hate)’, and sees her incorporate breakbeats and hip-hop / UK garage stylings alongside spoken-word samples and dark synth-laden bass-heavy soundscapes.

Benbow-Strssy – ‘Split’
Benbow and Strssy first met in a basement café in Lausanne, Switzerland just before the first sliced loaf was presented at the World’s Fair. Benbow had just finished a tour of the Alps with wandering trapeze troupe, NORMAL MAN while Strssy had taken a well-earned sabbatical from conjoined mime act, DIET PILLS. Over the following years they exchanged correspondence and encouragement as they independently began making experimental electronic music. This split release is a celebration of this journey.

K of ARC – ‘Show Them Your Throat’
K of ARC is an audio/visual artist from the North of England, working with samples, synthesis and custom-built steel instruments. ‘Show Them Your Throat’ is their debut album, utilising spectral drones, electronic atmospheres and ritual drums, drawing inspiration from Philip K Dick’s Valis, a childhood in an Industrial New Town, non-human encounters, magnetic hauntings and Cosmic horror.

Pound Land – ‘Can’t Be Arsed’
Pound Land was formed in 2020 by vocalist/lyricist Adam Stone (Future Bomb/Holy Ghost People/frequent collaborator with Dead Sea Apes) and multi-instrumentalist Nick Harris (Reverends of Destruction/ ex-Dead Sea Apes) . An eponymous debut album followed in the December of that year on Misophonia Recordings. ‘Can’t Be Arsed’ is the follow-up – eight tracks of post-industrial post-hardcore dead-pan misery – a ‘kitchen-sink’ punk for the 21st century.

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Sensual Spasmo – ‘Meats That Spread Queasily: Who Dares Wins’
Unforeseen, the city babies’ sleepover wanes, crude impulses occur paroxysmally…Apprehensively finger the unintended orifice, circle the blinking drain of the body’s negative response. The anxious stimulus induces a playful unpuckering, mmmmm, too sweet relief of malodorous exudate. Dribbles… Now reluctantly tallied upon nubs, count the ways to spell ‘Colonic Psychogeography’. No need to rue the thoracic tears that trickle, no tissues for you. Crimson Ward Trhauma is humbled by the hot privilege to egest Sensual Spasmo – Meats That Spread Queasily: Who Dares Wins. Clench it between your thighs, feel its struggle. Only intended for maturing audiences.

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Montel Palmer – ‘Catastropheland’
Mapped-out by a series of second guesses and double takes, Catastropheland is a diminished reality, where the road signs are all traps, the charts are the wrong way round, and the jokes fall flat.

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M.H.H. – ‘Cassiope: Protection Songs for Guitar’
This music has been created in the spirit of protection, with each track being devoted to a unique respective force, from elemental flora to deities of antiquity. “Cassiope” is an offering of new instrumental works and improvisations from Matthew Himes made over the past year. The work has been created through a range of technique and approach, moving through intimate acoustic improvisation and pastoral shimmer, to deep cosmic drift and howl. A blessing upon the house.

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Masche – ‘Oxia Chaos’
Masche was born in 2013 in Canavese, Italy as an open collective (Anatrofobia, 3eem, Ex-p), aiming at finding sonic combinations between electronics, rock, and improvisation. Their latest album fuses quirky electronics with deconstructed funk bass and free jazz skronks; sounding to these ears like The Pop Group and Glaxo Babies at their most experimental and loose.

Salisman & His Hermetic Order – ‘Clairvoyance’
Following their acclaimed 2020 debut ‘Absolution’, the Anglo-American project (Chicagoans Paul Foreman and Travis Salisbury, with Tyneside’s Chris Tate – Score; One Key Magic; d_rradio) continue the exceptional song writing and meticulous attention to detail on their second album; upping the ante with moments of psych, Americana, shoegaze and – on tracks such ‘Crystal Window Hangings – full-blown acid-prog rock workouts. Immerse yourself in it, you will not be disappointed.

OMNIBAEL – ‘Rain Soaks The Earth Where They Lie’
Last seen on 2021’s split with NYC noise-punks, Lip Critic, Stoke’s Omnibael enter 2022 with a raging debut, developing further the dark dense industrial nihilism with Burroughsian cut-ups, tape loops and gnarly noise. And whilst that may dominate the album, it’s the percussion that kills. Armed with a host of drum machines and samplers, they create a barrage of beats that hammer away amidst a murky cacophony of dense, disturbing sound. And it’s heavy as hell, particularly with the vocals which are by turns shrieking demonic and droning atonal. FFO Godflesh; Throbbing Gristle; The Body; early Swans

Pigments – ‘Thought Forms’
Pigments is an electronic ambient project from Porvoo, Finland, which crafts ambient soundscapes with various synths, live instruments, loops and voice. ‘Thought Forms’ is inspired by Hilma af Klints strikingly original abstract art and her philosophy and involvement in spiritualism and Theosophy in the early 20th century. It gravitates around mysticism and scientific advances, exploring themes of revelation, belief systems and science fiction, to a soundtrack of evolving electronic ambience, drone and experimental soundscapes.

Charlie Butler – ‘Deep Space’
Charlie Butler is a Reading based artist who began a series of solo releases in 2021 exploring weird, heavy and hypnotic sounds alongside being a member of Cody Noon, Mothertrucker and Head Drop. A prolific artist, ‘Deep Space’ is his first solo release of 2022: four tracks of beautiful ambient guitar ranging from bleak post-rock laments to heavy, slow-burning drones in the vein of Godspeed, Codeine, Papa M, Mogwai, Earth and Barn Owl. What’s it all about? Isolation and taking solace in Star Trek, of course!

MAbH (Mortuus Auris & the Black Hand) – ‘Unnamed Vagabond’
MAbH is the solo project of UK based artist Peter Taylor, who has been producing music since 2008 and made his CN debut in early 2021 with ‘Look Under ‘Unnamed Vagabond’ is two pieces of musique concrète, improv and noise that maximises loops made using scratched and sculpted old vinyl, while exploring improvised vocal and non-instrument compositions. The album contains 60 minutes of experimental improvisation and avant-garde composition, decorating the hour-long running time with cracks of light, shards of shadow, and moments of insanity.

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