Category Archives: UPDATE

Jacken Elswyth – ‘Banjo with the sound of its own making’
Jacken Elswyth returns with an album that closely marries her practice as a musician and as an instrument maker. Banjo with the sound of its own making, released this month on Fractal Meat Cuts, comprises six improvisations and two traditional tunes for mountain banjo alongside layered and manipulated audio recorded during the building of the banjo played. Edition of 80.

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Ivan The Tolerable – ‘Autodiadact II’
The latest instalment in Oli Heffernan’s prolific ITT project, this album started life as three separate recording sessions in July and August 2021 – work for a soundtrack to a series of films about psychogeography and North Yorkshire folklore, a remote improvised session with Christian Alderson (The Unit Ama/Archipelago) and a solo EP of arpeggiater repeat drones and freak-folk. Originally intended as three EPs, the flow and theme running through them lends itself well as a single album, linking previous release ‘White Tears’, (Library of The Occult) and forthcoming album ‘The Long Year’ (Stolen Body)

Deadman’s Ghost – ‘Tethered Tales’
This album presents alternative audio reels for two experimental short films from the 1950s. These new scores explore the worlds of isolated characters seeking to free themselves from repressive forces, implying narratives not originally intended by the directors. Once loose of their visual anchors the resulting tracks unfold as ominous, shifting soundscapes.
1 : The Poisoned Wood. Written for Arrière Saison (1950. Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff) In this rural drama, a woman plots to escape the remote place where she lives with her woodcutter husband. A mixture of drone, folk and field recordings lend the story a sense of tension and dread. Has the forest placed a curse on the couple due to the husband’s actions, or is there some other dark undercurrent to their marriage?
2: The Blind Prophet. Written for The Way to Shadow Garden (1954. Directed by Stan Brakhage) Synths and samples evoke the shadowy forces of an era which spawned McCarthyism and Project MK-Ultra. Was the protagonist a subject in a secret government mind control experiment? Back in his urban apartment, strange phenomena, radio propaganda and a book of Greek tragedy propel him on a terrifying quest for enlightenment.

One Key Magic [OKM] – ‘Worldly Noise and Electronic Atmospheres’
Situated on the edge of the North York Moors in North East England are three giant, geodesic domes containing the space radars of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Built in 1962, the purpose of the ‘radomes’ at RAF Fylingdales was to track everything in Low Earth Orbit and distinguish the signal of an incoming nuclear weapon from the ‘noise’ of satellites and space debris. Along with designing and building these radar systems (as well as those on the Apollo program’s Lunar Module), RCA developed revolutionary innovations in recorded music such as the velocity microphone, the 45rpm single and the music synthesizer. Indeed, during the early years of operations at Fylingdales, the supply chain of radar component parts (many of which were the same switches and dials as those used on early RCA synthesizers) was managed from the same office that dealt with the distribution of records by ABBA, David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Dr. Michael Mulvihill, artist and research associate in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, is the first artist in residence at RAF Fylingdales. Together with musician and producer Chris Tate, the pair formed One Key Magic to interpret and materialise the scintillations and aurora of these electro-magnetic engagements, while folding together the geographic, cultural and historic trajectories of music production, space exploration and nuclear deterrence. The starting point was to make audible the electromagnetic pulses from the space radars, and from the Apollo Lunar Module, as drone tones. By transposing the frequencies of the radar pulses, they were brought into the range of human hearing and a different composition for each radar location was created. Compositions were improvised over the tones, with the musical key and relevant melodic scales being determined by the fundamental and harmonic frequencies present in the radar pulse drones. Using synthesizers and guitar played with electronic bow (a device which uses electromagnetism to vibrate the strings without touching them), morphing textures were allowed to form and flow. Seeking an immersive sound through processes of human and the more-than-human creative forces interacting within the world, the project shares sonic concerns with artists and musicians such as Laurie Spiegel, Catherine Christer Hennix and Alvin Lucier. One Key Magic seeks to make audible the way that electromagnetic practices of nuclear deterrence have invisibly shaped our experiences for the past half a century. FFO Spiritualized / Spacemen 3 /analogue ambient synth drones

Ddrome – ‘Beyond The Thunderddrome’
Jamie Davis is drummer with Dublin improv group Zeropunkt. This is his second outing as Ddrome. The first release being ‘Perimeter’ in May 2021. on Dublin label, Last of our Kind. ‘Beyond the Thunderddrome’ sees him in similar drum n’ drone territory, sticking to his twenty minutes-per-track format. It was recorded in August 2021. ‘Fearless and feral wins the race’ is inspired by his witnessing of young people rioting in Dublin in late summer during Covid lockdown, It’s fluctuating rhythms and tension and release echoing these events. The nonchalant whistling motif a nod to casual violence. The album’s other track ‘Stairdust’ is just that. Cosmic sonic household DIY if you will. An obvious pun on ‘Stardust’ but proof that you don’t need to travel too far to leave earth. Household finds make crystalline bell sounds and jazz brushes sweep up the dust.

Willie Stewart (Woven Skull) – ‘Let’s Explore The Floor Tom’
Woven Skull’s Willie Stewart, takes us on an educational, inspirational and entertaining journey through the versatility of the Floor Tom, that’ll appeal to both accomplished and novice drummers and the casual listener, alike.

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FREE MAGIC SHOW – ‘Trinity’ 5€
Low fidelity concrete music. Oxidized Rheostats. Accidental tribulations. Spontaneous combustion music.

MIFAN – ‘Dauphin Epinette’ 5€
Interstellar melodies. Artificial harpsichords. Gregorian songs of synthesis. Diary of a secret laboratory assistant.

O RECHE MODO – ‘Gymnast Of Gaps’ 5€
Poetic Arte Povera. Blind landscapes. Cinemascope for mumps. Welcome to the magnetic forest.

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Native Token
World Loop is pleased to announce the first release by Native Token, a collaborative music project by Benjamin Bernt and Kristoffer Kjærskov. Exploring intuitive and improvised layers of sound merging in and out of continous drifting loops, Native Token builds upon a foundation, which gradually transcends through genres, implementing a rich variety of instruments and sound apparatuses such as: Marimba, harp, guitars, ukulele, bass, drums, field recordings, synthesizer, Kalimba, flutes, tapes, pedals and more. The recordings released on this album are available as a limited c-50 cassette (2 x 25 min) that have been recorded during live studio sessions in 2021, using a zoom h4 and a Tascam DR-05 field recorder.

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R.Y.N. – ‘Cosmic Death’
For the uninitiated, R.Y.N. was the drone / void ambient project of Gateshead duo Pete Burn and Dean Glaister, active from 2003 to 2011. his release presents the band’s two 2008 albums ‘Cosmic Birth’ and ‘Astral Death’ together for the first time as a double-cassette package, complete with 11″ x 11″ poster featuring original artwork by Burn, taken from James Plotkin’s (Khanate; O.L.D.; Scorn) original masters.

QOHELETH – ‘Warmonger’
QOHELETH is built from the last remaining scraps of their sanity (Jeremy Hunt, Mike Strickler, and Caiden Withey). The resulting sounds and sights of the collective are rooted in upheaval: loud, obnoxious, and discomforting. Throughout their five-year existence, they have focused on three central tenets: pushing the musicality of noise to its limits, never standing in one place for long, and continually asking questions. Their latest album, Warmonger, explores the American love affair with violence. What happens when a country is: founded in violence, endowed with a mythos that both ignores and celebrates destruction, and continues to perpetuate it, over 200 years later? The American Dream is a violent one. What happens next? Warmonger reveals a more communal aspect of QOHELETH, as they invited friends to lend their vocals and noise-making talents to the party. Artists E.B. Taylor, K, Juan Carlos Lopez, and Jon Michael help broaden the sonic palette of previous albums, offering their own perspectives on what violence hath wrought. At the core, this record is one of lament, anger, and grief, tinged on the edges with hope. If there’s a path towards life and well-being for all, it has to start with a reckoning. This is ours. (includes the bonus free 6-track EP ‘Contaminator’ download)

Empty House – ‘Mushin’
Empty House is the new project from Fred Laird (Taras Bulba; Earthling Society). This debut record was recorded over a three day period in March 2021. The idea was originally based on the music set out by The Taj Mahal Travellers freeform soundscapes, Midori Takada’s marimba and harmonium excursions and Usuma Yakoto’s minimalistic rhythms. The Zen Buddhist approach of No-Mind or Mushin was adopted in the freewheelin’ way the album was created which was in a consciously unconscious manner with no actual idea or blueprint beforehand. Pick up whatever instrument is around and play and see what happens. The instruments that were around at the time of recording were – Organ, Guitar, Bouzouki, Shakuhachi Flute, Dizi Flute, Temple block, Tibetan bells, biscuit tin, a buddha radio, one of those drums that hippy buskers plonk about on outside Scope, congas and a Gakken Synth. Some field recordings were created by capturing a leaking faucet in a garden centre and the eerie sound of some bamboo chimes recorded in Fred’s garden the day after the first lockdown started (no traffic on the roads, up in the air or out in the street). ‘Mushin’ means no-mind or empty mind that you attain through meditation or if you’re a martial artist through your patterns (Poomsae, Kata etc). However recording an album on achieving Mushin, would be the sound of silence. So, the idea was to create drifting pieces of music like when tiny thoughts or images drift in and out of your head whilst trying to achieve Mushin – The distractions so to speak.

Orrin DeForest – ‘Harshcore 98-00’
A band of near mythical status Gateshead’s O.D.F. blasted onto the North East’s harshcore scene in 1998 and were gone in a flash three years later; their 2001 split album with Newcastle’s Jazzfinger the only remaining recorded output. Featuring the talents of Pete Burn (Marzuraan; R.Y.N.) and Rob Woodcock (Marzuraan; Tide Of Iron; Fret!; Platemaker et al) and remastered by Graham Thompson (Ballpeen et al), this re-issue of long-lost recordings, captured in 1998 and 2000, is a welcome reminder of the unconstrained liberating spirit of UK harshcore and a missing link in North East England’s rich hardcore punk lineage.

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Saint Idiot – ‘Alternate Utopias from a Nostalgic Future’ CD
Tomáš Andel (a.k.a. Saint Idiot) is a Slovak-born Canadian art pop musician, sound designer, and multimedia artist from Edmonton. His music has been interpreted as a deconstruction of pop; familiar song forms done up with sophisticated sound palettes, set in lush, carefully textured compositions, that are both a little futuristic and a little mossy. The music and world-building of Saint Idiot is inspired by the fantastic multi-sensory worlds of artists like Laurie Anderson, Björk, and Bowie, as well as the continuing legacy of bell hooks, Zen, and Deep Listening. Alternate Utopias from a Nostalgic Future is about belonging and interconnectedness in the age of hyper-individualism.

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Lärmschutz & Sergei Tumanov – ‘Atonal Echoes’
A sound collage focusing on the interaction between classic acoustic instruments, electronic sound processing and effects and integration of white noise radio transmissions. This work is part of a series on the topic of exploring the contribution between an artist and the environment.

Auvikoque – ‘Volatil’
Live recordings of improvised and composed fragments. Two unlikely and unexpected performances for audiences attending a post-metal event and a chamber music festival, respectively.

Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy & Leo Suarez – ‘L’Animal Acclimaté’
Far-spread exchanges in a currency of altered moments via The Loire River, train platforms, or a swamp near Lake Ontario. An auditory study of “adjustment” within cities, nature, and the fractured sprawl that lies in-between.

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X.Y.R. – ‘Anciente’ LP
The Russian producer Vladimir Karpov is well on his way towards a lasting legacy as a modern synthesizer wizard in the grandiose vein of Vangelis and Jarre. With a propensity for concept albums he has built a sturdy discography during this past decade that echoes the progressive ideas of the psychedelic generation as it moved into adulthood with Moog in hand. Being equally a part of the postmodern generation; Karpov’s ouvre also embraces the utopian daydreaming of the new age, the environmental concerns embod- ied in field recording, and the holistic approach of Jon Hassels 4th world concept. While the esoteric fantasies of previous works linger on, the conceptual aspect of Anciente is rendered more abstract. And instead of dividing ideas into tracks that form an album, here Karpov is pushing the boundaries of his compositions further into longer forms. Like trails into humid forest landscapes, they run deep enough for one to get lost along the way. Clocking in at a neat 20 minutes per side, the two tracks that make up Anciente weaves soft brushes of undefinable sounds and tropical field recordings that almost create ASMR-inducing vibrations in the minds of the listener. Eventually they might open a door- way to a twilight-lit wilderness and the possible secrets of the first civilised men. As Carlos Castaneda once wrote, relaying the wisdom of the Yaqui; “twilight is the crack between worlds. It is the door to the unknown”. Or, as in this case, the door to the ancient.

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History Of Leather – ‘Courte Oreilles to 33rd’ C20
Brute rust belt concréte compositions of full spectrum, delicate yet hard-edged crumbling narratives from Chicago’s south side. Edition of 100.

A Fail Association – ‘This Will Hurt You More Than It Will Hurt Me’ C60
Round two for the Sheriff of Dada Drumming and mayor of Funkytown, TX, with two brickwall tracks recorded in 2018. The second AFA release for MT coming 16 years after the first. A solid hour of choice damnation, unrelenting. Edition of 100.

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Cronies – ‘Cronies’
New York’s Cronies were formed by brothers Jack and Sam Carillo in June 2020, the creative offspring of Covid and isolation. Initially laying down tracks in a make-shift home-studio, they pulled in Shea and Brad, (their fellow bandmates in other New York bands Stugots, Drink Brothers, Filthy Gorgeous), swapping sounds and crafting the songs until the band could safely collaborate in person to record this beast of an album, which comes at you kicking like a mule on PCP.

Black Tempel Pyrämid – ‘Infinite Tombs’
Black Tempel Pyrämid is an experimental American primitive Krautrock band from Fort Collins, CO. It’s one of Patrick R. Pärk’s sonic endeavours that frequently turns meandering drunken-stoned midnight introspections into lo-fi, drone-fuelled soul eviscerations. Infinite Tombs was recorded in March 2021 at FoCo Sonic Studies in the Horsetooth Mountains, around the one year anniversary of when COVID became an official nightmare. This album is dedicated to all of the front line workers who have selflessly given their time and souls to humanity as there’s no looking back.

Easter – ‘Live at SSR’
Recorded at the School Of Sound Recording, Manchester behind closed doors on the cusp of the big lockdown, this set captures the band at their most freewheeling; with a new line-up giving the songs a fresh take off the back of a tour with Bromide and Dark Globes. Manchester indie-rockers Easter have released two albums, two EPs and a clutch of smaller releases, building a reputation as one of the city’s best-kept secrets. Spurred along by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Long with a rotating cast of Manc-underground shredders, they’re a formidable live act who have toured the U.K extensively; embodying the spirit of ‘Ragged Glory’-era Neil Young, Television and Dinosaur Jr while also the likes of Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band and Yo La Tengo.

e & H – ‘Road To Saturn’
e & H is the duo of eleOnora and Richard Thompson. Based in the Baltics (Tallinn and Rīga respectively), their practice is based around live, improvised expression through vocals, guitar and microsynths. These live recordings were made in Riga in April and June 2019. eleOnora is an avant-garde singer and vocalist, who resides in Estonia – being half Latvian and half Estonian by descent. She studied extended vocal techniques under the guidance of Anne Türnpu (Estonian actor & director). In 2014 she formed the avant-garde blues duo Ringhold with guitarist Kalle Tikas. Richard Thompson is the founder of the experimental folk project Lost Harbours, the grass-roots, organisation Culture as a Dare and tape label Liminal Noise. He also plays guitar in the post-punk band Abuses.

Ryosuke Kiyasu + Watts – ‘Zero Gap’
Snare drum and vocals collide on a long-distance collaboration by Ryosuke Kiyasu (SETE STAR SEPT, Fushitsusha. Shrimp et al) and WATTS (Lump Hammer, Plague Rider, Lovely Wife et al). Recorded in Japan and the U.K. respectively, and mixed by David Curle at First Avenue Studios, Newcastle. Zero Gap is constructed entirely from one snare and one delay drenched throat. Clattering and rasping around each other for just over half an hour they explore the outer range of their respective instruments’ sound worlds.

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