Gonçalo Almeida – ‘Improvisations on Amplified and Prepared Double Bass’ Gonçalo Almeida is a chameleonic musician capable of producing a wide palette of sounds that range from jazz, post-rock to metal. Even so in this solo album he directs his music towards unexplored paths. The trio of timbres born from the combination of feedback, distortion and acoustics led him to lines and energies that he had not yet developed before, revealing a transcendent connection with his instrument. Clearly, the music on this album is something else.
Thomas Bergsten – ‘Ganjibiri’ Thomas Bergsten is a Norwegian guitarist-multi-instrumentalist known for bands like the psychedelic dance band Gunerius & Verdensveven and The Harvey Steel Show, describing itself as psych jupiterian folk music. In Ganjibiri Bergsten explores the concept of the long jams combining compositional elements with the liberty of improvisation. The result is a mysterious blend of psychedelic-spiritual Jazz. Imagine if Can, Captain Beefheart, Terje Rypdal and Ornette Coleman were playing all together in a Bitches Brew session mood.
Clara Engel – ‘Their Invisible Hands’ “I’m not writing the same song over and over so much as writing one long continuous song that will end when I die.” – Clara Engel Recorded entirely at home / solo, “Their Invisible Hands” presents 13 tracks of subtle dream-like beauty, from the Toronto-based artist. A mystical work, mixing classical and dark folk wanderings with misty soundscapes, which creates an abstract, new world atmosphere. Self-released in April as digital and CD, Cruel Nature are proud to give it a cassette release.
Score – ‘Now Here’ Score is the solo project of Chris Tate, known for his work with d_rradio; producers of a number of notable atmospheric electronica cuts from the early 2000s, along with One Key Magic and Anglo-American band, Salisman. ‘Now Here’ is his sixth album for Cruel Nature and moves through a fusion of different musical styles, while gently rising and falling in waves of energy and mood, within individual tracks and also across the whole album. There is an undercurrent of oscillating or undulating waves – reflecting life’s ups and downs and the temporary nature of all things.
Todeskino – ‘MMMiniatures’ Following his first album ‘Debutante’, which was praised as “melancholic, cinematic ambience somewhere between Sixteen Candles and Twin Peaks“ (Electronic Sound Magazine), Peter Lersch (Todeskino) returns with this latest release for Cruel Nature. Here, Todeskino reaches out to the cute, bleepy and playful excursions of electronica. A potent mix of ambient and electropop orchestrated by sugarcoated chords, bursting bass lines and squelching synth leads – each track creates a musical microcosm of highly unusual sounds. Spiked with Todeskino‘s typical ingredients of cinematic melancholy, listeners will be carried away into a mellow, colourful world. Would sit nicely in the Warp Records 90s catalogue, alongside the likes of Polygon Window
POUND LAND – ‘Defeated’ ‘Defeated’ is the third album by the Stockport (UK)-based duo POUND LAND (Nick Harris and Adam Stone). Recorded in most part over the first half of 2022, ‘Defeated’ comprises eight intense tracks spanning forty minutes, opening with the visceral doom-realism of ‘Violence’ and ending with the post-punk audio-travelogue of ‘Zones’. Pound Land push their post-industrial kitchen-sink drama preoccupations even further on ‘Defeated’, exploring the dark comedy of everyday life in the dismal land of eternal recession. Sometimes the vision expands out of shitty Britain too, ‘Drone’ recounting the wearied observations of an electronic device as it traverses the globe. You’ve got to laugh, because if you don’t you’ll kill yourself. Or somebody else.
Lunt – ‘Remember We Were Waiting For The Snow’ Žils Deless-Vēliņš (Lunt) has held a mystical relationship to sound and music since he was a child, and his crafting of music can be compared to a construction kit game, where music as a whole is more than the sum of sounds. For him, sound has a kinship with the concept of pneuma in Stoician philosophy. Sound expects to be found to become music, lying there in an intuitive background. ‘Remember We Were Waiting For The Snow’ is about what is called “solastalgia” : our anxiety, our concern, our sadness to see some natural phenomenon disappear. Written 5 years ago, after Žils relocated to Latvia, it is a collection of exquisite reflective moving guitar-driven ambience drawing from same the sonic well as soundscapers like Jim O’Rouke.
Illusion of Safety & Z’ev – s/t LP Illusion of Safety & Z’ev have had an LP sitting at the plant for almost two years now, with constant delays due to covid, high temperatures, war, and broken machinery… Z’ev is of course, the late great pulley-percussionist and noise artist from the 70s until his death in 2017. Illusion of Safety being the project of Daniel Burke, active since 1983, who has been quietly sitting on this material since 2008. Together the LP is a bouquet of different sounds interweaving into deep drone soundscapes on each side, then delicately dropping you off at the doorstep of incidental field recordings and sidereal instrumentals as each side ends. From Daniel Burke: “All sound by Daniel Burke & Z’EV. A mail collaboration begun in 2008 finalized in 2012. At the conclusion of the Z’EV & Illusion of Safety performance at Enemy in Chicago in 2007, Z’EV approached me to work together on a release. In 2008 he provided me with a number of short recordings (half of which are yet to be used) of acoustic sources which like his live performance sounded very rich and surprisingly electronic. To his source material I structured the album sides adding field recordings, sampling, electro-acoustics, and Eurorack modular synth, before returning to him for additional treatments.” Vinyl Edition Co-released By: Public Eyesore, No Part Of It, Feast Of Hate And Fear, Cipher Productions, Oxidation, Korm Plastics, Drone Records, Personal Archives, Tribe Tapes, Liquid Death Records.
STRATA27 – Jakub Kasperkiewicz – ‘Astronomical Winter’ $10 Guitar drone from Wrocław, Poland. Jakub uses electric guitar to produce minimalist and organic ambient passages, with occasional intrusions into space rock territories. Improvisation is central to his compositions. Edition of 50 on cassette with slipcases.
brb>voicecoil + omnibadger – ‘DISCO’ Newcastle based sound deconstructor brb>voicecoil and Stoke based noise punks Omnibadger release collaborative album ‘DISCO’. “If it doesn’t provoke thought or debate, it’s not art, it’s entertainment, a night out at the disco. It’s less about judging a book by its cover than simply paying attention. Ooh, look at that jagged font! Songs called ‘Swastika Tattoo’ and ‘Subhuman’. Hints of fash, must be dodgy! Of course not. Know your enemy. This is an exercise in observation and critique. And sparse, gnarly electro 303 noise blended with some sludgy great racket and shouty growly vocals that brings the industrial trajectory through to 2022. This is a collaborative effort, one where distinctive elements from both sides shine through and combine to make something greater than the sum of its parts. Tracks like ‘Summer’ and ‘Sister’ allude to disco divas of the 70s in title alone, ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’ alludes to mass murder and mind control in the same decade. And while the shady sides of the dark noise and industrial scene are well-documented, so is the flipside of the coin, confronting the nastiness head on and asking difficult questions and presenting those challenges in a confrontational manner, both sonically and visually. Feel the pain. Accept the challenges. Face the truth.” (Christopher Nosnibor)
Greg Nieuwsma and Antonello Perfetto – ‘Chase Ritual’ Greg Nieuwsma and Antonello Perfetto have been making music together since 2014. Originally from the midwestern USA and Naples, Italy respectively, they came together in Krakow, Poland where they both live. As a part of the band Sawak, they released 5 records, progressing from a straightforward rock sound towards more avant garde experimentation. After the dissolution of the band, their collaboration continued, first releasing one record under the name Corticem, then putting out records under their own names. The recording process for Chase Ritual entailed layering improvisations on top of drones. Two of the three long-form tracks also feature manipulated samples of radio broadcasts from around the world. It liberally draws from a variety of influences including jazz, American minimalism, gnawa, art rock, tribal music, and raga.
Summer Night Air – ‘5’ First album of original material in 8 years, from the Tyneside electronic duo. Warm, simple, poppy electronica, with shades of synth pop, hip-pop, new-age, blissed-out ambience, and drum & bliss for your listening pleasure.
Salisman & His Celestial Bodies – ‘Gulch’ 3rd album from the Anglo-American collaboration, which takes all the catchy hooks and cool song-writing sensibilities from ‘Absolution’, mixed with the prog-psych experimentation of ‘Clairvoyance’, creating the perfect companion to both. Trolling the underbelly of the remnants of the remnants, we found mostly nothing. Rotten milk and poorly performed blues. The Lexington Strut consumed us. Feet worn and cracked. Centuries of endurance. Sweet coffee consumed in a tub of pathetic burlesque performances. We didn’t like it but it was our home. Gulch.
Gvantsa Narim – ‘Gvantsa’ From Tbilisi, Georgia, Gvantsa Narim is an enigmatic sound artist, who starting writing music in 2013. Taking inspiration from religion, esotericism and Georgian polyphonic music, this – her second – album consists of 6 compositions, written during 2018 – 2022. Combining emotions and feelings; unearthly sweetness and infinite depths. There is no place for chaos here. Transcending to inspire the soul with new imaginations.
Blanket Swimming – ‘A Quiet Vision’ Nicholas Maloney (Blanket Swimming) is a musician and sound artist currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, creating personal, evocative recordings that offer a space that can be used to practice the rewarding act of deep listening. He looks to challenge listeners’ focus and perception of sound while exploring the experiential nature of sound within the context of composition. Recorded earlier this year, ‘A Quiet Vision’, takes electric guitar loops, layered with field recordings creating a work of subtle texture and flowing space.
DIM GARDEN – ‘Elle tombe la lune’ 5€ melodic synthesis, industrial precision and ghost stars. hits to sing in the shower. songs to listen to in the urban forest.
PHILEMON – ‘Nomenclature des sentiers lumineux’ 5€ vocal ghosts, blind bruitism and rhythmic obsessions. epilepsy cocktail for living-room. terabytes of data meticulously dusted for your pleasure.
FELON – ‘Ça gansaille!’ 5€ fake traditions, truthful arpeggios and assumed artifacts. harp and electronics allied since forever. five mental hikes for your walkman.
Karen & Peter – ‘Aggro Dulce’ CS + book Cassette + 19-page booklet of Karen Schoemer’s poems to accompany the release, with beautiful artworks by Peter Taylor. In the fall of 2021, sound artist Peter Taylor and poet Karen Schoemer decided to create songs together, despite never having met. Both drew on the faded industrial landscapes of their respective countries. Peter was inspired by the Calder Valley in Yorkshire, with its history of coal mining and asbestos contamination; Karen had recently relocated to a rural town in upstate New York once known as “Factory Hill,” where remnants of 20th century fires and floods scar the landscape. Their independent investigations of disparate locales uncover commonalities that hint at wider, even universal, human conditions. Karen Schoemer is a poet and former music journalist who frequently collaborates with musicians including Oli Heffernan, Mike Watt, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby. She contributed words to Ivan the Tolerable’s “Out of Season” (2020) and words and vocals to The Long Year (2021, both released by Stolen Body Records). With Mike Watt she records as the duo Jaded Azurites. She is vocalist for the upstate New York band Sky Furrows, which released its self-titled debut album in 2020. Peter Taylor has been making music as Mortuus Auris & the Black Hand/MAbH since 2008. He is also a visual artist working across many disciplines including photography, animation, illustration, miniatures and painting. He is based just outside of South West London by the River Thames.
Chihuahua – ‘Crythor Du’ Crythor Du is CHIHUAHUA’s follow-up to their 2021 debut ‘Violent Architecture’. A looser and more experimental approach, stemming from extended jam sessions a là CAN, is prominent across this record and features a wider range of instruments and influences than its predecessor. Jazz, noise, post and krautrock collide here and make Crythor Du a musical force to be reckoned with. Noisy Post-Rock from Manchester – Experimental and Uncompromising.
Tankengine – ‘Tankengine Tankengine Tankengine EP’ TANKENGINE were recently described as a band with ‘staggering potential’, which if nothing else gave their spouses a good laugh, and TANKENGINE TANKENGINE TANKENGINE is their third EP. They are Adam Hiles on vocals & guitar (yourcodenameis:milo, Mammal Club, The Shitty Beatles), Ross Harley on vocals & really good bass (yourcodenameis:milo, Ross Harley, Crucial Taunt) and Dr Ivan Diaz on drums (Little Moscow, Lingua Vulgaris, Jolly Green Giants). TANKENGINE TANKENGINE TANKENGINE is preoccupied with the nausea-inducing realisation that we’ve lost the receipt for the future we were sold. There’s no going back now and the only way out is through.
cowman – ‘slaughter’ After a lengthy hiatus from 2013 to making a return to the fray this summer, Benjamin Heal’s Cowman alter ego is back with a vengeance: hot on the heels of the ‘Crunch’ EP, which was essentially the salvage from an aborted album project, we have a full-length album proper in the form of Slaughter.
Tinnitustimulus – ‘Scrinj Maas’ C40 Live hard analog sessions recorded in 2021. A headcleaner of primal room sound; gritty jackhammer fuzz saturating waves of ring mod, undercurrents of filter sweep and bell-tones of metallic clang — all unfolding with organic evolution. A perfect union of Japanese and American aesthetics. Edition of 100 copies, with full color artwork and labels.
Dominic Coppola – ‘Prisms in Dalliance’ C30 Interplanetary drift and current which properly unfurls over repeated listens. Crystalline intonations unfold and cascade into a heavy mass of expansive geometrics — Intercede for Us. With the more subdued B-side, tone chords slowly emerge from swirling petroglyphs of dark resonance; truly ‘At the Mercy of an Aphrodisiac’ indeed. Mastered by James Plotkin. Edition of 100 copies, with full color artwork and labels.
Jürgen Eckloff – ‘Diese, Nichts & Solche’ C46 Jürgen Eckloff (*1978 in East Berlin) is a sound artist and filmmaker whose audio works often deal with the deconstruction of language and the mechanisms of communication. Since the early 2000s, he has released numerous short films, works for radio, as well as records, often on the 90% Wasser label, which he has run with Robert Schalinski since 2001. Together with the latter and René Lamp, Eckloff was a core member of the influential artist collective Column One until their disbanding in 2016. “Diese, Nichts & Solche” is Eckloff’s first work for Fragment Factory. Three new compositions for cassette at the intersection of concrete music, language and field recordings, subtly accentuating the sheer absurdity of our times. Eckloff lives and works in the Havelland region, north of Berlin. Edition of 100 copies, comes with A5-size postcard.
The Real Codington Factory – ‘Nickel World’ The Real Codington Factory was founded in 2019 by songwriter Shea Glasheen (from NYC grunge-punks, Cronies). Starting as an alternative grunge / indie band, and later evolving into more progressive noise-punk territory, RCF references current bands in the local NYC scene such as On Pink, Lip Critic, Cohort B, along with the likes of Lightning Bolt, Melvins, TAD etc. Nickel World is RCF’s 14th release, recorded in early January 2022 in rural Pennsylvania. Featuring dictatorial vocals recorded via an intercom, a broken down drum setup and short sharp shots of frenzied guitar riffage.
Tenchpress – ‘Tombmagic’ Brandishing a single LA Galaxy-branded drum stick and yet more unearned bravado, TENCHPRESS presents a vital new sonic totality: TOMBMAGIC. Cleaner, more neutered, more desiccated than anything that came before, the ternate album from Avon-via-Leeds’s worst finds a sonic inventory in the airless plunk of an open snare drum, the sandblasted purity of foley percussion, the test tube sterility of free soft synths, and the empty digi-gurgle of treated vocals.
Daniel McClennan – ‘Unfurling Redemption’ Known for his energetic furling beats with noise-rock experimentalists Warren Schoenbright and Why Patterns, this solo release sees Daniel McClennan draw on classical and avant-garde influences such as Giacinto Scelsi; Svarte Greiner; Valentin Silvestrov; William Basinski; along with sound-artists such as Jacob Kirkegaard and The Caretaker. Unfurling Redemption is a collection of eight assemblages comprised of synthesised instruments and freely available/stock sound samples. These assemblages explore the widely observed and seemingly inherent desire for overcoming in humankind, a dangerous proclivity for dreaming the transcendent.
