Distant Stares – Distant Stares (SwissDarkNights)
Author Archives: John Lithium
PPFPESSco – Big Bong Gong (Pan Pan Pan Avian Distress Call)
Label Description: Went Walking down along the
Delta river bottom, High
As a Kite, Feeling Down
Right Blue in the
Face ing Facts
Sun was cracked,
Crawled straight out up, Up
Of the Toad Stool
Getting on to Dusk, Paralell to Ruts,
When up ahead there was cross
roads. By the sign there was
A Man
With a Golden Violin, The man was
Dressed in Black, Sulphur in the stacks
Of fire cones vibrate the sky
” Uh Uh ” they said, their face a glowing red –
” I might be the Devil, I won’t deny it be
cause it’s True “
” However, Facts is facts “
( Satan looked taken aback )
” I Want nothing, at all , No
Thing to do with You “
He Looked me right through
” I Was talking to your Woe-Man “
Lucifer held up a withered hand, And all the birds for miles fell
out of the air ~ ” I Can’t Believe the things she said “
Ol’ Nicks face went even deeper Red
” And quite frankly I’ve never been quite so scared “
Shuffled forward a bit, Golden Fiiddle & Bow in mitts
” And I have no Deal, No Joke or riddle for you “
He Put the treasure by my shoes
” Just leave me the fuck alone “
And with a Puff of Brimstone, he was gone ~
And Now I’m the richest man on earth, But still have the
Deep Bong Blues
Council Estate Electronics – MIRFIELD (Avalanche Recordings)
Label Description:
New album from the JK Broadrick & Diarmuid Dalton electronic music project Council Estate Electronics
Absorbing early industrial music, krautrock and dub / dub techno.
Exploring the immediate geography of the areas of Birmingham where Justin and Diarmuid were raised.
JK Broadrick – Electronics
Diarmuid Dalton – Electronics
Produced by Justin K Broadrick at Avalanche Studio, UK
2020 – 2024
AVALANCHE RECORDINGS / 2025 /
AREC081 /
Kompuls – Interalto (Ant-Zen)
KOMPULS is the solo project of tim kniep, best known as one half of the industrial duo synapscape. a longtime figure in the german electronic music scene, kniep is recognized for his intense vocal delivery, complex rhythmic structures, and innovative sound design.
‘interaltro’, the debut album by KOMPULS, is an intricate fusion of depth and complexity, where rhythmic noise provides a dynamic foundation. the relentless pulse serves as a canvas for eclectic sonic threads, capturing the spirit of the times with subtlety and nuance.
balancing raw intensity with refinement, the album ventures into experimental territory, propelled by broken beats and technoid influences that create a surreal auditory experience. kniep’s sound design intertwines electronic, idm and glitch, creating a constantly shifting klangteppich – a sound carpet – where timbres evolve and fragment in perpetual motion.
ultimately, ‘interaltro’ stands as a cohesive artistic statement, inviting the listener into a layered exploration of structure and fragmentation, where sound unfolds with intellectual rigor and unpredictability.
KOMPULS : tim kniep
artwork by stefan alt
this is ant-zen dig109
The Colour Of Madness – Sundowning (Cruel Nature Recordings)
The Colour of Madness is Jacob Brant, a musician working in the post-ambient field. He has previously released work under his own name, alongside collaborations with other artists. Jacob lives in Margate, where he curates a series of experimental music events under the name Superliminal.
“Sundowning” is an exploration of the electric guitar within the post-ambient and post-noise landscapes. Recorded over a chaotic period in a mixture of studios, living rooms, and late-night liminal spaces across the UK and Europe, “Sundowning” is as much a document of time as it is a musical statement. Some pieces were meticulously crafted, whereas others originated as lo-fi mobile phone recordings of improvised sessions, later transformed through artful processing into post-ambient, electroacoustic compositions. The electric guitar is the primary source material, though it’s often rendered unrecognisable — submerged under textures, stretched into drones or fractured into shadowy melodic fragments. The album also features haunting vocals, field recordings and acoustic instruments, all woven into a layered tapestry of memory and emotion.
Arvo Zylo & Hal McGee – The Bubblegum Variations (HalTapes)
Label Description:
The Bubblegum Variations consists of more than 350 recordings by Arvo Zylo and Hal McGee mixed together in a chance process assemblage.
Arvo Zylo’s notes for The Bubblegum Variations:
— Hal McGee has been recording experimental music and noise since 1981. Arvo Zylo was born in 1981, and has been active since the year 2000. For this project, Arvo initially intended to contribute solely walkie talkie recordings of himself from 2014 and 2015; “Image streaming” in a free association, dream-like style. This audio has largely not been listened to by Arvo since shortly after it was recorded.
— That single creative spark gave way to other ideas, which included harmonium & toy pipe organ (thanks to Jason Lazer), and also stems from rare, long out of print tapes, unreleased recordings sometimes dating back to 2001, various field recordings, and occasional attempts at singing. Some of the recordings included a Yamaha RM1x Sequencer, a Casio SK-1 knock off called an “SS330”, some elements of the Korg Elektribe series, two Line6 Delay Pedals, A haunted BOSS Micro BR handheld recorder, a USB handheld recorder, a coronet, a belt sander, a sampler, a smart phone, and a laptop. Thanks Hal for your friendship!
Hal McGee’s notes for The Bubblegum Variations:
— I was quite happy in mid-May 2025 when Arvo proposed that we do a collaboration. I immediately started making recordings with two Sony ICD PX-470 stereo digital dictaphones, of sounds from my daily life, diaristic entries, my dog Stanley, my brother Mark McGee, circuit bent Casio SK-1, Stylophone CPM DS-2 analog synthesizer, KQ Unotone iPhone synth, Haltoid noise box, miscellaneous sounds from Apartment Music 54, and my friends Ben Keselowsky, Josh Tippery, and Alex Smith. I read aloud two texts by Lenny Pearlman.
Home-brewed CD-Rs of The Bubblegum Variations are available for sale and trade from Hal McGee — haltapes@gmail.com
Laibach – Alamut (Mute)
Label Description:
Laibach and A/POLITICAL present Alamut – a brand-new album of original symphonic work based on the novel of the same name – released on double vinyl and CD box set via Mute.
The album was recorded by Laibach and the musicians who performed Alamut live at a former Crusader castle in Ljubljana in 2022. The musicians involved include the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Human-Voice Ensemble vocal group from Tehran, the Gallina Women’s Choir, and AccordiOna, a women’s accordion orchestra backed by additional accordion players, conducted by Iranian conductor Navid Goharib.
Alamut is an original symphonic work by Laibach based on a famous story from eleventh-century Persia, as told by the Slovene writer Vladimir Bartol in his novel of the same title published in 1938. The central character is Hassan-i Sabbāh, the charismatic religious and political leader of the Nizari Ismailis and the founder of a mysterious military formation known as the Assassins, whose name is still feared and respected today. Hassan-i Sabbāh is a self-proclaimed prophet who leads a holy war against the Seljuk Empire from his eyrie – the castle of Alamut. Alamut looked at mechanisms of propaganda at the time when Bartol, a Slovenian author, witnessed the rise of Fascism in Trieste, Italy, where he lived.
In Laibach’s Alamut, the ideas of radical nihilism interweave with the classical Persian poetry of Omar Khayyam, the sensual verses of Mahsati Ganjavi blend with minimalist orchestral colours derived from Iranian tradition. Hassan-i Sabbāh’s propaganda mechanisms are echoed in the industrial principle of the workings of the orchestra and Laibach’s unique sound.
Available on double vinyl and CD box set.
The Legendary Pink Dots – Apparition (2025 Expanded Remaster) [Klanggalerie]
Label Description:
From a very early source tape, “Apparition” has been given the sonic overload it desperately deserved and even boasts a couple of bonus tracks from the time.
Patrick Q. Wright (violins/viola/synthesisers); Keith Thompson (drums/percussion); Barry Gray (guitars); Roland Callaway ( Bass/ keyboards); Edward Ka-Spel (voice / keyboards); Sally Graves (effects)
VELLVUM – Vocatvs Nemo (Self-Released)
KR Seward – Gohbol (Self-Released)
Music For The Rest Of Us 