Tag Archives: cold spring

Llyn Y Cwn – Megaliths In Dub (Cold Spring)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

A deep reworking of Llyn Y Cwn’s “Megaliths” (2024). The original was a profound dark ambient exploration of the sacred resonance embedded within stone circles; “Megaliths In Dub” is the echo beneath the surface, the unheard rhythm that has always been there.

The megaliths stand – timeless, unyielding. Their histories stretch beyond recorded memory, their presence imbued with silent narratives of the land. “Megaliths” sought to channel this ancient energy into pure sound. Yet no history exists without its counterpart – no creation without its shadow.

On “Megaliths In Dub”, suppressed tempos emerge, pulsing with the primal force of forgotten rites. Guitar invocations from the live rituals weave through the fabric of the album, distorting and reshaping the familiar, exquisite dark ambient Llyn Y Cwn has become renowned for.

It is a sonic metamorphosis – a spectral reflection of the megalithic presence.

The stones have been disturbed.

Presented in a 6-panel digipak with breathtaking photography by the artist.

Music & Photography: Benjamin Ian Powell
Mastering: Martin Bowes
Layout Remix: Abby Helasdottir

…………………………………………..

LLYN Y CWN “Megaliths” (2024).

Megaliths (2024) was a sonic pilgrimage through burial chambers and stone circles, crafted from years of field recordings and convolution reverbs. Guided by Julian Cope and Aubrey Burl, Llyn Y Cwn channelled the ancient silence into immersive dark ambient soundscapes.

coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/megaliths-csr334cd


ALBUM LAUNCH + CONCERT:

LLYN Y CWN play Unitarian Church, 3pm Saturday 11th Oct at Harmonicon Festival, Tordmorden
– with The Transcendence Orchestra (Surgeon and Dan Bean), Bridget Hayden, David Keenan…

• http://www.facebook.com/events/1679099982735306
• http://www.tickettailor.com/events/resonance1/1703018

About Llyn Y Cwn:

LLYN Y CWN conveys atmosphere and environment through deep ambient sounds. A phantasm of echoes reflecting the bleak majesty and poetic melancholy of the hinterland of North Wales. A hole within a void, a place defined by absence in a world of negative space.

Ben Powell has been making electronic music for over 25 years, drawing inspiration from his native North Wales landscape and his participation on Arctic research cruises. While most artists can only imagine what these desolate land and seascapes feel and sound like, Llyn Y Cwn is an authentic reflection of these incredible locations.

coldspring.co.uk/llyn-y-cwn

Sonologyst – Planetarium (Cold Spring)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

An aural exploration of the solar system by Sonologyst, using data from NASA’s probes.

On the latest album by Sonologyst, raw data from radio waves, electromagnetic fields, and plasma fluctuations, utilising data sonification files provided by NASA, are transformed into a haunting soundscape, unveiling the ambient music of planets, solar winds, and the cosmic beyond.

As the newest addition to Sonologyst’s series of sonic documentaries, this work deepens his exploration of the sonic spectrum, converting cosmic phenomena into immersive auditory experiences.

Double CD in a matt-finish gatefold ecopak, with a bonus disc of the raw source material from NASA’s probes.

…

NASA and other space agencies have captured “sounds” from the cosmos by recording non-audible signals like radio waves, electromagnetic waves, and plasma (ionized gas that’s prevalent in space) wave fluctuations. These are converted into audio frequencies we can hear using a process called data sonification. Spacecraft like Voyager, Cassini, and Juno are equipped with special instruments (e.g., plasma wave antennas, magnetometers, radio wave receivers) to detect radio waves, plasma waves, and electromagnetic fields.

These signals can provide data on phenomena like solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, and charged particles. Since many of these signals are outside our hearing range (radio waves might have frequencies far below the audible range (20 Hz to 20 kHz) or far above it, while magnetic and plasma waves are often in the range of milliHertz (mHz) to kilohertz (kHz), also outside human hearing.), they are converted using various techniques, including frequency scaling, sampling, filtering, and amplitude modulation. Some events, like plasma wave bursts, happen over long periods. Scientists may speed up the playback so we can hear the changes in a shorter time frame.

After conversion, the resulting sounds are often enhanced to make certain patterns, pitches, or changes in intensity more noticeable. This may involve amplifying certain frequencies or adding layers to represent multi-dimensional data. This processing helps bring out subtle differences that might otherwise be hard to discern.

Data sonification files provided by NASA.
Analogue synthesizers, sampling, and processing by Sonologyst.
Recorded and mastered at Sonologyst studio from July to November 2024.
Graphic design by Abby Helasdottir.

Colossloth – The Harmony Knife (Cold Spring)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

The fifth album from industrial / esoteric electronic alchemist Colossloth is a concept album based on the writings of professor Ted Kaczynski AKA the Unabomber. It is not about his terror campaign against the industrial society and the rise of technology – but his manifesto “Industrial Society And Its Future” and in particular the elements of “The Power Process”.

“With “The Harmony Knife”, Colossloth is cutting through to the bone and sinew of Man’s chronic, species-specific dissatisfaction, and the causes thereof. He is laying bare humankind’s inability to solve its own, self-created problems, to meet its basic needs, and to achieve even those goals clearly within its reach.

What is the fundamental nature of the human condition? Is it one of misery and failure in the face of blissful possibility? Is it the contrary unwillingness to accept that we can become fully realised and contented beings through the success of actualised, idiosyncratic, and often basic goals?

In defining and describing The Power Process, the twisted mind of Ted Kaczynski saw mankind’s primal need to struggle for a goal, however small, as necessary for a meaningful life. Indeed, without this elemental piece of the evolutionary struggle, he saw terminal atrophy as the inevitable result.

With “The Harmony Knife”, Colossloth seizes these ideas and sonically extrapolates the implications of humankind’s failure to satisfy even our most rudimentary needs. He creates an auditory landscape examining our repeated inability to focus our efforts on fundamental goals to ensure even a measure of happiness or contentment. Humanity’s inability to live rather than merely exist” (Jake Shell).

credits

released February 28, 2025

All Music by Wooly Woolaston
Produced by Tom Reynolds (Foul Body Autopsy)
Colossloth Photo: Ash Walker

Mastered by Martin Bowes (The Cage Studios)
Graphic Design by Abby Helasdottir

T.A.G.C. – Iso-Erotic Calibration (Cold Spring)

Posted by John Lithium on

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Label Description:

Carefully constructed aural rituals from T.A.G.C., this album maps new realms in the area of sensual electronic music. Founder Adi Newton (Clock DVA) uses The Anti Group as an outlet for his research in psycho-acoustic music. “Iso-Erotic Calibration” explores the potent topic of human sexuality. Recorded over a period of three years, this could be considered on of their more “accessible” albums.

Originally released in 1994 (Side Effects, the label of Lustmord, Musica Maxima Magnetica, and Adi’s own Anterior Research Recordings), we are proud to present the album for the first time on vinyl, as well as the first official CD reissue, fleshed out with four bonus tracks: two were bonus digital-only tracks (2013); one track is taken from the soundtrack to the 2011 T.A.G.C. film ‘Given’; one is a remix of the title track.

The Anti Group Communications (T.A.G.C.) was devised by Adi Newton and Steven James Turner as early as 1978 as a multi-dimensional research & development project. TAGC are not affiliated to any one system of philosophy or epistemological paradigm or occult fraternity but are open more to individual systems and innovative thinkers Science, Art, Music Sonology, Visual Arts, Literature, Research & Publication are its main areas.

The artwork is filled with text and illustrations supporting the different songs.

• CD in 6-panel matt-laminate digipak.

• Black LP on 180gm heavyweight vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve.

• Ltd 300 x Brown LP on 180gm heavyweight vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve.

credits

releases January 17, 2025

All compositions and production by Adi Newton, 1994.
All tracks from original DAT masters recorded in Florence, Italy, 1993, at the Anterior Research Station.

Iso-Erotic Calibration originally released by Anterior Research Recordings (ARR 003), Musica Maxima Magnetica (eee 20) and Side
Effects (DFX 21).

Bonus CD tracks:

Track 8: remix
Track 9: from the soundtrack to the TAGC film ‘Given’ (2011).
Track 10 & 11: from the digital-only edition (2013)

Mastered for Cold Spring by Martin Bowes at The
Cage, Coventry.

Cover image by Leonor Fini, La Toilette Inutile (‘The Useless Dress’), 1964, oil on canvas. One of two paintings of Ophelia by Fini.

New artwork design by Adi Newton.
Layout by Abby Helasdottir.

Iso-Erotic Calibration: photograph of Unica Zurn by Hans Bellmer (used as the cover of Le Surréalisme, Même 4, 1958).

Union with Sirens: collage by Karel Teige, 1942

Mercurius & Neurological Engineering: montages by Adi newton, circa 2010.

Psychophonphilia: La Permutation Des Sens drawing by Hans Bellmer, 1950.

Annals of Sancity: 19th Century painting of Eerie Scene With Incubus Demon, after Johann Heinrich Füssli.

Ethemeral: Engraving by Louis-Jean Allais of a mural painting from Tomb KV9, Valley of the Kings, Egypt.

Various Artists – Noise Forest (Cold Spring)

Posted by John Lithium on

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Label Description:

A classic compilation that emanated out of Osaka, “Noise Forest” brings together a powerhouse of early 90’s Japanese noise stalwarts: MERZBOW, C.C.C.C., SOLMANIA, DISLOCATION, MONDE BRUITS, MASONNA, VIOLENT ONSEN GEISHA, and INCAPACITANTS.

The ultimate Japanoise collection, originally released in 1992 on the cult Les Disques Du Soleil label / record store on CD-only, and now impossible to find. Remastered and presented here on deluxe 2LP in matt-laminate gatefold sleeve (first time on vinyl) and new CD edition, all with new artwork.

A forest isn’t something normally associated with noise; it brings to mind silence and solitude. However, the ominous cover art here – and the artists within – bring to mind the notorious suicide forest Aokigahara. Despite all tracks falling into the Japanoise genre, the tracks are very diverse, yet every track is so distinct it could only be by that artist.

Notes on each track taken from Noisextra’s ‘Noise Forest’ special: www.noisextra.com/2024/01/10/various-artists-noise-forest

• CD in matt-laminate digipak.

• 2LP Black in matt-laminate gatefold sleeve.

• 2LP Forest Green in matt-laminate gatefold sleeve. Ltd 250 copies.

releases December 6, 2024

1. recorded at ZSF Produkt Studio, 11/07/91
2. recorded at Telecom Studio 06/07/91
3. recorded & mixed at works Fatagaga 07/91
4. edited by Dislocation 1991. Includes live recordings at Freebird (03/02/91) and Bubble (21/02/91). F.Kimura (guitars), K.Kiyokawa (performance), Y.Yanagawa (sax), T.Osaki (electronics)
7. recorded in 1989
8. T.Mikawa + F.Kosakai

Mastered by Martin Bowes
Layout by Abby Helasdottir