Tag Archives: dark ambient

Ivan Black – Concrete Island (Petroglyph Music)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

“Concrete Island” is a novel by J.G. Ballard, first published in 1974. The story explores themes of isolation, survival, and the impact of urban environments on human psychology. It is often classified within the genre of speculative fiction, reflecting Ballard’s keen interest in the relationship between humanity and the modern world.

Main Themes

1. Isolation and Alienation: The setting of the concrete island serves as a metaphor for modern urban life, where people often feel disconnected despite being surrounded by others. Maitland’s isolation forces him to reflect on his life and the choices that led him to this predicament.

2. Survival and Adaptation: The novel delves into the human instinct for survival. Maitland’s journey showcases his physical and mental struggles, highlighting the lengths people will go to endure and adapt to extreme situations.

3. Urban Decay: Ballard’s depiction of the concrete island reflects a critique of modernity. The stark contrast between the vibrant city surrounding the island and the desolation within it underscores the neglect and decay present in urban settings.

4. Psychological Exploration: As Maitland grapples with his circumstances, the narrative explores his psyche. The isolation prompts a deep introspection, raising questions about identity, purpose, and the nature of reality.

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

In Slaughter Natives – Still Just Only Still (I.S.N. Media)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

1. Released on Machinenfest 2017 [pflicht 075]
2. Previously unreleased, Featuring Shane Beck [The last American Poet]
3. Previously unreleased
4. Previously unreleased
5. Released on Machinenfest 2006 [pflicht 028]
6. Released on Electroanschlag V & Recollection II [ISNM-12]
7. Released on !Krrrbrrrtzkrrrbrrrtztz! Vol.4 [SRB awake001 CD]
8. Released on The Absolute Supper [CMI.50]
9. Released on Recollection II [ISNM-12]
10. Released on Melt [NET002]
11. Made for a compilation
12. Released on Machinenfest 2012 [pflicht 050] Originally from 1985
featuring, R.I.P Robert [Synth Robban] Säfstöm
13. Released on Ashes of Angels [SIP001]

My credit and gratitude to
my son Sebastian Skattung and
Shane Beck [The last American Poet]
And to the memory of May Sun Beck and
Robert [Synth Robban] Säfström

I.S.N MEDIA ISNM-15

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.

Slomo – Zen and Zennor (Trilithon Records)

Posted by John Lithium on

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Label Description:

Electric drone stalwarts Slomo return with only their fifth album in 20 years, “Zen and Zennor”; their sonic palette refreshed, their focus again tuned to the spectral otherness of Land’s End. The cover star – Zennor Quoit – is a colossal megalithic structure to be found on moorland above the village of Zennor, 4.5 miles to the west of St Ives.

Primitive melodies and arcane motifs are buffeted by drifting analogue oscillators on lead track ‘Zen and Zennor’, compressing into thick saturated drones before taking a sublime turn into familiar subterranean territory. ‘Zennor Diode’ crackles into manifestation above the moorland, cautioning against – or perhaps encouraging – experiments with exposed electrics in the Cornish mizzle. Complete removal of self (and band) is provided with circuit-closing track ‘Antechamber’, dissolving the Zennor’d-out participants into the hum of the Hummadruz*.

The duo continues to be informed by their work elsewhere; Chris (“Holy”) McGrail recently contributed to Julian Cope’s Dope and Queen Elizabeth projects, while Howard Marsden co-runs Hebden Bridge’s already-legendary Ambient Bowling Club, where experimental music mixes with environmental sounds, low chatter and the soft clank of bowls.

“Zen and Zennor” wraps Slomo’s only constant – immense, eventual catharsis – in a freshness and immediacy that could perhaps suggest a quickening of their notoriously glacial pace. Time will tell.

*Hummadruz refers to a mysterious, low-frequency hum or droning sound, often said to be heard around the ancient sites of Land’s End.

released October 4, 2024

Composted by McGrail/Marsden
Published by Domesday Music

Phelios – Obsidian Forest (Loki-Found)

Posted by John Lithium on

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Label Description: With his latest release, Martin Stürtzer, the mastermind behind Phelios, continues to carve out a unique space in the dark ambient genre. He blends expansive soundscapes with slowly evolving tribal rhythms to create a truly immersive experience. Obsidian Forest captures the essence of deep, shadowy woods where ancient, unseen forces seem to dwell. The album feels like a ritualistic journey into nature’s darker realms, with each track evoking a vivid, sometimes haunting, landscape of sound.

Phelios’ trademark monumental melodies are omnipresent throughout the album, merging with somber, swelling drones that pull listeners into a dense sonic fog. As the album progresses, these melodies evolve like distant, otherworldly chants reverberating through the trees. The layering is intricate, and the atmosphere is thick, yet there’s always a sense of space—an invitation to explore these shadowy woods further.

The addition of tribal percussion is a defining feature of the album, grounding the otherwise ethereal soundscapes with a primal energy. These rhythms emerge slowly, almost as if they are the footsteps of an unseen figure moving deeper into the wilderness. Phelios seamlessly blends ancient and futuristic elements, balancing tension and tranquility to craft a meditative yet eerie soundscape.

Phelios’ latest work is both a sonic journey and an imaginative exploration of nature’s darker side — a plunge into the heart of deep woods, where every echo and shadow holds an untold story.

LOKI 75