Thriving Culture finds Ragenap, Chicago’s master of drone music, surfing through rumbling and howling waves of distorted guitar. For his second album through American Dreams Records, Ragenap, AKA Joel Berk, is perhaps at his most dynamic. Across two side-length tracks and one mini reprise, Berk utilizes a bank of effect pedals to create soundscapes thatContinue reading “Ragenap – Thriving Culture”
Category Archives: Droning
Kendra Amalie & Ryley Walker – Papaya In A Hound’s Tooth
While the rest of us are in 2020, Kendra Amalie and Ryley Walker are hangin’ in 3020, creating some of the most disorienting records of twisted guitar alchemy that you’ve ever heard. With the release of last year’s Intuition, Amalie proved herself to be not only one of the most fiercely original and versatile axe-wieldersContinue reading “Kendra Amalie & Ryley Walker – Papaya In A Hound’s Tooth”
Itta – Enter
In these dark, crazy times, we are indeed privileged to be able to have albums like Enter by Itta to relax to. Itta, who is one half of the new age electro band TENGGER, has created a real thing of beauty here. Each song is centered around her multi-layered angelic vocals, which reverberate and soarContinue reading “Itta – Enter”
Premiere: Happy The Clown -The Complete Discography
Between the heyday of shoegaze gods like Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine, and the era of groups like A Place to Bury Strangers, there was Happy The Clown. HTC was an active fixture in the Boston experimental rock scene from the late ’80s until 2000. Even though they have since remained a live act,Continue reading “Premiere: Happy The Clown -The Complete Discography”
Waterless Hills – The Great Mountain
If you need to escape the realities of the modern world, then let the mystifying improvisations of Waterless Hills sweep you off to some lost distant landscape in an undetermined century. The band, which (on this release), is comprised of Andrew Cheetham on drums, C. Joynes on guitar, DBH on violin and Gavin Clarke onContinue reading “Waterless Hills – The Great Mountain”
Bardo Pond – Adrop/Circuit VIII
Bardo Pond certainly needs no introduction here, but for anyone who’s is still uninitiated, they’re one of the greatest pioneering forces in modern acid rock. In the nearly 30 years since their debut, the band has helped to set the standard and push the boundaries for countless shoegaze, space and stoner rock acts that followed inContinue reading “Bardo Pond – Adrop/Circuit VIII”
Mitch Greer – Wind Scatters Water
For one of the more angelic releases from these early days of 2020, just turn to Mitch Greer’s Wind Scatters Water, released digitally by Aural Canyon Records. Greer, a visual artist, filmmaker and musician, created the kaleidoscopic soundscapes that you hear on this album through the use of an experimental instrument that he created, called The Octopus.Continue reading “Mitch Greer – Wind Scatters Water”
Carlos Ferreira – A Glimpse of Hope
If you need to feel more at ease, then Carlos Ferreira is the artist that you need in your life. Released on the aptly named Healing Sound Propagandist label, Ferreira’s A Glimpse of Hope is 51 soothing minutes of gently bright cosmic tones. These glassy, softly ringing drones are created entirely through the use of guitarsContinue reading “Carlos Ferreira – A Glimpse of Hope”
Heavy Stars – Processions
Heavy Stars’ Processions is a loose concept album about the journey from birth to death, told through the use of field recording samples, manipulated vocals and a comfortingly chill ambience. Each track on this cassette represents a different stage of life, each of which the artist describes as being a mini-procession (hence the title). StartingContinue reading “Heavy Stars – Processions”
Paul Hares – The Magic of Awareness
Paul Hares’ The Magic of Awareness is a tidal pool of handcrafted sounds and shadowy improvisations. Hailing from Russia, Hares is a true auditory sculptor, as this album finds him manipulating various recordings and noises into vast ambient seascapes. Across the album’s two side-length tracks, Hares experiments and treats analogue tapes with a whole array ofContinue reading “Paul Hares – The Magic of Awareness”
Record Crates United 