Date: August 30th 2009

For mp3 samples and ordering, please go to the catalog page.

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- Detailed list of additions -

Hypnoz - Breath of Earth (Zhelezobeton)
2nd full-length CD from this project that dwells in the same Moscow suburb of Fryazino which brought you Hum and Staruha Mha. With help from Evgeny Voronovsky of Cisfinitum and an arsenal of vintage Russian analogue synthesizers, Dmitry Zubov creates the sort of hazy, ethereal atmospheres propelled by cyclical rhythms that wouldn't be out of place next to some Tangerine Dream tracks or the earlier and more sedated Deutsch Nepal pieces. Mellow yet compelling ambient that soothes the mind.
(CD, digisleeve, $14.00)

Aidan Baker & The Infant Cycle - Rural Sprawl (Zhelezobeton)
Label info: "Canadian musicians Aidan Baker and Jim DeJong (aka The Infant Cycle) have used the "gentleman's kit" of modern experimenters for creating the compositions of this disk: guitar, bass, tapes, samples, feedback generator and thumb piano. The four album tracks correspond with the four seasons, the four states of the soul... [...]
The first two tracks were recorded in 2001 (and released on CD-R by the Italian label Blade Records in 2002 in a very limited edition), two others were recorded in 2005 and thus completed the natural cycle of this album."
(pro-printed CD-R and cardboard sleeve, $11.00)

Cyclotimia - Music For Stockmarkets (Zhelezobeton)
I'll stick to the press release for this one because it perfectly captures everything that needs to be said about the CD. More relevant now than ever.
Label info: Cyclotimia is most probably the only project in the world which has chosen the creation of a soundtrack to "globalization" and life in the "consumer society" as their concept. The project members more than anyone else are immersed into the magic of finance and their creative intuition allowed them to compose the main part of "Music for Stockmarkets" with its unforgivingly precise name "Wall Street Requiem". Today the whole civilized world is listening to this requiem, the first cords of which were played in Wall Street itself.
The "Music for Stockmarkets" album with its radically experimental nature stands out in the extensive discography of this Moscow project. The 64-minute album includes 32 tracks divided into three conceptual parts: "Wallstreet Requiem" (25 minutes, recorded in 2004-2007), "Trivial Pleasures" (26 minutes, recorded in 2002, this part was the only one released as a separate CD in 2003) and "Financial Glossary" (13 minutes, recorded in 2003).
The material itself is nothing like the one heard in the previous records of Cyclotimia. There are no apocalyptic soundscapes of "Wasteland" times, no cybernetic hi-tech and media madness of "E$chaton", no cosmic downtempo of "Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music"... Minimalism, academic sterility, surgical accuracy and meditative ataraxia prevail on "Music for Stockmarkets". Then again it is not the familiar "IDM", "glitch", "noise", "clicks and cuts" and not "minimal techno"... The sound of the album is crystal-clear and warm at the same time. "Vintage" lovers have a wonderful chance to listen to the masterpieces of Soviet music production (such as Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2, Aelita, Formanta UDS, Formanta EMS-01, Polyvox) in pure sound, unprocessed by effects.
(CD, digipak, $14.00)

Inade - The Incarnation Of The Solar Architects (Loki Foundation)
With their 5th full-length album, Inade have reached a new threshold in their synthesis of the esoteric and the cosmic. Easily one of their most accomplished releases of recent memory, "The Incarnation of the Solar Architects" is a compass to the transcendental nature of the universe, the world that towers above ours. The sheer vastness of the soundscapes captures the primordial dread that comes with this awareness, no matter how jaded one may think himself to be. Forget "dark", this is aeonian ambient of the highest stature.
(CD, 6-panel digipak, $18.00)

Bad Sector - CMASA (Power & Steel)
New 2009 album that reworks material originally composed in 2005 for the M3M art exhibition in Pisa, Italy. The exhibition in question being based around images of the seaside and rivers of the Pisana area and the CMASA airplane factory located there, those themes carry over into the compositions through subtle sounds of the seashore, rushing water and sparse metal clanging.
With that context in mind, this is some of Massimo Magrini's most emotional work as his unique digital textures take a particularly melodic character here, which is further reinforced by the beautifully lush synth pads. Vital in every sense of the word.
(CD, digipak, $18.00)

S.E.T.I. - Corona (Power & Steel)
Fifth album from Andrew Lagowski's deep space exploration project, S.E.T.I. Active since 1982, Lagowski has notably collaborated with Lustmord on one-off projects such as Terror Against Terror and Isolrubin BK, and his own solo work includes material released as Legion and under his own name.
Of all his albums as S.E.T.I., 1994's "Knowledge" has always been a personal top pick, and remains even today among the best sonic attempts at evoking the vastness of the cosmos (and for $4 at Soleilmoon, there is really no reason why you shouldn't pick up a copy right now). "Corona" is the rightful follow-up to it, as it reuses and improves on a lot of the same elements: deep cosmic drones, sputtering digital oscillations, NASA recordings, cut-up radio broadcasts and harmonic waves are all forged together into a richly-detailed 52-min journey to the beyond. Ad Astra!
(CD, clear jewel case, $18.00)

Internal Fusion - Tribute To Hastia (Lucioleditions)
With a sparse discography on Desaccord Majeur, Staalplaat and various Taalem-related labels, Internal Fusion has become mostly known for its sound somewhere between Rapoon and Muslimgauze, with various sorts of percussions providing a rhythmical backdrop to most of its work. This new release however definitely moves away from that area and towards minimalist dark ambient, with deep low-end pulses and restrained drones becoming the main driving force for the 6 long tracks gathered here. That said, they're composed with enough imagination and grace so as to remain worthy of attention and not an exercise in reverb-drenched nothingness. Quality stuff.
(CD, transparent slim DVD case, $16.00)

Subliminal - Look At The Creation (Galakthorro)
It's been already 3 years since Subliminal last released "Coping", but at least we now have the 4 tracks on this 7" to follow up on that. Raw, poisonous power electronics with Albert Fisch's signature mangled vocals. One copy per buyer and only available if bought with a Galakthorro CD.
(7", $20.00)

Herz Juhning - Miasma (Galakthorro)
First full-length album from this newcomer to the Galakthorro family, whose Faces 7" the luckier ones of you may have had a chance to hear. True to the label's tradition, Herz Juhning delivers a compact dose of stylized dread that navigates somewhere between November Novelet's pulsating angst-pop ("Reopened Eyes") and Subliminal's dreary analog power electronics ("The Rape", "Infibulation"). No surprises, no gimmicks, just 13 solid tracks of torpor and contempt.
(CD, digipak with 16-page booklet, $20.00)

Cloama & Die Blutleuchte - Cloama & Die Blutleuchte (Anima Arctica)
CD reprint of the 2005 collaboration CD-R originally released by New Old Sentinel. If the psychedelic industrial / baroque experimental nature of their other release together ("From Wasteland Mausoleums") caught your attention, you will not want to miss this. Incantations for the twilight hours. Yog-Sothoth is the key.
(CD, clear jewel case, 12-page booklet, $13.50)

Hated Bruit Kollektiv - Aktion One (New Nihilism)
Hated Bruit Kollektiv is the name for the ephemeral collaborative project between Rafal Sadej (Moan) and Tomasz Twardawa (Genetic Transmission), two of Poland's better artists operating in the post-industrial domain. This release captures their live performance at the 2007 Bez Kontroli Festival, and it's presented here in the shape of 37-min stream-of-consciousness maelstrom of whirring, clanging and heavily textured noise. Not the "harsh noise" pedal mashing variety that is, this is much more atmospheric and shifting in nature, with certain moments bringing to mind the more subdued material they release under their own main projects.
(Pro-printed CD-R in folded A2 poster sleeve, $12.50)

Per Aspera - Nil Desperandum (New Nihilism)
Surprisingly glossy if uneven dark ambient from this newcomer to the Polish post-industrial scene. The better tracks tracks are built around deep drones and choir-like processed voices that succeed at giving the whole affair a stark cinematic tone that falls somewhere between Parca Pace and Band of Pain. Some specific pieces ("Crematorium" and "Shkiyat Hoolam") gradually incorporate samples of 9/11 witness accounts, Israeli news snippets and Arabic chanting and instrumentation in a fairly clumsy manner (the unintentionally hilarious homemade "jihadist death threat" is straight out of some cheesy Golan-Globus production, complete with a misnamed "Radaman" reference). Aside from that distracting break in continuity (which can still be enjoyed for its sheer tackiness), "Nil Desperandum" achieves what it set out to do in terms of quality ambient.
(CD, A5-sized digipak, $14.00)

Stalnoy Pakt - ROA (ALF Produkt)
Write-up and samples to be added shortly. In stock now.
(3"CD-R, oversized sleeve, $12.00)

Stalnoy Pakt - O Roma O Morte! (ALF Produkt)
Sights and sounds of Fascist Italy condensed into one 16-min long military-industrial collage of anthems, marches, cheering crowds and gramophone fuzz. Includes a 3-min video clip set to the tune of a reconstructed version of "Giovinezza". Best enjoyed with a fine glass of castor oil.
(CD-R in oversized sleeve, $12.00)

Vetrophonia - Generalissimus Chiang Kaishek (ALF Produkt)
Short EP dedicated to Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese political and military leader who fought both the Japanese during WW2 and against the Communists in the following civil war, ultimately resulting in the creation of the Republic of China (known today as Taiwan). 4 tracks of subdued musique concrete merged with sampled Chinese musical elements. Limited to 30 copies.
(3"CD-R, oversized hand-made sleeve, $12.00, last copy)