VARIOUS ARTISTS
Physic Or Surgery
HPLL058
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
28 Tracks. 138mins42secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

The statement is brutal: HPLL058 Physic Or Surgery – The Final Release. In these days where music has become a commodity with often very little value, the demise of a record label, especially one with such an excellent track record as that of Highpoint Lowlife, is a severe blow. Over a period of ten years, the label spearheaded by Thorsten Sideb0ard has consistently found itself at the forefront of contemporary underground electronic music in its many forms, and occasionally beyond, and provided a steady home or temporary shelter for artists as diverse as Fisk Industries, Erstlaub, Si-Cut.db, Bovaflux, , Marshall Watson, 10-20, Dalglish, Like A Stuntman and the Marcia Blaine School For Girls umbrella of projects, including The Village Orchestra and Production Unit. Continue Reading »

DALGLISH
Benacah Drann Deachd
HPLL057
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
11 Tracks. 44mins14secs

Chris Douglas has been making music under one moniker or another for the best part of twenty years, but amidst his numerous projects, Dalglish strikes by its resolutely dystopian outlook, served by highly processed oppressive electronic soundscapes, each denser than the previous one. What was already rather intense electronic music on OtHohr (Highpoint Lowlife, 2004) had become even more desolate and complex by the time he published Ideom (Record Label Records), four years on, and Benacah Drann Deachd is undoubtedly cast from a similar mould.

This is not an easy album to get into, its resolutely abstract rendering, lack of conventional musical structure and uncomfortably intense minimalism often leave tracks feeling so seemingly unsubstantial than they at times appear as nothing more than vague sketches. Continue Reading »