RICHARD A. INGRAM: Happy Hour (White Box Recordings)

themilkman on Jun 30th 2011 01:23 am

Richard A. Ingram: Happy Hour

RICHARD A. INGRAM
Happy Hour
WHITEBOX011
White Box Recordings 2011
04 Tracks. 52mins30secs

Boomkat: CD

A year on from the release of his impressive solo debut, Consolamentum, Manchester-based musician Richard A. Ingram returns with another slab of implacably sombre cinematic electronic music. Released once again on the excellent White Box, Happy Hour is a particularly bleak and oppressive affair, with which Ingram continues to explore intricate textural soundscapes and arrange them into a powerful soundtrack.

Articulated around four lengthy tracks, ranging from ten-and-a-half to fifteen minutes, each with their own intense tone and mood, Happy Hour is at once extremely disturbing and deeply haunting. Continue Reading »

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CEZARY GAPIK: Contrast I (White Box Recordings)

themilkman on Jan 7th 2011 12:52 am

Cezary Gapik: Contrast I

CEZARY GAPIK
Contrast I
WHITEBOX008
White Box Recordings 2011
02 Tracks. 37mins51secs

Born in the industrial city of Czestochowa, in the south of Poland, in 1963, when the country was under communist rule, Cezary Gapik grew up to become a punk activist in the early eighties before discovering the likes of Cabaret Voltaire or PIL, then later on avant-garde composers such as Stockhausen, Morton Feldman or La Monte Young, which have since partly defined his work, which has, until now, been entirely self-released.

As its title suggests, this very limited vinyl-only album, the first of three to be issued over the course of 2011 on White Box, is a contrasted affair, presenting two very distinct spaces, almost at opposite of the sonic spectrum. Continue Reading »

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MACHINEFABRIEK/KLEEFSTRA-BAKKER-KLEEFSTRA/LIONDIALER: That It Stays Winter Forever (White Box Recordings) / MACHINEFABRIEK: Rural Route No. 6 (Standard Form)

themilkman on Nov 16th 2010 01:41 am

Machinefabriek/Kleefstra-Bakker-Kleefstra/Liondialer: That It Stays Winter Forever Machinefabriek: Rural Route No. 6

MACHINEFABRIEK/KLEEFSTRA-BAKKER-KLEEFSTRA/LIONDIALER
That It Stays Winter Forever
WHITEBOX009JPN
White Box Recordings 2010
03 Tracks. 59mins32secs

MACHINEFABRIEK
Rural Route No. 6
SFRR006
Standard Form 2010
01 Track. 16mins57secs

Released to coincide with a series of common live dates in Tokyo, White Box Recordings have collected three exclusive tracks from Machinefabriek, Kleefstra/Bakker/Kleefstra and Liondialer, each around twenty minutes long, onto a very limited CD album (300 copies). That It Stays Winter Forever may be hinting at a cold and desolate time of the year, and each of the three compositions presented here could be interpreted as bleak and deeply introspective, yet there is a current of warmth circulating through the whole record, made more potent by the use of exquisite textures and sounds. Continue Reading »

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RICHARD A. INGRAM: Consolamentum (White Box Recordings)

themilkman on Apr 20th 2010 12:09 am

Richard A Ingram: Consolamentum

RICHARD A. INGRAM
Consolamentum
WHITEBOX005
White Box Recordings 2010
06 Tracks. 46mins25secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD

A member of prog-metal outfit Oceansize, where he operates under the sobriquet of Gambler, and with whom his released three albums and a number of EPs since 2000, Richard A. Ingram investigates a very different series of soundscapes with his debut album, Consolamentum, released on White Box. Claiming influences as varied as Erik Satie, Jasper TX, Machinefabriek, Ben Frost or Tape, Ingram weaves here a series of dark and complex soundscapes, created from fragments of piano, guitars and tapes.

The album and track titles refer to the history of the Cathars, a religious sect active during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteen centuries, essentially in the south of France, yet this is not in essence a religious work or a concept album in any shape or form, although the particular mood of the record, and its increasingly sombre tone, could find echo in the persecution of the members of the sect and their eventual massacre. Continue Reading »

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LIONDIALER: Live! (White Box Recordings)

themilkman on Mar 13th 2009 01:45 am

Liondialer: Live!

Icon: arrow Buy: CD

LIONDIALER
Live!
WHITEBOX003
White Box Recordings 2009
07 Tracks. 52mins25secs

Liondialer exist primarily as a live outfit, with a particular pledge to bring their sonic experimentation to a public who would normally not be confronted with anything quite like this, by playing outside of the usual leftfield venues circuit. This has led to their live improvisations being largely ignored, or, as the story goes, for the pair to be asked by a band due to play straight after them when they planned to start and receiving for answer a straight to the point ‘We are playing. This is our set. You’re kind of interrupting my flow’.

Formed of Greg Haines, whose debut, Slamber Tides, published on Miasmah in 2006, gathered well deserved praises, and Danny Saul, a guitarist who, beside his solo work, is also involved in a handful of formations, Liondialer have been performing live improvisations for a couple of years. Continue Reading »

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