KABOOM KARAVAN
Barra Barra
MIA015
Miasmah Records 2011
10 Tracks. 44mins37secs

KRENG
Grimoire
MIA016
Miasmah Records 2011
11 Tracks. 53mins45secs

Barra Barra
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD
Grimoire
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

This may just be a coincidence, but Miasmah are releasing almost simultaneously the albums of two Belgian collectives with activities reaching far beyond music to encompass other art forms, and each with a very unique and intriguing vision. While the two records are radically different in many ways, they feed from a shared aesthetic, and both show a similar taste for surrealist and enigmatic settings.

A collective activities ranging from theatre and film to dance and music, Kaboom Karavan are somewhat difficult to pin down. That they ended up on Miasmah is hardly a surprise though considering the dramatic nature of Barra Barra. Their debut on Miasmah, this album follows a first digital-only release, Short Walk With Olaf, published in 2007.

On Barra Barra, Kaboom Karavan distill generous portions of poetry and horror, weaving them tightly into the fabric of each track until they become almost indiscernible from one another. Continue Reading »

KRENG
L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu
MIACD010
Miasmah Recordings 2009
18 Tracks. 55mins19secs

Buy: CD | iTunes

Miasmah’s ill and sombre hinterlands welcome their latest dweller in Belgian artist Pepijn Caudron. When he started as Kreng some years ago, Caudron’s work was entirely sample-based, his music borrowing from classical, jazz, electronica or improvisation. Over the years, Caudron developed a more cinematic feel to his work, leading him to work on soundtracks for films and theatre, and in particular with a company named Abattoir Fermé, based in Mechelen, half way between Brussels and Antwerp, where Caudron resides. While he is credited with a number of original pieces for both film and theatre, the ambitiously titled L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu is his first official release, and follows a couple of digital EPs.

Dark, haunting and unsettling, this album is undeniably at home on Erik Skodvin’s Miasmah, yet its theatricality gives it a certain grandeur that is new to the label. Continue Reading »