- Black tape for a blue girl: ashes in the brittle air (Projekt - 1989)
- An early release from Sam Rosenthal's goth group and label. Melancholy to be sure, but a in wonderful way. The tracks with lyrics feature vocals by Oscar Herrara, and Sue-Kenny Smith (whose tracks tend to lean toward a folky acoustic sound, though well done); other tracks though are purely ambient a'la Sam's ethereal electronics. Standouts include across a thousand blades and the scar of a poet; the fact that the disc is 10 years old is meaningless, as the tracks already have a nostalgic, yearning quality of their own.
- Brighter Death Now: The Slaughterhouse (Functional Organisation - 1992)
- Like having a horror film in handy CD form (fortunately no screaming). The titles are subtle indicators as to what the disc is about... (i.e.Cadaver, Death Party, Grave...). Lots of lo-fi electronics, muffled beats, screeching, rumbling, hissing, moans of the damned. Dead Bones gets a bit bogged down by its repetitive and (literally!) monotonous spoken word sample. Recorded in 1989, then re-mastered by Cold Meat's Roger Karmanik in 1992. If nothing else, you can scare the kiddies with it at Hallowe'en...
- Crown Invisible: Crown Invisible and Crown Invisible II (Cursor Club)
- This pair of EP-length CDs feature lush, sweeping synthesizer chords backed with various beats. You've probably heard similar material, but not always done this well. Smooth, rich and silky... with tasty nuggets of percussion; mmmmm... sweet ambient/electronic confections.
These discs (and the following Dome CD) are released by Cursor Club, and are available thru the Backroads & Echodisc catalogs, on line @ peopletree.com.
- Dome: Dome (Cursor Club)
- Another electroambient EP on the Cursor Club label. Four tracks of smoothly flowing electronic waves accentuated with tastefully applied beats. (All right, track 4 , the "pastorale" mix, is beatless) Similar to the Crown Invisible releases in that the overall sound is nothing revolutionary, but is very nicely rendered.
- Ennio Morricone: The Legendary Italian Westerns (BMG - 1990)
- You get your Western-flavored ambience where you can find it... This is a collection of 31 short (all under 4 min.) tracks culled from 9 "Spaghetti Westerns". A few pieces are quite "ambient" in nature, while others contain truly absurd "singing-tough-guy cowboy" lyrics. Most are grand orchestral flourishes and some include those ol' lonesome whistling passages. My faves are the tracks from the Clint Eastwood flicks (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More).
- Marina: The Silent Night and Dream Lover (MRK Records - 1997)
- Non-ambient content here: But if you, or someone you love, likes to dance, that's what these EP releases from Marina are about. They're as good as any other straight Dance tracks I've heard; and the Dream Lover EP also contains a reworking of a Jewel song, so... if you're interested, visit the MRK Records Website.
- Mother of Moth: Mother of Moth (1997)
- A low drone and unintelligible wails give way to an unrestrained acoustic guitar strumming in a faux Middle Eastern style. Descriptions that put this 3-song cassette release somewhere between Muslimgauze (sans percussion) and Led Zeppelin (no "vocals", as such though) are pretty accurate. The remaining tracks are more subdued, but still guitar-oriented, atmospheric and well done. Patrick Archie's demo tape does what it should do... leaves you wanting to hear more. Check out the Mother of Moth website for sound samples, etc..
- Orbital: Orbital 2 (FFRR - 1993)
- It's like an energy source; Orbital 2 is one of my favorite workout CDs because of its delightfully pounding beats and pumped up electronics. Lush 3-1 and Lush 3-2 are a remarkable pair of lushly arranged techno-dance tracks, as is my personal rave, Walk Now..., which turns up the "tech" part. Halcyon + On + On is a genuine Orbital "hit" as well. (Conceptually, the disc's opening "Time becomes a loop..." bit is interesting, but I get tired of hearing it in actual practice, tho.)
See Previous Overviews.
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