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ALIEN 093CD
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"Since 2001, Duchess Says have been spreading the gospel of the influential and mysterious Church of Budgerigars. Their learned mix of hypnotic rock and saturated keys, concocted by Phil C., Ismael and Simon Says, is delivered by A-C, a sermon laden with the teachings of the novice Mere-Perruche. The congregation has prayed the three Ts; now it's time to reiterate. In a Fung Day T! is their second offering. Adrian Popovich and Joseph Donovan of the Mountain City studio have succeeded in recording a dynamic, dancing alienation. Hypnotizing keys to give order to the sectors; a palpable tension in the main district; refrains hammered ad infinitum -- an infinity of ten psalms. In a Fung Day T! treats the listener to short blitzes of energy, nearly reaching the climax of noise rockers Lightning Bolt, interspersed with what will become new fan favorites. One of the more outstanding jams, 'S.O.H?', is a nice and loose danceable number that recalls the early '80s new wave sound. The record closes with the longest track of the album, a slumbering dark sexy number that recalls the blood red curtain vibes of a David Lynch soundtrack. Duchess Says' penchant for blending aggressive music with dance music works well and makes them comparable to other famous Canadian exports such as Death From Above, Fucked Up and even Crystal Castles at times. This is magnified by the undeniable intensity and sheer originality of high priestess/vocalist Annie Claude. Anyone who has witnessed the band live knows the pure theatrical mayhem that ensues, with onstage antics approaching those of Jesus Lizard's David Yow."
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ALIEN 093LP
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Gatefold LP version with free download code.
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ALIEN 091CD
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"Fool, Redeemer is a semi-collaborative split release between Canadian acts Picastro and Nadja. Having toured together and shared a stage many times over the course of the last half-decade, the two bands thought it was time to finally release something together. Nominally a split album, with side A featuring tracks by Picastro and side B a sidelong track by Nadja, members of both groups contributed to each other's songs. And a certain mutual influence seeped into the compositions, Picastro's dark-folk appearing at the beginning of Nadja's track 'Venom' and Nadja's trademark drone/dirge tendencies lending a heavier, noisier edge to Picastro's songs."
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ALIEN 090LP
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Gatefold 2LP version, limited edition of 500 copies on pink/black vinyl with download code. "Anyone who has ever witnessed Acid Mothers Temple live has more than likely heard them perform 'Pink Lady Lemonade.' It's a staple of their live sets and has been released in various forms over the years on of now out of print releases. While 'Pink Lady Lemonade' is a single piece of epic proportions, it comes off more like a very cohesive full-length recording, as the tune is broken down into four separate movements. The record's first movement runs for about 30 minutes and introduces the album's central motif, a mesmerizing and repetitive guitar riff. The track eventually dissolves into a particular jazzy section that has the band frantically freaking out somewhere between ragtime and Sun Ra. This jazz-inspired section ends rather abruptly after just under six minutes, yet it's enough to radically alter the previous vibe and prepare oneself for the third movement. The third segment marks the return of main riff being played in a very gentle manner with slight processing on Kawabata Makoto's guitar and additional synth action from Higashi Hiroshi being panned in and out of the mix. The results are very intriguing and verge into psychoacoustic territory. The effect of the layered sounds is reminiscent of that experienced when listening to the music of contemporary classical composer Luigi Nono, whose compositions created something entirely new out of manipulating taped recordings of vocalists and orchestras. Pink Lady Lemonade maintains the same heavy spiritual qualities that so much of the Acid Mothers output does, but the hippy elements are kept a little further at bay and instead replaced with an artier drone component. The effect of the cascading drone alongside the full band playing is both refreshing and strange, almost as if you were listening to two different pieces of music being performed simultaneously."
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ALIEN 088CD
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"Founded as a duo by T. Graves and Reyna Kay in September 2008, Blessure Grave blurs the lines between the goth, post punk and neo folk genres. The pair has since developed the project into a full band while building a cult-like following, scattering various vinyl and tape releases on boutique labels around the globe. Citing Killing Joke, Death in June, March Violets and The Cure as influences, Blessure Grave injects a pop sensibility into songs otherwise doomed to dreariness, creating an interesting mix of old and new but dark all around. The music initially appears rather simple, but quickly reveals the fact that the songs are fully fleshed-out and genuinely memorable. Perhaps what is misleading at first is that the recordings sound as though they were created in some kult black metal band's dungeon for maximum fog-at-dusk fidelity. Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six is the debut full-length release by Blessure Grave. The CD version will includes 4 tracks lifted from their debut 12" EP Learn to Love the Rope, originally released on Captured Tracks. The album provides the perfect soundtrack for contemplating today's troubled times or for simply being swept away with the nostalgic 80s vibe that permeates much of the recording. The band does not waste a lot a time allowing tracks to drone on: the songs are short and to the point, with the average track approximately three minutes in length. A number of the tracks on the album could be considered singles. Take for example the beautifully haunting duet 'Resting Place For Two,' where band leaders Grave and Kay share vocal duties. Equally enjoyable are pieces like 'Hope For The Worst,' 'In My Mind,' 'The Cycle' and 'In The First Place.'"
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ALIEN 087CD
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"While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker's ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist. Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room. 'Liminoid' is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyph- ony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of 'Liminoid' is from its premier at The Music Gallery's X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith. The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/ voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice). 'Lifeforms' is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works). This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin."
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ALIEN 085LP
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ALIEN 078CD
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"Back in May 2006 we baptized the emergence of the Montreal's energetic party machine Think About Life with the release of their self-titled debut. Here they are three years later with their sophomore effort, Family. This time around the trio is as off-the-hook as ever, but since they dropped their debut they have polished their sound, without losing their edge. Three years is a long wait but multi- instrumentalist Graham Van Pelt has been busy with his other band, Polaris prize nominees Miracle Fortress. Family is broken-toy disco rock, served funky, like a big friendly bowl of sugary breakfast cereal. Upon a base of hearty synths and sweaty drums these tunes bubble with '80s pop guitar licks and are bedazzled with meta-marshmallows of electronic drones and glitchy samples. This alt-dance exterior is a framework from which hang beautifully rhythmic vocals, either musing empathetically about high- school lovers and guilt-ridden bus rides or issuing vaguely strange missives about mysterious wizards and black champagne. The tone is sometimes sly, sometimes frantic but never menacing, ironic or fey. Sounds like LCD Sound system, Outkast, Blur, TV on the Radio, Cars and Quincy Jones-era Michael Jackson done in the ramshackle, outsider style of Public Enemy's producers the Bomb Squad. Family is probably as influenced by cartoon theme songs and 8-bit video game music as the L.A. riots. Beyond its charming pop heart and playful nouveau-disco trimmings, Family can also serve as a floatation device in case of bad-vibes. Step into their rad imagination, they got the magic touch."
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ALIEN 084CD
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"Acid Mothers Temple returns with a new release, their fourth for the label. The album is made up entirely of new studio recordings that have captured the band in fantastic form. The band is captured flying at full speed dishing out three slabs of Turkish psych meets Krautrock, served up Acid Mothers Temple style. The opening cut, 'Eleking The Clay' is a smoker that bears some resemblance to their well known 'hit,' 'La Novia.' The speed guru, a.k.a. Kawabata Makoto, is on fire and mesmerizes us with his speed and furry on this track. His guitar playing is so quick it becomes difficult to differentiate the actual notes being played as you are overtaken by the speed and repetitious nature of the track. In this respect it also brings to mind their fantastic rendition of the Terry Riley's minimalist anthem 'In C.' The same notes repeating over and over until they start to coalesce and take new shape. Next up is a short piece written by bass player and multi-instrumentalist Atsushi Tsuyama who is credited with playing monster bass, voice, acoustic guitar, alto recorder, flute, toy trumpet and kazoo. If you have ever witnessed the band live, you are aware of what a huge presence bassist Atsushi Tsuyama is within a live context and it is equally the case on Lord Of The Underground. This track, entitled 'Sorcerer's Stone Of The Magi,' serves as an intermission if you will; it is a nice gentle piece of outsider folk that allows you brace yourself for the epic closing track 'Vishnu And The Magic Elixir.' The final cut takes it's time to deliver its message and sees the band in familiar territory. Here they play with some of their more playful influences, such as Frank Zappa and Incredible String Band, and blend them with their patented spaced out electronics that have graced many of their records."
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ALIEN 083CD
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"Montréal Quebec's ambient power trio Torngat create majestic instrumental music that is at times as breathtaking as the glorious Quebec mountain range from whom they take their name. Torngat return with La Petite Nicole, the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2007 effort, You Could Be. This time around the band is sporting a grittier, propulsive sounding record that more closely resembles the band's live sound. La Petite Nicole offers forays into dub-heavy elements of post rock as well hints of Krautrock and the occasional miniature freak-outs. Aside from these flirtations in new directions, the same sound that has made them popular in Canada and festival stages remains. One gets the feeling that the band is creating music for yet-to-be-made films; while cinematic references may be considered standard when describing instrumental music, Torngat's creations are particularly evocative of the medium. Torngat put on a very energetic and inspiring performance and sound a lot bigger than a trio. The heavy use of organs recalls elements of Tom Waits and even hints at the pre-jazz era of Soft Machine. Up until now much of the hype about this young band has been linked to their affiliation to chamber-pop sensations Belle Orchestre and the Luya's, amongst countless other guest appearances with various Montreal projects."
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ALIEN 080CD
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"AUN is the ambient doom project of Montreal's Martin Dumais, who describes his take on outsider metal meets shoegaze as 'blight metal'. He has been a crucial contributor to the Montreal music scene for years and has recently reinvented himself with some of his deepest and most contemplative work to date under the AUN moniker. Elements of AUN's sound can be traced to the classic period of ambient music marked by the likes of Cluster & Eno as well as to contemporary players such as Tim Hecker. On Motorsleep the intensity of the drone gently climaxes to the point where ambience gives way to power and grandeur. It is here that the influence of early industrial music is revealed and trace elements of bands such as Swans lie just beneath the surface. Motorsleep is the result of the better part of a year's work spent shaping and solidifying the body of compositions that make up the recording. There is a strong sense of structure, continuity and flow that breathes throughout the long player. The release is broken down into seven movements all of them blending into one another almost seamlessly. The intensity slowly picks up over the course of the first few movements and reaches full power during the third and fourth pieces. Here the sound is rather dense and saturated with grainy ambient noise that slowly subsides and eventually gives way to a series of closing movements that recall the likes of Fennesz or a more menacing William Basinski. In a live situation AUN crafts his sound through guitar and a bevy of effects, offering a far more engaging visual experience than your average laptop-based performance. AUN's live show has been steadily improving alongside his recorded efforts and Motorsleep is without a doubt his most mature work to date. Motorsleep was skillfully mastered by former Khanate member James Plotkin, who has created plenty of like-minded music of his own over the years. To date AUN has released three solo records as well as a collaborative effort with Allseits on Montreal-based label Oral and released another outing as AUN entitled Multigone for the American label, Crucial Blast."
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ALIEN 081CD
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"Fantasma Parastasie sees the pairing of Aidan Baker, of the ambient doom band Nadja, and Tim Hecker, two of Canada's brightest musicians in the world of abstract electronic music. Tim Hecker has been enjoying the rewards of a stellar career and discography, devoid of filler, due to his incredibly high quality control. His full-length Harmony In Ultra Violet was viewed as a major release in the genre of experimental electronic music. Aidan Baker, on the other hand, works under very different circumstances, releasing material both as a solo artist and as a member of the duo Nadja. His prolificacy is on par with that of Merzbow and the late Muslimgauze. Thankfully, Aidan Baker is one of those musicians with the ability to record and write new music quickly and without sacrificing the quality of his art. Anyone familiar with both Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker is more than likely familiar with Alien8 Recordings as the two musicians have collectively released seven records for our label thus far. While Baker has collaborated with the likes of John Duncan, Black Boned Angel and Fear Falls Burning, among others, this marks the first collaboration to be released by Hecker. This release, divided in eight movements, blends together to form a fluid example of a collaboration that works. Unlike one of those collaborations where artists throw some sound files back and forth via the internet, this release is the fruit of various real-time recording and mixing sessions the two artists worked on in Tim Hecker's Montreal studio. The pieces on the record blend seamlessly into one another, creating a deeper listening experience, as is the case on a number of Tim Hecker's solo outings. While Baker and Hecker share a penchant for creating a powerful blend of ambient noise, Fantasma Parastasie finds the more dissonant elements tempered by an emphasis on ambience and even occasional melody. This release is available on CD in a digipak packaging."
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ALIEN 079CD
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"Describing this debut collaboration between Zbigniew Karkowski and Daniel Menche as heavy would be a serious understatement; gruelingly brutal would be much more fitting. Unleash is part one of a pair of releases based around the same recording sessions. Daniel Menche independently mixed the recorded work the duo recorded together in Portland, Oregon. While this marks the third outing for Menche, the master of physical noise from Portland, Oregon on Alien8 Recordings, we feel very fortunate to finally have an offering from the Polish-born composer Zbigniew Karkowski, who has been residing in Tokyo, Japan since 1994. Years back, we announced we would be releasing one of Karkowski's works which never materialized, yet here we are -- a magnificent collaboration effort. Daniel Menche has long been regarded as one of the heaviest hitters in the North American noise movement. He has been riding a wave of well-received records and seems to be on the top of his game. Zbigniew Karkowski is an ex-member of The Hafler Trio and is also known as a student of legendary composers Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez and others. When asked about the outcome of his recent collaboration with Zbigniew Karkowski, Daniel Menche remarked that it was over the top with an old school feel and went on to make comparisons to a sound akin to an instrumental Whitehouse. It's a little more forgiving in the trauma department than the output of the aforementioned electronic pioneers, but nonetheless, it's absolutely teeth-rattling at times. It's not so much that any particular cut is the most brutal blast of noise, but more a matter of how the recording works as whole. 'The id marks that define individual tracks have only been worked into the piece to provide the listener some mercy,' said Daniel Menche."
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ALIEN 074CD
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"Sam Shalabi's third solo outing for Alien8, Eid, was written and conceived in Cairo, Egypt in 2006 while Shalabi was living there and further realized in Montreal and Vancouver during the first half of 2007. The album is a result of two separate ideas that slowly coalesced over a couple of years. The first was Shalabi's idea of composing songs for singers he knew and enjoyed. The second idea was that of creating a 'modern Arabic pop' record. It was during the time that Shalabi was living in Cairo that he came to the realization that Arabic pop music was much more wild, wide and weird than he had imagined and this also had a huge influence on this recording. Over time Shalabi became less interested in trying to make pop songs and more interested in allowing the material to take its own shape. Upon listening to Eid, it becomes clear how Shalabi was influenced by the wide breadth of Arabic pop music: each piece is stylistically its own and allowed to take its own shape. The recording opens with a beautifully played piece of Shalabi's solo oud playing that gives one the impression they are in store for a gentle acoustic journey. Gears shift drastically with the follow-up track 'Jessica Simpson,' which can also be considered one of the recording's most interesting and unusual selections. Guest vocalist Radwon Moumneh does an excellent job delivering his vocals over repetitious percussion; then a totally unexpected Guitar Hero-style solo slips in out of nowhere. Sam Shalabi enlists the help of far too many guests to list here, although among the standout contributions is that of singer/songwriter Lhasa de Sela who has a thriving solo career and has collaborated with the likes of the Tindersticks and Nick Cave. Constellation Records recording artist Elizabeth Anka Vajajick sings on 'Billy The Kid' and Katie Moore is absolutely stunning on 'Billy The Kid Pt. II.' This will mark our ninth release with Shalabi, not including his efforts in various projects as a guest or studio musician."
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ALIEN 067CD
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March 2007 release. "Our second release by the up and coming ambient doom band Nadja. Nadja is made of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff. Baker, the project's founder is an insanely prolific musician under his own name under which he releases solo works for such prestigious labels as Germany's Die Stadt, as well countless CD and CD-R releases all over the world. He is also an accomplished poet and visual artist. Buckareff rounds out the band on bass guitar and backing vocals. While credit is owed to likes of such pioneering legends Earth, current king pins SUNN((O))) and Boris for defining the genre, Nadja take more inspiration from artists hailing from the dark ambient and electronica fields. Passages on this latest release can be compared to saturated wall of ambient noise perfected by the likes of Tim Hecker and Fennesz or Justin K. Broadrick's Jesu project. Like the sound of our earlier Truth Becomes Death release, Touched is ambient music being pushed to its breaking point, yet the overall feel is a slightly more gentle. Parts of the album feature the use of clean undistorted vocals, something rather unique in the genre, hinting at the sounds of such bands as Codeine, Swans or Joe Preston's Thrones project."
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ALIEN 068CD
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May 2007 release. "An audio meditation on the strangeness of Vancouver. A mix of dialogue, interviews, documentary material, and composed music, Overpass! presents the story of Antonia, a new arrival who finds herself mystified by the city. In seven vignettes Antonia orients herself through encounters with real and fictional locals. She investigates the city's peculiarities, including its preoccupation with nature, failed freeway projects, and attempts at urban planning. Weirdly drawn to the Keefer Street pedestrian overpass and its history, Antonia finds a way to understand Vancouver's particular response to modernization. The CD is the product of a three-year collaboration between Adam Frank, who teaches poetry at the University of British Columbia, and Sam Shalabi, a Montréal-based composer and musician. Sam Shalabi has been a longtime member of the Alien8 Recordings family, with two solo releases, Osama and On Hashish, his trio recording with David Kristian and Alexandre St-Onge as well as four recordings with his psychedelic improv ensemble Shalabi Effect. Overpass! is a melodrama in the late eighteenth-century sense: dialogue that is spoken (not sung) with musical accompaniment to set or introduce the moods and ideas. It takes as subject a minor, ugly cement structure called the Keefer Street pedestrian overpass."
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ALIEN 066CD
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2007 reissue of this album, originally released by Mille Plateaux. "Misplaced nautical charts, trade winds, shortwave miscommunication, midnight whispers, amorxxx. Alien8 Recordings is reissuing Radio Amor, originally released on Mille Plateaux in 2002, in order to maintain the availability of the works of one of our label's most important artists. The recording has been out of print for two years now, out of grasp of Hecker's growing legions of admirers. Hecker is still basking in the universally glowing reception of this year's Harmony in Ultraviolet on Kranky (Score 8.7 / Best New Music on Pitchfork), the follow-up to 2004's Mirages on Alien8 Recordings. Radio Amor is a key release in Hecker's discography, bridging his output between our Haunt Me (2001) and My Love is Rotten to the Core (EP, 2002) releases and 2004's Mirages. Radio Amor is a brilliant soundtrack for daydreaming, and Tim Hecker's effective variations on a few central ideas once again show a gifted composer at work."
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ALIEN 065CD
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"Announcing the self-titled debut from Montreal's Think About Life. Think About Life have been causing panic on dance floors and concert halls alike since the word began to spread quicker than avian flu following their first couple of shows. Think About Life bring the party like no other band currently operating in the Montreal area. This recording, much like their live show, consists largely of party anthems from start to finish. The trio keeps things short and sweet with 34 minutes of high-energy action and no filler."
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ALIEN 063CD
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"Tanakh's Ardent Fevers marks the band's fourth release for Alien8 Recordings and finds Jesse Poe and company continuing to delve deeper into the world of psychedelic pop music. While this most recent work bares some resemblance to the band's debut Villa Claustrophobia, and their sophomore Dieu Deuil, it treads more in the sounds of '70s rock, resulting in an album less precious, and closer to Tanakh's live sound. Listening to Ardent Fevers one is treated to a beautiful array of lush compositions that capture the listener with memorable choruses and well thought out orchestration. Stellar tracks include the opening 'Drink to Sher,' which recalls Beck from his Sea Change period or Tim Buckley. 'Greybreathes' is an unforgettable piece of music that has you humming the chorus for hours. Just like most of the music of Tanakh, the focal point of this cut is the wonderful vocal style of Jesse Poe. 'Still Trying to Find You Home' starts off as Leonard Cohenesque folk dirge but builds momentum until it takes on the feel of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and comes close to 'freakout' thanks to some pretty serious soloing on guitar. The band then switches to the far lighter 'Restless Hands,' which recalls sixties era British folk-pop."
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ALIEN 062CD
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2011 repress. "While this album is certainly a tribute record it doesn't consist of straight-up Sabbath worship in the simple sense of covers. The band sounds as if they are simultaneously paying respect to other Sabbath-influenced projects such as Melvins or Zeni Geva, the later being the former home of Tabata, one of the Temple's latest recruits. Starless and Bible Black Sabbath consists of two tracks, the first being an epic thirty four minute blowout titled 'Lady from Hell.' The opening cut begins in a similar fashion to Black Sabbath's eponymous open albeit much less dramatic. The second track relates more to the band's obsession with Kraut rock, sounding like the more pop-oriented period of Hawkwind."
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ALIEN 058CD
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"Finally a full-fledged metal release on Alien8 Recordings. Alright, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration but the music of Nadja comes pretty damn close. Nadja is an ambient doom metal monster fronted by multi-talented Toronto musician and writer Aidan Baker. The music of Nadja will certainly be name-checked with current rulers of the genre Sunn O))) and with good reason. Having said this, Nadja is different than the bulk of bands operating in the outsider metal movement these days as they employ a much heavier use of ambient aesthetics and influences that help forge their sound."
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ALIEN 061CD
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"Shalabi Effect is the most difficult band to characterize in Montreal's vibrant music scene. Since their inception in the late '90s, the band, consisting of Sam Shalabi, Alexandre St. Onge, Anthony Seck and Will Eizlini, has managed to keep their sound fresh and exciting. They rarely play previously released material and they never repeat themselves live, giving each performance an unpredictable edge. This fourth and latest offering was recorded over three consecutive evenings during the band's recent residency at the Montreal Arts Interculturels institute in Montreal, Quebec. The band practiced throughout the day and recorded each evening's performance in front of a live audience. They then harvested a selection of the best material to create an album of unbelievable improv. The result is a record that truly represents the band's appetite for experimentation and their desire to keep things interesting for their loyal following as well as for themselves."
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ALIEN 050CD
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"Mecha Fixes Clock is the brainchild of its founder and principle artist, Michel F. Côté, and features an incredible ensemble carefully chosen from Quebec's vibrant Musique Actuelle scene. The sound and overall feel of this fantastic album might be referred to it as ambient improv, and it shares some characteristics with a number of projects on Norway's Rune Gramophone label. What makes this recording stand out is the fact that despite employing a wide variety of instrumentation there remains an overall cohesive element that brings the whole recording together; lending the listener the possibility of surgical composition. Often, it is too easy to describe music as cinematic but here it is indeed the case. References can also be made to indie-based projects like Rachels and Boxhead Ensemble and film composers such as Ennio Morricone and Edgar Varese."
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ALIEN 048CD
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"This marks Alien8's third release with American singer songwriter Jesse Poe's project Tanakh, currently based in Florence Italy. Unlike the first two recordings this latest offering strays from structured songs and resides much more in the regions of the avant garde. The recording itself is as mysterious as the grounds on which the music was created. Tanakh is comprised of long droning numbers with tremendous swells and divots, as different sounds and textures come in and out of the mix. This music provides a different digestion with every listen. Comparisons can be drawn to Double Leopards, Taj Mahal Travelers, Molasses, Paul Panhuysen, Pelt, and set fire to flames." 2CDs for the price of one.
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ALIEN 047CD
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2011 repress. "Tim Hecker's latest full length, Mirages, is a lesson of darkness, a midnight whisper revealing its true essence to the listener: an ambient-death-metal classic in waiting. Taking inspiration from Italian partigiani and the counter attack of the anti-Vichyists, Hecker has issued a salvo against all tourists of melancholy; from trustafarian pseudo-leftists to the Ikea nihilists of the boboist rive droite. While some artists seem eager to explore new age or 'organic' solutions to electronic music, Hecker solves the Rubik's cube and penetrates the liquid magma, revealing the truths of dirty sodium light pollution, love on the rocks, and tooth hunting in the garden of evil. With its motifs of eroticism and torture, militancy, and ecstatic pain, Mirages also points backwards towards the Viking penchant for fighting and feasting. Don't be mistaken by insufficient musical descriptors: it is also surprisingly tender, like the fresh skin of a new lover. Indeed, Hecker demonstrates a penchant for the romantic by drawing in a den of noteworthy interlocutors into this work, including fellow Montréalers le Fly Pan Am, Christof Migone, David Bryant, as well as his Australian compatriot Oren Ambarchi."
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