Xqui - Ambients

 

One of my favorite musicians of recent years returns with yet another immersive recording. This is one feels slightly less close to his pure Lovecraftian evil approach in Capitulate, November or Lleisiau and more as a return to his more levitational early releases (the first four EPs and Dragon) with a heavy ambient wash sound, hints at orchestral music, William Basinski, Giulio Aldinucci, and Stars of the Lid, but always with his deeply personal touch. No link this time, this deserves your support, so over to his bandcamp and get it. 2020 cd on Wormhole World.

Xqui - Microchasm / Recent Wormhole World releases: Robyn G Shiels & Steve Nolan - Sky Drew Near/ Mzungu - With Seasonal Affect/ Outside The Glitsch - Cartography / Jewels Of Shame - Negative Dialects / Quimper - Dejado

Xqui's fourth full-length came amidst a storm of other recordings he posted on his bandcamp during the quarantine. At first I thought that this would be his most structured releases due to some beats here and there, but it reveals itself as the exact opposite. It might not have the utterly Lovecraftian subterranean feel of other releases (apart from "Scale"), but it is one of the most psychedelic ones, at it reminds at times of Coil's mid-90s phase and even other mind-bending Coil-related projects such as The Threshold HouseBoys Choir and UnicaZürn, and it has some weird fuzzy beats that sound similar to old video games!

You can buy it for a very small price on bandcamp, and it's always a good idea to support his music.

Wormhole World is a label with which Xqui is closely related and it has released recently some quite nice music.

First is Sky Drew Near by Robyn G Shiels & Steve Nolan, which is a nice change from the label's usual abrasive electronics output, as it is a dark pop heartbroken music album with a touch of americana. I really liked this one.

With Seasonal Affect by mzungu is an adventurous attempt at wintry ambient with very beautiful frozen synth washes that you really must hear.

Cartography by Outside The Glitch is one of the best albums of 2020 so far. It is superb imposing ambient . It has all the best elements of Basinski and Robert Rich shaped in a very personal approach that I would dare say incorporates also elements of elemental/primordial beatless ambient techno. I see that the artist has also done other releases on Wormhole World which I will definitely give a listen to immediately. 

A slightly older release is Negative Dialects by Jewels Of Shame, some guy wanting to be shrouded in mystery, as most of his tracks are titled by date of recording, and they have all been recorded during the 2000s. There's some primitive horror noise/ dark ambient with a mostly crude sound and an unfinished feel to it, which I like, as it presents a non-linear and anti-closure/anti-perfection approach that I find interesting as in other artists such as J.G. Sparkes.

The last one of the recent lot that stood out is Dejado by Quimper, which is fun dark synth-pop/ hypnagogic electronica, like a more electronic/beat-y Ariel Pink with dark house music lurking somewhere in there...

As always, both Xqui and the Wormhole World label are very-hardworking and cool people that really deserve some support, so don't hesitate to pay some little cash to get these very nice musics.

Xqui - Elemental

Xqui always manages to end the year with a superb release. In this third full-length, which is dedicated to the chemical elements, he seems to have foregone of most "musical" features (beats, guitars, voices) present in his previous - and stellar - Capitulate, and focusing instead on the most elemental aspects of his work. In other words, this cd is dominated by creepy subdued ambient sounds with a very lo-fi quality (be reminded that Xqui works mainly with mobile phone apps), which accentuate what I have called his urban Lovecraftian atmospheres. Everything sounds as if it has been extracted from basements, underground tunnels, manholes, and there are also several howling voices, offering a ritualistic and menacing feeling. Only the last track, "Vanadium," has a more musical approach, sounding like a noise string orchestra. Xqui never disappoints, so go now to his bandcamp, and get the last remaining copy of this excellent year finisher. 2019 cdr on Wormhole World.

Xqui's bandcamp
Wormhole World's bandcamp

Xqui - Lleisiau cdr

Lleisiau is yet another piece in Xqui's urban experimental evil music. Quite removed from the more structured recordings of his previous full-length Capitulate, this one seems kind of closer to his first one Dragon in its more abstract approach, but the darkness and the horror are accentuated; as always there's a subterranean and submarine menace lurking, a Cthulhian creature waiting to arise when the stars are right. What I particularly like in this one is that it seems to have been influenced by the 80s industrial/experimental scene: early Coil, very early Current 93, a bit of Throbbing Gristle, all covered with a psychedelic and hazy atmosphere. On his bandcamp page, I see there's one remaining copy waiting along with some free button, so do the right thing and buy it; as always Xqui deserves our help. 2019 cdr on Wormhole World.

Xqui - Timepieces/Settlers EPs

After the feverish Capitulate full-length cd earlier this year, Xqui returns with more subterranean manipulated sonicscapes. My description of his music as "Lovecraftian horror for urban landscapes" continues here; subdued dreamy and unsettling passages in undeground tunnels is always what comes to my mind when I hear his stuff, and while I was hearing "Biff" from his latest EP Settlers, I couldn't help but remember when I was playing maniacally Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth, and thought how much these tracks would fit that awesome game, (Which reminds me to ask, has anyone played the new Call of Cthulhu game? Is it worth?), or they could as well have been released by the master label of dark ambient in the late 1990s and early 200s, Roger Karmanik's Cold Meat Industry.

Both Settlers and Timepieces are available for free on Xqui's bandcamp, so enjoy them, and why not, help the artist continue his awesome job. Plus, I notices a new track from an EP due out in May called "Monatomic," which mixes the dark ambient style with a slightly 1980's experimental industrial style such as that of the very early Coil or Current 93 ritualistic feel (or even with SPK's Zamia Lehmanni), with an amazing reverb feel. Really excited for this new EP!

Xqui - Capitulate CD

Xqui was a surprising newcomer in the noise/electronic underground world; refusing to reveal his real name and working with mysterious samples processed through mobile phone apps, he has so far created a number of diverse releases spanning the distance between dark ambient, soundscapes, noise, and epic levitational hymnal ambient. In his new release, which was brought out just a few days ago, he presents an even more expansive painting of sounds; starting with the more surprising additions, there are a few - so to speak - more conventional and accessible tracks; there's "Cypriot," a collaboration with Geiger von Muller, which starts with typical cryptic ambient and builds on a weird acoustic guitar loop; there's "Epiphany," a tribal-sounding rhythmic track that urges the listener to dance naked like possessed and sounds a little bit like William Bennett's Cut Hands, and there's "Valley," which sounds almost like monotonous 80s electro-EBM without the rhythm, but with a bright melody on top. And then there's some of his darkest and most feverish ambient soundscapes, of which I can distinguish "Deathbed," a track with an amazing ringing keyboard sound hovering and returning over layers of sound created by a female voice and a distant percussive sound, as well as "Kismat," a muffled chaos of reverse voices and a swirly loop that just creates fever. I have referred in another post to Xqui's soundscapes as Lovecraftian horror music for the urban individual, and this album reiterates this likening; even the "lighter" moments have an ominous feel about them, and bring to my mind the clubs presented in Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows's The Courtyard in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where Aldo Sax investigates murders and ends up under the influence of the Great Old Ones. Dizzying music, worth hearing and supporting financially, so go to Xqui's bandcamp and donate something to this exceptional sound shaper. 2019 cd on Wormhole World.

Xqui - November EP

The very creative Xqui, whose first releases I've talked about here, returns with a series of sinister lo-fi ambient drone. Don't know if the samples he captured on his mobile phone were taken from the place on the cover that warns of a "deep excavation," but there's truly a really subterranean feel to the recordings. Xqui here touches on some of the best masters of dark ambient like raison d'être, and Yen Pox, as well as the narrative approach to drone as perfected by Troum, but with a much more industrial perspective. This is Lovecraftian horror for urban landscapes, where Nyarlathotep preaches the message of the Great Old Ones in the metro or through text apps.

As always, Xqui is offering this great recording for on a voluntary-payment-basis, so enjoy it for free, but I'd urge everyone to give something to this very talented artist.

And I just noticed he's putting his second full-length cd called Capitulate (after the sublime Dragon) out early next year and is offering a pre-order period for it. From the three tracks posted, it seems he's already moving to other directions, especially on "Valley," which has a new agey-hypnagogic-industrial approach. Will be eagerly waiting for this one, too!

Xqui - Dragon/Brittannia/Nocturne

Xqui is a new enigmatic project that only has a Twitter account and Bandcamp without any additional information, apart from an association with Ash Cooke of Pulco/Chow Mwng. The music he/she/they generate is mainly field recordings and created sounds processed through mobile phone apps. So far the project has released 4 pieces, with more coming soon, and is endorsed by TQZine, which has offered a bunch of upcoming Xqui tracks for winners of a TQ art box auction.

The Britannia EP has a hymnal approach (I suspect the basis for the sound is "God Save The Queen" deconstructed), with a dream-like atmosphere of someone flying and observing the land. The sound is dense but pleasant and warm and reminds me a lot of William Basinski's Disintegration Loops as well as Stars of the Lid's Per Aspera Ad Astra, which should be reason enough to listen to it.

The project's latest release Nocturne EP has more of the same levitational/floating feel, a feeling of liberation when you're dying after a long, debilitating disease that has eaten away all your will to live. Knowing that Arvo Pärt's music is played to terminally-ill people for its soothing effect, I think that an alternative playlist may as well include this EP and the previous one. The only exception is the third track "Guitar," which features a cacophonous guitar solo sample passing through underground tunnels; it wouldn't be out of place in Skullflower's recent slew of guitar/synth bandcamp tracks.

Dragon is the first full-length of Xqui and has quite a different approach. The atmosphere is less soothing and decidedly darker, with a draconian feel to it, matching its title. The first track is a Coil Worship The Glitsch-styled dark sound over which people are trying to pronounce the project's name (as a learner of Spanish I'll venture a guess and suggest that it's pronounced Porqui). Tracks here are slower, like snippets into different parts of the urban landscape and they would fit in greatly in a short experimental film of Situanionist city dérive. The longer tracks, "Bun," "eDial," and "Spark" are nightmarish soundscapes which DOA or Heathen Earth-era Throbbing Gristle would have envied, while the shortie "Convicta" features the sample of military march that evokes menacing images of fascist worms crawling the streets. This is a very accomplished release indicative of high-level skill in editing, sampling and reconstructing sounds while evoking various atmospheres.

Xqui is kind enough to offer most of his releases for free, apart from Dragon, which is paid but includes an additional release within its price. So head over to their Bandcamp and knock that shit around.