Battlestations - Memoirs of Once (2023)

As you can already tell, I'm a big fan of this mysterious project from Brussels. Their music can be called many things but orchestral ambient is probably the most interesting one of them. Their new take on the curious music is called Memoir of Once.

The Belgian artist(s) combine various genres into one coherent soundscape. There are long fragments of ambient beauty that slowly but surely becomes louder and louder until it reaches the level of almost-post-rock music. But there are also bits and pieces of dark ambient and sacral ambient (so great in The Disappeared) as well as full-blown electronica and neoclassicism. The whole thing is like a mystery for the audience to uncover bit by bit, note by note. This music has a lot of focus-inducing and self-reflective abilities, but it definitely can be actively enjoyed as well.

Memoirs of Once costs 7 EUR.

Battlestations - Inform (2020)

Battlestations - Vixit (2017)

Check: The Ghost of Lady Farewell

Country: Belgium

Genre: sacral ambient

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Flower and Pines - Hnieŭ (2022)

Jegor Mickiewicz and Sasha Pushkin are based in Wrocław and create this extremely unique music that combines a lot from a lot of genres. And then some. It's no wonder that the artists' names are also the names of the most important writers in Poland (Adam Mickiewicz) and in Russia (Alexander Pushkin). Their new EP, Hnieŭ, is certainly one of the most interesting releases in Poland this year.

This is not an ordinary album, it's said to be "sonic performance" that is meant to be a "memorial service and an ode to courage". The fact that it is performed in Belarusian, the forbidden language in the modern Belarus, only provides a broader context and explains whose courage it is meant to praise. The noisy and experimental on many levels music has some of the east sacral vibe that is certainly only strengthen by the impressive and very original vocals. It is folk, it is dark, there's so many things going on in the backgrounds and each of them adds to the overall mysterious atmosphere. 

Hnieŭ costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Hnieŭ II

Country: Poland

Genre: dark folk noise

Label: Geertruida

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O SAALA SAKRAAL - Heven (2021)

Three years after the album Etmaal, the Dutch collective O SAALA SAKRAAL is back with a much shorter release. The mysterious band creates a unique, innovative take on dark ambient/electronica and showed it on Heven, released by the great people of Cyclic Law label in July.

The album is meant to be an act of rebellion against religions as complex organizations of mind-altering ideology, a way of "cleansing and expulsion of the dogmatic metaphysical corruption that is dominated in today's mass religions". There's so much to the messages of each of the tracks and I'm not going to lie I understand all of this, you are welcome to read about those on the Bandcamp page provided. However, to achieve all that, the musicians serve a complicated and multi-layered mix of tribal-paced industrial electronica and dark ambient with a big chunk of sacral music (the project's name is not a mistake) within. The latter is achieved by including a four-piece choir that adds to the uniqueness of this project that consists of an ever-changing (sometimes this means "textural changes, sometimes organic and evolving, sometimes abrupt and overwhelming"), meaningful music.

Heven costs 6 EUR.

Check: Apokatastasis

Country: The Netherlands

Genre: sacral dark electronica

Label: Cyclic Law

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K-X-P - IV (2019) PL

Jakimś sposobem Finowie z Helsinek nie pojawili się jeszcze do tej pory na moim blogu. A to niedopatrzenie, bo ich czwarty album (III Part 2) jest jednym z moich ulubionych okołoelektronicznych dokonań w ogóle. Teraz muzycy wracają świetnym albumem numer sześć, dla niepoznaki zatytułowanym IV.

Tak jak poprzednie płyty, jest to mieszanina elektroniki aż po dub z industrialną atmosferą i sakralnymi, rozmytymi wokalami. To właśnie ta nieoczywista kombinacja mi ich sobie zjednała i cieszę się, ze od niej nie odchodzą. Album to trzy długie kawałki, z czego kawałek pierwszy, Nimetön Tie, to w zasadzie album sam w sobie - ze zmianami tempa, kompozycji i nastroju, a trzeci, Night Eye - Smile Through Tears, kończy całość hipnotyzującą i pulsującą sekwencją. 

IV kosztuje 30 złotych (7 EUR).

Sprawdź: Nimetön Tie

Kraj: Finlandia

Szufladka: industrial dub

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K-X-P - IV (2019) EN

It's unbelievable but the Helsinki-based Finns have never been on my blog yet. It's a huge mistake as their fourth album (III Part 2) is one o my favourite around-electronics works ever. Now K-X-P is back with their sixth album called, to mess with everyone around, IV.

Just like the previous albums, it's filled with a combination of electronic music up to dub with industrial atmosphere and sacral, difused vocals. It's this mixture that caught my attention and I'm happy they don't go away from their style. The album is made of three tracks but the first one, Nimetön Tie, is actually an alum of its own - with sudden changes in pace, composition and atmosphere, while the third one ends the whole thing with wonderfully mesmerizing and pulsating sequence. 

IV costs 7 EUR.

Check: Nimetön Tie

Country: Finland

Genre: industrial dub

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