Helena Ford appreciation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helena Ford is a Chicago-based transgender musician whose work expands all over drone, improv, dungeon synth, dark ambient, industrial noise, electroacoustic, and microtonal deep listening ambient. Much of the themes on which she has based her music revolves around gender dysphoria, hormone replacement and psychotherapy. Really, her recordings are so multifaceted you should just devote two or three days listening to the whole shit, which is also free on her bandcamp here, but I'm just going to pick a few which really impressed the shit out of me. Also loving the corpsepaint and the Burzum-like skullcrasher bat thingy, guess Varg would be really pissed at! Links on titles. Goes without saying that this blog upholds difference and the challenge of gender/sex stereotypes along with fighting fascism, racism, capitalism, patriarchy and homophobia and is open to any non-binary/LGBTQI+-themed music that will be appealing to me.

Therapy Goals: revolving around psych/Eastern scale guitar meanderings and full-on Sunn O))) like power drone.

The Human Veil - s/t: holy fucking shit dungeon synth and organ vespers-like goodness

Examinations in Minimalism & Transgender Musicality: weird alternation between sine waves, modular drone, mellotrons and deep listening ambient

Larsen Symphonique + Organ Works: microtonal drone, organ holiness and avant-garde drone.

Elegy for 1992: bro this is soooo good. She's taken figures from John Cage's prepared piano Sonatas and added huge reverb to it.

Pieces for Electric Bass, Baritone, and Guitar: can't say how much I'm loving this, especially the second baritone track. Get it. Now. It's free.

Hemicrania: ambient noise wall discordant bliss.

Music for Bows and Rosin: this sounds quite a bit like post-reformation Skullflower, especially around the period Lee Stokoe was in. Great.

Relay For Death - Anxiety Of The Eye

 

And this is their other recording of 2016, made up of manipulated field recordings of the Death Valley. Sounds of insects blend with ominous drones in a way that wouldn't be out of place with the best of Tribes Of Neurot (remember Adaptation and Survival) and even Robert Rich minus the new age elements. 2016 tape on No Rent Records.

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Jacaszek ‎– Music for Film

Polish experimental musician's compilation of film soundtrack work, filled with beautiful yet dark and menacing sounds at the intersection of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Tim Hecker (minus the noisy moments) and Johann Johansson. 2020 cd on Ghostly International.

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Vampyres ‎– Mina, Lucy And Me

 

Vampyres continue their giallo horror ambient descent but with a heavy bass drone for some change! 2020 tape on Inverted Inhumation.

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Controlled Death / Rudolf Eb.er ‎– Death Ceremonies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say no words. 2020 LP on Cold Spring.

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Controlled Death (Masonna)

Controlled Death is the recent alter-ego of Maso Yamazaki/Masonna. After a few years of seeming silence, he has returned both with his dayjob project, but more frequently under the Controlled Death moniker, playing heavy death industrial, similar in perversion to Atrax Morgue, with dark ambient, harsh noise and HNW undertones. Unsettling stuff. Here's a lazy summary of the releases I have managed to obtain, for all of you to make yourselves filthy with.

2020 - Death Entries 3 (on Dwid's Holy Terror)

2020 - Death Entries 2 (on Dwid's Holy Terror)
2020 - Beautiful Decomposition (on Total Black)
2020 - Death Entries 1 (on Dwid's Holy Terror)

2019 - Evil Discharge flexi 7" (on Oxen)
2019 - Black Lucifer  Rising (on Deathbed Tapes)
2019 - Black Scorpion Rising (on Deathbed Tapes) - one of the most threatening synth noises you will have ever heard
2019 - Journey Through A Dead Body/Deathwish Tapes 1-3 (on Urashima)
2019 - Ritualistic Mutilation In The Bloody Darkness (on Urashima)
2018 - Symphony For The Black Murder (on Urashima)

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.

Various - Demonology In Dante's Inferno

A continuation of the compilation Witchcraft & Black Magic in the United Kingdom that I just posted, here's another compilation of creative and non-derivative dark ambient focusing on Dante's Inferno, featuring (among others) a very deep drone/ambient track coming straight out of the golden 1990s-early 2000s of that sound done by Sonologyst (the brains behind the compilation and the label in general) and legendary Rapoon. Really nice to hear and relax in the dark of the summer under a freezing air conditions. 2020 cd on Eighth Tower Records.

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Various - Witchcraft & Black Magic In The United Kingdom

E-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t compilation revolving around devil worship in the UK including Rapoon, Satori, Grey Frequency and others. 2019 cd on Eighth Tower Records.

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The Caretaker ‎– Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia

For a reader who requested it. Brooding subterranean dark ambient of high quality. 2006 cd on V/Vm Test Records and History Always Favours The Winners.

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Vampyres - Moonphase

Some of the noisiest material made by Vampyres here, but of course always with the unsettling horror ambient twist. 2018 tape on Quagga Curious Sounds.

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Current 93 ‎– If A Star Turns Into Ashes (bonus: Soft Black Stars)

New C93 12" continuing in the recent dark ambient direction of Invocations of Almost and The Stars on their Horsies, something which I really really like. 2020 12" on The Spheres.

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As a bonus, here's a remastered version of Soft Black Stars (among my five top C93 albums), containing all three versions of the track "Chewing on Shadows." Originally released in 1998 on Durtro, this is the 2018 double LP re-release on The Spheres.

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PS: I've read there's going to be a collection of all C93 releases which feature collaborations with Thomas Ligotti (whose short story "Soft Black Stars" inspired this album anyway); really looking forward to it, as I Have A Special Plan For This World is my favorite Current 93 release ever.

Demons ‎– Demons (Lathe 8")

2009 lathe cut 8" on Alt.Vinyl.

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Demons - Untitled loop tape

Years ago the blog Corrupted Delights (which seems not to be functioning, sadly) as well as Bleak Bliss had posted a untitled tape made by Demons (Nate Young/Wolf Eyes-Steve Kenney) which featured an endless loop repeating itself with various short durations. The sound of that loop was the most sinister and contaminated evil synth noise that someone could have ever vomited on this planet, and for a long time I used to play it to fall asleep. I played it when I was doing my army service sleeping a few hours between my guard duty, and I repeated it for many hours in the morning while I was writing my MA thesis, only to end up in the afternoon lying on the carpet feeling that my brain had become completely fried by studying and listening to this.

So, I decided to buy it for archive purposes as well as play it on my new ghettoblaster that I have in the kitchen, but I was slightly disappointed. Instead of that evil synth, there was a cool - on the one hand - but completely different loop - on the other. What I hear is a bass loop rising and falling, alternating with a weak pulsing throb. Yes, it's cool, sounds a little bit like sounds from Dawn of the Dead or Cannibal Holocaust in devouring scenes but it's not the demonic puke emitted from the bowels of Marvel's Blackheart (do you remember the epic arcade game Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter?). Contacting the seller, he said that he thinks that there must probably be different versions, which makes sense that I tested it on different tape decks to see if there was a problem with the one. I'm thinking of trying to buy another copy so that I might be lucky, but I guess I won't do so.

Therefore, I decided to post both versions, mine and the one posted by Corrupted Delights, for you to compare and tell me what you think has happened here.

2006 tape on AA Records.

My bass loop version

The Corrupted Delights synth horror version

Kosmische Horror - Kosmische Horror tape

One-off project of Ilkka Vekka of Haare playing dark ambient with obvious Lovecraft references. It doesn't have the really scary and toxic psychedelic edge of Haare but still it's a good listen- you can really imagine tentacles rising from the ground to shroud the world in darkness. 2012 tape on Mask Of The Slave.

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Current 93 - Invocations Of Almost

Just a few months after the sublime The Stars on their Horsies and the very good The Light Is Leaving Us All (which I only managed to hear today) David Tibet comes again with the music from an installation he did in LA. The title offers great expectations as it shares it with the epic first track from Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain; the music is some of his darkest and most troubling ambient. I'm too bored to say more, and I think the music will reward you so get it. 2019 cd on The Spheres.

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Caroline McKenzie - (the first snow from soon) & Doctor Birch and his Young Friends - Ophelia Mindre

If anyone remembers my post on Caroline McKenzie's The Drowning Of Ophelia, they will be reminded that it was a great album of bleak but heart-breaking dark ambient. Since then Caroline has continued making great ambient/drone/ethereal soundscapes which I have mostly enjoyed, but kind of forgot to write about. The same thing happened with this one; I've had a tab on my web browser literally for 3 months saying "ok now I need to write about this" but I kept forgetting to do so, but it''s the time for it. This is a 3-track offering of droning ambient ideal for calming and reflecting. It's exquisitely monotonous and repetitive in the way I love it to just sit down and read for my PhD. Actually Caroline says that she created these tracks in order to calm down her insomnia, so it really fits any similar kind of activity. As always, it's a free-to-download recording, but I highly recommend that you support her.



Going back to her breakout release The Drowning Of Ophelia, the Welsh experimental electronic artists Doctor Birch and his Young Friends has created a remix album of Caroline's masterpiece, taking sounds from there and creating short - 3-minute tracks - revolving around specific sounds. It's also a great piece of work that accentuates the lonely and depressive feeling of it - track 3 "Falls Down Blistered" is sublime in particular; again a free download, but there's the choice to spend a little money on this one, since all money gathered from paid downloads will be given to a transgender people support organization called Mermaids. I totally support trans, queer, and generally LGBTQ+ people, but I'm really put off by NGOs because I think that issues of discrimination, homophobia, racism, and fascism are political tasks that need to be solved by the working class movement and not by charities that are deeply involved in the reproduction of the neoliberal scheme of capitalist restructuring that points to NGOs and volunteering as a form of conscience-laundering as David Harvey has very punctually said. However, if any of the dear readers thinks that such causes are worth their money, they can of course donate a little something to it.

Kapotte Muziek ‎– The Malevolent Ear CD

Incredibly deep and hypnotic industrial noise by the legendary Dutch group Kapotte Muziek, with intermittent varying styles of musique concrète, fried electronics, drone, and even dark ambient. I really really like this album. 1995 cd on Red Stream.

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Maurizio Bianchi ‎– Ludium

The unnerving subterranean MB we have all loved is fully at work here, offering us evil frequencies made on grand piano. Very good. 2009 on Silentes Minimal Editions.

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Maurizio Bianchi ‎– Apokalypsis XXIII

A very dark recording by our favorite Jehovah's Witness, with quite a narrative structure that intensifies the dark and harrowing atmosphere. 2011 cd on Nitkie.

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