I'm not sure how to describe this disc. It's pretty short, but interesting. I really can't think of a close comparison, and that's a good thing. It's not quite dark ambient, not quite drone, not quite noise, not quite anything. There are some similarities with Nadja in feel. The music is mostly instrumental with some random samples thrown in for good measure. Overall, this is an interesting mix of what sounds like field recordings and electronic bleeps and synth that gets a bit noisy at times, but never quite makes it to noise. At times repetitive and plodding (more in a hypnotic way than boring) while melodic and relaxed at others. This album weighs in at around 15 minutes.

4 stars.

Evidently this is a reworking of John Coltrane's 'Ascension,' although I am not familiar with this work. As the website explains, 'Coltrane's Ascension belongs right up there in the pantheon of multi-recorded masterworks. Since this is only the second recording by someone other than Coltrane, there's plenty of room for it and more. We decided to record it because we could, and because we had a very heavy line-up of 'free-jazz' players who we thought could handle the large ensemble improvisations.' And yes, this is a heavy lineup, most notably Fred Frith and Nels Cline. As I listened to this, I couldn't help thinking back many years ago when I saw the Nels Cline Trio play in a dive bar in Corvallis, Oregon. The bassist played with a drill and completely wrecked everything. Cline was no less inventive. It was frantic and noisy and it was amazing. This is likewise frantic, noisy, and amazing. How they manage to keep it together is a testament to the skill of these musicians. At first listen it sounds chaotic (which is fine with me), but on repeated listens, it is easier to find some structure in the maelstrom. If you like free jazz and improvisation, you probably already have this, but if you don't, you need to get it. This album weighs in at around 64 minutes.

I had not heard of this Russian artist, and have had only some exposure to the Zhelezobeton label, but a quick glance at the cover art and titles like 'Roots, Stones, and Earth Draught,' 'Labyrinths of Darkness,' and 'Through the Night Mist' told me that it would likely be a pleasant slab of dark ambience. Here is how the label describes this album: ''Invisible Landscapes' is dark ambient recorded with a typical Russian approach combining homage to native traditions, deeply melancholic contemplation and powerful thirst for the beyond. Dark red embers, twilight, wind sways over tree crowns, lost eyesight of the consciousness wandering in forest labyrinths and gradually dissolving in the infinite circle of life and death... Rich sound of Soviet analogue synthesizers, a bit of field recordings, voice samples and digital processing - this is the palette used for creating this image.' I'll admit that I was unaware that there was a 'Russian approach,' but overall this is pretty good. The album is a mixture of dark ambient styles, which I find works well. The different styles are not really jarring, but instead complement each other. The cavern-like drones reminiscent of Lustmord are present and accounted for. There are also some elements of analogue synthwork here, such as in the intro to 'Invisible Landscapes,' which reminded me of Cabaret Voltaire's 'Exterminating Angel' on their album 'The Conversation.' There are also nice, long passages of drone that shift slowly with melodic elements woven throughout. We hear disembodied voices and subdued noises within the drones, but they are so deep in the music that one cannot really hear what they say. Worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 58 minutes.

Kshatriy is the work of Sergey Uak-Kib, who hails from Vsevolozhsk, Russia. I was unfamiliar with his work, but had heard some other releases on the label. You can often get a sense of what you are in for by looking at the cover art of the album. In this case, the impression is pretty accurate ' you're in for some spacey ambience. According to the label, 'The album is dedicated to the end of Kali-Yuga - the age of technocratic lack of spirituality and moral decay - and to the attainment of human awareness of the Unity. Eight hasteless compositions of psychedelic drone ambient combine a light atmosphere with deep multilayerness, crystal clear sound transparency with mild and sometimes uneasy melodies. Soft organic tracks full of plangent drones, noises and natural recordings neighbor with dense and saturated hymns to Hindu goddess Kali.' I'm not quite sure this comes through the music (that's the problem with dark ambient, isn't it?), but there is a good mixture of synthetic and organic sound source as synth drone combines with field recordings of birds, dogs, etc. But this is not really just peaceful drone. There is an edge to it at times, which is somewhat reminiscent of Inade's work. I suppose this makes sense, as Wikipedia notes that 'the 'Kali' of Kali Yuga means 'strife, discord, quarrel, or contention.'' The liner notes likewise state that 'In the era of Kali-Yuga our concepts of the world are completely chaotic.' I would file this under what James Keeler of Wilt fame calls 'dark noise.' If you want to check it out, you can listen to the whole album at the label's Bandcamp site. You should ' it's worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 78 minutes. Limited to 500 copies.

Minimal, sparse, ambient, chill; all of these words can be used to describe 'Journey Through the City or Something Else.' However, they couldn't really capture the essence of this album, a re-release of the second solo effort (originally recorded in 2002) by Mirt. This record is definitely a journey, each song building up to the next, each new song expanding on the last. We begin our journey (through a city, or maybe something else) with field recordings of rain, peppered with a pan flute's fleeting notes, breaking through, then slipping right back from where they came. We move then to a similar formula, with minimal synth droning, yet somehow moving you deeply, while quick runs of church organ escape. This build continues throughout this adventure, bringing light electronic percussion, morphing into flat out beats. Mirt builds from this lonely sound, up to something I can only define as droning smooth ambient electro-jazz. And just as fast as this monument of sound is built, it begins it's descent, as the layers are the stripped back down as the album progresses. Very chill, laid back in certain parts, ghostly and uneasy in others, a fine album that doesn't get stale even in its slowest movements.