IP Neva is the project name of Ivan 'NeverdiE' Proskurin, from Moscow, Russia. The label his Symbiosis of Contradictions’ release is on, Impulsive Art, is a new indie label from Athens, Greece. If IP Neva is any indication of the talent the label is culling, it seems to be an auspicious beginning. The CD comes in slick digipack packaging with a cool and intriguing look. But as packaging can often be deceiving, the music must be heard to be evaluated.

From the outset, IP Neva sets a mood. Light mysterious background padding and a medium slow tempo beat with interesting percussive additives. Think of something along the lines of earlier Delerium meets Black Lung. The first track, "Correction" uses English spoken word soundbytes that seem to be about the economic market correction’, or more to the point, economic meltdown. The overall impression of this track is a lumbering mechanism on the verge of collapse. I’m not a big fan of spoken soundbytes in music (except for perhaps their occasional shock value) but it’s unobtrusive enough here, and doesn’t really break the mood.

Next track, "U Boat performance", uses a metallic based beat, an eerie, airy sonic blast and background female choir in a minor 5 chord repeating pattern. Buzzes and bleeps punctuate the proceedings. Dive! Dive! I’m not sure I feel like a submariner, but is an interesting track. "The Process" which follows, is a bit more of an amorphous semi-dark ambient piece. Old school electronics, a distant female voice and other sonic sundries, some heavy, some light add to the atmosphere. Kinda psychedelic. "Constallation of war" has a siren over sustained strings while bombs burst and the famed J. Robert Oppenheimer soundbyte, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" pretty much nails the lid on the apocalyptic coffin. From this emerges strummed acoustic guitar and drums in the background. The Pink Floyd harbinger of doom? Gee, I hope not... I’m getting a little nervous that this guy is Russian... Still, it’s the U.S, that only ever actually a nuclear weapon. Maybe a warning...

"Full Moon" has a weird acoustic guitar loop over sustained atmospherics and glitchy, treated electronic elements. Most experimental track so far. "Radiation Field" is probably not the place you would want to take a stroll, as IP Neva imbues this track with ominous elements from which a heavy beat emerge. Industrial ambient to be sure. "Whether in numbers" brings back some acoustic guitar over the dark ambient background and a voice recites... what else but numbers! Coordinates? Code? Science experiment? "Meteoric Rain" offers a glissy descending synth sound over a sustained ambience out of which piano chords and a breakbeat emerge, and then disappears only to reemerge again. All the while there is creaking and groaning. "Calm after the storm" has cosmic overtones in that oh-so-Eastern way, and will have you contemplating your navel in no time flat.

We get another version of "U Boat performance" (Mobthrow Remix) that ups the tempo and brings a more conventional big beat to the foreground. It really doesn’t sound a whole lot like the original, except for the chord structure, and is actually pretty cool. Reminds me a bit of Noise Unit. The beat could have used a few more breaks and breakdowns, but it’s still enjoyable. We leave Symbiosis of Contradictions’with a different version of the first track- "Correction-Failed" (Abstractive Noise Remix) which is a noisier, more rambunctious version. Obviously the correction didn’t work. (Ha ha!)

For a first outing, this album is really pretty good and works on multiple levels. If you enjoy experimental dark ambient industrial, I can really recommend this one to you. Good luck finding it though if you live in the U.S. Impulsive Art says CD Baby is one of their distribution channels, but I couldn’t find it this CD there. Other Euro online outlets are Ad Noiseam, Klangware and Spectraliquid. I guess you can always visit the artist’s MySpace page and ask Ivan directly how you can purchase a copy. Might help if you were fluent in Russian.

According to the press release that came with this disc, this compilation "part of the soundtrack created for the "BN Chora. Jugement" installation by Massimo Indellicati / Progetto Sperimentale Chora." I don’t read Italian, so the liner notes on this one are wasted on me, but it is nicely put together. Luckily, the press packet had a track listing that I was then able to distill out of the liner notes. The opening track by Anna Maria Giordano, "Donne e Misteri" is the shortest track and has the feel of early 20th century archival music with female spoken word. The second track, "Detour Track" by Gianluca Becuzzi & Luigi Turra is a 32 minute minimal dronefest that sounds like one is playing a 45 or 78 speed album at 33.3. I can see how it would work for an art installation, because it fades into the background, but in some ways it moves a bit too slow for my tastes. At 33:57, "To the Outer Fringes" by Sil Muir (a collaboration between Andrea Ferraris and Andrea Marutti) is the longest track on the disc. According to the press release, it was inspired by "The Wild Blue Yonder" by Werner Herzog. I am not familiar with this, so I can’t give comparisons. This track also maintains the quality of fading into the background but instead focuses on constantly shifting drones, which gives it an ethereal quality. This may be an odd comparison, but it reminds me of the music that plays in the glass and light installation in the Detroit Airport. Overall, a pleasant listen. Anna Maria Giordano finishes the disc with "Banda," a short track that reprises the marching music. Overall, I can see why someone would want this album as sound for an installation, but it doesn’t all hold up on its own. It’s pleasant enough, but there is much more interesting material out there. This disc weighs in at 73.11.

Kibuka is Dean Dennis (Clock DVA, TAGC, Sector, Nohno) and Snook (Nohno). 16 tracks (including two remixes by Lustmord and Spiralized with Paul A. Browse) of light electronica with prominent bass lines and lots of sampling activity that reel in ideas from London's underground and drive them home by mixing it up with dubstep, ambient, electronica. It's hard to mention specific influences in addition to the obvious ones (the duo's other projects, especially DVA) but I'd say it's safe to say that there are some Warp-ish sounds (Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada) mixed up in there with the rest of the Sherwood/On-U sound and the Skream/Burial possible influences.
I reckon this will be one of the last releases to feature W's annoying sampled voice now that there's actually a smart guy running things. The whole Bush thing was getting a little old but we won't hold this against Kibuka, after all that moron and his wrongdoings have been an inspiration to many artists.
Ant-Zen is distributing this release so if you are into these sort of sounds I would definitely give this a listen.

Chicago based Lens records released the new (second) CD by Bee hat ch, which is a project by prominent musicians/producers Mark Spybey (Zoviet*France, Download, Dead Voices on Air, Propeller, Rapoon, Reformed Faction) and Phil Western (Kone, Download, Frozen Rabbit, Floatpoint, Plateau). Take into account their cumulative experience of outside remixes and collaborations with Jarobe (Swans), Mick Harris (Scorn), James Plotkin, Jean-Yves Theriault (Voivod), cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel (Skinny Puppy), Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV), Not Breathing, The Legendary Pink Dots, Tommy Grenas (Aubian Lights, Nik Turner's Hawkwind), Chris Connelly, Martin Atkins (Killing Joke, Pigface, Public Image Ltd., Ministry) Teargarden, Elliot Sharp, I Am Spoonbender, Pigface, Can, Damo Suzuki, Faust, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Cluster Haronia, Michael Roterh, Dieter Moebius, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Bryan Adams, Tranquility Bass, Coal Chamber, Monster Magnet, Twilight Circus and many others... and you should know right away that these two are some of those rare breed of individuals with infinite drive and unlimited creative energy who manage to squeeze out soooo much more out of a day than the rest of us do.
Their collaborative sound is a mixture of experimental sounds, ambient textures, pop sensibility, ethereal new age, gloomy dark and spacey electronica. All of the projects they are part of and the people they worked with should already give you a very good idea of what you are in for, but if you are still confused and need a couple more names to add to your confusion, I'd say "Brood" might bring to mind (at different times) Beequeen, Autechre, Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Jean Michel Jarre, Legendary Pink Dots, David Byrne, Brian Eno, David Bowie... but all of these are just vague and swiftly passing references, which would take the album out of context if you individually used them as the main or the only references. That is probably also part of the richness of "Brood" and of the unique sound it delivers. All in all this record is VERY diluted, slow, ethereal, outer worldly and mysterious sounding more than anything else. There are some vocals here and there (mostly male and dark, pretty Kaspel-ish, but also a couple distant female vocals). You can sort of tell that there are two minds at work, and extremely eclectic ones at that, but whoever of the two is more into the ambient soundscapes seems to have had the upper hand. Definitely an album worth checking out.

This is a side-project of the DETRITUS-musician and mastermind David Dando-Moore and with this 10-track album the Greek label Spectraliquid leaves a bit the course to provide CD-EP's with a straight-oriented, rhythm-supported IDM outfits. A WAKE A WEEK differs a lot, since David installs a subtle form of Ambient-Electronica, often supported by symphonic and Neo-Classic-like string arrangements and further organic instruments. No pseudo-aggression, only pure layered drones and melodies – yes, this cinematic mixture comes out unexpected. It definitely requires some more spins than usual to find complete entrance to this kind of work, because without fully attention you won’t be able to grab only a glimpse of the featured content. On the other hand, some rhythmically drops well and subtle placed would help the listener (...and at least the reviewer...) to remember better one or another track. But okay, there can be named only a few artists, which produce music in a comparable way. It’s also hard to figure out a favorite, since this album has to be consumed as a whole and complete unit – to separate it into single tracks wouldn’t make sense. Not bad and an appreciated album to all of you, who like to drift away with the mood, but at least to me personally not thrilling enough to keep the concentration high on to all later based tracks.