Aspec(t) are SEC_ and Mario Gabola from Naples, Italy. SEC_ plays electronics through laptop, processed tapes, and analog synthesizer. Mario plays saxophone and feedbacks through a system of resonant drums and small speakers. Their music shares the timbrical research and the execution control typical of some radical improv music (Pateras/Baxter/Brown, John Butcher, Jim Denley, Bruce Russell,..), but meets the visceral intensity and the obscure poetic of the new aktionsm and of noise music (Rudolf Eb.er, Dave Phillips, Joke Lanz) as well as the research on analog devices and concrete sound materials of the sonic poetry (Lionel Marchetti, Jerome Noetinger). The result is a fascinating and inextricable forest of sounds: frenetic structures, noise explosions, ancestral cries, an unceasing perversion of the soundscape and the time stream.

The preceding was pretty much copied from the Fratto9 Under The Sky Records website so I didn't have to explain the background of this project in my own words. (Lazy, I know, but still effective.) To some extent, the label's description is accurate, although I might disagree with the word 'fascinating' and substitute 'inexorable' for 'inextricable'. All of the 11 tracks on 'Waspnest'; are mercifully brief; the longest at 4:09 and shortest at 45 seconds. I still suppose it qualifies as a full album even though it is a total of just under 27 minutes in length as it has been released as a 12' LP with 6 tracks per side. (My copy is a CDr, but you can't get that.) Every track is an episodic excursion into sound collage and you really have to love uncomfortable noise and abrupt sonic disturbances to get into this record. There also seems to a fair amount of (wordless) vocal utterances, from grunts and gasps to burblings and ululations interlaced in the sonic current. Thinks are crackling and squeaking one moment, then squealing and squalling the next. It's not something one can even try and make sense of. As experimental avant-garde music goes, this is pretty much the fringe, and those who enjoy a walk on the wild side of this genre are bound to be impressed. Sometimes minimal and sometimes full-throttle, 'Waspnest' is bound to shock you out of musical complacency, and it could be the tonic you need. Just keep in mind, some kinds of medicine can be a bitter pill to swallow.

According to the label, 'Randomicon is the result of experimental sessions using modular synths, most of them constructed by Nicolo Buono. The casual approach of the timbre selection has opened new possibilities, pushing the italian duo sound to other boundaries that had characterised until today the project of Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono. The title 'Randomicon' wants to be a tribute to the 'randomness' that has determined the origin of the universe.' You definitely get the sense of analogue minimalism here. It's full of bleeps and bloops and glitchy goodness. Perhaps the best comparisons are Rothkamm and old Autechre, which to me is a good thing. However, at times it does all begin to sound pretty similar ' I recognize that it isn't, but still. This album weighs in at around 49 minutes.

I had never heard of this British duo, but I loved the name The Truth About Frank. It made me wonder who Frank was and what he did. This is an interesting mix of subdued but noisy sound collage and electronic beats. In many cases, I find that this is a symptom of a band that is still trying to find its voice. In this case, however, the different styles served to break up the album and keep it interesting. The music is an interesting mixture of disembodied voices and ambient soundscapes. Think of a mix between early Aphex Twin and Hafler Trio. Overall, this is certainly worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 38 minutes.

I had never heard of either of these artists, nor had I heard of the label until I got this in the mail. After listening to it, I'm not quite sure what to make of this disc. It isn't too bad, but it is an odd combination. Let's walk through the disc, shall we? Rainnair starts us off with some ominous spoken word and even a bit of a beat, then moves into a synth based set that seems to try to keep the dark undercurrents running. For example, Cthulhu Dreams sounds like it would be at home in a Lovecraftian movie. Moving on to ARC, 'Vinnie Sink (Fuzz as a Peach) starts us off with a simple beat and . . . vocoder? I didn't know that T-Pain was getting into the experimental scene. It didn't quite work. The remix, on the other hand, has a kind of old school 1980s Front 242 feel to it. The vocoder is present and accounted for, but seems to work a bit better in this track. Kind of made me nostalgic for the old Wax Trax stuff. The disc concludes with a slow, heavy beat and more digitally enhanced vocals. So the overall verdict? Rainnair was decent dark ambient, but I would say that labelmate StrykninY, who was also in the package from Pale Noir, would be a better bet. ARC was a mixed bag. This album is also pretty short, weighing in at around 23 minutes.

As with the other Pale Noir released I am reviewing in this batch, I had never heard of either of these artists, nor had I heard of the label until I got this in the mail. Like the other discs this is pretty lo-fi stuff, but this is much better than the Incantation III disc. Part of this is due to the congruence of the styles on the disc. Modern Stalking is some interesting soundscape stuff, with a fair amount of spoken word interjected into it. Sometimes the use of samples can be a debilitating crutch, but in this case it works pretty well. There is a wide variety of sounds and feelings here, with noise blending into a circus organ under the big top. Some of it becomes a bit too sparse and at times repetitive, but it's a good introduction. ANDRAS throws down some interesting synth-based tracks that kind of remind me of 1980's goth / new wave stuff. The label describes the band thus: 'If 80'²s era John Carpenter scored the soundtrack to the break-up between two tired junkies it might sound as synthesizer bleak as ANDRAS.' There are few vocals here, with the focus on the music. Overall, I am looking forward to seeing what happens with ANDRAS. Evidently the non-promo version includes a special spell wax sealed collection card. The first 15 orders will also receive a complimentary 11 x 17 poster of the cover art (but mine is 20 out of 50, so you may be out of luck on that front. This album weighs in at around 36 minutes.