Acheulian Handaxe equals radical improvisation and if you ever tasted one of their products you know the meaning of what I've just wrote, this duo shows they're stubbornly following the label's lane. On this nowhere headed route, Dafna Naphtali on vocals, electronics and sound processing and Chuck Bettis electronic and voice, have combined a series of really spectral solutions. I think a lot of the odd suggestion given me by this work has to do with the fact they both have used their voices and they twisted the shape of what was coming out of their throats, plus consider they developed every word really slowly and those delirious voices by Naphtali and you'll get exactly the picture. These odd, liquid vocalizations float and get pierced by some electronic beeps and sounds that give it all a next age dimension and bring the result right there in the outer space. This live recording in New York pictures what can't exactly be considered an easy to be digested performance, but at the same time this strange analog-electronic, bleeps, angel vocals, lyrical intersections, outer space yodels and overabundance of delays creates this strange "life after death" experience. An interesting release, not exactly dark, not just experimental and not simply effected-live improvisation, but all of them at the same time. Not always completely focused but definitely interesting.

If you consider I tend to have a soft spot for the majority of releases involving Z'ev, you can imagine how happy I was in reviewing this collaboration. Z'ev teamed up with Jason Khan you probably know both for his solo career and for his many collaborations. This cd features two long long tracks involving percussion for both and analog synthesizers for Jason Khan, the end result reminded me of a release by Norbert Moslang and Andy Guhl titled "Knack on" (release date 1982...and if you never heard this work you'd better look for it, every other comment is superfluous), same intensity, same deepness and above all same inspired performance...funny both of the records have been both recorded in Swiss, maybe it's the power of cheese with holes!. As I've just said both of the tracks have been recorded in the land of banks during april 2009 and present some dense parts and some skeletal section where you can clearly distinguish percussions and cymbals. If you ask me, I really think the importance of Z'ev in the economy of the sound is great or at least that's my personal impression since I find some typical characteristics I usually hear in may releases involving this industrial percussion pioneer. Beside the use of pauses, space, intensity, noises, reverbs and heavy odd sounds they manage to create with their percussions, Khan uses his synth to add all of the lacking colors of this recording. Strange to say that, but beyond the fact there's no use of direct melodies, I find this work so expressive and at the same time so deep in its apparent simplicity. This cd is so good.

Thee Musick Ov Magick is thee second sampler release by Boston-based musician John Zewizz's label Inner-X-Musick (formerly known as XXX Records or Triple X Records and headquarters for the spreading of Sleepchamber at the moment, the renowned project founded and wisely run by John, its only permanent member), one of the most proactive and prolific one born from the ashes of Innersleeve Records, a small record store managed by John in Allston, Massachusetts, spreading many gemstones and "musickal" essays ascribable in the most "esoteric" and subterranean branch of underground electro-industrial scene including Psychic TV, Die Form, Current 93, Nocturnal Emissions, XTC and many more artists and sound manipulator which sometimes begun their massive productions from primordial experiments on tape looping , reversed recording and stuff like that, perfectly fits some standing arguments about magic by John himself. If we'd try to give a conceptual framework, we could quote his words about the so-called Magick (whose subsense has really nothing to do with superstition or fabulous creatures or sorcerers as well, normally the most immediate ideal association made with everything related to magic, but more intended to the awakening of spiritual or arguably mental powers and faculties), stating that it uses "metaphysical structures only to aid the conscious mind-(which iz a metaphysical structure in itself) in erecting an arbitrary form from the mind to the base itself around. Magick recognizes the conscious mind only az a tool with which to organize your creative potential, of True Will.".

Well'¦even if you're not interested in philosophical matters or esoteric issues, just like me as well (!), it's undeniable most tracks included in this selection are really well forged as well as carefully crafted and many episodes of this issue offer involving immersive listening experiences (even the most hermetical ones).

The first link of this enthralling musickal chain has been signed by FRzO, the collaborative project by the Norwegian experi/mental manoeuvrer Gird_09 and the entrancing and obscure singer Batcheeba, who, even if in the somewhat teaching opening it seems her nose was blocked by cold, perfectly sets the mood on Kali, by appreciable voice modulations calling up that goddess on an hypnotic set of tumbling noises and hopscotch-like sinister chiming. A rumbling metallic sound, some asynchronous tapping and an undefined monstrous snoring turn up on the trance-inducing tribal mantra of Psychonaut 75's Mountain Spirits which could remind some pieces by Master Musicians of Joujouka or some works by Raksha Mancham, one of my favorite track definitively by this Luciferian obscure project ' 75 is the cabbalistic number for Lucifer -, even if the other track included in the selection, In The Vein, is quite good as well as a slowed-electro danceable rhythm on a frightening prayer ' we imagine not so Christian as well.. ' induced me to imagine a sort of devilish remix of DAF in some recording studio hidden inside an hellish cave, whereas a similar fictional transposition (I thought about a possible musickal translation of the nightmares uneasing Orwell's or Derrida's sleeps'¦) came onto my mind while listening A Tortuous Congestion Of Topology Platforms. Tower In Flames (what a depictive title!), an impressive track by Sigillum S, where the musical soul by the esteemed Eraldo Bernocchi seems severing. Some reversed tapes on a disquieting but luminous sound set enlivens the anesthetic AQ 23 ZAQ by Grayghost, whose disfigured sculptures reappear later on the snider Lil featuring some interesting manipulation on chiming sounds.

Other effective tracks of the sampler are the disquieting Inch Allah by Phallus Dei (hey wasps, don't panic..it's just a piece of art!), (Moss)'s Anneliese ach Anneliese ' looking like an altercation between an exorcist and a demon possessing some poor human body (my compliments to this devilish creature'¦it seems really fluent in German!) on striving delayed beats -, De Lege Motus by Veil Of Thorns ' a cinematic anthem featuring some Beast-y beats'¦ -, Choronzon's Delusion of Security ' the link of the chain closer to some extreme goth-metal grey fields in particular for the vocal treatment'¦ - as well as Sleepchamber's excerpts in particular the nice sound-collage of Calling The Shaman. And yes! I have to ask for Shaman's telephone number to Mr.Zewizz'¦ definitively!

After "Trifler Gimmes Ox" and "Trifler's Revenge", Cauterised (side project of Quartersized, a.k.a. Ian, M.O.M.T.'s boss) is back with TRIFLER COMES CLEAN, a four track EP which make of samplerism its virtue. Taking as inspiration old B-movies, the EP offers nice tracks where despair and irony blend creating ghoulish soundtracks. The mysterious atmospheres of "Satanus naked" with female choirs and piano haunted melodies make me feel at home (I love 50s and 60s B-movies) and I feel them like an audio transposition of the movies you can find into the Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Films. Also the following "An education" (where a slowed down orchestra duet with an obsessive loop) and "Linda finds joy" (melancholic strings duet with noises, children's laughs and monsters' breaths) follow the same path creating a great mood. "Voodoo magic" closes the release with a psychedelic atmosphere made of distant organ sounds, percussions and female samples. Run! They are coming to get you!

I previously reviewed Seven That Spells' album 'Cosmoerotic Dialogue With Lucifer' and, although their penchant for putting naked women on the cover continues undeterred, I have to say that they seem to have mellowed out some. In that review I stated, 'Imagine if Frank Zappa and Sun Ra had a love child that hung out with Nel Cline and Thurston Moore. That love child would play music that sounds a lot like Seven that Spells.' Well, it seems that the child has grown up, got married to the cover model, and had kids. There is still a great complexity to the music and the guitar still reigns supreme, but to take the analogy to the logical extreme, this is a more mature, wiser, Seven That Spells. No longer content to get into testosterone-laden posturing and barroom fights, this group knows that sometimes it is good to slow down'just a bit, of course'and that speed isn't always synonymous with quality. Now here's what the equally metaphorical press sheet that came with the disc had to say: 'STS's psych moves sound like road construction in downtown NYC; a pummeling, from which arises a sublime melodic poetry and the sweet smell of asphalt.' Yes, this is pummeling, but yes this is melodic. The full force fury of their previous album is less foregrounded, but this is still quite powerful. Rather than unloading in a wall of noise, Seven That Spells proves that they are very skilled, serious musicians. The compositions are well constructed and engaging. 'The Abandoned World Of Automata' almost has a jazzy feel to it. Now that doesn't mean that there is not still vestiges of the wall of noise that I remembered. 'Death Star Narcolepsy' can be every bit as frenzied as anything on their last album, but even this track takes on more structure as it progresses. Overall, this was quite enjoyable. If you like guitar music that pushes the envelope, this is one to pick up. This album weighs in at about 49 minutes.