Strange in Stereo #1: Echtra, Ararat, Coil
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I get sent a lot of stuff that's not metal, but may be of interest to metalheads. This includes side projects by metal musicians, non-metal releases by metal labels, dark ambient, noise, and so on. Some of this stuff is too good to keep secret, so I'm starting this column to feature it. It's not meant to be authoritative; plenty of dedicated resources already exist for dark ambient and noise, for example. This is more of a periodic collection of odds and ends.
Echtra - A War for Wonder I (excerpt)
A filmic aspect runs through this month's column. Echtra's A War for Wonder (20 Buck Spin, 2009) is what might happen if Angelo Badalamenti made black metal. The album has a strange backbone: slowly plucked acoustic guitar running almost all the way throughout. Waves of black metal-esque, shoegazing electric guitars wash over the top. The result is rough-hewn but meditative. I have no idea how it would be performed live, but evidently it has been — see some mysterious pictures here and here. Echtra features one member of nature-themed black metal band Fauna. Fans of black metal's ambient fringes (e.g., Procer Veneficus, Caïna) might dig Echtra.
Acoustic guitar also gets atypical settings in Ararat's Musica de la Resistencia (MeteorCity, 2009). Ararat is a project by Sergio Chotsourian, vocalist/guitarist for Argentinian stoner metal band Los Natas. The name comes from Chotsourian's partial Armenian heritage. (He is also part German; see this great interview with him here.) His eclectic background comes out in Ararat. The album encompasses Spanish classical guitar, Michael Nyman-like piano patterns, Beck-esque strumming, and psychedelic passages that tie into Chotsourian's Los Natas side. Surprisingly, it's not a mess. Rather, it sounds like the soundtrack to a movie. The haunting motifs in Kieślowski's The Double Life of Véronique come to mind. I'm willing to pin the "genius" tag on Chotsourian.
Last Friday marked five years since the passing of Coil's John Balance. The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser (Solar Lodge/Soleilmoon, 1987) was one of Coil's most notorious releases. Supposedly it was rejected as being "too scary" for the film. More likely it was shelved due to studio politics. It scared teenage me, at any rate. (The CD sleeve carried a quote by Clive Barker: "The only group I've heard on disc whose records I've taken off because they made my bowels churn.") Now it reminds me of Burzum, especially the synthetic horns. Some parts, however, are indeed quite creepy, particularly the music box tinklings of "Box Theme." If you track down this EP, you might want to keep the lights on for it.
Echtra:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
20 Buck Spin (CD)
Ararat:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
All That Is Heavy (CD)
Labels: ambient/electronic, argentina, clee, features, uk, usa
11 Comments:
Great new column Cosmo. I was in the dark about the Coil/Hellraiser connection.
The 10" Hellraiser vinyl version that I bought back in the day didn't state at what speed it should be played, so imagine my surprise when I picked up the CD-version many years later and found out that it was supposed to be much faster! Played at 33 1/3 that album becomes even creepier and more demonic. And I still prefer »the slow version« even if I was the only idiot who didn't figure out how to play it correctly.
But to me all the early Coil stuff is still surprisingly relevant and blows the ham-fisted Burzum stuff out of the water.
Thanks for bringing it up!
I with you on Sergio C.'s genius. Los Natas is a criminally ignored band
You don't need to track down the Hellraiser EP (which is likely a bajillion dollars these days)--all the songs are on Coil's Unnatural History II, which is an excellent record besides.
I had a hard time getting into Coil because their output is so vast and varied, but they've done some amazing stuff. They put out an album under the name "Time Machines" which is really dense electronic drones meant to facilitate time travel that is really incredible.
I heard another piece they did for a Derek Jarman experimental film thing that was screening at the Tate Modern in London in 2004 and it was really moody and nearly Godspeed You Black Emperor-y, though without their overblown drama. I'd like to know what that piece was and if it's available on a recording because it was also excellent.
best new feature on this site
Graeme: "Themes for Derek Jarman's Blue", most likely?
That was also included on the Unnatural History II compilation, so it should be easily found.
Parts of "Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2" approach a dark ambient or melodic black metal (if that's even comprehensible) sound, though more of an electronic side.
Nah, it's not that. I found this about it though from the Coil brainwashed site:
"For those in London, the prestigious Tate Modern has recently opened an installation featuring a restored version of an old Super 8 film by Derek Jarman with a new soundtrack by Coil. More archival Jarman films are due to be catalogued and restored in the future, and Coil will be contributing soundtracks and scores to many of them."
More Metalheads need to get into Coil. One of my favorite music groups.
Echtra - A War For Wonder is a killer album very hypnotic another similar release is Lustre - Night Spirit.
I'm on Lustre's MySpace right now - interesting stuff. It's like a black metal take on trance music. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.myspace.com/lustresweden
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