Etude
Attrition
2
Gods Label
Voiceprint
Web:
http://www.voiceprint.co.uk
"Elegant music of a baroque and even
medieval cast..."
Alternative
Press, USA.1997.
Etude was originally released in 1997 on Projekt records in the
Recorded in
collaboration with classical musician Franck Dematteis,
a long time admirer of Attrition and member of the Paris Opera. Franck originally contacted the band in
1995 and contributed viola to the 3 arms and a dead cert album. Etude was, and
is, both the natural successor and a wonderful diversion - and the beginning of
Attrition's long time incorporation of classical instrumentation into their
music...
The album includes a cover of Purcell's
"Cold Genius", completing a very special work .
Etude is a powerful and evocative album
which will haunt way after you have finished listening to it. It brings
together the music of the modern goth
culture with dark electronica and classical chamber
music in a way which is surprisingly beautiful yet at the same time melancholic
and sad.
Requiem
Gae Bolg
Auerbach Tontrager
Prophecy Productions 2006
Web: http://www.prophecyproductions.de
Gae Bolg is one of the more
unique bands in the neo classic and mediaeval genre. Their last album “Aucassin et Nicolette” was a concept album based on Chantefable, a
classic book of French fiction dating from 1225. It was well received and mixed
dark ambient and atmospheric genres with Medieval and neo classic sounds. This
new album Requiem is, however, quite unique. It has a far darker and sombre
tone. It is, indeed, a requiem, a mass for the dead, dedicated to the departed
friends and relatives of Eric Roger (who is Gae Bolg), who was incidentally the trumpeter for Sol Invictus.
This
is a powerful and moving piece of music. I cannot think of any more fitting
tribute than to create such a masterful experience in memory of those who have
gone before. At the same time don’t be
put off thinking this is a morbid or worse, sentimental. This is a celebration
of life and death in grand style. There are Gregorian chants and powerful
orchestration and at times the music is overpowering and martial, even
bombastic, yet at other moments it is tender and evocative. Requiem is sacred
music in a real and potent sense and will certainly effect
every listener in a different way.
I
found Requiem an extremely emotional experience and memorable experience.
Whether you are remembering friends, lovers or family who have died or celebrating
your ancestors, this is surely the way to do it. For me this is the most
impressive CD of 2006 thus far !
This
Empty Flow
This
Album
2
CD Set
Eibon Records
Web: http://www.eibonrecords.com/
This Empty Flow was formed in 1994 by Jori Sjöroos and
Niko Sirkiä in
During 1995 This Empty Flow sent demo
versions of four of their songs to Italian Avantgarde Music with whom they signed a record
deal. Between September and November This Empty Flow spent 12 days in studio
U96 in
Magenta Skycode
was released in March 1996 on Avantgarde Music. It
was well received as a superb example of dark pop, with gothic guitar rhythms,
ambient riffs and pain ridden lyrics. It is still considered a gothic classic.
During the autumn This Empty Flow started
to record the follow-up for Magenta Skycode. Four songs were completed but Avantgarde showing a distinct lack of vision and did not
take the project further so these sessions were never completed.
During the summer of 1977 the band made
some further demo recordings but the band was seen by its members to be mocing away from the original concept of This Empty Flow.
So This Empty Flow dissolved. Various posthumous releases have surfaced.
In 1999, an out-take album called Three Empty Boys was released by Plastic Passion. It included the four
songs finished for the second album and seven studio rehearsals / demos
recorded in 1995-1997.
In 2000 Plastic Passion released another
out-take album in a limited 111 CD-R Edition which was called Useless and Empty Songs.). It
contained three studio rehearsals / demos, Of Blossom And Decay and a trip hop
remix of Useless made by Jukka Sillanpää.
Nowafter -
the compilation album of rare and unreleased material - was released by Eibon Records in February 2001.
In March 2006 Eibon
Records has released “The Album” a super double CD collection of The Empty
Flow. 10 years after their original release this superb package includes
Magenta skycode and a CD of rare cuts, outtakes and
demos.
After its demise This Empty Flow have
been asked several times to re-unite for gigs but the members have refused. The
band's releases remain hard to find, and yet are consider seminal works of dark
pop. My take on all this is that they are incredibly under-rated,
perhaps being out of the way in
(Some background info from http://nikoskorpio.net/ with appreciation)