Guided by gnomes

Hydromorphone

2010-08-25T23:35:00.002+03:00

http://hydromorphone.co.cc/

Here's my own little ambient project. All the releases for free from there, so far there are 2 albums and 3 EP's, hope you like it.

I'm likely not going to post to Guided by Gnomes anymore, which you probably have already guessed since it has been over eight months since the last entry.

Ulf Söderberg - Vindarnas Hus

2009-12-08T01:32:00.000+02:00

His most acclaimed and so far last album released under this name, from 2003.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Ulf Söderberg - Tidvatten

2009-12-08T01:26:00.001+02:00

More of the same, this is from 1998.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Ulf Söderberg - Nattljus

2009-12-08T01:24:00.000+02:00

A bit older stuff from the guy behind Sephiroth. Good tribalish dark ambient from Sweden 1995.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Convulse - World Without God

2009-12-07T21:44:00.000+02:00

Finnish band's debut from 1991. Good stuff, but the production isn't.

Download (~220 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Destination Beyond

2009-12-07T21:40:00.000+02:00

This is Steve's newest from 2009. Another one of those with only one gargantual track.

Download (V2 MP3)

I also reuploaded Steve Roach's Darkest Before Dawn album that wouldn't unpack, now it should work. Plus I deleted his collaboration with Loren Nerell from the site, because Nerell himself asked me to.

Demilich - Nespithe

2009-12-06T22:22:00.001+02:00

"Toad Metal" classic from Finland 1993. Technical Death Metal with ridiculously low pitched growls and nice organic sounds. Long song titles like "The Putrefying Road in the Nineteenth Extremity (...Somewhere inside the Bowels of Endlessness...)" along with the a bit cheap album cover will describe the feel of the album to you pretty well. Easily one of the best finnish Death Metal albums ever.

Download (V2 MP3)

Also rereleased in 2009 with bonus songs, I haven't heard it yet but someone said that it's mixed pretty badly.

Cenotaph - The Gloomy Reflections of Our Hidden Sorrows

2009-12-06T21:09:00.000+02:00

Eerie, athmospheric, muddy and often slow even a bit doomish album from Mexico (!) 1992. Overall the mix sounds pretty crowded and could be better, but that also helps it to sound so thick and heavy.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Grave - Into The Grave

2009-12-06T21:03:00.000+02:00

Grave's debut from Sweden 1991. Dark and fast.

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Cancer - To The Gory End

2009-12-06T20:56:00.001+02:00

Winter is the best time for Death Metal, so I'll be uploading some of the lesser known good old school Death Metal albums from the late 80's and mostly early 90's, and there's a lot of them. Swarms of bands who released only an album or two from everywhere.

Here's Cancer from UK, with songs like Cancer Fucking Cancer, from the year 1990. Simple, fast, thrashy and catchy.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Alain Goraguer - La planète sauvage

2009-11-23T19:29:00.002+02:00

Alain Goraguer's nice jazz-funk soundtrack to Rene Laloux's awesome film La planète sauvage (Fantastic Planet).

"Like French sex. With aliens. And flutes."

Download (V2 MP3)

Sephiroth - Draconian Poetry

2009-10-13T12:58:00.002+03:00

Deep tribal dark ambient.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces FLAC

2009-10-11T00:45:00.002+03:00

Well here's the FLAC. And bewarned, it's 1,3 GB.

Read about it or get the MP3.

Download Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 (FLAC)

Steve Roach, Byron Metcalf, Mark Seelig - Mantram

2009-10-11T00:37:00.006+03:00

Tribal ambient collaboration from 2004.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Dynamic Stillness

2009-10-11T00:36:00.002+03:00

Double album from 2009.

Download (V2 MP3)

Steve Roach - Landmass

2009-10-11T00:31:00.003+03:00

2008.

Download (V0 MP3)

Steve Roach - New Life Dreaming

2009-10-11T00:27:00.001+03:00

This great album is from 2005.

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Darkest Before Dawn

2009-10-11T00:24:00.004+03:00

This is from 2002, and it's his first with only one song, length 74 minutes. Steve Roach doesn't compromise, bitches.

Edit: Reuploaded, didn't apparently work previously.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Early Man

2009-10-11T00:23:00.001+03:00

Originally released in 2000, but this is the issue with a bonus disc from 2001.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Midnight Moon

2009-10-11T00:21:00.003+03:00

From 2000.

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Atmospheric Conditions

2009-10-10T21:29:00.002+03:00

Up there with "Magnificent Void" as his best from 90's. This is from 1999.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - On This Planet

2009-10-10T21:26:00.001+03:00

1997.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void

2009-10-10T21:22:00.003+03:00

As you can guess from the name, this is bit darker album, from 1996. That cover looks so outdated, 90's computer magic fonts.

"This album lives up to its title. Eight songs of otherworldliness that make for a nearly 70 minute odyssey through the you guessed it."

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Origins

2009-10-10T21:18:00.002+03:00

"A very acoustic sounding album from a fellow known for his electronic works, but I'm not complaining this is damn nice and I seem to pull it out at least once every six months or so. Didgeridoos, flute, stones, water pots, log drums etc. You get the idea. Very worthwhile."

This is from 1993.

Download (256 kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return

2009-10-10T21:14:00.002+03:00

Double album from 1988. One of his best and most acclaimed albums, atleast after Structures From Silence and Mystic Chords and Sacred Spaces. A good mix between tribalish new wave and pure ambient.

Download Part 1, Part 2 (256 Kbps MP3)

Steve Roach - Empetus

2009-10-10T21:11:00.002+03:00

Loots of Steve Roach coming up.

This is from 1986 and it's more of Berlin school progressive electronic than ambient.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Live One, Two, Three, Four and Megalithomania!

2009-10-10T13:19:00.014+03:00

This download includes everything that was in "the Key to Joy is Disobedience" box set, known also as Live Box, except for the ANS album. So five live albums in one set, enjoy.

Download Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (256 Kbps MP3)

I think this is enough Coil for a while, most of their releases are here now. Get IRL copies from here, it's always good to support these kind of artists.

Coil - ...and the Ambulance Died in His Arms

2009-10-10T13:13:00.004+03:00

"...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms was an album recorded live during Coil's performance at All Tomorrow's Parties on April 4, 2003. This album was the last planned release by Coil before the death of John Balance. When the release was announced, Peter noted that Balance selected the title." - Wikipedia

"When this was recorded Jhonn Balance was falling apart. It was obvious that something needed to be done about him. And that things couldn’t continue in this way. Having already been absent on two other shows. Because of his alcohol and drug fuelled madness he was destroying more then Coil’s profits could cover. It wasn’t sure whether he would show up at all for this performance. It’s that feeling of Jhonn standing on the edge and looking down into the abyss right before he fell into it that makes this album so beautiful and terrifying at the same time.. (He had already died from a fall of his balcony before this album was released. Though the albums title isn’t a reference to this.)"

This is their probably their best live release (after Selvaggina). RIP Jhonn Balance. Good night, sweet prince.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Coil - The New Backwards

2009-10-10T13:08:00.002+03:00

2008 album which is basicly their '93 Backwards demo remade and expanded. Good stuff and might be the last Coil album to come.

Download (V0 MP3)

Coil - The Ape of Naples

2009-10-10T13:05:00.002+03:00

2005, one of Coil's most well known and acclaimed albums. I think this is not only their best, but also one of the greatest albums of the decade. Great stuff.

Download (V2 MP3)

Coil - Black Antlers

2009-10-10T13:02:00.001+03:00

This is from 2004, and I think it's one of their best.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Coil - The Remote Viewer

2009-10-10T12:58:00.002+03:00

2002. This is a rip of the original release with three tracks, not the 5-track re-release.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Moon's Milk In Four Phases (Bonus Disc)

2009-10-10T12:56:00.003+03:00

Rare bonus disc, 333 copies in the world.

Download (192 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Moon's Milk (In Four Phases)

2009-10-05T17:22:00.004+03:00

A compilation release from 2002, including 4 of Coil's EP's from 1998-1999: Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk (Or Under an Unquiet Skull), Summer Solstice: Bee Stings, Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers and Winter Solstice: North.

Download (224 Kbps MP3)

Coil - The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser

2009-10-05T17:18:00.003+03:00

This was the proposed soundtrack to the film Clive Barker film Hellraiser, however it was turned down because it was not considered commercial enough. Coil released it as an EP in 1987

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Coil vs. ELpH - Born Again Pagans EP

2009-10-05T17:14:00.005+03:00

ELpH is another pseudonym for the band Coil. The name itself was used to describe glitches and unrehearsed sounds coming from their equipment that were not consciously composed. Jhonn Balance has referred to this phenomenon as 'channeling' and the band has often spoken of ELpH as an actual entity and 'invisible' member of Coil.

Download (128 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Time Machines - Coil Presents Time Machines

2009-10-05T17:07:00.006+03:00

3 songs, that never had a proper album release, in 50 minutes, from a Time Machines live show called "Time Machines from the Heart of Darkness" in London 2000.

Download (224 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Time Machines - Time Machines

2009-10-05T17:05:00.003+03:00

One of the best pure electronic drone albums.

"Time Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of 4 tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical (see track titles). It is similar to Brian Eno's early ambient albums, but more functional in that, instead of creating an atmosphere of calm, it facilitates time travel, according to band founder John Balance. Each tone was tested and retested in the studio for maximum narcotic potency. John Balance described the album as an attempt to "dissolve time" -Wikipedia

Download (128 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2

2009-10-04T21:54:00.002+03:00

More of the same goodness as the first one, released in 2000.

Download (160 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Musick to Play in the Dark

2009-10-04T21:47:00.005+03:00

This is from 1999 and one of their most acclaimed works. They changed the style to a more dark ambient one.

"Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1 was one of two albums attributed purely to a style called "moon music", which signified their change from a "solar" to a "moon" group"

"The initial CD pressing was limited to 2,000 copies, approximately 1,000 of which that ordered directly from Coil include certificate of provenance, numbered and signed by Peter and John.

The 12" version of this record features "edited" versions of the songs as they appear on the CD. It was released on translucent white vinyl in an edition of 500. "FOR YVES TANGUY" is etched in side A of the vinyl. "IT'S JUST A PHASE WE'RE GOING THROUGH" is etched on side B."

Download (256 Kbps MP3) (fuck this blogspot editor, it got stuck on cursive)

Coil - Stolen and Contaminated Songs

2009-10-04T21:43:00.005+03:00

Released in 1992. Many think this is even better than Love's Secret Domain, which is weird for this is a compilation of outtakes and unreleased songs from that album.

Download (160 Kbps MP3)

Coil - The Snow EP

2009-10-04T21:40:00.003+03:00

1991. "The Snow" track from LSD and 5 remixes of it, also 12" mix of "Windowpane".

Download (V0 MP3)

Coil - Love's Secret Domain

2009-10-04T21:33:00.007+03:00

LSD is Coil's third proper album, from 1991. It's a bit different from the first ones focusing more on acid house/ambient house, but still not departing completely from the industrial style.

Download (160 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Gold Is the Metal (With the Broadest Shoulders)

2009-10-04T21:31:00.004+03:00

Coil's third album, 1987. More of a collection of outtakes and demos from Scatology, Horse Rotorvator and Hellraiser soundtrack sessions than a proper follow-up.

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Coil - Horse Rotorvator

2009-10-04T21:28:00.006+03:00

Coil's second album from 1986. An industrial classic that everyone interested in the genre should have, more experimental than Scatology. Their best work from the industrial-era and according to many people their best album ever.

Download (160 Kbps MP3)
(I need to get a better quality version)

Coil - Scatology

2009-10-04T21:22:00.005+03:00

Lot's of Coil coming up. This is their first and most straightforward industrial album, from 1984. Good stuff.

"it's best not to look into the stories behind the songs too much as it's rather shitty - literally, and very disturbing."

Download (160 Kbps MP3)

Current 93 - I Have A Special Plan For This World

2009-10-04T19:34:00.003+03:00

A one-song-EP from 2000, 22 minutes. This is one of Tibet's (Current 93's only member) finest works in my opinion and quite unique spoken word/dark ambient/noise.

Along with Coil and Nurse With Wound, Current 93 is one of the best known and longest running experimental artists from UK.

Download (256 kbps MP3)

Robyn Miller - Riven

2009-10-03T18:12:00.004+03:00

Soundtrack to Myst's sequel Riven. Better and more ambient than the first one.

Download (320 Kbps MP3)

Robyn Miller - Myst

2009-10-03T18:02:00.005+03:00

Soundtrack to the game Myst. Pretty good steampunkish ambient.

Download (320Kbps MP3)

Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street

2009-10-03T17:41:00.003+03:00

Hassell's newest, from 2009. Jazzy ambient.

Download (V0 MP3)

Jon Hassell - The Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things by the Power of Sound

2009-10-03T17:39:00.005+03:00

Perhaps my favorite from Hassell, just look at that album name.

This is tribal ambient/jazz from 1987. Last one of the Hassell FLACs I have.

Download (FLAC) Part 1, Part 2

Jon Hassell - Power Spot

2009-09-24T10:44:00.002+03:00

Tribal ambient, 1986.

Download (FLAC) Part 1, Part 2

Jon Hassell & Farafina - Flash of the Spirit

2009-09-24T10:41:00.001+03:00

Tribal minimalism/ambient.

Download (FLAC) Part 1, Part 2

Jon Hassell - Earthquake Island

2009-09-19T12:44:00.002+03:00

World Music/Jazz Fusion from 1978.

Download (FLAC)

Jon Hassell - Fourth World Volume Two: Dream Theory In Malaya

2009-09-19T12:40:00.004+03:00

Tribalistic minimalism, 1981. I'm going to upload more Jon Hassell for these are pretty damn hard to come by.

Download (FLAC)

Steve Roach - Structures From Silence

2009-09-19T11:35:00.002+03:00

An ambient classic from 1984. One of the best, if not the best album, of the genre.

Download (FLAC)

Shadow of The Beast OSTs 1, 2 & 3

2009-09-19T11:09:00.003+03:00

I thought I lost these, but fortunately they were still on my old computer. These are almost impossible to find with the only links I've ever found being dead for years now, so here you go.

First album is composed by David Whittaker and the two others by Tim Wright. These are original and complete rips straight from Amiga.

Download (128 kbps MP3)

Lazy

2009-05-19T23:41:00.003+03:00

Read these better music blogs too.

Glowing Raw - http://glowingraw.blogspot.com/
Lots of folk and psychedelic music.

Holy Fucking Shit 40,000 - http://holyfuckingshit40000.blogspot.com/
Everything interesting and good.

Microphones In The Trees - http://microtrees.blogspot.com/
Mostly ambient, electronic and post-rock.

A Special Plan For This World - http://a-special-plan-for-this-world.blogspot.com/
Noise, drone and other weird and rare stuff.

Necrotica - http://2shcansion.blogspot.com/
Sure to satisfy all your dark ambient needs.

More links on the sites.

SoiSong - xAj3z

2009-04-30T12:45:00.002+03:00

The new and first SoiSong album. SoiSong is Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson from Coil and Ivan Pavlov (aka. CoH).

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Shub-Niggurath - Les morts vont vite

2009-04-22T00:15:00.002+03:00

Great french Lovecraft-inspired zeuhl from 1986.

Download (128 Kbps MP3)

Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black Earth

2009-04-21T00:30:00.004+03:00

Really slow jazz, called funeral jazz by some. An amazing and interesting album.

"Long droning ambient tones immediately captivate me as I begin to listen. The funeral-paced drums sets the tempo of my breathing. The rhodes piano plays a dark melody for me, an emotional one. Bass tones sounding as if they had traveled from the most unfathomable depths of the abyss has begun to tremble me. The bass is later on played with a bow which creates what can only be described as a fearsome sound. The almost silent buzzy noise created by the brush fondling the snare is tingling my ears. Ah the sax... I don't know how long it's been playing for I have forgotten when it begun. It plays me a lonely tune. Which isn't necessarily grieving the absence of company."

"A must hear for fans of twin peaks' soundtrack."

Download: Part 1, Part 2 (~250 Kbps MP3)

Front 242 - Official Version

2009-04-20T16:23:00.003+03:00

Front 242 was the first (and best) EBM (electronic body music, yeah, silly) band, creating a fusion of industrial and dance music. This is from 1987 and their best album.

Forget Wumpscut, Hocico and other mediocre shit like that and have the original. This is one of the few EBM albums that you should have, if any.

Download (128 Kbps MP3)

:wumpscut: - Bunkerton 7

2009-04-19T23:04:00.005+03:00

I play Wumpscut loud in my car so people think I'm Pekka-Eric Auvinen.

"Like the evil incarnation of Depeche Mode."

(I don't even like this myself, but here you go)

Download

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde

2009-04-19T22:44:00.007+03:00

Have this too, you know, from the Amesoeurs guy. Similar stuff, but instead of the post-punk elements there's an Agalloch-style folk post-rock feeling. From 2007.

"His progress towards the airy, hallucinogenic sounds of Souvenirs D’Un Autre Monde, then, follows more or less the same path as Justin Broadrick’s Jesu; his album has the same wet, shimmering atmosphere, the same juxtaposition of beauty and volume. And yet, you’d never mistake Souvenirs D’Un Autre Monde for Conqueror. Alcest’s album is lacquered over, in places, with a disturbing too-prettiness... it’s another world indeed, and a beautiful one." - POP MATTERS

"Alcest was already cult before Neige released a first official album, but now that I listened to Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde I can tell you that this status is all but not an usurpation." - METALSTORM

"His long-awaited full-length debut completely abandons the chilly darkness for the warmth of the summer sun, eschewing screams for gentle singing, bleak lyrics for romantic poetry and metal for darkwave and shoegaze, resulting in a drop-dead gorgeous piece of work." - DECIBEL

Download (256 Kbps MP3)

Glenn Branca - Ascension

2009-04-19T22:34:00.003+03:00

Amazing experimental noise rock/no wave/modern classical album. It's like a symphony for electric guitars.

Download (FLAC)

Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

2009-04-19T22:07:00.003+03:00

So far the best album of this year I've heard. A weird and surprisingly well working mix of post-punk, black metal and shoegaze, with beautiful mostly clean french female vocals. Led by the guy who's also behind Alcest, Peste Noire and some other bands. Sadly this is Amesoeurs' last and first album, they've released also an EP.

Download (~220 Kbps MP3)

Robert Rich - 5 albums

2009-04-17T22:09:00.020+03:00

Have some more ambient. Everything's around 200-260 kbps MP3.
Rainforest (1989)
Gaudi (1991)
A Troubled Resting Place (1996)
Bestiary (2001)
Echo of Small Things (2005)

Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa

2009-04-17T22:04:00.003+03:00

More minimalism, this time from Estonia, 1984. Perhaps the most acclaimed modern classical album ever.

Download (192 kbps MP3)

Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend

2009-04-15T15:44:00.005+03:00

Reverend Bizarre are Finland's gift to doom metal. Behind it is three guys: Albert Witchfinder, Peter Vicar and
Earl of Void.

This album was released in 2002, and is also one of the greatest doom metal records ever. This is old school metal with dramatic vocals and a really clean production, best of it's kind. I never really liked Candlemass that much, I'm not fond of the vocals. Reverend does a lot better, slower and heavier.

Also a nice cover with Goya's painting The Witche's Sabbath from the 18th century.

Download: Part 1, Part 2 (320 kbps MP3)

I also added download link to Coil's Selvaggina go Back Into The Woods, as some people had been looking for it, here's the link too: Selvaggina (192 kbps MP3)

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

2009-04-14T23:11:00.006+03:00

One of my all-time favourites and in my opinion the best doom metal album (and band) ever. The whole album and band is dipped in pure awesome, just listen:

"Black monolith charged with unlight
Sacrifice to forever midnight
Towers, titan sonic wave
Sorcery, necromantic slaves

Rise, black amps tear the sky
Feedback will free your mind and set you free
Rise, black amps tear the sky
Riff hewn altar wreathed in smoke and weed, yeah" -Electric Wizard, Dopethrone

"Born in Dorset, England in 1993, in a quiet country town, initially we were the product of frustration, unemployment and excessive drug abuse. But through hallucinogenic experimentation and occult sciences we realised our true potential. Eventually becoming a multi-tentacled paen to dark and weird subjects.

A celebration of outre low brow art like Weird Tales, 70's horror and B-movies, head shop art, drug comix, italian pornohorror comics, Crepax, Lovecraft, Howard etc. coupled with a morbid fascination in cults, witchcraft, freemasonry, biker culture, nazi mysticism and ancient occult sciences and how these dark arts can be applied to music.

We have created a true one way ticket away from this dead planet." -Electric Wizard

Download: Part 1, Part 2 (320 kbps MP3)

Sleep - Dopesmoker

2009-04-14T22:55:00.005+03:00

Along with Electric Wizard's Dopethrone, this is the pinnacle of stoner metal (though I prefer Dopethrone). One of the heaviest and best doom metal albums ever, and so slow that it can be considered even somewhat drone. Released in 2003.

Has only two songs, Dopesmoker and Sonic Titan, with the Dopesmoker being the epitome of stoner tracks with 63 minutes of length and being heavily based on one slowly altering awesome riff. Great drumming and sludgish singing.

"Dopesmoker is at once an instant doom metal classic — some might even say a masterpiece"

"One riff to rule them all."

"Drop out of life with bong in hand
Follow the Smoke toward the Riff filled Land" -Dopesmoker

Download (320 kbps MP3)
Download (FLAC)

The Caretaker - A Stairway To The Stars

2009-04-14T22:41:00.001+03:00

"The Caretaker’s first three albums ("Selected Memories From the Haunted Ballroom", "A Stairway to the Stars" and "We'll All Go Riding on a Rainbow") are all excellent examples of hauntology existing in music. These initial three albums are all said to have been heavily influenced by the famous ballroom scene in the film "The Shining" the idea of ghosts from the past re-emerging from the shadows to share one last waltz around a previously empty and deserted ballroom only to vanish soon after. In many ways The Caretakers music is a musical re-representation of this scene with the ghosts of those long forgotten ballroom dancers replaced with the now seemingly archaic and long forgotten yet ‘Uncannily’ familiar ballroom music of the same era. These first three Caretaker albums were all created using re-processed 1920/30s ballroom music from old 78rpm records as their base source. These antique tunes are not simply re-produced however, but are instead buried under layers of feedback, dusty ambience, and vinyl crackle; before at times being smeared, re-sampled and stretched almost beyond recognition. These sounds never come fully to the fore, they are never allowed to be fully realised, never allowed to continue for too long or simply play out, and never allowed to take flight as they once did. These sounds are not simply the past brought back to life through music, but due to having been buried under layers of ambience and combined with their crackly, semi-obscured nature are in fact mere shades of the past."

"This guy takes it further back, to the days of steam trains and ballrooms and, ya know, real wars, when men were men and pints cost a shoe: crafting albums from dusty, intolerably scratched records, all sent through a sea of reverb and distortion."

Beautifully haunting grimbient, the ballroom music has been altered beyond recognition expect in a few songs.

Download (256 kbps MP3)

Psychonaut 75 - Hellmachine

2009-04-08T16:31:00.009+03:00

An OK and very unknown harsh electro industrial album. The male member of the band looks like a stupid twat, but nevermind about him.

This has a nice cyberpunk (sometimes a bit steampunk) feel to it (like the cover would suggest). So get your gasmasks on and let's go.

Download (320 kbps MP3)

Chu Ishikawa - Tetsuo

2009-04-04T01:15:00.003+03:00

A good industrial soundtrack to an awesome japanese movie.

Download (160 kbps MP3)

Ahab - Call of the Wretched Sea

2009-04-02T17:46:00.004+03:00

Imagine that you are sinking to the bottom of an ocean, you are drowning in slow motion and you're only accompanied by a colossal whale who sank your ship and he's mocking you. That's what this album might sound like.

This is as heavy as the whale on the cover coming crushing down on your ship. It's one of the best funeral doom metal albums out there, thanks to the atmosphere. Funeral whalecore at it's best.

Download: Part 1, Part 2 (220 kbps MP3)

Plastikman - Consumed

2009-04-01T19:21:00.009+03:00

Imagine that you are having a rave party at the bottom of an ocean, everybody's dancing in slow motion and the only light comes from phosphoric deep-sea creatures. That's what this album might sound like.

At first I thought that this was only OK, but it's grown on me and this is actually pretty damn nice. The term minimal techno was suspicious at first, but it's not as minimal as I was afraid of. Relaxing bass-heavy downtempo techno.

I'd say this is a lot like some stuff on Aphex Twins first Selected Ambient Works album, but more minimal and bass oriented. If you like dubstep, ambient techno or IDM, you should propably want to try this one.

Download: Part 1, Part 2 (only 6Mb) (192 kbps MP3, I'm not going to mention these crappy bitrates anymore. I'm running out of excuses)
(And I'm not going to tag this as minimal techno, it's so rare that it'll be the only one tagged with it and only cause confusion)

Steve Roach & Robert Rich

2009-04-01T18:35:00.010+03:00

As I said, I haven't had the time to listen to even half of Roach's stuff and nothing by Rich so far, but this one I liked a lot. From the few tribal-ambient releases I've now listened, this is by far the best. There's a lot more variation than for example in Mantram.

Unlike with Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces here's a lot of percussions and melodies, insted of just spacey walls of textures, so it's quite different. One of my favourite ambient records so far.

"The word soma can be found in the ancient Vedic texts describing a botanical hallucinogen. The same word means “body" in ancient Greek. The music on the album is tribal ambient with dark hallucinatory overtones." -Wikipedia

"It's all here, tribal grooves, organic sound-worlds, rich harmonic formations and breathy melodic flutes blend effortlessly. Numerous highest-rated reviews and top 10 best-of lists for 1992." -SteveRoach.com

Download (192 kbps MP3, again :( What can I say? These aren't that easy to find, much less in high quality.)

Steve Roach - Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces

2009-04-01T00:11:00.017+03:00

Steve Roach (not to be confused with Steve Reich) is one of the most prolific and greatest ambient music creators ever, with masterpieces like Structures From Silence and Dreamtime Returns, both of which many regard as the best ambient (and new age for the later) albums ever. Those were released in the 80's and since then Roach has constructed various numbers of ambient records (which I haven't yet had the time to get to know better) ranging from good to amazing and from tribalish new age ambient to dark ambient, but nothing that phenomenal until this album that came in 2003, with over six years of inspiration.

I'm just going to say this is the best and definitive ambient release I've ever heard. It's five hours, four CD's and twentynine tracks long, so you get four regular album's worth of brilliant music. Longest track is over seventy minutes and shortest ones are two minutes long, there's a lot of variation between the tracks. Here's someone's words, which support my own better than I ever could.

"There are not many musicians creative, bold, imaginative, and talented enough to release a four-CD set of new material. Steve Roach is all of that and the proverbial glazed doughnut. Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces is close to five hours of deep and dark -- even dank -- ambience from this living legend. Each disc has its own thematic and sonic integrity. Each disc interacts with the other discs as well. Roach has sequenced this set and designed the sound to display complements and contrasts in imagery, sensory perception, and spiritual proclivity.

The first disc -- Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces -- takes listeners to the edges of reality immediately and gently. The deep atmospheres surround listeners and leave them with no escape routes. Of course, deep listeners will neither need nor want to escape. They will surrender to the moment. The moment is now. The moment is later. The moment is gone. The moment is eternal. The experience is existential and spiritual. Labyrinth -- disc two -- is suitable for losing oneself. Roach's shamanic rituals take listeners deeper into the zone. The psyche is lost in the realms of this bottomless pit, this cavern of the surreal. There are no impossible worlds on this journey. In the realms of nothingness, deep listeners see everything. In seeing everything, listeners gather knowledge. The ritual continues to begin and begins to continue.

Disc three -- Recent Future -- might be some of the best e-music ever. It continues the continuation of the continuous continuity. It relates to everything and reveals nothing. These atmospheres and soundscapes are intoxicating. Roach's free-flowing sound world has no structure within its tight structure. The simplicity of this intricate sound design is an absolute truth. In truth, there is beauty. In beauty, there is truth. Piece of Infinity is classic Roach. It is a long form (74-minute) journey through the realms of incongruities. The music continues to start and it begins to end. Roach is bringing listeners up from the depths and down from the heights. There are no limits and no edges. The languid pace is the perfect end, the perfect transition, and the perfect beginning. The surrender is gradual. The goal is to achieve the goal. These four discs are interchangeable in the progression of Roach's shamanic ritual. Taken in its totality, the set defines itself and Roach's career. He will go to any length, depth, or height to find knowledge, truth, beauty, character, and spirituality.

This is a truly unique experience."

Again, sorry about the quality. In this kind of music you really notice it, so you should get something better than this, but still here it is.
Oh, and the FLAC version is 1,4 gb, so it would be a pain in the ass to upload it.
More Steve Roach is on the way at some point.
Download (192 kbps MP3): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians

2009-03-31T22:53:00.008+03:00

Steve Reich's best piece of modern classical music called minimalism, and along with Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa the most acclaimed minimalism album ever.

Beautiful harmonies from the beginning to the end with simple "pulses" from 18 instruments. Here's a sample of what to expect, if you don't know about minimalism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHVMVDhC-UA

"The harmony seems static, yet one's interest is held by the pungency of the aural color, the pulsing dynamics and Reich's periodic shifting of instrumental forces. As with a change in the sunlight, the music enters a new sonic realm." -Rolling Stone

Download (192 kbps MP3, sorry 'bout shitty quality)
This is the 1998 re-release, which I think is the same as the 1978 version, but a bit longer.

Eskaton - 4 Visions

2009-03-31T21:18:00.009+03:00

Some really nice zeuhl from 1979. Similar to Magma, but with french female vocals and less choir. What more can I say, really?

Download (320 kbps MP3, re-release with an extra song): Part 1, Part 2

Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice And Rats In The Loft

2009-03-31T16:38:00.010+03:00

Some more acid folk? Don't mind if I do. Mice and Rats in the Loft is also from 1971 and also from UK. This includes much more wankery than Comus, but you don't hear this good acoustic wankery often. Highly recommended for prog fans. Consists of only three songs, one is 19 minutes, the other's are 12 and 8. And yes, that is some nice album cover right thur.

Download (FLAC): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Comus - First Utterance

2009-03-31T16:25:00.010+03:00

From 1971 comes this insane british progressive folk / acid folk cult favourite album. Now what the hell is acid folk? Basically, it's like progressive rock, but with (mostly) acoustic instruments.

This album has for example influenced Opeth and Current 93. Amazing mellow melodies and beautiful singing, but also some heavy acoustical insanity and this came just two years after In the Court of the Crimson King, which basically invented progressive rock.

"The music is largely acoustic art rock that blends elements of Eastern percussion, early folk and animal-like vocals. The music evokes many feelings, but the most dominant are fear, confusion, despair, with occasional passages of tranquil beauty such as can be found in "The Herald". The lyrics are dramatic, involving violence, murder, rape, and mental disorder." -Wikipedia

And now, to make this blog into something useful, here's the album:
Download (256 kbps MP3)

Roger Dean

2009-03-30T03:09:00.023+03:00

Look at art. Some good quality pics that are hard to find. His album covers.

Coil - Selvaggina Go Back Into the Woods

2009-03-29T17:37:00.011+03:00

WHAT ARE YOU DOING SELVAGGINA, YOU DON'T BELONG HERE, YOU DON'T EVEN FIT. SELVAGGINA, GO BACK INTO THE WOODS.

This is a must album for Coil fans, it's unique and magical with great live versions of few of the best songs from Black Antlers and Ape of Naples like Amethyst Deceivers and Tattooed Man. Recorded in Italy 2004. Also includes a cover of Current 93's All The Pretty Little Horses, which is better than the original.

If you're interested in dronish noisy electronic experimental stuff you should check it out. It might help if you're already familiar with Coil and I guarantee you'll like it if you're a fan of their later albums.

Download (192 kbps MP3)

Christian Death - Only Theatre of Pain

2009-03-28T22:22:00.009+02:00

Only Theatre of Pain was published in 1982 and with it Christian Death was among the few and first to create a tiny sub genre for gothic rock and post-punk called deathrock (fusion of gothic rock and punk). Basically it's alot like gothic rock, but the singing is over-the-top dramatically emotional and the guitars more scratchy. Only Theatre of Pain is one of the few albums of the genre I've heard (there aren't that many altogether) and of those, it's easily the best and has greatly influenced future bands.

The vocals are surprisingly unannoying raspy singing unlike the campy overly theatrical vocalising of many other death rock bands, but not completely successfull either all of the time, mainly because of it gets very monotonous. This is the biggest downside of the album.

Most of the songs have catchy tunes and anthems like Romeo's Distress and Spiritual Cramp lift this album easily among to one of the best gothic rock albums and propably the best death rock records ever. After this one Christian Death have released mainly shit, judging from the few albums I've heard.

Download (224 kbps MP3)