Ricardo Dias Gomes - Aa

Rhythms shadowed in decaying genres, sparse sounds barely illuminated by radiant creativity. Like motionless snakes heating on sun drenched surfaces, slithering away when sensing presence. Aa lays still, a resting body in tranquilized stasis. Consciousness tuning in, patient sonic muscles begin constriction. Ricardo Dias Gomes waits.... his composition heated perfectly.

Common aural ingredients applied with intuition rather than recipe. Eight tracks in a relatively short amount of time, close to twenty minutes. Ricardo Dias Gomes features six guests artist on Aa. This influence ultimately nudges diversity into the composition. Using distant decades to lasso Aa with some comparative measure, an amalgamate of Cabaret Voltaire and Sleep Chamber. A rhythmic seriousness bringing a maze of catacombs to the spirit. Paths splintered by pressing vocals, disorienting bass and electronic shrapnel. Heaviness balanced by the third track Fogo Chama and the seventh track 1 2 3 Nenéns. Warm and gentle respites in the pulse like suspenseful cadence of the other tracks. Ricardo Dias Gomes treats details like sonic gemstones, the dark crystalline notes painstakingly kept polished. This aspect is unique, since ponderous tones often sway towards distortion. Very little if any on Aa, making this composition an easy listen, again and again.

Released on split labels, one of Oakland's most well regarded labels, Kill Shaman Records and the long running SDZ Records from Paris. Aa is in a limited run of five hundred copies and arrived in September of this year.

Links
Ricardo Dias Gomes - bandcamp - facebook
Kill Shaman Records site - bandcamp - facebook
SDZ Records site - bandcamp - facebook


               

Tadzio - The Complaint

Tadzio skirts modern genres and experimental avenues, producing melodies of classical origin. The values rooted in tangible instruments played by a sextet of musicians. This composition plays like a parabolic curve, welcoming tones diving into disquieted chapters and returning fully rejuvenated. The Complaint is filled with sonic prisms, reflecting the feeling of well being with distant questions and introspection.

The cassette is relatively short with four tracks in approximately twenty minutes. The amount of creativity, easily exceeds these physical limits. As mentioned there are six artists at work, Ross Lipton, Benjamin Schurr, Madeline Billhimer, Maura Pond, David Klinger, and Hannah  Burris. The connection to the instruments they use is not noted. The Complaint is easily compared to a short story. An aural attenuation absorbed in the consciousness with just enough groundwork to establish a foundation. Emotional strength is then passed to listeners, never heavy or overbearing, ample tones for thoughts to reflect in subsequent quiet times. The lightest form of broodiness, radiance is still always present.

Released on BLIGHT. Records in an edition of one hundred. The Complaint came out at the end of October, copies are available. Tadzio mentions the artists for this album, meaning preceding works have different line ups. There is a vinyl release from 2013 with Ross Lipton as the composer, this is the same for The Complaint. The only other returning musician is Benjamin Schurr. Copies of this vinyl lp are available as well at the Edible Onion label bandcamp page.

Links

BLIGHT. Records - bandcamp - facebook

Energy ☆ - Energy ☆

In the recesses of the night, where artificial glow of modern civilization is defeated by darkness, Energy ☆ is found. Ambient tranquility constructed from late at night excursions into the city. Rhythms and beats gathered from the din of vibrant venues exceeding curfews of closing times. These sounds have been transcribed, sinking into the woods and groves dotting secluded islands around the globe. What once was cold angles of concrete and steel, is now fine sand and rustic bamboo. A connection still exists, only the new direction feels fantastically more radiant.

There is an organic quality to Energy ☆. Either African or Polynesian, something tribal swelling up and steaming from the surface. Five tracks in just over forty minutes allow listeners to absorb this subtle feeling. The skillfulness which translates to beauty is simply, "nothing overdone". The two artists forming this project, Camilla Padgitt-Coles and Bryce Hackford have great experience and have applied perfectly pleasant amount of patience. So much at times, these sounds slip into the graceful drone realm. This attribute is well represented by track four, the longest of these compositions. These sounds are like cuneiform inscriptions over an EDM genre, past or future a perspective determined by each listener.

Released on the Brooklyn label GALTTA in the first few days of November. This cassette is in an edition of one hundred with copies currently available. Bryce Hackford has more releases to explore here. Camilla Padgitt-Coles with a project called Ivy Meadows here. GALLTA has also pushed out two more recent releases (cassette and vinyl) that should be checked out as well.

Links
GALTTA site - bandcamp - facebook
Camilla Padgitt-Coles site
Bryce Hackford site

Dead Tenants - LPII

The alarm is sounding, run with all the speed, Dead Tenants are in the ears. The ground vibrates in controlled pulse like signals, a stampede harnessed by algorithmic rustlers. These sonic fibers run deep, like roots that Touch and Go across the pond in search of Entertainment! New sounds grow in angles, there are no gentle curves or natural bends. LPII is a sonic wiring manual, heads will spin with the weighty amount of details waiting to be deciphered.

The sonic triangle formed by guitar, bass and drums, is a punk pentagram with two points thrown out. Consciousnesses held in place with instruments in perfectly attenuated high decibels balance. The vocals fill the mind then release, a yo-yo in rhythmic motion, your head is walking the dog. LPII is expertly lacquered, the clarity and fervor of these three musicians never ceasing. Together these sounds so tightly woven, creating a moire effect on the listening end. To properly absorb Dead Tenants, listeners must be engaged. Any attempt to casually peruse these sounds from the wrong angle, will result in just being spit out.

Released on Already Dead Tapes and Records in October. Dead Tenants are making fast tracks with only fourteen releases remaining from the start of one hundred. This is the third release for the band, with the first titled "Void" in digital form. The second release is a split on Austin's Super Secret Records and is still available from the label. With the discography research done, this makes LPII the first solo physical release. Well deserving and nicely fit with Already Dead.

Link
Already Dead Tapes site - facebook - bandcamp - twitter
Dead Tenants - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

2nd Pressing Plus of Midwife - Like Author, Like Daughter

If you missed this wonderful vinyl record last year, a very limited second pressing is up for pre-order now on Whited Sepulchre Records. Lost in a Sea of Sound described these sonic imprints here

To make this even more enticing, the repress package includes....

• a split cassette with Planning For Burial
• expanded liner notes from the original release
• a very cool T-shirt

Pre-Orders now here and release date around January 11th, 2019

Couple pictures....... 

Links
Whited Sepulchre Records site - twitter - bandcamp - facebook
Sister Grotto - bandcamp -facebook
Tome To The Weather Machine blog

Life Education - Psychic Yeoman

Almost two years have gone by since diving into music by Patrick R. Pärk. New endeavors have flourished in this time. Life Education gained momentum after the last time a Kösmonaut (Songs for Healing) album was described on Lost in a Sea of Sound. The \\NULL|ZØNE// label arrived and found stride with many great artists. Now Psychic Yeoman is playing, and descriptive words are in the process of being gathered. This is still the same...

Patrick R. Pärk has composed a sonic tapestry with tightly woven sounds. This aural density is nearly impenetrable for words to describe. An ambient landscape that has taken shape, features so vibrant they pulsate with rhythm. And there is cadence, striking out of the massive electronic haze, beats resembling futuristic patterns for a world yet to come. Psychic Yeoman has an intensity, an aural gleam entwined with so many influences. With help from the Pärk Family Orchestre, each track holds new arrays of sonic structure, the entire composition taking many listens for a deeper understanding. This is the beauty of Life Education, the undulating flow of arrangements, complexities that will not unlock without proper attention.

Released on the Athens, Georgia label \\NULL|ZØNE// in an edition of fifty. Psychic Yeoman has been out for a few months, but there are still a limited amount of copies available. Patrick R. Pärk has a vast audience and his releases usually sell out. There is currently a vinyl re-release of a 2016 cassette titled Library Sounds originally released on Portugal's OTA label. Library sounds is available on blue vinyl from the Kösmonaut bandcamp page or the UK label Castles In Space.

Going back to this release... be sure not to let this \\NULL|ZØNE// tape slip through, because it will.

Links
\\NULL|ZØNE// - facebook - bandcamp
Kösmonaut - bandcamp - facebook

Günter Schlienz - Liederbuch

Back to back description for releases on Muzan Editions. This time from the prolific Günter Schlienz. Like German Army, Günter has compositions manifesting around the world and with equal selling ferocity. Another similarity is the deviation in sound chosen for the Muzan Editions edition. Liederbuch is exactly that, six songs playing like chapters in a book. Varying diversity, both in style and tempo, but unfolding so fluently together. These compositions are a complex menagerie of rhythms and tones. Ever so slightly deranged, like the immediate confluence of two rivers, unlike waters meeting and colliding only to produce a more grand augmentation.

Six tracks crossing molecular space in just over forty minutes. Sounds creating an analog path with firm ground underneath and copious sparkle above. Günter Schlienz is well adept at creating this duality. A tranquil placation of the spirit while the will-o'-wisp performs it's ritual. The consciousness is pulled forth, but physical form has fused with temporal existence. The last two tracks are most unique using vocals for each; The basilic "Stauboper", with David Callahan's monastic timbre. Teresa Smolnik with ethereal power on "Coda Forever". Both beautiful departures for this eclectic wonder.

The final similarity to the Muzan Editions German Army release, Liederbuch is sold out as well. The digital is ready for listening and there is currently one copy for sale on discogs. If you want to get in front of Muzan Editions releases, check out and pre-order the newest edition by Aidan Baker titled Deer Park. Equally exceptional as well.

Links
Cosmic Winnetou site - bandcamp - soundcloud
Muzan Editions -bandcamp - facebook - twitter

German Army - Mangas Coloradas

German Army sending signals back from far reaches of time and space. The essence of early rhythmic manufacturing faintly heard from a distant world... something unique is being transmitted. Shrouded by the reverberating din of continual production, machine like rhythms in a mechanical ceremony, Mangas Coloradas arrives in more ambient fashion. German Army energy mutated and twisted, producing what is considered an ebb to the fracturing flow. The ringing of past prolific radiance continues in the ears, but now the decibels have been muffled, the pace has lightened up, what seems wobbly or ethereal is actually very clear.

Mangas Coloradas is yet another beautifully manicured composition by German Army. Near an hour of music divided randomly among sixteen tracks. For fans of German Army, this album provides captivating diversity to many of the past releases. For anyone new to this project, an excellent starting point. The essentials here are the subdued approach with preservation of so many foundational attributes. A moment of introspection maybe, the opportunity to enjoy German Army in alternate contexts. A sonic gem with slowly rotating fissures, the place thoughts dissolve. Mangas Coloradas fulfills it's title, a physical giant commanding great respect.

Released on Muzan Editions out of Nara, Japan. Not sure how many edition were made. The physical copies are unfortunately sold out as with almost all Muzan Editions releases. The digital is ready to be heard and purchased. Worth every bit to absorb this one. There are two physical releases from other artists available from the label and both are of the same excellent fabric Mangas Coloradas is woven from.

Links
German Army site - bandcamp
Muzan Editions -bandcamp - facebook - twitter

Deadman's Ghost - Saccadic Rhythms

This release titled Saccadic Rhythms finds grooves with some different artists under the Deadman's Ghost project. Jason Mills & David Baxter (Deadman's Ghost) with three tracks on side one. With a flair towards the open plains and sonic expansiveness, these sounds combine rhythms with unspoken ballads. A complex arrangement, with roots in the past and growth towards the future. Like Joe Strummer's soundtrack for the movie Walker, the third track "Dustbowl Drifter" pushes even farther west. There is something untouchable about these sounds. Grand and distant, from places to remote to inhabit and from times long since past.

The second side contains two Deadman's Ghost tracks that are remixes of older material by Vertical67 and Ken & Ryu. The western feel dissipated for a modern snap on late night grooves and blissful voyages. The first track "Lysergic Lasso" remixed by Verticle67 holds allure with patience and clarity. Futuristic electronics glued to glassy funk origins, really nice all the way through. "Tandem Felix" is the title of the second track on side B. Remixed by Ken & Ryu, these sounds have pace and are driven by a wicked drum kit. All instruments are in perfect harmony, music just beyond your consciousness, the driving force of soul.

Released on cassette by the New York label Ephem-Aural. Lost in a Sea of Sound had the pleasure in describing a previous Deadman's Ghost release almost two years ago. Titled Hypocritical Oath and also on Ephem-Aural. Both releases are very different from each other. Well worth exploring each.

 Links
Ephem-Aural - bandcamp
Deadman's Ghost - facebook
Verticle67 - facebook

Shane Parish - Child Asleep In The Rain

When experience collides with patience the most likely outcome is beauty. This characteristic is often very difficult to describe. Like the glow of pink clouds in the sky before the sun rises and after it sets or a full moon radiating through a canopy of live oaks, words can tell a reader what it is, but they can not impart the feelings created. And words can not begin to describe the vibrancy of what is experienced. Shane Parish has composed music with this feature. Creative guitar playing backed at times by tranquil piano, and ambient sustain underlying the entire length of the composition. These are sounds you will hear when listing to Child Asleep In The Rain. Where your thoughts go or how perception is mutated, are what can not be written.

Child Asleep In The Rain contains six tracks in just over a half an hour. Tones sheltered in the recondite areas of Shane Parish's construct. Starting off with a tilt towards a somber tone, Child Asleep In The Rain is veiled with a ponderous mist. Sounds do not languish there, the following tracks "Never See The Sun" and "Angular Essences" are filled with bright strings, folk melodies that have lifted into the ethereal. Near the end, ambient emptiness settles in on "Ghost Dream" then seems to crescendo in almost experimental fashion with the last track "Chest Cavity Portal". The diversity from start to finish is tremendous, but the mood and tone a perfectly congruent. Shane Parish has a special subtle talent.

Released on \\NULL|ZØNE// in an edition of fifty in late September. If you are interested, don't wait at all, currently the label has only three copies remaining.

Links
\\NULL|ZØNE// - facebook - bandcamp
Shane Parish - bandcamp - facebook

German Army - Nepumoceno Cortina

Nepumoceno Cortina is the Robin Hood of industrial noise. These sounds give back. For all the past records by so many varied artists, where terrifying beats pounded behind sheer maniacal wailing, thresholds pushed to maximum capabilities, German Army bestows a most grand composition.  The dark formidable aural landscape so much time was spent exploring, has worn on consciousnesses. This familiarity and appreciation stems from seeds sewn in the seventies, allowing listeners to rotate and inspect what has grown over the decades. Like and old growth forest, German Army takes neophytic sonic rawness to a level of alluring sophistication.

With so many releases over a lengthy time period, German Army is a multi faceted Hematite mineral. And as a mirror of countless compositions, Nepumoceno Cortina mines the same vein. Seventeen tracks, approaching an hours worth of splendor. Classic untreated rhythm in perfect sync with garbled PA style vocals, electronics breathing that grows heavy after long lengths of being faint, all penetrating aspects assembled for another incredible cassette. The lure this time is the sparseness and patience. Nepumoceno Cortina plays like a soundtrack to a life event. Scenes changing pace, like the heart racing in some epic thriller, then sonic moments giving time for the mind to rest and gather. German Army has locked in another key stone in their musical arch.

Yes, this cassette is still available, but of the one hundred created, only seven are left as this is written. As with the last German Army release (Kowloon Walled City on \\NULL|ZØNE//) described on Lost in a Sea of Sound, Nepumoceno Cortina is also on a label in the states, Cloister Recordings from Denver. This German Army tape had a release date of October 31st, and it looks like four other cassettes did as well. Well worth spending some investigative time on this mysterious label.

Links
German Army site - bandcamp
Cloister Recordings site - bandcamp - facebook

International Surrealist Bulletin - Immanence

Rumblings deep within the living jungle. The ground vibrates, a bird's call echoing into vegetative obscurity. A beat, a crisp sound of a hand played drum is the interlude to the foreign tongue and native machinery. There is no time, sounds droning through the night, only an aural flickering. The ceremony begins abruptly or fatefully depending upon the perspective. Now, vibrant sound permeates the discernible stillness. Tranquil reverberation in the lowest frequency overlaid with spiritual mysticism.

Trumpets sound, mystery finding conscious cracks, slowly growing like invasive vines in a new found land. Meditative meanderings through sonic moments in time. Sometimes futuristic, then changing form to herald ancient civilizations. These sounds are beautifully juxtaposed throughout the course of the composition. Immanence swirls with heaviness, almost forty five minutes over four tracks, but the core feeling is more of serenity than anything else. Undertones of shrines, sanctuaries and holy places, filled with vitality of the oracle that is International Surrealist Bulletin.

Immanence was released on the New York label Ephem-Aural in September of this year. The first tape to follow International Surrealist Bulletin's previous label release Communitas back in the summer of 2016. Lost in a Sea of Sound was fortunate enough to dive into Communitas as well. These sounds run through time, coupling forgotten worlds with those to come. Providing a tangible tether to metaphysical domains.

 Links
Ephem-Aural - bandcamp
International Surrealist Bulletin - bandcamp