REVIEWS
	SOUNDING THE DEEP REVIEW: Aquarius Records This one should be a no brainer. Any one into space rock krautdrone a la Expo 70, might as well just stop reading and grab this right now. Recorded by Expo 70's Justin Wright, and released on his Sonic Meditations label, Sounding The Deep definitely sounds like it could have been Wright under a different name, the same sort of brooding psychedelic drift, the same blissed out ambience, the same minimal blurred dronescapes, the same occasional forays into something slightly heavier and Sunn-ier, but it's actually the work of a fellow named David Williams. And don't assume that Sounding The Deep are a rip off of Expo 70, they just happen to tread the same sonic territory. Imagine the furthest reaches of space, Wright's Expo 70 is drifting aimlessly through the stars, coordinates set for the heart of some distant sun, when who should drift into view, Sounding The Deep, their trajectory an entirely different far off sun, a wholly different destination, but with a shared journey. Sounding The Deep to our ears sounds a bit more droney, and abstract, not as heavy or space-y, instead, more contemplative, minimal and abstract, tendrils of guitar melody drift in a haze of deep low end tones, occasionally thickening into something a bit more dense and blackened, but retaining a proper amount of bliss and shimmer, the resulting overall sound is more like slowcore or shoegaze, but slowed waaaaaaaaay down, to a crawl, what once might have been a dirge, is transformed into something much more ephemeral and ethereal, chords and melodies are spread out over minutes rather than seconds, tones are allowed to ring out, and dissipate, chords sprawl spaceward, almost disappearing completely before the next one is sent in its wake. Hushed, minimal, dark and lovely, definitely essential listening for folks into the dreamier side of spacedrone, could be your new favorite late night chill out drift off soundtrack... it's fast becoming ours!		REVIEW: MyRecordCollection.org One of the new artist to on Justin Wright's Sonic Meditations label, Sounding The Deep is a post-rock/drone project by David Williams of Kansas City. Somewhere between Godspeed You! Black Emperor's majestic chamber rock guitar work and Thomas Köner's massive dark sound worlds lies Sounding The Deep's peculiar approach to ambient music. When the artist isn't trying to crack open your subwoofer with thirty tons worth of low-frequencies, these cinematic soundscapes are quite haunting and beautiful and have the ability to conjure up images of the great wide open or barren landscapes. Since the release of Glacier, Williams has gone from solo to a very promising duo with the addition of Mike Vera as percussionist. Fans of Stars Of The Lid or Growing's earlier albums will also get a kick out of this band. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out on these guys.
	UMBERTO REVIEW: AntiGravityBunny Blogspot Remember Gianni Rossi's soundtrack to Gutterballs? Remember how it was full of bass and synth and Italo horror disco awesomeness? Remember how much I loved it? Well Umberto's From The Grave is... BETTER than the Gutterballs Soundtrack. There. I said it. Everything you ever wanted from an old school horror soundtrack is present on From The Grave. Super moody, driving disco beats, chilling synths, and speaker blowing bass. The tunes are the type where you'd be throwing it down on the dance floor if you weren't running for your life from the undead. The special thing about Umberto's tape, though, is that even though there are song titles like "Opening Titles," "Dream Sequence," and "Shower Scene," From The Grave isn't the soundtrack to anything except your nightmares (or maybe your next Carpenter themed dance party). And that's one of the reasons this is better than Rossi's soundtrack. You can let your imagination run wild when listening to this tape. Like when "It Came From The Swamp" comes on. What came from the swamp? It's totally up to you! You could be lame and go with Swamp Thing, or you could summon your inner 3 grade self and conjure a wicked scary drippy, mud caked 10 horned beast with teeth made of alligator claws. That makes for a much better experience than when you hear "Theme From Gutterballs" and all you can see is the Gutterballs logo. Trust me. Real soundtracks can eat it. Umberto is the king of fake soundtracks. And now everyone knows that fake soundtracks are the fucking coolest. REVIEW: Foxy Digitalis Umberto is the sound-voyage of Matt Hill, who’s also been known to throw down with drone-master Justin Wright’s Expo ’70 project. On this first release under the name Umberto, Hill has created a score for a Giallo all'italiana film that captures the horror and humor that set the sonic-mood for genre-masters like Carpenter, Fulci, and Argento. The spaced-out synths and casioxploitations produce a dark-laugh vibe, and the beat frequently slashes in to thrill it up, especially on standout track “The Child.” While it’s ultimately impossible to discuss this film/sound tradition without touching on its comedic qualities, we’d be mistaken to overlook the skill Hill exhibits on “From The Grave…” The pacing and execution are impressive, building up patiently, maintaining the suspense from “Opening Titles” to “End Credits,” and provoking vivid images of some maniacal mutant/man shiv-slinger creeping in on an unsuspecting bather and escaping to a midnight-blood-cult-ritual-fortress on the moon. If your neighbors aren’t already aware that there’s some sinister shit going on behind your apartment door, slipping “From The Grave…” into your tape deck and cranking it up should eliminate their doubt. Sonic Meditations, run by Justin Wright, house their releases in excellent artwork. This album is no exception, displaying on its cover an appropriate illustration by Ashley Lande that reveals what the crazed character running through these soundworlds might look like. 7/10 -- Elliott Sharp (3 March, 2010) REVIEW: Dusted Still Single: Vol. 6, No. 11 Mining the classic soundtrack work of John Carpenter and Goblin has become a small cottage industry in recent times, with Zombi in particular making a career out of this niche genre. Umberto (a.k.a. Matt Hill, sometimes of Expo 70) has provided us with the newest example with From the Grave, an LP that skirts the edge of Soundtrack for an Imaginary Giallo territory. What saves the project from paling in comparison to his influences is the way Hill skillfully merges them – his songs are generally anchored by pulsing synths, and then layered with progressive rock keyboards. Much like Zombi, this ends up being danceable music, although Umberto generally eschews the harder edge of Zombi’s work. Hill also seems to have a judicious eye for doling out cheese, never letting his music enter into the realm of irony while clearly not taking things too seriously. Along with the recent Purling Hiss album, this is another winner – limited to 500, and for the time being, still available at the source. (Patrick O’Donnell)		REVIEW: OMG Vinyl Kansas City’s Matt Hill spends some time playing in Expo 70, but he has been focusing a lot of creative attention on his Umberto project. With the Umberto stuff, Hill is a disciplined, devout follower of the church of Goblin. No, not the scary green monsters, the insane synth masterminds that scored genre film classics like Suspiria, Deep Red, Dawn of the Dead, and Tenenbre. Originally pressed by Sonic Meditations as a tape, this throwback to 70’s Italian horror and giallo music has now gotten a proper vinyl release courtesy of the fine folks at Permanent Records. It is available on red vinyl (limited to 100 and exclusive to Permanent) and kvlt black vinyl REVIEW: Aquarius Records Doubtless many movie (and music) buffs would agree that Italian '70s and '80s "giallo" (horror/thriller) cinema, from directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, had soundtracks usually as evocative and inspirational as any visual aspect of the films, soundtracks which often stand as effective works of art all on their own. The scores by prog band Goblin being perhaps best known, influencing such modern day bands as Zombi and Crime In Choir. Now here's another, utterly blatant and most excellent example of Italian giallo soundtrack worship by a current artist: Umberto! Umberto is actually a one-man band, that man being Matt Hill, live collaborator / touring member of AQ faves Expo '70! Under his guise of Umberto, he has just released his first album as limited edition cassette and cd-r on the Sonic Meditations label run by Expo '70 mainman Justin Wright. While Expo '70 has proven to be especially adept at channelling the heavy kosmiche bliss of prime '70s krautrock a la Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Umberto is equally savvy at conjuring the dark, suspenseful soundtrack-y sounds of Goblin and the like. With, some cosmic Klaus-y krauty-ness thrown in as well. This definitely sounds like it could be an actual soundtrack, in fact, someone should MAKE a film just to use this as a soundtrack. You can certainly do so in your imagination, aided perhaps by the cinematically suggestive track titles, which include "Running Blade", "Intermission", "Dream Sequence", "Shower Scene", and "End Credits" (the only track here with vocals, otherwise it's all instrumental... and the vocals on this last track are some sort of hard-to understand, chant-like invocation). Listen with the lights off for best results. Umberto has a heavily synthesized sound, keyboards buzzing and droning and squelching, crunchily distorted or eerily ethereal, sounding at once like ominous Gothic organ music and also spacey futuristic electronica. Mechanical drumming plods along, propulsive beats adding to the menacing atmosphere. There's also plenty of fat disco synth-bass, and we bet folks into Italians Do It Better 12"s, or Black Devil Disco Club, or even skweee would get a kick out of this too, not just Goblin fanatics... but yeah Goblin fanatics (and John Carpenter and Zombi fans too) REALLY ought to check this out! Very cool, very creepy, and even at times kinda catchy-groovy.
	GNOD REVIEW: Aquarius Records You can often tell a lot about a band by the other bands they share splits with. And considering the fact that Gnod have done split time with both psychedelic space rockers White Hills, and space psych doomlords Bong, it's pretty much a no brainer. And the fact that these guys can pretty much hold their own with both says it all. And actually, the sound of Gnod does fall somewhere right between Bong and White Hills, beginning super murky and minimal, doomy and slow, the guitars abstract and space-y, fluttery flutes laced over whirring low end, the sound builds quickly to something seriously explosive, the drums pounding, lots of bagpipe like horns offering up more layers of drones, mumbled vox, distortion and noise and effects piling up until the rhythmic almost krautlike groove is buried beneath a heaving churning pile of constantly shifting and swirling sound. Pretty stellar for sure. The second track here, another 20 minute space doom jam, is much less expansive, instead, it's a solid chunk of hypno space rock, the drums and bass locked tight, weird vocals drift in and out, swirls of space-y FX swoop down from above, the surrounding ambience is ever changing, but the rhythm keeps the song grounded, a head nodding, drug addled non-stop mesmerizing groooooove, lysergic and psychedelic but pretty stripped down compared to that opening salvo. Good stuff for sure. Anyone into the current crop of space rock explorers (like Expo 70, too, whose limited edition cassette/cd-r label put this out) will no doubt dig this BIG TIME. Album of the day on Roadburn: Thursday, January 7th, 2010		REVIEW: MyRecordCollection.org Fans of Jaybird-era Sunburned Hand Of The Man will need to check this album out. The two side-long tracks that feature on The Crystal Pagoda is guaranteed to cause hallucinations. The first side holds the title track, a slow and primitive drug-enhanced group jam with middle-eastern overtones. There's a very nice build-up in the tune which grows progressively louder and more barbaric. Listening to this loud enough will induce a trance and fever-dreams in the listener. On the B side, Tony's Disco is a much mellower tune with distinctively rock-oriented grooves and attitude. After nearly four minutes of cosmic weirdness, the tune suddenly shifts gears as a steady beat comes in with cruise control. From here on in get ready for one of the most autistic dance groove you'll ever hear. You'll be blinded by that crystal ball in your mind and curve up into a fetal position while tapping your feat and nodding your head to the beat. Impressive stuff!
	DAS ENERGI REVIEW: MyRecordCollection.org Recitations sounds like music created by a basement guru/death cult leader speaking to his disciples through LSD-inspired visions as interpreted through song. There's something disturbing in these strange and hallucinatory folk tunes. It's as if our guru was speaking to us of love, beauty and brotherliness, but somehow something is not quite right in his message; there's un underlying menace in his ideas and world views. All of this is hidden behind lazy acoustic guitar tunes which all sound as if they were created on the spot with a certain automatism while his thoughts are constantly elsewhere. There are hints of this suppressed danger, like an ominous storm cloud in the distance, with the subtle touches that accompany the main guitar melodies. It could be a soft fuzz chord wave here, a rumbling bass line there, always in the background, avoiding attention... but revealing a lot more than it might let on. Very strange.		REVIEW: Foxy Digitalis My roommate was convinced this would be a drone cassette, but I could tell by the hand drawn eyes on the cover this was going to be some super hippy stuff. Although not without it’s drone moments, Das Energi float around slowly strummed guitar and minor electronics. It’s a quiet, pleasant set of songs. Maybe best utilized for a come down after a trip in the desert? That’s what I keep thinking anyways. It’s certainly not party music. The electronics adds a really nice texture to the music, if it were just heavy on acoustic stringed instruments, I would have been out like a light from hitting the play button. It is a long cassette, so bear in mind that you may take a while to digest all of the music, but it’s pretty relaxing and not in a boring way. 6/10 -- Andrew Murdock Livingston (28 April, 2010)
	PLANTE REVIEW: OMG Vinyl Blog. The A-Side, “Shroud Of Winter”, is a wonderful piece of doomy guitar drone, undoubtedly summoning comparisons to SunnO))). The B-Side is the even better “Fripping Awesome”, Plante’s tribute to Fripp and Eno. Check out the description on this one: “These are not covers, but interpretations, sprawling soundscapes utilizing guitar and stomp box effects to conjure the spirits of Fripp & Eno.” If that doesn’t have you sold, the price of only $5 shipped for this lengthy release should.
	BRAINWORLDS REVIEW: Foxy Digitalis This is the type of release where I really wasn't sure what I was getting into when I received it in the mail. The fractals-in-space artwork, the artist name, the label name, the notice that "all sounds are improvised guitar"... I just wasn't sure. This could be either completely mindblowing or... I don't even know what. Fortunately, as soon as I pressed play, it was obvious that this was entirely worth it. It's solo improvised guitar, yes, but not some sort of wanky showoff virtuoso deal. The artist uses plenty of looping and delay to create something slowly evolving and shifting that adds numerous layers, resulting in a longform experience that truly takes the mind to different places. Plus, it's a full length cassette, resulting in an extended meditative experience. I started playing side A on my radio show late one night, and before I knew it half an hour had passed and the side still wasn't over, so I had to read events information over it. I just couldn't let something like this end. So basically, consider my mind fully blown. 9/10 -- Paul Simpson (9 June, 2010)
	AARON MARTIN REVIEW: Fluid Radio Aaron Martin’s new record “Night Erased Them All,” is another fine addition to his already expansive body of work. Proceeding “Worried About The Fire” which was released earlier this year, his latest recording is a detailed 30 minutes of sound manipulation and cello wizardry that will be sold as a limited cassette and CD-r release through Sonic Meditations. On “Night Erased Them All” Aaron designed the tracks to be listened while driving alone at night. Unfortunately I sold my car a few short months ago, so without a means of listening to the record as intended, I set about playing it in different places all which in some way were linked to the road or travel. On Friday night I took a perfectly timed half hour bus journey through London. Sitting at the front of the top deck, I wanted to connect the music’s sounds with my vision of the road. Typically, being rush hour, the stop start nature of the journey was unlikely to reflect the freeness of the open Kansas highways that this album would have been built around, so I shut my eyes and let my imagination be fuelled by the creative sounds. Opening track “Limb Study” is introduced via the customary Aaron Martin sound of bowed string play. His moody cello immediately creates a sense of mobility, albeit within a dark surrounding. One has the image of a POV camera shot looking out of the windshield of car, with only the road lit and the yellow road marks providing a sense of purpose. As the string play loops and develops with layered textures, again very much staple ingredients to Aaron’s sound, light vocal hums and pierced static sounds join in. These add a dreamy uneasiness to the music and in that sense a rather nightmarish feel to the ‘journey.’ There is some respite from this though as a momentary breakdown of these noises allows the cello to reappear. Aaron’s playing here is strikingly beautiful – displaying the sombre, melancholic qualities of the instrument and evoking a true sense of loneliness on the road. This feeling of isolation is enhanced by the reintroduction of a processed vocal sound which resembles sighing. Combined with the cello, the image of travelling alone by night is forced home – the thought of an endless road being the driver’s only focal point as the remaining setting is clouded in darkness. Coincidentally, earlier in the day, I had read a short essay on highways in Eastern Europe. Here the writer was discussing the solitude of the open road, and how a night in a foreign country is best spent on the highway as the sense of being foreign is spread to all who drive on it. Fresh with those images in mind, I listened to “Night Erased Them All” again, and did so by walking through the local heath and onto a train station. Last night, once the sun had set, and the warm evening had advanced, I sat atop of one of London’s great vantage points with a view down to the city below. With the city lit by office buildings and the blur of moving motorcars, it felt like the perfect stationary position to listen to the record again. The second track on the album “Kept Ashes” opens with a chorus of hums. Once again built on a layered looping of sound, these voices form a trail; like the brake lights of a car. A fuzz of static blends with the human noises, made to sound like torrential rain. With the humming now reduced to a minimum, one can picture the faint red colour of the lights piercing through the downpour. As the electronic sounds supersede their human counterparts an awkward bowing of cello is introduced. One can imagine a mist beyond the rainy road, which creates an uneasy mystery for the driver – an undefined objective. As more free flowing cello is introduced, the stormy hazards found earlier in the track start to die down. It’s as if the long night is slowly coming to an end, with the minimal light of dawn, represented by a light use of percussion and the reintroduction of voices, finally allowing the driver to realise that life exists beyond the road. “Night Erased Them All” cleverly depicts the emptiness of solitary driving. With his rich blending of electrical and acoustic sound, Aaron Martin has created a dreamy record that provides its listener with a detailed imagery of journeying after dark. Although I was unable to take to the road to experience the full intentions of the record, fortunately this can be saved for a later date. For now though, I’ll let Aaron’s sound guide me through this evening, for the night is sure to eradicate all in its wake. – Review by Josh Atkin for Fluid Radio		REVIEW: Dwars Radio De in Kansas woonachtige componist en multi-instrumentalist Aaron Martin brengt sinds 2006 cd’s uit met daarop sferische muziek die tussen tussen melodieuze soundscapes en folky ambient te plaatsen is. Muziek die ook bij uitstek geschikt is om als soundtrack te dienen. Zijn vierde cd ‘Worried about the Fire’, die eerder dit jaar uitkwam bij Experimedia ,maakte Aaron Martin ook al speciaal voor dit doel. Voor zijn nieuwe album ‘Night Erased Them All’ (cd, Sonic Meditations) gaat hij nog een stap verder. Aaron Martin maakte twee stukken van vijftien minuten lang die beluisterd zouden moeten worden tijdens een nachtelijke autorit in Kansas. Met gebruik van zijn stem, elektrische gitaar, cello, glöckenspiel, orgel en loop station legde hij wederom laag op laag. De compositie bestaat duidelijk uit afzonderlijke delen die weer harmonisch in elkaar overlopen. Nu zal het zonder meer zo zijn dat op de lange en verlaten wegen in Kansas dit een bijzondere luistersensatie zal opleveren, maar ‘Night Erased Them All’ is ook zonder deze speciale condities indrukwekkend.