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viewing 1 To 16 of 16 items
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2CD
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BETALAC 096CD
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"Features a unique vocal performance by Edward Ka-Spel. One of the truest indications of a good record is when it sounds like something is starting to go wrong with the car while listening to it. The latest Silverman sounds at turns like the breaks are going, the belts are slipping, the timing needs adjusting, the drive shaft has a shot bearing and the clutch is failing. Perhaps this is the very nature of illusion bespoke in the title. NOI is a much more amorphous excursion than some of Silverman's previous slow trance explorations, though it does display his trademark fondness for going to very quiet places. Through a polar silence comes a ringing metallic that fades off into contrapuntal, subsonic drones. A brief essay of percussive trails back into the liquid void."
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LP
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BETALAC 096LP
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LP
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BETALAC 047LP
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"To celebrate two decades of one of the finest, most fractured and indefatigable European avant post punk bands, BlRR has nailed together this 11 track retrospective of 7300 days in the life of La STPO. As presented here, La STPO are truly Rock In Opposition. Unlike their Zeuhl spewing forbears, however, STPO are not trying to fuse jazz and rock. Their rock is in opposition of all things safely established, including Rock In Opposition. Jagged and bleated arrangements with familiar rock instrumentation clash to form screaming, Dada-pregnant, contorted punk concertos. Oddly timed and full of changes, this is music to fall down escalators to. Sometimes this is music to lay at the bottom of escalators to."
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CD
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BETALAC 099CD
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"Clearly one of the bright spots to rise up out of the so-called Electroclash debacle. Where groups like Chicks On Speed and Felix Da Housecat ultimately end up creating dance-floor anthems, G&C have been that weird brother hiding in the corner making minimalist masterpieces with dusty equipment. G&C's brand of minimal synth on Electronic Eulogy is a dark wave of another colour. Like underground synthesists of old, such as Ceramic Hello, or John Ruth, or even very early New Order, G&C's musical omniverse is a beatific one filled with lush, polychromatic chord progressions presented within a spare and melancholic framework. The wave is cold, but not blanched (as opposed to the repetitive sturm und drang of, say, Snowy Red or Suicide). An album of introspective quality, Electronic Eulogy steals seeds fostered in the glitch garden and grows them into a wholly unique and very melodious Tannen-baud. Those sweet electonyxx click, wash and whirr, counterpointed occasionally by acoustic guitar and/or vocals on a few tracks (a kind of perfectly flat and distant vocal delivery, somewhat like Dean Wareham. In fact, 'Dictionary Dream,' which happens to feature the guitar upfront, is something of a synth pop take on Galaxie 500). That's just the thing with G&C...they are like some long lost Factory or Cherry Red or 4AD cold/dark wave group, before there were deeply established camps within the synth and post punk worlds. Second Layer meets Shox? Minny Pops vs Insides? The Fast Set has a scone with early Arms Of Someone New? The opening 'Promenade,' with its brilliantly twisted boomerang timing structure and analog buzz, is like some kind of electro-crack. All in all, just lovely sequenced rainy day electronic head-music."
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CD
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BETALAC 047CD
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"It's strange to think that a score of years ago the world was just emerging from the last of its new wave haze, only to enter a brave new era of over produced, digitally recorded schlock. La STPO was borne into this miasma of mediocrity with knives out. They have remained bastions of outré ever since their bloodied birth. Vive La STPO! To celebrate two decades of one of the finest, most fractured and indefatigable European avant post punk bands, BlRR has nailed together this 11 track retrospective of 7300 days in the life of La STPO. And rather than trying to shape this into some sort of 'best of' or 'greatest hits,' BlRR and La STPO have done the reverse by leaning more heavily in on the group's more exploratory moments. This also makes for a better album that, in its own skewed way, fits together as if all recorded in the same session. As presented here, La STPO are truly Rock In Opposition. Unlike their Zeuhl spewing forbears, however, STPO are not trying to fuse jazz and rock. Their rock is in opposition of all things safely established, including Rock In Opposition. Jagged and bleated arrangements with familiar rock instrumentation clash to form screaming, Dada-pregnant, contorted punk concertos. Oddly timed and full of changes, this is music to fall down escalators to."
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BETALAC 067CD
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"A great billowy poltergeist, Whitelodge is a musical revelation. The Lodge skirt borderlands between the mysticism of seething 'post rock' and the dark textures of latter day 'apocalyptic folk,' managing in the end to sovereign a musical nation of their own. Somber musical expressions exude surprisingly powerful punch and often carve modest stones into towering columns of sound, which, while not actually loud, seem to IMPLY loud. Constructed somewhat like a This Mortal Coil record, the quietly crafted combination of acoustic guitars, electric piano, bass and electronics effuse scents of Sol Invictus ('Against The Modern World'), Gastr Del Sol, Sea And Cake, Insides, late late period Swans, Roseclouds era Death In June with a little Another Green World style Eno plastering the cracks...but none of these really captures the true essence of the Lodge what is White. Where apocalyptic folk often drowns in its own cheesiness, Whitelodge rise above and avoid trying to force any sort of posturing or false Celticisms into their music. Whispered vocals reincarnate a host of spirits from Red House Painters to Coil, driving the compositions home by inference rather than the obvious. This music is unbelievably tangible in its etherealness. A deep beauty resides within and repeated listens open endless blossoms."
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CD
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BETALAC 068CD
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"Earth 'Scratch' Monkey? Pete Bog's studio may not exactly be a Black Ark, but it is certainly a Grey Henge. Just when we thought we had the guy pegged, he adds a drum machine, eshewing his class of '72 psych ministrations for a more tranced out electro-dub. You all like LSD, right? Well, the first part of Drum Machine is rather like a post script to Coil's Love's Secret Domain album. Thereafter, Monsieur Le Bog retrofits his rockets with Kraut engines and even coughs up a hummus flavoured punker. Even more surprises in store as Earthmonkey really puts the E in EP. You'll hear what we mean, or will you?"
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CD
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BETALAC 046CD
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"Where Acid Mothers Temple's jammy wanderings sometimes lead them astray, lost in a fog of their own screeching residue, GMFTPO's controlled madness leaves behind a resin that won't give you a headache and will have you feeling fresh in the morning. Their music, while loosely played, is steady and deliberate and its Eastern flavouring early on reminds a lot of Erkin Koray's best moments as well as churning up a little subdued Can of butter (circa Damo, where the bass plays a forward melodic role with whispered vocals, ala 'Mother Sky'). The album curdles, in places, to White Heaven-like outbursts and ferments into a couple extended excursions toward the great space udder."
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CD
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BETALAC 038CD
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"The gangly orangutans behind Earthmonkey happen to be Peat Bog and Steven Stapleton. Now, we naked apes live in a world where the term 'psych' is thrown around with such frequency that it seems to mean little more than 'weird guitars,' which is everything nowadays, and could well mean Cher for that matter. So, when we say 'psych' in relation to Earthmonkey, we mean Monks. We mean Bonniwell Music Machine. We mean Wolfgang Dauner. We mean Amon Duul II. We mean Taj Mahal Travelers. We mean a bunch of other stuff that Earthmonkey wishes we mentioned but did not. Earthmonkey DOES have weird guitars, and organs, and percussion. But it also has that unnameable, freely streaming 'other' quality that sets it apart from being a somewhat avant-garde rock record. Stapleton may, in fact, be the missing link between Neander-Kraut and modern day Psych-Sapien-Sapiens. The music is, well, music. It's very outré, but is nonetheless bounded by time signatures and melody (These, however, are not ties that bind, rather, they are ties that will get you high). In other words, this is not just a noise record and throws back to Stapleton's previous Musical Pumpkin Cottage production projects and, to some extent, The LPD Malachai record he produced way back in the 'Before Times.' Earthmonkey is dark, droney, deep and , dare we say, groovy."
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10"
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BETALAC 039.2EP
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"While it certainly can be said that, like its predecessor Hekate, Zalmosis has its bloody scythe lightly dipped in the halitosis of Muslimgauze, the unmistakable 'Z' factor of this latest opus reeks of an absolutely distinct Romulus & Remus-ness. The hand percussion breaks are expertly woven into a sonic miasma that often sounds like the record player is on the fritz. Syrupy raga drones become beds for the rhythms to lie in and decay or sometimes be smashed to bits. Ed. Of 111 copies in a tri-fold cover."
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10"
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BETALAC 015EP
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"An edition of 150 numbered copies on audiophile vinyl. Silkscreened cover and insert. Also included is a bonus enhanced CDR with new music and video made for this release. Black offers 2 sidelong tracks (and one short epilogue) of minimalist aggression that builds towers up and tears playhouses down. Like old Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca with lashings of Justin Broderick and/or Steve Reich and/or those repetitive Michael Gira bits at the ends of Swans songs thrown in, each piece rises and swells, pulse by pulse, until a giant golem of music encases everything in its shadow and is finally sent off to do the bidding of its master."
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2LP
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BETALAC 010LP
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"Cacophony plus catastrophe divided by calliope minus colostomy=crepe-noizette! Sound sound off like a delicious blend of fresh When and finely ground Aphex Twin mixed with just a dash of Pascal Comelade drool.13 tracks of dark dementia sewn together as a quilt of mini symphonic diversions, embroidered with bits and bytes and twisted sub rhythms and the occasional driving breakbeat. Whimsical and dada-esque with solid musical foundations, this record can also stand as rightful heir to the likes of Didier Bocquet and early Ian Boddy in its sequenced charms. And let's not forget our Frog forebears Albert Marcoeur and Etron Fou Leloublan for that certain 'je ne sais quoi' factor."
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10"
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BETALAC 027EP
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"Pinging a bit like the audio equivalent of random and drifting thoughts whilst on the subway to work, NMF have an uncanny way of stringing together the disparate sounds of urbanopolis into a surreal narrative. Distant fragments of music blow in and away like a wind which also carries with it incomprehensible voices. A choir of night birds chime at each other over a faraway metallic ringing landscape. An accuracy of recording and a certain quietude are what make this such a brilliant piece which is not merely for the listening but also effective for mental transportation. I guess the crux of the matter is that Mûzoôk is like a recorded memory. Several memories, actually, and ever changing ones at that."
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10"
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BETALAC 025EP
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Part 7 in the Lactamase series. "Hooked on multiphonics! This stalwart vocalist turns groaning into a sublime artform. From the ringing drones of Tuvan throat singing to the whimsy of Meredith Monk (see Dolmen Music) influenced rounds and canons, Mr Rajkowski's soliloquys display a brilliant and playful love for the human vox. Miroslaw explores a wide range of vocal stylings, carefully sidestepping any semblance of the common nuisance known as words. The deliveries lean more towards sparse atmospherics (ala early Henri Chopin) than machine gun bombast, save for the occasional Schwitters-isms that inevitably twist across his tongue. Miroslaw clears his throat that you may clear your head."
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CD
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BETALAC 005CD
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"This releases compiles two very obscure works from an EP release from 1986 on Illusion Productions (DDAA - Déficit des Années Antérieures- related label) and an LP released in 1990 by KK Records. La STPO stands for La Société des Timides à la parade des Oiseaux which roughly translates to 'the shy peoples society at the parade of the birds'. STPO are of that crazy RIO vein, a little like Etron Fou, Debile Menthol, Look de Bouk... except much more theatrical and schizophrenic, thus a little like Albert Marcoeur too. Intensive, complex and overloaded with French jabbering vocal theatrics. Serious progressive stylings mixed with Dada Rock, Lumpy Gravy era Zappa and vocal tone poem antics of Salvador Dali."
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CD
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BETALAC 041CD
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"This answers the question; what if This Mortal Coil were produced by Hafler Trio? Why, there would be a circus, and in that circus there would be scars. One of the more outright musical projects from the Beta-lactam stable offers a mysterious collection of songs interlaced with unsettling sound collages and tone poems. Piano and keyboard melodies dominate, but are all well dipped in a dark haze (not quite a purple haze, but a dark haze nonetheless). The weave of 'Hiwthi' is tight but the stitch of each track is quite distinctive. Moody, to be sure, but with bursts of beats and other surprises snaking in and out of the shadows. Vocally, there are hints of LDC (Latter Day Coil)."
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