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LP
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OPAL 179LP
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What were the skies like when you were young? These days, asking that question likely conjures disappointment in its answer. Dreams of possibility hardened by certainty. Hopes and prayers jet-cooled to brittle acquiescence. A lingering feeling that this is not what we asked for, not what we worked towards. Promises of the future replaced by sins of the father. It is in this particular light that the latest work, Moscels, by Iranian artist and musician Ata Ebtekar, also known as Sote, arrives on Opal Tapes, British label for the sonically curious and aurally disaffected. Contrary to potential expectation, it features no rhythmic exhortations, no colloidal outbursts, and no acoustic instrumentation of any kind. Synthesized entirely from physical models and oscillators, whose union gives the record its name, Moscels is a haunting, beautiful, and auspicious listen. None of Ebtekar's work comes necessarily easy to the listener, but Moscels is suffused with a sense of wonder almost childlike in quality, and so it beckons kindly.
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LP
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OPAL 044LP
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Remastered edition of Förintelsen & Döden, the cult classic cassette from the Swedish duo D.Å.R.F.D.H.S. comprised of Michael Isorinne and Jonas Rönnberg, aka Varg. Exquisite frozen electro, death-industrial dirge, and cadaverous pulse are at that core of this early emission from the duo, no ambient calm, no remorse. Originally released in 2017.
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LP
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OPAL 165LP
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Ptwiggs second EP Darkening Of Light brings her signature heavy industrial drums alongside ethereal auto-tuned vocals embedded in immersive building melodies. Exploring concepts of pre-determinism, fatalism, and the influence of the Ancient Chinese divination system, the I Ching. Darkening Of Light is cryptic without passing into the realms of the unknowable; It's six tracks should be given time to unfurl and explain themselves in full. The opening single "Worth It" introduces a threatening throaty bassline contrasted with delicate emotive vocals that echo "I don't understand why you hold my hand, look me in the eyes, am I worth the lies??" layered industrial riffs ring out under the weight of crushing hardstyle drum breakdowns. "When Shaken By A Strong Wind" delivers hazy liquid synthesizers and flickering guitars give homage to a post punk palette. The track based off the Bible; Revelation 6:13 signifies the natural self -- becoming separated from the spiritual self -- bringing an apocalypse to the world. "Ebb And Flow" swirls distorted pads, with celestial multi-dimensional vocals, soft percussion and soaring leads. The track conjures up a dream-pop essence with the lyrics an abstract reflection that speaks peacefully about the origin of all things flowing into one. Closing the EP is the track "The Town Of Death" a remarkable soundscape with a floating choir pad smothered by a detuned existential lead building form to a battle ground of drums and vocals that flood in with lyrics of despair: "All the stars fell down". Dedicated to a town in Russia called 'Чапаевск' -- Chapayevsk also known as the "town of death" due to the high amount of toxins present in the environment. Darkening Of Light can be both oblique in its reference and entirely accurate about its being. Ptwigg's music deals with this human experience of denial, acceptance, inadequacy and pride, both of personal body and wider environment in a balanced manner. Entering darkness to understand the light, free from craving and aversion you will find everything in nothing.
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LP
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OPAL 113LP
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2017 release. Emra Grid's Shay's Vacation House is a work that feels suspended in time -- both ancient and modern -- a microcosm that ceases to exist in any particular time or space. Cinematic opening piece "Land Is" emerges like a newly discovered fossil or relic with all the intricate beauty preserved. Sonic messages of a troubled past are etched into precious metals buried in rock. The listener is the alchemist, extracting heart-wrenching modern classical arcs. Emra Grid's second Opal Tape is a profoundly beautiful work, loaded with emotional weight. Beneath its dark exterior, it exudes a tangible, elegant beauty -- an inexplicable feeling that cannot be articulated but needs to be experienced. A window into the heart and mind of its creator.
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12"
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OPAL 147EP
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Soft Issues are an electronic two-piece, formed in 2017 in Leeds (UK) and influenced primarily by noise artists and hardcore punk. The band opts for a minimal approach from artwork to release schedules through to live setup, having released one self-titled EP in December 2017. Since their inception, Soft Issues have played a number of shows in the UK and throughout mainland Europe. Recent sets have focused on more rhythm-based music and the album strikes a balance between the first, harsh noise-based EP and more rhythmic qualities such as techno and beat-orientated industrial music.
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LP
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OPAL 065LP
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Lumisokea continue their exploration of rhythm technology and electroacoustic experiments while paying tribute to the pioneering spirit of the visionary inventors and composers from the early 20th century in the former Soviet Union. Transmissions from Revarsavr presents a meticulously balanced aural web of polyrhythmic constructions, clashing and chiming copper plates, sub-zero bass shudders, and glowing synths. Combining their fondness for electroacoustic experimentalism with traditional rhythm science from Southern India and Korea, Lumisokea create a music in which the pulsating rhythms wind and coil unto themselves like a snake biting its own tail while metallic clangs and howling drones float in and out of focus. The point of departure for Transmissions from Revarsavr was a recording Lumisokea made in early 2014 of Vladimir Popov's "Noise Instruments," remarkable mechanical contraptions designed in the 1920s to imitate the sounds of the coming industrial era. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M. Artwork by Darren Brian Adcock.
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LP
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OPAL 059LP
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The first release from the Body Boys since 2013's Growth Window (though they've been on a remix streak in 2014) sees the lads move their soft-skinned ambience into rhythm-focused territory. It's no total rewrite, but the palette seems more akin to the elegant stance of Dial, Latency, or Delsin's softer moments -- billowy, romantic, occasionally haunted texture enveloping low-end-centered drums. Tracks like "First Time" and "Nosebleed" come hotter and heavier, more over-driven and rampantly techno-focused, while "Alone," "Yunnan," and "Stutter" balance rhythm with billowy, highly evocative, soft texture, teasing out a solemnity and introspective beauty to massage the body as well as the soul.
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LP
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OPAL 060LP
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An Opal Tapes debut from Michael Vallera of the group Cleared, Distance makes a clear case for just how easily industrial and dark ambience swing between beauty and fear, with more than a wink of the gothic that brings to mind a host of classic cvlt missives by Lycia, Vidna Obmana, or Maeror Tri. As with the best of those, these works mark the transition between dream and nightmare. Something chilling, perhaps borne of the subconscious's twisted ability to fuck you up, but remaining just out of reach. Subtle perfumes linger in the air and a kind of romantic melancholy spreads, but the overwhelming sensation is of a patient and growing dread.
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LP
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OPAL 057LP
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As a member of Lumisokea, Berlin-based Andrea Taeggi shapes acoustic and electronic sound alongside Koenraad Ecker into their singular take on bass music. Time signatures fold into themselves, volleying voluptuous percussions and seismic synthscapes. This fixation extends beyond press hyperbole into aesthetic and philosophical study on Aum, the debut release of Taeggi's Gondwana project. As Gondwanaland was a pre-Pangaean unified land mass, so is Taeggi's solo mission to draw all of his influences together and mediate the whole. Opener "A Gospel of Dirt" sets the scene with sparse sonic elements fused against a metallic backdrop. Sounds morph from liquid to solid shapes, melodies set to scales of a different time and place. "Bootstrapping" tickles ears with its off-color arpeggios backed up by a nine-legged gallop in the tesseract. "Þingvellir" opens the B-side in majestic style, a paean to glaciation, to gargantuan movement unmeasurable in human time. Cast in bronze tones, fizzing with combs before its deafening crescendo. Aum is a special record from a special musician and presents a modern take on cinema for the ear. Mastered by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering.
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12"
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OPAL 056EP
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Ontario Hospital is a collaboration between Dave Foster (Huren, Teste, etc.) and Rich Oddie (Orphx, Oureboros, etc.). Future Ready is a four-track EP that conflates their histories in noise, power electronics, industrial techno, and rhythmic noise and marries all methods together into a ritual assault. There are lots of adjectives to describe this music and you've heard them all before so just skip the bullshit and listen. Each record ships with a vial of bull hormones.* *This is a lie.
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LP
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OPAL 049LP
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Jimmy Billingham returns to Opal Tapes with Holo Earth, the first HOLOVR 12". The two sides are comprised of blended suites covering Billingham's past working with tapes and hardware into a future of more complex composition and convolving sample work. At times the record is sweet, drums bounce and bip with filigrees of synth whirling through like wind in a bottle. At other points the record empties and the lonely pulse of Venn Rain (Jimmy's earlier project) is felt most strongly. Estranged and blue-lipped, the field recordings of alien environments litter the blur emerging. A haunting listen.
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LP
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OPAL 050LP
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Detroit's Travis Galloway, he of ALL GONE Records and Traag brings the Siobhan alias to Opal Tapes for a bout of lo-fi, hoods-up battery. Shifting templates of dank electro and raw, cracked techno step together with Raudive announcements commentating on the current disorder of the head. Michigan's industrial backbone is present throughout the recording -- many sounds black on grey, but this time, Siobhan hangs gobs of pink muck and faded neon over his rolling perc. Like the district the release is named after, watch where you put your feet.
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LP
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OPAL 033LP
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Electric charges on Hantasive. Kaumwald lights up his dials and twists out five rolling generations to terrify and animate. Plying a line between glitch-like manifestation and cruder analog sewage, these tracks are forged from degrees of digital and analog that gives a contemporary edge to the gritty grey-scale industrial and proto-rhythm you might find while digging through the Vanity Records catalog. Warm kicks and clipping digital synthesis is interlaced with acoustic sourcing and a curious, magnetic primacy -- developing vital color and tactility to these here wares. Think to those contemporary and necessary combinations of computer and combustion engine, but repurposed to a more Jean Tinguely-esque display of machinery for machineries-sake; built to chatter and clunk, to error, and essentially deteriorate. That quest for the perfect minimal weirdo beat re-cut for now.
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LP
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OPAL 032LP
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The rich, dark sound of Lumisokea, the Belgian-Italian duo of Andrea Taeggi and Koenraad Ecker, annexes a dark, foreboding aura from an abundance of reference points -- codifying and making concrete the connections that which might otherwise have been elusive or intangible in the worlds of noise, dub, techno and musique concrète. Apophenia follows their Opal Tapes debut Contrapasso, and sees their sound continue to develop; growing in intensity and twisting into more complex, aggressive, and euphorically bent shapes. All seems abstract, not as "whoa, that's weird," but as though every element exists in direct opposition with nature and organic order. Industrial and technoid beats are rolled over sub-sonic, hyper-digital abrasions of noise and synthetic texture to reinforce and fortify the more extreme end of Opal's sonic interests. Synthetic stomp and precise, premeditated glissandi form sonic sculptures where the unreal is turned towards something frighteningly palpable.
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LP
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OPAL 026LP
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This album by Shapednoise opens with the violent techno deconstruction of "Witness of a Heart Attack Death," an oddly syncopated gallop through hard layers of analog scree and earth-breaking kicks. A despairing atmosphere dominates the remainder of the side with less percussive yet still deeply rhythmic tracks evocative of the power electronics of Slaughter Productions yet brought to be with the sensibility of a techno producer. Everything is darkened with sonic dirt and dismal vibes but remains nuanced, layered and highly dynamic.
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LP
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OPAL 010LP
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Following on from his stunning High Tech High Life and self-titled albums in 2012, 1991 returns under the MCMXCI mode for a raspin' raw techno blast on Skogen, Flickan och Flaskan ("Wine, Women, and Food"), the first vinyl release on the promising Opal Tapes imprint. Sharing more in common with Jamal Moss at his maddest, Regis in full swing circa '97 or Unit Moebius as we'd imagine them every day, the young Swede bucks all expectations with five tracks of blistered machine drum jack, overdriven to fuck and liable to take your eyebrows off. It's funky as hell and noisy as sin and does it with so much more swerve, sexiness and off-the-cuff cool than so many boneheaded, funkless techno types we don't care to mention. Basically, it pushes all the right buttons and then ends with Huerco S' lovely new age reduction. Limited to 500 copies -- big recommendation for the noise techno set.
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