Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness, and Charm 1977 - 2009 2CD - bonus tracks are alternate versions, recording session, and three live tracks - all the bonus studio tracks are great - "Quark, Strangeness & Charm/Uncle Sam's On Mars" is better than the album version - well worth hunting down.
Mohammad Reza Shajarian - Bidad 2005 - Persian music - great album and recommended - beautiful instrumentation and feel.
Byron Metcalf featuring Steve Roach - The Shaman's Heart 2005 - ethno ambient - not a great album, but the percussion stays clear of poppy, cheesy rhythm and kitschy electronica/techno ugliness - good album and worth hearing again.
Temps Perdu? - Athanor 1993 - ethno ambient - got in a big mood for this type of sound - decent album and probably above the average for the sub-genre, but it wasn't as impressive as some of the compilations tracks I've heard from them.
Jason Crumer - Let There Be Crumer 2012 - impressive, and for no good explainable reason at this point, also a surprise - I clearly do not give him the credit he deserves - from drone to experimental to noise to industrial - this has a little bit of everything, and it all works and is of similar quality to all the various parts - probably one of the shining lights in an otherwise dismal noise scene of today.
Byron Metcalf featuring Steve Roach - The Shaman's Heart II (The Healing Journey) 2001 - ethno ambient - not as effective as the part I album, but still a fair listen - less percussive and tribal, though part I wasn't a groove fest, either - more of Steve Roach's touch on this one, and the mix washes the ambient into the sounds of the rattles too much, which may have been the intention; just didn't work for me because of the waves of sound rather than any powerful presence.
Steve Roach & Mark Seelig - Nightbloom 2010 - ethno ambient - the tones were off for me on this one - sounds like a didgeridoo through a stretching process, and it missed the mark - sort of felt like good music for TV documentaries, so better suited for very small doses, not that it doesn't flow well enough to be indexed 12-18 minutes a clip - "pt 3" is the best 14 minutes on this album; the percussion finds a nice tribal groove - I've come to realize that I possibly do not like the way Roach produces persussion; the sound and tones have a hazy, lightness to them; no real surprise because of how most of his electronic work is similarly felt.
Steve Roach - Early Man 2000 - 2001 2CD - ethno ambient - darker, more thoughtful and interesting album - has a cave-like feel to it with ancientness as well, so the title is appropriate - not heard the "decomposed" 2nd CD yet.
Staff Carpenborg and the Electric Corona - Fantastic Party 1969 -
Idris Ackamoor - Music Of Idris Ackamoor 1971-2004 - free jazz - the first 11 tracks (CD1 + part of CD2) are in the same cosmic, ethnic area as Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, and Irene Schweizer - Jazz Meets India (1967) - I've seen this described as funk, and if it is, I'm definitely ignorant to the parameters of funk, which is entirely possible - I didn't care for the rest of CD2.
Bad Influence - Preaching to the Converted - early British anarcho punk crossed with early British crust crossed with 80s indie crossed with Voi Vod or Die Kreuzen (October File). Might sound like a mess, but it isn't at all.
Cabaret Voltaire - Methodology '74-'78 Attic Tapes - a great collection of edits and ideas - if something between P16.D4 and a cold wave Clock DVA sounds like a good idea, here you go. Definitely some proto-power-electronic stuff happening. Great headphone music.
Acephalix - Deathless Master (2012) - hearing this for the first time, though they are on a shortlist of bands I intend to watch - HEAVY - if there was a Bolt Thrower sub-genre (for my money, there is), this would have to be in it, but this doesn't sound like Bolt Thrower - can't write it off as BT worship; it has some nice Scandinavian DM elements to it - 30 minutes is 60 minutes too short.
Emeralds - Just to Feel Anything 2012 - krautrock Tangerine Dream Klaus Schulze - good album - quality early-80s mimicry, and that is not a dig.
Ashra - Belle Alliance 1980 - krautrock - cool guitar playing still, but the reggae song and cheesy new age pop melodies are not a good listen - I guess I could be sucked into this to listen to Gottsching play his licks.
The Rita - The Rack 2011 - crunchy, restrained bursts that sound like they are running into a brick wall; put under pressure and are destructively seeping out through spaces, but with the resistance - the second track is of similar exercise, but it is even more pressurized and restrained into boiling micro-bursts.
Temnozor - Folkstorm of the Azure Nights (2005)
Temnozor - Horizons (2003)
Temnozor - Haunted Dreamscapes (2010)
This group came highly recommended. They're interesting overall, but the vocals reminded me too much of Bruce Dickinson (and I'm not one who ever liked his vocals, NWOBHM vocals, Anthrax vocals, etc). The black metal portions aren't especially impressive, either. The folk portions are a bit cheesy, but they aren't bad. The songwriting on Folkstrom makes it all come together well enough. There's something familiar about some of the tonality and a melody or two. It'll come to me. I didn't care for Horizons at all, and I'm not sure how to rate the other two. I probably liked Folkstrom more.
Loits - Must Album (2007) - Estonian black metal - they're avant-garde black metal - I'd put them in the same realm as Ved Buens Ende and In the Woods, but with more of a rock foundation - I really liked their 2004 album, Vere Kutse Kohustab, so I was excited to find out they had another full length - they did an 18-minute EP in 2007 as well (bonus CDEP in the limited edition version of Must Album), and I'd like to hear it - I wouldn't say Must Album is a great album, but it's good enough for what I wanted to hear.
