Posts Tagged ‘isis’

Album of the day: House of Low Culture – Poisoned Soil

Posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2012

Praise for House of Low Culture‘s Poisoned Soil from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: It’s been a while since we’ve heard from House Of Low Culture, the one man experimental / drone / soundscaping project of Aaron Turner, he of Hydra Head Records, Sige Records, Mammifer, Isis, Twilight, etc. This one man band, now augmented by Turner’s wife Faith Coloccia, has definitely blossomed into something much more abstract and minimal, at least in the opening few minutes.

After some haunting monk-like vocal chants, the sounds unfurls as a super minimal expanse of barely audible sine waves, distant rumbling thrum, streaks of shortwave static, seemingly gone are the creeping low end dronedrifts of early HOLC records, the sound here is way more academic, think John Duncan or Francisco Lopez. There are some fragmented melodic moments, but sans headphones, this might be an impossible listen in a world full of ambient sounds. But the tracks here are long, so there is lots of ground to cover, and after about 6 minutes, some guitar drifts into the picture, but just barely, it’s not for another few minutes, until the song proper begins, and weirdly it’s a strange sort of slowcore doom: All minimal drumming, super distorted crooned vox, somber melodies. It’s like a super abstract experimental Codeine, which is definitely a good thing.

The rest of the record flits from hushed shimmer, to squalls of caustic noise and back again, before leading into the second track, which again begins life as a hushed glitch laced drift, before thick droned out guitars and more crooned vox surface. And then the song explodes into some strange sort of abstract pop, but very briefly, and rendered in shades of grey and black and skree, before slipping back into long stretches of deep thrum and staticky buzz, all underpinned by a muted percussive rhythm and some softly swirling disembodied vocals and gristly minimal effects.

The record finishes off with the 21+ minute ‘Inappropriate Body’, which begins with some almost playful sounding percussion, still wreathed in crackle and static, only to give way to more drift and blur, more near silence, and pizzicato melodies, strange bursts of garbled voices, bits of skree, and more chantlike vocals, blasts of whitenoise, lush choral drifts, and finally some creeping slo-mo metallich churn. The track more like some music concrete meander, an expansive abstract sonic exploration, loosely woven into some sort of avant sonic narrative that may have Isis fans and Hydra Head obsessives scratching their chins, but has the rest of us laying in the dark, headphones strapped on tight.

Gorgeous super minimal packaging too.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

Tags: aaron turner, Album of the day, Aquarius Records, Faith Coloccia, House of Low Culture, isis, Poisoned Soil, Sub Rosa
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

Album of the day: Isis – Live V

Posted on Friday, September 16th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Sea of Tranquility: Isis is one that harder to categorize bands I’ve reviewed. With every release they evolved and altered their sound. Generally lumped in with post-rock  /post-metal and hardcore metal bands, they do draw from those influences while still adding their own stamp. Live V is ...read more

Lurker’s Guide To: Progressive Rock

Posted on Monday, July 18th, 2011

Antiquated connotations surround the term, yet the words themselves suggest an inexorable march towards attaining some sort of artistic recognition for a style of music regularly associated with troublesome teenagers. Through pomp, pretence and prodigious talent, the pioneers of this maligned strain of rock achieved incredible heights of creativity. But ...read more

Jeff Caxide of Isis is Crone, Releasing LP; Song Premiere (BrooklynVegan)

Posted on Friday, July 1st, 2011

BrooklynVegan has the premiere of Crone‘s ‘The Silver Hammer’ off the upcoming full-length, which is called Endless Midnight. Listen HERE. The album is due on July 19th via Translation Loss. “Endless Midnight LP explores some of the ambient textures that Isis touched upon, yet goes further down the rabbit hole. Dont ...read more

Album of the day: Isis – Live IV Selections 2001-2005 & Live V 07.23.06

Posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Sea of Tranquility: Live albums are a curious beast. Some are recording contract fillers, some are overdubbed after the event and not quite live after all, and some provide a challenge for the bands that have employed all kinds of studio trickery to create their art (which ...read more

Bonnaroo 2010: Isis In Concert; Audio Stream Available

Posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010

Founded in Boston, Isis has been highly influential in the ambient doom-metal scene. The band’s slow-moving motifs have become more progressive in recent years, culminating in Isis’ fifth and final album, Wavering Radiant. (The band is breaking up after its current tour.) Like its predecessors, Wavering Radiant is a thematic ...read more

Roadburn's Album of the Decade: Electric Wizard – Dopethrone

Posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

The votes are in, the points have been awarded and the math has been done. More than 150 of you have taken the time to forward your Top 10 list for the Roadburn Album of the Decade. Here then is your list (and a stunning list it is). It seems ...read more