Posts Tagged ‘nadja’

Album of the day: Nadja – Autopergamene

Posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Praise for Nadja‘s Autopergamene from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: If you’re a Nadja fan, you’re definitely gonna want one of these, sure all Nadja records are pretty great, but this one is incredible, an hour long three part epic, the heaviest, most lush and orchestral and intense record we’ve heard from these two yet.

The opening track, clocking in at 25 minutes, begins as a hushed bit of dreamy drift, all gauzy and washed out and shimmery, layered melodies, shifting and swirling and so lovely, very Pop Ambient in fact, until about 12 minutes in, when the drums kick in, the guitars explode, but it doesn’t simply get heavier, or louder.  It sounds orchestral, huge moaning melodies, what sounds like strings or horns, epic and kaleidoscopic, the sound living and breathing, prismatic and totally warm and glowing, a heaving chunk of blissed out dreamlike heaviness.

The second movement is more traditionally heavy, a chugging churning slab of lumbering doom, the pounding drum machine and buzzing riffs, wreathed in a swirling cloud of hiss and buzz and Technicolor effulgence. A sort of incendiary Godflesh style industrial crunch, with buried howled vocals, and constantly shifting patina of glitched out effects and electronic buzz, which gives away to the 26 minute closer, beginning with super spare acoustic guitars, which drift into a shimmering field of prismatic glimmer, eventually exploding into another slab of blown out orchestral epic dream doom.

Totally majestic, and almost choral sounding, wrapped in sheets of staticky buzz, the sound getting more and more fierce and intense and threatening to blow your speakers, total chaos and catharsis, blissful but ultra intense.  Finally, relenting, and leaving gorgeous sonic vapor trails, laced with buried boy girl vox, a dreamy understated coda, to a seriously epic bit of orchestral buzz drenched bliss. So great.

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: Aidan Baker, Album of the day, Aquarius Records, Autopergamene, Essence Music, Leah Buckareff, nadja
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

Sunn O))) To Headline Denovali Swingfest (Rock-A-Rolla)

Posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Drone behemoths SunnO))) have been added to this year’s Rock-A-Rolla sponsored Denovali Swingfest, and are now set to close off proceedings as Sunday headliners. The three-day festival, organized by Germany’s Denovali Records, takes place at Weststadthalle in Essen, Germany from Friday September 30th to Sunday October 2nd and will feature ...read more