Henryspenncer – To the Timeless Valley 7.6

                  “Bookmaker records” is a brand new label offering up French psychedelica. Lately France has been getting some pretty excellent bands emerging, seemingly out of nowhere, with these takes on expansive music. Henryspenncer continues in that proud tradition.

                Valentin Feron’s music is massive. In his own words, he states that it is influenced by Northern Scotland. As someone who has wandered around those parts, I’d say there’s a certain truth to it. The sounds are somewhat inviting despite the sometimes ominous nature. Perhaps that’s due to all the instruments he incorporates, or the slow movement of the pieces themselves.

                There aren’t any loud surprises. Pacing-wise, it has a certain post-rock build. When the loudness or a crescendo does happen, it feels deserved. “An Elevator to Nowhere, with a Pyramid” has a far-off sound. Even as it gets more percussion, it reminds more of a threat than an outright onslaught. 

                If this has any similar bands, I’d probably say latter-day Earth. A western twang is noticeable on most of the pieces, particularly the shorter sketches “Roma” and “Hibernation”. On the closer “The Timeless Valley” Henryspenncer even employs an acoustic guitar and organ.

                Henryspenncer creates a likable album. It exists between drone and outright psychedelic. By incorporating so many different ideas and using a certain degree of discipline, he creates an album that feels well-worked over. Each piece sounds thought through and there are no needless displays of solos. It is just giant sound. Get lost in it and get it here.

Derek Rogers – Cosmic Overlap 6.5

                 Derek Rogers comes out of a surprisingly strong drone scene in Austin, Texas. Over the course of this extremely cryptic album, he makes illusions to classical music, metal, and feedback. It is a strange collection of influences, which are treated in uneven doses.

                The first track on here is amazing. “Cosmic Overlap” takes a classical sample. Seems simple enough, but the dynamic part comes from how the sample is sculpted into noise and somehow reforms into a new kind of classical noise, with an intense buildup. It is romantic, disorienting and makes me eager to hear more of Derek’s work.

                Some of the other tracks don’t have this same grace or poise. Instead, tracks like “An Unexpected Glow” sound like a sort of lazy attempt to capture the Zen of Earth’s track “Phase 3”. After that comes “Guitar Bloom” which appears to be a faceless, personality-less drone. 

                Right as we reach the end we return back to better quality productions. “Over the Ether” comes across as the most traditional drone song on here. “Reich Phrases” might be the second best song on here, after the beginning. Derek has an intense focus for this track which is surprisingly fruitful.

                Overall, I feel Derek is a good musician but a poor editor. A lot of these ideas don’t go anywhere, especially in the beginning after the great “Cosmic Overlap” introduction. I’d imagine a lot of people would tune out before “An Unexpected Glow” even finished. Had Derek perhaps removed that track and the following one, or reduced the length of a lot of these songs, it would have a stronger impact. 

                I’d say definitely listen to it for the first and last tracks; otherwise it tends to meander a bit too much, even by drone’s tolerant standards.

Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 8.3

                Though I’ve written about Earth’s music before (here) I failed to capture his more recent period. Starting with “Hex, Or Printing in the Infernal Method” the project has taken a new approach. Rather than focus exclusively on the hopeless decay of walls of hiss and feedback, the new period is marked by a more optimistic vibe. I’m not implying Earth has gotten poppy or happy, but it gets pretty difficult to outdo him in bleakness.

                As I started this album, I immediately felt certain classical bits I hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps that’s due to a cellist this time around (Lori Goldston, former Nirvana cellist) but I feel Dylan’s grow more willing to let this side show. Of course, he’s always referenced La Monte Young’s work as an influence, but you feel it here with the swirls of sound.

                Lumbering through at their trademark molasses pace, I noticed how they at times evoke a heavier version of Dirty Three. Those dramatic tempos, the grandiose heavy guitars, all conjure up images of heading through a near endless space. Plus, the sound is considerably heavier than their most recent 2008 effort “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull”. 

                Oddly, it feels like the most hopeful music I’ve heard from them. I get the image of walking through a cold winter with the sun shining brightly, going up a hill. Where I get such an image is from the crystal clearness of each track, whether it be the emotive tones of “Descent to the Zenith” or the pitch-perfect closer “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1” They’ve cast off whatever pretenses of metal they had. Now they’ve fully embraced the “Spaghetti Western” style they’d been flirting with for so long. 

                If you’re approaching this as a doom metal album, you’ll be disappointed. Rather, a better way to think of this would be a classical/drone album. As a bonus, there’s going to be a part II of this released sometime later this year.

Earth – Earth 2 9.5

Following up on the apocalypse theme that runs through so much of the writing on here, I present to you the wonderful sludge doom metal that is Earth 2. Dylan Carlson actually has been responsible for a lot of great stuff under the Earth moniker, but this is easily the best stuff from his early, doom-infused early period before he went towards happier environments.

Part of the appeal of this record is how quickly it drags you in. When interviewed about his influences, Dylan mentioned La Monte Young as a source of inspiration. Listening to the intensely repetitive almost hypnotic structures you do get a sense of a vast space similar to those created by that pioneer. Except here there’s a much bleaker tone due to the excessive threat, feedback and fuzz.

“Seven Angels” starts things up right. This is loud music. Play it loud. Experience it loud. Towards the end of the song all the sustained feedback and fuzz starts creating these interesting overtones that seem to quietly wail. It is excellent.

Deeper tones are explored in “Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine”. Each song (there’s only three) are edited together to make it feel like one continuous pace. The dynamics of every piece only contribute to this feeling. A slow pace mixed with similar focuses make the atmosphere positively oppressive (this is the greatest compliment I can give this).

The closer “Like Gold and Faceted” ends things on a meditative note. Somehow slower than the other two, this one has no melody whatsoever. Barely a riff is present; it is almost pure unaltered droning that expands into infinity. A drum comes in, but it moves at such a slow pace that it feels more like painting than any sort of rhythm. 

If you wanted to know how the band Sleep or Sunn0)))) were inspired, here’s the place. A burly half-insane Washington State resident made this wonderful stuff possible.