Nova Musica: Multigeneris

I’ve had a few new items arrive over the last week or so. All heavy type stuff, although as I type this I am listening to an ambient track by ELEH who is well worth checking out if you like super minimal drone stuff.

My long awaited vinyl copy of Ultha’s “All That Has Never Been True”. I thought the post demons had consumed it, but it finally arrived safe and sound.

Also from Ultha was their new compilation cd of early eps and whatnot called “Forget Everything and Remember (The Lost and Obscure)” Its a double cd that has lots of different songs from releases that weren’t full length albums.

Another Ultha item was a tape “Live at Soulcrusher”, a live show captured on October 22, 2022. A cool thing to have, pretty sure it was a limited release. I got all this stuff from the band themselves via their Bandcamp page, and they were great to deal with.

I also picked up their third album on vinyl ” The Inextricable Wandering” via a local seller.

The new Al Cisneros 7″ arrived too, “Suicide of Judas“. Limited to 1000 copies apparently.

Here’s a nice review of it: “I’m sad that Sleep seems to be somewhat on pause and I’m a little annoyed that OM seems to take forever between albums these days, but it is nice that even though bassist Al Cisneros isn’t pushing his two main projects, he’s remaining active with his solo work. “Suicide of Judas” follows the trail of his previous solo cuts and is mostly comprised of Cisneros dropping his ethereal bass over a lumbering drum smash.

While Cisneros often brands these releases as “dub,” it’s usually meant in the recording technique description, as opposed to the Jamaican reggae genre. But here, more than ever, Cisneros DOES reference the massive grandeur and bounce of ‘70s roots reggae. His bass probably could be slipped onto an Abyssinians record and horns of Jericho blare in the background. On his solo cuts, he rarely, if ever sings, and both sides here are instrumental where Cisneros lets his bass and your brain do the talking. I do love when Cisneros sings in OM, but I DO NOT want him to sing against a reggae beat- it would seem awkward.

So here, the approach is tasteful and arguably somewhat restrained. As Lee Perry, Scientist, and King Tubby have shown countless times, dub can be a platform for going waaaaay out. Cisneros keeps a tighter reign. Even in the flipside, “Akeldama,” the dub-dub cut of the dub a-side, there isn’t much that would blow your mind technique wise. Really, the b-side is more like a discomix continuation of the a-side than a version or dub.

As before, Cisneros creates a hypnotic platter that is more ambiance and feeling than song composition. That’s just fine. There are several forces working in Sleep and a couple in Om, so it is interesting to hear just one of those forces extracted and amplified on Cisneros solo tracks. I also like how makes explicit biblical references on his tunes… even when they are instrumental? Does he feel no words could do justice to the concept of “Suicide of Judas,” or does he feel like a cosmic line can connect his mind to yours and words would get in the way? Is it just a fun title?

We don’t know and that’s why, despite the fact that the songs here are somewhat straightforward, Cisneros is more a puzzle than ever. –John Gentile“

I am eagerly anticipating OM’s new album, due for release this year.

Final item in this horde was a compilation cd from Germany’s Eremit of all three of their releases to date, “Blade of the Underground”. Cool guys and cool interesting drone/sludge music with a cool story they are telling. The cd came with all sorts of stickers and collector cards and stuff as well, and also a hand written letter from main man Mo, a really nice touch.

“Eremit is releasing a 3xCD compilation named “Blade of the Underground” under their freshly forged own label “Drei Gleichen”. This CD Compilation includes all previously released studio records of Eremit: “Carrier of Weight” (2019), “Desert of Ghouls” (2020) as well as “Bearer of many Names” (2021).

The songs on this compilation are in their mythological correct order. We are following the journey of the hermit Umno, starting on the “Weltenmeer”, then crawling our way through the depths of the “Udun-ba” grots, to then wander through desert landscapes and unmapped territories. The three CDs of this compilation are each dedicated to one of these three story-blocks: Water, Grot and Land.

Each copy comes with a art card (1 out of 3) and one trading cart (1 out of 16) from a new special trading card edition that is being released alongside this compilation. Additionally each copy comes with a new set of stickers.”

I have more stuff on preorder, including the most expensive musical release I have ever bought, which will be exciting when it is released and turns up!