Voodoo Mount Sister - Soul Sista (Winged Sun, 2012)

Voodoo Mount Sister – Soul Sista
Winged Sun 2012

This is the first tape for Voodoo Mount Sister and it was recorded in July 2011. According to Winged Sun, “the girl” is on synth and vocals and “the guy” is on beats and bass.

"Apep" begins with droning layers of synth playing a stretched out, dissonant melody. A noisy, rattling thumping sound enters the mix playing in long intervals, yet it is continuous. "Ityopia" starts off with a distorted drone and a scraping, scratchy, noise loop. Amongst this are lighter, softer, and quieter drones that could be a synth or a guitar. There’s also a bass part that really keeps the whole song moving, persistently repeating. The drones are pretty discordant and noisy. Breath, the third song, is a heavily ambient, textural piece, filled with sporadic, a-rhythmic synths plinking and plonking, and a low, rumbling bass drone buzzing. "Light Sculpture" features reverb-drenched vocals for the first time yet, chanting away freely and intermittently. Soon after, a bass-y, 4/4, bumpin beat enters along with a repeating bass line and more looped noise. The synth drones have a rising and falling envelope as they distort and hiss. "Tyrant" is composed of more distorted, noisy synths and a super slow, bass-y, drum machine beat. Another gloomy and bleak release from Winged Sun.

Cassette: http://wingedsun.bigcartel.com/product/wsr18-voodoo-mount-sister-soul-sista-cs

Annapurna Illusion / Hellvision split (Winged Sun, 2012)

Annapurna Illusion / Hellvision split
Winged Sun 2012

The A side of this tape was recorded in 2009, and the B side was recorded one night in Belgium between Annapurna Illusion and Helvette (Glen Steenkiste of Sylvester Anfang II). "Argos" is composed of spooky, haunting, echo-y atmospheres with a persistently bass-y synth thumping. A more mid-ranged synth oscillates throughout the song. "Undecision" has quite a suspenseful and ghostly quality, filled with more slow, bass-y thumping and scary ambient textures that sound like a haunted house is breathing. Unlike the first song, this track includes some melodically repetitive and droning guitar drenched in reverb and buried deep in the atmospherics. They’re hard to hear but there are also (feminine?) chanting vocals buried deep as well. Towards the end of the song, the vocals, guitar, and thumping fade out as layers of very dark, distorted noise and screeching enter. There are also bells playing but they are hard to hear amongst the thick, dense beds of noise wash.

Hellvision’s side is made up of low, breathy, rumbling, blown out tides of synth wash. A real slow wave coming and going, but it is beastly, thick, and dense. Even so, for about the first seven minutes of the eighteen total, the overall sound is quite minimalist and sparse in the sense that there is really only one source of sound. Later on, a percussive, staccato rhythm enters, slowly playing in a very straightforward, 4/4 beat. Perhaps it’s cliché to make cinematic comparisons, but because of the song’s gradual, suspenseful manner and gloomy vibe, this song would fit well in a horror flick.

Cassette for purchase: http://wingedsun.bigcartel.com/product/wsr19-annapurna-illusion-hellvision-split-cs

Kunlun – KIII (Winged Sun, 2012)

Kunlun – KIII
Winged Sun 2012

No info on who Kunlun is or where they are from. Anyone know? Feel free to comment below. Song one consists of a pulsating synth drone maintaining a slow, steady rhythm. Another layer of drone is added into the mix creating a very subtle, yet powerful dissonance that is really beautiful. The steadiness of the rhythmic drone exudes a very calm, peaceful, and transcendent quality. Song two is made up of layers of arpeggiating synths melodically looping. The layers are slightly off-kilter rhythmically, although they sound very similar, creating quite a heady, hypnotic impact. It’s easy to get lost in this song because it’s very difficult to distinguish and organize the different sounds in your mind. Somehow though the song doesn’t fall apart, but maintains a steady rhythm, if a bit off-kilter. One of the synth layers provides the foundational beat, sounding like the synth version of a hip-hop drum track. Great song. Song three begins with a groovy/dancy, bubbly synth rhythm. There’s a really nice chemical balance between the couple different layers of ambient drone that enter. One is more echo-y while the other is softly blown out. These layers eventually fade out as a new rhythm enters, seemingly made out of droplets of water drenched in reverb. The recording sounds like it could have been from an alleyway. While the sense of the rhythm remains, this water droplet sound become submerged in a zonked, arpeggiating synth going up and down on a pentatonic scale. Song 4 comprises of more textural synth beats, somewhat reminiscent of Matmos. This initial rhythm multiplies itself and is placed into different times of the beat as a light, gentle, fluttering drone joins it. Side B and perhaps some of the songs preceding it falls into the minimalist, glitch, “IDM” territory. Especially the last song which is a 9 minute journey into textural and rhythmic progression and less focused around traditional notions of melody.

Cassette for purchase: http://wingedsun.bigcartel.com/product/wsr-20-kunlun-k3-cs

Iibiis Rooge – Life In A Bloodcell (Winged Sun, 2012)

Iibiis Rooge – Life In A Bloodcell
Winged Sun 2012

Iibiis Rooge is a collaborative project between High Wolf and Astral Social Club. The first song on Side A begins with pulsating, oscillating synth drones and more textural, scratchy synth sounds. Layers of hand drum, “tribal sounding” percussion enter playing a slow, groovy rhythm as the synths get more melodic in a minimalist, pentatonic vein, exhibiting quite a psychedelic drone sound. The second song features a bubbly synth and percussion loop mixed with oscillating and more new age-y synths droning. The drones slowly play through short, repeating melodies creating a rather hypnotic effect. The bubbly, synth oscillations and pulses texturally counterbalance the more “new age-y” drones in a pretty nice way. Side B is composed of loud ambient noise/hiss which sounds like it also is a lo-fi recording of wooden chimes or something to that effect. This initial ambience eventually transitions into an even louder, more hiss-y and aggressive noise which has a relatively upbeat, groovy rhythm to it. Layers of a variety of distorted synth textures build the song, oscillating and cascading. Towards the end of the jam the sounds become quite chaotic and dense, immersing the listener.

Cassette for purchase: http://wingedsun.bigcartel.com/product/wsr21-iibiis-rooge-life-in-a-bloodcell-cs