November 3, 2007
January 27, 2007
December 15, 2006
November 20, 2006
elseproduct 15 - splicing the icy expanse
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Best Formerly Free Music Project
Last December, this very publication saluted the new self-titled full-length by the Denver Gentlemen
for several very good reasons. The group, led by the enigmatic Jeffrey-Paul Norlander, helped establish
the gothic-roots sound that distinguished the Denver scene during the '90s, with former members
going on to found 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna's Auto Club and the Kalamath Brothers. Moreover, the
new songs stood among the band's best work, and they could be downloaded for free at
www.denvergentlemen.com. Unfortunately, that's
no longer the case: The tunes are now on discs for sale at area stores, and are well worth the purchase
price. As consolation, the first Denver Gentlemen long-player, the equally stirring Introducing...the
Denver Gentlemen, is now available on the site at no charge. Gentlemen, start your search engines.
westword.com
Champions of unstructured sound collage and homemade instruments, Backwards Records is home
to an array of adventurous laptop jockeys and electronically minded noise artists: Page 27, Blackcell,
Robot Mandala, Haunted Sound Lab, Sporadik, Kuxann-Sum and Paraclude, among others. Surviving on
the distant fringes of normalcy, the unsung label creates sounds as willfully edgy as they are impossible
to pigeonhole. No wonder their motto is "Forward thinking, backwards living."
Website has been revamped. Still need to do some more tweaking.
French review of Splicing the Icy Expanse can be found at Anleva Veineus.
The following is a rough English translation of the review:
Splicing the icy expanse (compilation) - Else Product
Compilation
January 15, 2007
Here compilation "Spilicing the icy expanse" of the label Else Product. On this compilation, are present the groups Haunted Sound Laboratory, 440mz, Mink (remixed by Danny Hyde), Marblehead, Black Sun Productions, Soft Mort (remixed by Tactile), Sid Redlin and Greggoryr Rapp (wondeful collaborative), Blackcell, Kuxaan-Sum, NOT, Life' S Decay, MXIII vs Kilgore Trout, Bad Wolf, 3z13 and The Insekys Isotope. What is interesting compared to these various artists, they are their style. Indeed, "Splicing the icy expanse" is not a compilation gathering of the musicians practising the same musical style. Each one has its horizon and its vision of the things. The first title "Ghost in the blood" carries us in a worrying and dangeureux world, where one hears the breath of a man in catch with terror, with the anguish. Comes thereafter a title like "Wrinkles" Mink group, electronic and melody, taken along by the hot voice of the singer. Each title thus founds a universe suitable for that of the group. That makes it possible to be able to discover these groups, which have each one a strong identity. If each title has its particular style, the whole of compilation is harmonious all the same. One can travel through a panel of very varied feelings, certain titles are calm, others rather distressing, like the first, others diffuse an evocative energy etc.
This compilation is a presentation of many groups of the scene dark, it offers to us an outline of the multitude of the scenes in the scene. Enriching!
First off, happy belated New Year from else.product! Now onto some news...check out Matthew Amundsen's
review of Splicing the Icy Expanse over at Brainwashed . Review can be found here.
Also, Kilgore Trout's "Two Yards Low the history of MXIII" made #42 (album of the year) for Brainwashed's 2006 Readers' Poll. That can be found here.
Keep an eye out for more releases in 2007. Until next time...
Website is currently being revamped. Consider this a work in progress.
New releases!
elseproduct 17 - Kilgore Trout - Two Yards Low, The History of MXIII
elseproduct 18 - Acitine - Phanes' Birth
Check out the catalog for more information. I will only be able to make
this special available to the first 26 people as the Acitine did very well at the
Brainwaves Fesival and it is limited to 50 copies. Paypal is accepted please email first for confirmation of
remaining copies. artists, your copies will be
leaving this week. eyes open.
July 1, 2006
Exciting news! Three new releases from elseproduct will be coming mid July, but wanted to make the
following offer to those who been so supportive.
Sid Redlin - Pandora's Recompense
Which is taken from his legendary collection The Sid Box, which contained multiple cds, candles, incense,
individual artworks and hand painted artworks...an amazing collection to be sure, but difficult to translate
into a larger commercial release. So instead pieces were culled from the original discs to tell a new story....
very compelling, very dark. Limited cdr release with individual wax seals on each and includes an extra
song not in the Box.
Mort Douce - Atlantis
Wonderful dark and beautiful sounds from the artist behind "Another World" from Simple Logic Records.
Soundscapes that take you to another place and another time. Limited cdr of 50. Each disc has an artwork
individually created with a special "nickname" from Sid Redlin to reflect Mort Douce intentions.
Aural Mechanism: Dyschordia
In 2003 a collection of artists who wanted to pay their respects to Coil contributed amazing songs and
artwork...and then the man behind the collection vanished. All the artists new the collection had been
finished. Artwork with tracklistings circulated between those in the know who followed Coil. People
contacted elseproduct in search of any information about Aural Mechanism, rumors flew about demo
copies circulating, but it all turned out to be simply missing. After much digging and recollecting (as well
as the original collector resurfacing) the original Aural Mechanism sees the light of day. "you hold in your
hands a ghost, something that never was..." limited cdr of 63 copies with the original artwork. There is
also yet another new collection due to surface soon from sister company moleculerecords, events are
underway.
These will be available in advance as a set to the first 25 people to email me. Total cost of $25 including
shipping in the USA. For those that want to PayPal, add a buck for the chunk they take. Oversea orders
email for costs.
Friday, April 7, 2006
REVIEW from Compulsion Online
Tactile - Bipolar Explorer
Bipolar Explorer from John Everall's Tactile project is an electronic realisation of his fractured mental state.
Like the illness that informs this release the sonic evocations are all-encompasing in their ability to irritate
and agitate. It's a knowing, gnawing, grating release of serated electronic tones and throbbing electronic
pulses that act erratically in a totally alien fashion. Like currents of electricity overworked and perilously
close to exploding. It's irksome and quite unsettling as sounds blur, blend and spark, punctuated by
sound washes.
Occassionally the mechanized hum evokes an industrial wasteland but more often than not the series of
abstract tones and pulses are magnified and exaggerated to the point of irritability. Bipolar Explorer was
originally intended for Coil's Eskaton imprint but was shelved due to Everall's "chaotic mental state". In fact
'Watching The Spiders' (whose incessant throbbing recalls Killing Joke's 'Requiem') was informed by
conversations between Everall and Coil's Jhonn Balance about their shared hallucinations of spiders
appearing at the periphery of their vision. Bipolar Explorer has elicited comparison with the Coil related
projects Elph and Time Machines but musically the archaic equipment more closely resembles the work of
Mount Vernon Arts Lab or Dieter M��1�2h, while the depth of sound and sheer physical nature of Bipolar
Explorer is closer to Pan Sonic. Bipolar Explorer is an uneasy ride but it is a genuinely affecting realisation
of the mood shifts that define bipolar disorder.
For more information go to www.geocities.com/jahsev/tactpage.html or www.elseproduct.com
Compulsion Online features reviews/interviews/images of music, art and unpopular culture. artists featured
include: antony & the johnsons, coil, chris & cosey, carter tutti, current 93, death in june, futon, matt howden,
knifeladder, matmos, rose mcdowall, ostara, sol invictus, thighpaulsandra, david e. williams, wire; joe coleman,
coop, aleister crowley, gilbert & george, frank kozik, austin osman spare. material on performance, the wicker
man ... plus a monthly news digest.
Check it out at: www.compulsiononline.com
CONGRATULATIONS to a couple of Westword's 2005 Best of Recipients:
The Denver Gentlemen
The Denver Gentlemen
Best Experimental Noise Label
Backwards Records