VARIOUS ARTISTS "Miss Fortune Was a Henhouse Manager" (Spinalonga)

Sixteen bands coming from Hellenic ground compile this double CD collection. Spinalonga Records tests beyond the mainstream acts a whole underground scene which may interest most of the doom/sludge/heavy (or whatever) fans. The aberrant sounds of National Pornographik and Extraordinary Rendition colour this effort with aesthetic talent while the rest of the bands are drowned in ultraheavy, sometimes psychedelic, musical orgy. This compilation actually proves the healthy status of Greek underground scene and settles it strong anent similar foreign musical streams. Sun of Nothing broadcast a mesmerizing hymn, National Pornographik may remind of phenomenal Julie Christmas' Made Out of Babes and Drunk Motherfuckers dally with a half-stoner, half-sludge track. Nechayevschina's instrumental participation caves in psychedelic aspects and so does Last Rizla's song. Korsikov's much Sabbath-like introducing riff turns into a monster and Farsalas (vocals) beshrews it all. They could become the domestic Black Cobra, believe me. Stonenrow are beset by Electric Wizard inspiration and give the audience some of their spare blur. Bad Trip is a band I'd never listened to before and their music seems to be more than just promising. Sadhus, the Smoking Community participate with a long, long track in which I can discern a black metal aura (due to the vocal style) over the sludge musical background. Brotherhood of Sleep do once again what they do best; through their instrumental composition they manage to build up beautiful, atmospheric soundscapes. Universe 217's indisputable talent leads them to the creation of one more mellow, lethargic, yet short opus. 1000Mods cover Eyehategod's "Sister Fucker" so they got to be neutral criticized. Nice effort, though. Sector Illusion's recording slightly veers away from the rest of the tracks' mood but it still is a beautiful song. Extraordinary Rendition's progressive spirit gifts the audience a Keelhaul-like, inspired composition which lasts only 1.21 minutes. Circassian are the only to provide Eastern vibes through a song both mesmerizing and minimal. Yassa contribute four tracks in this compilation, functioned as intros/outros in both two CDs. To sum up, this compilation is a great chance for you to meet Greek underground scene and offers you nearly 106 minutes of quality music. Visit Spinalonga's website for further info and show your support. It's really worth it.

Miltos XIC - 15/20

VARIOUS ARTISTS "Noise vs. Subversive Computing" (Computationally Infeasible Records)

Probably I’m not the most proper guy for such kind of a review. I mean, Noise/Ambient did obviously ever interest some inner folds of myself and that’s why I’ve avocated with alike creations even at an amateur level. The truth is that the mentioned release has been checked out a long time ago on the network by my hungry eyes and its distribution via a 1.0 USB stick is a so damn fetish! A delicate issue concerning alike releases is about the amplitude and easiness of their distribution since they’re not under the common norm of a “record copy” which will be served on the stores shelves globally. Pascal Cretain, on his MySpace profile, was strict about the number of copies of the featured collection. Only 256 lucky bastards (or simply interested guys?) would be able to obtain this so beautiful electronic stick. This stick in which there’s a collaboration between Noise/Experimental artists and Subversive Technologists/Computer Hackers. Each one of them contributes his work either visually or acoustically. What does this mean anyway? Some artists presented their recorded soundscapes, some others a few drawings, others simply a video clip they’ve created accompanied by their own synthetic noise and others provides us with some software material. Concisely, the Noise artists have created the music of the computers and reversely some others translate Noise music in images or words. The whole conception of this release should be described as avant-garde at least. Let’s take a glance at the matter of this stuff, though. AFamily Battle Snake recording is always interesting and Sarah’s Charity are always sensational. The “Information Pollution” video clip made by Pascal Cretain is the true highlight of this collaboration. It fills you with disgust and stress while at the same time it empties anything useless in you. Probably the visual synonym for the word technostress. At least, that’s been its impact on me personally. Close your eyes and try focusing in the innermost of you. Keep zooming until you are able to see your own molecules. The out-of-our-frequencies music that’s stemming out of the friction between these molecules could be found in some of the sounds of “Noise vs. Subversive Computing”. We might be more digital than we think us to be. Pascal, thanx for this supply. Now I’m one of those lucky bastards, too…

Miltos XIC