Sonomu

feastofhateandfear
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Apollon
Aleatorical ADOR 2371 2003 D.O.R.
Scorpion Factory pt3 6:08
     

Kathumi
Monad

0.55
2:49
      Fear of The Dark 2:51
      Nirvankaya 8:17
      Halle Bop and Lilith
The Rape of The Lock		 0:20
3:19
      Samsara 5:13
      Issac The Blind
Opening The Veil		 0:20
2:21
      Questions of King Milinda 4:18
      Coffin Lid 4:04
      Still Numb 1:59
      Another American Flag 4:35
      I've Been Here Before 1:30
      Hetrophant 2:56
      Hathoor
Stigmata and La-Bas		 0:38
0:14
      Love, Wisdom and Will 13:06



Sonomu Erkki Luuk
Kicking off with some distorted chords and reversed/time-stretched vocals growling, 'Aleatorical' is the kind of album you'd want to spin on parties to deplete the dance floor with a contemptuous statement. An ingenious album, with no conventions at sight, no particular style, no nothing beyond the composition laying its dark polymorphic experimental egg into rhythm and ambient alike. The result is a ghastly hybrid with historical/mythical connotations clanking in titles likes 'Kathumi', 'Questions of King Milinda' et al. These are in turn supported by hidden radio mantras and something of the sort buried deep in the mix. The demoniac who probably did this hasn't left us many clues, nor have we much to compare it with, making the recording all the more indispensable. Tracks like 'Another American Flag' and 'The Rape of The Lock' carry the potential of the darkest minimal dance music imaginable, countless others just spook their listener on sight. In either way, it works, and vocal parts and exertions of the sort of 'Scorpion Factory pt3', 'Still Numb', 'Love, Wisdom and Will', 'The Rape of The Lock' and others are especially welcome. Bis!
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feastofhateandfear.com
This could have been one of the best CDs I've gotten in some time. A sort of Muslimgauze (of which Apollon composer Martin Lee-Stephenson had collaborated with on a few occasions before Bryn Jones' untimely passing) meets Autechre. Mantras, eastern instrumentation (or Australian, as in digeridoo), blips, static, hum and a beat. There is one major, major flaw. I have never found myself removing a CD from any power electronics, noise, ambient, glitch-techno or IDM, but I actually took it out to see if it was damaged. The volume goes up and down constantly, which is terribly annoying! Sometimes it's totally turned down, other times it's turned up so loud it peaks the speakers. And I do understand glitch-techno, but here the skips and pops seem really out of place, though plainly contrived. After "Issac the Blind" - a minimalist IDM track - it almost stops, or at least gets better. "Another American Flag" was the closest thing to what Timbaland has been doing (without the hip-hop vocals - or any vocals for that matter). I actually like it that I can't figure out if "I've Been Here Before" is a warped jazz record or a slowed-down recording of flies swarming. The final track "Love, Wisdom and Will" fits it's New Age title as it's a 13 minute low hum of ambient soundscapes.
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