exotic esoterique – volume 1

And so we’re back with ArteTetra’s whose debuting release a compilation entitled ‘exotic esoterique’ volume 1 you might recall had us waxing lyrically whilst fainting in the aisles. For those who missed our earlier ranting a quick recap would go along these lines into – Italian label specialising in cassette only releases featuring sounds drawn from psychedelic, esoteric and exotic disciplines. First outing a compilation featuring 15 such artists bubbling beneath the radar from Italian and American territories, anyhow last time out we mentioned Felippo Guiffre, obscure and hysm? duo which in case you either missed, blinked or just plain ignored can be scrutinised / read or again ignored by going to  https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/exotic-esoterique-volume-1/ As to the rest, I must admit an excellent and faultless selection of new sounds that circumvents the spectrum sublimely ever from the weird and strange to the mellowed and the mind weaving. One of the sets stand out cuts and perhaps one of its eeriest coming from babau, for ‘faus’ is trimmed with a darkly unsettling solution drawn upon elements of Australasian  tribal chants and what sounds like some n’er do well ceremonial mass taking amid all of which there comes the drifting lull of a surreal flavouring recalling the spacey detours once upon a time enacted by Ozric Tentacles, yet dare we neglect to mention the ominous throat chants – very Soriah. Traversing a similar weird trajectory are Kree-Mah-Stree whose ‘king kong’ presents a whole heap of voodoo ju-ju brooding over a cooking pot that threads together a primordial soup out of ethnic drone motifs and dub daubs into a  most surreal psych noir cabaret. Those preferring their sounds somewhat scalded and scorched might do well to don tin hats for the melodic Molotov cocktail that is ‘2 cuorleone’ by Lleroy, a savage and schizoid bastard head case of the kind of twisted and frenzied quality that at one time you’d have expected to kick and scream its way out of the brew imprint, did we also neglect to mention its feral and furious – well we have now – must hear more and so must you especially if your preferred ear gear includes on its listening list that fucking tank. By far the strangest selection on the compilation – and believe you me there are a fair plenty vying for the accolade – though none come close to the crookedness and derangement of blue bird dominion’s ‘sehnsucht’ – prime listening for those of you attuned to the grooves put out by the beta lactam ring imprint given that this uneasy listening gem sounds not a million miles from the kind of strangeness committed to wax by La STPO, not so much a song as such more a theatrical performance transmitted as were through old school valve powered transistors and disfigured by wayward radiophonics and insectoid glitches and groans, a most unnerving experience. There’s no denying that moraljetlag have at some point been schooled and informed by the out there retro electro minimalism of Cabaret Voltaire, clock DVA and SPK found here merging both those sonic worlds in a slice of doom dripped chamber chill courtesy of ‘kitchen disease’. Nevroshockingiochi on the other hand prefer a readily more darker and brooding approach with ‘cinecronica’ finding itself mesmerically morphing into a curiously tripping soft psych dipped dream sequence whose intricacy and terraforming persona steps darkly into to sonic tides imagining a shadowy meeting point between Kreidler and Battles. One of our favourite moments from the set – that’s not to say that every cut is not a favourite moment – comes courtesy of the opening salvo from H on Bangalore whose ‘samboosa’ is a gorgeous slice of transcendental mysticism that pairs together an arresting  cortege merging the  sonic spheres of psychotropically woozy third eye groove and dream drifting astral sereneness. Similarly dinked in mind weaving cosmicalia is ‘sole’ by Wakan – another lilting slice of instrumental isolationism obviously in awe of a late 80’s New Zealand noise scene and sounding very much like the work of a studio summit meeting drawing together Gnac and Roy Montgomery. Elsewhere for reasons best known only to my sub conscious each time I’ve heard ‘nostra signora dei turchi’ by Nicola Tirabasso I’ve had this strange urge to dig out my much adored AR Kane platters which is strange because this cosmic delight sounds nothing like the sonic architects of ‘I’ and rather more like an intense shot in the arm of psych shimmered kraut gouged leviathan like solar symphonics carved by the hand of Astral Social Club.  Somewhere else lurk above the tree with ‘rituale N12’ which I must admit is a rather subdued and understated affair, detached and remotely daubed in a lo-fi glazing which once ears are adjusted reveals itself to be dimpled in a sweet almost distanced bruising cradled in an atmospheric ice sculpturing to which fans of old Ochre releases may well fall for. Discounting the Lleroy track the award for the most wildly furious and wig flipped cut on the set must surely go to the big drum in the sky religion whose ‘hare pussy’ is a howling magma whose improv no wave utterances seem to be the work of unruly sonic imps whose idea of listening entertainment is to confuse, corrupt and put the would be listener on an uneasy back foot whilst simultaneously pummelling their headspace in a light the fuse see what happens caustic boogie. Last in the mentioning stakes ‘houngan boukman’ from maybe I’m is a lo-fi ramble through prairie country turning in a curiously off balanced slab of mountain folk blues which should you scrunch up your ears you may well find a loose nod to the mighty Clinic albeit a frayed and slightly beaten around the edges Clinic. https://soundcloud.com/artetetra/sets/exotic-sot-rique-vol-1