Raionbashi / In Teufel's Küche

For my money, the Schimpluch guys put out some of the scariest music on the planet. This Raionbashi 10" is exemplary of the collective's organic cut-up aesthetic which creates an utterly unnerving atmosphere through its collage editing of treated field recordings, body sounds, acoustic / electronic tones, and most importantly silence. Besides the use of space, what makes the work of Raionbashi, Dave Phillips, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock et al. so effective is the selective use of harsh sounds, or even the complete lack of harsh sounds on certain recordings like this one. Essential listening!

The Devil's Kitchen

Helm / To An End

Superb dark atmospheric tape loops and electronics. The dense, hypnotic layers of warmly physical field recordings seem almost architecturally rendered in the carefully-structured way in which the vast and lonely soundscape unfolds. A rewarding listen that welcomes repeat visits.

To An End

T.E.F. and The Bastard Noise / Astronomical Sound Images

Novak and Wood on a heavy space trip 4 years in the making. Its hard to do the space theme without coming off hokey, but this stuff is no doubt the Sagan-certified sound of space. The textures on this record create an otherworldly environment - immense sonic layers that encompass all of the controlled chaos of worlds forming and dying across the universal expanse. So forget Acid Mothers Whatever, this is the real deal cosmic crush.

M104, NGC 4594