Baldruin

baldruin_miniTwo weeks ago at the Diamantener Oberhof concert I got the latest Baldruin release. Baldruin is the solo project by one of the musicians from Diamantener Oberhof. Until now several releases are out on tape and the first vinyl is also in production…

The latest release is the tape release Miniaturen on A Giant Fern. As the title might suggest this tape is filled with little pieces of music… the longest being just about two and a half minute and the shortest being just under forty five seconds…

These pieces are playful dreamy ambient music composed with electronics and all kinds of acoustic instruments… just like they are used in the Diamantener Oberhof context… only Baldruin does not have the folklore touch…

I could imagine these short little pieces of music would fit perfectly as soundtrack for film and theatre scenes for example… but on their own they are as enjoyable as well… and that is an understatement!

Etch Wear / Psykopharmaka

psykopharmakaEtch Wear is the label run by my friend from Europ Europ… since 1994 the world is not safe from his incidental actions… always fresh and surprising and never fitting into speficic  genre styles or trends or whatever… 1994… that is a long time… 10 years longer even as my own label…

Some of the recent highlights for me are the vinyls by Epilektrician and Fräulein Luftwaffe… and very recently there came out a 3″ cd-r (one of my favourite formats ever) by Psykopharmaka… they released  a tape on Etch Wear in 1994 and were the reason to start the label… now twenty years later a 3″ cd-r is released with an amazing over 20 minutes version of the track released twenty years ago… starting out as a lo-fi electronic ambient track but after about 7 and a half minute an bass guitar kicks in… resulting in strange and weird music/muzak… like in-between Fonal stuff and Lynch like dark jazz and ambient… simply amazing…

As second track a new version of the original track is added… sounding somewhere in-between Einstürzende Neubauten and Tuxedo Moon… what else do you need?!

Here is another piece by Psykopharmaka… sit back and enjoy the trip…

Morc

anneliesmonsereSome years ago I came across the music of Annelies Monseré due to a collaboration she did with In Gowan Ring/Birchbook… although it was on  my want list since then I never bought a record of her until recently… not sure why now but most likely as I am listening to quite some tranquil and folklore inspired tunes lately…

I ordered her 10″ vinyl EP entitled “Nest” directly from the label… being Morc Records from Belgium… a label specialised in small limited edition vinyls, tapes and cd’s… only vinyls lately… the sounds they put out are mostly drones, ambient and folklore inspired stuff… or all of that in the mix…

Label boss Wim Lecluyse is a musician himself too and releases under the alias of Circle Bros… his album “Haven” is really something to check out if you are into ambient and drone like music with a lo-fi touch… next to electronics he puts in some guitars and vague vocals… resulting in soundscapes to dream away on for sure…

With 70 releases up to now there is lots of music to discover for fans of this kind of stuff… if you are not familiar at all here is one track of Annelies Monseré to start out with… sort of Nico inspired in one way or another this one…