Articles
2008 Ten Favourite Labels
Ten Questions Celer
Ten Questions Deadbeat

Albums
Anzio Green
Ariel Abshire
Osman Arabi
Arastoo & AEMAE
Asymmetrical Head
Benoît Pioulard
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Matt Borghi
Celer
Cubenx
Anders Dahl
Davis & Roux
Deadbeat
Feu Follet
Formication
Generic
Stefan Goldmann
Gultskra Artikler / Lanterns
Hauschka
Hexes & Ohs
Koen Holtkamp
I Am Robot And Proud
Illusion of Safety
Integral
Koen Park
Akira Kosemura
Koushik
Library Tapes
Lineland
Mamiffer
Melodium
Moon
Oppressed By The Line
Pillars and Tongues
Rumpistol
Kamran Sadeghi
Sans Serif
Signal Deluxe
Skogen
Saul Stokes
Matthew Sweet
Tapage
Thursday / Envy
Windy & Carl

Compilations / Mixes
An Taobh Tuathail II
Chaos Restored 2
DFPRMX
Kuniyuki
Message Subatomic World
Pero es olor en el cuarto...

EPs
Canyons!
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay
Cubenx
Dokuro
Fraction
Lee Holman
Ikonika
King Midas Sound
Michael Lambright
Library Tapes
Lilienweiss
MRK1
:papercutz
Spencer Parker
Poratz
Spartak + John Chantler
Andy Vaz

Gultskra Artikler / Lanterns: Berezka / Monkey Lament
Other Electricities

The perfect gift for the Mushrooms-loving outcast in the family, Berezka / Lanterns unites avant-folk unit Gultskra Artikler (Moscow-based Alexey Devyanin) and UK drone outfit Lanterns for a twenty-six minute split disc. The two artists make a perfect pair, with Gultskra Artikler's three pieces a natural complement to Lanterns' two.

Devyanin's electro-acoustic collages sound simultaneously ancient and modern. Though assembled digitally, much of the Gultskra Artikler material exudes an eroded quality as if it's been pieced together from decaying materials. The detail-heavy, reverb-laden atmospherics of “Pervie Gusli” suggest freezing winds blowing through a desolate Eastern European city at dawn, especially when muffled bell tones resonate within a disorienting mass. In “Figase,” desperate voices call out melismatically from some cavernous, underground chamber while winds drone above ground. Coming after such uncompromising settings, the conventionally musical character of “Berezka Take 2” is initially jarring. Dreamy and tranquil in spirit, the pretty piece embeds Eno-styled synthesizer melodies and acoustic guitar picking within a static-heavy base. Other Electricities' characterization of the Gultskra Artikler sounds as “Neo-folk cyber-psychedelia” is accurate indeed.

Formed in 1995, Lanterns (Leeds and Glasgow residents Luke and Andreas) aims to create music that's equally beautiful and ugly, sweet and sour, dissonant and harmonic—you get the idea. Tellingly, the group's improvisations are recorded using a single one microphone and with minimal editing applied which partially accounts for the material's meandering haziness. Lanterns picks up where Gultskra Artikler leaves off with “Snake Ice,” an instantly appealing piece whose emotive Kosmische style can't help but call to mind the work of artists like Popul Vuh, Neu, and Faust. A disorienting character pervades “Snake Ice” as it twists and turns through various psychedelic episodes, with keyboard melodies and distorted strings snaking their way through a dense sea of churning noise. “Dir Tup” plunges even deeper into a psychedelic rabbit hole with a wooden flute, acoustic guitars, animal sounds, and myriad other noises pushing the song into a tripped-out psych-folk and backwoods country jam.

Much praise to Other Electricities for including a gratis CD version of the recording with the beautiful marble vinyl pressing of the release (500 copies).

November 2008