Snowthorn is the long awaited debut album from Mike Connelly (Wolf Eyes / Hair Police) and his wife, Tara, recording together as Clay Rendering.​

Perhaps the most compelling of all the many projects started by one-time members of Wolf Eyes, Clay Rendering came to life in 2013 and have since released a trio of singles for Hospital Productions that have gained them the admiration of followers spanning both electronic and metal communities.

Their material occupies unique terrain, recalling The Cure’s widescreen Disintegration-era instrumentals, cut through with a Black Metal palette and an appreciation of electronic music that imbues their production (notably assisted by Dominick Fernow) with an end-of-world quality that’s impossible to pin down. Evoking Nine Inch Nails one moment, you find yourself in a smoke-filled, strobe-lit Road House the next; bleary-eyed, head spinning, coming down.

Guitar, Accordion, Piano and electronics underpin these songs, opening with the whirling death march of ‘Maps on The Floor’ and the funereal trudge of “Swallow The Century” before the grinding fuzz of “Sight From Up There” changes pace with the addition of a forlorn piano melody and Becka Diamond’s distant vocal zooming in on half-remembered songs, rendered here with hazy definition.

“Fall Of The Bed” and “Memory Loses Momentum” find Clay Rendering at their most visceral and catchy; a reminder that they are first and foremost a band that write incredible songs, often submerged in fuzz and atmosphere, but here left exposed, bare, on display.

And yet the title track “Snowthorn”, “River Without” and the incredible album closer “Night To Perish” edge the album from the bleak and into the sublime, turning away from the snowy landscapes their music so often evokes, instead pulling you deep into night...

• Additional production by Dominick Fernow, additional vocals by Becka Diamond 

• Mastered by Paul Corley, cut at D&M, Berlin

• A delicate yet uncompromising set of songs drifting somewhere between Gothic, Ambient, Black Metal and Dream Pop. 

hospitalproductions.net

Originally available as a small-run cassette, of which the 222 copies pressed quickly sold out, “Imposing Elitism” is now finally available on CD (presented in Digipak format) and LP (both on black or gold 180 gram vinyl, with matching covers, each limited to 250 hand-numbered copies and including download code)!

Boasting the unique personality of this Swedish combo, Arditi's music taps into the darker tones of Militaristic Neo-Classical ambiance that has become the band's trademark. Ever effective in their use of crushing orchestrations and evocative speeches, the band hereby drags the listener around muddy trenches, and casts a hypnotizing veil over the turmoil of warfare-inspired Industrial soundscapes. Spearheaded by Henry Möller and Marten Björkman, Arditi first came to light in 1997, inspired by the Italian Futurist Movement of the early 20th century. But given both members' involvement in other projects (such as Puissance and Algaion), it was not until 2002 that the first recorded output would come to be released.

The godfathers of the (Belgian) electronic music are saying a definite farewell at the AB on Saturday 26th September.

If you do not have tickets, then you can follow the concert from your seat , because the concert will be broadcast live on YouTube. Enjoy!

www.abconcerts.be

For the past few years Rabit (aka Houston, Texas based producer Eric Burton) has sent shockwaves through the underground via a series of acclaimed 12” and EP releases, building an increasingly bold and challenging discography. He’s been at the center of some of the most exciting, emerging electronic communities, sharing ties with both the Berlin based, dance deconstructionists of Janus (Lotic, M.E.S.H.) and with UK based grime experimentalists like Mumdance and Logos.

With the release of Communion, the follow up to his acclaimed EP (and Tri Angle debut) Baptizm, Rabit shows no signs of letting up. As a sound designer Rabit has continued to push himself into new and compelling territories, reshaping various ‘club’ sounds into something alien and unpredictable, but with the release of this album he’s heavily politicized his music in a way he’d only hinted at before.

The deeply personal aspect of his creative process, and what has been described as an “ intangible something “ in his music, resonates with listeners on a gut level, both pushing and pulling the listener into a world of destruction and rebirth. ‘Communion’ is a complex, disorientating album, and one that feels especially timely considering it was primarily inspired by issues relating to sexuality, gender, ownership of our natural bodies, societal and governmental injustices, and media manipulations, the discussion of which have been so prevalent of late. Consequently ‘Communion’ runs the full gamut of emotions; confusion and bewilderment transforming into anger and confrontation, finally ending up in a place of possible hope; the sound of earthly chains on the soul being broken. 

Les Disques du Crepuscule presents an expanded edition of classic festive album Ghosts of Christmas Past, featuring favourites from the original 1981 and 1982 editions now joined by newer tracks by Crepuscule artists.

Sometimes witty, sometimes melancholic, the original version of Ghosts of Christmas Past in November 1981 featured exclusive contributions from luminaries such as Tuxedomoon, The Durutti Column, Paul Haig, Michael Nyman, Aztec Camera, Thick Pigeon and The Names. Subsequent editions in 1982 and 1986 added songs by Antena, Mikado, The French Impressionists, Pale Fountains and Winston Tong.

For this new double CD version in 2015 Crepuscule have now added more chantons noel by Blaine L. Reininger, Section 25, The Wake, Marsheaux, Deux Filles, Stanton Miranda, Virna Lindt, B Music and Ultramarine.

“Crepuscule's Christmas cracker is here to rescue the festive season from the fogies and bores"(Melody Maker); "Aztec Camera's Hot Club of Christ is a busy, Django-esque run through a few well-known Christmas ditties, Michael Nyman's Cream or Christians is a silly but loveable fragmented organ collage in a typical English eccentric tradition, Tuxedomoon are in playful Residential mood” (NME)

Cover art by Jean-Francois Octave. The remastered 2xCD is sleeved in a deluxe 6 panel digipack.

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

1. Section 25 Jesus Sweetly Sleeps

2. Miranda Dali Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

3. The Wake Jesus From the Block

4. Marsheaux We Met Bernard Sumner at a Christmas Party Last Night

5. Ultramarine Winter Circle

6. Isolation Ward Lamina Christus

7. Thick Pigeon Jingle Bell Rock

8. Aztec Camera Hot Club of Christ

9. Paul Haig Scottish Christmas

10. B Music Rocking Carol

11. Tuxedomoon Weihnachtsrap

12. Virna Lindt Festivo

13. Blaine L. Reininger Jingle Hell

14. Blaine L. Reininger Silent Blight

15. Blaine L. Reininger Xmas Blooz

16. The Durutti Column Snowflakes

17. Monks in the Snow A Theme for This Special Evening

Disc 2:

1. Hillcrest Club Breakfast at Christmas

2. Paul Haig Christiana

3. The Names Tokyo Twilight

4. The Durutti Column One Christmas For Your Thoughts

5. White Birds Possessed By the Stars

6. The Swinging Buildings Praying for a Cheaper Christmas

7. B Music Ode to Joy

8. Antena Noelle a Hawai

9. The Pale Fountains Benoît’s Christmas

10. The French Impressionists Santa Baby

11. Simon Topping Peep Show International

12. Thick Pigeon Silhouettes

13. Deux Filles The Snow Falls and the Village Is Overflowing With Children

14. Mikado Message de Noël

15. Winston Tong The Twelve Days of Christmas

16. The Arcadians Write Your Letter

17. Michael Nyman Cream or Christians

18. Magazzini Criminali Honolulu 25 dicembre 1990