Saturday, October 29, 2011

From the Shadows


I've been following Hospital Productions for the last couple of years, since Kevin Drumm's two "Imperial" releases. For me, Drumm's "Imperial Horizon" is perhaps the best ambient album of the last decade. If you have never heard it, I strongly, strongly urge you to address this situation. And while I deeply love this album, most of what I've tried from Hospital since then has been a bit "too much" for me. But I have remained interested, because I got the sense they were right on the fringes of sounds I do really connect with, as the Drumm releases showed. So I was very interested when a FACT mix appeared from label head Dominick Fernow under his Prurient guise. The really stand out moment in the mix was a track by Vatican Shadow, another name Fernow is working under. But it was a cassette only release, so I gave up and forgot about it until Boomkat released the digitals a few weeks ago. I immediately purchased them and... wow. There are some really killer tracks across these releases, with the strongest being on 'Washington Buries Al Qaeda Leader At Sea Decks 1-3'. And bonus points from the brilliant names and imagery (I wonder if the next release with be about Gaddafi). To give you an idea, here is one track from that release:



Vatican Shadow is operating in a similar territory as the darker, gloomier sounds that has been popular recently - the most obvious markers are Raime and Blackest Ever Black, Regis and elements of Sandwell, through to Shackleton etc., and he is presumably working with similar influences from the late 1970s and the 1980s, with perhaps Muslimgauze being one of the strongest (I say perhaps because I really do not know his music very well). If you've been enjoying these kind of sounds, there is a strong chance you'll like what Vatican Shadow is doing. So my advice would be to head over to Boomkat and pick up the digitals. According to discogs, it looks like there are two releases that are still cassette only - including an album of which only 33 copies were made (what is the point?). Hopefully these will also get a digital release soon, as I am very keen to hear them. So keep an eye out for Vatican Shadow, I think many ssgs will like it.

12 comments:

  1. i work down the street from the hospital shop and have been loving these releases for a while now. great stuff. alberich also has some worthy tapes. dominick knows whats up.

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  2. thanks for the alberich tip - checked some samples in the past, but seemed a bit too harsh for me. any ones you'd recommend in particular?

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  3. Alos heard Kevin Drumm "Just Lay Down And Forget It" ... of course i found some BeB memories or texture but finaly the first things i found was more something like Tim Hecker ... without any hunger for sure ... thanks for this one Chris !

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  4. The 'Kneel Before Religious Icons' album is really great and the release that introduced me to vatican shadow. I do hope it does get a digital release soon.

    As for alberich, I'd say you should pick up the 'NATO - uniformen' 4hr digital release from boomkat. It can be harsh but there's a fair bit of variation in those 4 hours.

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  5. Good call Ed, the nato-uniformen compilation is really what it's all about. A friend just picked up the psychology of love LP, enjoyed what I heard on first listen, but admittedly has some rather harsh moments.

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  6. @ ed and MPS: thanks for the NATO tip. had checked the samples on that a couple of times, but the 4 hours thing was a bit daunting, as was the noise element. will brave it!

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  7. This is great stuff, Alberich, too.
    I also recommend the new Mika Vainio on Editions Mego... def. worthwhile!

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  8. Best Drumm release is definitely "Sheer Hellish Miasma". Look it up.
    For fans of this stuff, also look up Burning Star Core – Mes Soldats Stupides '96 - '04. The Track "White Swords In A Black Castle" on that one is insane.

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  9. im stunned..
    1 word, stunned.
    thanks

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  10. finally got around to buying the alberich compilation. it is great. thanks for the tip!

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  11. the kneel before religious icons release is available freely here: http://uaxuctum.blogspot.com/2011/03/vatican-shadow-kneel-before-religious.html

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  12. wow. nevermind, this is a horrible rip of that record

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