Utech Records




	RELEASES I RELEASES II ARC URSK SHOKYO ONTEI DISCOGRAPHY MAILORDER DISSEMINATE CONTACT			Locrian > The Crystal World > Utech Records > URCD056/057 BUY HERE A marked change had come over the forest, as if dusk had begun to fall. Everywhere the glacé sheaths which enveloped the trees and vegetation had become duller and more opaque. The crystal floor underfoot was occluded and gray, turning the needles into spurs of basalt. The brilliant panoply of colored light had gone, and a dim amber glow moved across the trees, shadowing the sequined floor. At the same time it had become considerably colder. The Crystal World, the third studio album from Locrian, is an epic journey. Titled after JG Ballard’s 1964 novel that tells the story of a physician who specializes in leprosy sent to a remote African outpost to discover a jungle that is slowly crystallizing and encroaching upon everything it touches. Disc one comprises six tracks while disc two consists of one extended piece, Extinction, that picks up on the intensity of disc one and sustains it for close to an hour. On The Crystal World, Terence Hannum, and André Foisy, are joined by Steven Hess (On, Pan American, Ural Umbo) on percussion and electronics. Hess’ contribution pushes Locrian deeper into the abyss of despair rendering a sound that is darker, bleaker, and engulfing than any of the group’s previous releases. Locrian continue the conceptual trajectory of blackened drone that the group initially embarked on during their first studio album Drenched Lands (2009). Masters of layering, The Crystal World finds the group manipulating tones and textures that transport the listener to an apocalyptic wasteland. At times, the layers are serene and somber, at other times they are chaotic. The Crystal World is Locrian's essential release, finding the band creating a sound all of their own. A sound that evades simplistic analogies to black metal, power-electronics, noise, or other categories. This is the album that will stun fans of the bands previous works with how far the group has come from their early releases. Presented in a Stoughton gatefold sleeve with art by Vberkvlt. Vinyl edition out on Utech Records in 2011. Triumph of Elimination--Obsidia n Facades--Extinction I--Extinction II - Tetragrammaton > Point of Convergence > Utech Records > URCD032/Shokyo5 BUY HERE Trapped on an ocean of disparate languages, sound gravitates towards meaning, escaping the obsolescence of mother tongues by denying the slow decay of time. In the biblical tale of the Tower of Babel, God punishes the tower builders by scattering them across the earth, unintelligible to each other. As they departed their blissful prison of same-think, they became drunk with new songs, washing down their newfound 'auditory cheesecake' with sectarian babble. In as much as their speech had been confounded, they were offered a musical re-enchantment through floating words, alveolar clicks and talking drums. By refusing the past, their music ceased to exist in time, choosing instead to create it. Employing hurdy-gurdy, crystal bowls, bells, voice, drums and waterphones, Tetragrammaton revisits the bedraggled unlanguage of the castoff nomad builders with quantum force. Climbing into gilded time capsules, the three members soon reappear uttering unknown tongues and blowing ancient horns, drenched in the embryonic saliva of Thoth, that Egyptian God of knowing-it-all. Point of Convergence is arguably the group's finest outing yet, capturing stripped-down harmonic explorations, overdriven dronescapes, meditative underwater recordings and a judicious dose of blown-out psychedelia. Disjecta Membra--Temporality of Action - Daniel Menche > Terre Paroxysm > Utech Records > URCD054 BUY HERE Terre Paroxysm is Daniel Menche's second release for Utech Records and a continuation in his bringing back the vehement nature of sound. A pure acoustic-electronic recording of storms: wind, ice and rain. The field recordings were captured by Menche and densely mixed and treated in a manner to create a sense of the earth sleeping then cracking open with violent emotion. An air of electronics crackles and slides around the storm recordings in a way that only can be described as acoustic-electro. Terre Paroxysm roars and cries with the organic sound only Menche can evoke. Photograph by Christopher Colville. Track 1--Track 2 - GOG > Heavy Fierce Brightness: Spells of the Sun > Utech Records > URCD053 BUY HERE Pour the sun upon the ground, stand to throw a shadow, watch it grow into a night and fill a spinning sky. Heavy Fierce Brightness: Spells of the Sun writhes and creaks and slowly burns. Feedback, riffs and drums ignite like a brilliant star exposing our corners and weaknesses. Black/white. There can be no darkness until something shines. GOG's second release for Utech Records. Four-panel poster sleeve. Illustration by Terence Hannum. Spells of Shadow--The Opening - Mamiffer/House of Low Culture > Split > Utech Records > URCD055 BUY HERE A spacious, luxurious split release from Mamiffer and House of Low Culture. Piano, guitar, synthesizer, organ and field recordings are just a few of the devices that etch the open, free passages of music. A remarkable piece from each contributor. LP available on Sige. Collage by Are Mokkelbost. Uncrossing--Ice Mole - Architeuthis Rex > Dark as the Sea > Utech Records > URCD041 BUY HERE LAST 50 COPIES. NEW ARTWORK. Architeuthis rex. Leviathan. King. Magnificent sea dweller and haunter of the dreams of Italian artist Antonio Gallucci. Dark as the Sea is that dream, each of the seven recordings an aperture into a horrific underwater world filled with the fear of what lies outside. Together, the album is a kaleidoscope of Don Cherry's Brown Rice, backward masked King Tubby acetates, strange strings, outer space broadcasts of unholy funeral rites, mescaline, percussion and metaphysical drone. Photograph by Kengo Matsuda.