Album Reviews: Two from the Hyperspace Communications Label

Next World Sound Vol. 5
Dark ambient: that’s the most succinct distillation Ican come up with to describe this LP. Featuring one side each of works from a pair of artists – Knox Chandler and Anna Homler, Next World Sound Series Volume Five is compelling and textured. It’s ambient, but certainly not “new age.” It’s not readily evident what exactly is making the sounds one hears on tracks like “Lapis,” – maybe it’s guitars, likely some fiddly analog synthesizers – but it’s wonderfully evocative stuff. The closest reference I can think of might be early Tangerine Dream, but Chandler goes some places that German experimental outfit did not. There’s an undeniably haunting and unsettling vibe that pervades Knox’s pieces; to me, they suggest mystery, glacial pace and something very organic, but I suspect each listener will have his or her own reaction. That’s the point, I suspect.

Working with label head (and notable figure in the genre) David Javelosa and Jeff Schwartz, Homler serves up a single, 26-minute tune, “Voices of Eternity.” Squiggly synths suggest plenty of that knob twiddling; there’s a vaguely ‘50s sci-fi quality to parts of the tune. There are also all manner of non-synthetic sounds: found voices, clocks being wound, machinery, chirpy singing in an unknown language, poetic spoken word, and much, much more. There are also haunting and delightfully musical bits (“Edelweiss”? A soprano singer, etc.) that sound like they’re coming from a room down the hall, a room you just… can’t… get to. Spooky but enthralling.

Metro Subterranean 2
While this collection is brought to us by David Javelosa’s Hyperspace Communications, it couldn’t be any more different from the above title. Electronic new wave of the late ‘70s to early ‘80s style is what’s on offer here. (The label calls it future wave; who am I to argue?) Four artists, four tracks each.

Muscular bass work and hypnotic beat underpin a coolly dispassionate female vocal on tracks from Donzii. Danceable and rocking at once, the first four tunes showcase the stylistic breadth of this duo.

More jagged and angular, Klypi deals in a kind of electroclash style, with a deep-groove dance feel. There’s a strong melodic quotient to tunes like “2 B Ignored,” so strong that we won’t deduct points for the long-past-its-sell-date Princely song title. Retro in the best way possible.

Clattering and experimental, ICBM seems to seek to thumb a nose at listeners; the vocals call to mind Wild Man Fischer, and the titles (“Booger Easters,” “Food Phobia”) suggest that ICBM is a punky kindred spirit of the late Zappa protégé. Proceed with caution.

Listen through the noisy, grimy punk of Period Bomb and be rewarded with melody. Try to grab onto said melody and discover that it’s like smoke: ephemeral and fleeting. Dangerous and a bit threatening, and recommended for those with a high tolerance for dissonance.