Article
Brady / Driscoll / Gregorius

Albums
3/4 Peace
36
Atrium Carceri
Marvin Ayres
Peter Baumann
Beledo
Tim Brady
Christoph Bruhn
Calder
Csillagköd
Dal Niente / Deerhoof
Rebekah Driscoll
Eighth Blackbird
frostlake
Friedrich Goldmann
John Gregorius
Hammock
Chihei Hatakeyama
Masayuki Imanishi
ICE
Ionophore
braeyden jae
KAI
Kevin Kastning
Martin Kay
Kireyev & Javors
Millimetrik
Jon Mueller
Christine Ott
Piano Interrupted
Noah Preminger
Gavin Prior
Rapoon
Lasse-Marc Riek
Roach & Logan
Bruno Sanfilippo
Cyril Secq / Orla Wren
Sgt. Fuzzy
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Stick Men+ David Cross
Stratosphere
Syncopix
Tetherdown
Charlie Ulyatt
Wieman

Compilation
Facticity

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Glacis
Dibson T. Hoffweiler
Akira Kosemura
Daniel Lippel
Christine Tavolacci

Ionophore: Sinter Pools
Malignant Records

It takes but a few moments for Ionophore to spread its dark ambient wings on Sinter Pools, the recent spawn of multi-instrumentalists Leila Abdul-Rauf, Jan Hendrich, and Ryan Honaker. The trio's sound dovetails seamlessly with that of Malignant Records, an American imprint that since 1994 has been promoting dark ambient, industrial, and power electronics. In this particular case, the album features enough heavy electronic dronescapes to satisfy the prototypical Malignant devotee.

Diseased and decrepit, the title track inaugurates the eight-track collection with woozy horns and wordless vocals by Abdul-Rauf before plunging into the blackest of holes with a crushing slab of metallic noise. Despite the presence of dark undertows, “Infantman” and “Unchecked” flirt with pop song conventions when hushed vocal melodies sung by the San Franciscoan waft comfortably overtop the industrial churn below. During “Sequester,” a seeming choir wails, desperately praying for rescue from some hidden prison, as viral horns bleat out a merciless tattoo.

With Abdul-Rauf's voice a key part of the mix, Ionophore resembles more a haunted gothic-industrial outfit than a dark ambient soundscaping project, even if a healthy amount of the latter constitutes part of the group's persona. Along with the orchestral strings and electronic manipulations that Honaker and Hendrich respectively contribute to the album, a beat pattern surfaces now and then to further normalize the trio's nightmarish sound.

May 2016