Articles
2010 Ten Favourite Labels
Liam Singer
Albums
Akabu
Amorph
Keith Canisius
Carinthia
Cursor Miner
Dark Party
dOP
Evon
Ex-Wise Heads
Forever Delayed
The Fun Years
Dirk Geiger
The Green Kingdom
Chihei Hatakeyama
Hessien
Robin Holcomb
The Inventors of Aircraft
Peter Jørgensen
Loveliescrushing
My Dry Wet Mess
Silje Nes
Ontayso
Piiptsjilling
Pleq
Radioseed
relapxych.0
Sharp & Whetham
Liam Singer
Erik K Skodvin
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Squares On Both Sides
Strië
Sutekh
David Sylvian
Taiga II
Francesco Tristano
RJ Valeo
Victoire
Wreaths
Zelienople
Compilations / Mixes
Buzz.RO! 2010
Crónica L
Timo Maas
Movement Torino Festival
Sebastian Mullaert
EPs
Dday One / Glen Porter
Depth Affect
Enabl.ed
The Gentleman Losers
Gulls
Mimosa
Piece of Shh…
Shufflepunk
Teebs & Jackhigh
Telekaster
thisquietarmy + yellow6
Tom White
Taiga II:
Flora Chor
Conspiracy Records
Isis and Red Sparowes associate Bryant Clifford Meyer takes a surprising left turn in his Taiga project by trading in guitar-spiked malevolence for ambient-drone drift. In texture-heavy material that suggests Popol Vuh and Stars of the Lid as kindred spirits, Meyer offers a nuanced and oft-pastoral alternative to the volatility of his other projects. To their credit, the album's nine lush tapestries are hardly one-dimensional riffs on a single style; instead, Flora Chor presents a multi-varied program that touches down in multiple zones; it almost sounds as if Meyer purposely set out to take each piece into a place slightly different from the others. Interestingly too, Flora Chor isn't made up of long-form collossi but rather compact drone miniatures that shimmer and swirl for four minutes and then gently move aside.
“Taiga 2 = Narcissus” opens the album with guitar shadings slowly sweeping across the skies, after which “September = Dafodil” overlays a rumbling space drone with surprisingly untreated gothic piano dramatics and “ARP Akai = Plumeria” presents a fireworks display of hyperactive synthesizer burble. “Freefone = Plumeria” depicts a pastoral, kalimba-driven oasis where the low, throaty murmur of a male choir hums, and the immersive, cloud-drenched bluster of “Abyss = The Orchid” makes one think of Stars of the Lid taken to an even further peyote-fueled extreme. Other settings feature sitar-like plucks and tinkling bells (“Zennia = Zennia”), sunblinded synthesizer radiance (“Kaos Freq = Kinnikinnick”), and swirls and smears of harmonium-styled drone (“Shruti = Manzanita”). For the vinyl connoisseur, Taiga's mesmerized meditations comes in three vinyl incarnations: dark green-transparent mixed (75 copies), dark blue-transparent mixed (100), and standard black (325).November 2010