Latest release from Tim van Luijk (In Camera, Af Ursin et al) is another beautifully packaged blat of bewitching low-level drone/improvisation, this time in the company of long-term collaborator Kris Vanderstraeten. Mostly acoustic, with a heavy percussive element, High Noon touches on a similar kind of tactile low-level free interaction as practiced by Imai-era East Bionic Symphonia, walking the line between more established modes of improvised/psychedelic thought with a rigour and a commitment to the beauty of unadorned form that is truly uncommon. There are repeat-vocal sounds that resemble hypnotised ascetics floating high above the north pole, half-heard nursery rhyme melodies ala Af Ursin and the kind of complex timbral constructs that please the inner eye as much as the outer ear. Totally beautiful, edition of 250 copies on white vinyl with a silkscreened cover by Vanderstraeten and highly recommended.

Edition of 400 copies LP from this duo featuring Timo Van Luijk of Af Ursin and collaborator with Christoph Heemann, NNCK et al. Voile Au Vent presents a series of piano improvisations embedded in dark, symphonic instrumental settings. Some of the most purely malevolent sounds to be associated with Luijk, aspects of Voile Au Vent almost sound like Coil circa “Dark River” with looming electronics providing an eerie backdrop to the broken bones of a piano. Later tracks bring in cut-up sound sources, shadowy samples and smears of Andrew Chalk-style drone to give the feel of Gavin Bryars’ Sinking Of The Titanic re-scored for one of Joe Jones’ automatic orchestras. Recommended.

First in a series of inexplicable classic rock tributes from the duo of Christoph Heemann (HNAS/Mirror et al) and Timo Van Luijk (Eloide/Af Ursin) on Heemann’s newly activated DOM BW imprint: Heemann remains one of the premier European drone thinkers, with a feel for space and place and for the precise workings of memory and tone that is truly singular. Timo’s work in Af Ursin has seen him move towards a synthesis of improvised music, avant classical drones and filmic soundworks and this beautiful record successfully blends those concerns with a slowly-unravelling setting for heavenly drone works and small instrument interventions. There are aspects of the more ‘fantastical’ Organum settings, even Nurse With Wound’s Soliloquy For Lilith, but with a darker European ancient/future feel. Beneath the enveloping drone odd, nagging melodies appear, like vague memories or barely construed shadows, giving the whole piece the feel of a reverie or a fever dream. Classic drone under the guise of classic rock – highly recommended!

Second in a series of inexplicable classic rock tributes from the duo of Christoph Heemann (HNAS/Mirror et al) and Timo Van Luijk (Eloide/Af Ursin) on Van Luijk’s own La Scie Doree imprint: a little more, uh, ‘rock inflected’ than Rumours, Frampton Comes Alive consists of a series of movements that confuse stasis and development, with minimal/modal keyboard works that are somewhere between the evocative ritual of Hermann Nitsch and the whole ‘Canterbury’ sound, combining aspects of progressive rock with devotional drone works. As ever Heemann’s use of sunken field recordings makes the recording feel more like an environment you can actually explore than simply a piece of unfolding music and at points the effect is uncannily affecting, with the music dissolving like the sudden absence of colour into stately black and white snapshots of the sound of yesterday, somewhere.  When the music picks up again it’s like its sounding a memorial for what came before, riding into the sun with some beautifully evocative and forlorn piano statements. A major work, one that combines diary, monumental sound work, free improvisation and subtle poetics. Highly recommended. 

Debut solo LP from Kris Vanderstraeten, an experimental percussionist who has built and augmented his own drum kits since the 1970s using everything from branches of trees, electronic gadgets and children’s toys. He has something in common with the great Eric Thielemans though he’s less focussed on drones and brain-massaging hypno-tones than actual distinct sound events, moving from pinging harmonics and skin-curling scrapes through the kind of abstruse sculptural environs of Paul Lytton or Harry Bertoia. Other parts almost touch on the kinda ritualistic Industrial drama of Limpe Fuchs and Anima at their most extended or even Neubauten. Throw in the kind of hands-on unknown tongue appeal of your favourite Chocolate Monk reprobate and you have a uniquely baffling LP, recorded by Tim Van Luijck (who he sometimes plays with in a duo) and issued in a hand-numbered edition of only 150 copies complete with fold-out poster insert.

Edition of 500 copies LP from this post-Noise Makers Fifes trio featuring Timo Van Luijk, Greg Jacobs and Marc Wroblewski. Onde play minimal electric psych inspired by tidal waves, using violin, electric guitar and metals to construct monolithic single chord drones that take off on the experiments in elemental form of The Velvet Underground circa “Ocean” and the Faust/Tony Conrad Outside The Dream Syndicate recordings. Something in the marriage of metronomic guitar jags combined with mile-deep violin treatments and the klang of metal on metal brings the heavier Family Underground material to mind, but this has a dark majesty all its own. Comes in a gatefold sleeve. Recommended.