Eric Zann – Ouroborindra
The Reverend Jim Jupp named this project after an HP Lovecraft character whose music acts as a barrier to extradimensional beings who would break through into our reality and do all sorts of awful things. The project’s sole album to date is probably the darkest record Ghost Box have ever released.
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Stratus – Beneath The Wheel
Exactly what I always wanted OMD’s Dazzle Ships to sound like. A song for Europe.
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Doris Norton – Don’t Shoot At Animals
Given how amazing her music is, I’m astonished more people don’t know about Italian synthesizer virtuoso Doris Norton. Especially now that everything with a synth on it is getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Norton was in an unhinged progressive rock group called Antonius Rex, worked for IBM and was sponsored by Apple. More importantly she released a bunch of incredible solo albums. If you’re reading this, Doris, get in touch.
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Imbogodom – Heir Looms
Possibly the greatest living songwriter in Britain, here Alexander Tucker collaborates with New Zealand musician Daniel Beban for an exercise in Haunted Radiophonic Folk. See also Tucker’s work with Aethenor/Mothlite/Ulver/Miracle man Daniel O’Sullivan as Grumbling Fur.
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Vangelis – Suffocation
One of the Greek God’s darker compositions, this dread-filled electro-toxic stomp was inspired by a disaster at an Italian chemical plant in 1976 and features a mournful guest vocal by Jon Anderson of Yes.
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Black Mountain Transmitter – Black Goat Of The Woods
It may be 40 minutes in duration but it’s still one song so I’m not cheating. Quite simply one of the finest attempts at capturing the grim essence of 70s and 80s horror soundtracks, from Simonetti and Frizzi to Carpenter and Hooper. With this recording, Belfast’s James R Moore conjures an atmosphere of spiritual and physical decay so powerful you can practically feel it invading your nostrils. Mmm… pungent.
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Kemper Norton – Helston Music fair 1992
The folk element of Kemper Norton’s music isn’t some superficial gloss added to pique the interest of the easily impressed and fancifully dressed. It’s heartfelt and genuine. The same goes for Kemper’s interest in the dank, mossy side of life, expressed through music that is as gleefully mischievous as it is subtly threatening. Kemper is based in Sussex but maintains strong links to his former home in Cornwall, and his work draws upon the atmospheres and folklore of both counties.
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Majeure – Teleforce
One of the greatest things about Pittsburgh duo Zombi is their capacity for transforming the mundane into the fantastical. Clap Majeure (the solo project of drummer AE Paterra) on the headphones and a routine trip to the supermarket becomes a zombie reconnaissance mission or some such similar ‘survival horror’ scenario. Try it! But perhaps leave the assault rifle at home.
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Flying Saucer Attack – Standing Stone
Bristol’s Flying Saucer Attack electrified British folk in the 90s, incorporating the torrential feedback of The Jesus & Mary Chain and the reverential drone of Popul Vuh. These pioneers of ‘rural psychedelia’ made music that was mysterious, magical, elemental – and having been born in Wiltshire, not far from Salisbury Plain and Avebury, this song is something of a personal anthem.
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The Advisory Circle – Mind How You Go Now
With this track, Jon Brooks captures the wistful melancholy of TV For Schools idents, adverts for Bickerton foldable bikes and drizzly trips down the M4 with my family in the 1980s. But that’s my own memory at work. What does this tune evoke for you? Answers on a postcard, please. You can guess the address.
