Blackest Ever Black

Local Authority

bitch city
I think the best way to look at them is from within their own contexts, I don't know much about MG so can't comment.

VS on the other hand comes from the noise/black metal scenes, which I imagine to be wildly different to were MG is originated. As much as they may share similar musical tropes, the ideology behind those won't.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
from the man himself "I love certain sides of Muslimgauze records, and I kind of ran out of that sort of music to listen to, so that’s partly why Vatican came about…".

i swear i had not seen that Fact article or even knew of any actual connections (or even if the VS dude had actually heard any MG!) before making the similarity claim -- it was based purely on listening to VS music alone. i was just like "wow this feels like... has the same compositional qualities as... and reminds me of... in a really big way"
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Fenrow isn't from the Black Metal scene, and it definitely has no influence upon VS. If that was the case, then his band would be a 10th as good as Prurient releases, which is not the case...
 

Local Authority

bitch city

I haven't listened to all of their respective material, but it sounds to me VS is more influenced by the aesthetics, both visually and musically, of MG. The way he approaches the visual aspect is also in some ways from a black metal perspective, in his use of religious ideology and shock factor politic motif. It could be argued that some of the atmospherics from his work are just synths taking out of early Burzum songs too.

Personally I've always felt the electronic side to BEB to be quite weak, other than the Black Rain album and Regis release. Raime are OK, but they sound like they're still finding their feet. The Cut Hands single wasn't anywhere near his best work. For a label like this and the music they're choosing to put out, they should focus on EPs and LPs rather than singles. Anything they've put out that hasn't been, sounds unfinished and any musical motif within becomes redundant.
 

ChineseArithmetic

It is what it is
My take on Vatican Shadow, which I'm enjoying massively at the moment, is that while there are musical similarities to Muslim Gauze, the intent is very different. I see VS as soundtrack music to a present day conspiracy thriller. The subject, such as there is one, is Western paranoia around Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists, which is the great paranoia of now - if this music had come out a few years back the references would be cold war ones. The track titles, as I understand it, are all headlines, phrases or photo captions from US reporting on 'the war on terror', which taken out of context have a weird poetic quality. I see VS as musically charting this paranoia, rather than cheerleading for Al Qaeda in the way that Muslim Gauze did for the PLO. I don't get the sense that he's flirting with either Islamophobia or terrorism in the way that Death In June or Whitehouse flirt with controversy, which I always found tiresome and unpleasant.

I guess you could argue that VS is somehow 'lightweight' because it's mainly just about evoking moods of unease or urban anxiety, rather than promoting a political cause like MG, but i think it's comparing apples and oranges.
 

dert

Well-known member
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prurient album on BEB out february. I think the samples have lots of potential
 

muser

Well-known member
^thats great

I find it interesting how sparse, atonal or monotonal music is always associated with black (and white). Completely throws away the idea that synaesthesia is experienced by a select few imo
 

Leo

Well-known member

whenever a read an interview or review of raime, i get excited. but this album and previous ep are more like exercises in interesting sound sculpture than great records. i get and appreciate what they're going for but it doesn't end up being a very engaging listen over the course of a whole album.


also, love this comment:

"Pete Swanson sounds like a rusty car falling to bits as it runs over a sack of cats."
 

paolo

Mechanical phantoms
It seems like there's a few underground labels around right now where the label itself is more recognised than any of the artists on it (I'm specifically thinking of BEB, PAN, LIES, Opal Tapes and maybe Trilogy Tapes?)

I know there have been a few BEB nights in London and there was a LIES night in Glasgow last year when the label logo was in big print at the top of the flyer and the names of the actual DJs near the bottom
 

paolo

Mechanical phantoms
Also while I'm here, Raime have an EP with I believe all live instruments, released under their Moin alias

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slowtrain

Well-known member
It seems like there's a few underground labels around right now where the label itself is more recognised than any of the artists on it (I'm specifically thinking of BEB, PAN, LIES, Opal Tapes and maybe Trilogy Tapes?)

I know there have been a few BEB nights in London and there was a LIES night in Glasgow last year when the label logo was in big print at the top of the flyer and the names of the actual DJs near the bottom

Yah, I know LIES is pretty big on this - I kinda like it I guess in some way.

It is kinda odd hearing a cool track and finding that you can't really find out anything about them... Just a few soundcloud links for ... the LIES label.

The new LIES comp on their soundcloud is pretty awesome though
 

paolo

Mechanical phantoms
New albums from Secret Boyfriend and Barnett + Coloccia are great winter music. They feature actual instruments (I think) and are more downer folk than industrial techno
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
The reviews on Low Company are briliantly written though with some stuff there's that inevitable sense of disappointment 'cos a mere LP can't reach the giddy heights of some of the rhetoric. They do seem to cultivating their own asthetic though. Their year end lists were distinctly different from most others.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Forget to say they've started a label as well. I've got the first release, which is great. I'd call it indie, except I hate indie and everything associated with it. Done One - Itchy Bugger. Kinda DIY guitar based affair but v good.
 

catalog

Well-known member
(online) shops are the new labels. Discuss.

I mean, cos every artist makes their own label now, after doing one shit record, the industry lifers have to get into the distribution side of things.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Boomkat and phonica have their own labels. low company does a great job of reissuing cool records/cassettes that very few people ever heard of, the range is much broader than the type of stuff that was on BEB. I've discovered good things from them, might as well do the label thing as well as retail.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Blackest Ever Black winds down

The London label run by Kiran Sande is closing after nearly a decade with a final compilation, A short illness from which he never recovered. The ten-track LP has been on Bandcamp since April, but the label's closure was confirmed by Sande's East London record store, Low Company, when announcing the vinyl edition earlier this month and was further amplified by Boomkat this week.

https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/71132

I thought you hated RA? you seem to find a fair amount of info found there, guess it's not totally useless then.
 
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