La Otracina

La Otracina’s five most mind-blowing facts about the universe

La Otracina: “Raze the Sky” (Reality Has Got to Die, Holy Mountain, 9/21)
La Otracina – Raze the Sky

La Otracina is a psychedelic metal band operating out of Brooklyn, NY. The trio of Adam Kriney (drums, vocals), Evan Sobel (bass), and Philippe Ortanez (guitar) has been cranking out its unique brand of super-heavy, progressive riffage since 2003. With a mind-blowing sound steeped in cosmic influence, it’s only fitting that the band shares some of its most mind-blowing facts about the universe.

(As with anything list-oriented regarding this band, we shall of course begin with #2.)

2. “The Universe is WITH you.”

I am YOU. You ARE me. We are ONE. Thou art that. It is what it is, and you are what you it. (All nods to T. Robbins, guru).

3. “The space between the great figures of the cosmos mimics the vibrations of a wave.”

Inside a circle fits a square. Inside a square fits a triangle. Inside a triangle fits approximately 36,000 Heldonian sequences.

Gnaw Their Tongues

The Metal Examiner: Gnaw Their Tongues’ L’Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

Gnaw Their Tongues: L’Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante (Crucial Blast, 9/7/2010)

Gnaw Their Tongues: “L’Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Gnaw_Their_Tongues_LArrivée_De_L.mp3|titles=Gnaw Their Tongues: “L’Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante”]

L’Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante is the new five-song full-length under the Graw Their Tongues moniker, the creation of Mories, a man with a history in the Dutch extreme-metal scene dating back to the early ’90s.  From the start, it intends to put listeners on edge by presenting sheer sonic terror — towering, string-infused sheets of noise, riffs, and chaos, with just enough melody lurking beneath it all to make it especially uncomfortable.

Huun Huur Tu

World in Stereo: Huun Huur Tu’s Ancestors Call

Each week, World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Huun Huur Tu: Ancestors CallHuun Huur Tu: Ancestors Call (World Village, 10/12/2010)

Huun Huur Tu: “Chyraa-Khoor (Yellow Pacer)”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/09Chyraa-Khoor-Yellow-Pacer.mp3|titles=Huun Huur Tu: “Chyraa-Khoor (Yellow Pacer)”]

Obtaining music from a tiny, remote place like the Republic of Tuva is similar to possessing some sort of mysterious artifact.  For Huun Huur Tu’s latest offering, Ancestors Call, the sentiment holds true as the four folk traditionalists have reintroduced to the world an art form from one of the least-known regions in Siberia.  Collecting the group’s most-admired songs, the quartet has redefined the music that it pioneered more than 15 years ago, reworking these original pieces with a 20th Century approach to composition and rhythm.

Plain Air - Cody Hoyt

Apenest and Cinders Gallery present: Plain Air

Plain Air, the brainchild of artists Brian Willmont and Cody Hoyt, is the second in a series of exhibitions put together by the artist collective / publishing-printmaking project called Apenest. Apenest’s origins can be traced back to when Willmont and Hoyt began collecting artwork from their favorite artists, selling it, and taking the proceeds to self-publish a book featuring the contributors.

Plain Air will explore the theme of landscape as somewhere between reality and fantasy. The opening reception will be held Friday, October 15 from 7-10 p.m., and the show will run through November 14 at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

Plain Air - Mark Schoening
Plain Air - Mark Schoening
Morrow vs. Hajduch

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Mikrokolektyw’s Revisit

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Mikrokolektyw: RevisitMikrokolektyw: Revisit (Delmark, 6/15/10)

Mikrokolektyw: “Running Without Effort”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Mikrokolektyw_Running_Without_Eff.mp3|titles=Mikrokolektyw: “Running without Effort”]

Hajduch: Mikrokolektyw (pronounced micro-collective) is the Polish duo of Kuba Suchar and Artur Majewski. Together, they make a very primal sort of experimental jazz, rooted in Suchar’s one-man rhythm section of drums and Moog. Atop this framework, Majewski adds restrained, thoughtful trumpet lines. The result is head-nodding and hypnotic, and at times would not sound out of place in an Italian horror film scored by Goblin.

It also sounds like classic Chicago jazz fusion, like what Rob Mazurek‘s Isotope 217 and various Chicago Underground ensembles have accomplished.  The sparse, melodic trumpet playing owes a lot to Miles Davis‘ In a Silent Way, and there’s a punchy moment of ensemble playing (here, “ensemble” means Majewski doubled) in “Watermelon from the 80s” that sounds like a riff from a Fela Kuti song.  This guy would definitely call the cops on this album.