The Human Elephant - Circle around the Moon
Circle around the Moon is a complex collection of recordings made by John E. Donald over the course of these recent years, randomly and emotionally connected, not by time or a session. While White Thunder (Umor Rex 2011) shows The Human Elephant (John E. Donald) within certain post punk parameters, and with the properties of a band, Circle around the Moon is an entirely internal draft, without an official setup and schematized alignment, which includes some collaborations with Sam Shackleton and Bernd Jestram from Tarwater. Circle around the Moon has feelings with pop moments, but this album is something completely heterogeneous and different, where John E. Donald has opened the spectrum for experimentation and other forms of raiment, without leaving behind the trademarks of The Human Elephant, nor the improvisation.
There are analogies with soul music, where the central axis is the use of old samplers, there are exotic dub interludes and instrumental pieces that seem terrifying but beautiful lullabies. There is also a space for the references that one usually finds in his work, and pieces which evince his close collaboration over the years with Bernd Jestram (Tarwater), with whom he formed the band Rats Live On No Evil Star. The invisible but well-knit line that connects the ideas in this album reveals networks that are within John E. Donald’s imagination, which is in a time of musical experimentation, playing with different forms without departing completely from his melodic pop vein and exotic psychedelia.
The End Of The World Championship - In Slow Motion
In Slow Motion is the debut of Bjorn Granzow (The End Of The World Championship). The result of the use of a Mopho synthesizer x4 (Dave Smith Instruments) plus digitally processed field recordings. After working with the guitar for a few years, he moved to keyboards, and started to record thanks to the recommendations and creative dialogue with Nicholas Szczepanik.
We have two drone pieces of 20 minutes each. The growth of the vibrations is the protagonist here. The ambient wave is not static and eternally antiseptic; by contrast, the permanence of a note is always announcing the flight of the next tone. Granzow’s proposal is infused with a strong dose of stunned and cloudy shoegaze, and haunting synth music. There is a constant drama, and a rhythmic drone. In the work of Bjorn Granzow one can detect the weight and ancestral emotional tones of Steve Roach, as well as Terry Riley’s oscillatory intensity. In Slow Motion is made of two pieces, finely mastered for this occasion by Lawrence English, which reveal a great beginning for The End Of The World Championship.