Laurie Spiegel – Unseen Worlds (1991)

Country: United States

 

Tracklist

Thesis - Exploration And Intuition
Nine Improvisations Recorded, Edited And Elaborated As Digital Audio:
Three Sonic Spaces
1. I 01:36
2. II 03:22
3. III 05:53
4. Finding Voice 02:45
5. The Hollows 04:51
Two Archetypes
6. I Hall Of Mirrors 04:24
7. II Hurricane's Eye 03:35
8. Sound Zones 08:07
9. Riding The Storm 04:29
Antithesis - Reason And Preconception
Two Intellectual Interludes (Data And Process):
10. Strand Of Life ("Viroid") 01:21
11. From A Harmonic Algorithm 02:55
Synthesis - Imagination And Form
None Of The Above:
12. Passage 14:05

 

 Laurie Spiegel was born in Chicago (September 20, 1945) where in her teens she played guitar, banjo, mandolin

and through them cultivated a devout philosophy of amateur music making.
She became interested by electronics after using a tape-operated computer at Purdue University

as part of a high school class field trip.
At the age of 20, she taught herself Western music notation, after which she began writing down her compositions.
After receiving her bachelor's degree in sociology from Shimer in 1967, she stayed in Oxford for an additional year,

commuting to London to study guitar, music theory and composition with John W. Duarte,

then baroque and renaissance lute at Julliard and composition with Jacob Druckman and Vincent Persichetti.
Best known for her use of algorithmic composition techniques,

Spiegel worked with Buchla and Electronic Music Laboratories synthesizers and digital systems 

including Bell Labs' GROOVE system (1973–1978), the Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer (1977),

the alphaSyntauri synthesizer system for the Apple II computer (1978–1981) and the McLeyvier (1981–1985).
In various pieces, Spiegel has used musical algorithms to simulate natural phenomena,

emulate tonal harmony rules of earlier musical eras and sonically represent large data sets.

In her piece "Viroid" she used the genetic code of a simple organism to determine the pitches produced by a synthesizer.

In her 1977 piece "Improvisation On A Concerto Generator", she used an algorithm

designed to replicate Bach's "chorale-style harmonic progressions".

Many of Spiegel's non-algorithmic compositions also use algorithm-like rules

and claimed that defining these rules in computer code was simply a natural next step for her own musical self expression.
Spiegel's best known and most widely used software was Music Mouse (1986)

, a self-described "intelligent instrument" for Macintosh, Amiga and Atari computers.

In addition to improvisations using this software, Spiegel composed several works using Music Mouse 

including "Cavis Muris" in 1986, "Three Sonic Spaces" in 1989 and "Sound Zones" in 1990.
In addition to computer software development, Spiegel supported herself by both teaching and by soundtrack compositions.
Her musical interpretation of Johannes Kepler's "Harmonices Mundi"

appeared on "Sounds Of Earth" section of the Voyager Golden Record

while her 1972 piece "Sediment" was included in the 2012 film "The Hunger Games".
She has also been inducted into the National Women's Hall Of Fame.

 
Memory

Converter – Shock Front (1999)

Country: United States

 

Tracklist

1. Conqueror 08:05
2. Shock Front 07:15
3. Cannibals 05:00
4. Spirit Shield 06:24
5. Coma 06:12
6. Sacrifice 08:13
7. Memory-Trace 09:23
8. Deadman (Perdition) 04:38
9. Denogginizer 11:40
10. Sadist 03:19

 

Converter is the brainchild of Ohio based artist Scott Sturgis,

also the force behind the project Pain Station, Lowness and Notime, created in 1998.
Converter saw its first release in 1999, with "Shock Front",

a mature work in the same vein as other artists in the Ant-Zen family such as P·A·L and Imminent Starvation,

as well as well-known rhythmic noise innovators like Dive and Esplendor Geometrico.
The project investigates the industrial field, and with his debut album Sturgis creates hard hitting, 

rhythmic noise filled with bombastic machine-driven rhythms coupled with tweaked synths

creating an atmosphere of distorted aggression reinforced by a wall of impenetrable percussion on nearly every track. Sturgis also began his own label, Auricle Media, in 2000 with fellow artist KarloZ.M of Manufactura.

 
Memory

Malefic Oath – The Land Where Evil Dwells (Demo 1992)

Country: Netherlands

 

Tracklist

 1. Intro 01:04
2. Prediction Of The Unborn Son 04:34
3. The Endless Way To The Unknown 03:11
4. Garden Of Memories 06:15
5. Outro 02:39

 

 Cult early 90s black/doom band from Holland

featuring Marco Kehren (guitars, vocals, drums) of Deinonychus and Michel (guitars).
The band only released one demo, "The Land Where Evil Dwells" that was recorded in 27 June 1992 at Twinstudios.
Also The Unsane from Bestial Summoning joined the project at some point as a vocalist.
For its 30th anniversary, Iron Bonehead Productions released it in 2022 as a 12" EP in limited black and red vinyl variants.

 
Memory

Werkbund – Aquis Submersus (1989)

Country: Germany

 

Tracklist

1. Beginne Den Tag Mit Sterben 21:12
2. Der Feind Sieht Dein Licht Verdunkeln 27:13

 

 Enigmatic industrial and experimental band from Hamburg, active since the late 1980s.
Speculation has involved collaborations with other Hamburg artists such as Felix Kubin and Uli Rehberg

 and possibly Asmus Tietchens, though Tietchens has repeatedly denied involvement.
Their sound deals mainly with marine tales and myths from Northern Germany,

incorporating experimental, ambient, field recordings and industrial styles to create cold mystical nuances.
Released by German label Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien that was founded in 1980 by Uli Rehberg.

 
Memory

Storm – Nordavind (1995)

Country: Norway

 

Tracklist

1. Innferd 01:35
2. Mellom Bakkar Og Berg 02:43
3. Haavard Hedde 03:19
4. Villemann 02:14
5. Nagellstev 01:03
6. Oppi Fjellet 04:02
7. Langt Borti Lia 07:15
8. Lokk 00:53
9. Noregsgard 08:13
10. Utferd 01:58

 

 Storm was a Norwegian folk metal band that originally included Satyr of Satyricon and Fenriz of Darkthrone.
Soon Kari Rueslåtten, formerly of the band The 3rd And The Mortal, joined them on vocals.
The project released only one album, entitled "Nordavind", on Satyr's personal label Moonfog Productions.
After the recording of the album, Kari Rueslåtten publicly stated regrets over her involvement with Storm,

as she felt betrayed by Satyr and Fenriz because Satyr wrote a new end to the song "Oppi Fjellet"

which contained strongly anti-Christian lyrics.
The Memory link features two bonus tracks, the unreleased "Oppunder Skrent Og Villmark"

and the rehearsal version of "Mellom Bakkar Og Berg",

that both appeared on the compilation "Crusade From The North" in 1996.

 
Memory

Orphx – Fragmentation (1996)

Country: Canada

 

Tracklist

 1. Word And Symbol 03:22
2. Layers Of Dura 04:19
3. Ekstasis 06:10
4. Auto-Erotic 04:11
5. Sepsis 06:14
6. Tanha 08:14
7. Pathogenesis 06:40
8. Words Once Spoken 09:22
9. Electroencephalographic Measurements 04:04
10. Samsara 04:29
11. Cellular Resonance 08:48
12. Within 07:05

 

 Orphx is an industrial/techno project from Canada.

Formed in 1993 in Hamilton, Ontario by Rich Oddie, Christina Sealey and Aron West

 and inspired by early industrial music and the extreme fringes of metal.
In late 1995 West departed to focus on his noise project Tropism,

while Oddie and Sealey began to push Orphx in a more rhythmic direction.
Orphx have been developing their hypnotic rhythms and experimental noise using modular and analog synthesizers,

software, location recordings and feedback circuits, utilizing darker pieces of techno and electro

and combine these elements with the experimental aesthetics and themes of early industrial music.
Oddie and Sealey have performed throughout Europe and North America at celebrated venues like Berghain and Tresor 

as well as notable electronic music festivals such as Movement and Mutek.
Their live appearances are renowned for delivering improvised performances

that combine software with modular synthesizer and other hardware.
"Fragmentation" was originally released on Malignant Records label

and was made using the same basic tools as in their early cassettes: contact microphones, scrap metal, 

effects pedals, feedback circuits, a drum machine, a couple of synths,

and location recordings and found sounds manipulated by Sealey on reel to reel machines and an 8-bit sampler.
While early Orphx recordings were primarily improvised direct to tape, this album places much greater emphasis

on carefully constructed layers of sound, shaping their improvisational energy into powerful compositions

that combines death industrial atmospheres and brutal power electronics with relentless, hypnotic percussion.
"Fragmentation" was reissued by Hospital Productions in 2020 including the original album

and over an hour of additional rarities and previously unreleased recordings.

 The Memory links also contains these as bonus.

 
Memory

Sort Vokter – Folkloric Necro Metal (1996)

 

Country: Norway

 

Tracklist

 1. Kveldstimer 05:08
2. Langs Stier Uten Ende 02:19
3. Grålysning 04:04      
4. Fra Kilden Til Tjernet 03:43
5. Tårers Sang 01:59
6. Hatefulle Tanker Ut I Natten 03:24
7. Ni Gygrer / Nattjakt 02:46
8. Bak To Lysende Øyne 02:58
9. Sønn Av Skyggers Skygge 03:08
10. Fjellstev 08:04

Ildjarn project that featured a full line up and consisted of Ildjarn (Bass, Guitars, Vocals),

 Nidhogg (Vocals),  Heiinghund (Bass, Guitars) and Tvigygre (Bass, Guitars, Vocals).
Sort Vokter (Black Guardian in Norwegian) only released one album through Ildjarn's personal label  

Norse League Productions, had programmed drums and everyone involved played on different instruments on every track.
The lineup for the keyboard/ambient tracks is not credited.
"Folkloric Necro Metal" was distributed by Napalm Records and later by Transcendental Creations.

 
Memory