SONIC MASALA: Cluster

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Charting Unknown Dagger Shores

I know next to nothing about Brooklyn trio Dagger Shores. They sent me four tracks a month ago, and their dark, damaged psych soul is mesmerising. It hinges heavily on the sumptuous tones of the organ and the moaned, whispered and yelped vocals coming imperceptibly out of the smoke and shadows. 'Deep Sleep' keeps a krautrock beat, a seductive pull that allows the amalgamation of devilish sax and maniacal noise into a heaving, ecstatic fury. There are hints of Cave here, although these guys are far more frenetic and feverish. 'Ray Brower' could be early Talking Heads if David Byrne was more interested in Cluster; 'Hive Of Love' is carnivalesque, a Tom Waits freak show without the bourbon-drenched monolith as a frontman, replaced instead with someone more subterranean. The last track is 'The Shallows', a propulsive moody maelstrom, the drumming more insistent, the sax more frantic, the whispers incoherent, the howls anarchic. I'd love to know more about these guys, because this stuff is goddamn killer.

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Take 'Em High, Kosmonaut!

Kösmonaut is a one-man kosmiche machine outta Texas who has seen fit to flood the market with not one but two full-term releases. These bestial cosmic hypnotic-hymns are mind-numbing in their insistent synthetic drone, fidgety like a glue-fuelled red/blue nightmare about stop-motion worms. Tangerine Dream, Heldon, Cluster - they are all littered throughout Emanations and Voyage of Time. The former is a little darker, steeped in the psych end of the spectrum, whilst the latter is definitely an acid reflux version of much of the 80s synth moodpieces (and the way better release in my opinion). its pretty incredible stuff, to be honest. I am not a usual fan of this stuff - well, not enough for it to be on constant rotation - but if you have good headphones, and like chilling out in the middle of the night, this is the soundtrack. Im not suggesting anything else need accompany this trip - Ill let you improvise on that length - but suffice to say that this is transportation music to the nth degree. Highly recommended.

Kösmonaut - Monad (From Emanations)
Kösmonaut - Voyage of Time (From Voyage of Time)

About

It was early on a Sunday morning at ATP - A Nightmare Before Christmas 2009. After downing a fair few, at 4am we decided to cook a curry. It was during the consumption of this drunkenly delicious breakfast treat that we decided to actually do something about the music we talk about all the time.

So we started a blog – and Sonic Masala was born. Now into its seventh year, the blog has spread out to call both Australia and the UK its home (and the rest of the world), and has expanded to include gigs, festivals and a record label under its black umbrella. Come on, eat the noize.

If an mp3 is up here, it's because we have been talking about it, and think the whole world needs to know more. It's there to give you a little taste. Then, if you like, check out the band live and spend all your hard earned cash on their records. If we've posted up an mp3 of your stuff and you're not too keen on the idea, let us know and we'll happily take it down pronto.