bobgaines
What amazing moods are conjured here by only two musicians. Gorgeous, sparse, tense and sometimes chaotic forms that hang in the air despite their amazing weight. A stunning musical concept, beautifully recorded and packaged as one would expect from Utech. LP arrived a couple of days ago and I cannot stop listening. I hear something new with each listen. Remarkable.
There have been bands called Massacre before, but this one is unlike any that preceded them. They are a duo: saxophonist Anton Ponomarev and guitarist Anton Obrazeena, and this is their debut album.
Obrazeena’s guitar was plugged into two guitar stacks and one bass stack, the better to achieve floor-shaking rumble. Ponomarev, who also plays electronics, sent his saxophone through two separate chains of electronics encompassing pedals, Moog processors, spring reverb, octavers, drone effects and more, so that it would travel independently through the left and right channels of the PA system. There was also a clear channel documenting just the saxophone, with no effects.
The resulting music is an unearthly ever-shifting roar, sometimes identifiable as the product of guitar and saxophone but just as often not. Obrazeena’s guitar frequently starts out as an almost country-tinged drone, not unlike Earth’s “Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method” before turning into a downtuned wall of thick, syrupy distortion you can almost touch. Ponomarev’s sax screeches and bellows, and his electronics create a dense pulse, with needle-sharp sine waves piercing the waves of static and reverberant atmospheres. The absence of rhythm allows them to concentrate on hearing and reacting to each other without worrying about time, creating an immersive world of pure sound that fills the room as easily as it empties out your skull.
credits
released January 29, 2021
Anton Ponomarev: Saxophone, Flugelhorn, Electronics
Anton Obrazeena: Guitar, FX, Knife
Recorded and mixed by Nick Samarin at Orange Studio, Moscow.
Mastered by Alex Buess (LP/Digital) and Nick Samarin (CD).
Cut at Centraldubs, Bern, by Adi Flück.
Paintings by Petri Ala-Maunus – Moon River (LP), Earth’s Core (CD)
Illustration by Reuben Sawyer
Typography by Stephen Wilson
If you distill the alchemical essence of John Cale & Vu, Suicide, Spaceman3 &Sunn O))) you might get something approaching this beautiful noise. Ritualistic drumming and intense organ/synth drones that ascend & ascend and seem like they won't let up then crash to earth and fizzle out like dying stars.the bass acts as a counterpoint to the surging sea of fuzz.this is a new sound and I love it! Doomshire
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one of the most beautiful albums i've ever heard. in my top20 best album of all time. just artfully done and meticulously produced, all around, iheartf2p