HR139 - Various Artists - Tierra Secreta - C90 — 1990
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side a:
VIDNA OBMANA - Outglass Greenland CONTEXT - Phoneatrance LUIS MESA - Descomposición #1 |
side b:
DIE RACHE - Alles Neu! MENTAL ANGUISH - Put me in a cage & feed me blues MENTAL ANGUISH - Dream escape (excerpt) THERABAQUD LEIC - Escherismes |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Tierra Secreta is a compilation that Chris Phinney licensed from the Spanish IEP label for release on Harsh Reality. IEP was run by Luis Mesa, whose Meditacion cassette album recorded as Merz was released on Harsh Reality as HR119.
All the tracks on this set fall firmly into the ambient/soundscape realm. The tape opens with Vidna Obmana, which is the moniker under which Belgian artist Dirk Serries records. It’s a steadily drifting soundscape that instills the sense of rolling across a frozen tundra. I like the cooperative contrast between meditative beauty and icy cold.
Context is the alias used by German artist Stefan Schwab, who also ran the Tonspur Tapes label. At 28 minutes his entry is by far the longest of the set. Once again we have a continuously evolving soundscape, in this case one that hits all the marks for hauntingly ghostly. I love the interweaving of moans and drones that minimally develop as it drones along, conjuring up a kind of cosmic limbo.
Luis Mesa chimes in with a track under his own name. Throughout this 7+ minute piece I felt like I was wandering through cobwebbed catacombs, encountering various phantasmal entities along the way.
Die Rache is the project of German artist Peter Schuster. The track begins with a warbling minimal pulsating pattern, before embarking on a series of transitions, from mesmerizing call-to-prayer horn like wail, to bouncy orchestral phrases, and frantic hippity hoppity pulsations.
Chris Phinney’s Mental Anguish contributes two tracks. The first one is a choppy rickety abstraction with a humorously intriguing rhythmic flow. The second is very different, being a peacefully quiet space excursion with lots of bubbly gurgling effects and lightly tinkling musical notes.
Finally, Therabaqud Leic is Italian artist Gianluigi Russolo, whose nearly 18-minute piece is another of the longer entries of the set. Right out of the chute we find ourselves negotiating a menacing environment that is both howling and weather beaten. The howls alternate between dreamily spectral and anguished, and as the piece progresses a windswept landscape forms, which can at times be hauntingly orchestral. Excellent job of image inducing thematic development. This is my favorite track of the set.
Tierra Secreta is a compilation that Chris Phinney licensed from the Spanish IEP label for release on Harsh Reality. IEP was run by Luis Mesa, whose Meditacion cassette album recorded as Merz was released on Harsh Reality as HR119.
All the tracks on this set fall firmly into the ambient/soundscape realm. The tape opens with Vidna Obmana, which is the moniker under which Belgian artist Dirk Serries records. It’s a steadily drifting soundscape that instills the sense of rolling across a frozen tundra. I like the cooperative contrast between meditative beauty and icy cold.
Context is the alias used by German artist Stefan Schwab, who also ran the Tonspur Tapes label. At 28 minutes his entry is by far the longest of the set. Once again we have a continuously evolving soundscape, in this case one that hits all the marks for hauntingly ghostly. I love the interweaving of moans and drones that minimally develop as it drones along, conjuring up a kind of cosmic limbo.
Luis Mesa chimes in with a track under his own name. Throughout this 7+ minute piece I felt like I was wandering through cobwebbed catacombs, encountering various phantasmal entities along the way.
Die Rache is the project of German artist Peter Schuster. The track begins with a warbling minimal pulsating pattern, before embarking on a series of transitions, from mesmerizing call-to-prayer horn like wail, to bouncy orchestral phrases, and frantic hippity hoppity pulsations.
Chris Phinney’s Mental Anguish contributes two tracks. The first one is a choppy rickety abstraction with a humorously intriguing rhythmic flow. The second is very different, being a peacefully quiet space excursion with lots of bubbly gurgling effects and lightly tinkling musical notes.
Finally, Therabaqud Leic is Italian artist Gianluigi Russolo, whose nearly 18-minute piece is another of the longer entries of the set. Right out of the chute we find ourselves negotiating a menacing environment that is both howling and weather beaten. The howls alternate between dreamily spectral and anguished, and as the piece progresses a windswept landscape forms, which can at times be hauntingly orchestral. Excellent job of image inducing thematic development. This is my favorite track of the set.