Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Nadja - Autopergamene [Essence - 2010]

An autopergamene is, allegedly, “a spell or charm wherein you write in blood, on a fragment of skin, what you wish to happen”. Hence the track titles, “You Write Your Name In My Skin”, “You Write Your Name In My Head”, “You Write My Name In Your Blood”—okay, now I’m wondering what kind of spell is being invoked here. Can’t be anything good with all that viscera being used as the parchment.

After some research I turned up a bit of information about this Canadian duo, made up of one Aidan Baker and one Leak Buckareff, making music somewhat in the same drone-metal vein as folks like Sunn O))). They lay down the drone, but it’s not just a drone—it’s a bunch of layers, different textures, that interpenetrate and complement each other. Imagine something like a cinematic 7-minute epic track (my choice: “Love, Hate (Slugbaiting” from Godflesh) from a band you love, but timestretched out to half an hour: that’s what the first and third songs on this disc sound like. There’s structure—songwriting, even—but it happens on such a long timescale and with such subtlety of change that you barely notice it.

Even the “short” song sandwiched between the two “long” songs is like that, a chugging seething beast of white noise and amphiteatrical echo that makes you feel like you’re attending the last concert on earth. Plus, the layers they use aren’t always monochromatic washes of noise: there’s acoustic guitar, gentle singing, and what I assumed at one point was bowed instruments but is probably just more guitars … but hey, it’s the variety that counts. File this one next to your Godspeed You Black Emperor! discs and watch them fight each other for supremacy. It’s not clear who’ll win, if you ask me.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Serdar Yegulalp
Latest Reviews

Nadja - Autopergamene
An autopergamene is, allegedly, “a spell or charm wherein you write in blood, on a fragment of skin, what you wish to happen”. Hence the track titles, “You W...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
220324   Patrick - Patrick( UHD/ Blu Ray)
220324   Dadawah - Peace And Love
Latest Articles

Sutcliffe No More - Normal Everyd...
Sutcliffe No More are a British two-piece bringing together Kevin Tomkins & Paul Taylor. Formed in 2021, it’s the spin-off project/ next sonic step...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom