Foxglove - Part 2

Keijo Open That Door CD-R - Creaking, homemade sound sculpture derived from various strings, droney rumbles, percussive clatters, bells and more is what Keijo appears to be all about, but as with his Lal Lal Lal CD-R, an ever present, near devotional quality dominates things as he veers from primitive improv to droney lo-fi world music, disjointed folk detours, homemade noise symphonies--all connected by an oblique surrealist thread--which makes sense given this was probably recorded in a bedroom somewhere near the Arctic circle.

The North Sea The Oscelot Chronicles Vol. 2 CD-R - Varied journeys through electric guitar strum and mayhem dropped as 4-track drone workouts suggestive of early Kranky albums and Vini Reilly/Durutti Column, though one track makes me think of a long lost Hendrix basement warmup session, but this is more subdued. Other tracks emphasize Enoesque piano and ambient studio trickery of a more gently hypnotic design. I could see this flowering into a variety of interesting directions in the coming days; quite the delight from start to finish.

Edward Ruchalski Dark Night CD-R - Another sublime trek through minimal ecstatic drone. Piercing tone clusters melded with acoustic guitar, piano, singing bowls and field recordings to form dense, expansive aural tunnels to the pristine void. Gorgeous stuff that's seemingly materialized from nowhere, but seems to operate in similar orbits as the aforementioned Grey Park and even Nurse With Wound at their dark, lulling best. Don't be surprised when that haunting piano interlude breaks through the icy surface. Another pick of the litter.

Steven R. Smith Antimony CD-R - The dude behind some of my favorite solo recordings in recent years turns in another scaled back, improvised solo guitar album along the lines of his previous limited CD-R, Kohl, for Last Visible Dog, striking the perfect balance between jazz, folk and noise to arrive at solemn acoustic/electric skeletal instrumentals that linger long after they fall silent. A reverb drenched soundtrack for the waking dreamer.

The Juniper Meadows Pine Needles and Cones CD-R - Brooding, slightly twisted and quite beautiful free-folk noise stuff will likely appeal to fans of the Franciscan Hobbies and the like, with a stark melange of porch spun fingerpicking on guitar and banjo augmented by dissonant bow work on violin, yielding something that meets all the present guidelines for Weird America, but also simultaneously speaks to an older mountain folk tradition.

Oloolo Audiotbit CD-R - Destroyed cut up industrial/electronica hybrid falls somewhere between a vocalless Wolf Eyes and a soulless Autechre (which is pretty damn soulless already!) . Otherworldly and mind-bending at extreme volumes, a tad annoying at wallpaper volume, but I'm dig what I'm hear more than half the time.