Intro/10 'melodic' noise albums

Exactly a year ago I was asked to make a list with just 'beautiful/melodic noise' records. A top 10, but without any particular order. And today I was reminded of it, so it's a good oportunity, and a good starting point for this blog.

There's no genre called melodic noise, actually. Some may say it's even an oxymoron. But it's a fact that many artists out there like to mix the cacophony of distorted white noise and junk clangs from Industrial with melodic synth lines. It's not something new to the genre, but there has been quite a few number of projects, during this and last decade, that use this approach. Gotta say, it's my favorite non-genre.

1) Damien Dubrovnik - Europa Dagbog

Power Electronics duo from Denmark, founders of Posh Isolation (a label that you'll probably read a lot from me). They've shown quite the evolution in these last years, becoming more ambitious and somewhat complex, but the initial, simpler years, are what makes me constantly come back to them. A simple drone, some minimal melodic embellishment, sparse screams. Everything distorted, pretty dirty. Very hypnotic result. Can't go wrong with minimalism, y'know?

2) Prurient & Kevin Drumm - All Are Guests In The House Of The Lord

Two amazing artists coming togheter to make an even more amazing record. Not exactly 'melodic', but more on the brooding side. Mostly a Dark Ambient record, with the occasional Prurient spoken word and screams modus operandi. You also get some field recordings here and there, and the anxious atmosphere is complete.

3) Death Kneel - Under The Roman Clamour

Talking about Prurient, this is an artist that is heavily influenced by the former. As of now, he has moved away from the previous, more strict PE sound. This album is the crowning achievement of this early era. But to be honest, this is not traditional Power Electronics. It's infused with many melodic ambient-ish synths, and has a strong Techno influence. This one too, like Damien, is very lo-fi, very dirty.

4) Cremation Lily - Fires Frame The Silhouette

Everything I said about Death Kneel also applies here, except for the fact that Cremation Lily wasn't so into Techno at this time. Also, he was much more noisier, than Death Kneel, and before this record. Anyway, this is a masterfully crafted PE. All the elements mentioned so far are here. A good balance between the more aggressive bits and the more contemplative ones.

5) V. Sinclair - Metamorphosis

Valentine's sound is pretty hard to describe. It weaves easily between drone-ish Noise and Ambient while being neither, I guess? 'Fuzzy sound art' is a good (though pretentious) descriptor. But just like the last two, he prefers to stick more to Ambient these days. Anywho, this record, in particular, is a very singular one, even among his discography. Very much musique concrète inspired. Pretty minimal and slow moving. Serene at times, anxious at others.

6) Lettera 22 - Control The Ground

 Another musique concrète inspired album. But this one is much more active. I can't begin to describe how much I love this group. To say it's masterfully crafted is not enough. This is one is not as noisy as the previous records, so it's a good starting point (things only get harsher and more abstract from here). Also, the A side ending is just so gorgeous!

7) Olympus - Simone

What a little gem this one is! The arrangement is pretty simple (or so it seems), not so different from Damien Dubrovnik, but the production is so 'dusty', 'buried', it just creates an otherworldly atmosphere.

8) August Levén - Iron Eternity

The same person behind Olympus. Pretty much the same sound, but with just two side-long songs, we have a much more patient build-up.

9) Militia - New European Order

Truly underrated and underappreciated this massive beast is. Industrial of the highest order, using many loops and metallic percussions. Many drawn out, long songs, with very repetitive structures (some even borderline Techno, but a very primitive form of). Truly hypnotic.

10)  J. Campbell - A Death At The Steelworks

Not exactly noise this one (though it uses noise elements sparsely) but definitely beautiful. Baroque/chamber inspired synth Ambient with added clangs and whatnot. The songwriting is just superb, with inteligent use of spaces and superpositions. Sad and contemplative sounding record, really invokes the atmosphere of its name.