ROMANNIS MÖTTE - Kozmische - FEF14

North Carolina's Chad Davis is best known as the multi-instrumentalist behind acclaimed doom band Hour of 13, and was also a member of spacerockers U.S. Christmas. For the last decade, Davis has quietly been performing and recording analogue synth music as Romannis Mötte, but has yet to release any until now. As the album title suggests, the project is primarily influenced by Kosmische pioneers Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching and Tangerine Dream, with the occasional hint of John Carpenter's soundtrack work.

Though undeniably rooted in a late-70s / early-80s style, this is no mere exercise in vintage gear fetishism. Davis' carefully arranged, slowly unfurling pieces reward repeated and attentive listening, and show a musical polymath at ease in a style we might not have associated him with, but for which his passion is obvious.

Kozmische is also to be released on vinyl and CD on other labels, with different artwork and slightly different track listings.

1/1. Molecular Particles (5:20)    1/2. Big City Nights (5:18)    1/3. Cosmosis (5:15) 

1/4. Formations (9:09)    2/1. Dark Matter (6:28)     2/2. The Traveller (3:47) 
2/3. Twilight (7:16)     2/4. Drifter (8:35)

Composition, production and recording by Romannis Mötte during the years 2005-2013. 

Romannis Mötte used on these recordings: Crumar DS-2, EML SynKey, Korg PolySix, Korg Mono/Poly, Korg MS-10, Moog MiniMoog, Moog Sonic 6, Roland JX3P, Roland JX10, Roland Juno 6, Synthesizers.com modular system, Novation KS4, Nord Modular G2, Jen SX1000, Kirovski RITM-2, Yamaha RS-7000

HAMMEMIT - The Ghastliere Morrowe - FEF13

Michael Morthwork is responsible for English black metal / noise project Emit. The evolution of a more ambient sound necessitated the establishment of a new identity: Hammemit. Releases to date have included the albums Spires Over The Burial Womb (2008) and Nature Mystic (2009).

The self-description "modern music for medieval sensibilities"  (and vice versa) turns out to be evocative, with reverbed guitars enveloping the listener in a murk of olde religion and hermitic ritual from occult corners of a distant dark age.

The two tracks on side one of this cassette originally appeared last year as an 8" acetate on the PseudoArcana label. On this expanded reissue, the stylistic scope is broadened by the addition of a further four-song suite, taking in pastoral flute, harrowing chanting,  and Hainoesque guitar drone.

1/1. The Ghastliere Morrowe (7:09)  1/2. Forlorne inne Sighte of the Lorde (7:46) 

2/1. Sacred Hidden Spring (3:05)   2/2. A Rusted Key to Hilldeeps (4:02) 

2/3. In This Gracious Mystery (9:25)   3/3. Sertayn Owld Rowdes... (2:54)

Musick recordynges tooke playse inne the twelthe ande seventhe yeres of thys centurie.

Michael Morthwork play’d gytarre ande Bruder Unknowne H play’d of percussionne. 

Side 1: Musick fyrst to be fownde on asetayte vynell, publysh'd of PseudoArcana.

ORDNANCE / SPERMICIDAL - FEF12

This split release showcases two new projects featuring members of Irish doom band Wreck of the Hesperus. 

Ordnance is a duo of Andrew Cunningham and Cathal Rodgers. While the sound bears some of the murky hallmarks of WOTH, this project is influenced by the underground black metal of Ride for Revenge and Beherit. And whereas Raymond Keenaghan's liquid drumming is a signature aspect of the parent band, here it's replaced with a pounding, martial drum machine. The atmosphere is one of crushing negativity and sardonic contempt, with serpentine riffs that seem to mock any semblance of hope.

Fans of Rodgers' drone and noise work might not be surprised to learn that solo project Spermicidal is a further step away from familiar territory. The drum machine remains but recognisable riffs are largely replaced with searing sheets of atonal guitar noise. In the absence of  landmarks, the listener is left stranded in a disorientating landscape of hissed, liminal vocals and frigid atmospheres. Reaching the end of this side is akin to awaking from a nightmare, unable to recall specifics but left with a feeling of profound unease. 

Fort Evil Fruit accepts no responsibility for any existential distress or damage to sanity resulting from exposure to these recordings. You are alone in an indifferent universe. 

ORDNANCE

1. Millstone Cosmos I (4.28) / 2. Millstone Cosmos II  (5.28)
3. Cold Corners, Warm Blood I  (4.52)  / 
4. Cold Corners, Warm Blood II   (7.27)

Written and recorded by AC & CR


SPERMICIDAL

1. Maggots   (3.20) / 2. Slime  (2.53) / 
3. Defragmentation   (13.03)   / 4. Leeching   (4.14)

Music and lyrics by Spermicidal
Recorded and mixed by Cathal Rodgers in the Banagher Caves May - November 2012

Cover art by Sophie Penrose

Numbered edition of 100. Includes download code.

MEITHEAL - Early in the Spring, Late in the Fall - FEF11 - SOLD OUT

Mike Gangloff is best known as a member of drone improvisers Pelt and Spiral Joy Band, as well as Appalachian old-time outfit The Black Twig Pickers. In March of last year he performed at one of Vicky Langan's Black Sun events in Cork, alongside David Colohan's Raising Holy Sparks, and the Cork Sacred Harp Singers, with which Langan is  involved. The three musicians played a short piece together to close the show. The trio, now named Meitheal, reconvened to appear at Newcastle's Tusk Festival in October.

The material here is largely culled from the Sacred Harp tradition, with vocals backed by Gangloff and Langan's twin fiddles and Colohan's harmonium and shruti box drones. On the Tusk recording, each member sings lead in turn (culminating in what may be Colohan's finest recorded vocal to date). The unadorned, unaffected approach allows the musicians' characters, and the traditions that shaped them, to shine through. In this way the music effortlessly reunites the folk traditions of Ireland and the Southern United States, while being informed by the hillbilly drone of Henry Flynt. Songs that date from as far back as the 19th century are placed in an unusual yet sympathetic context, retaining their directness and emotional power. 

This release consists of both the Cork and Newcastle sets, as well as a rehearsal prior to the latter, and so contains Meitheal's entire recorded work to date. 

1/1. Sacred Harp 159 (Wondrous Love) / Interlude (Wild Goose Chase / Remember & Do Pray For Me) / Sacred Harp 117 (Babylon is Fallen)   (16.49)
2/1. Greeting the Solar Storm (7.53) video

2/2. Sacred Harp 159 (Wondrous Love) (5.47)

Mike Gangloff - voice & fiddle 

Vicky Langan - voice & fiddle 
David Colohan - voice, harmonium & shruti box 

1.1: Recorded by Sam Grant, October 6th 2012 at the Tusk Festival in The Star & Shadow, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. 
2.1: Recorded March 8th 2012 at Black Sun in Plugd, Cork, Ireland during a solar storm. 
2.2: Recorded October 6th 2012 during rehearsals for the Tusk set. 

Artwork by David Colohan. 
Pan illustration from 1920 songbook of "The Quaker Singer", David Bispham. 
Thanks to Lee Etherington (Tusk), Sam Grant and Carapace.

Numbered edition of 100. Includes download code.

FERN FLOOR - Elder - FEF10 - SOLD OUT

Fern Floor were formed in 2011 and feature members of Wreck of the Hesperus, Sodb, United Bible Studies, Council of Tanith and Last Word Spoken. To date they've kept a low profile and have played only a handful of gigs, but this debut mini-album is a testament to countless rehearsal hours honing subtly complex songs.

The band's mostly acoustic, pastoral style recalls the progressive folk of the 60s and 70s, but is devoid of any revivalist intent or nostalgic gimmickry. Instead, "Elder" contains six memorably melodic, dynamically arranged tracks - two from each of band's three principal songwriters, Andrew Cunningham, Emer Brady and Andrew Fox - with sensitive and inventive playing from piper Ian Lynch, bassist Fergal O'Reilly and drummer Ray Keenaghan.

Prepare to have these songs take up residency in your brain, and to wonder how you did without them. 

Intricate cover art comes courtesy of Jane Lives - you'll need to pore over the included mini-poster to appreciate all the detail! Numbered edition of 100. Includes download code.

1/1. Anchors  (5.04)    1/2. Anneleis   (5.54)        1/3. Let Lie  (4.30)  
2/1. Cartoon Moon   (2.58)       2/2. Tightrope   (4.04) 
2/3. Head of Gas, Heart of Oil   (7.30)

1/1, 2/1 - AC/FF  1/2, 2/2 - AF/FF  1/3, 2/3 - EB/FF

Andrew Cunningham - Vocals/Guitar/Ukulele

Emer Brady - Vocals/Piano/Organ/Guitar/Glockenspiele

Andrew Fox - Vocals/Guitar

Ray Keenaghan - Drums

Fergal O'Reilly - Bass

Ian Lynch - Whistles/Uileann Pipes/Harpski

Recorded by Shay Leon at Shay's Studios, Loughrea, Co. Galway

Mastered by Richard Dowling at WAV Mastering

RICHARD MOULT - Rodorlihtung - FEF9 - SOLD OUT

Richard Moult is an English composer, artist and poet currently living in remote northern Scotland. His solo work includes two albums for the Second Language label, "Celestial King for a Year" and the recently released "Yclypt". FEF followers may also know him as a member of United Bible Studies and from his appearance on the Raising Holy Sparks debut. 

"Rodorlihtung" is a three-part piano-based suite tracing a journey from the East Sussex coast, to the mountains of Wester Ross, North Scotland, and finally arriving under the starry skies of the Hebridean Isles (the title itself being an obscure Old English word meaning 'the brightness of the starry skies').

  

Each movement is longer and more brooding than the last, culminating in the self-styled "classical doom" of the side-long third part, which was recorded in an East Sussex church during sessions for the "Ethe" album, and ends with the eerie barking of a fox. The mood of this meditative and engrossing album is perfectly encapsulated by the artist's cover painting.

1.1) Rodorlihtung part one (2.51) video
1.2) Rodorlihtung part two (11.50) 

2.1) Rodorlihtung part three (20.14) excerpt

Richard Moult: piano, keyboards, field recordings

Michael Tanner: bowed guitar on parts 1 & 3

Composed, arranged and mixed by Richard Moult. Piano recorded by Michael Lawrence in St Leonards Parish Church, East Sussex, England. Further instrumentation recorded by Richard Moult on the shores of Loch Snizort, Scotland, Spring 2012. Mastered by Rudi Arapahoe at Purgatory Mastering. 

This album is dedicated to Amanda Mowat

LINGUA FUNGI - Vigil for the Snail Lovers - FEF8

Lingua Fungi is a solo ambient / drone project from Jaakko Padatsu of Oulu, Finland, who is also one half of Asio Otus. There have been two full length Lingua Fungi CDs so far, as well as a split with Shrine (Bulgaria) and a collaboration with Alio Die (Italy).

Vigil for the Snail Lovers was recorded in 2009 and is arguably Padatsu's bleakest work to date, suggesting solitary, troubled wanderings in dark forests and on stony shores, though some kind of resolution seems to be arrived at towards the end. It's an hypnotic and immersive listen with an organic, nocturnal vibe. The mood is beautifully echoed in the cover painting by Elaine Ní Cuana, aka Sgraffito. 

Numbered edition of 100. Includes download code.

1.1) River of Remora (11.52) excerpt   1.2) Point to the Saints (5.19)

1.3) Bird Mouth Trajectory (4.06) 

2.1) Vigil for the Snail Lovers (9.00)   
2.2) Wave Fills the Empty Vessel (13.20) excerpt

J.Padatsu - acoustic instruments, field recordings and programming

Recorded, mixed and mastered by J.Padatsu, September 2009 in Oulu, Finland.

http://www.linguafungi.com/

Art by Sgraffito - http://elainec.wix.com/sgraffito