Sacred Bones US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: On his three previous solo albums as Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons member Benjamin John Power offered up abstract but enjoyable blends of ambient, drone, IDM and electronics. On "Animated Violence Mild", his first full-length for two years, Power has decided to take a far more dystopian path, blending ear-catching, synth-pop influenced melodies with thrusting, doom-laden techno rhythms, growling aural textures, industrial strength noise and hybrid electronic power-pop. It's an ear-catching affair, with highlights including the boisterous, distorted techno-pop of "House Vs House", the post-apocalyptic power-trance rush of "Hush Money", the hypnotic, maximal ambient movements of "Creature/West Fuqua" and the pulsating intensity of "Wings Of Hate".

Review: While many producers have tried to match him in recent years, DJ Muggs the Black Goat is style the undisputed master of dark, macabre hip-hop. That much is proved by Dies Occidendum, an undeniably mystical, moonlit affair that sounds like it was designed to be played at haunted burial sites, overgrown graveyards and occult rituals. As you'd expect, the beats are heavy, but it's the musical elements around them -oddball spoken word samples, pulverising sub-bass thrusts, horror movie chords, gnarled black metal guitar riffs, ghostly choirs and so on - that makes Dies Occidendum such a rewarding and atmospheric listen.

Review: The work of Mort Garson has always held a special appeal to those who dig early electronic music. An early adopter of synthesizer technology, the late, great composer and experimentalist is beste days for his 1976 new age set, Mother Earth's Plantasia, which Sacred Bones reissued a few years back. Here the same label presents a selection of previously unheard, lifted from an archive of over 100 reels of archival recordings. Variously creepy, cheery, unsettling and joyous, the showcased music sits somewhere between new age synthesizer music, the alien-sounding experiments of the Radiophonic Workshop, Autobahn-era Kraftwerk, and the cheeriness of easy listening. As a result, it's an eclectic and at times surprising collection that should be essential listening for anyone interested in the development of electronic music.