Ba Da Bing! US 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Leeds-based duo Hawthonn express their inspiration from Coil in their artist name (a tribute to the late Jhonn Balance) and it doesn't take long listening to their music to hear that indelible mark on their sound. Earth Mirror marks Layla and Phil Legard's second album for the Ba Da Bing! label out of NYC after 2018's Red Goddess (Of This Men Shall Know Nothing). Weaving a compelling mixture of low, murmuring industrial tones and pastoral folk with an occult twist, the duo move through enveloping, atmospheric spaces. At times Layla Legard's voice cuts through the mist, and elsewhere we reside in instrumental pastures, but the mood remains haunting and evocative from start to finish, not to mention masterfully rendered.

Review: In Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet, a dysfunctional group of performance artists undertake a month-long residency at an institute devoted to culinary disciplines. Food is interrogated for its sonic potential as the group mic-up, amplify, distort and transform what they cook in front of an audience. The noise produced by the characters in the film is driven by food blenders, overflowing cauldrons of gurgling soup and sizzling frying pans (courtesy of The Sonic Catering Band), yet the music that soundtracks the culinary capers is engorged with aching melodies and wordless, airy vocals. Contributors include Cavern of Anti-Matter, Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw and Trost's band, Roj (formerly of Broadcast), and Nurse With Wound. Flux Gourmet is presented in a lush 2xLP package with an ornate, colorful design and Strickland's detailed liner notes.