Dark ambient scene

spektr

First of all before asking anything, I would like to say that apart from DA itself I would like to let my questions also relate to certain industrial subgenres too, like power noise/electronics, martial ambient, dark folk or even EBM. To avoid misunderstanding in the matter, as a simple example I would take all bands being released by Cold Meat Industry.

Unlike it might be expected, I'm not going to ask why this type of music is so poorly developed in Ireland and why there is so little interest in it. The questions that I would like to be answered relate only to the present and the future:
are there any people on this forum or anywhere else who are concerned about the situation regarding this music in Ireland? are there any Irish communities dedicated to this music, no matter in real life or internet?
if so are there any actions being done in order to increase interest of population, e.g. starting Irish musical labels/distros, dedicated to DA exclusively?
and is there anyone who is trying to do something in order any of DA concerts of foreign bands to take place here?

Basically I would like to know if there any movement going on or everything just keeps staying at the same place, so any answers would be appreciated.

John

I know what you're saying but at the end of the day, someone is only going to invest time and money (because it always comes down to money) if any of this music will actually draw a crowd. The fact that you can't get most of the "famous" artists to play here. Aside from Coil, Laibach, Whitehouse and Der Blutharsch I can't think of any artists remotely related to what you're interested in who have played here and when I saw Whitehouse it was very poorly attended and half the audience seemed to have travelled from the UK to see them. There is one promoter who does cater towards these genres (Tower Promotions) but the gigs are few and far between because you can't run a promotions company and lose money on every gig. There are a few small labels and artists going the DA/noise route (Haunted Trail, Wereju, Bonecloud, Quetzolcoatl) but there is no real movement like there would be in, say, London.

Only by increasing the size of the audience will you get these artists here. And considering very few shops sell these artists and no club culture exists for a scene to develop, the future isn't bright for dark ambient (chortle, chortle). To be honest, most of these artists/genres are (in my opinion) treading water at this stage. Whitehouse in concert were as interesting as watching paint dry, most of the neo-folk crowd are bad copies of Death In June and Sol Invictus who aren't great to begin with and dark ambient ran its course about halfway through Lustmord's first album. I'm not saying that there's no quality out there (The Hafler Trio, although not DA or indeed even a music project, come to mind, as do Current 93 and the Norwegian noise scene) but the vast majority of these genres are fairly derivative and by their very nature, not exactly reaching out for new fans.

Scubadevils

Now this is a genre of ambient I know nothing about - any artists you can suggest as a starting point to look into dark ambient? I love my ambient alright and may already know some dark ambient acts, without knowing it

John

Lustmord is the definitive dark ambient artist.

Scubadevils

Cheers. His discogs profile wouldn't encourage me to go and buy his albums!

Profile: Brian "Lustmord" Williams has created a sound that epitomizes the subgenre of dark ambient. He started recording while assisting the seminal industrial ensemble SPK in the early '80s when that project was at its most caustic. Lustmord's sound investigations are exquisitely crafted manifestations of horror that balance sublime sound references with the body's natural queasiness about ultra-low frequencies (infrasound -- frequencies below 20 hz -- has been known to cause vomiting, permanent hearing loss, and even death). Lustmord has extracted the eeriness from field recordings made in crypts, caves, and slaughterhouses :eek:, and combined it with occasional ritualistic incantations and the haunting wail of Tibetan horns. His seamless treatments of acoustic phenomena encased in digitally expanded bass rumbles have the darkly ambient quality of nightmares that take you to the blackest of abysses.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Lustmord

The name does ring a bell though and in particular the album 'The Place Where The Black Stars Hang' - I can't remember why but I do know the name.

John

It's not as scary as it sounds

Scubadevils

Well if I buy an album and you don't see me posting here again, you know whats happened

John

Inform us before you listen to the album and we'll send for the authorities if we don't hear back from you in an hour!

spektr

I know what you're saying but at the end of the day, someone is only going to invest time and money (because it always comes down to money) if any of this music will actually draw a crowd. The fact that you can't get most of the "famous" artists to play here. Aside from Coil, Laibach, Whitehouse and Der Blutharsch I can't think of any artists remotely related to what you're interested in who have played here and when I saw Whitehouse it was very poorly attended and half the audience seemed to have travelled from the UK to see them. There is one promoter who does cater towards these genres (Tower Promotions) but the gigs are few and far between because you can't run a promotions company and lose money on every gig. There are a few small labels and artists going the DA/noise route (Haunted Trail, Wereju, Bonecloud, Quetzolcoatl) but there is no real movement like there would be in, say, London.

Actually I attended the last Whitehouse gig - completely forgot about that! And I clearly remember "Tower Promotions" on the flyer, but I thought it's a UK based promoter. I liked Job Karma quite much by the way and the concert wasn't attended that poorly in my opinion, especially by the end of it. But that was more than half year ago and for some reason nothing else took place here since then...

Only by increasing the size of the audience will you get these artists here. And considering very few shops sell these artists and no club culture exists for a scene to develop, the future isn't bright for dark ambient (chortle, chortle). To be honest, most of these artists/genres are (in my opinion) treading water at this stage. Whitehouse in concert were as interesting as watching paint dry, most of the neo-folk crowd are bad copies of Death In June and Sol Invictus who aren't great to begin with and dark ambient ran its course about halfway through Lustmord's first album. I'm not saying that there's no quality out there (The Hafler Trio, although not DA or indeed even a music project, come to mind, as do Current 93 and the Norwegian noise scene) but the vast majority of these genres are fairly derivative and by their very nature, not exactly reaching out for new fans.

your point seems to be right. But I also hope that there are going to be some changes in the future and that it's just matter of time. See, we already got a "potential fan" here:)

Now this is a genre of ambient I know nothing about - any artists you can suggest as a starting point to look into dark ambient? I love my ambient alright and may already know some dark ambient acts, without knowing it:)

as already said, try Lustmord. As well as Endura. I also mentioned Cold Meat Industry label, so I would recommend music released by them too, such bands as Atrium Carceri, Raison D'être, Megaptera, Coph Nia, Desiderii Marginis, MZ.412...last ones are not that minimalistic as Lustmord though due to industrial/martial elements.

John

spektr wrote: »

Actually I attended the last Whitehouse gig - completely forgot about that! And I clearly remember "Tower Promotions" on the flyer, but I thought it's a UK based promoter. I liked Job Karma quite much by the way and the concert wasn't attended that poorly in my opinion, especially by the end of it. But that was more than half year ago and for some reason nothing else took place here since then...

Ah right, I was talking about the previous gig in the Voodoo Lounge. Forgot they'd played since and obviously more people are getting into them so colour me wrong! A friend of mine has been recommending Job Karma to me but I haven't gotten around to listening yet. Too many suggestions and not enough listening hours.

Scubadevils

Had a look around town today for Lustmord but no joy... probably should have asked in Tower though as I'm sure they would have it? What genre do they tend to stock dark ambient with?

Spent a feckin fortune though wandering around town this morning, can't beat arriving home armed with new music

John

That stuff is normally in the industrial section beside the electronica section. They don't normally have a lot of it in as most of it is so niche and difficult to obtain. Might be best looking online.

Scubadevils

John wrote: »

That stuff is normally in the industrial section beside the electronica section. They don't normally have a lot of it in as most of it is so niche and difficult to obtain. Might be best looking online.

Didn't actually think to check there, makes sense though.

Just checked the Tower website, they have two releases...

http://www.towerrecords.ie/searchResults.asp?searchString=LUSTMORD&stockType=0&varGenre=0

Any opinions on these?

On another note, the section for Krautrock is pretty good there too. I don't have a huge amount of this but what I do from the usual suspects like Can I really love. Keen to check out Klaus Schulze too but he has a lot of albums and some come highly rated, others not so much - they have a good few in Tower though so must do some research.

John

I have Juggernaut and I don't like it at all. Although that being said, I'm not a huge Lustmord fan. The album with the Melvins isn't really dark ambient, it's more rock orientated (albeit, heavy slow and crushing). It's a great Melvins album but not typical of Lustmord.

My personal faves in the Krautrock section are Faust and Can. Faust are far more experimental, a lot of tape collages as well as the motorik rhythms and rocking out. Harmonia are great too, especially as you're into electronic music. Huge influence on modern electronica.

Scubadevils

Yeah I have heard some Faust alright and really liked, must buy some next. I have a few albums by Can, favourite is probably Ege Bamyasi or Future Days. I bought one from Harmonia a while back, 'Live' - excellent album; must buy more from them too. There were some compilations in Tower too with lots of artists I have never heard of, not cheap though, 60 euro for a double CD.