Jan St. Werner Miscontinuum Album (Fiepblatter Catalogue #3)

God I got another weirdy art-faced album from that man over there. He wears a scarf, has spectacles and actually runs the show like an octopus throwing all manner of random audio around the office at terrified people who've never heard of techno and wouldn't know what Congolese Funk was if it kidnapped them and forced them into a bunker for a week to listen to Congolese Funk. He must think I'm easy prey. There's no Congolese funk here though.

This is pretty crazy and random electronic collage shit from loads of folks known for building such varied things as abstract beats, high-brow glitch, sound-art, portentous doom grumble and frantic Japanese experimental indie rock. It's a proper hodge-podge of unlikely studio/bedfellows and together they conjure up some pretty sweet, fluttering, ominous cosmic future music with a multi-faceted array of equipment and a ton of brilliantly manipulated and processed voices/effects.

It truly works however with Mouse on Mars chaplet JSW conducting his pals into constructing the most dazzling concoction of fascinating electronic weirdness, poetic intoned ruminations, jarring bent-out-of-shape modular synth molestation and riveting, android soundscapes to ever appear on Thrill Jockey (that I've heard). Although it's seemingly improvisational in nature it flows like the most exotic river of sound, fleeting sonic violence, and is generally a bewildering yet bewitching listen.

'Miscontinuum...." has a vast scope of exotic, sinister sonic ephemera and is best experienced through headphones. There's a lot of rather other-wordly shit going down so I'd suggest this one for lovers of early German synth, maybe folk who like like Astral Social Club or Sudden Infant and the more textural, restrained end of noise/electro-acoustic scenes.

Spectral, unrestrained, random and engrossing material, stuffed with remarkable sonic innovations. Not a difficult listen but a very intriguing psychedelic experience for the large parts. I love the bits with the celestial ethereal glossolalia. Most interesting new record of the year for me so far. Needs further close investigation.