lo bit landscapes

Lo Bit Landscapes are streaming a new EP from L.I.E.S. associate and video artist Luke Wyatt under the Lossmaker alias.

Perhaps best known for his work as Torn Hawk, which saw a white label release on L.I.E.S. last year, as well as a track on the label’s American Noise compilation, Wyatt’s music tends towards the fuzzed out, psychedlic end of the electronic music spectrum, often utilising heavily distorted guitars and swirling effects alongside synthetic textures. It’s an aesthetic that also spills over into his trippy, heavily saturated VHS video work, which has accompanied tracks from the likes of WT Records’ Ex-Vivian and Mock & Toof’s recent single “My Head”.

Wyatt recently revealed a new musical project, Lossmaker, which has seen a self-titled EP of material released on the US based Lo Bit Landscapes which can be streamed in its entirety below; although it shares some qualities with his Torn Hawk productions, Wyatt’s more psychedelic qualities are kept in check, with a more pensive sound delivered by its brighter synth sounds and more subdued sampling.

The remix-of-a-cover provenance is a bit convoluted, but the end result is worth it.

Last year, New York band Nihiti explored the ambient intersection of techno, industrial, and drone on for ostland. The most affecting cut was ‘Ghost and Lovers’, a shoe-gazing cover of Marissa Nadler’s song of the same name.

On February 14, Nihiti will release Ghosts and Versions, a remix 12″ featuring new versions of the song by Mark Verbos, Zebrablood (Nathan from Excepter), Hrdvsion, National Park System, and Alienboy (La Big Vic) via Lo Bit Landscapes.

Stream the “Sordid Future Mix” by NYC techno veteran Mark Verbos below. True to its name, the remix layers the vocals of the Nihiti version with the futurism of a late-night cyberpunk rave.

Viktor Timofeev, a NYC resident who in fact hails from Latvia, is probably better known as a visual artist, having made a bit of a name for himself in the art world over the last few years. (See painting above right from a recent show in Cologne.) But he also counts himself a member of electro synth-wave downer pop combo Nihiti and painted the very distinctive cover of the first Nihiti album. Give Health999, his first solo record, is something else entirely, totally removed from Nihiti. On his own, he instead traffics in expanses of layered drones, and looped riffage, of atmospheres and ambience, but active ambience, with sounds blurred and tangled, rhythmic without actual rhythms. The label drops names like Stars Of The Lid, SUNNO))) and Godspeed, and we do definitely hear elements of all of those. It’s droney and dirgey and haunting and almost classical sounding in places, but the tracks are super varied, while retaining an oblique cohesiveness.

The opener is all dirgey blackened atmospherics, reminding us a little of one man guitarscaper Blackwolfgoat, looped and layered riffage, lurching and stuttering but super hypnotic, ultra lo-fi, muddy and murky, but the sort of thing we would have been into seeing fill up both sides of the record. The second track is totally different, instead it’s lush and shimmery, a dreamlike dronescape laced with streaks of feedback and a haunting distorted melody that runs throughout. The final track on the A side begins with field recordings, birds and running water, all beneath a series of warped and woozy tape experiments, lush chordal swells, repetitive and mantra-like, finally transforming into an almost orchestral looped industrial outro.

The flipside is separated into three tracks, but they seem to be woven into one sidelong epic, a cinematic symphonic landscape of drone and melody that almost sounds like a black metal Arvo Part, droney and dirgery and dramatic, sinister and ominous, the vibe menacing and super intense, the sort of track that broods malevolently, but is totally hypnotic and mesmerizing, the whole side is like a sonic black hole, the listener immersed in the dense deep blackness, until the last few minutes, where the track finishes off with a strange bloopy almost new wavey sounding outro.

Definitely recommended for fans of dark drones and droney darkness, and for sure has us wanting to hear more sounds, AND see more art from Timofeev.

Working in the area of Noise/Experimental/Drone Latvian born, Berlin resident Viktor Timofeev manages to inject at least a smidgen of melody into his compositions, although these often seem more like reflections of melody rather than melodies themselves. On “GIVE HEALTH99”, his latest collection the mood is dark and desolate, distortion and confusion taking centre-stage, the music grinding through solid rock before emerging, tense and battle-weary. As with most experimental sounds, at least for me, it is the longer tracks that work best, with the 14 minute “Flying Zonogons” really creeping under the skin, a slow motion pulse like the heartbeat of a long forgotten creature that is only now remembering its purpose here on Earth. Difficult at first, the tracks here will reveal themselves as deep and mysterious, the harshness cloaked in a sheen of soft melody adding an alien beauty to proceedings. (http://lobitlandscapes.org/)

 On the same label comes the rather wonderful package that is “For Ostland” an album pressed on clear vinyl (streaked with black), containing a poster of the sleeve (artwork by Viktor Timofeev) and  an inner sleeve as well, all good stuff which is thankfully matched by the music inside as NIHITI mix drone, experimental, ambience and distortion to perfection. After the atmospheric opener, the band take a sideways step as the cover “Ghosts and Lovers” (Marissa Nadler), turning the song into a beautiful gossamer haze of sound that is intense and aching with longing. On “ankhmazes” the sounds of old spirits walk the room, telling their tales without words, whilst over on side-Y, as opposed to side-X, “Sun Shatterer” is a slice of electro-pop fed through an industrial mincer, almost dance-able and sounding very fine indeed at high volume. To end, “Hymn Divisions” blends pulse with ambience, creating a mesmerising piece that floats away across a cloudy sky, brief glimpses of the moon allowing you to get your bearings.

 Also available from NIHITI is “Other Peoples Memories”, an earlier LP that  shows the band still searching for their final destination, the tracks having a more song-based edge, with “No Angel Came” possessing a rock heaviness that has become buried in distortion on their next LP. Elsewhere “The Ringing In” is a pop song filled with melody, whilst “Party Of” is a gently cloud of (mainly)acoustic psych, the two tracks sitting uneasily next to each other on the album. Over on side two, the band reveal Talk Talk to be an influence as the side contains five electro songs thare woozy and left of centre but definitely more straightforward than the bands later offering. Having said that, this is still a fine collection and there will no doubt be times when this disc will be chosen over the other, each having a personality of their own.