Dark Music Review – It Follows Soundtrack

Written by Casey Douglass

It’s rare for me to watch a film and feel that the soundtrack was something that really demanded attention. That’s not to diminish the role of sound in films, it’s just a way of showing how my mind works. I watched the brilliant horror film It Follows a few days ago (you can read my review on Amongst Geeks here) and was immediately struck by the soundtrack. It was sinister, novel and dark as hell. The musician behind the It Follows soundtrack is Rich Vreeland aka Disasterpeace, a knowledgeable and prolific videogame music creator in the chiptune / 8-bit genres.

I have to hold up my hands and admit that this isn’t a genre of music that I usually listen to, although I can appreciate the work that goes into it. Sounds are designed to sound like (or actually are) played through the retro sound chips of older computers and game consoles, giving them those nostalgia inducing Mario or Metroid type pangs that take you back to your childhood. Judging by his Bandcamp releases at least, It Follows looks like it might be his darkest work of recent times, which is what piqued my interest. While the album isn’t classified as dark ambient, I think it certainly could be.

What you’ll get if you listen to the soundtrack is the mental equivalent of being buffeted at sea. A good number of the tracks alternate quieter booming rumblings and harsh high pitched screeching tones, lulling you and then jarring you moments later. My hands down favourite track has to be Title, partly because the main rhythmic tone arrangement puts me in mind of the famous shower scene music from Psycho. It also has a hook-laden chorus that rattled around my head for at least 24 hours after hearing it.

As with all great albums, there are the lighter, smoother tracks along with the harsh. Jay is one such track, an almost sunlight infused track that is slower and, if not outright tranquil, the sinister undertones are less than other tracks. Detroit is another example of a quieter track, but even though it is less frantic, it still conveys feelings of fear and sadness.

One grandstanding track that features a little of everything is Company. The tone at the start of this track sounds a little like bagpipes being softly abused. It goes quiet and hollow echoing thuds emerge, a high-pitched whining noise grating over the top of them. A deep rumble joins when the whining ends and everything holds its breath. A warped tone sounds over everything again, like a kettle boiling but off kilter and harsh. The deeper distortion behind it sounds a little like horses galloping. The track fades to a kind of ‘electro agitation’ that seems to charge the air, before a quieter tone suggests itself in the silence as it leaves. All goes quiet once more before the quieter tone looms again with a more gentle bass sound. The track ends violently with very harsh sounds distorting and shrieking for the last few seconds. Quite an experience.

Being a soundtrack album, many of the tracks are no more than a couple of minutes long, some less than one minute. This makes sure that no one track or soundscape outstays its welcome and as a listener, this keeps you more alert and interested, even as some of the melody based segments follow the same general scheme.

Even though it appears I’m a pretty easy to please reviewer, partly due to only reviewing stuff that interests me anyway, giving out full marks has only happened a few times over the last few years. The It Follows soundtrack can join the handful of albums that have wormed their way into my mind as I’m giving it 5/5. From a personal perspective, it’s something a little different to what I usually listen to but that still manages to take me to that dark place that I like my more ambient music to take me. The chiptune / 8-bit underpinnings appeal very much to my geeky videogame playing side whilst the drones and bass appeal to my dark world creating fiction side. A complete performance I guess you could say.

If any of what I’ve said has intrigued you, you can check out Disasterpeace’s website here and pick the It Follows soundtrack up for not much money at all. I also urge you to go and see It Follows while its at the cinema, or buy it when it is released for home viewing.

I was given a free copy of the album for review.

 

Album Title: It Follows

Music by: Disasterpeace

Mastered by: Christian Dwiggins

Artwork by: Midnight Marauder

Producers: Richard Glasser, JC Chamboredon & Stefan Karrer

Release date: 10^th March 2015

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Dark Film Review - It Follows

I review creeping horror film It Follows over on Amongst Geeks here. A stunning horror film with likeable characters and a great concept. Read the review for more in-depth analysis.

Image Copyright RADiUS-TWC

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Dark Book Review - Mogworld

I take a look at Yahtzee Crowshaw’s Mogworld over on Amongst Geeks, the latest website that I am contributing articles to. Mogworld is a comical fantasy novel that pokes fun at a lot of gaming's tropes and rules. A great read. You can read my review here.

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Three Years On - Progress and Strain

My website is 3 years old today. Much like last year, I will use it as a measuring stick to see how far I’ve come, what I might have achieved and how close to madness I came.

I will start with looking at my hopes of a year ago and seeing if they were met. I laid out some very numbers-based goals for number of posts done, Twitter followers gained and site traffic reached. I met some, failed to reach others, but I find myself not really caring as they miss the point. They are just a metric to measure one aspect of what is going on; they shouldn’t be goals in and of themselves.

The biggest thing for me from a writing perspective was finally going self-employed as a freelance writer. The manner in which it came about was incredibly stressful and my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder damn near killed me in the trying, but months on, I am slowly getting a handle on things. I am also getting paid work which is also very helpful but is taking some getting used to.

Shortly after going freelance, I got my Dark Distractions Anthology onto the Amazon Kindle Store, which was another milestone for me. Of course, this site is no longer called Dark Distractions but I liked the name enough to keep it for my writing. I wanted my site address to be relate-able to my own name, especially if people might see some of my writing and decide to Google me.

I have continued my writing for Geek Syndicate and enjoyed the various things coming my way to review. I am heartened to see G.S go from strength to strength and for Barry and Dave to be rewarded with their BBC iPlayer shows and interviews. I also want to thank the site for giving me something to do when other things have seen my mind whirling away in fear and anxiety; it was a great way to keep writing, which was the most important thing for me.

Another notable event was being invited onto BBC Radio 4’s Digital Human show to talk about how my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder affected my use of technology. It was a great experience and even though not much of my interview was used in the end, I appreciated the opportunity to put into words things that I struggle with on a day to day basis.

One area that has really taken off is the amount of contact I have with writers and musicians who would like me to review their work. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing my dark ambient music album reviews and it is always a great feeling to have music that I enjoy listening to coming to me for a change, rather than having to hunt things out for myself. That probably makes me sound very lazy but I just like to think it’s having a relaxed attitude to entertainment.

My fiction writing has continued in fits and starts, partly due to adjusting to more article and news writing, and partly due to horrendous energy levels and the anxiety it causes me to embark on a larger piece of work. If writing flash fiction and short stories is like gently pootling about in a row-boat just off the beach, writing a novella or novel is like rowing out to sea and losing sight of land for weeks. It’s something I will get on top of but as of yet have not taken steps in that direction.

If the year before last, someone had told me I would have been a freelancer and have a book on the Kindle Store by now, I would have said yes please and taken it gladly. As it is, I’m pleased but it’s hard to feel too cheerful about it. I know intellectually I have done it, but it feels like my heart hasn’t accepted it. I won’t fret about what I’m feeling or not feeling though and will just carry on taking steady steps towards being the writer I would like to be.

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Dark Music Review – September Traveler

Written By Casey Douglass

 

I was very impressed with Sound Awakener's Hidden when I reviewed it awhile ago. Nhung Nguyen has a real knack for using moody strings and harsher sound samples to create compositions that hang in the air like some strange and dark insect swarm, hypnotising and edgy. I was very pleased when Nhung Nguyen asked me to review another of her albums, September Traveler.

September Traveler is a collection of Sound Awakener’s early works in 2011 and 2012 (except "The call is fading"). It is also the soundtrack for Irene Cruz’s exhibition What dreams are made of, which took place in Berlin from 6th to 18th February, 2015. The title September Traveler refers to the journey through moments, total darkness and lost, blurred light. The atmosphere of the music is cold, soft and a little bit dreamy, mostly created by drone elements and field recordings. All sales from this album go directly to support Sound Awakener's recording equipment need. Your purchase is gladly appreciated!

The Tracks:

September Traveler

What sounds like string-based distortion mingles with a high-pitched tone that puts me in mind of fairground music slowed down and played backwards. It sounds like the soundtrack to some strange dream, but a dream that starts darkly and becomes a little lighter and more hopeful towards the end.

Learning to Drown

Looping strains of piano dance and compete with a looming drone in the background. A muted thudding begins in the distance and pulsates below everything as the piano fades and comes back. The result is a track that grows in pace and feels stifling, as if it’s closing around you.

Pale Morning

Chirpy tones tinkle in a light soundscape that feels cold but not hostile in any way. Maybe a morning frost glinting in weak sunlight. Something dark does feel like it is coming closer as the track goes on however.

The shade you’ve become

Muffled voices and distorting electro-sound moves from ear to ear. Harsher piano and string notes add an element of discord as the background sound begins to take on the guise of an angry bee. It rattles and hums as reversed and slowed piano pierces the soundscape, giving movement to the shade mentioned in the track title. The track becomes deeper as it continues, higher pitched sounds echoing back from unseen walls as the other notes mingle in the increasingly harsh medley. Space emerges; strings twang, piano keys sound and thumps punctuate the void left behind.

The call is fading

Stark piano and a swelling and dwindling background sound create a feeling of absence and loss, the notes swallowed by the airy space they float inside. The track ends very abruptly which was a surprise but very effective rather than petering out.

Thoughts

September Traveler has a less chaotic sound than Hidden but one that is no less interesting. Piano is used to great effect, as you would imagine with Nhung Nguyen being a classically trained pianist. I also like her use of strings though, especially the deep and brooding distorted ones she laces her tracks with. All in all, September Traveler is a fine album that deserves a place in any dark ambient aficionado’s music collection and I happily rate it 4/5.

Visit the September Traveler Bandcamp page here for more information.

I was given a free copy of the album to review.

Album Title: September Traveler

Artist: Sound Awakener

Mastered by: Nicky Bendix

Artwork by: Irene Cruz

Released : 6th February 2015

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Dark Music Review – 2147

Written By Casey Douglass

I like it when the music I listen to tells a story. Usually it’s something that my own mind constructs, so it’s nice to find an album that explicitly has a story in mind. Sabled Sun’s 2147 does just that:

The third album from the Sabled Suns 21xx series about a man awoken from hibernation to a world in ruins, takes us through the third year 2147. A shattered man self taught to survive in the harsh world left empty by it's predecessors, only it's mechanical children left behind. The protagonist journeys through a burned out world towards the Outer Zones and the rumored space center there, in search for answers.

Sadly, I haven’t listened to the other Sabled Sun albums so I am joining the story a little late (Sabled Sun is the alias of Simon Heath, aka Atrium Carceri). Even so, I was still able to read the description and track titles and enjoy the dark tones of what sounds like a pretty harsh journey.

The Tracks:

Survival

The first sounds are wind and footsteps, thunder rumbling ominously in the distance. There is birdsong, but this soon takes on a perverted aspect: the sound isn’t normal, which makes it sinister rather than consoling. A drone fades in with crackles that sound like the noise rain makes on an abandoned tent, stray droplets hitting tin cups and other utensils left behind. Piano joins the composition and a swirl of sound which becomes more abstract around the midpoint of the track, the more natural noises disappearing as drone and tones reign.

Our Mechanical Children

A higher pitched sound and warped tones begin this lighter track, their sounds echoing and fluid as they conjure images of sunlight shining from the edges of large metal objects. Repeated vocals loop like a broken tape, each time the words saying something different. The track and the title brought to mind a lost robot, sitting in a room watching old news reels, trying to piece together what happened to humanity and where we’ve gone.

Emulation

A staticy electro-sound thrums this track into life, setting up a nice beat that other tones can dance around. Piano notes join the fun and the track gently lulls the listener, the contrast between the soft and harsh sounds working well to entrance and entertain.

Inner Workings

A low drone ebbs and flows before being joined by an airy sound, which slowly becomes mechanical in nature, rattling and jarring as it dashes into the depths. If ever there was a soundtrack to exploring long forgotten tunnels underground with only a flickering candle for company, this is it. It is injected with a beat just after the midpoint which turns a once relaxed track into a more “There’s something after you, better get out!” affair.

Flesh

Muted tinkles and a swelling tone merge with the sound of dripping water and long keyboard notes. This is the track that could play as an adventurer is carried semi-conscious over the shoulders of some horrific monster. If it was a horror film, think slo-mo and a route that passes the severed body parts of its other victims.

Journey

Light and airy. Violin notes reach high into the overcast sky before glancing off low hanging clouds. If the previous tracks were in the dark tunnels of some hell hole, this track would be the emergence into the ruined air of a landscape that might hold just as many threats as the realm last vacated.

The Outer Zone

A crackling distortion and deep horn-like tone join with what sounds like vocals or whispers cut short. A rumbling string infused soundscape reverberates with distant, very distant chimes that grow nearer.

The Space Center

Sounds of a dog-like animal barking and howling merge with wind and trees as footsteps unsteadily move towards their goal. A door thuds shut, a barrier between the noises outside. A whimsical flurry of synthesized notes sounds before footsteps crunch along the grainy floor. A string accented drone begins, creating a great sense of something happening. Snatches of radio-transmission like vocals distort and become clear to ask a question. Quiet tones play a quick melody, much like one of those annoying mobile phone ring-tones before they could actually handle music. It soon fades back into the drone before the quality of the bass changes to an even deeper rumbling that is then overlaid with gentle guitar notes, as echoing and reassuring as the drone is dark and powerful. This is longest track on the album which adds to the feeling of exploration and discovery.

Hope

A crackling resonance and bubbling water-like sounds join melancholy notes that sigh and hiss their way into your ear. A quiet track with insect-like flutterings and movements, like strange moths flapping around dusty unused computers.

Home

A caressing sci-fiesque resonance overlaid on sounds of dripping water and quiet melodies. Chimes echo and a drone grows. The whole track suggests a disappointing homecoming, the place ransacked or destroyed, the memories of how it was butting up uncomfortably against the reality of its desecration. Distant birdsong only heightens those feelings even more.

Hibernation

Static and electronic noises warp and mingle around snatches of what sound like voices, echoing beeps pushing their way through. The volume of the static rises and fades, rises and fades as the beeping takes on a guise similar to a life-support machine's vitals sound. The static is very effective at portraying someone slipping into sleep.

Dreams Without a Future

Warm piano notes play a calming melody tinged with melancholy and peace. A secondary note joins them around the midpoint and plays around them adding another layer of interest.

Thoughts

2147 is a subtle dark ambient album that revels in creating interesting soundscapes that ease you through them, rather than hurrying you along to the next big rumble-drone finale. While the concept and tracks do fit with the story of the description, my mind did what it usually does and concocted its own impressions of what was going on, though still loosely associated with the narrative.

Stand out tracks for me were Survival, Our Mechanical Children and Flesh. The first for its atmospheric nature sounds and the ease in which it lures the listener in. I enjoyed Our Mechanical Children for its vocal hook and mental impressions of sunlight. Flesh I enjoyed for its darker tone and dank oppressive feelings.

I enjoyed my time with 2147. Every part of the album is polished and seamlessly put together. I also enjoyed how it sounded more like Atrium Carceri on a couple of occasions. My rating for 2147 is a well deserved 4/5, I can’t really fault it but as I’ve often said, my own taste tends to the jarring rather than the subtle and smooth when it comes to dark ambient.

Visit the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page here for more information.

I was given a free copy of the album to review.

Album Title: 2147

Artist: Sabled Sun

Label: Cryo Chamber

Written and Produced: Simon Heath

Mastering and Artwork: Simon Heath

Released : 10th February 2015

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Dark Book Review – Blood Vengeance

Written By Casey Douglass

More and more frequently, I’m running into articles and snippets that feature some element of Environmental Psychology, the relationship between people and the spaces they occupy. What such a study would make of The Montague and the shadows that pass behind the peep-hole of room 213 I couldn’t even imagine. Then again, maybe no study is needed if Michael Schutz-Ryan's Blood Vengeance covers all the bases.

Blurb:

Sick of being bullied, seventeen-year-old Brennan Cooper packs up for San Francisco to start over. But before he can settle into his new home, Bren is drawn to the abandoned apartment downstairs. In its shabby rooms, he sees the grey and rotting ghosts of murdered girls claw each other in sick imitation of their deaths.

With his wild new friends, Brennan explores the seedy streets of the city. But the laughter and screams downstairs continue to both terrify and entrance him. After meeting Tara, his dream girl, he convinces her to explore the downstairs apartment with him. There they encounter not only the murdered victims but the raging spirit of the girls’ dead killer.

Bren and Tara’s ghost-hunt soon becomes a manhunt as they trace the history of the “San Francisco Ripper.” But retaliation for their meddling is quick and brutal. Now time is running out, not just for Brennan and his friends, but for the spirits of the girls trapped for all those years with their murderer.

Brennan is an immediately likeable character, his lack of confidence and bookish nature will more than likely resonate with anyone who remembers what it’s like growing-up as an awkward outsider. He gets on really well at his new home so it’s a real shame that paranormal shenanigans get in the way. He starts to become the person he wants to be, makes new friends and lives a better life, but always has nagging nightmarish fears and thoughts. The topic of these thoughts is what is going on one floor down in the dilapidated hotel where he now lives with his Uncle Marc.

There is a varied cast of other characters, his new friends all have their own distinct voices, mannerisms and secrets, and other more peripheral characters are all different enough to stick in the mind and add something to the tale. The setting of San Francisco is brought to life by Michael Schutz-Ryan’s words and you are never in any doubt about where things are happening nor left mentally scrabbling for orientation, except in those scenes where that is the desired outcome!

The group of friends seems to go from misfortune to misfortune, on the surface being down to personal choices but on another level, Brennan suspects an outside influence. Things escalate as the book continues, the situations becoming more and more life-threatening. Michael Schutz-Ryan does an excellent job of taking the ordinary and twisting it into something more sinister. There is a particularly good situation in the last third of the book that in another guise, would be a happy Disney style event. No such luck for the poor soul in this story.

Blood Vengeance is an easy read, the chapters flying by at an interesting pace with enough background detail to pull you in, and enough points of interest to keep you there for as long as the ride continues. I rate it 5/5, it’s one of the fastest book reads I have achieved in recent times and I think the way that Michael builds things up and creates oppressive feelings is very well done indeed. If you like horror, pick up Blood Vengeance now.

I was given a free copy of the book to review.

Book Title: Blood Vengeance

Author: Michael Schutz-Ryan

Publisher: Permuted Press

Cover Art: Hunter Walker

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