ULTRALYD

Metallic reverberations. A jack hammer bass drum. Wailing saxophone screeches. A sonorous mish mash of whatever comes to mind, whether that is fake glockenspiel, iron pipes, plastic bags or some creepy vibraphone noises. This music is its surroundings. Now that may sound strange and hipster-like, but trust me - once you put this unique record on, you're most likely going to understand where I'm coming from. The music is clearly conjured up by all these different instruments, sure thing - but it is first when they return from that invisible wall over yonder, that a distinct Ultralyd feel suddenly emerges. These guys use sounds as surfaces, and it's when these bounce off whatever intangible structure, wall, bubble or dome - the music takes shape and shows itself to the listener as something presentable, jagged and finite. It's harsh and cold, but strangely attractive to the adventurous seekers of music.

The focus is experimentation with sounds. You get fusion, cold metallic atmospheres mixed up with shimmering guitar pickings that oddly enough work like that extra little something to sweeten the flavours, because on its own the guitar would sound creepy and somewhat frightening. On here it adds honey to the mix, and luckily so, because things quickly turn horrifying and uneasy - like an upside down dream with a strange metallic soundtrack. No moulds, no real direction - the music finds its own way. The different tracks here offer up a disturbing sonic reality, that will have you looking over your shoulder and checking the locks.

My favourite thing about this outing is when things turn jazzy, and the saxophone starts humming long lost old school melodies, as one would hear inside smoky dim-lit clubs - going slowly and steadily ahead like a guru Ben Webster in meditation mode. Yet somehow that just isn't enough with these mad Norwegians, because what happens next is we get fed some cling clangy industrial fermentations of jarring iron funk with bouncy textures and what sounds like those hollow and scary howls you get from un-lubricated metal swings. Come on join the nightmare playground - it's loads of fun!

This album is like breaking into your local scrap-yard at night, only to find out that it is inhabited by musicians from out of space, who fancy dissonance and strange vibrating metal screeches over harmonic emanations. They play all night long on top of giant mountains of waste - bathed in moonlight and all these clonking sounds that emerge from screws and hammers being hurled through the air like Indian tomahawks with a rhythmic purpose. Oh yes this is sonic experimentation one on one. No turning back now...

This will almost definitely not be for everyone, in part because of this album's jagged and unfriendly surfaces, but most of all because people tend to go for the safe bet, and on Conditions for a Piece of Music there is no such thing. It's all improvs and iron - it's metal without the harshness of the guitars - metal without the overdrive. It's all about deep submersions into pensive and static frames of mind. Like staring down a dark well, only to hear music coming up from the pitch-black abyss. It's accidental music let loose. 3.5 stars because it scares the hell out of me - and here the other night, whilst falling gently asleep, it made me dream about weird serrated iron structures and scrap-yards.

Four not very long compositions there on this release all are almost rhythm-less liquid contemporary drone, avant / ambient (?) free form pieces of music. Dark, dynamic-less sound, slowly chaging tones and timbres, like high-viscosity liquid running from one strange form glass reservoir to another. With some metallic overtones in sound. Too dark and too heavy to be named "ambient". It reminds some modern avant garde composers works as well as some early electronics musical experimental compositions (with the big difference though - all the sound there is not electronics at all). Side B contains some minimalistic drumming and distorted bass on it, but them both are more sources for specific sounds than rhythm section there.

Highly experimental recordings closest by its atmosphere for most experimental Brian Eno's ambient works, this release has it interesting moments, but I believe the main listener for such music should be hot fan of radical contemporary avant garde.

My rating is 2,5, rounded to 2.

This album is possibly most structured and easy accessible one, but it no way means it's a easy listening. From very first seconds of the album's opener you will hear distorted bass vibration, excellent drumming in best Can traditions and well played dark repetitive sound.

"Street Sex" is more avant, more distorted, with sax screams - and more dangerous. Freaky groove will catch you right there! Noises, vibrations and almost funky rhythmic structure is combined with excellent Kjetil T. Møster's sax free form improvs.

"Contaminated Man" is heavy, almost brutal metallic composition, but with serious doze of psychedelia in it. Possibly a bit too bulky though."Geodesic Portico " opens with sax solos and continues as sax-over-the-tribal-drumming composition with distorted bass,filling half of the space. Not too fast, more dark, almost totalitarian hypnotic instrumental.

The last album's song, "Cessahtlon", is a noisy one. Jazzy drumming in combination with ZU- influenced sax and repetitive, almost industrial rhythmic structure.

Not so many modern bands are experimenting with Krautrock nowadays. This album is really nice surprise for everyone with interest to modern music on the crossroads of psychedelic free jazz and noisy brutal avant prog.