V/A - Nite Mare Slo Motion [CD]

Having recently discovered Finland's Some Place Else, I must say the find was a gem. Especially when one is subjected to the disorientating somnolent disturbances of this amazing collection, one of the few examples in which the realization of a theme (The sound of your bad dreams.") succeeds on a level that is of the highest musical standards, as well as is highly original. The illusory sonic upheavals here plow the rarely explored terrain of the mind (conscious, subconscious), of dreams (enigma…paradox…) in ways both unexpected and brilliant. Clop Neplat open the proceedings with sounds that emanate from the cranial laboratories, those desolate, sterilized buildings made of pristine bleached white bone on the outskirts of Gray Matter; the strangely titled Abla Habla slices the subconscious with a razor blade, working amazingly well in that disorientating nature of the dream (the free flowing, tethered to the void construction of dreams, a format adopted throughout the collection), the sounds here slipping and sliding down dizzying paths, subcutaneous nervous anxiety flexing insectile talons…there's an almost sly slinkiness promoting slippery sounds and textures, cold and lifeless, then just as abruptly a search and destroy hemorrhaging of sounds dismantling everything before our very ears. It is an auspicious introduction and the best track Clop Neplat have yet to create. Further in, the always fascinating Lasse Marhaug with a looped, subdued (somewhat), grinding on the tracks but receding through a haze, terrorride on the Train Of Bloody Horror that turns completely chaotic towards the end, all sound thrust through the psychic landscape in regurgitating tides of unease; the subversive tendencies of Janko, Krul' Albanskaj's Cheder Bishol, winding through the convoluted disruptions of manipulated samples, muffled voices and frequency dissolve, like spinning the dials of a radio whose batteries are dying, the connection losing distinction, sinking into low hum throb, a mind collage, sonically dispersed for our listening (dis)pleasure (or is that discomfort?); Mnem with a sliver of metal scraping (more likely maiming) the inside of the cranium, the subconscious taking a break amidst the looped scouring, a noisy intermission; and the phenomenal, ever-shifting, devious unraveling straightjacket of sounds that peek, peruse, and slither away during the hypnotic, mind-altering shenanigans of Niko Skorpio's Bees Of May, a masterful interpretation of the malleable like putty, wonderfully psychotic dream (of course, since Niko heads Some Place Else and it was his idea, it's no wonder he would create one of the more astonishing lasting impressions here). But all of the tracks somehow capture in their sonic embrace, a nugget of the disturbing dream, a dispersion of mental trepidation... A truly ingenious presentation that demands the attention of all who enjoy dark sonicscape because all of the participants here open doorways to perceptions unimaginable, yet made sonically concrete. " (Side-Line Magazine)