The new Year is starting off with a bang here at the Ratiofarm. 2013 finished off with an illustration project for Cramer-Krasselt and 2014 is being ushered in with some logo work and brand development for The Greatest Story Never Told and Up Date, respectively. Look for these projects in the ILLUSTRATION and DESIGN wings shortly.
In the meantime, here are a few records we've been enjoying as of late:
Ending/Returning
Ending/Returning is a new "split" from perennial favorite Stephen R. Smith and his alter-ego Ulaan Khol. Smith's side, Ending, is full of ghostly drones, sparse strings and atonal winds. Returning is the same set of pieces, but presented through the distortion heavy wail of Ulaan Khol. Like walking through the remnants of a ruined town in the depths of winter, this is some of Smith's most evocative work yet.
Canto Libre
Canto Libre is the 1970 album from Chilean activist/actor/musician Victor Jara. Full of vivid imagery of a Chile from days gone bye from a man who devoted his life to peace and creativity. Read about him here.
Angel Olsen's new album Burn Your Fire for No Witness is full of lush, Elephant 6-style fuzzed out guitar and her most concerted songwriting to date. The excellent production gives this album a depth that takes her singer/songwriter vision several levels beyond her contemporaries.
Holden - The Inheritors
James Holden's 2013 collection of trance inducing, pagan-primitivist techno, The Inheritors, is completely engrossing. Some parallel universe version of Jon Hopkin's Immunity. Stripped down to the barest essentials, tribal rhythms form the architecture that animal skin samples and sounds are stretched over, forming altars to eldritch gods.
