WAND. AND PRINCESS "locust 9" cdr

REVIEWS


SODAPOP
by Emiliano Grigis
La coppia di ragazzi greci che incide a nome Wand. And Princess è in giro già da qualche tempo, sempre gravitando nella galassia dell'autoproduzione ambient/industriale che è davvero sterminata ma che forse proprio per questo mantiene un'aurea di mistero e produce sempre qualcosa che valga la pena di ascoltare. Il discorso vale anche per questo Locust 9 che, anche senza inventare nulla di nuovo, è un disco interessante. Il disco si muove su coordinate dark ambient, in quattro brani per più di cinquanta minuti di atmosfere scure ma non plumbee e mai banali o eccessivamente statiche. Suoni lavorati, strumenti e field recordings vengono usate per comporre con gran mestiere e gusto dei veri e propri tappeti che compongono lentamente paesaggi in odore del kraut più lisergico e andato a male; un viaggio assicurato verso il monolite di 2001: Odissea Nello Spazio.

SUBEXISTANCE
by Kostas Sotiriou
Since I propably assume that most of our readers are not familiar with Wand.and Princess,this review should obviously start with a brief synopsis of this band's bio, along with some other, necessary details. This duo started its course back in 2007, hailing from Athens, Hellas. So far,they have released a handful of obscure, limited albums in a variety of formats, such as tapes and cd-rs. This in fact, is their latest attempt,being released by an Italian underground label, Sincope records respectively. It comes in the form of a professionally printed cd-r, limited to 50 copies. My first impression would be that Sincope did an amazing job concerning the artwork of this release: a slightly oversized cover,dominated by red colours, while the disk itself is sprayed, in red tones,again. A magnificent presentation indeed. My second observation deals with their music, naturally. This duo specializes in long compositions, balancing somewhere in between drone and noise. Their sounds could be described as calm and hypnotic perhaps, there is some certain unsettling feeling present here though, mostly contrived of distant noises, adding a strage, dissonant aura to the overall result. Album opener, "Lotus:Inverted" is a slowly moving piece of noise, relevant to the sound equivalent of a night fog. On the other hand, "I Dream Of Void", brings on some dark ambient bits to this band's sonic identity, while retaining the same haunting, disturbing motion, ominously present throughout this recording. "Marianne" abruptly follows: a lengthy composition that stands out as a balance of minimal ambient parts,eerie noises and subtle drones,resulting in a sea of bliss. The album closes with "Athanor 11", a 19 minute barrage of lysergic, repetitive noises, concluding their set in an abstract, brainwashing manor. As you have propably understood by now,this is a rather experimental, even dare I say awkward, release. Clocking at 52 minutes, while containing only 4 tracks, "Locust 9" could be easily seen as an exercise in distant ambiances. I need to say that I was impressed by this disk, therefore I would easily recommend it to anyone that holds an interest for pscychotropic, avant-garde sounds. I'd personally tag this as a kind of strange esoterica-and that is certainly a good remark,on my behalf!

DEAD FORMATS
by Demian Johnston
That period is not a mistake. That is their name. It's a duo that specializes in a noisy windy type of drone. It sounds like sleeping against the window a huge airliner at night. It would be pretty relaxing if it wasn't so grim. There are times it reminds me of Oakeater and other times I hear some Klaus Schultz. I almost wonder if there is an Ur relation as well. I really like that name. Wand. and Princess. I don't know why.
The packaging is super simple but pretty cool. Red on white paper that has a nice 1960's sort of feel to the design. Helvetica mixed with strange textures looks pretty awesome. Good design. Would I buy this? yeah, it's solid.

VITAL WEEKLY #830
by FdW
I will admit straight away I skipped the first track of the release by Wand. And Princess, a duo of Isabelle Spyridonos and George Kanavos. It was just pointless noise to me. Luckily it is with eight (!) minutes also the shortest piece on this four track release. Its with their music that I sometimes have a trouble with, but the other pieces make up, even when some of these pieces are a bit long. 'I Dream Of Void' is a nice ambient industrial piece, which sounds like boats passing the harbor: far away and at night. That mood is continued in 'Marianne', the next piece which even has a faint trace of melody about it. It turns out to be the best piece of the CD. 'Athanor 11' is a more noisy outing, not as the opening piece, but more like a decaying recording of motorized traffic in the distance. Not bad, but nineteen minutes, me thinks is too much. I would have been happy with just those two piece in the middle.






PRESS