Various Artists
Less Popular Than Cats

Dark of Groove

There isn’t much to go on other than the soundscapes when it comes to Civilistjävel! What is rumoured to be a figment of the pre-internet era tapping into a similar consciousness as Biosphere, Chain Reaction or early Fax +49-69/450464 is ultimately left up to second guessing. For the average listener crossing paths with the project, a steady run of small-run, minimally packaged LPs has cemented Civilistjävel! as a leading force in the dub techno/glacial drone scene of present.However niche that may sound, this collection of tracks for Perko’s new FELT imprint navigates the same territories as the previous outings but with the folkloric tag “Iron Night” to help guide our ears. A Swedish expression for long nights of frost that damage plants and crops, the spectral and foreboding atmosphere of the opening cut already hints at the direction of the album. Combining dense ambient synth layers with hard to place industrial motifs (sometimes in rhythm, sometimes chaotically arranged are what Civilistjävel! does best, indeed Järnnätter unfolds as a piece of work you can really spend time with. At points it feels as if the machines in some old factory complex have spluttered back to life through some unknown force and have begun to sing to one another. Other times the atmosphere is akin to a hydrophone placed deep into an ice-covered lake and the synthetic pulses of ‘A2’ are the only vaguely human touch. However, the sparse melodic flourishes across the record stem from an interest in psalms and early Swedish folk music, the juxtaposition of machine-led intuition and personable studiousness adding a hidden depth to the album.If the collectability of previous Civilistjävel! outings are anything to go by, we encourage you to act fast!Artwork by Rebecka Holmström.

A culmination of paranoia emerges as we lose the human dimension of the city. Glitteringcanals shape the light in our eyes as we pass by, guiding our spirits safely home as thesounds slowly fade away into night sky. It’s not our time to go although the balancing actslowly becomes more extravagant and abstract until we find another way to stand on onetoe. Piecing together all the perplexations, realization that all the shit that you have chattedfloat down the ether stream to Timbuktu never to be seen again, and the lion at the enddribbles and spits, waiting for words of shite to come walking his way so him and hislioness can slowly butcher every last note, until just dust is left.

Four emotive cuts of Chicago flavoured, acidic deep house by Utrecht based producer and 030303 crew member Böhm.

More Lonely Planets Rec. material entering our habitable zone. Star chaser Jack Roland capturing his dreams of darkness and distorted cosmic visions through the mysterious edges of the 'all there is'.From the electro fuelled A-side bringing ionising pads and convexing bass lines to high amplitude techno on the flip. Closing the story with downtempo 'Porta' in the afterglow.