Nadja - Thaumogenesis (V)

Thaumogenesis is clearly an epic piece of work, apparent even when the CD first goes into the machine. The album's sole track - Thaumogenesis - comes in at 61:43, over an hour of Nadja's trademark all-consuming atmosphere of sound. Seldon Hunt's art reflects the nature of the music fairly well, or would if the CD folder took up all four walls of a large room. Both art and music combines a complex of familiar elements

within a framework of controlled, slowly building and dissolving chaos that makes even the familiar into a new layer of something simultaneously instinctive and otherworldly.

The variety of timbres and musical aesthetics throughout Thaumogenesis is breathtaking, especially in a piece so singularly coherent and beautiful. Leah Buckareff successfully combines extended, meditative moments of soft, clean motifs and collosal doom riffs - and strikingly "other" segments - within Aidan Baker's atmospheric layers. It is truly a peaceful and inspiring experience to watch the pair combine their work into such a powerful greater whole. The independant layers do not give an impression of chaotically combined concepts, but rather a distinctive and beautiful form of larger orchestration.

Thaumogenesis is really very good. If you like Nadja, I recommend Thaumogenesis - an example of Nadja turning from mere 13-or-so minute songs to a proper hour-long epic. Unless you'd prefer their more quick, in-your-face material . . .

Nadja - Long Dark Twenties (J)

Well, today I decided I was going to get back into Nadja, and it's a good thing I did. I must have grabbed about one and a half gigabytes of releases (I'm almost done!) and by far this EP has stuck out as one of Aidan Baker's most beautiful works.

This song is has its similarities and differences from the rest of the nadja discography. The standard thick-and-slow-as-chilled-molasses rhythm riff over an industrial drum machine is still apparent, but this release has more similarities to shoegaze mainstays such as Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine.

Aidan's light vocals are mixed much higher above the music than before, but this isn't a bad thing. One can definitely make ties to Justin Broadrick's work in Jesu just by hearing the vocal work.

Wonderful ephemeral guitars flutter in the background and mingle with keyboards and flutes, giving this piece a very light and airy feel, contrasting the heavy sludge riffing beneath.

Overall, this EP is beautiful, one of Aidan's best, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of doom metal, shoegaze, or even ambient music.

Nadja - Desire in Uneasiness (A)

Nine albums. Nine fucking albums. That's how many releases Nadja has already put out THIS YEAR (and we're only at the half-way point!). Most artists/band never release that amount in their existence. Saying it's prolific is an understatement. But suprisingly all the material released by duo (husband and wife too) Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff is quality stuff. Ok, some might not completely agree with that previous statement, saying some of the material can be too samey, but fuck it, I love everything they've put out, granted ever since hearing "Truth Becomes Death" some odd years ago i've been a HUGE fan. Just couldn't resist some kind of dreamy drone/doom/dirge/ambient/post-rock/shoegaze hybrid! It manages to be totally blissed out AND crushing at the same time. So with that said, onto one of the latest of Nadja's releases.

First off, something for those already familiar with Nadja that will certainly raise an eyebrow or two is the art, which certainly gets one ready to expect something different from the music. Cartoonish drawings of chickens, half-filled bottles and chairs with trees growing through a hole in the middle of them adorn the cover and insides of the album. Another quick glance will most likely elicit even more eyebrow raising as in, this album has a real drummer on it! This being the first album to date without programmed drums. And to date, this is probably the most organic sounding of Nadja's releases. Guitar takes to the back burner, smeared into more of an ambient blur than usual, present but never overpowering the other instruments although it menacingly rears its head from time to time. The focal point of "Desire in Uneasiness" is the bass and drums, which usually end up locking into a kind of laidback groove at some point in every song, wanting to stay that way and drift forever. A lack of vocals can be noticed too, which is also a tad unusual for Nadja. Though, it works quite well as I don't see how Aidan's vocals would fit over the "jams" provided. "Desire in Uneasiness" is a definite step forward for noticeable change, one that works rather well and see's a band able to have a recognizable sound and yet move forward in their approach.Something not just for obsessives (like me) and completists. Something that could work to win over new fans. Something to show the skeptics Nadja still has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Released through Crucial Blast.