Hospital Productions US レコード& CD

Review: Hospital Productions is a non-stop operation and following this year's long-players from Alessandro Cortini, Ninos Du Brasil and Ron Morelli, Vatican Shadow's latest swoop is this ambient album produced with Function. The seven-track LP was recorded between Berlin and New York, and it's described as best suited for after-hours home listening, but whether you really want to listen to this after a big night is up to you. Indeed "A Year Has Passed" and "A Year Has Gone By" are downbeat and melancholic, whereas other tracks lean more towards industrial ambient, similar to fellow Hospital artist Lussuria's work. "The Nemesis Flower" is a darker highlight while "Red Opium" and "Bejewelled Body" is where the house and techno beats lie.

Review: Controversial but nonetheless technically accomplished producer Vatican Shadow is divisive for more reasons than his now-well-discussed choice of collaborative partners. There's always something pretty menacing and unsettling about his output, steeped in uneasy atmospheres, taking us into the twisted side of leftfield electronic music, then sticking titles like Ghosts of Chechnya on his albums.
Nevertheless, there's light in all that pitch black, aurally at least. Listening to tracks like 'Peace Rage', and, despite the name, it's impossible not to pick up on the surprisingly hopeful harmonies, set within an IDM framework. Elsewhere, dubby techno is flirted with (if that's an appropriate word for these sounds) on 'Encryption Nets', while 'Snipers As A Breed Tend To Be Suspicious' accentuates tense atmosphere in a way that most studio pros can only hope for.

Review:  Dominick Fernow's Vatican Shadow project returns with something like his 16th single release. The dark ambient and industrial master shows his skills again here with 'Jordanian Descent (Sharia Law)' kicking off. It its a 20+minute opus that takes up one whole side of vinyl and has shuffling, ever evolving mechanical rhythms and droning sounds, automated machines and dust and grime all making for an intriguing listen. On the flipside the same tune comes as a Guantanamo Military Commisions version and it is more intense but also more stripped back. It's darkly alluring and wholly brilliant.

Review: Luxor Necropolitics is a 2017 album by Vatican Shadow, the alias used to explore ambient industrial and techno by Dominick Fernow. It is a superb exploration of minimal rhythms and eerie sound design that is evocative in mood and rich in texture. There are yawning and dubby slow-motion soundscapes and more driving deep techno cuts there are wide-open and expansive. This new long-player version comes on vinyl with a download code and insert having previously only been available on 10". It is as darkly alluring and intriguing now as it was five years ago.