By Chvad SB, on July 22nd, 2019 US composer and musician CHVAD SB has an extensive career that goes back to the early 1990’s, with tenures in multiple bands along the way. He released his first solo album back in 2012, and six more releases have followed since. “Intone Drone” is his latest solo album, and was released through US label Silber […]
By Chvad SB, on April 17th, 2018 North Carolina’s ethereal auteurs Silber Records bring us Structures, a hauntingly charming guitar drone from Chvad SB. The album encompasses two 20+ minute pieces of sculptured sonic hegemony, that swirl, glisten, crackle and shout with stunning effect. The album is minimalist and engaging, with lots of edge to tread and spark to admire. Love this […]
By Chvad SB, on March 22nd, 2018 A deep electronic drone, punctuated by little ripples of organic sound. It’s the sound of quiet unrest, the slow etching of shadows cast by the light of a full moon. It reminds me a lot of the meanderings of early Pink Floyd records, but spooled out ever so slowly. There’s a contemplative quality, but one that […]
By Chvad SB, on February 7th, 2018 Stately with its epic sprawl, Chvad SB’s “Structure” feels utterly mesmerizing. Featuring a mixture of ambient, drone, with a nod to a spaghetti western twang, the whole thing simply consumes the listener whole. Physicality dominates the two extended pieces as they explore true dream worlds. Texturally rich, Chvad SB ensures that every single element positively […]
By Chvad SB, on January 16th, 2018 The two track single (available on bandcamp) runs for roughly three quarter of an hour of immersive soundscape.
The opening track Column sits around an extended note from which half-caught inflections almost imperceptibly surface akin to, invisible to the naked eye, imperfections in glass.
Pillar, my pick of the release, is a blurry flow of frequencies which clear […]
By Chvad SB, on January 16th, 2018 Apparently this is Chvad SB’s 80th release in about 27 years, which with some artists might imply that they’re knocking them out without much thought. And on the surface, the bold simplicity of the layered drones, strung-out notes and heavily processed guitar noodling in the two 22-minute pieces that make up “Structure” could imply that […]
By Chvad SB, on November 28th, 2017
The Akai MPK mini is a sub-$100.00 two octave USB controller with 24 mini keys, eight assignable knobs, 8 assignable MPC style pads, a fairly flexible arpeggiator and four program locations for saving your setups. It is powered via USB and that is the controllers sole means of power and connectivity so if you […]
By Chvad SB, on May 11th, 2017 Embracing the space and the subtle, Chvad SB’s “Outside the Shadow of an Aliquot Tree” goes for subdued structures. Attention to detail serves the collection well for the pieces teem with life. Over the duration of the collection Chvad SB has an experimental bent to their work while retaining an emotional core. Texture is of […]
By Chvad SB, on February 7th, 2017 Former BT contributor Paul Lemos has never been one to sit still. Over 38 years, he has released nearly 40 albums spanning various genres, suffered the deaths of his closest bandmates and reconfigured Controlled Bleeding into what is arguably one of its strongest lineups. Larva continues in the punk prog style he resurrected late last […]
By Chvad SB, on June 1st, 2015 An album cover displaying a drawing of a little pooch looking lost and worried in a post-nuclear landscape (by cartoonist Richard Sala) sets you up for a bad time from the get-go. And Crickets Were the Compass does indeed open by howling like an air raid siren, with lone guitar notes seeking somewhere to flee. […]
By Chvad SB, on April 26th, 2015 Some strangely affecting moments on Chvad SB’s Crickets Were The Compass (SILBER RECORDS NO NUMBER). This American experimental droner has been active for over 20 years with his band and solo work. Here he works against the trend towards “lushness” in ambient electronica, and his empty-stage pulsations and eerie bleak tones hint at inner darkness […]
By Chvad SB, on March 2nd, 2015 Chvad SB’s latest is five tracks in five minutes and it’s flat out not as good or interesting as 2014’s Cricket’s Were the Compass.
‘Followed By One’ has a lonely, lost, open feel; ‘Untouchable One’ throbs with sinister, alien intrigue; ‘Four’ is a dark, backwards ocean; ‘Three’ holds a sense of vague menace, like a […]
By Chvad SB, on March 2nd, 2015 The US based experimental-drone creator Chvad SB released a new EP on the 16th – Outside The Shadow Of An Aliquot Tree.
Silber Media, whose artists regularly feature run an occasional series called five by five. Which challenges creators to produce five songs lasting a total of five minutes.
As those will are familiar with […]
By Chvad SB, on March 2nd, 2015 The latest in Silber Records’ 5in5 series comes from experimental music pioneer Chvad SB. On offer are 5 ambient drone tunes each going for exactly 1 minute. There are some interesting sounds explored with a rich atmosphere. There is the field like rural sounds of Followed by one, the heavy industrial sounds of Three, and […]
By Chvad SB, on December 3rd, 2014 The cover art of Crickets Were The Compass depicts beautifully in ink and watercolour a grainy, post-apocalyptic landscape strewn with grim, colourless debris. A solitary dog stands in the foreground, dolefully glancing about; after an unspecified disaster, life has inevitably found a way. As much is reinforced by brief elaborations upon each of the tracks’ […]
By Chvad SB, on December 1st, 2014 Chvad SB knows what it means to be harsh. On Crickets Were The Compass Chvad SB makes sure to keep things distorted. Everything filters through a similar sound of slow collapse like at any moment true hell could be potentially unleashed. Thanks to Chvad SB’s idea of restraint this never quite happens. Instead the pieces […]
By Chvad SB, on November 18th, 2014 En seis canciones Chvad SB establece un tono de mal humor lleno de vibraciones misteriosas que en su mayoría son inquietantes y a veces, melódicas. Los paisajes sonoros cuentan una historia. Sobre todo un sutil zumbido establece el tono, mientras que los sonidos posteriores parecen como el de las películas de terror. Creando una corriente […]
By Chvad SB, on October 24th, 2014 Musiker und Label schätzen sich. Keine Selbstverständlichkeit. Das Menschliche, so der Info-Text weiter, stehe in seiner Musik genauso im Vordergrund wie das Akustische. Und dann: Die Veröffentlichung beinhalte ein Testament des Verlusts und beschäftige sich mit lieb gewonnenen Erinnerungen und wie diese loszulassen seien.
Ich verstehe nicht, warum ein Mensch das als handelnde […]
By Chvad SB, on October 3rd, 2014 “Uses for Insects and Magnetic Fields”Silber Media, 2014Review by Kent Manthie
Out now, on the Silber Media label, run by Brian Silber, Chvad SB’s newest disc is Crickets Were the Compass, the third album he’s put out under his own moniker, as opposed to the various projects with which he’s been involved since back in […]
By Chvad SB, on September 29th, 2014 ENG: I’m constantly moved by the cover for “Crickets Were The Compass”. A cartoon of a dog staring wistfully into the distance, waiting for his master, who’ll probably never come – there is something both touching and depressing in this picture. The background is kept in gray tones presenting an apocalyptic scenery, and this poor […]
By Chvad SB, on September 17th, 2014 Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, apocalyptic soundscape.
Content: If Chvad SB doesn’t directly ring a bell; some bands this American artist has been involved in have become quite renowned and established bands. Controlled Bleeding even belongs to the so-called pioneers and references in industrial/experimental music, but Chvad SB got also involved in The Qualia (signed on WTII Records), […]
By Chvad SB, on September 12th, 2014 Ils l’ont fait, oui Charles toi qui frappait du poing contre le sable face à une statue de la liberté enfoncée dans le sable, la mer commençant son long office de destruction par l’érosion. La bombe a donné à l’homme ce qu’il voulait, un souffle nouveau, sauf que le souffle a le bruit sourd d’un […]
By Chvad SB, on September 9th, 2014 Chvad SB maakt al dik twintig jaar muziek/geluid voor films. Niet dat het op een soundtrack terechtkomt, daarvoor is het meestal te abstract, te ongemakkelijk, te discordant & discomforting zoals velen het noemen. Deze keer is er alsnog een pak geluid geregistreerd en als Crickets Were the Compass op de markt gebracht.
De veelheid aan […]
By Chvad SB, on September 9th, 2014 Verwijmeren debuteert (www.softcorridor.net) met een plaat die nauw verwant klinkt met zijn familienaam. Levend en ademend in Delft en afgestudeerd fysicus reist hij reeds jarenlang met het openbaar vervoer, meestal voor lange afstanden en dus voor een langere tijdsduur. Dan kijkt een mens door het raam en gaat aan het nadenken, aan het mijmeren en […]
By Chvad SB, on September 9th, 2014 It might be the case that Chvad SB was on the radar of the Creative Ellipse record label, but fact remain that this innovative and progressive one man project has extremely little to do with metal in general. When I say Things Outside The Skin, Tongue Muzzle, The Qualia and the pioneers of this genre […]
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