The Sound Projector

“This thing weighs a ton. 184 pages, a thicker even than usual A4 sized tome wrapped in their trademark red, black and white cover graphics. England’s Sound Projector is back with its 16th issue, as always a must read for the sort of folks likely to be reading this review — that is, if you’re an avid AQ-list reader, you’re gonna love Sound Projector, ’cause each enthused (yet sometimes scathingly critical) issue of this fanzine consists in large part of many, many music reviews, exploring the unusual, underground, avant-garde sonic territory that we at AQ love. And we usually learn a lot from each issue, from their obscure selections and thoughtful opinions. This time the ‘zine is broken into five sections, starting with an international record review survey ranging the USA and UK to the “The Nordic Realms”, where you’ll find the “world music” likes of Getachew Mekurya and Raushan Orazbaeva right next to sundry “Free Folk” folks… Section two is also right up our alley, “Noisy Rock, Evil Noise, and Black Noisy Music”, where you’ll find reviews of the first three Earth albums (that’s right, did we mention that the Sound Projector could care less about release dates, and just reviews whatever they want to from whenever it came out?) along with Darkspace, Forgotten Woods, Burning Star Core, and Darsombra among many more… Section three is all interviews rather than reviews (actually, there’s reviews too), featuring talks with Japanese avant-guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, UK experimentalist Philip Sanderson (of Storm Bugs and Snatch Tapes fame, among other things), German tape composer Frank Rothkamm, sound collagist Joe Frawley, and UK ’80s “postpunk electronic ensemble” Cultural Amnesia. Then with Section four it’s back to the reviews, of wide ranging “Art Music” from Annea Lockwood to Nurse With Wound… Finally there’s section five, “Remainder”, a miscellany of cassettes, drones, jazz, and much much more. Happily, page 184 of the magazine is an index, in very tiny type! Ackamoor, Idris right above Aethenor. Khlyst next to Kirchin, Basil. Softwar followed by Sombres Forets… nearly 400 reviews in all! A lot of things that we’ve listed too (now’s your chance to get a second opinion) -and- lots of stuff we haven’t even heard of at all! Recommended, even at the unavoidably steep import price (but it is the biggest Sound Projector yet).”

From our good friends at Aquarius Records

“Wow, what a find! Sound Projector is a print music magazine published in England that is as truly alternative as the idea can get. From the first pages I knew this was going to be a gem, seeing reviews of CDs on the Last Visible Dog, Digitalis and Fonal labels. The music covered is wonderfully all over the map. Every imaginable type of experimental, psychedelic, folk, ambient, metal and international music are all game for Sound Projector. There are separate sections for covering Black Metal, Noise, Stoner & Doom rock, avant-rock, improvised music, experimental music, free jazz and much more. The reviews are well written and informative, criticism is constructive, and they are DESCRIPTIVE (emphasis there as I hate reviews that only reflect the writer’s desire to be witty and don’t tell you what the music sounds like). And each review includes a web site address and/or email so you don’t have to Google to find everything that sparks your interest. They also have interesting interviews, some with artists I wasn’t familiar with that aroused my interest, particularly guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama and experimental musician/filmmaker Philip Sanderson. And Sound Projector makes a stellar effort at digging into the depths of the underground. They even have separate sections on the UK and US undergrounds. And any format is game for coverage, as I saw lots of cassettes and CDRs along with the CDs and vinyl. You just don’t find many print music magazines of this diversity and quality. It’s very professionally done and is a whopping 186 pages!! Be sure and check out the web site and click the downloads link to download the full color, 116 page, PDF format Krautrock Kompendium, which is a collection of all the reviews of Kosmische music that have appeared in all issues of the magazine. US residents should note that given the double value of the UK pound over the US dollar, along with the cost of mailing this thick sucker makes it fairly expensive. But believe me when I say it’s worth it. It’ll take you weeks to work your way through it. I was reading at my computer because I kept finding bands I wanted to check out. Highest recommendation.” JERRY KRANITZ

From Aural Innovations #38 (January 2008)

special 2007/2008 double issue from the mind of ed pinsent & co., covering the last yearsworth of “black metal, doom metal, drones, rock, loud noise, art music, nordic realms, tape music, electronica, vinyl viands, guitar, jazz” … with special features on joe frawley, philip sanderson, tetuzi akiyama, cultural amnesia, unseen, and rothkamm (also: the earth trilogy, daphne oram, john duncan, luc ferrari, mattin, lasse marhaug, annea lockwood, clay ruby, david tudor, geoff mullen, lieutenant caramel …)

as with each new issue of tsp, i’m bowled over by both the sheer amount of effort the contributors have put in, but also by how much crossover there is with what’s covered in these pages vs. the sort(s) of seemingly disparate music(s) that filter into the mms stock-pool each month from the tens of thousands of albums released every week (srsly; what are the odds?)

for those that read ink instead of ions; in my mind the sound projector is still (and should continue to be) by far the best print representation of contemporary underground music. reading is compulsory …

Keith Fullerton Whitman, from Mimaroglu Music Sales