Osi and the Jupiter - Appalachia

In the late 1990s, I had a minor obsession with 4AD records, specifically with the collective output under the name This Mortal Coil. There was something very foreign and attractive in their lush soundscapes. Something that didn't exist in my corner of Southern (Christmas tree farming, not coal mining) Appalachia.

Osi and the Jupiter is the solo pagan dark folk project of Ohio's Sean Kratz, and is mostly known for a couple of excellent albums of neo-Norse folk. However, Kratz is also from Appalachia, and recorded a three song EP dedicated to our shared "homeland and the spiritual connection to the dense forested mountains".

Imagine if Ivo Watts-Russell had set up shop not in London, but in a barn somewhere on the back way between Morgantown and Parkersburg. The resulting catalog would not have sounded so much like This Mortal Coil, but instead would be this album.

From the lush cellos of "They Ride Through the Sky on Horse Drawn Chariots", with its echoes of
"Velvet Belly", to the vocal cues shared by "Appalachia" and "Come Here My Love", this is essentially the album I never knew I wanted.

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Agriculture - Agriculture

a While calling themselves ''ecstatic" black metal, Agriculture traipses along the line between atmo-black and blackgaze pretty adroitly. I am not as head over heels as some of the metal press I have been reading about them (like Rolling Stone for instance), but I think they have a good thing going here. They remind me of Vattnet Viskar sort of, and I am going to withhold judgement until I can see them live to really decide. That said, this is an album that has been in heavy rotation at my house since its release. Agriculture by Agriculture

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Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

This album answers an incredibly important question: What if Rick Deckard was a goth? A goth replicant that could pass the Voight-Kampff test easily. More importantly, it provides a stunning backdrop to the writing I am supposed to be doing, but keep avoiding. French composer James Kent has always been something of a polarizing figure. Much of his earlier work has been very HOTLINE MIAMI style synthwave. This is most definitely NOT THAT. Instead you a weird robot sex soundtrack - a post-punk mood piece cloaked in goth rock nihilism and sexual malevolence. Gritty, misanthropic, but still atmospheric and ambient, this is some nice stuff! Lustful Sacraments by PERTURBATOR

Trumpet of Amdusias

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