CD - Ash International
Experimental electronic forms, drones and extreme analogical permutations, between noise and industrial culture (Test Dept, Throbbing Gristle, SPK and Z'ev, among the stated influences) mix together for Jan Svensson and Joachim Nordwall (the real names between the Alvars Orkester moniker) in a complex and alluring alchemy of auditive situations, sometimes more ambient, sometimes raw, psychedelic and rarefied. Inspired sound landscapes coming from Johannishus, a small town in South-East Sweden, an extremely peripheral location which hasn't prevented the duo from being very active in the past in the international independent scene that used as a medium the obsolete cassette tapes (for labels such as Bšrft, SPH, RR Records and Escape 3 Organisation). It's an interesting comeback after several years of inactivity, four thick and long tracks that are the result of an anomalous journey, though still rich in radicalness and research.
Aurelio Cianciotta