(Noise, Electroacoustic, Drone) [CD] Brandon Nickell - And If You Set This Mind Of Mine Afire Then On My Bloodstream I Yet Will Carry You - 2010, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Music and artwork by Brandon Nickell
Mastered by James Plotkin
Another artist leaving behind his old 'band' name and working under his own name: Brandon Nickell used to work as Aemae. For his first work under his real name he drew inspirations from personal experiences, extensive research with auditory hallucinations and a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. Nickell writes that his new album does not fit the 2010 trend of 'cassette revivalist culture, analog synthesizers and nostalgic aesthetics', but he uses computer based sequencers, a Sequential Circuits Pro One synthesizer, the human voice and various other digital and analog means. I believe that can be heard. The sound is raw at times, but has a great refined character, all recorded crisp and clear. Nickell joins the ranks of those artists that come from the world of noise (although in his case never that loud), that seem to be moving away from the strict noise sense and start working with a sound that is deeper, more complex and more layered than just a set of random noise bleeps. Not every moment is great however. 'Time Throne' takes too long to move away from random loops into a more organic structured piece. That is however the only downside. The other four pieces have this organic approach and make indeed a great audio hallucination. Working with quite an obscure set of sounds, Nickell creates a great world of sound. Sustaining sounds, gliding scales, part firmly rooted in the world of drones, but never too 'soft', but nicely 'present'. An intelligent and excellent release, with a great cover. - Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
Brandon Nickell is one bad motherfucker. The dude owns the incredible Isounderscore label, runs, like, 8 miles a day, puts together kickass shows, and makes ridiculously awesome noise. Also, he must never sleep.
His new poetically & cryptically tongue twisted album, And If You Set This Mind Of Mine Afire Then On My Bloodstream I Yet Will Carry You, has been in the making for years and it's finally seeing the light of day. I can 100% money back guarantee it was totally worthwhile to wait that long because this is a fucking beast of a record.
The 12 minute opener is a game changer. Album openers got a lot to live up to after this. Coupling high end tinnitus inducing bells with soothing somber organs equals uneasiness that knows no bounds. It's constantly vibrating, like a sea of electrons buzzing around a nucleus hell bent on explosion. Metal bowls, clanging chimes, a fury of burning metal that somehow manages to be highly enjoyable & pleasant.
The title track drops it down into the purest evil dronenoise I've ever heard. Maliciously relentless on your eardrums, panning and growling, screeching and crackling, this is honestly one of the best pieces this year. I'm damn near certain this is what it sounds like getting your head stuck in a hornet's nest that's being struck by lightning. Oh my fucking GOD it is so intense. The record could've just been this one track and people would still be praising him.
3 more tracks & over 20 minutes to go, you get yourself into some serious shit. Static poison blow darts knock you out so you can't run away and a pack of striped hyenas brutally assault you with cattle prods. Haunted minimalist house of glowing specters, creaking sparks, & piercing refractions. Swirling luminiferous aether, a scathing plasma seeping into your pores, taking over your body one cell at a time.
Nickell is clearly a supreme crafter of sound. And If You Set This Mind Of Mine Afire is easily one of the best noise records of 2010. The guy just totally fuckin nailed it with this record. If I have to wait another 5 years for Nickell to put out another record this insanely good, that's just 5 more years spent obsessing over this. - antigravitybunny.blogspot.com