#Khanate

[geraldofallon]

Fallen London Travel Guide:

Khan’s Glory

Here are the palaces of the Khan and his court, each a fortress to itself.

[baebeylik]

Forms of various nomadic federations broken down to their basic structures.

[radiophd]

khanate -- commuted

[nickysfacts]

Khutulun was proving that women can be stronger then men 100 horses at a time!

🐴🇲🇳🐴

[dustedmagazine]

Aidan Baker et al — Trio Not Trio series (Gizeh)

It’s not as if collaboration over distance wasn’t a thing before March 2020 (it very comfortably and significantly predates the Internet, for one thing), but it quickly became a lockdown (and post-lockdown) truism that COVID accelerated and to some degree normalized that form of collaboration. Nadja’s Aidan Baker already had a lengthy track record of teaming up with all sorts of other artists (both solo and in is his duo with Leah Buckareff), and when everything changed he’d already been contemplating doing a series of trios. A live performance? An installation? When any sort of everyone-in-one-room affair quickly became impossible for the foreseeable future, the idea got adapted into the Trio Not Trio series, which combines both in-person and remote playing with a number of different collaborators, casting a wide net and then creating a series of groups with Baker and two other musicians. For each, Baker and one partner would get together in the studio, work improvisationally, and then send the tapes to the third to add what they would; then each set of recordings were tweaked and rearranged slightly so that all five came in at around an hour apiece.

Even the number of instalments is a mark of the project’s success; Baker originally planned on three trios and got so many positive responses he had to expand. Baker plays guitar throughout and always includes a drummer, but sought to recruit differing instrumentation for the last spot. Each Trio Not Trio release has track names corresponding to the ordinal numbers matching the position of the tracks (so first, second, third, etc.) translated into a different language; the album titles also take this pattern (so first, second, third, etc. but in different languages). Befitting the wide range of playing styles, genres and backgrounds that all of the collaborators brought to the series, the results are varied enough it’s worth looking at each entry in turn.

Yn Gyntaf

Welsh for “firstly,” the initial entry in the series features Oneida drummer John Colpitts (aka Man Forever) and vocalist Stacy Taylor (aka Sarff). It’s also the only one where the drummer of the trio wasn’t the one present for the initial recording. Colpitts is a powerhouse and Taylor’s wordless singing packs its own punch, but for the first five of the seven tracks here, the trio keeps things spectral and foreboding. It’s only when Baker’s guitar splits open the beginning of “Chweched” with two tracks to go that all that potential energy is converted into roiling catharsis (admittedly those two tracks do cover a solid half hour between them). Both halves work well on their own, but the collision of the two is the strongest part of Yn Gyntaf, suggesting the series’ reluctance to settle into one predictable mode even on a trio-by-trio basis.

Siguiente

The second instalment brings in My Disco drummer Rohan Rebeiro and baritone saxophonist Sofía Salvo. All three play this hour loose, spacey and abstract, with all instruments frequently making sounds pretty far away from their standard expressions. Whether it’s the sparse, alien, clicking and droning soundscape of “Primeras (Pts I y II),” the prowling baritone sax haunting “Cuarto,” or the slowly accruing damage of the closing “Septimo,” it is immediately clear that each group is going to bring very different sensibilities and possibilities to the work.

Trzecia

Baker frequently works in various genres in and adjacent to heavy metal, and fans of that side of his work might have their ears perk up seeing that Trzecia brings in Khanate/Insect Ark drummer Tim Wyskida and Pinkish Black’s Daron Beck on keyboards. “Pierwsza” isn’t very brutal at all though, starting with Wyskida’s skittering taps, Beck adding graceful piano accents, and Baker mostly staying subliminal/droning. It’s the closest the series comes to sounding like, say, the Necks. Most of the hour stays in this kind of exploratory mood, with Wyskida frequently leading the way. Only on the closing sixteen minutes of “Szósta” does the hammer come down, Baker and Beck grinding in tandem while Wyskida propels them.

Yonbanme

The fourth entry also includes the series’ second singer in the form of Ayami Suzuki (who also provides electronics), as well as journeyman drummer Tobias Humble. Whereas on Yn Gyntaf Stacy Taylor’s voice was central, giving an element for the listener to follow through the hour, here Suzuki often hangs back, with her voice almost merging with the wash of sound on the ethereal “Nibanme” for example. But then on the more heavily layered title track she also provides the closest thing the series has to discernible lyrics (good luck transcribing them though). The instalment with the fewest tracks (five) and so the longest average track times, Yonbanme may be the only trio to (almost) replicate the instrumental setup of a previous one, but that only highlights how distinctly each collaborator adds to the proceedings.

Letzte

The title here is “last” (not “fifth”) in German, and for the closing trio Baker brings in Berlin’s Jana Sotzko (Point No Point, others) on drums and Melissa Guion (aka MJ Guider) on guitar/bass/electronics. As you might expect from the rest of the series, that setup does not mean we are about to get anything at all like a conventional power trio. Guion frequently laces Baker and Sotzko’s in-the-room interplay with drifting atmospherics, from the gradual haze of “Erste” to the cavernous echoes of “Fünfte.” The closing title track sends the whole project off with a fuzzy, surging valediction, a fittingly satisfying end for a project that demonstrated significant sonic and emotional range within the various modulations of a deliberately specific format. Maybe Trio Not Trio could have five-not-five entries someday?

Ian Mathers

[postpunkindustrial]

Khanate - To Be Cruel

[cavedwellermusic]

Runtuh – Ambiguous Man (2024)

James looks at Ambiguous Man, the debut EP from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia based doom/sludge/drone metal/noise act Runtuh, released July 12th on Ama-Gi Collective.

Kuala Lumpur’s Runtuh tap into the dissonant, unhinged magic of bands such as Primitive Man, Khanate and Body Void, but throw in their own unique funeral doom and death metal elements. They deliver a wide variety of raw, unhinged vocals, as well as depressive clean vocals. This is paired with a crushing heaviness and an unreasonable level of distortion and feedback. Its hard to believe that a band can create something so impressive with their debut EP, yet here we are, minds and eardrums blown.

Listen to the album and read the full review at the link below or on our website, link in bio:

[goodbysunball]

You're my buddy, you're my pal

A couple more for the road. A long overdue nod to the great Bruit Direct Disques, and Khanate's massive return to a world that befits their sound. Without further adieu:

Khanate, To Be Cruel (Sacred Bones)

After a double-digit years-long hiatus, Khanate orchestrated a surprise return to follow up Clean Hands Go Foul with To Be Cruel. I can't say I've listened to much Khanate in the interim, but To Be Cruel makes a strong case for revisiting the band's discography. Given the members' forays into other projects, I was expecting the sound to shift dramatically here, but that was incorrect: the band has doubled down on its glacial pace, heaving guitars and Alan Dubin's backed-into-a-corner vocals, at once human and feral. What's changed is only a greater attention to composition, allowing for some breaks in the drudgery to incorporate ideas from free jazz and improvisation. About two-thirds of the way through opener "Like a Poisoned Dog," the song is overwhelmed by feedback, the drums let loose and the bass holds the line; it's a brief, but thrilling moment, a break in the stark black atmosphere. Much of that atmosphere is owing to Stephen O'Malley's guitar and Alan Dubin's vocals, though I was glad to read an interview with James Plotkin where he agrees that some of the lyrics Dubin screams are patently absurd. That being said, the broader ideas behind the lyrics, coupled with their deadly serious delivery, induce chills throughout. Control is ceded to Dubin on the spare "It Wants to Fly," but his strongest performance is saved for the title track at the end. "To Be Cruel" is vintage Khanate, O'Malley and Plotkin squeezing every ounce from their chords, Tim Wyskida hammering the drums to punctuate each painfully slow movement. Rather than find release, the band chooses to return to the same structure at the beginning of the song, now teasing feedback out between strikes, slowly burying Dubin alive. To Be Cruel is the band's best work, as room-flattening, caustic and focused as ever, enough for me to consider making a trip if they tour behind it.

Nusidm, The Last Temptation of Thrill (Bruit Direct Disques)

Ah, Glen Schenau's inimitable Nusidm returns on one of my favorite labels, Bruit Direct Disques. We must enjoy these moments of kismet, no? The Last Temptation of Thrill fleshes out a refined version of Nusidm found on Hatred of Pain: less vocals, less crowded, and reimagining the dirge as something miasmatic and smothering. Largely gone are the clean, tromolo-picked guitars, but the drums carry the weight, something made perfectly clear on "Katy und Abel" and the beginning of the fully dystopian "Run to the Shops." There seems to be a lot more electronic layering in these tracks, songs built up not by clenched muscles but by feedback, pitch-shifted vocals, pedals and maybe even tape loops. This approach makes "Sit and Watch the Sunrise" come across as a threat, and reaches a logical, thrilling endpoint on "Arm Unemployed" and "Melody Moody - The Re-incision." The slow build of noise in the latter cancels out the jazzy bass line reprised from Hatred of Pain's "Vapid" and covers itself in thick mud, vocals escaping through the air vent and desperate for a response. The record builds up in fits and starts, interspersed with instrumental tracks, the best of which are on the B-side: "Tagging My Friends" brings back the frantic clenched-teeth acoustic playing, and "Talking to Animals" is all feedback and woodwind shrieking, taken home by the downtuned bass. The album's elements coalesce on the chaotic "Arm Unemployed," previously released but finding its home as the penultimate track here, which kinda sounds like Glen's take on rap-metal, if they ever made room for a xylophone solo. It must be heard to be believed, but you'll be nodding along for its five-and-a-half minute duration. The Last Temptation of Thrill is Nusidm as confounding as ever, but as potent as ever, too; the artist-label pairing here greater than the sum of its parts. Three hundo copies to go around, and sharply outfitted in Glen's own artwork and font to further confuse the issue. Come join me on his planet.

Terrine, Standing Abs (Bruit Direct Disques)

Terrine's last album Les Problèmes Urbains was described in the press release as "certainly one of the most demanding (comical) in the world." I'm unsure if my familiarity with the work of Claire Gapenne as Terrine is such that I understand her intentions more clearly, or if I've just accepted being wholly outside the joke. Whatever the case, her latest album Standing Abs is checking all the boxes for me. It opens with "She's So Kind De Ouf," full of harsh electronics and rhythms popping up and disappearing, all of the different elements building to a blaring climax. If you know Terrine, you know that these moments are fleeting, and the song is shortly followed up with acoustic piano and what sounds like a beat made by basketballs. The piano has been a strong part of Terrine's sound, but now it is woven into the album's fabric rather than included solely as a jarring shift in instrumentation. The rest of the album is a really interesting push-pull between modern electronic composition, with a nod to EDM, and these shorter pieces featuring spare, empty-room piano. It's hard not to think of ZNR's Barricade 3 when confronted with the dichotomy of electronic and acoustic sounds, presented to emphasize their contrast; but I will also echo Matt K.'s comparison to Lolina in his review of the album. Like Lolina's best work, there is a logic here, albeit coy and evasive, that still captivates. The stretch of songs from "Carrageenan Do Dad Jokes" through "Nuage De Nuls" features some of the same elements, but it's as if the beats and piano merge, split, or disappear altogether throughout. Far from being a purely academic exercise, there's plenty that just knocks here, too: "Les Moucherons à Oranges" sounds like the rhythm is being played on the piano strings, a kick drum coming in to intermittently stabilize the situation. "La Nimpro" unceremoniously kicks you out of the loft at the album's end, and the cycle is complete. It's a blast, shedding any sense of sabotage (hello, "L'anniversaire") and stepping confidently into their Sambas.

[359thautisticmetallegion]

When people say they listen to everything, I take it as a challenge.

I love drone doom! I’m sure you have a taste for extratone, too. What’s the most extreme slam death metal band you know? Or here’s a spicy question, do you like traditional black metal or unblack metal better? Which Cannibal Corpse vocalist do you like better? Don’t you hate it when the music you listen to isn’t even on Spotify? It’s so great to see Khanate back. You must know so many bands with fewer than 10,000 monthly listeners that I’d love to hear!

Oh, what’s that? You meant to say you like both pop and country at the same time? Then say that. If you say you like everything, I expect that to include the furthest reaches of metal, hardcore, and experimental music.

[alexander-the-greatest1987]

Grinding in the Khanate can be difficult

[symmetricalscar]

Khanate - To Be Cruel

[hy-borea]

Cat Khanate

(based around that one Cat borzoi image i fucking loved it 😭)

[theartofdyingtogether]

y'all stfu Khanate is back and released a new album

[insectark]

Daily work on new songs - almost ready to record!!