'Vanterwood Industries, Inc' is a large looming industrial complex that's located on the borders of a quiet little factory town. This album is a bleak sonic exploration of the secret, mysterious, ominous goings-on within the walls of this strange complex.
The wordless narrative of the story is told from the point of view of an unnamed town citizen who sneaks around the facility at night, records what they see, and returns during the working hours of the following day. Through certain things that this citizen witnesses and experiences - they think they've figured out what's going on within the factory walls… and it’s too horrifying for words…
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Conducive is an experimental sound artist who uses field recordings, audio manipulation and sound collages to create interesting and immersive noise pieces, against a very subtle backdrop of minimalistic ambient music.
All recordings by Conducive.
conducivemusic.bandcamp.com
REVIEWS:
A wordless story of industrial exploration with a sinister undertone, Vanterwood Industries, Inc. is aurally the stuff that unnerving and surreal dreams are made of. Deep drones and industrial noise mix together with subtle harmonies to give the atmosphere of something seemingly mundane but also subtly frightening. As I listened, I tried to grab clues as to what may be going on in this strange industrial complex that would be cause for concern, but that's all I got - concern. There are no answers here, there are only questions and the prompts for your imagination to run with multitudes of possibilities. The intentional vagueness is where this album stays and never gives clarity, sonically or thematically.
The structure of the album makes for an interesting storytelling device, almost as much as the musical content itself. Broken down into three tracks, the first track sets an ominous tone, as if our narrator is simply watching the complex from the outside as it churns its machinery in relative obfuscation, droning on and giving only an inkling of its inner working. The second seems lively by comparison as we hear the familiar sounds of air brakes, diesel engines, and birds chirping in the distance, making it seem like any other factory. The third track brings us back to the ominous tones of the factory at night, though now we feel closer to it, as if we are approaching a terrifying reveal. As the track grows louder and more complex, the dread and wonder pile up until he very end in which we get a slight crescendo and he track ends quite suddenly. In the end we're left without answers. It is a perfectly ambiguous end.
www.onthefringesofsound.com/2023/12/conducive-vanterwood-industries-inc.html?m=1
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Conducive is an experimental sound artist and from the UK who uses field recordings, audio manipulation and sound collages to create interesting and immersive noise pieces, against a very subtle backdrop of minimalistic textural ambient music.
'Vanterwood Industries, Inc.' is Conducive's latest full-length album, and it's an epic stunner of an album. It consists of three compositions - two sprawling longform pieces with a short interlude sandwiched in between. It's an album based on the fictional story of a small-town individual exploring a mysterious industrial complex at night...but something is encountered along the journey and returns home to haunt them.
In this album you will hear haunted field recordings of large factory noises, grinding machinery sounds, metallic drones, rattling pipes, hissing steam, vibrating conveyor belts and dark industrial ambience... accompanied by subtle yet eerie musicality and frightening noise experimentation, which only thickens and intensifies the already ominous atmospheres and mysterious soundscapes... There's also an undeniable sadness and resigned bleakness to this album.
Despite its vagueness and ambiguity - it fills you with unshakable feelings of worry and dread. Something I've loved and admired about all of Conducive's work is his ability to create these impossibly noisy and intense sound compositions that somehow never tread on that horrible ''harsh noise'' territory. It shows an undeniable discipline, restraint and intelligence on the part of the artist. The album is fiercely noisy, yet totally immersive and easy to listen to at the same time.
'Vanterwood Industries, Inc.' is an utterly haunting and mesmerizing sound journey through dark industrial landscapes. It's a dystopian nightmare, full of frightening atmospheres and surreal noise. A bleak and eerie yet wonderfully immersive listening experience.
audiocrackle.blogspot.com/2024/01/non-music-roundup-jan-24.html
released December 18, 2023
