Niko Skorpio – Khôra (SPEXIII061)

Niko Skorpio : Khôra 2×3″CDR

Khôra was originally conceived as a beginning of a series of new releases (DR\FT). However, as things unfolded it would be the very last Some Place Else release and the last album by Niko Skorpio in many years…

Khôra was released as a double 3″ CDr housed in a hand-printed cover with 12-page art booklet, signed & hand-numbered. Each copy was a unique hand-made artifact, available only from September 23 to December 20, 2013. Later released for download.

The concept behind the DR\FT series was to have each release available for a limited period only, after which a new release would follow for a similar limited period.

SPEXIII061 | 2x 3″CDR + 12-page art booklet | download

Reviews

“Some Place Else started a new project called DR\FT. The meaning of this project is to release series of hand-made artifacts which are available for a limited period of time. The first release of DR\FT is the new album of the founder of the Some Place Else label Niko Skorpio. He hasn’t released a album for four years and the album will be available for 23 September 2013 until 20 December 2013. Niko Skorpio is active in arts and experimental music for more than 20 years. The album contains seven compositions. Most of the tracks have a length of about 4 – 5 minutes, except Sentient Debris. During 15 minutes he discovers in an ambient electronic mood the possibilities of sound, abstract rhythms and floating melody lines and the music becomes more and more one wave of sound. Hapti.ISS is a light track with a nice musical digital joke which is the start of high pitched sounds which refer to birds and childish played music. The album starts with a strong beat and Arabic orientated melodies and singing which are combined with sinister tones. The second track is a beautiful composition about communication. Bleeps from a fax and chatting bells are parts of the soundscore and moves to a dark atmosphere. Niko Skorpio doesn’t make easy music. Elements of popular music are part of his music and the practice of these elements suggest that the music is easy to listen. But the experimental sounds and approach to music and the aim to cross musical boundaries makes this album more than interesting to listen. The CD comes with a hand-printed cover and booklet. And do not forget: it is only available till 20 December.” (Vital Weekly)

Khôra by Finnish sound artist and graphic designer Niko Skorpio is a book of secrets, a collection of hermetic theurgies, but also literally a book insofar as this deluxe, double-three inch CDR edition, available only until 20 December, comes in the form of a handmade booklet. (I wonder what happens to the remainder—an auto-da-fé?)
Musically, it is an introspective Koyaanisqatsi, though not lacking in holy extroverts. Opening with “Sunya,” fragments of incantation splash into all manner of whirling hurdy-gurdiness. “No_carrier/Kathmandu Copper Wire” is a song stitched onto earth-churning dub. A meuzzin’s call gets caught in the bar-code scanner on “Ash-Shahub.”  A sample of a monotone expertise analyzing the psychosis of a serial killer is juxtaposed with a happy string of dancing Tibetan prayer pennants, tightly followed by the industrial plod of “Pwdr Sêr,” Clint Eastwood invoking The Book of Revelations—”So I looked and behold, a pale horse.” On “Sentient Debris,” notes and chants bend like willow branches in a stiff breeze while the closing gematria of “Bodhi,” an odd count in French, is slung spaceward.
A vortex of sorcerers’ certainties graphed according to agnostic geometry.” (Igloomag)

“Onko siitä jo neljä vuotta, kun Niko Skorpio julkaisi edellisen kerran uutta musiikkia? Niin se aika kuluu kun ne tärkeimmät asiat unohtuvat. Skorpion luoma kokeellinen dark ambientin on aina ollut haastavaa, enkä edelleenkään tiedä mitä ajatella neljän ja puolen vuoden takaisesta Psilocybe Necrophila -albumista, mutta jotain asioiden laidoista kertoo kaiketi se, että palaan yhä kyseisen kiekon pariin.
Vuonna 2013 Niko Skorpio palaa takaisin pitkäsoiton voimin ja tämä albumi on ostettavissa/ladattavissa vain kolmen kuukauden ajan, ja ainoastaan suoraan julkaisijalta. Huomautettakoon tässä vaiheessa myös se, että kyseinen aikaikkuna on käynnistynyt jo syyskuun jälkimmäisellä puoliskolla, joten hankintapäätöstä ei kannata lykätä loputtomiin. 
Khôra ei tule rikkomaan myyntirajoja, mutta sen sisältä löytyy paikkoja joihin pääseminen on hyvin hankalaa, useimmiten jopa mahdotonta. Skorpion musiikkia mietittessä on turvauduttava mielikuvituksen vahvoihin siipiin ja termeihin, sillä “hermeettinen fuusiomusiikki” ja “kokeellinen ja abstrakti dub” ovat sanamöhkäleinä juuri niin epäkuvaavia kuin oikeastaan kaikki muutkin rakennelmat. Albumin rytmillisesti vahvinta laitaa edustava “Pwdr Sêr” on kuin matka Nostromon moottoreiden polttoaineputkiin. Lohdutonta stalkermaista industrialia vyöhykkeeltä, josta ei voi koskaan päästä pois. Ainakin pituutensa puolesta pääteokseksi kasvava “Sentient Debris” säteilee hidasta valoa ympärilleen, kuten avaruusromun kuuluukin ja kaoottisen harmonisessa kaikuilussa on jotain hyvin lohduttavaa.
Viimeisen neljän vuoden aikana hiljalleen luotu Khôra ei taatusti aukene kaikille ja sitä on turha yrittää pilkkoa sen pienempiin osiin. Albumi onkin otettava sellaisenaan ja annettava ajan hoitaa purkamistyö, joka ei luultavasti koskaan tule valmiiksi.” (Desibeli.net)

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