Various

Sit down, shut up and surrender to the drone. The sonic fortitude contained in this ten-track compilation will invade your ears first, but it will take a while before your swelled senses adapt to the varying pockets of sound. While compilations are often hit-or-miss in attempting to explore a specific genre, this disc serves as an excellent primer to discover the virtually limitless bodies of work revolving around the drone framework. The opening track by Ruhr Hunter (Chet W. Scott) serves as the prophetic calm before the storm. A brooding, cinematic introduction quickly becomes awash in subtle tonal layers, before being punctuated by an abrupt melodic attack. San Francisco four-piece Thuja deliver "Cave Floor,” an improvised track highlighting their continuous efforts at capturing the atmospheric resonance of their surroundings. This nine-minute spastic experimentation flows well into Scot Jenerik’s "Of A Dead God,” which visits the low-end frequencies of the drone spectrum. This track should pique enough interest to seek more information on Jenerik’s musical past, including a flame-thrower harp, an amplified stainless steel tube that spits fireballs from each end, and a playable ten-inch release made of cement. Like this release, Francisco Lopez’s "Untitled #133” is an exceptional study in contrasts. This final track packs spastic drumming, distorted guitar and chirping birds behind a piercing layer of pink noise. But before you pick out any other sounds, everything comes to a sudden halt, leaving the unnatural drone of ringing in your ear.