Modular wizard Drew McDowall, formerly of Coil, weaves a dense and immersive tapestry using works of present day experimental music artists.

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Drew McDowall is a New York-based Scottish musician operating in the field of modular electronics. Needless to say, he is well known for being a former member of Coil, a project that probably needs no further introduction to most of our readers. During his time with Coil, he introduced additional, more complex layers to the London outfit’s sound, culminating in such albums as Time Machines and Musick To Play in the Dark. However, Drew’s musical roots stretch back to guitar based sounds. In the late 1970’s together with his then-wife Rose McDowall (also a prominent figure in industrial/experimental music circles) he formed an avant-punk project - The Poems. Drew’s successful re-emergence as a solo artist took place with his Collapse LP being released by Dais Records. The album immersed the listener within a hypnotic experience, pulsating loops and otherworldly passages of droney ambience. The following release, Unnatural Channel, continued this line with an even more dense and thick sound. His most recent LPs saw Drew taking a detour into more lush and floaty territories. The Third Helix, which was released on September 21, offers a hallucinating session of ambientish brilliance, while The Ghost of Georges Bataille, his recent collaboration with Hiro Kone released on BANK Records, was a more rhythmic affair combining Drew’s hypnoticism with Hiro’s monolithic and heavy emotionalism.

Secret Thirteen Mix 267 consists of the artist’s picks from the present-day experimental music world, with recordings mostly released within the last couple of years. Quite a number of artists have a relation with Drew, whether in the form of a collaboration (James K with the previously unreleased track, Hiro Kone) or a shared label (Ligature, Shredded Nerve). The mix maintains versatile dynamics, but most of the time retains a droney and hypnotic tone, walking a line between the spacious and vast sonic domes of Caterina Barbieri and Christina Vantzou, electroacoustic textural physicality from Leila Bordreuil and Zach Rowden, the experimental chamber constructions of Cecilia or the grandeur and Hiro Kone’s hazy techno. Here we face a variety of approaches and techniques, weaved into a continuous pattern, with different textures constantly resurfacing or overlaying each other. Occasional rhythmic patterns add additional shades to the mix and intensify the atmosphere. Although some of the narrative here is tense and electrified, there are frequent glimpses of light among those sounds.

01. CECILIA - Descente Ferme [Halcyon Veil, 2018]
02. City - Only Borders [Ascetic House, 2018]
03. Rabit - Blue Death [Halcyon Veil, 2018]
04. James K - Unreleased
05. Kali Malone - B1 [Ideal Recordings, forthcoming release]
06. Ligature - Levitated Corpse [Ascetic House, 2017]
07. V Manuscript
08. Hiro Kone - Truth That Silence Alone [Dais Records, 2018]
09. ONO - Your Future Is Metal [American Damage, 2018]
10. Beast Nest - You Were So Fucked Up I Thought I was Dreaming [Self Released, 2018]
11. Leila Bordreuil and Zach Rowden - No Name 1 [No Rent, 2017]
12. Nick Klein – Rather Be Your Enemy [Bank, 2018]
13. Liberez - Your Lost Jewellery [Alter, 2018]
14. Bliss Signal – N16 Drift [True Panther x Profound Lore, 2018]
15. Christina Vantzou – Glissando For Bodies and Machines in Space [Kranky, 2018]
16. Puce Mary - Red Desert [Pan, 2018]
17. Cienfuegos - Left Hand Forgiveness [Thousands Of Dead Gods, 2018]
18. Muqata’a - Dijla Wal Fada’ [2017]
19. Caterina Barbieri - Rendering Intuition [Important, 2018]
20. Shredded Nerve – Karmic Recurse [Ascetic House, 2019]
21. Group A- The Devil To Pay [2018]

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