Burning Star Core – Inside the Shadow (Hospital) 2010

For me, this is an almost perfect record. Originally released in 2005 as a limited edition CD-R , Hospital Records have had the good sense to re-release it to a wider audience. C.Spencer Yeh is part of my holy trinity of amazing drone artists (Kevin Drumm and Daniel Menche make up the three) and this is another extraordinary example of his craft. It is probably a little easier to get into than this years “proper release” Papercuts Theatre, but it is just as gobsmackingly fantastic. There are three tracks in all. The first Inside the Shadow (w Metals) is a drone track which is never allowed to become truly transcendent through the addition of  a steady stream of restrained clanging, clinking and tinkling of various objects through out its 15 minutes. The second track Now United showcases Yeh at his best – a processed violin, that when not descending into chaos, comes across as some elegiac, celtic jig. It is one of my favourite Burning Star Core tracks. Things are rounded off with the final track Inside the Shadow which is a much more straight forward drone track that switches between tones before creeping into sorrowful and at times more threatening territory as extra layers are added. It’s a little anti-climatic compared with the first two tracks but is still a great example of the emotional impact great drone can have on the listener. I know its five years old but it is still one of the records of the year