Black Sea Storm - 2009 (2009)

"2009" is the last of a series of three EP recorded by Ali Ozkan before he decided to stop singing in English and moved towards Turkish lyrics.

Even more than on  his previous EP's it sounds like a solo project trying to emulate the dimensions of a band, but without escaping totally the inherent limits.

Black Sea Storm - 2006

Second part of the triptych made by "2005", "2006" and "2009", featuring the solo production of Ali Ozkan during a first period of composition in which he favored the use of English language for his vocals, before moving to Turkish afterwards.

If I wasn't so convinced by "2005", here I am much more pleased and I discover most of the elements that made me enjoy his records with Channing Cope ("Sugar in our Blood" - 2005; and "Plunge into concept" - 2008) and Shere ("Not Los Angeles" - 2003).

Black Sea Storm - 2005 (2005)

This EP is the first collection of songs recorded by Ali Ozkan in 2005 for his solo project Black Sea Storm and it sounds like a minimal version of the tense slowcore / posthardcore of Channing Cope.

We are in the middle of a no man's land and as Channing Cope unfortunately never even appeared on most indie radars, this more minimal version of the band was definitely stuck in limbo.

During these six songs, he is still searching himself, slowly adopting his own use of drums. I find it less convincing than his records with Channing Cope and Shere, even relatively abstract.

None of these tracks is really striking but a few ones are flirting with this limit and keep myself wondering, while alleviating my walking. "Rolling flags", "Inside Places", or "By the sea" are such budding embryos making the discovery valuable if you already know his other stuff.

Even in 2012, Black Sea Storm is still a work in progress and development. 

http://www.blackseastorm.com/ 

Black Sea Storm - kayip bir ask (2011)

Black Sea Storm is the solo project of Ali Ozkan who was previously active in the projects Channing Cope  and Shere.

It's the second EP from Black Sea Storm that I am reviewing and similarly if the music and melodies are close and similar to what he did with Channing Cope and Shere, the use of Turkish language instead of English for the vocals is creating difficulties for me.

Black Sea Storm - onca onsuz (2010, Garibay)

Black Sea Storm is the solo project of Ali Deniz Ozkan, of Channing Cope and Shere, playing bass and singing in both bands.

For his solo project, he is expanding his palette, with guitar and drums but there is also a shift with the vocals, from English to Turk, on this first three tracks release.