Northwest | IITempel Arts (CD/DL) Softly intro-ing, Wind opens the sophomore album from Northwest. Simply titled II, Mariuca García-Lomas’ throaty incantations parallel a wispy pedal organ. ‘Here comes the wind from the northwest…’ and the resolute invitation to, ‘let the rain fall on your head…’ The eerie, nearly arduous beauty of the second track Winterland […]
Cut A Lonely Figure | In Sea, In Circles, In Concretepan y rosas discos (DL) The simplicity of chorus-effected guitar in the fading-in ripple that commences In Sea, In Circles, In Concrete by Cut A Lonely Figure after several measures is readily joined by a stereo-panning noise loop. The four note walk-down and pop of […]
mpala garoo | Vaya AdelanteShimmering Mood Records (CD/DL) Dark aural movements comprise Vaya Adelante by mpala garoo. Compliments a la Shimmering Moods Records, the trio delivers an album whose titular meaning is drawn from a letter of William S. Burroughs to Ginsberg. Apparently, the beats were facing the identity crashing effects of mortality and Ayahuasca. […]
loscil | lifelikeFrond (CD/DL) Full of tenderly keyed minimalist melodies, the softly phrased tracks that fill Lifelike by Loscil explore flora, fauna, humanity and earthen structures. The similes evoke various contemplations, primarily of material subjects. From the onset, sweeping synths wash out understated electronic rhythms. There’s just enough beat to hinge the ambiences with subdued […]
Costis Drygianakis | The ApproachHxoi Kato Apo to Spiti (CD/DL) I read the accompanying text simultaneously to listening through The Approach by Costis Drygianakis. I can’t recommend experiencing this contemporary orchestra any other way. Created from January 2018 through January 2019, now presented in a limited pressing of 300 copies. The two-track (each over a […]
Chantal Dumas | Oscillations planétairesempreints DIGITALes (CD/DL) Out of Montreal’s electroacoustic/acousmatic spearhead in sound art, empeintes DIGITALes, comes Chantal Dumas’ debut, Oscillations planétaires [Planetary Oscillations]. With a press kit that reads like a science textbook, the album explores some of Earth’s more intimate phenomena. Some of these oscillations are familiar: quakes and geysers. Other naturally occurring […]
Laurisilva by Laura Agnusdei and Mare di Dirac’s Ophite Diagram were both recently released. This pair of Italo acoustic-electronic releases offer strategic sound art which incorporates wind instruments, mixed with electronic processing. Agnusdei collaborates with several contributing artists who play traditional instruments. Mare di Dirac employs the use of handmade instruments. While the theme of […]
Still und Dunkel | AbandonedHallow Ground (LP/CD/DL) From the opening seconds of searing harsh noise rasp like a contact mic applied to a sheet of metal unto cat-claw-on-a-chalkboard effect, through electronic swells and resting in a spell of quick-clicking, Abandoned (English, ‘quiet and dark’) by Still und Dunkel rips through dynamic (d)evolutionary spaces. I should […]
Funeral Souvenir | La Noche del AnhídridoVerlag System (LP/DL) This re-issue of an original 1987 six track quintessential Spanish industrial noise tape is further fueled with a peppering of other re-issues. Totaling ten tracks, the additional tracks are taken from compilation releases from 2009-2011. With cover art re-contextualizing Ed Clark’s original photo of Graham W. Jackson […]
leastupperbound | domestic tapes Vol.IISecret Press (CD/CS/DL) domestic tapes Vol.II by leastupperbound is now released ten years aged and remastered with an extra bonus track! Saleverio Rosi teams up with Czechian imprint Secret Press to bring forth the cool ambient stuff once delivered by Laverna and Discreetrecords. These tapes, arranged numerically simply one through seven […]
A duo of November releases show the strong and distinct presence by two interesting women who bring something new to the international experimental music circuit. The contributions herein addressed a diverse range from white-noise to trance-ambient and favor longer form tracks. Their spectrum runs from linear to repetitious in noteworthy serenity; electronic and highly processed […]
Gabriele Mitelli | The World Behind the SkinWeInsist! Records (CD/DL) The release contains two poetic prose premises (written by Nicola Di Croce and Rob Mazurek) however, the four track album The World Behind the Skin by Gabriele Mitelli remains shrouded in suspense, harsh-romanticism, even with hints of passive-aggression. The self-aware sonic abstractions take on a […]
Tomasz Bednarczyk | Fall Into the WaterSomewhere Nowhere (CS/DL) Perfect for cassette, the four track Korg Minliogue oriented Fall Into the Water by Tomasz Bednarczyk delivers waves giving a sense of sonic swimming. The artwork by Olga Loy communicates clearly a self-referential invitation. This nominally composited water music from Somewhere Nowhere / 2ystudio is lush and […]
Thomas Brinkman | RaupenbahnEditions Mego (LP/DL) Somewhere between music ethnomusicology and sociological study are Thomas Brinkman’s field recordings of 1700’s looms. Entitled, Raupenbahn and recorded in hi definition in 2017 and 2014 (from the Central Museum of Textiles, Poland), these rhythmic noise tracks resonate profoundly in an organic ‘pre-industrial’ context. Not only in their rhetorical […]
Åyusp | Åyuspself-released (CD) The Sheffield (UK) duo isn’t shy about their shared kosmische influence. They (Graham McElearney and Paul Mills) have put together a cosmic joy-ride of uniquely blended stylings with the self-titled album, Åyusp [“Oy-usp”]. An overall concept isn’t readily exoteric. However, the October 7th release is made-up of five heady tracks which cumulatively […]
Here are two space-oriented experimental electro-ambient albums released in October. One follows in November. While each graft rhythmic beats and melodic undulations, the three conceptualize space very differently. Nonlin by Steve Hauschildt (released October 25) conveys a vacuum-effect at odds with nature’s patterned regenerations. Released October 13th, Collecting Space by QST (Frans de Waard) presents […]
Void Hands | Split Shapes & Divisive ModelsFractal Meat Cuts (CS/DL) Rhythmic oscillations and electro-click generate the ‘unforeseen order’ that Richard Knight (with Jürgen Ehrmann) concoct via Void Hands’ Split Shapes & Divisive Models. Ironic as the artist namesake is, the handling of audio mixers is nob-crankingly lacking of vacuity. The sour no-input calculations drip […]
Erik Levander | InåtForwind (CD/DL) Swede Erik Levender presents Inåt (translation: Inwards). Listeners have about thirty seconds to self-reflect before being pummeled with a devastating drop. The synth-tones like wire; meshed together to form uneasy quakes. High-pitched frequencies counter-weight luridly grim moments of de facto doom. The cover art (Katharina Ira Allenberg) suggests a stoney self-examination; the […]
Giona Vinti | OrcElli Records (DL) Hold on for a vicious ride in these brute four ‘layers’ conjured by Milanese composer Giona Vinti in Orc. All four tracks consist of arrhythmic chaotic effect layering. They are numbered simply one through four. This is how I hear it: Layer 1: With video game like blips interface […]
Overlay | TraceTone List (DL) Having recently become privy to (and enthused about) the rugby world cup currently underway in Japan, I also learned of the Haka dances that occasionally precede a match. This has nothing to do with Overlay’s Trace/Venn release on Tone List (October 29th) aside from the fact that there is an […]
DC33.33 | Ibis Color Milletpan y rosas (DL) As if the eurotrack fidgeting in the improved audio isn’t enough, this reviewer is thoroughly confounded by the express association Dave Gabriel (DC33.33) shares with Imelda Marcos. If this is some kind of quack at the food poisoning fiasco of Marcos’ 90th birthday celebration in the Philippines […]
Seasons (pre-din) | Distortions of a CellForwind (CD/DL) If within the first few moments of Distortion of a Cell one is not enraptured by the rhythmic noise and pulsating mechanical beats, listeners may have neglected the grand contemplative noise that Seasons (pre-din) generates in this cathartic odyssey. The first three tracks evolve in a theme […]
Just as the temperatures begin to cool some, the ears begin to warm to what’s coming next. Four phenomenal experimental electronic albums from around the globe all release on Friday October 25th, 2019, oh – that’s today! Giulio Aldinucci | No Eye Has an Equal99 Chants (CS/DL) No Eye Has an Equal by Giolio […]
Swine | Blood MonthMuteant Sounds (DL) Terrific drawn out swells, like the wake of a slow-cruising barge or a very large school of marine life, epitomize Blood Month by Swine. Aquatic lurking hisses and gurgles form the eerie ambiances produced by the unique instrumentation within this album. One can recognize the sax (Tim Hill) presence […]
Dans les arbres | VolatilSOFA (CD/DL) Volatile may refer to this single track album’s recording situation – live, a first for Dans les arbres. The prolifically touring quartet offers a recording set of fifty three minutes and change. Though the structured improv is airy, spacious and largely sparse, there isn’t a dull moment. Right away […]
When | Jogging Housedauw (Cassette/DL) Although the limited and special edition packages are sold out, cassettes of Jogging House‘s When are available after a slight manufacturing mishap. Femke Strijbol’s graphic design for the album is a fine fit for the soothing and big-bass infused electro-ambient music. Dauw, a Ghent-based tape label, seeks to ‘create unique […]
PYUR | Oratorio For the UnderworldSubtext Recordings (CD/DL) Enter the PYUR (Sophie Schnell’s) ‘upside-down’ in Oratorio For the Underworld. If it seems pretentious to summon the ‘oratorio’ title (joining the most popular: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, and Haydn’s The Creation) there may be, for the listener, an apprehension of grandiose expectations. However, listeners are in for a contemporary dark-electro […]
Telefon Tel Aviv | Dreams Are Not EnoughGhostly International (DL/LP/CD) ‘Defiantly spaced-out post-wave…’ ‘Gravelly loops/samples.’ ‘Hydra; downtempo aesthetic.’ ‘Velvety and ghastly vox…’ etc. are some of my notes in reflection from listening to Dreams Are Not Enough. Even prior to the full-length release, the leader single track a younger version of myself has 22K+ streams […]
Tapes and Topographies | Ubiquitous CloudsSimulacra (CD/DL) On the rare full-moon Friday the 13th of September 2019 Tapes and Topographies released their lucky seventh album care of Simulacra Records. Long-diminishing echoes pulse to give the title track a radar-like current. Confident yet tender key strokes illuminate the soft drone as silvery lining. From the get-go, […]
Ghost in the Clocks | AnoiceRicco (LP, CD, DL) From Anoice (care of Ricco Records – Tokyo) comes the 5th installment of a cinematic instrumental post-rock saga of their own creation. Members of this super-group have since made worlds of their own as solo artists but ‘Ghost in the Clocks’ is announced as a follow-up […]
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