François J. Bonnet + Stephen O’Malley | CyleneEditions Mego (2xLP) Shadow and twang gently emanate, wafting in soft atmospheric drones as Première Noire starts its ghostly cycle. The placid howl as shaded cadences swirl, and the album starts to set sail, taking hold of the inner ear on Erosion Always Wins. French author/composer François J. […]
Sleepland | Out of HueSpekk (CD/DL) This is Kengo Yonemura as Sleepland who has been creating delicate ambient works infused with drone since 2013. This new release in the perfectly curated and long-running series from Spekk, is a generous addition to their balanced roster of works that soothe, and stretch the imaginative world of intersections […]
Visions | TemplesCyclic Law (CD/DL) The latest from Frederic Arbour, here aka Visions, is his latest disc, Temples. It is an atmospheric, almost gothic drone that emits through the air like microscopic droplets. Traces, which leads the charge builds adroitly in a dappled haze. Said to be a “hymn to lost civilisations” it finds its […]
It’s that time of the year when everything seems at a snail’s pace, in slow-motion, allowance for the Sun to nourish and ravage the Earth. While this phenomenon continues to baffle scientists the world over, I intend on making my way through a handful of releases worthy of some cross-examination, and your ear. Though we […]
Bernhard Living | Digital Voices Sono Space (DL) Based on the spoken word comes Digital Voices, two extended pieces by minimalist composer Bernhard Living: ‘Composition 2011/03 (Ich Tanze Nicht)’ and ‘Composition 2015/07 (Ольгина история (Olga’s Story). I’m reminded of experiments from Meredith Monk, Jaap Blonk and the essence of Laurie Anderson as Ich Tanze Nicht […]
Michael Donnelly | Why So Mute, Fond Lover?Front & Follow (CD/CS/DL) The opening passage sort of lurks restlessly. This is the new release from Michael Donnelly on Manchester’s innovative Front & Follow. Within Motions Are Man there are seemingly sections to this five minute track that follow only Donnelly’s unscripted rules. The listener will appreciate […]
Golden Chorale | Midnightself-released (CS/DL) Hailing from out of Raleigh, NC is John Mitchell, here under the guise of Golden Chorale for the first time releasing the tape Midnight in a first-run edition of only fifty copies. The six tracks run at about a half-hour and consist of machines and strings melding together a droopy […]
Nathaniel Young | Accosting Form, Pure IntentMysteries of the Deep (LP/CD/DL) We are always excited to hear someone’s public debut, and this is the first-ever I’ve also been exposed to from Mysteries of the Deep. Nathaniel Young‘s Accosting Form, Pure Intent at first reminds me of the first time I heard either Jan Jelinek or […]
Llyn Y Cwn | Twll DuCold Spring (CD/DL) Aside from the monolithic legends posed by the title this is a 100% pure drone record worthy of your suspended attention. Benjamin Ian Powell’s (Llyn Y Cwn) sound and imagery are impeccably desolate, with this sensibility that a raging core is central and pulsating. This black hole […]
Lucas Norer | Dispositionself-released (BK/USB/DL) This latest recording from Austrian a/v artist Lucas Norer, Disposition, is a creative salute to the largest open-air instrument in the world: the Heroes’ organ (built in 1931) in Kufstein Fortress, Austria. Washes of hiss and synthetic ambient at the outset lead into splintered passages that are fairly chill. Orgelwind, […]
Escape From Warsaw | MateriaSanta Maria / Karol Su/Ka | Czas SnuZoharum (2xCD/DL) Since way back in the latter 80’s Polish sound artist Karol Suka has gone by a few different monikers, two of which occupy one of two separate discs as both Escape from Warsaw as well as Karol Su/ka w/Santa Maria (Marta Olszewska) […]
Silva Datum Musica | Plein AirGruen (LP/DL) With each names for trees, this latest collaboration between Tim Collins, Reiko Goto, Chris Malcolm (here as Silva Datum Musica) is a unique journey into the great outdoors via a custom-built plant-driven synthesizer – you heard that right. An instrument that “uses scientific sensors and software programming to […]
Luís Fernandes | DemoraRoom40 (CD/DL) This is my first exposure to the work of Portugese sound artist Luís Fernandes. His sound is a dappled, abstract-static ambient with a side of electronica that comes unexpectedly between the frazzled Rising Edge and the flighty Fractured Harmony With Pulse. It’s a fascinating twofer that couldn’t be more opposed […]
A conversation with The Corrupting Sea (aka Jason Lamoreaux), also labelrunner for Somewherecold Records, about his new Trilogy I series. TJ Norris/Toneshift: Hey, afternoon Jason, how are you doing and what’s up with you lately? Jason Lamoreaux/The Corrupting Sea/Somewherecold Records: Well, mostly spending my days recording, working on the record label, and getting things moving […]
Jakob Rehlinger | PowehiArachnidiscs (CD/DL) The title is derived from the Hawaiian phrase for the name given to the first black hole to be photographed, here as interpreted by Quill Hardy’s near embryonic coverart. Jakob Rehlinger‘s Powehi are a half dozen tracks with an un/familiar flash to the past and the future of a dialed-in […]
Inner Vision Laboratory | ContinuumZoharum (CD/DL) Karol Skrzypiec‘s vision starts with a narrative about the psychological challenges in the purpose of life, but goes outside the realm with futuristic themes in A Perception Redefined. This is a synthesis of sci-fi soundtracks, a new age twist and open-ended ambient. It’s hazy in this embryonic stasis of […]
Seth Nehil | Skew / FlumeV A N I L L A (CD/DL) This release comprises two EPs: Skew (2014) and Flume (2017) from multimedia artist Seth Nehil. Having worked with Nehil over the years (as presented, as observer, as collaborator) I’ve realized that what really makes him stand-out as a singular artist is his […]
loscil | EquivalentsKranky (2xLP/CD/DL) One of my most important role models growing up was none other than Alfred Stieglitz. Not only was he an incredible photographer, but also a curator, and for many years I too, as a photographic artist dabbled in the medium (of curation). The man laid so much groundwork for conceptual photography […]
Massimo Toniutti | Cava xi.xi.86Ferns (CD/DL) These refurbished sounds originally recorded in-between 1986-87 are from Italian experimenter Massimo Toniutti (we covered his Il Museo Selvatico here last year). His use of metallic objects and everyday instruments, fused in mysterious ways, is one of multilayered distinctions. A special thanks to Ferns and to other curatorial imprints […]
SPUN ‘ROUND LIKE A RECORD: While things are are changing in the environment, and this is likely going to be one of the hottest years on record, we pause to take in the sounds of Summer. So, yes, even though we have abandoned social media altogether – we are glad you joined us here, our […]
Tag Cloud | Slow LightFuzzy Panda Recording Company (CS/DL) The latest from Chris Videll as Tag Cloud encapsulates four works that are at once a step out of time, and its quite peculiar to venture to guess which way they point. Slow Light verges on the psychedelic, something shadowed, something Moog. It’s a bit of […]
Cyanching | Shadow of a ShadowBezirk Tapes (CS/DL) From London-based Taiwanese composer Cyanching comes an ear-catching debut. Her work, at least at first, comes off subtle with a shroud of harmony slowly emerging from a quiet space. Perhaps Shadow of a Shadow is the sonoric equivalent to mise en abîme, as it transmits what sound […]
Andrey Kiritchenko | OvertSpekk (CD/DL) Alright, so I am breaking one of my own rules here, though with good reason. This album was released back in 2017 but I’ve not had it in my hands and ears until recently, so I wanted to pontificate a little, so please indulge me as this is one of […]
Asmus Tietchens & Frans de Waard | OordeelAufabwegen (CD/DL) The pairing of two important figures in the world of experimental sound doesn’t come any more interesting than these two prolific gentlemen meeting in collaboration. From the very first note herein the listener is hooked by the pared down minimalistic approach to electronic music at its […]
Catherine Christer HennixThe Deontic Miracle – Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan RokuBlank Forms (2xLP/DL) This latest release is the first-ever surfacing of a work by Swedish composer Catherine Christer Hennix recorded in 1976 (at Moderna Museet), continuing a series that kickstarted last year by Blank Forms (Brooklyn, NY) with Selected Early Keyboard Works which […]
Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie | Exploded ViewElevator Bath (CD/DL) Out of one of our Texan sister cities, Austin, comes the latest from Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie. Exploded View runs just shy of twenty minutes, but for a short EP packs a gentle wallop. Imbued with trickling micro-sounds that whir […]
Emme | Into The DarknessModularfield (CS/DL) This is a techno like nothing else out there right now. The press nugget kind of summarized the ethos here: Although a seemingly dark title, the music is a sonic journey and a catharsis, with the cosmos, technology, the future and life experiences as her focal point. Emme uses […]
Simon Balestrazzi & Nicola Quiriconi | LicheniAzoth (CD/DL) An incredibly intimate record from its initial moments, the two composers have created a minimal world of textural improvisations that are amplified like that of a macrolens. And that’s what you would need, exactly, to explore the world left behind by lichen, the algae/bacteria found on surfaces, […]
180º | SubmentalSplitrec (CD/DL) The Australian trio 180º has released Submental its debut album on the Splinter Orchestra’s label. Vocals and horns and tinny percussion all blend well in the contorted concrete music that is Equilateral. Along the way it twitches, slides and sizzles with obtuse noises. It’s a collaged form of minimal modern jazz […]
Monocube & Troum | Contemplator CaeliTransgredient Records (LP/DL) A first time collaboration between Andrzej Gladuszewski (Monocube) and duo Martin Gitschel and Stefan Knappe (Troum) that at first sounds like a space shuttle landing in a Bavarian village where the essence of folk music effervesces as ginormous engine thrusters enter new territory. There’s a disturbance in […]
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