“We used to be able to fly back before geography and ego” – Youth Speaks, female teen poetry slammer (Bay Area, 2004) This week our Guestmix comes from French sound artist Gaël Segalen whose latest work was reviewed back in November. She’s been on the front lines and out on the fringe for two decades […]
An itch to scratch. ONE-OFF: And now for something completely different. Here are just a few of my personal “Guilty Pleasures” – songs that, not for trying, you just can’t get out of your head! Like a personal mix-tape for the gym? For shadow dancing (shadow boxing?). Please pardon the intrusion, the minor flight 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 […]
Happy Holidays Everybody! It sort of made sense to go off the beaten track from the repetitious radio rotation of holiday music. I mean I love me some Perry Como, Sinatra (!) and even Mariah’s endless “sparkle” has it’s own je ne sais quoi so to speak – but if I hear “One Little Christmastime” […]
Follow Us + Feel Good. Our weekly podcast will only continue to expand in the new year with our sub-series: Guestmix, Origins + Label Spotlight. Tune in and turn on. Now on Twitter!
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 […]
We’ve scoured the most interesting sounds being emitted of late and have come up with eleven short gems to stir things up. This week featuring new work from: K.Pierco, Paul Weller, Jan Willem Troost & Henry Vega, submeet, Sádon, Mute Duo, Li Yilei, Chantal Dumas, Can Can Heads, Joe Colley and our friend Darren McClure. […]
At the very top of the month we offered a Autumn kickstarter with a piece outlining some of the more interesting releases expected this time of year. As we close the calendar for November, this is meant to be a short, sweeping follow-up to keep you in tune with some we missed, and five just […]
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 […]
Yan Hart-Lemonnier | Les Partage Des GriefsAdaadat (12″/DL) Right off the bat, just by looking at album art, you can detect this guy’s sense of humor is intact. But Gallic sound-bender Yan Hart-Lemonnier‘s new 12″ (which runs at 36 minutes) titled Les Partage Des Griefs (roughly translated to Sharing Grievances) has variable tones, from shades […]
Bit-Tuner – Irisia (-OUS) Euglossine – Nightflowers at the Beach of Oblivion (Orange Milk Records)Krzysztof Kotlinski – Please Don’t Go! (Élan Vital) Perimeter O – Lose Direction (Canigou) Cacero Lazo – Kattus Funus (Submarine Broadcasting Company)Ringfinger – Lunar Light (Other Voices) Andreas O. Hirsch – Full Moon Hula Hoop (Makiphon) Yann Tiersen – Tempelhof (Part […]
We will deliver our weekly podcast one day early this week due to the holiday. Above are the cast of international players. Speaking of which, Toneshift will be in Paris on holiday this upcoming week taking in all the culture française. Expect more right here where the future of music is presented one record at […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Eleh | Living SpaceTouch (CD/DL) Housed in a gorgeous jewel of square packaging that opens to various aquatic shades, this is the latest from Eleh with his first new output on Touch in nine years, though his work has been represented by other fine labels (Important, Line…) over the course of the intervening years. And […]
Toneshift on Mixcloud presents a special edition of its history-defining and defying sub-series Origins: Sonic Women. And there are some fourteen exquisite nuggets to contemplate here. When designing a weekly podcast for our readers to listen to, I felt it necessary to offer some context and background, however diverse, as possible. I dug into the […]
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 […]
Four very different records coming from various corners of the Earth, all out today for your listening pleasure. Each of these bends and prods beyond singular genres in scope and musicality. Unexpected, provocative, and otherwise cerebral, each will take you some place – so people get ready! Out of Berlin, first up is Alessandro Cortini […]
Gnome & Spybey | CollectiveAnt-Zen (DL) This is a compilation of tracks by Tony D’Oporto (Gnome) and Mark Spybey from 2009-2014 working as a duo under the moniker Gnome & Spybey. It has some in common with the moody, wavy synths of Moby’s very contemporary ambient atmospheres, as well as his Voodoo Child alter-ego. The […]
NEW PODCAST: To our programming we are adding a weekly half-hour Mixcloud podcast! The primary focus of these short programs will be teasers for what you may expect in the pages of Toneshift.net So sit back + enjoy + let us know if you like the format as feedback is always highly encouraged. The entire […]
Topdown Dialectic | Vol. 2Peak Oil (LP/DL) Eight tracks, each running for 5:27, simply numbered by side of this plain black wax. This is the follow-up to Topdown Dialectic‘s sold-out self-titled debut (2018) – both from LA-based Peak Oil. There are no pert descriptions of what the listener will engage themselves with here, it blurs […]
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 […]
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