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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Julek Ploski | śpieGin&Platonic (CS/DL) Polish (sweet) noise maker Julek Ploski‘s śpie is truly hard to pin down, one of the more innovative sound experiences of 2019. A tape to contend with in a dozen upright experimental tracks. From the very opening phrases of papapapapapapapapppp the listener is in for a challenging ride of the […]
Two new releases just out from Stuttgart’s Cosmic Winnetou who have amassed a nice catalogue in the past seven years, however this is my intro to their world. These two are only reference points to what you might find while perusing their catalogue, and are quietly different, from Navel and Günter Schlienz respectively. Navel is […]
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 […]
Aidan Baker | The Forever Tapes Broken Spine Productions (CS/DL) Guitarist and composer Aidan Baker has one of those discographies that make you feel tired when you examine the sheer girth of it. Known primarily for his work with ambient doom duo Nadja, Baker has traversed just about every cranny of the experimental and ambient […]
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 […]
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 […]
Michael Bonaventure | In Tenebris Ratione OrganiEighth Tower Records (CD/DL) Be forewarned, you are stepping into something from the deepest of shadows on this new release from Michael Bonaventure. The composer, based between Edinburgh and Amsterdam has brought you his take on dark nu-chamber music if ever whether there was. From the absorbing drone 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 […]
Reynols | Minecxio Emanations 1993-2018 Pica Disk (6xCD & DVD/DL) “Outstanding and far-out experimental exaggeration” Retrospective box sets are informative think-tanks! Lovely introductions or remembrance collections, bearing the task of showcasing the whereabouts of an artist, in an enlarged manner. Reynols, an Argentinian experimental band, hailing from Buenos Aires, formed in 1993 as Burt Reynols […]
Ranter’s Groove |俳句 Kaczynski Editions (CD/DL) “A low profile minimalism, adequate to express in full” Haiku (俳句) is a very short form of Japanese poetry in three phrases, typically characterized by three qualities. The essence of haiku is cutting (kiru). This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a kireji […]
Hüma Utku | GnosisKarlrecords (LP/DL) “Pilgrimage chronicles, transmuted into mesmerizing sounds” Hüma Utku is an electronic composer hailing from Istanbul, Turkey and currently based in Berlin, Germany. Her work involves exploring the possibilities of how sound textures and rhythm can be used to evoke a sense of ancient within abstract electronics. Having released material under […]
Ekin Fil | You, Only Vaknar (CS/DL) “Silence expressed with sound” Ekin Üzeltüzenci, aka Ekin Fil, is a lo-fi folk, ambient and electronica artist, hailing from Istanbul, Turkey. Upon arrival in You, Only, the listener is greeted by an adorable piano followed by jolly sweet, yet haunting female voice. Melancholic in every sense, personal, romantic, a homage […]
Various Artists | Veronica Moser Presents: Neurodiversity Fight Back! Ho.Gravi.Malattie (CS/DL) “A manifesto of neurodiversity fighting back” Any release bearing a thought-provoking title catches the attention and my interest automatically kicks in. Veronica Moser Presents: Neurodiversity Fight Back!, is a conceptually charged, researching attempt, where artists were invited to explore the concept with their distinctive […]
“Fragile, light feathered and naturally dirty with organic matter” øjeRum | Hendes BregneøjnePerfect Aesthetics (CS/DL) øjeRum is Paw Grabowski, hailing from Denmark. A prolific ambient/experimental musician with -so far- 30 albums and 15 EP’s, mainly on cassette; a sum that is quite an achievement. An artist that focuses on hand cut collage works. With his […]
ANMA | Osaka Syncopathic.Recordings (CS/DL) “Minimalist big” Here is another cassette orgasm! Andreas Mangweth, aka ANMA, is a composer, electronic music producer and double bass player, hailing from Austria. Well this generally drips minimalism. Straightforward minimalism with attached details, many of them, contradicting in various atmospheres. A solid looped base of sound, upon which, everything […]
Nula.cc | Fata Morgana Self release (DL) “Cinematography with sound” Field recording is the process of capturing or recording audio outside a recording studio, in an open or closed area or field. Nula.cc, hailing from Czech Republic, do exactly that. The project began in 2009 as a series of albums (filecasts in the project’s own […]
Crows Labyrinth| All Will Perish (CD/DL) “A cathartic feed of minimally monolithic ambient” Well, this is a very interesting case. Crows Labyrinth aka Theo Tol, hailing from the Netherlands, is making astonishing ambient music in a unique and personal way! Crows Labyrinth’s second full length ventures in the same path as his first. Tol creates […]
JMZM | Monkey self-released (DL) Josip Maršić and Zoran Medved are the Croatian duo better known as JMZM who have been at it just over a decade and their hard work is paying off. Their latest Monkey – comprised of two lengthy pieces – is startlingly evocative, as demonstrated by the twenty-five minute long title track. […]
Leif Elggren | Motor For An Unknown Vehicle (Opening Of The Grave) Fragment Factory (LP/DL) “Sound sculpturing” Motor For An Unknown Vehicle (Opening Of The Grave), is a title that gives a hint about the heart (aka the motor) of a vehicle, unknown – so far – to us. Just from that, I had a […]
Park Jiha | Philos Tak:til and Glitterbeat (LP/CD/DL) “Fused aesthetic biculturalism, beautifully executed” Park Jiha is a contemporary/experimental musician, hailing from Seoul, South Korea. Her music is rooted in traditional Korean instruments, infused with a multitude of contemporary elements and structure. Philos, her second album, is more or less a crossroad, where eastern and western […]
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