High Aura’d & Josh Mason | Lower Yr Voice Whited Sepulchre Records (LP/DL) “A non stationary bouquet of ambient/drone experimentation” The title of an album such as Lower Yr Voice, brings with it a demand, something that you should enforce upon yourself. Is this something mandatory? A request? A pledge? High Aura’d hailing from Ohio, […]
Distant Animals | WeavesHallow Ground (LP/DL) Distant Animals returns to the Hallow Ground label for his second album of modular synth explorations. On this LP, the project of Daniel Alexander Hignell investigates a spacial and often quasi-rhythmic approach to sound making. Where his debut album for the label, “Lines” traded in low frequency drones (case […]
eRikM and Anthony Pateras are two of the most interesting and prolific figures in the field of contemporary electroacoustic music. While Pateras is known for his revolutionary approach to piano playing and his compositions which attempt to extract characteristics typical of electroacoustic music from regular instruments, eRikM is considered one of the most prominent experimentalists […]
SSSS | Walls, Corridors, Baffles Präsens Editionen (LP/DL) “Harshness, etherealness, rhythm” Samuel Savenberg is an electronic musician and producer hailing from Switzerland and this is his debut LP with the SSSS moniker. Walls, Corridors, Baffles is an electronic album above all. I am using this umbrella term on purpose. Moreover, it has its portion of […]
Karen Willems & Jean D.L. | Twee Lindebomen Aurora Borealis Recordings (CD/DL) “Top-notch dialogues, in a very sincere experimental language” It is afternoon and quite hot outside. Initial summer scorching is evident from the tiny island from where I am writing these lines. Quiet afternoons are a perfect match for what I am about to […]
Kate Carr | City of Bridges (DL)Lieven Martens | Deo Gratias Triginta Sex (DL) Longform Editions is a label dedicated to the slow-burning and the slow paced. The label was realized in response to so much of today’s bite-sized listening habits, where streaming has encouraged listeners to dip in and out of albums like a pick […]
Neunau | Il Ciclo Del Vuoto Boring Machines (LP/DL) “Industrial, drone, avant-garde cooked masterfully” Sound research is a never-ending endeavor, unpredictable in terms of researched material. Structured or maybe chaotic, apocalyptic and almost hallucinogenic in its process. Neunau is the sound art moniker of Sergio Maggioni, hailing from Italy. His sound research is combined with […]
Empty Chalice | Mother Destruction Toten Schwan Records (CD/DL) “Astonishing streams of crawling ambient with hints of light” Empty Chalice is the dark ambient moniker of Antonine A., hailing from Italy and Mother Destruction is his projects latest installment, an emotionally conceptual sequel of the previous album Emerging Is Submerging. Color grey. My experience […]
Thomas Tilly | A Semiotic Survey Ferns (CD/DL) French field recordist Thomas Tilly releases his latest on the oft overlooked, but incredible non-profit imprint, Ferns (Paris). Consisting of seven new pieces, this kicks off with a minimal jutting pitch which leads to a similar call by outdoor crickets and cicadas, and the somewhat pleasant crackle […]
Sontag Shogun | It Billows Up Youngbloods (LP/CD/DL) This trio of Ian Temple, Jeremy Young and Jesse Perlstein combine field recordings, keyboards, tapes and electronics to create a delicate sound that is as if you are streaming in and out of consciousness. They deploy a deft hand when it comes to ambient textures that toy […]
Jordan Reyes | Close American Dreams Records (LP/DL) This is Close by Chicago-based musician and label-runner for American Dreams + American Damage, Jordan Reyes. Out on June 14th in a regular vinyl edition as well as a limited version (signed/numbered) that comes with a crazy colorful print by cover artist JJ Cromer of Virginia. The […]
There’s a chill in the air… Jason Lamoreaux (aka The Corrupting Sea) and company have begun a quasi re-vamp on the Somewherecold imprint that was born back in 2005, based in the American South. This year, alone, they have already released eight new recordings, and here we focus on two of the latest by the […]
Edgar Valcárcel | Electronic Compositions for the Andes (1967-2006) Buh Records (12″/DL) Edgar Valcárcel (1932-2010) was one of those rare Peruvian orchestral and chamber music composers from an era that also saw fellow avant garde craftsmen like César Bolaños, Leopoldo La Rosa, and Francisco Pulgar Vidal. Electronic Compositions for the Andes (1967-2006) is like a […]
Danielle de Picciotto, a nomad soul and a prolific visual artist, film maker, author and musician. Born in the army base of Ft Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, USA, where a life joyride begins. Keep reading, an almost cinematic life will unfold. Karl Grümpe/Toneshift: Danielle, thank you very much for your time and this interview. I […]
Mnemonic45 is an ambient/drone project, hailing from Bitola, North Macedonia. Traveling and music is beautifully merged within the realm of calmness and abstraction. I had an extensive chat with Goce Gligurovski, the man behind the project and a dear friend. Here’s what he had to say, so let our voyage commence! Karl Grümpe/Toneshift: As an […]
Wabi Experience | Wabi Experience Mikroton (CD/DL) “Seminal touch of electronic music, traditionally rooted” Wabi Experience is the result of the collaboration between Tomislav Federsel (Tomáš Procházka), Czech sound artist and actor, who had the idea for Wabi Experience and Jára Tarnovski, Czech experimental musician from the band Gurun Gurun, who came in creative support […]
French field recordist Bruno Duplant presents an album of quiet, lowercase soundscapes for the Verz label. Consisting of three tracks, there is a subtle repetition at work that lulls the listener into some very weird spaces. Opening track “première” purrs and whirs for its duration, with strangely hypnotic loops that occasionally wobble out of sync. […]
Jon Wesseltoft & Balazs Pandi | Terreng Moving Furniture Records (LP/DL) Soft Close-Up begins with a meager alarm, set right into a pleasant bit of abstract jazzy percussion and perhaps the lift of a helicopter. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of effects that kickoff Terreng, the latest from collaborative duo Jon Wesseltoft (electronics) & Balazs Pandi […]
Harry Pussy | Riding A DovePalilalia Records (LP) “Honesty in musical destruction” Harry Pussy, was a noise (rock) band hailing from Miami, Florida, USA, active from 1992 to 1997. In their ranks were guitarist/vocalist Bill Orcutt, drummer and vocalist Adris Hoyos with occasional support by accordionist Ian Steinberg and guitarists Mark Feehan (who appears on […]
Magnus Granberg & Skogen | Nun, es wird nicht weit mehr gehen Another Timbre (CD/DL) ‘Well, it won’t be much longer’ or ‘Now, there won’t be much more walking‘ – roughly translated (depending) breathes certain light into this latest composition by Magnus Granberg as performed by Swedish group Skogen: Anna Lindal & Angharad Davies – […]
Merzbow | YahatahachimanOther Voices Records (CD/DL) “Five mantras of noise absolution” Merzbow, is always a highly anticipated noise project hailing from Japan (since 1979) and also recognized as one of the earliest projects in what we now call “Japanoise“! A legendary and highly prolific figure, Masami Akita, the mastermind behind Merzbow, has created 333 […]
Yvan Etienne | Twist Aposiopèse (LP/CD/DL) In an edition of three-hundred here is the sophomore effort by French artist/activist Yvan Etienne. Twist is quite welcome as we haven’t heard from him since 2014’s Feu which was a great debut, also on Aposiopèse who have been quietly putting out minimal sounds for nearly fifteen years now. […]
Angelina Yershova | CosmoTengri Twin Paradox Records (CD/DL) One thing is for sure, our planet needs all the help it can get, and any record that puts this forward gets my attention. Here is CosmoTengri the new disc by Kazakh composer Angelina Yershova (dedicated to Bakhtiyar Amanzho) out on Roman imprint Twin Paradox. Issues such […]
Matthew Goodheart | Berlin Head Metal Infrequent Seams (DL) Broken into quadrants Berlin Head Metal (I through IV) is all about percussion, reverb, and ample space at first. Bay Area improvisational composer, installation artist and pianist Matthew Goodheart creates, with great depth, a ritualistic environment of drone and unknown. This comes off like some sort […]
Anemone Tube w/Jarl & Monocube The Hunter In The Snow: A Contemplation On Pieter Bruegel‘s Series Of The Seasons The Epicurean / Aufabwegen (CD/DL) SPLIT VISIONS: I’m always intrigued when artists are inspired by or in some way take their interpretation of a concept as disparate as art from another realm altogether. Here we have […]
A Death Cinematic | Cagliostro Simple Box Construction (CD/DL) Though they have been around a dozen years now, this is my introduction to the intricate work of A Death Cinematic (and Simple Box Construction). This release is all pieced together in a handmade wooden box with various prints, die-cuts, silver foil, paint – all hand numbered […]
Richmond Avant Improv Collective | Lamentations Arachnidiscs (CD-LTD/DL) RAIC is short for the Richmond Avant Improv Collective. This innovative collective is just about to release an interesting box set (encased in a jewelry like box) which includes their new recording Lamentations (numbered and limited to 100 copies) along with a vibrant series of fourteen full-color […]
T. Gowdy | Pachira AquaticaShimmering Moods Records (CD/DL) “An predominate (holistic) bouquet of bright electronic sounds” Hailing from Montreal, Canada, T. Gowdy is an electronic music producer, audio/visual performer and musician who began his career as a professional choral singer at the age of eleven! There is this sweet looking CD that needs to be […]
Luca Forcucci | B(l)(e)(e)(n)dingsLFO Records (LP/DL) “Wonderful electro-traditional experimental music” An album that sounds like an electronic locomotive at its beginning, I must write about it. Luca Forcucci’s B(l)(e)(e)(n)dings is the outcome of the collaborative work between Swiss researcher, composer and artist Forcucci, Cara Stacey – a pianist, ethnomusicologist and player of several South African […]
Nathan Corder and Dylan Burchett | Hum-Colored Tendrils Flaming Pines (DL) Hum-Colored Tendrils is a composition for tea pot, water jugs, metal sheets, glass jars and fans recorded at the Center for Contemporary Music (Mills College) by the Bay Area duo Nathan Corder and Dylan Burchett. This is their first full album together, and is […]
toneshift.wordpress.com 