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 […]
Kajsa Lindgren | Everyone Is HereWarm Winters Ltd (DL/CD/CS) In the (not necessarily) experimental music ambit, a recent surge of political correctness in regard to gender equality has generated mixed results. If on the one hand a few interesting talents were indeed brought to light, and old pioneers were rescued from unmerited anonymity (Else Marie Pade just […]
Leo Okagawa | Something VeiledUnfathomless (CD/DL) This is a nice introduction to the world of Japanese sound artist Leo Okagawa with regards to Unfathomless. Something Veiled was recorded mostly within a set of caves around Fukushima, made from limestone. As such it’s got this watery cavernous feel, but given the site one cannot divorce it […]
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 […]
Dominique Vaccaro | Overlapped MemoriesTSSS Tapes (CS/DL) Field recordings meet tapeloops head on via the latest from Dominique Vaccaro on Italian tape imprint tsss tapes. Overlapped Memories is a fresh fusion of many elements, built and arranged like an assemblage of engaging and irrational principles. He tends to have hidden his sources well, allowing some […]
UŠAMI | Gemer Gothic Routemappa (CD/DL) Gemer Gothic Route is a new compilation by the adventurous avant garde label Mappa of Slovakia. For this compilation, Mappa is intending to use a place, specifically the Gemer Gothic Route, a tourist route connecting the two counties of Spiš and Gemer in Slovakia. Along the route there are […]
Laura Luna Castillo | FolksonomiesCudighi Records (CS, DL) Strings and no-input in unison – the first track, ‘I See But Say Nothing’ of Folksonomies by Laura Luna Castillo takes the listener somewhere between a carnival and a forest cove. Tidal wafts of electronic sine waves and disguised dub are paired with soft strings – ticking […]
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 […]
Chris H. Lynn | Configurations with Clouds and Sea Air Verz (CS/DL) Maryland-based sound artist Chris H. Lynn‘s collection of field recordings were captured on the US east coast. In these three pieces he explores the solitude of open air space and his interaction with it. On Clouds in May what sounds like a sheet of […]
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. […]
Jon Unger | Memory Indicator Flavien Gillié | Rituels Domestiques A.F. Jones | for Eschrichtiidae (omniana) Three new short-form ambient releases on the beloved (+ scarce) 3″ CDR format from the Belgian label Taâlem. All are limited in small editions. From Jon Unger comes two pieces that run a total of just over twenty minutes, […]
Bruno Duplant | Chants de Mémoire Hemisphäreの空虚 (CS/DL) With one twenty-minute ‘chant’ per side Bruno Duplant combines field recordings, electronics and analog treatments on his latest tape, Chants de Mémoire. This comes from an ongoing series which will also include something upcoming on Archive Officielle Publications. The artist shared with me that some inspiration came […]
This month, as Spring starts to slowly set, and my garden can use a re-tilling to kickstart the season, these half dozen recordings remind me of an aura of renewal, and they each bring with them of stirring of challenging the senses. These diverse takes on contemporary composition, et al, come from several foreign places […]
Gil Sansón/Lance Austin Olsen | Works On PaperElsewhere (CD/DL) The Elsewhere label marks its first year in business with a new release that is expansive and resolutely experimental. “Works on Paper” is a long distance collaboration between Venezuela-based Sansón and Canada-based Olsen. This method of electronic file transfer is common these days with high speed […]
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø + Daniel Lercher + Julie Rokseth Off The Coast (Sofa, LP/CD/DL) A tiny flutter opens the title track of the new recording by this trio blending noise processing (Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø) and software (Daniel Lercher) with harp (Julie Rokseth) and the results are micro manifestations of buzzy reverb and hushed tones. Off […]
Ian Fleming | Snowblind Curated Doom (DL) Munich-based Irish composer Ian Fleming‘s debut EP Snowblind has just been launched by Curated Doom with five exquisite ambient pieces, running just under a half hour. Opening with A desolate pinprick in a world of white, the listener is immediately drawn into a world of drone, crackle and […]
Simon Scott | Soundings Touch (CD/CS/DL) This is as if I have really begun to hear the work of Simon Scott for the very first time – even after listening to his work over a good part of the 2010’s, since Below Sea Level (12K, 2012). Soundings (out on 2/22) is a different approach to […]
Bardo Todol & Devid Ciampalini | El Origen Del Pensamiento MágicoIkuisuus (CS/DL) “Architectural musique concrete” Bardo Todol is an experimental music project hailing from Argentina and consisting -as I read- by either Pablo Picco with Nico Picco or Pablo Picco with Atilio Sanchez. Devid Ciampalini (Metzengerstein, Holy Hole) is an Italian musician and experimentalist, working […]
Richard Youngs/Frans de Waard/Peter Johan NÿlandOnder/Stroom | Moving Furniture Records (LP/DL) The title of this collaborative album means “sans electricity”, and refers to a series of performances that were staged without any electronic instruments. When this spate of events ended, the three artists on this record decided to go the opposite direction and use everything […]
Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson | OK Computer Music Some (CD) This new one from Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson is a quasi self-produced in a limited edition of only 100, and likely only available via the artist directly. If you are unfamiliar with the Icelandic artist (who may be based in Belgium or Germany these days), his output […]
Tomasz Bednarczyk | Illustrations For Those Who Room40 (CD/DL) His third album on the Room40 label, Tomasz Bednarczyk’s new release is absolutely essential listening for fans of deep, moving ambience. It’s been a decade since he last issued something under his own name, the 2000s seeing him release a handful of acclaimed albums on the […]
Jasmine Guffond | Degradation Loops Karl (LP/DL) Australian sound artist Jasmine Guffond‘s Degradation Loops was just released via Berlin imprint Karl who have been serving many delights in 2018. This half hour long singular piece starts with incidental chatter in a public place in what the artist refers to as being “initially a sixteen day […]
David Vélez | The things that objects can tell us about ourselves Flaming Pines (CD/DL) Found sounds and field recordings are the specialty of Colombian artist David Vélez. I’ve been following his trajectory since his early output on various online labels back in the mid-2000s, and his career has been one full of exciting developments. […]
Frédéric Nogray | Ondureñas Unfathomless (CD/DL) It’s late night, and the cicadas are out making for a blend of peace and quiet. There’s a slight chill in the air, and other slight disturbances, maybe some kind of hen or other proud bird – but Punta Bujaja is rather haunted. Of course this blends well with […]
Jos Smolders | Spaces Moving Furniture Records (2xCD/DL) The premise for this set of recordings is one I can get behind, the elusive open halls and passages of architecture, specifically museums. Being one who has been in my fair share, shown there, and wondered about the contents, the curation, the sense of remove between the […]
Juan José Calarco | espectro Impulsive Habitat (DL) Argentinian field recordist Juan José Calarco has just released his fifth full length solo recording since 2007 under the title espectro via netlabel Impulsive Habit. If you don’t know them, I highly recommend checking this South American collective out here. The title translates to ‘spectrum’ although from […]
Jérémie Mathes | In[Core]Wat[t] Unfathomless (CD/DL) A singular composition by intricate field recordist Jérémie Mathes, just out from Belgium’s top-notch imprint Unfathomless — In[Core]Wat[t]. These recordings were made while the artist was living in Cambodia over the past several years, traveling to pagodas and temples. The hollow drone and jangle sounds endless. It’s a completely […]
Mike Cooper | Tropical Gothic Discrepant (LP/DL) The septuagenarian artist only shows vital signs on Tropical Gothic. On these nine tracks, eight short works on side one, and a singular lengthy work on the flipside we begin to hear jungle vibes on The Pit, an abbreviated overture running less than a minute. The setting becomes […]
Arve Henriksen | The Height Of The Reeds Rune Grammofon (LP/CD) The northern English coastal town Hull was, in 2017, selected as UK City of Culture, resulting in a range of artistic events being bestowed upon the city. One was a commission involving Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen creating the audio for a soundwalk across the […]
Quest Tuesday Evening (DL) For Frans de Waard, this is as ambient as it gets, and it’s fairly pure in terms of genre. Quest is one of his projects born in the mid 90s to explore this form of transformative deep listening. The wavy synth and happy bird chirping illuminates a path, not unlike the […]
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