Low Chord | LC01Other Songs (CS/DL) Low Chord is Scott Orr featuring pianist Gareth Inkster. Strings, piano, synths and field recordings emerge as popping/breaking melodies in small implosions of microsound. Slowly the strings rise amid the meandering effects, it’s like post-shoegaze with an acid-tinged luminosity. As Clipps flows right into Runn it shows that the […]
Stefano Pilia | In Girus Imus Nocte et Consumimur IgniDie Schachtel (LP/DL) Stefano Pilia is an Italian guitarist who has been active for many years in that gray area crossing electroacoustic experimentations, film scores and the most avantgarde outcomes of the Italian rock scene. He has collaborated with many artists in Italy and abroad, from […]
Tomotsugu Nakamura | MonologueAudiobulb (LP/DL) I first encountered the music of Tomotsugu Nakamura back in 2013 when he released his debut album Slow Weather. This first record shared a similar aesthetic sensibility as other Japanese artists working in the ambient field at the time, but with each subsequent release, Nakamura has refined his style into […]
My Cat Is An Alien | Spiritual Noise__Vol.1 Antigravitational Records (LP+BK/DL) The return of prolific brother duo My Cat Is An Alien (Maurizio and Roberto Opalio), with two lengthy tracks making up their Spiritual Noise__Vol.1. Starting with Spiritual Apocalypse these outsiders bring the mysterious sound of effects and machines to new squeaky, howling silences. This […]
Lau Nau | AmphipodaRimbarimba | Sea, Shore, See, SureLongform Editions (DL) Longform Editions styles itself as a ‘collective for deep-listening’, which admittedly sounds a lot cooler than a ‘label that releases quite long pieces of music’. The range of artists they have on board is impressive, consisting of a plethora of both the well-known and […]
Rubén D’Hers | Bolero Transparente Vertical Music (CS/DL) Off the new Milan-based label comes the first of an interesting, fresh tape series. This is Rubén D’Hers‘ Bolero Transparente (recorded in Berlin). In three tracks this sound-sculpting builder of installation-based musical settings offers a pensive, chord-driven work. Romantic Chord Puzzle glows in elongated and warped reverb. […]
Patrick Shiroishi | 烏の涙American Damage (CS/DL) Issued on Chicago’s American Damage tape label, this new release by Patrick Shiroishi blends folky blues with wild improvisation to a stunningly contrasting effect. Shiroishi’s guitar playing is incendiary and it sounds like he has an extra pair of hands on the fret board as he lets loose. His […]
Giuseppe Pascucci & Vito Pesce | Nikola, Was Right! Plus Timbre (DL) The duo employs only guitars and effects here, and effectively, the new album Nikola, Was Right! certainly is. Giuseppe Pascucci & Vito Pesce bring the reverb, the separation of timbre, and neutralize your general surroundings with this sparse work that floats in the […]
Meglamancha | Silica Staertenbard Records (CS/DL) Netherlanders Freek Philippi and Marlon Wolterink otherwise known as Meglamancha have delivered their third full-length release in as many years with Silica. Last April we covered Megara, which was a lot more spurious and revved than this one. A year has driven a direction of ominous composure. From […]
N (46) / [BOLT]Midira Records (LP/DL) Eschewing an album title, and having songs titled only by length, the already unadorned entity that is N (46) / [BOLT] return with a third full length that abandons much of the more ambient amblings of their previous work. Comprised of 4 long-form tracks, the album walks a […]
Michiru Aoyama | Brilliant Days Mirae Arts (LP/DL) Broken into two untitled pieces that run just under twenty minutes each per side comes Brilliant Days from Japanese musician/producer Michiru Aoyama. Through and through this is a jewel-toned ambient record with a pace that rings of other traditional music from Japan, mostly meaning that it takes time and […]
J Butler | Found self-released (CS/DL) In his fifth release since 2011 Pittsburgh’s J Butler rolls out Found an austere and unique study in looped ambient textures. Limited to only fifty tapes, this one is fueled by oscillators and guitar, and was mastered by 12K imprint + electronic whiz Taylor Deupree. Five lustrous tracks that […]
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 […]
Bob Bellerue | Music of Liberation Elevator Bath (2xLP/DL) The double album set, Music of Liberation (edition of 250), was recorded in Portugal in 2016 and is dedicated to Bellerue’s friend and collaborator, Z’EV, who passed away during the final process of making the recording. Toneshift.net also acknowledges the incredible work of Stefan Joel Weisser […]
thisquietarmy | Unconquered 2008-2018 Midira Records (2xCD/DL) Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Canadian experimental guitarist/electronic musician Eric Quach aka thisquietarmy brings back Unconquered 2008-2018 with an additional disc of forty-five minutes of unreleased material. This is a big re-release for the artist’s o.g. debut as following in it’s trail in the coming month/s is Conquerer, a […]
Julia Reidy | Beholder A Guide To Saints/Room40 (CS/DL) Berlin-based Australian guitarist Julia Reidy (who plays with Splitter Orchester) dedicates Beholder, her third full-length recording, to fellow guitarist, Melbourne’s Phil Houghton who passed last Fall. The tape includes four tracks (ranging from five to nearly 15 minutes each) begun on the island of Syros, during […]
PJ Philipson Linotopia (Little Crackd Rabbit; CD/DL) This is the sophomore effort from Manchester’s PJ Philipson, both appearing on the LCR imprint, his last, which sold out, four years back. The guitarist has re-tuned his instrument here, finding inspiration in everything from linotypes to The Poetics of Space (Gaston Bachelard) to other formidable, senior composers. […]
Tropic of Coldness Framed Waves (Glacial Movements; CD/DL) The album (out July 16), the duo’s third, begins with a slow-growing drone and a quiet, distant ring. Imagining a ‘tropic of coldness’ is like observing the overly exaggerated shifts in our own nature, and that which surrounds us. It is a dichotomy that is delivered in […]
Swans guitarist Norman Westberg breaks out on his own again on After Vacation, which is officially released on July 13 via Australia’s Room40 (LP/Digital). Since 2012 he’s been releasing various solo efforts, and though I fancied his previous effort, MRI on the same said label, this seems the most well-rounded in construct to date. When […]
Cologne-based producer/musician Olivier Haas, otherwise known as APORIE, recently stepped into Pink Unicorn Studios and laid down his debut record, Control. Previously he conjured up sound effects for video games, but has developed a somewhat apocalyptic, post-rock meets drone vibe here. He describes his self-release as a “diverse blend of genres such as ambient, drone, […]
Dutch label Unsounds delivers Tout Ce Que Je Sais (meaning “All I Know”) from duo Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor (LP/CD/DL) – released officially on June 1. The duo has been at it since 2006. Starting with the James Bond guitar riff on Casino rabelaisien we are off to the races. The lyrics are in […]
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