experimental
Album Review : Justin Walter – ‘Destroyer’ : More exceptional electronic imagery from the EVI pioneer
It’s been six years since jazz trumpeter and electronic musician Justin Walter’s last album for Kranky, the ethereally wonder-filled ‘Unseen Forces’, and almost a decade since his label debut ‘Lullabies & Nightmares’. The Ann Arbor artist obviously utilises his time with care and consideration, a nurturing process that his luminous, delicate soundscapes require. Now the …
Album Review: Teeth of the Sea – ‘Hive’: the electro-psych pioneers re-boot and impress.
Techno doom, electro metal, dub psych, industrial prog, prog techno, doom psych, metal dub, doom prog disco…Teeth Of The Sea have been spinning reviewers’ genre-wheel for a decade plus now. Once they were even tagged as ‘android kestrels’ ….try to find that section on the rack. What you can take from this is that here …
Track/Video: Electronic collagists Off World announce final album ‘3’ with ‘Impulse Controller’, a down-tempo improv essential.
Despite being a left-field national treasure in the Canadian contemporary scene, guitarist and producer Sandro Perri goes about things with a steady grace. An active musician for over two decades now, his nudge to wider acknowledgement began with that first solo release on Constellation in 2011, ‘Impossible Spaces’. Other acclaimed releases followed with 2018’s ‘Another …
Album Review : Yara Asmar-‘synth waltzes and accordion laments’ : an electro-acoustic journey of deep emotion and rippling beauty.
Here’s a little booster for the difficult days ahead. Lebanese multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar once again ushers in those intimate, close-knit vibes we so need with her new release ‘synth waltzes and accordion laments’ on the irrepressible Hive Mind Records. It was last September when we were gifted the tiny gem of her ‘Home …
Album Review: Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden : a powerful and poetic jazz saga.
Jazz composer, saxophonist and visual-artist Matana Roberts powerful and profound Coin Coin album series has reached its fifth chapter with the release of harrowingly resonant ‘In the Garden’ via Montreal’s Constellation Records. The album continues Roberts’ resolute commitment to a twelve-part song cycle which began in 2011 with ‘Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de couleur …
Premiere: Montreal’s Population II ready new album with the intense ‘Pourquoi qu’on dort pas’
There’s no language barrier with Montreal trio Population II, so don’t worry if you can’t speak French – the Francophones serve up enough intensity to get the meaning across. They’ve been building up toward the release of their new album Électrons libres du québec for a few months at this point, but its release is …
Track/Video : Percussionist/producer Ben Sloan, previews the sweeping ‘Philistine’ from incoming ‘muted colors live’ EP.
Percussionist and producer Ben Sloan looks set to continue his confident step out into the spotlight with an incoming second release, the EP ‘muted colors live’, due 27th October via NY’s New Amsterdam Records. Sloan’s decade plus as collaborator and contributor, drumming with the likes of Moses Sumney, Beth Orton, WHY? and The National, may …
Premiere: Stream Careful’s first new music in a decade, the ‘Promise/Practice’ EP
Back in June, Eric Lindley resumed releasing music as Careful after taking a hiatus from the project following 2014 album The world doesn’t end. His first new release since then picks up where he left off nine years ago as if no time had passed. Of course, a lot can happen in nearly a decade, …
Album Review : Arthur Hnatek Trio – ‘Apnea’ EP : bringing new energy to the Jazz/IDM intersection.
To introduce Arthur Hnatek as a jazz drummer only skits across the surface of the soundscape he works within. Sure he has drummed in units led by Tigran Hamasayan and Eric Truffaz but primarily Hnatek’s own musical explorations lead him closer to destinations where electronica and acoustic generated rhythms cross paths. He’s been releasing music …
Track/Video: Electro-acoustic voyager Mount Maxwell previews the panoramic ‘Sky Eye’ from incoming ‘Littlefolk’ album.
Sonic geographer, Hotham Sound label founder and electronic musician Jamie Tolagson a.k.a Mount Maxwell returns this Autumn to continue a run of gently stunning soundscapes that began with the two part ‘Blue Highways’ (from 2016 to 18), continued with 2019’s ‘Only Children’ and last surfaced with ‘The People’s Forest’ a couple of years ago. His …