Visiting the international DIY electronica scene market these days never leaves pre-disposed listeners with a shortage of produce to choose from. However, with so many common core ingredients in abundance – such as vintage modular kit flavourings and conceptual protein – zooming in on those seemingly most able to refine their recipes, is a means to limit overstocking the synth pantry shelves. Enter then, four relatively divergent but loosely familial platters for a tasting session.
Adrian
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Sonic Cathedral Currently conducting year-long commemorations to recognise two full decades of its stoic existence, the indomitable Sonic Cathedral label is keeping us well-stocked with new releases from both returning shoegaze pioneers in new guises and their younger disciples. Enter then, the debut full-length from Simon Scott’s side-project, Three Quarter Skies, to represent the former contingent.
Although some of us have been belatedly burrowing intensively into rich sonic seams from New Zealand’s far corner of the world – most notably bands of a certain vintage connected with the extended Flying Nun Records family -- there’s a lot we still don’t know enough about. Enter then Vor-stellen to help deepen this discovery-making, an intriguing still-new ensemble to be kept pace with, in real instead of retrospective time.
This third album from Ghostwriter, the shapeshifting collaborative project of Mark Brend (formerly of Fariña, The Palace Of Light and Mabel Joy), has been a long time coming. With work in progress preview segments having appeared online over the last few years, whilst a suitably supportive label home was sought, Tremulant has manifestly been a labour and a love to deliver to a niche section of the world at large.
...the more positive community-minded corners of social media and the increasing ease of home recording has produced a near-ceaseless flow of artists entangled in electronics, hybrid instrumental set-ups and wordless conceptual constructions over the last six or seven years. Yet, for all of this near-endless accessibility, it still requires small enterprises with big enthusiastic hearts and calm organisational heads to provide platforms for making sense of it all. One character providing such contextual curation services is the Doncaster-based Mat Handley.
As the Renaissance Man of the recently reinvigorated Paisely Underground scene family, Steve Wynn has enjoyed another purple patch over the last decade or so -- with a redemptive five-album reunion run for The Dream Syndicate and the first volume of his autobiography being top of the creative output list. So much so that we haven’t quite noticed the absence of a proper solo studio long-player since 2010’s Miracle 3-backed Northern Aggression.
The latest four-tracker brought to us via the conduit of Godfrey’s basement flat HQ flips back to the aforementioned sprawling C86 scene, which continues to fascinate Discogs hunter-gatherers, for the sole BBC session from Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes, a band that dispensed a handful of singles / EPs across the late-‘80s and one album in 1990.
Skilfully smearing together layers of guitars, bass, synths, piano and drum machines, with guest input from returning long-term accomplice Dustin Dybvig, in a four-track recording set-up, Corridors is rudimental as well as otherworldly in its rendering.