London 26 January 2019 After having previously reviewed The Radiophonic Workshop as my first outing for Freq, I this time had the honour of seeing live someone whom you could refer to as a true musical pioneer – I humbly bore witness to the innovative genius of Michael Rother on stage.
Monthly archives: January 2019
21 posts
The Leaf Label After all these years, Julia Kent clearly understands the innate melancholy of the cello and how the listener’s impression of the instrument’s nature still resonates with us today. Her obvious love for the cello and its place in the musical firmament shines through in everything she does, and somehow manages to imbue each project with its own character.
Kosmodrone Unfolding like a landscape seen and heard through thick fog before sunrise, Lech Nienartowicz‘s Wzdłuż Pasma emerges fuzzy and uncertain, never quite able to be pinned down and as hard to define as the shapes of the digitally smudged and smeared found objects and images that adorn the cover.
Thrill Jockey Marc Richter has been rather busy as over the last twelve years or so, what with Black To Comm as well as various side projects and commissions for film and theatre, not forgetting helming the Dekorder label. Seven Horses For Seven Kings is Black to Comm’s first album in five years and also the first for Thrill Jockey. Spread over thirteen tracks and at an hour’s length, it […]
RCA / Sony The people on the bus with me when I first listened to Bring Me The Horizon‘s latest album certainly got to enjoy an array of various facial expressions and reactions. I walked into Amo without too many expectations, or so I tried to tell myself.
Magnetron Pavel Fedoseev, erstwhile drummer for Russian psychsters Gnoomes, somehow manages to find the time whilst playing and touring with that band to record solo material as Kikok. Hidden away out of trouble’s reach in his hometown of Perm — which is a twenty-two-hour train journey from Moscow
Fourth Dimension This is not fun, nor is it meant to be. Compassion And Vision sounds vile, nasty, deliberately difficult to listen to — and all the better for it.
Richard Knox established Gizeh Records in Leeds at the dawn of the new century, and the label has grown organically from strength to strength since then, building a reputation for bringing adventurously expansive music to the world. Mr Olivetti spoke to him about the origins of the label, the art of collaboration, and how he keeps Gizeh and his musical project A-Sun Amissa going in uncertain times. What came first, […]
Cherry Red / MVD Audio / New Ralph Too It’s been nine months since my last foray into the deep Residential past and, subsequently, I have been sitting quietly, listening intently for the call of the Eskimo. It seems to make perfect sense that it has only now sounded forth with the onset of winter. Sadly, however, for all devotees of the band, that lonely lacuna has recently been punctuated […]
Thrill Jockey Sarah Louise is a guitar player from North Carolina who, over the course of a short but busy career, is doing her best to make you believe that she is using anything but a guitar to fabricate these vibrant, nature-influenced modern folk pieces.
three:four A rusty gate harmonica to vocals crazy paving the interlocking elastics. Loving the wonky symmetry of Orgue Agnès‘s debut LP release A Une Gorge, a perfumery of geometric criss-cross and percussive prowl bristling your bonce.
Odin The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra is a many-headed beast that has been going since the early 2000s and changes personnel from one album to the next to keep their approach fresh for each collaboration. The orchestra draws from a collective pool of players, and it would seem that one particular member takes the reins for each release. This time around it is bassist Ole Morten Vågan, whose compositions […]
Grönland Two years after Radio Wave Surfer was released, Holger Czukay found himself in the studio again with a revolving cast taking in Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Sheldon Ancel and Jah Wobble, as well as vocal interjections from U-She and Romie Singh. It seems fair to assume that the album was recorded not long before it was released, putting it some five or six years
Beggars Arkive OK, let’s start with the fact that this is a beautiful vinyl issue of an album that was only ever available on CD. Its gatefold packaging is wonderfully done and the 180-gramme vinyl mastering in gorgeous ruby red plastic makes this a collector’s item if you’re a fan of the band. Compilation albums are always difficult to review
Modularfield The latest release from Cologne’s Modularfield label is an EP from electronic artist Jochen Mader, here trading as Skyence. It is one of the label’s infrequent vinyl releases and the 12″ format perfectly suits the atmospheric artwork of a shadowy fencer mid-lunge. The cold, blue colours and the stillness of the image evoke the dusty and romantic, yet antiquated world of the fencing room.
Fylkingen Verbal Brainwash is a mammoth triple CD set collecting the experimental works of Åke Hodell from 1963-1977, using what he termed “text-sound composition”, along with radio dramas presented in that period on Sveriges Radio. This is a revised and updated edition of the collection, re-released by the Fylkingen experimental music and art collective in Stockholm
New Heavy Sounds Transmaniacon have been rather quiet since 2014’s hard rocking The Darkening Plain, but their return to the fray is quite an impressive collaboration. They have taken one of fantasy/horror novelist’s Ian Miller‘s post-apocalyptic street creations Suzie Pellet and constructed a cranked-up guitar fest of a concept album around the tale of her life and the lengths to which she has to strive to survive.
Discus Ron Caines, for those who don’t know, is a bit of an unsung hero in some circles. He’s probably best known for East Of Eden, way back when, but he’s something of a renaissance man — accomplished visual artist, composer, free musician, gurt Bristolian… Sadly, Caines’ discography isn’t as fulsome as it should be, which is the case for way too many players outside of big fancy […]