Ramble My favourite Russian – Israeli – UK collective Staraya Derevnya are back with another slice of splintered luminosity influenced by the Saint Petersburg poet and artist Arthur Molev. “Scythian Nest” dives straight into a clink-clanked needling mélange of avant folk — an addictive jiver, hot-coal leaping in falsetto warbles […]
Monthly archives: July 2022
13 posts
Discus It has been a long time since the previous Army Of Briars release; sixteen years to be precise, but it does feel as though they have never been away. Coalescing around the quartet of Julie and Tim Cole, Martin Archer and lyricist Keith Jafrate, they ply their unique blend […]
Kranky Jacob Long‘s third release for Kranky as Earthen Sea finds him further cocooning the listener in his simple but effective web of shimmering soundscapes, soundscapes sent from a distant outpost their lazy beats laced with tingling textures. A rush and a sigh, a sense of plaintive motion, slowly rippling […]
Cadabra Heavens above, this one comes so packed with goodness it’s hard to know where to start. Like a Whiskas Pure Delight fish selection, this burst of retro loveliness provides everything you and your cat need nutritionally for a healthy and happy life. From Twin Peaks dreamy moodiness to spaghetti […]
Diatribe Dutch violinist Diamanda La Berge Dramm has been playing since she was four, and although classically trained and a member of various ensembles, her first solo outing is a rather personal journey through avant-minimalist pop, taking lyrical cues from the work of European Poetry Festival founder Steven J Brown. […]
London 16 July 2022 Journey’s End is one of those rare “are we really in London” type of venues. A leafy relaxed, creatively crafted affair at odds with the industrialised ugliness of its surrounds, the gig itself taking place in what looked like a reclaimed school hall. UnicaZürn are first […]
Sofa The latest album from Norwegian tuba player Martin Taxt, as well as being a continuation of the work started on 2020’s First Room, comes on like the ultimate in minimalist sound as architecture. His microtonal tuba carries single tones as if they were the most precious of cargo, listening […]
PRAH The fourth moon-related release from Yama Warashi finds Yoshino Shigihara‘s band shifting to the Moshi Moshi offshoot PRAH and further stretching their legs with a unique distillation of gently fuzzy psych and that dreamy Japanese vocalising that gives them such an exotic appeal. Over eight lengthy and quixotic tracks, […]
Buried Treasure Recorded entirely within a closed-input / fedback set-up and two antique tape machines, Howlround‘s Trespass And Welfare involves no actual input at all – samples, synths, pedals all abandoned in order to chase the ghosts in the machine. Ghosts that for the opener “Sonicjob Horsfunk” are of the […]
Thanatosis Produktion The list of groups of which reedist Martin Küchen is part is almost as long as my arm. A serial collaborator, his choice of fellow travellers is hugely varied and the number contained within the groups can be anything over two, the Angles projects and Fire! Orchestra perhaps […]
SPV It’s a strange feeling to be reviewing the last-ever Klaus Schulze album. Since 1981, I have been a follower of his work after after reading that he was connected to Tangerine Dream, who I was a massive fan of at the time. From that first listen I understood that […]
Post 3 Electro Knights is a recent collaborative affair from members of Leeds band Bushpilot, who were active back in the nineties; here they have chosen electronic music as their jumping off point, an experiment in synthesis that finds the three members happily exploring the far reaches of their chosen […]
Sedna Chronicles Sedna Chronicles is a travel guide to the occult, unusual and downright eerie. English Heretic’s Andy Sharp and The Hare & The Moon’s Grey Malkin attempt to channel the weird energies trapped within their favourite Scottish haunts, and to be honestly they do a great job, the accompanying […]