The clouds of complex microtonal chords in "I" could sit on their own, but there's enough clear, near-melodic notes floating through to make it distinctly composed. I say 'near-melodic' notes because while there's definitely lines that you'd maybe call monodic lines (that is, single notes), they're effervescent enough to never quite land like melody. If it's not clear, this is a lovely effect.
Yearly archives: 2025
174 posts
Amongst the pastoral birdcalls and wind rustling the leaves, the bass has retreated to a liminal throb, an ancient heartbeat its low tones giving a grounding to the natural sounds that move around our heads and open our eyes. We traverse the panorama slowly, with other elements introduced as we pass dreamlike carried on a bed of gossamer synth. The rush of water soothes as local bells toll gently.
...two epics-within-themselves .. a pair of expansive CD / digital-only outings from reliable combinations of creators and curators, from the scene that never sleeps.
Made me wish I was more familiar with what was being played, but to be honest it didn’t really matter, for now I was caught up in the muscled savagery of it all. That all-in passionate and sweat-drenched prism of sharded lyrics and tons of wah-waded and drone-coated interest. A driven emphasis greedily keeping you up close and personal, crowned by this wedging might of double drums.
... the reason it works, always has worked, and just keeps working is that Guitar Wolf, like Motörhead, don’t fuck with the formula. And, like Motörhead, they take rock’n’roll, strip it back to its basics, and do it faster, louder and, most importantly, COOLER than anyone else.
Utterly compelling sonics that pearl potently, splash morbidly into the piano pins of “Disintegrate”, hinting echoes of the next album, grasping at a haunting sadness that would be later expanded upon, but for now slowly falling into the expressionist despair of silence. It might be forty years old, but it still remains a brooding masterpiece. Thank you Dais for bringing Camouflage Heart back into the world.
We have absolutely no idea what to expect as each new section starts, so it is best to just immerse yourself and trust to their natural flow. ... Once again, Uroboro set new standards on what we can expect from an improv gathering which feels more like a series of extended conversations between good friends
But these days, of course, not only does the Man of Steel have to meet sky-high expectations in terms of spectacle and visual effects, but he also has to compete with an overcrowded marketplace of increasingly indistinguishable spandex-clad do-gooders. So he’d better be faster than the speeding bullet of audience fatigue, and more powerful than the locomotive of diminishing returns.
For the latest release for experimental jazz label Clonmell Jazz Social, guitarist Ted Morcaldi has convened a trio to flesh out his dreamlike concoctions. With some percussion from Joshua Blackmore and bass form Joel Humann, Ted spins twelve diverse pieces using the very different tones of electric, classical and twelve-string guitars plus various synth sounds.
Acting as the latest ambassadorial outing from the Bedroom Suck community and following on from 2018’s enigmatic eponymous LP under the somewhat off-putting Cyanide Thornton moniker, Birding Out captivates as an idiosyncratic creative deposition from its own little corner of the world.
It's A Love Song is the first Massaker release of new material since 1993's Koksofen and it is quite the cumbersome journey. Spread over three tracks and thirty-four minutes, the LP consists of an abstract intro of muted bells, dropped instruments and loaded silence; and then two live versions of recent composition, the titular "It's A Love Song".
Other than a basic knowledge of the premise, watching the two movies isn’t necessary to enjoy these, though it is recommended. Over six episodes we see him and his alter-ego Peachfuzz get up to all sorts of murderous shenanigans in bite-sized pieces, each episode being a self-contained “tape”.
Entering a realm where the laws of latter-day rock and pop physics don’t really apply, this second self-billed long-player for the label -- from the artist formerly known as Ziggy Heroe -- trades in the suave and sophisticated side-alleys that largely became forgotten about since The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and their peers rewrote the rules of engagement in the latter-half of the 1960s
A triangulation of talent, the '70s library album cover art repetitively alludes to a collaboration between three members of Bristol’s No-Wave wrecking ball, Repo Man (Liam McConaghy - guitar / Anthony Brown - bass / Bojak - sax, violin, vocals) collectively labelled Repo; and two members of Exeter’s free jazz trio Capri-Batterie (Matt (K) Lord on tenor sax and bass and Kordian Tetkov on all things percussive and squeaky), an extra contingent that swerves tastily in there, temples the tension with extra perspective.
Two recent albums involving Swedish pianist Mathias Landæus give good indications of the standard of his piano playing and ability to interact with other players. Both albums are by trios, with the first, Mathias with Nina de Heney on bass and Kresten Osgood on drums, giving us Dissolving Patterns; while the Landæus Trio, which features Johnny Åman on bass and Cornelia Nilsson at the drumkit, present Resilience.
Once more on to the fertile fields of the DIY electronica scene we go, cutting a path to search for the most interesting of musical crops that grow and regenerate at exponential rates…
God Unknown Although of Australian extraction, Daren Smallman is currently based in the UK, involved with God Unknown Records and recording as synth psych legend Dez Dare. In love with vintage synths and combining glam, post-punk and psychedelia, he’s eager to squeeze all that into a three-minute pop song and thus arrives Cheryl! Your Love Shines Down Like A Supernova’s Death, his latest missive. With all instruments and singing […]
Segmenting its sequencing between six quite lengthy instrumentals and three song-based collaborations, Swallow unapologetically and assuredly bridges the gap between Ride’s formative basilica-ceiling scraping epics and the post-rock world the group part-inspired through the interregnum years.