Photographer Paula Rae Gibson is an intriguing character, well renowned in her chosen profession; she has also spent time writing and recording experimental jazz-based music, sporadically releasing albums on the 33 label. The latest on 33 Extreme finds her teaming up once again with pianist and composer Kit Downes and trumpeter Alex Bonney for an hushed, intense collection of late-night tales.
Latterly, although Bardo Pond’s new activities have slowed somewhat, the band’s bounteous back catalogue and previously unreleased tape vault extractions are being given considered curatorial care through regular releases on Fire Records, Three Lobed and Matador. With the latter label having just exhumed 1999’s churningly squally Set And Setting long-player, alongside Melt Away, a double-LP of choice rarities built-up around the ensemble’s four-album Matador affiliation, the time seemed more than ripe to converse over email with Michael Gibbons on the past, present and future of Bardo Pond...
Clearly, the quintet line-up must have worked for all concerned, because this ever-progressive group has chosen to move forward as five. Somehow with the addition of new members and specifically an unfettered vocalist, more space has crept in, allowing the assembled pieces much more opportunity to breathe. There must have been a surfeit of ideas as the disc squeaks in at just over seventy-eight minutes; but as with all their previous output, those ideas are free range, roaming over whichever distant landscapes you might try to imagine.
London 24 October 2024 It was rather a dull day to traipse halfway across London for a gig, but I had high hopes that Goat were going to bring some life and spectacle to the evening. First though, a few words on the venue, the East End’s Troxy in Limehouse. This is the second time I’d been here after last year’s Swans gig and it’s clear that this […]
I'd like to say that it's something like if Jeff Mills was Ugandan but that's ridiculous. This does share the intensity but not the build-up. It's adjacent to techno and there's cowbell; but it's also a smidge faster and more dynamic -- second track "Boiller Omukka" gives the impression of a slurring tempo, like a wobbly sea journey, but it's a more concise and mobile thing than four-to-the-floor Detroit-isms.
The latest release from our favourite pastoral bedroom psychedelicist finds Robert Sotelo in the esteemed company of Mary Currie where they weave four treatsome tales from the heart and mind.
Soul Song The purple patch for composer and bass player Yosef Gutman continues with two more judiciously chosen collaborations released on his own Soul Song label. Clearly itching to release more music, guitarist Gilad Hekselman appears on Why Ten? They are joined by friend and long-time collaborator Gilad Ronen on reeds and Ofri Nehemya on percussion. For Unity, the sound is a little fuller as Yosef is not […]
Well this is exciting (especially after the Unremembered, Remembered demos a few years back) -- suddenly out of nowhere we have a new album from those Wolfgang Press guys. Is it any good? Of course it is!
For the last twenty-five years or so, Mark Beazley's Rothko has been an ever-evolving beast with a lot of this progression due to a number of carefully considered collaborations. This latest album involves old friend, Welsh composer Steve Parry. Steve's youthful memories of his mother playing the church organ invests a sepulchral air top his keyboard ruminations, but tempered with a metallic abstraction.
This Precious Recordings-curated collection, from the long-gone Reading-birthed Saloon, comes with some weight of expectations attached, being the first LP-sized vinyl product generated from the label’s rooting around the BBC session vaults, after a remarkably reliable run of EP releases. However, such weight is quickly lifted from the first airings of these side-apiece audio chronicles of two visits to Maida Vale.
The intriguing collaboration between Jan, Erik and vocalist Sidsel Endresen on Punkt Live Remixes Volume 2 finds them sampling and remixing live pieces from the likes of Jon Hassell, 3 Trapped Tigers, Maja Ratke, Ensemble Modern and other luminaries, and with the addition of Sidsel's enigmatic vocalising, turning them into a series of diffuse, minimal atmospheres that give the listener pause to wonder quite how it has come about.
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.
Taking their time, Godspeed You! Black Emperor slowly assembled on the stage, each taking root to their wares, adding to the prevailing dynamics. The scratched letters of hope jump on the illuminated wall behind the semi-circle of performers. The gathering storm sonically spiring, conspiring, sliding skilfully into view. Haven’t seen Godspeed live since the early 2000s (though I continued to buy their wares) and I’m glad to report they’ve lost none of their majesty. That sad elixir, the stuttering stigmata of that dogged perseverance and explosive deliverance all still razor sharp.
With just the two of them on an array of esoteric instruments including electric pencil sharpener, frog guiro, saxello and waterphone, they cover the most extraordinary textural ground and encompass works from the likes of Kandinsky, Pollock, Picasso and Monet. A clear labour of love, the pair bounced ideas backwards and forwards, editing down until twelve diverse and thought-provoking pieces emerged.
We know what No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead refers to, but we also know that it doesn’t have to. Yes, it’s the response to that, but though there’s always been clear signifiers in Godspeed You! Black Emperor releases (including references to Palestine) and even clearer references in their actions, the music has often taken a less dogmatic approach, swapping 'mere' words for rhythmic sweep and crescendo, finding emotional aggregates and passion in the interleaving of string and guitar.
It is an intriguing proposition and one that veers over twelve diverse tracks from folk-inflected whimsy to stunning feats of acrobatic electrification. Star Quality starts out fairly simply with acoustic guitar and Eleanor's pure clarity, but with the interjection of a found voice that joins her in an unusual duet. "Willow Tree : A Dialogue" is the only piece with words and the found voice causes an electric bluster in the guitar, a sense of darkness developing as the vocals turns frantic and faintly upsetting.
Past and future intertwine in Alex Emslie's powerful prismatic video for Jack Cheshire's "Let Go Lightly". Haunting revolving landscapes, cityscapes, elemental forces and apocalyptic future visions blend and blur amid perpetual change and transformation. Straddling darkness and light, this piece is an impressionistic meditation on change, technology, life 'out of balance' and the mysterious power of nature.
Recent material lists towards the two-minute assault and it's all fun. It occurred to me that given the tempos and the fact that it's sequenced drums, Melt-Banana may well be the world's most successful speedcore band on a technical level. It's got a lot of similarities with punk and hardcore, but it has an intensity that's uncommon to guitar music, for my money. So let's say they're a speedcore band.