Slow ‘n’ steady, lulling mirroring sounds -- then just when you think it’s grasping towards some om-like union, a repetitive carpet of agitated frets throws things splendidly off-piste, the canvas suddenly gripped in an overfed rebound and answering recoil.
album review
2660 posts
...the whole is a -- dare I say -- pretty but disconcerting melange of electronic elements that veer between noise and rhythm. It's certainly not the kind of textural play of musique concrète or noise, but it's also not so sedate as to qualify as ambient music.
As a treatise on self discovery, the album works really well; the wide variety of songs, the welcoming closeness of the players and the willingness to attempt the road less travelled here and there makes for a pleasurable listening experience.
...arrives with the strong expectation of being another consistent concoction. Dutifully and rewardingly, Phelan and co. don’t abuse such presumptions with the honourable Hullabaloo.
The blustering guitar, dirty, squalling sax and tumble-drier drums really bring to mind a drive through a desert that is alive with discordant debris...
...sounds and ideas that can sate listeners’ appetites on subliminal and intuitive levels, whilst also pushing them to sample new additions on the artistic menu. Enter then, two distinctive albums which do just that, in varying degrees.
...bassist and composer Guy Segers returns with the ever-evolving hydra-headed Eclectic Maybe Band. It feels that each album is a push on from the previous, with the number of personnel involved on Domestic Dragon amounting to thirty-five.
This is a fairly legendary record in the world of crate digging. It goes for eye-watering amounts on Discogs, so a re-issue is very welcome. It's absolutely a weird record that everyone should hear. The reason people usually pick up on it is because it bears a resemblance to acid house.
Cherry Red have gratifyingly decided to reissue Popol Vuh’s first and fifth albums though their Esoteric imprint, respectively Affenstunde and Einsjäger und Siebenjäger. Divine providence was surely at work here, and so... I will here provide some little written devotion.
...they porously pull at the framework, cursively hint to the heritage but flex fresh perspectives; this is a living thing after all -- museums can wait.
On record there are over a hundred guitar tracks on each track -- live, where I see them at The Troxy, there are just two hooded men, standing in front of a veritable Stonehenge of amps, all labouring and straining under the force of the sound. Which is where the true music comes from.
The bright-eyed yearning that all the players show throughout is what makes the album so listenable. Once again, Keith and the players have concocted a collection that is easy on the ear but with hidden depths.
The 4AD label, and Pixies as part of their roster, were exemplars of this sort of thinking, with their single and EP releases unique works of art in their own right. The collection of the b-sides from their original six UK singles was originally released on CD in 2001, but here they have been remastered and augmented by live tracks ...
The washed-out, sun-bleached image on the cover and the faraway look in his eyes conveys a lot of the aesthetic of the songs here which, ably assisted by Heine Hansen on piano, Anders Holm Jensen on drums, Morten Lundsby on bass, Jakob Riis Holm on guitar, Eliel Williams Lazo Linares on percussion and Aksel Falgren on keys, look into the distance, lifted by the desire to go beyond, blurring distance, time and style into one fluid whole.
..thirty-three minutes of subtly inventive instrumentals and warmly abstract songs. Loosely assembled in tech terms but not necessarily low in fidelity, the multi-skilled Kennan solitarily forges these ten gathered pieces with varying combinations of keyboards, electronics, strings, guitars and her own reverb-wrapped vocals.
he instrumental energy of these compositions is off the scale. Instinctively light and airy, their complexity playful, imaginative; everything vibrantly falls into place, spiralling plenty of intriguing pyrotechnics in the process.
The group, rather like Mariam’s voice, has a mind of its own and the way the two interact is pretty special. They develop an awkward rhythm, allowing the words to feel nestled as myriad sounds cavort in the rushes and banks.
...some four years after 2022's Fjære and finds Berg plus bassist Bárður Reinert Poulsen and drummer Simon Albertsen sketching more post-jazz backdrops for Espen's vivid collection of new songs.