Whilst streaming playlists have become somewhat of a leviathan bestriding the world of multi-artist showcasing and taste-making, there is still space for the defiantly valiant art of assembling thoughtful standalone compilations. Particularly when they are curated by gatekeepers from the DIY mix tape generation, who also have a Rolodex replete with choice contributors at their fingertips. Enter then, two collections vying for such attention from reliable and familiar sources.
album review
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With flutes, harps, psalteries, melodica, organ, electronics, tabla, bells, drums, percussion and further assorted treats, you could be forgiven for thinking this would be an overwhelming barrage of noise, but instead the approach is subtle yet insidious; space being created by all four, which allows the myriad connections and combinations to be fully appreciated.
The constant evaluation and reworking of The Telescopes' sound is what keeps them relevant and yet oddly existing outside time. Nobody really sounds like them and hasn't done for years; and for all the flow of '80s and '90s bands reforming and reiterating, The Telescopes continue on their outward trajectory, still searching and rewardingly still discovering.
Otherworldly and oblique in equal measures, this is a curiously compelling conception overall, that signifies either just the start of longer epic journey or a fleeting collaborative detour. Whichever it is, Customs And Rituals Of The Taps Of The Holy Trinity marks itself out an arrestingly memorable entry in the soon-to-be-sealed-up Fenny Compton catalogue.
...teaming up with vibes player Ralph Wyld, trombonist Kieran Mcleod and bassist Huw V Williams and taking a crack at palindromic composition on Petstep for an assembled quartet that is a fascinating combination.
The noir-flushed disquiet of "Uncertain" limping into a scattering post-rock pulmonary, Adi Newton’s voice a looming vulture shadow brambled in ambiguity. This album is still a keeper some forty plus years later, typified by the joy-shaped Molotov that is "Sensorium" and beyond.
...it’s back to core archival business once again with three further releases, albeit with a few novel twists in the tale.
...everything changed because this record is the one they recorded after Electric Larryland. It is from the '90s and it is exactly the Butthole Surfers record I’d wanted them to release at the time. I went back, took out all the crybaby ‘why did they do this?’ stuff, and re-listened. It’s a completely different record when you see it was supposed to come out in ‘97 and ‘98.
...the Caktus sound is swollen to include four reeds players, two trumpets, three trombones, two bassists and two drummers; but although this may sound a lot, the overall effect is sleek and subtle.
...effortlessly seems to draw from the last thousand years of musical progression, yet somehow manages to be its very own thing driven by her personal observations.
As some of Sonic Cathedral’s fledgling artists have left the fold of late.. it has fallen to two veteran enterprises to lead on the label’s mid-year release schedule and related activities.
...based on recordings that they had completely overlooked, so there is a feeling of reinvention here as well which -- along with the bizarre track titles, a sense of the absurd and a generous coating of humour -- only adds to the charm.
A raucous revelry that burns solidly throughout, pokes the post-punk corpse, churns wildly industrial, sounds that hold well to that roughly-hued head of the cover that scars darkly primitive. Magazine really feels like a brooding wound of discontent that’s still wide open demanding to be prodded.
...at about twenty-three minutes is over before you know it; but the ride is well worth the effort. Meatshell's ideas are varied and their vision limitless, and the fun they appear to be having is a large part of the charm.
...takes the familiar drifting folklore-influenced soundscapes and merges them with strings and voices for an unexpected journey. The album uses the live recordings as a basis and then re-imagines them in the studio, the distant piano and drifting trumpet immediately sending the listener off into a world where edges are blunted and the things softly reverberate.
..couches his clear, upbeat style over seven varying pieces that range from two to nine minutes and encompass blues, slide and Spanish inflections within a landscape of wide-open desert spaces.
Mattias brings his trademark textural sax and synth backdrops while Black Koyo bring the ritual chants, guimbri (a three-string bass lute), the qraqeb (a kind of metal castanet) and a sense of mystery. Together, these disparate acts make a six-part suite that offers Gnawa traditionals in expansive and often dreamlike settings.
The initial impetus for Green Prism came from composer Hilary Jeffery asking the late Keith Tippett to compose some music for Berlin-based group Zinc & Copper. This was originally premiered in Berlin in 2019, but unfortunately Keith was too ill to attend and sadly died soon after. In a form of tribute, Hilary took some of the pieces that Keith wrote and re-imagined them for a brass ensemble.