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.
Mr Olivetti
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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 […]
Vocalists Malin Alander, Silje Risdal Liahagen and Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen are all acclaimed solo artists on the Norwegian music scene. Together as Hekate they breathe new life in to the folk dance form slåttetralling, which involves three-part unison singing with a touch of basic percussion ...
Hedvig Mollestad on guitar, with Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad on drums are a power trio in the old sense of the term with the riffs on opener "See See Bop" truly heavy and distorted. They ply a slow, boogie rhythm with an epic '70s production that brings to mind ZZ Top with that kind of Southern-fried sound, but blown through with noise.
Finnish pianist Antti Lähdesmäki plays in a number of different groups. but for We Tend To Help Each Other Out Here, it is just him and his piano. Over thirteen diverse pieces, he allows his personality and the foibles of the instrument to insinuate their way into our consciousness.
Brussels-based composer Valerie Leclercq has been recording as Half Asleep for the best part of twenty years. Although essentially Valerie's brainchild, there is assistance from like-minded friends who allow her unique vision to be brought to fruition.
Since the last Neurosis album back in 2016, Steve von Till has concentrated on his solo career, releasing seven solo albums, including this one, that continue to plumb the depths of Gothic-tinged Americana and explore his relationship with melody in ever increasing ways.
To a certain extent you know what to expect from a Loscil album, but somehow each outing is very different from the previous, the imagery specific to a set of ideas.
The constant state of evolution for Constellation Records is a wonderful thing. As they approach their thirtieth anniversary, the label continues to release essential albums from doyens of the Canadian underground that cover all musical styles. post-classical chamberHere we have two very different string-oriented releases that use the post-classical chamber genre as a starting point
Running to over an hour and spread over eight tracks, Henke allows the repetitive nature of the techno-oriented beats to run without boundaries, but the electronic details and evocative atmospheres are what make the album something which piques the curiosity.
With the addition of Marc Sarrazy on piano for one section and Loïc Schild on drums and metallophone for the other, the initial idea transformed into something more abstract and ritualistic; an ever-evolving widescreen sweep that sets various textures against a desert wind backdrop.
Bassist and composer Vilhelm Bromander has reconvened the players from 2023's In This Forever Unfolding Moment and they are now trading as The Unfolding Orchestra, taking the previous ideas and extending them, creating four very different long-form pieces that allow the talented musicians to play against one another and push themselves a little bit further than the last release. There are a few changes of personnel, but on the whole it is the same group and that familiarity gives them a greater sense of adventure, covering far more ground than before.
As we near the end of Glaciers, so the pieces grow sparser, a lugubrious atmosphere of impending doom is upset by the most incredible vibe shimmer and the two instruments as they circle one another collapse into one another’s arms, spent for now and drifting away, becoming more and more distant, leaving the listener with echoes of what came before
The list of instruments on guitarist Geir Sundstol's sixth album for Hubro is as long as both my arms. This inventive selection of widescreen soundscapes utilises all manner of guitar-adjacent instruments and straddles an interesting space between Ry Cooder-esque introspection, Ennio Morricone-like sweeps and Eastern tonal influence.
The title is pretty hilarious and the album artwork of emojis disintegrating into a murky computer soup had me wondering what it would be like if each symbol that people use had a soundtrack. Would it be anything like this or the complete opposite? There is only one way to find out; so allow the tentacles of the Ancient Psychic Triple Hyper Octopus to slowly reel you in.
Kranky The title of this meditative collaboration between guitarist Michael Grigoni and Mark Nelson trading as Pan American feels like a comment on the current state of the world order. Michael’s other role as assistant professor of religion gives an indication of the reflective nature of the pieces on offer here. Merging Mark’s guitar, mandolin and synths with Michael’s pedal steel, lap steel and dobro, they strike out […]
...his trust in and familiarity with the players comes across well in the live aspects of the recording process. It is that voice which you are buying into though; a stentorian baritone that also has warmth and vulnerability. Allied to the often reserved but flexible backing and with the addition of Ruth's sweet vocal counterpoint, this latest album sheds new light and shows a new way forward.
Each of the pieces here comes from a different perspective, using similar ingredients to create a very different feel, as if each track was a mini-soundtrack in its own right with the common thread being AVAWAVES’ collective imagination.