Having set up a new studio in Margate, the freedom and sounds of life by the sea have subtly insinuated themselves in to the pieces here which, along with the album celebrating the sixty-third anniversary of Yuri Gagarin being the first human in space, lends it a strange dichotomy between the weightlessness and movement of being in orbit and the freshness and positivity of time spent idling on the seafront.
Mr Olivetti
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With two primary percussionists, you could be forgiven for thinking this s a journey into rhythm; but it is far more thought-provoking than that and the opener "The Ggraveyard Of Sharks", with its distorted blasts of debris and simmering radioactive warehouse vibe, is a dense, compulsive introduction. The percussion spills and bursts, drifting into almost silence and the sense of unknown and echoing mystery hangs heavy.
Discus It has been a couple of years since Carla Diratz‘s The Scale was released and you could be forgiven if the line-up for that album viewed it as a one-off; a unique meeting of post jazz rock minds. But when Carla contacted Martin Archer to suggest a more blues […]
Fyear are a double drummer nine-piece with two spoken word performers which has chosen a suite of seven apocalyptic post-classical soundscapes to force across their message of human mistake, economic disarray and environmental disaster. The sound generated by the group and the thoughts expressed make them a perfect fit on Constellation, sharing recording venue Hotel 2 Tango with many of the label's other artists and a desire to raise consciousness in a new and unique way.
For Maridalen's third album, although the line-up of Jonas Vemøy, Anders Hefre and Andreas Haga remains the same, the venue has changed and instead of the self-referencing village church, they have decamped even further from civilisation to the island of Gressholmen, a boat ride from Oslo, which according to the lovely photographs is an apparently partly abandoned area redolent of the past.
There is an intensity to the delivery especially when set against the stark tones of solo piano, the English words of the self-titled opener dancing into German as Katt Hernandez's lazy violin curls around the piano like smoke. These shards of violin that are spread throughout the album work as threads that draw the stories along, a serrated light into which the voice stares longingly.
For the first album under his own name, a more fluid group of musicians has gathered to flesh out musical expressions that have been approached in a way that highlights the melody and rhythm, but also allows plenty of room for extemporisation. The other lovely thing about the album is that, although it is born of Kjetil's ideas, he leaves acres of space for his guests often moving into the background to allow the likes of Arve Henriksen, Martin Myhre Olsen and Signe Emmeluth to step forward and lead the way.
Computer Students The Conformists have been toiling away in the St Louis hinterlands for nearly thirty years, crafting their awkward, distended “ugly rock music” and stretching it into new shapes, imbuing them with fresh perspectives and leading us away from leaden cruelty to a hypnotic, distorted romanticism that drags new […]
Of all the times we’ve seen SunnO))) in action, this is definitely the best. The doom theatrics seem to be taken to a new level, visually grasping the apocalyptic with fresh conviction, the red disc lights behind glowing like dying suns cloaked in smokey blooms. Beacons shivering out in radiating spokes of arrowing light as the sound luxuriates in the smouldering pyroclastic cliff fall.
Considering their current roster, Constellation is the perfect fit for this series of tracks that explore the interaction between electronics and voice in a completely unhindered and boundaryless fashion. Having spent time in groups and working on the edges of experimentation, this album focuses primarily on what Erika can achieve and how far she can push her voice within the song format.
Recorded over two post-lockdown days, these recordings are consumed by a desire to play together in a room again after such a lay-off and that air of desire is palpable. This recording, encompassing the second day of the session, is alive with the possibility and their interaction and generosity is plain to hear.
Rooting For Love is a really welcome return for Laetitia Sadier and one that shows her willingness to merge experimentation with familiarity has lost none of its sparkle and for that we should be grateful.
After some twenty-five years, 4AD are issuing an expanded pressing of the Pixies sessions for the BBC. Encompassing the years 1988-1991, it collects the recordings for five Peel Sessions and one for Mark Goodier in their apparent entirety rather than the bits and pieces compilation from 1998. Spilt across two discs on LP and CD, disc one contains two sessions from 1988 and one from 1989, all for John Peel, while the second disc contains two from 1990, one for Goodier and one for Peel, and the final Peel Session from 1991.
For Jan Bang's latest vocal album, he has gathered a fantastic array of like-minded travellers to assist in pursuing the dreamlike vision for this collection of gentle, heartfelt tales.
Russell Walker's dreamy, louche delivery is ferried by the awkward rhythms and funky wandering bass that we have come to know over such a career. The grooves are often quite forceful and the guitar runs around in circles attempting to settle down but unable to; an antithesis to the gently questioning vocals. The spacey keys that appear from time to time are an unexpected treat and the whole thing bowls along at a fair old lick.
Guitarist and Empty Birdcage supremo Daniel Thompson continues his investigations into the improvisational world with a collaboration involving saxophonist Caroline Kraabel and dancer Max Reed. Now, if this sounds intriguing, you are right; because not only does Max bring a certain atmosphere to the proceedings, but his shuffling steps and purring vocal outbursts lend further dimensions to an already tasty sax and guitar interplay.
This is the three-piece Fire!'s eighth album for Rune Grammofon and just in case the usual formula where the trio invites friends over to assist in the production of ever-more dramatic output has become tired, they have turned their back on all that. Instead, they headed for Illinois and spent two days with Steve Albini paring the essence of the sound back to sax, bass and drums and allowing rhythmic sturdiness as a framework for new adventures.
Kayla Cohen's Itasca project has been running now for over ten years and has found a comfortable home of Paradise of Batchelors. This is the third album for them and with Robbie Coady of Wand behind the desk, and with assistance from Evan Backer and Evan Burrows as well as Gun Outfit bandmate Daniel Swire, a more guitar-centric sound has been uncovered and shown to the light.
Not Applicable It is an intriguing combination; bass clarinet, electronics and percussion and one that renowned improvisers Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov and Rudi Fischerlehner utilise with equal parts aplomb and care, imbuing their sensitive imagery on In The Gloaming with space and time. The sounds initially are tentative, sussing out […]
Andy Watts Productions London Afrobeat Collective trumpeter Andy Watts clearly had some thinking to do over the pandemic period and chose that time to re-engage with his solo ideas. Inviting drummer Filippo Galli and utilising a bespoke cornet and a battery of effects pedals, he constructed a series of expansive […]