Warp It is not before time that Warp has chosen to compile the work that Seefeel produced for them. For me, Seefeel are one of the most important and overlooked bands of the nineties, managing to skirt around a number of genres without stepping directly into them, blazing a trail […]
Mr Olivetti
Empty Birdcage The array of percussive instruments in the photograph on Steve Noble‘s Solo release shows the stripped-down aesthetic that he is working towards; a snare, some gongs, various cymbals and some sort of boards. The sounds that appear within are about as far from the busy funk workouts of […]
Thrill Jockey Everyone’s favourite collaborating drummer Kid Millions has found a kind of solace in the arms of Mouse On Mars‘s arch experimentalist Jan St Werner. Perhaps solace isn’t quite the right word, as these glitchy, dusty scuffles are not particularly relaxing; but somehow have found an odd momentum. Recorded […]
Discus Martin Archer must have been busy over lockdown. Not only was he keeping an eye on the running of Discus, but he had time to be involved in a multitude of collaborative releases, two of which have dropped almost simultaneously and show two very different sides to his not […]
Courier I was reading Bram Stoker‘s Lair Of The White Worm recently, and there is something about the slow creep of the latest Courier cassette that evokes the brooding, underground menace of that book. The ominous drone, the slow vibrations, a rustling movement of an inexplicable body. Aqueous groans sound […]
Intimate Inanimate The artwork for the latest collaboration between Aria Rostami and Daniel Blomquist is lovely, but has a kind of impenetrability that filters through to the sounds within. It is as if these undiscovered runic symbols had a diffuse and languorous soundtrack that had been beamed in from some […]
Joyful Noise Recordings You could suggest that after nearly forty years in the music industry that Lou Barlow has finally found himself in a position where he has various different directions in which to flex his musical muscles; Dinosaur Jr for his bass playing chops and meatier songwriting, Sebadoh for […]
Opa-Loka It seems to me that Philippe Petit‘s mission in his artistic existence is to make us re-appraise the way that we listen to music, sound, noise, however you wish to describe it, and to try and rewrite the rules, using sounds and forms that are so outside of the […]
Constellation I was really looking forward to seeing Fly Pan Am come to Bristol last year. On the strength of last year’s C’est Ca, it was bound to be a storming show — and then lockdown hit, so although we didn’t manage to see them, instead we have ended up […]
(self-released) Drummer Jochen Rueckert uses his Wolff Parkinson White alias when he is in the mood for subverting the romantic notion of the soulful vocalist tugging the heartstrings of the listener. This he does by surrounding the singer in question with a barrage of sonic accompaniment that tests the strength […]
The Leaf Label Fernando Corona has been pushing the boundaries of recorded sound as Murcof for some twenty years or so now and for this latest, he is reunited with The Leaf Label; a fitting home for his restless innovation. The work on this double album was started four years […]
Upset The Rhythm Finally, more from Kaputt in the form of this delightful clear blue 7″. Only two tracks, I know, but what a frantic mood they bring to the party; slightly sickly, Fursy sax, high-pitched keening guitar, double-tracked inquisitive conversational vocals. It all just jumps in there, grabs your […]
À Tant Rêver du Roi Kong‘s sole album has taken thirteen years to finally be issued on vinyl, and its muscular insistence and discomfiting tension is great to have back in circulation. I can’t remember who suggested that the trio was the ultimate expression of the rock format, but these […]
Archaeological / Dio Drone The latest collaboration from these two denizens of the underground is quite a change from their previous release due to its live format and it being the only current recording of them performing together. When the Archaeological folk requested their appearance at the eighth Dio Drone […]
Upset The Rhythm For me, Upset The Rhythm are turning into a kind of post-modern 4AD or Too Pure, the sort of labels on which you could take a punt and pretty much guarantee that what you had purchased would be good. So far, UTR have had an excellent hit […]
Crammed Discs That most dashing of European labels, Crammed Discs, is celebrating forty years in the industry, and in keeping with this are engineering a series of reissues, of which the first volume of their Made To Measure albums is at the front. Made To Measure served as an adjunct […]
KrysaliSound Benjamin Finger is a rather prolific electronic artist based in Oslo and one who has spilt his largesse across numerous labels in the last ten or so years. KrysaliSound is the latest recipient and Auditory Colors is a miasma of drifting tones, mystery vocals and snatched, hallucinatory moments. There are […]
Foolproof Projects It is always great to have Map 71 back in the fold and once again they are pushing the envelope of what can be achieved with voice, synth and drums. This four-track EP seems to have its feet in the dub camp, with Lisa Jayne‘s vocals covered with […]
A Tant Rêver Du Roi (EU) / Buzzhowl (UK) / Learning Curve (USA) Blacklisters (styled as Blklstrs on the sleeve)’ latest is only their third in about ten years, but their formidable live reputation certainly translates well to the recorded performance. With the likes of Idles and Shame making it […]
KrysaliSound The harpsichord is one of the most evocative instruments; its sound immediately transporting you back four or five hundred years to the time of royal courts and bewigged composers. On Voluta, Francesco Maria Narcisi takes fragments of the instrument being played and introduces them to a modern setting that […]