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 Festival, people were perhaps expecting them to tackle pieces from Darkening Ligne Claire, but instead a wildly unexpected […]
Mr Olivetti
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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 rate, always managing to find the kind of interesting, whimsical and unique acts that make the listener sit […]
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 to the main label, releasing albums that were slightly out of the ordinary, often affiliated with other forms […]
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 many instruments at play here as well as field recordings, and “alien objects” that move the pieces from […]
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 swathes of echo, whereas Andy Pyne‘s drums patters tend in a more tribal direction, making for an intriguing […]
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 big, there is clearly still an appetite for the sort of brutal, minimalist action that we find here […]
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 puts it right onto the back foot.
Audio Obscura Neil Stringfellow‘s Audio Obscura has followed up 2020’s Love In The Time Of The Anthropocene with another expansive and hugely diverse litany of the destruction that has been caused since the time that our species has been on the earth. It is an affecting and far-reaching suite of pieces that make great use of the spoken word, set against the backdrop of expansive electronica that is […]
Injazero There is something kind of fitting about the title to Mike Lazarev‘s latest mini opus. It is a work of real compositional thought and love, but although it comprises ten tracks, it clocks in at a little over twenty minutes. You may think that it would only constitute sketches or fragments, but each of these short piano-led pieces is perfect in its integrity and the moods captured […]
Gizeh The brief spoken-word section, remote and benign, of the drifting opening track to Christine Ott‘s latest release, Time To Die, lends an air of tired truth to the doomy and distorted soundscape. Electronic sounds waver in the dust of a far-flung outpost, distant and interminable.
Ala Bianca The latest release from Sicilian percussionist Alfio Antico finds him staring out form the rural cover like a nineteenth century mesmerist, his gaze unyielding as he prepares to draw us in to his unique soundworld of sung-spoken folk tales set against the musical wealth of his players and collaborators as they dip into European folk and trail through acoustic-industrial unrest to a galaxian drift.
Discus For Treppenwitz‘s third musical adventure, the trio set up in a living room and pressed record to see what could be captured over the course of two days’ improvisation. That sense of intimacy and immediacy is perfectly captured on this document that finds them further blurring the boundaries that might constrict a trio that leans towards jazz, but is completely immersed in a wealth of styles and […]
Jazzland John Bishop‘s latest Tortusa release, Bre, finds him teaming up with a group of like-minded sonic explorers to prepare a series of fantastical, elemental soundscapes that act as ciphers for the extraordinary images on the cover. The sounds sweep from the speakers, appearing at once modern yet ageless, as if they were generated with no understanding or knowledge of the current state of music. With a guest […]
Niafunken Mirco Ballabene has studied double bass to the highest level and has used that grounding on his latest album to probe the links between the academic music of the twentieth century and more improvisational techniques. This melding of the two is what makes Right To Party tick and also what makes it such an intriguing listen.
Label Fandango Modern Hinterland trade in the kind of anthemic nineties-influenced indie pop-rock that I thought had gone out of fashion. The sort that bands like Morning Runner and Longwave used to ply, and I am pleased that people out there still feel there is mileage in it. Chris Hornsby possesses a characterful voice that sits well with the gentle energy of the band.
KrysaliSound The latest release on KrysaliSound finds two Italian artists, Pier Giorgio Storti and Nicola Fornasari, joining forces as That Which Is Not to produce The Basic Sharpness Of Emotions, a series of contemplative soundscapes on captured through the lonely environs of a distant forest. It has a rarefied feel that puts us way outside human contact, and the slow sway of cello and clarinet join forces with […]
The interest that Brave Words generated, even here on the other side of the world, found them courted by bigger labels and for their second, the recently reissued Submarine Bells, they found themselves on London derivative, Slash.
Courier On another of Courier‘s delightful cassette releases, we find Cousin Sharky trading in “sub-dimensional bass street electronics”. Although this goes part way to describing the sound contained therin, there is something at times distant and ancient about some of the wide variety of moods and textures on offer on Re-Evaluation Of The Macro-Cellular Communication System.