Fire It is hard to believe that Kristin Hersh and David Narcizo have been playing together now for over thirty-five years. 1985 was the year of that extraordinary debut that reset the expectations of female rock bands, and it has been thirty-five years of that visceral rollercoaster that is Kristin’s psyche: the automatic writing, those songs as an expression of a connection to humanity that seemed at times to […]
Mr Olivetti
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Beats In Space / RVNG Intl It has taken seven years for the Dukes Of Chutney to follow up 2013’s Domino with a full-length album. In that time on their long, strange trip, they seem to have infused sounds from numerous countries into a personal patchwork that plays like a series of mysterious and alluring postcards, drawing you out of your cosy living room and requesting that you join […]
Give Me Monaco There is a cool elegance to the beats on the debut Give Me Monaco album that belies the dancefloor capabilities and rhythmic intricacies of the tracks collected here. Their producer, Leigh Redding, has been striving to translate thoughts and feelings of singularity and twisting them together to make a cohesive whole from seemingly disparate elements.
Courier Sound After my recent question of “where else would you find such a thing?” for Alien‘s recent 23 tracks in 23 minutes release for the wonderful Courier Sound label, head honcho Stuart Bowditch has decided to ask fellow traveller and long-form electronic artiste Eumig to attempt a similar undertaking. As somebody who is more attuned to stretching pieces out to see where they will eventually take him, […]
Discus The de tian story is an interesting one; back in late 70’s Sheffield, Paul Shaft left new wavers 2.3, who released a record on Fast, to pursue something less structured and more adventurous. Along the way, he came into contact with Martin Archer and between them they pushed the band in a decidedly free direction, playing gigs and pushing boundaries until finally morphing into Bass Tone Trap.
A Turntable Friend 2017’s Untied Kingdom was the first full length Wolfhounds release in twenty-seven years and its lucid mix of musical vitality and social commentary was refreshing, on point and far more than we may realistically have expected. Three years later comes another album and once again, the intervening years have only gone on to hone their musical prowess, lyrical divergence and vocal abilities.
Bureau B You know that you are in for a mysterious journey when the artist’s name Baal and Mortimer turns out to be a pseudonym for one Alexandra Grubler. Her ability to fuse sparse electronics with disembodied but somehow compelling vocals is really rather impressive, and for each of the thirteen vignettes compiled here, the mood changes subtly, often hesitant, the sounds hiding in shadows, stretching and pulling […]
10 To 1 Australian expat Mark Kluzek‘s The Doomed Bird of Providence has been producing thoughtful, melancholy travelogues for the weary of heart for the best part of ten years. These often focus on colonial times in his native Oz, but on Rumbling Clouds of War Hover Over Us, the journey described is even more personal to Mark and much closer to home for us.
Infrared Metalheadz veteran J Majik follows up 2019’s well received Full Circle with a three-disc album, Always Be, which continues his melding of old school drum’n’bass with a certain experimental scattering of sounds across the banging beats, making it a little more than just a raucous dancefloor filler.
Tapete Symbiosis is Nathalie Bruno‘s first solo album-length outing as Drift.. After membership of Leave The Planet and Phosphor, and her Black Devotion and Genderland EPs, Nathalie decided to lock herself away and search within to complete a collection of tracks that would hold together as an album. it is fair to say that on the strength of Symbiosis, she has succeeded in that plan.
Courier Sound The latest release from The Spermaceti Organ, on a lovely cassette from Courier Sound, is a crazy, lurid yellow in an orange outer case; a vibrant and vivid release that is somehow the opposite of the distant light-smeared visions evoked by the sounds.
Discus Martin Archer must be one of the busiest men in music. Not content with running Discus, every other release seems to have some involvement from him, covering so many different styles and moods it is remarkable. Here we find him teaming up once again as Das Rad with Nick Robinson and Steve Dinsdale for another improvised excursion into noir-ish soundscape territory. Adios Al Futuro is the follow […]
Fabrik Birmingham’s Fabrik are releasing their second album of rolling, experiential grooves on the back of a previous track, “Black Lake”, being picked up for use as a podcast theme in the States. Via stateside crowdfunding, they have put together a physical release for this album that is packed full of slinky vibes and evocative soundscapes, twisting around the beguiling vocals of singer Hayley Trower.
Somewherecold Judging by the sleeve notes, the latest release from Alex Keevill‘s The Microdance has clearly had a difficult gestation, but the end result seems to have been well worth the sweat and tears. Over the course of fourteen tracks and more than an hour, we are taken on an emotional journey that hints at a kind of alt-rock direction, though Our Love Noire does rather plough its […]
Rune Grammofon For Master Oogway‘s second album, they find themselves aptly on Rune Grammofon, home of many jazz outliers for whom pigeonholes are not to be regarded. The simmering tension that opens Earth And Other Worlds on “Heracleion” is a case in point; a gentle sax line indicates a slow build of something, cymbals and the ghost of guitar fizz in the background, making themselves known, scatting and […]
Resipiscent I can’t believe Thomas Dimuzio has been producing sound for over thirty years and is still finding ways of taking the listener on sonic journeys; they are not always comfortable, but are invigorating and filled with new modes of expression. Perhaps that is the beauty of modular synth work; the possibilities are endless and one could be making soundscapes from now until the end of days and […]
L’invitation Musicale Adrien Durand‘s Bon Voyage Organisation are covering all bases on their follow up to 2018’s Jungle, Quelle Jungle? From experimental soundscapes to rhythmic locomotion to dancefloor-tinged funky soul, there is something for everyone.
Crammed Discs The Aksask Maboul story is an interesting one. Formed on 1977 by Crammed Discs supremo Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis, they recorded two experimental and now hard-to-find LPs, covering all sorts of genres, before merging with the Belgian band Honeymoon Killers and releasing another couple of diverse albums in the ’80s.