DO 555 PS is his first solo outing, utilising ideas formulated with his Pelican System album, but pushing them further and attempting to create a suite of songs for an imagined world from saxes, samples and electronics, and what an impressive feat it is. Over ten tracks, real and imagined sounds roil and reverberate, generating an atmosphere that picks at the edges of reality, uncovering a universe hidden in the shadows; one for which we need to take a deep breath before entering.
Mr Olivetti
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Upset The Rhythm It has been seven years since the last Rattle album and it feels as though in the down time Theresa Wrigley and Katharine Eira Brown have chosen to strip their drum and vocal sound down to the absolute bare bones, as if Sequence was too busy. They have stuck with the formula of two tracks per LP side but, with one being substantially longer then […]
Although Swiss melodic post-indie rock trio Ventura has been a unit for the best part of twenty years, this is only their fifth album but what a great discovery for these ears. Using the power of the guitar/bass/drums line-up, they cue up ten strong yet diverse tracks on Superheld that run from the slow strength of "Bubbles" to the rhythmically awkward "Advertiser", passing through all manner of other stylings to keep the listener constantly engaged.
The end result is Convergence & Variations, a lovely melding of the recognised and the unexpected; a meeting of two like minds who gently push one another in directions that they may not have chosen to head separately, using pieces by the likes of Bach, Schubert and Satie as jumping-off points for their collective imagination.
Some tracks sound like conversations between beings struggling to communicate but drawn together by some greater force. Different textures manifest themselves; his breathing direct through the reed is interrupted by electronic interjections, while the swiftness of a romantic moment is is pummelled by percussive points and the distant movement of comets.
Although the Kjetil Mulelid Trio has been recording since 2017, this is their first album with replacement bassist Rune Nergard and continues their jazz-adjacent explorations with a light and adventurous sound that ushers the listener through landscapes familiar yet refreshed.
The blustery synth sounds drag the song kicking and screaming into a riotous finale that plays havoc with their melodic heavy indie-rock sound. The wild synth action that takes place in the background of "Pretty Sticks" adds fresh texture to an already teeming sound that has the head nodding, gesturing towards the dancefloor as the quiet breakdown and slow build ramps up enthusiasm.
Stereocilia was here for the launch of his latest album Phases, but joining him on the bill was Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine and Thurston Moore's band fame, and local soon-to-be legends Ex Agent.
After his album Spektralmaskin with Peder Simonsen, where he used self-designed e-bows to produce random harmonics on guitars, he has turned his attention to the piano and has produced his own take on the player piano. Adding electronic magnets attached to steel bars, one for each key, the instrument produces vibrations as the magnets affect the strings and it is from these these extraordinary tones that For Renstemt Klaver is rendered.
Contrebassist Ronan Courty has been recording collaboratively for the best part of twenty years, but for this latest release he has gone solo and taken a violent approach to the instrument as a starting point to release hitherto undiscovered tones and vibrations from it. With two pieces coming in at over half an hour, it is a labour of love and one that puts the double bass thoroughly through its paces.
Slovak violinist / composer Petra Onderuf's first solo album is an intriguing proposition. She has gathered around her what is essentially an adventurous jazz trio to bring life to her suite of well-travelled songs on An Odd Time Of Day.
Metropolis is an album of many shades and many influences, all pieced together and underscored with an ever-evolving set of rhythmic ideas. Describing it as "post-modern instrumental groove music", Marton -- along with Charley Rose on sax, Fabio Gouvea on guitar, Lorenzo Vitolo on Fender Rhodes and Jeremie Kruttl on bass -- takes the listener on a journey that may start somewhere familiar, but could end up in the back streets of Kinshasa or the favelas of Rio.
Milan four-piece Monteceneri has been recording since 2019 and Due is their first EP release, the group having previously recorded some standalone singles. Although released as an EP, the four tracks here come in at over thirty minutes and those lengths allow an atmosphere to be generated, usually on the back of the kind of intense, creeping bass line that puts you in mind of Massive Attack.
This latest confection, all proceeds for which go toward Worldwide Cancer Research, possibly defines the term short but sweet. Actually, maybe sweet isn't quite the right word, because the amount of emotion and atmosphere that is generated in a little over seven minutes on Page Of Pentacles is quite simply extraordinary.
Always searching for intriguing collaborators, Stein has hooked up with electronic legend Ikue Mori as well as Hans Jorstad on violin, Siv Øyunn Kjenstad on percussion and Sam Gendel on sax and more electronics for a suite of tracks that take loose guitar meanderings and merge them with percussive textures and electronic elements for something pretty out of the ordinary.
Bleakness And Beauty In North Wales ... evokes the solitude and temporality of life in a series of beautifully rendered yet distant pieces. Travelling all the way to North Wales to enable this musical experience is part of his journey and it feeds into the chilly grandeur of the seven drone-based selections.
The Etienne Manchon Trio has been pushing its progressive take on jazz since 2018. This is their third album with the settled line-up of Etienne on piano and synths, Clement Daldosso on bass and Théo Moutou on percussion. On Weird Life, they take this opportunity to fully exploit their delightful interplay on ten Etienne originals and a run through Wayne Shorter's "Iris". Although they are nominally a jazz trio, a lot of other influences filter their way into the sound and it makes for an album that never settles, as it constantly searches for some fresh way of musically describing their relationship.
Saxophonist James Mainwaring has teamed up with bassist Dave Kane and drummer Emil Karlsen, and as The Exu they have laid down twelve short shots in the arm that find the trio raking through their record collections and coming up with a suite that defies logic and sees them chasing whichever muse might briefly appear.