Disco Gecko Andrew Heath has been releasing low-key ambient works for the last seven or eight years, first coming to prominence collaborating with Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Although Roedelius is a good indication of what you may expect from Andrew’s work, I would say that it is even lower key, making a lot of use of found sounds and field recordings
Mr Olivetti
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Upset The Rhythm Upset The Rhythm have scored another hit with the latest from Sauna Youth, who tear through the rule book, spraying twelve tracks in our ears in less than half an hour and then heading for the pub, leaving us reeling. God knows where they have been for the last three years
Kranky Grouper is an irresistible force, but one that seems to become lighter and less substantial with each release. By that, I mean it is so ethereal in the true sense of the word that I am amazed it was even possible to catch it on tape.
Thrill Jockey Thalia Zedek has spent a long time in the independent music trenches, becoming particularly well known for periods in Live Skull in the 1980s and Come in the ’90s, plying a ferocious strain of guitar-orientated indie-rock. For the last ten years however, Thalia has fronted her own band and over five albums, including this latest, has allowed life and the influences of complementary band members to […]
Fourth Dimension / Foolproof Projects Andy Pyne and Lisa Jayne, who make up the duo of Map 71, have been highlighting their hinterland that exists somewhere between myth and dreamstate since 2014. Perfectly described by Lisa’s book of words, Mutant Dreams, they inhabit and document that precious point between waking and sleeping where things appear normal, but have a touch of the surreal in the tiny details.
Sub Pop There is often a sense of familiarity with Low albums. To a certain extent there exists a feeling that we have come to know what to expect when a new album drops. With Low’s twelfth full-length release, however, they have probably done the most that they can or have ever tried to do to cover the trail that the last twenty-five years has left.
Drag City It has been about eighteen months since David Pajo‘s return with Highway Songs, but what a transformation that period of time has wrought. As entertaining as that cut and paste of ideas and snippets was it, lacked cohesion and was clearly the sound of a man in flux; unsure of his place in the world or the direction in which his music should be going. In […]
Transmutation LTD I must admit, after experiencing Autunna Et Sa Rose and Julie’s Haircut, I have been looking with fresh eyes towards our Italian brethren, and the latest surprise to wash over from those shores for me is Sigillum S. Having started back in the eighties and embracing a multimedia existence, the three main protagonists have released the best part of thirty albums.
Gizeh I imagine that Richard Knox, head honcho of the wonderful Gizeh Records, uses A-Sun Amissa as a kind emotional bloodletting, giving himself the opportunity to move in the kind of rarefied places and breathe in those mystical atmospheres that his other musical charges do.
Modularfield There is something enigmatic about the idea of a goddess, a sense of mystery and power that is at the same time subtle. Goddess, the duo, give little away in the sterile cover photo of their latest Modularfield release. Faces obscured by flowers, minimal movement. It is as if they are posing for a surrealist still life, but once the cassette starts to roll, then all bets […]
Upset The Rhythm When the lovely clear vinyl copy of this latest Terry album arrived, I have no idea who they were and from where they hailed; but on putting it on the stereo, it could only be Australian. There is something about the sound, about the slightly deadpan voices and tumbling wordplay
Gizeh After a collaboration between guitarist / sound manipulator Jean DL and film-maker Sandrine Verstraete in 2015, Jean called in Canadian cellist Julia Kent to help provide a soundtrack to Sandrine’s latest video installation The Great Lake Swallows. Over a perfectly succinct twenty-six minutes, split into four subtly different tracks
Thrill Jockey I was fortunate enough to catch Glenn Jones playing with Cul de Sac in support of Damo Suzuki many years ago and their freeform repetition was a perfect match for Damo’s mantra-like vocalising. The freedom and experimentation that Cul de Sac embodied is quite a contrast to Glenn’s solo guitar work, and really goes to show how varied and thoughtful he is as a performer.
Hubro Yet another ideas-filled release from Hubro finds Anja Lauvdal and Hans Hulbaekmo from improv monster Skadedyr joining up with double bassist Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson to strip things down a little and see how far they can push the capabilities of a piano / bass / drums trio in the light of how far Norway is pushing jazz. This is not necessarily jazz as we may recognise it, but more three […]
Glacial Movements Glacial Movements have one of the most perfect record label names and so far those releases that have arrived here have lived up to the name. Tropic Of Coldness is a duo based in Brussels that work primarily in a soft focus haze of washes and drones, using mainly guitars and synths to produce gentle, drifting soundscapes.
Hubro Once again Hubro are reporting from the coal face of the Norwegian experimental and improv scene with the latest release from the many-legged and multi-talented Skadedyr. With their third album for Hubro and band membership this time around weighing in at a good dozen, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are too many involved, but that would be most misguided.
Cyclic Law Sweden’s Peter Andersson has been running his Raison D’être ambient project since 1991, with a multitude of releases over the years including recent collaborations with Germany’s Troum. However, unlike a lot of ambient pieces that can have a tendency to sit outside of your eyeline and merge into the background, with Peter’s latest there is a lurking presence at work
Domino I remember the first things that I reviewed for Freq were the Medical Records re-issues of the first two Pram albums, long out of print and absolutely essential. Whilst undertaking that I figured that it was unlikely we would ever see another new Pram album, considering Rosie Cuckston‘s move to academia and loss of musical impetus. So eleven years after The Moving Frontier was released