Hubro There seems to be no end to the fascinating post-jazz and experimental music going on in Norway, and Hubro are right in the thick of it, cataloguing all this for our benefit. The latest release to drop through my letterbox is the second release from trumpeter and soundscape artist Hilde Marie Holsen.
Mr Olivetti
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Cyclic Law Taphephobia‘s latest release is an absolute peach. It is Ketil Søraker‘s tenth since 2007, the third for Cyclic Law and the album finds him revisiting the theme to Twin Peaks as a starting point for this gently unfolding journey, a cycle of songs that finds the listener drifting in some sort of extraordinary limbo.
Bristol 10 July 2018 Opening act Pip Blom shambled on to a very warm response from an already two-thirds full O2 Academy Bristol. One singing guitarist and one drummer share the stage with a fluffy bassist and a manic guitarist looking like a young Jerry Harrison. The rhythm section were taut and focussed, allowing the singing guitarist to throw the sweet but rather ramshackle songs out into the […]
Modularfield After 2017’s Atmospheres Volume 1” on Modularfield, Denver-based Ann Annie has found an opportunity to follow it up with Volume 2, containing more pastel sketches and gauzey sunset glances, perfect for easing the mind and gently sinking into contemplation. Over the course of about half an hour and seven tracks, Ann takes us gently by the hand and leads us through long grass and around rippling pools
Modularfield Noah Pred is a techno and house producer and DJ from Canada, who over the last fifteen years or so has released a plethora of dance-orientated tracks spread across numerous esoteric labels. However, his latest album Homeward finds him at a bit of a crossroads.
Geo Gagarin is one of the noms de plume of Graham Dowdall, who has been recording for the last thirty years with such luminaries as Ludus, Rothko, Pere Ubu and Nico among others. Gagarin itself started back in 1995, and in that time he has released seven albums all through his own Geo label. Last year’s Corvid was very well received and on the strength of that, he has […]
Mute This is Aaron Hemphill‘s first solo release since his amicable departure from Liars a few years ago, and I can’t help thinking how fun it would have been if all ex-members were able to trade under the Liars name as if they were an updated version of Faust. This record, although solo, can’t help but be compared to his work with Liars and for me it holds […]
All Good Clean 1099 are a five-piece instrumental rock band from Trondheim in Norway, all of whom take responsibility for song-writing duties, and according to their Discogs page the band is pretty much post-everything, including post-yacht. This little nugget goes some way to explaining why they stand out from the usual crowd of vocal-less guitar bashers that have proliferated over the years.
Thrill Jockey It has been five years since Wooden Shjips last dropped an album, and to my mind they were arriving at a point where they were taking the place of Spacemen 3 as the premium hypnotic, psychedelic riff machines, but with the frustration and ennui removed and good old West Coast chills thankfully taking their place. This album may be the one where they start to put […]
Glacial Movements Paul Schutze is an Australian sound composer who has been producing music since the late 1980s. This album, his first in eight years, is released on the extremely apt Glacial Movements Records from Italy and is one long, gradually unfolding treasure that is almost like an attempt at prehistoric music; constructing sounds that pre-date what we understand and go back to the formation of the earth.
Nonplace After Nonplace‘s recent issue of two Drums Off Chaos EPs, they have chosen now to re-release Manos Tsangaris‘s 1989 12″ Elephant’s Easy Walk Through The Moonlight EP, but have replaced the original b-side “Drum 2” with a recent track, “Elephants Cry Salty Tears”, specifically recorded for the purpose of this edition.
Fysisk Format Spurv are an instrumental guitar band from Oslo who are a new name to me, but a fantastic discovery. By the looks of the cover, there must be six main chaps in the band, but the credits encompass quite a few more, including cellos, trumpets, synths and effects, as well as an array of guitarists, a bassist and drummer.
Rocket Girl Pieter Nooten seems to have spent most of his music career turning his back on the gothic luminescence that he helped conjure up on the first few Clan Of Xymox albums. His 1987 collaboration with Michael Brook saw him draw unexpected tranquillity and minimalist subtlety from his Xymox songs, paving the way for a lot of the gentle modern piano artists that followed in his footsteps.
Aagoo The tracks presented here were originally intended for Philippe Petit‘s Strings of Consciousness collective, but after their break-up, the songs clearly needed a good home and so Philippe has re-activated the And Friends moniker. Considering the wealth of different talent here, including some regular collaborators, it is very fitting.
Rougge / Green United Music Rougge is a mysterious French composer operating in a modern neo-classical kind of vein, but with an added air of intrigue. The pianist and vocalist’s apparently wordless vocalising sketches shadows and light all over the compelling soundscapes generated by a wonderful string quintet
Thrill Jockey For The Sea And Cake‘s eleventh album and the first since 2012’s Runner, the band has slimmed down to a three-piece following the departure of bassist Eric Claridge. I can find no obvious reason for his departure nor information as to who has taken over the bass playing duties, but regardless, the band’s sound is still that same unique mix of gossamer vocals, Caribbean-inflected guitar melodies […]
LM Dupli-Cation I remember years ago catching A Hawk And A Hacksaw playing various little venues in Bristol. At that point, it was just Heather Trost and Jeremy Barnes and they were plying a kind of Eastern European street music, Jeremy sitting down playing the accordion with a drumstick taped to his hat and a large drum between his legs, knocking out a rhythm as Heather patrolled the […]
Play Loud! Locust Fudge is a duo comprising Schneider TM‘s Dirk Dresselhaus and his old Sharon Stoned compadre Christopher Uhe. It seems they last put an LP out about twenty years ago, after which Dirk concentrated on the gradual and rather elegant electronic deconstructivism of Schneider TM.