@C | Anotações Sonoras: Espaço, Pausa, Repetição Crónica (CS/DL) In these two nearly half-hour long works, otherwise known as ‘Sonic Annotations: Space, Pause, Repetition‘ the duo @C (Pedro Tudela + Miguel Carvalhais) has delivered a multisensory, immersive, site-specific sound installation from three-hundred sound objects (many collaborators). Have a look here: Their video offers a good […]
Torba | Musica Convenzionale Edizioni Aaltra (CD) Mauro Diciocia is Torba, and Musica Convenzionale is his eighth or ninth solo recording (but his first official CD release), give or take some collaborations along the way. It is also my personal introduction to the Italian sound-collagist’s work. Here he has produced a singular thirty-nine minute track […]
Lena Andersson | Söder Mälarstrand Raster (CD/DL) It’s refreshing to see a nice new direction for Raster, and the clean graphic lines are indicative of the beat-driven new release from the duo Lena Andersson (Berlin-based Japanese artist Kyoka and Irish producer Eomac). In an instant this can sound like an engine trying to kickover into […]
Biosphere | The Senja Recordings Biophon Records (2xLP/CD/DL) Geir Jenssen is one of those rare artists who sets the modern standard for chill ambient electronic music. This work is an elegy to Knut Fjørtoft (1960-2017), a Norwegian artist who passed away in his prime, and who had created beautiful artwork for past Biosphere recordings. At […]
M.A.K.T. Sono | Tinnitus Flowers Pan Y Rosas Discos (DL) audio In three numbered tracks the Parisian duo of Magali Albespy and Kecap Tuyul bring an assortment of unique effects, synths and improv. The setting is sparse, aided but electrical currents and twisted frequencies in what sounds like the manipulation of amplified tapeheads at first. […]
My Cat Is An Alien | Spiritual Noise__Vol.1 Antigravitational Records (LP+BK/DL) The return of prolific brother duo My Cat Is An Alien (Maurizio and Roberto Opalio), with two lengthy tracks making up their Spiritual Noise__Vol.1. Starting with Spiritual Apocalypse these outsiders bring the mysterious sound of effects and machines to new squeaky, howling silences. This […]
Manja Ristić | The Black Isle Flag Day Recordings (CS/DL) Serbian violin player Manja Ristić has only been releasing work since 2015 though this recording is so well-oiled you may imagine this virtuoso as an old master. Part of this is due to her ability to concoct settings so compelling the space just melts, as […]
Janusz Jurga | Hypnowald Opus Elefantum Collective (CD/DL) Though this came out a bit earlier this year, I only received a copy recently, and excited to impart some thoughts on this ghostly work of imagination. From Polish electronic innovator Janusz Jurga comes his latest, Hypnowald. Four tracks are interlinked by a night time chorus of […]
Signalstoerung | UU Hymen Records (DL) The new concept album UU by Signalstoerung (part of the Adventurous Music collective) is his second full length after his debut in 2018. The breathes in synthesis over a classical piano until met with an asymmetrical beat structure on UUH. Though warm in its delivery the production is like […]
Satoko Fujii | Stone Libra Records (CD) Celebrating her sixtieth birthday, Japanese pianist/composer Satoko Fujii releases her latest, Stone. She presents fifteen mostly short pieces here with a ton of atmosphere and named for the elements and natural phenomena. Her playing is sparse and the setting is quite ambient. The notes slightly tickle ones perception […]
Valiska | NumbersTrouble In Utopia (CD/CS/DL) Good news – I have completely failed to do my homework and have no idea what I am reviewing. The folder on my computer is labelled simply ‘Valiska’, and contains 4 tracks numbered 1 through 4. The WiFi is down, so I have no more info to go on […]
eRikM and Anthony Pateras are two of the most interesting and prolific figures in the field of contemporary electroacoustic music. While Pateras is known for his revolutionary approach to piano playing and his compositions which attempt to extract characteristics typical of electroacoustic music from regular instruments, eRikM is considered one of the most prominent experimentalists […]
jörg piringer | darkvoice Transacoustic Research (CD/DL) Austrian artist/musician jörg piringer describes his new record as: “the obfuscation of language. darkvoice is the code talker that no one understands because her language never existed. darkvoice is the ultimate self-censorship, the undecipherable message. darkvoice is the sound of the new world order, the private language of […]
Spacement | Traces self-released (DL) The latest from Spacement (aka Jeff Brown) is in two parts (Traces 1 + Traces 2). A moderate industrial drone opens the recording and it sounds somewhat like a muffled jet engine at 20,000 feet. The cover art looks like a split level topography of a microchip, or silicon valley […]
Gianfratti + Scarassatti + Yoshihide +Hartmann Psychogeography, An Improvisational Derive | Not Two Records (CD) Antonio Panda Gianfratti: Percussion, Drums Marco Scarassatti: Viola de Cocho, Self-made instruments (Kraiser, PássaroCocho, Tromp Kirk Roland) Otomo Yoshihide: Electric Guitar and Bass, Turntables Paulo Hartmann: Prepared 3rd Bridge Guitar, Freteless prepared Chiquita, Gambelão + Effects Captured live at Improfest […]
Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann | LP1 Greyfade (LP/DL) Vocalist Theo Bleckmann and producer Joseph Branciforte bring something new to the vast table of elemental sounds. In four tracks that run over a half hour, at first the duo locks into a fragile microstatic pattern with a wavering rhythm and breathy overtones via 6.15. What […]
Corrado Altieri | Less Azoth (CD/DL) Consisting of nine tracks this disc opens like a purring motor, no – maybe it’s a hive, agitated at a low pulse. Recording since about 2002 in several acts and collaborations, this may be his debut solo effort. It’s got a dynamic, robust low end that starts to swerve […]
Inspector Fogg | S/T Panurus Productions (DL) This is the debut of UK musician/actor Wayne Lancaster as Inspector Fogg (based on his British comedy/horror series). The album is split into ten mostly short tracks (all under five mins), except the opening, Fuyu which runs for seven minutes. From the outset the atmosphere is chill with […]
SSSS | Walls, Corridors, Baffles Präsens Editionen (LP/DL) Samuel Savenberg is an electronic musician and producer hailing from Switzerland and this is his debut LP with the SSSS moniker. Walls, Corridors, Baffles is an electronic album above all. I am using this umbrella term on purpose. Moreover, it has its portion of abstraction, but its […]
Jacob Kirkegaard | Black Metal Square Important Records (LP) Based on the sculptural installation, Black Metal Square (2015), these three pieces are the latest work by field recordist and sound ‘alchemist’ Jacob Kirkegaard. This is a limited edition of one hundred copies. “The installation refers to Kazimir Malevich’s famous painting Black Square (made one hundred […]
Simulation | Death’s Head Speaks Hausu Mountain (CS/DL) The electronic Chicago-based duo of Laura Callier and Whitney Johnson are Simulation and their latest, Death’s Head Speaks, is now making the rounds. The six-track recording runs for a bout a half-hour. Their sound is fresh and dramatic, voices, effects, beats – all woven with a electro-punk […]
Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi Trost (CD/LP/DL) Two American composers, a Swiss-Italian producer and a Hungarian drummer walk into a studio…This might sound as the beginning of the most bizarre joke ever, but it’s basically the premise at the core of the Grammy awarded studio technician Marc Urselli’s idea. […]
9T Antiope & Siavash Amini | HarmasticeHallow Ground (LP/DL) Harmitice is the second vocal-based album Siavash Amini has been involved in just six months, and it is testament to his ability as a composer, and collaborator, that it is so remarkably different than its predecessor. Whilst the aforementioned Second Shift used spoken word fragments to sign-post a […]
minim | Construct Kasuga Records (SD Card/DL) This is the debut by Romanian minimalist Diana Dulgheru known here simply as minim. Over eight numbered tracks she delivers a pulse-infused celebration of microsound that picks up the mantle in the wake of Chain Reaction and the more recent Rater-Noton split. Construct is pure electronics that tickle […]
