Expand your taste in music. Based in Beijing, China.
Yet another great listen from Russia. I have plenty more coming down the line.
Fellirium produce a neofolk that stays away from the more pretentious parts of the genre, and sticks with fine, gentle instrumental soundscapes. One can hear hints of the Incredible String Band, perhaps a more acoustically based Legendary Pink Dots, and some rather ambient bits which blend together quite well.
I have a deep love of Baltic culture which kind of makes sense since my maternal line has roots in what is today Kaliningrad, Russia, but was, for centuries, German and Baltic (Old Prussian) soil. The music in the region possesses a magical quality to it, quite unlike any other region in Europe.
ARTE.tv produced a nice documentary featuring Andris Nelsons, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Paavo Järvi, Gidon Kremer and Arvo Pärt talking about what makes the region of the music so special.
Special thanks to Chris Morley, whose wisdom and taste in music mirrors and surpasses my own. I am indebted to him for this find.
Gradual Hate Records has had a stream of excellent releases this year, but this album by HIEMIS, an artist out of Spain, is the best of the bunch. This is dark, gothic (in the original sense, not the bad makeup sense), ethereal and would compare well to artists who made their mark with labels like Projekt Records, Cold Meat Industry or 4AD (think Dead Can Dance).
What pleases my ears the most is the heavy, almost liquid-like sound that resonates so deeply in my speakers that I feel like I’m inside of a cave enjoying almost pure isolation. It’s quite a magical, meditative release, and I look forward to hearing more from HIEMIS in the future.
As far as electronic music releases go, Rami Moscovich does a nice job straddling Eno-esque ambient with Berlin School vibes reminiscent of 70s-era Tangerine Dream. The jewel of the crown of this release is the track My Grandmother’s Apartment, where it sounds like Rami’s grandmother is reminiscing about old times in what sounds like Hebrew. Enjoyable.
ISQ are a band based out of London who have managed to carve out a rather nice niche in both the alternative jazz and house music worlds. In this new release, their track, Ode To Myself, has been remixed by legendary producer Arthur Baker, who has worked his magic with bands like New Order and Afrika Bambaataa. The vocals are smooth, the beats are warm. This should make the rounds at all the summer dance hotspots. If you prefer to hear this on Bandcamp, the song can be accessed here. It sounds phenomenal as a FLAC file.
learningtodive hail from New Zealand and made a lot of waves with this, their debut EP. This is a nice blend of post-punk, post-rock and synth-based music. For those who prefer to stream this, I point you to their Spotify page. I’d much prefer to see them on a platform where I could download their music, but as it stands, I’m pretty happy having the chance to hear this on any format. Quite good stuff.
Our friend and colleague George Christian Vilela Pereira has released an album that I could only describe as mellow strumming psychedelic noise with elements of Krautrock and instrumental psych that one could have found in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. The lo-fi feel of the recording adds to the hazy pleasantness of this album.
According to George Christian’s notes, this is a paean to the African influence in Brazil and on his music. He explains it clearly here:
This album came up with a basic motivation in mind: to show how much Africa there is in my musical formation for my guitar experimentation. And with that, I wanted to connect myself with symbols that identified inspirations from African culture based on my Afro-Brazilian status, being from Bahia, Northeastern and also Afro-descendant Latin American. I did not want to think of Afro-Brazillity from a too traditional perspective. I wanted to dialogue with experimental diasporic sounds, or from today’s Africa itself: Tuareg blues, Jamaican dub, Afrofuturism and Arab experimental music were my starting points. I had as journey partners César Blax Costa and Edmar Silva in alchemical tracks, which choose percussion as an improvisational center. “África em Mim” is an album that wants to invoke the struggle of capoeira (with the touch of the iúna learned directly from Mestre Nenel), to pass through allegorical territories of diasporic listening until reaching the universe, astrology, science. There is no freedom without a fight. And “África em Mim” is an invocation to the struggle, rethinking ancestry through the future.
He is among a group of composers whose every work I have enjoyed listening to.
Saturday afternoons tend to be a great time for me to let my mind wander a bit while I’m doing minor chores. This Saturday’s release comes from Joachim Spieth, DJ extraordinaire, remixer and owner of Affin Records, one of my favorite modern techno labels. This album is a departure from his normal oeuvre. We have 57 tracks, most less than a minute in length, of ambient music which can be shuffled for hours of truly easy listening. It’s not audible wallpaper like most ambient music is supposed to be, but it serves as a good soundtrack for drifting the day away.
When reading tags about vodun jazz, a reggae vibe wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Still, Togbe Adjos produces an album mixing the rhythms of the Caribbean with those of his native Benin. This is a mellow but lively album which wouldn’t feel out of place among that massive stack of Trojan Records you have laying around your listening room. West Africa is perhaps the hottest place in world music these days. It’s wonderful to see Benin’s musicians receiving more and more recognition.
I almost feel bad for only promoting the download of this release. Our dear friends over at Meticulous Midgets, one of Russia’s finest experimental/avant-music record labels also releases a magazine to go with the album, and it’s a stunning affair. This is the second one I have had the pleasure of reviewing, and it makes me pleased to know that promotion of new music in the country is in good hands with my Moscow-based colleagues. What’s more, they don’t rest with promoting local acts. The artists on this comp hail from the United States, the United Kingdom, German, Spain, France, Belgium, Croatia, Ukraine, Italy, Canada, Finland and Argentina.
This compilation covers indie music, experimental (as mentioned previously), avant-folk, weird pop-psych, and a lot of other rather dark music. Do consider supporting this magazine, and purchase their hard product. It’s a beautiful package.