Month: January 2022

  • Mong Tong 夢東 – Mystery 秘神

    Mong Tong 夢東 – Mystery 秘神

    We had the pleasure of reviewing Mong Tong last year.  They have produced yet another surreal post-progressive electronic gem.  On this album, there are elements of post-rock, modified traditional Taiwanese music, but also the eerie grooves which would do bands like Goblin proud, as the creepiness is quite subtle.  Read their Bandcamp site for a…

  • ‘t Geruis – Slow Dance on Moss Beds

    ‘t Geruis – Slow Dance on Moss Beds

    Our dear friends at Lost Tribe Sound start the year with two powerful releases, though I’ll concentrate on one today (with the other in the next week or so).  This one is by Belgian composer ‘t Geruis (a rather unusual name, which, in Dutch, means “The Noise” or “The Murmur“).  The album, at least the…

  • Sergey Kuryokhin & Boris Grebenshchikov – Mad Nightingales of the Russian Forest

    Sergey Kuryokhin & Boris Grebenshchikov – Mad Nightingales of the Russian Forest

    I will be airborne most of today as I go from Moscow to Los Angeles to handle some personal business, so In honor of this momentous event, I present you with what was one of the first Russian jazz/improv/Avant-rock albums I ever heard, from two legends: Sergey Kuryokhin & Boris Grebenshchikov

  • Various Artists – Mainstream Funk: Funk, Soul, Spiritual Jazz 1971-1975

    Various Artists – Mainstream Funk: Funk, Soul, Spiritual Jazz 1971-1975

    From the label’s Bandcamp site: Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad’s formidable label Mainstream Records, to present a selection of 12 turntable-friendly tracks recorded between 1971 and 1975 and showcasing the label’s superb blend of Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Soul by the likes of Buddy Terry, Sarah Vaughan, LaMont Johnson and Johnny Coles. Most…

  • Various Artists – Tape Rolling! with Bunny Lee and Friends

    Various Artists – Tape Rolling! with Bunny Lee and Friends

    England’s Pressure Sounds continue to release mind-blowingly good reggae compilations.  This one features the production work of Bunny Lee pairing up with such luminaries as Eric Donaldson (whose raw version of Cherry Oh Baby adds grit to the warmly produced original. From the Bandcamp release website: “In 1971, despite his run of hits, Bunny Lee…

  • Various Artists – Spacemusic #47 Like a Prayer

    Various Artists – Spacemusic #47 Like a Prayer

    A friend whose work I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing in the past, Rettward von Doernberg, pointed me to a podcast from December of 2005.  The music is well-done, deep electronic music, the sort I remember from the 1980s cassette scene.  Slightly freaky tracks with hints of Tangerine Dream influence among others, it’s a rather…

  • Sunset Wings and Brodsky – Songs of Love, Madness and Sleep

    Sunset Wings and Brodsky – Songs of Love, Madness and Sleep

    From Kaliningrad, Russia (formerly my material ancestral Linn homeland of Koenigsberg, East Prussia) hail one of the most impressive psychedelic folk records I’ve heard in some time.  From the cacophony of the violin starting the album, it morphs into a Beatlesque horn arrangement.  Those few seconds set the tone for what I figured would be…

  • BlindººCoyote – Along The Cracklefield Wash

    BlindººCoyote – Along The Cracklefield Wash

    Our dear friend Drem Bruinsma, the BlindººCoyote in question, provides a 20-minute track of ambient loops, eerie rhythms and and enchanting soundscapes.  From his Bandcamp site: “Inspired by personal hikes into various shadowless desert arroyos, to meet with silence, coyotes, antelope, dust and rocks, leveling with tumbleweeds and sagebrushes from a different perspective, walking on…

  • Jan 疆 Hasker – Pastoral Song – 牧歌

    Jan 疆 Hasker – Pastoral Song – 牧歌

    Jan 疆 Hasker is a folk musician out of Xinjiang, China, but this is a bit of a twist, as he uses Altaic and other folk melodies for his musical base rather than Uyghur.  From his Bandcamp website: “Jan made this album collecting, sorting and adapting musical elements from China Xinjiang’s Altai nomadic horse people’s…

  • Various Artists – Artoffact Records 2021 Sampler

    Various Artists – Artoffact Records 2021 Sampler

    2021 was a very solid year for electro-industrial record label Artoffact Records out of Canada.  Some of the more incredible cuts from this compilation come from The Hafler Trio & Reptilicus, Cevin Key (from Skinny Puppy), Kælan Mikla with Alcest and of course, Canada’s own Front Line Assembly-related project, Noise Unit.  A really good introduction…