Month: August 2023

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Abatwa (The Pygmy) – Why Did We Stop Growing Tall?

Glitterbeat Records is the label which should be thanked for publishing The Abatwa, a collection of Pygmy artists from Rwanda.  Here are some notes by album producer Ian Brennan, courtesy of Forced Exposure:

“The Abatwa (“pygmy”) tribe is identified as one of the most marginalized, voiceless and endangered populations in Africa. In fact, their name is frequently taken in vain as a generalized slur towards others unrelated to them. Still, many among their group prefer the term to the official, PC mouthful/post-genocidal replacement moniker that they have been straddled with out of clear overcompensation: ‘The people who were left behind because of the facts of Rwandan history.’ . . . We were lucky enough to experience a 19-year-old female freestyle rapper, Rosine Nyiranshimiyimana, who is grittier than most any gangsta’. And right by her side, stood, Emmanuel Hatungimana, the mohawk-cut traditional music master, along with the husband/wife team that traded in eerie harmonies that nearly make Black Sabbath sound a bit trite. And keeping it in the family, mother and son, Ruth Nyiramfumukoye and Patrick Manishimine struck dueling Umudulis. A featured instrument is the 11-string Icyembe, one that has a resemblance not unlike a surfboard and when turned upright, stands taller than some of its Abatwa players.””

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From the Mouth of the Sun – Valley of the Hummingbirds

Lost Tribe Sound has another release featured this week!  This one pairs two leading composers, Dag Rosenqvist & Aaron Martin, working together creating a filmic masterpiece.  The music is tense, influenced by everything from classical music to ethereal.  From the press release:

“American and Swedish composers Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist came together in 2011 under the name FROM THE MOUTH OF THE SUN. Their first album Woven Tide was released by Experimedia in 2012 and they returned in 2015 for their second album Into the Well. In 2016, three pieces from Woven Tide played an integral role in David Wingo’s score for Jeff Nichols’s Warner Bros. feature Midnight Special. Their third album, Hymn Binding was released with Lost Tribe Sound in September 2017, followed by the EP Sleep Stations in 2018, and 2021’s acclaimed Light Caught the Edges. Also in 2021, the duo released an original score for the Oscar shortlisted documentary by Jimmy Goldblum, A Broken House (Dronarivm).

Using a vast array of acoustic and electric instruments, including cello, piano, banjo, pump organ, and guitar, while utilizing analog equipment, Aaron and Dag craft unique musical landscapes full of contrasts, where melodies and ominous textures intertwine. Since 2005, both artists have also had their solo efforts released by influential imprints like Preservation, Miasmah, Type, and Fang Bomb. Dag and Aaron also created the original score for Joshua Weinstein’s film Menashe (A24), released in 2017.”

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Léa Boudreau – Lima​ç​on

empreintes DIGITALes are the finest record label in Canada specializing in electroacoustic music, acousmatics and musique concrète.  It pleased me to see that they are putting up their albums on Bandcamp, and I ended up being doubly rewarded by finding a composer who is new to me.  Léa Boudreau describes herself, rightly, as, “…(a) circuit maker, sound crafter, immersive environments builder.”  This particular album is lively and energetic for an experimental music album.  I have to say it’s a difficult one to describe, so do click on the Bandcamp link and enjoy the sounds.

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Drawing Virtual Gardens – 22:22

Our dear friends at Lost Tribe Sound have on offer an ambient album perfectly designed for headphone listening by a project new to me called Drawing Virtual Gardens, a Belgium-based artist called David Gutman.  From the promo material, which does a wonderful service introducing David’s work:

“At the core of Drawing Virtual Gardens ’22:22,’ there is a keen sense of the nocturnal, and a blurring of lines between the waking and the dream state. Focusing on small synchronous events within these hypnagogic periods, Gutman takes inspiration and translates them into musical cadence. Blankets of dense sub-bass coat minimal dub-like rhythmic structures. Warm flickers of guitar form brief conversations before seceding to the thick low-end percussions. Elsewhere, muted horns cascade into the recesses lending a weary jazz-like quality, or mimicking a less exotic type of fourth world sound.

While the similarities to fourth world brass are less evident on ’22:22,’ it was the decadent combination of melting trumpet lines and sub-bass that first drew our attention to the works of Drawing Virtual Gardens. Coming in the form of the 2021 release ‘~logues’ for Shimmering Moods, an album which we described as, “Massive earth-churning basslines crawl erratically through uneasy layers of mechanical interruptions, distance guitar, and gaseous noir-style trumpet. Just enough luminance creeps into the music to keep these dreamscapes from turning sour. Opaque. Unsettling. Oddly comforting.”

As for the album at hand, 22:22 is an hour that continuously intrigued Gutman. He began noticing it was a common occurrence to reference his watch at this exact hour during the night. His curiosity grew as he wondered what unexplained consciousness kept pointing him towards this time. The lore surrounding 22:22 is steeped with symbolism, reference to angels, tarot, the Kabbalah, and numerology. The general consensus points towards a positive and aware mind, in tune with the energies surrounding them: able to keep the channels open and tap into that brilliant force.”

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Plume Girl – In the End We Begin

A bliss-filled release from out mappa Records out of Slovakia from a new name, Plume Girl.  I’ll let the label describe this rather ethereal bit of emo folk, which you can read in full at their Bandcamp release site:

“Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the rāga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood and atmosphere, each rāga thought to have its own distinct nature and personality, brought to life through improvisation. String swells and Somanath’s searching vocalisations envelop every track’s own blissful chamber. Exploring imagined binaries along the way — eastern vs. western, traditional vs. experimental, acoustic vs. electronic, Sowmya sees music as a curious dialogue between divine Self and an invisible reality. Beneath the illusion of a chromatic world, there remains a blissful oneness.

Plume Girl’s songs sit between ambient Hindustani music and emotionally-encumbered pop. In front of backdrops comprising sundrenched drones or glitches, sketched out beats, and criss-crossing glissandi or flutes, Somanath both murmurs intimately and spirals upwards into soaring choruses. The lyrics ponder innermost thoughts, never more literally than on the blissful emo folk closing track: ‘In my heart I know / what’s in my heart / I know what’s in my…’”

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Pere Ubu – Trouble On Big Beat Street

Avant-rock legends Pere Ubu have a brand new album out!  From the band’s Bandcamp site:

“Pere Ubu unveil their new album, ‘Trouble On Big Beat Street’, nearly four years after their previous record for Cherry Red, ‘The Long Goodbye’.

‘The Modern Dance’ (1978) marked the end of Rock ‘n’ Roll. ‘Trouble On Big Beat Street’ marks the end of The Song. Pere Ubu ended with ‘The Long Goodbye’ (their last album, also on Cherry Red, from 2019). Pere Ubu begins again with ‘Trouble On Big Beat Street’.

If you missed the last 48 years then imagine a bad- attitude. Imagine Electric Light Orchestra – the version with Roy Wood – then add Muddy Waters playing guitar and Nina Simone singing.
Pere Ubu is David Thomas, Keith Moliné, Gagarin, Alex Ward, Andy Diagram, Michele Temple and Jack Jones.

Keith Moliné and Andy Diagram are the two pale boys. They have played with David more than 28 years.
Electronica artist Gagarin was soundman for the two pale boys. Michele Temple has been in Pere Ubu 30 years. Improviser and life-long fan Alex Ward submitted a cover version of a David Thomas song to the band’s live-streaming show. David invited him to join the band. David met Jack Jones in the pub.”