• Music

    Various Artists – Canary Records: Hellenic Hinterlands: Independent Greek-American 78rpm Discs from Baltimore, Boston, and Cleveland ca. 1953-57

    September 15, 2024 - By 

    From the Canary Records Bandcamp site: “When middle-class Americans in the 1950s found that they could get access to a tape recorder and a microphone, it then became possible for them to make recordings that they could pay to have pressed into discs. One didn’t need to go to dedicated recording studios, most of which had been for decades in the cosmopolitan centers – first New York, then Chicago, then the temporary make-shift, studios set up in hotel rooms Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia, or the independent studios in Grafton WI, Richmond IN, Los Angeles, etc. It was part of…

  • Music

    Matryoshka – Laideronnette

    September 14, 2024 - By 

    Matryoshka are a band from Japan who play a nearly heartbreaking version of post-rock topped with gentle, almost drowned-out vocals.  This adds to the character of the record.  It’s one of the saddest albums I’ve heard in a while, but achingly so.

  • Music

    Doltz – Koquu

    September 13, 2024 - By 

    This release by Doltz, a Japanese band released on the South Korean record label Huinali Recordings, came to me by sheer good fortune.  The music is far more interesting than most ‘ambient’ or techno music these days namely due to it being played on what sounds like a combination of traditional instruments and some electronic processing, though if it is purely electronic, the band have done wonders with the sound..  The pulses are gentle, individual tones have a haunting quality, and this should pass muster with the hardest core aficionados of the genre.  A stunningly good release.

  • Music

    Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra – Tension

    September 12, 2024 - By 

    From Mulatu Astatke’s own Bandcamp site: “Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12 member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music. The collective draws together a huge array of musical talents such as guitarist Ilan Smilan and organist Eitan Drabkin of Sababa 5 fame,…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Audion 60 (multimedia)

    September 11, 2024 - By 

    The Brothers Freeman grace us with a recent edition of the premier progressive rock magazine, full of in-depth reviews of new albums in the genre as well as trips down memory lane in terms of the Italian prog scene.  Also included, of course, are sound samples of the of the material reviewed herein.

  • Music

    OpensoundOrchestra – String Quartets

    September 10, 2024 - By 

    Today, we have some fine contemporary classical music coming out of Russia.  Fancy Music usually deliver consistently good albums, and this one is no exception.  The Opensoundorchestra interpret the works of newer composers such as Nastasya Khrushcheva, Elmir Nizamov, Anatoly Palaev, Vladimir Kobekin, Vladimir Martynov and zhokhowski

  • Music

    Jesse Paul Miller – Dream Boxes and Psychic Microphones • Radio and Other Sounds From Southeast Asia 2008 – 2017

    September 9, 2024 - By 

    We find music in the strangest of places.  This release from Jesse Paul Miller is proof of it.  From his Bandcamp site: “These tracks consist of a series of sequential “sound collages”, based on recordings I gathered in Southeast Asia, between 2008 and 2017. There is NO Multi-Tracking or “Over-Dubbing” on these tracks. Original artifacts of these recordings are self apparent and un-alterated. Five of these tracks were initially made in 2014 as potentials for release on my Sublime Frequencies album entitled “A Distant Invitation” (Tracks 1, 2, 5, 16, and 21). These didn’t make the cut and weren’t included,…

  • Music

    Dionisaf – Shibui

    September 7, 2024 - By 

    From Chitra Records’ Bandcamp site: “Shibui is a simple, unobtrusive beauty that expresses original imperfection and intelligent restraint. The track titles are based on various polysemantic aspects of Japanese aesthetics and culture.” Simple, sparse electronic music.  Not quite ambient, but it’s easy to get lost in.  This is a fine release for headphone listening.

  • Music

    Mira – Mira

    September 6, 2024 - By 

    From the good souls over at Projekt Records: “Mira were a dream pop/shoegaze band from Tallahassee, Florida, formed in 1996 featuring vocalist Regina Sosinski, guitarist Tom Parker, bassist Max Fresen and drummer Alan Donaldson, with second guitarist Mark Davidson. After releasing several EPs on their own Tesseract label, the band signed to Projekt Records, and their song “Cayman” appeared on Projekt’s cat-themed 1999 compilation A CAT-SHAPED HOLE IN MY HEART. Mira released their eponymous debut studio album on April 4, 2000.”