Various Artists – Canary Records: To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman​-​American Diaspora, 1916​-​30

Ian Nagoski’s stunningly and consistently impressive Canary Records releases a giant collection of songs from immigrants of the, by then, collapsing Ottoman Empire.  These songs span the time period between the First World War and the Great Depression, and are lovingly transferred and curated by Nagoski, whom you can hear Continue Reading

Merema – Kezeren Koiht (Ancient Custom)

Out beloved friends at CPL-Music have released another fascinating album of Russian folk music! Merema hail from Saransk, which is the capital of Russia’s autonomous Republic of Mordovia.  The music is beautifully documented by CPL Records and the documentary work of professor Ekaterina Modina.  The tones of the voices are Continue Reading

Bester Quartet – Piazzolla Angels

Poland’s For-Tune Records have been consistently releasing high-quality jazz and improv music for some time now, but their latest has a special place for me. This collection, with the exception of Por Una Cabeza (composed by Carlos Gardel) was composed by the inimitable Ástor Piazzólla and arranged Bester Quartet leader Continue Reading

Taphephobia & IDFT – Kandu

For the Halloween season, our friends at Reverse Alignment Records (now run by the Unexplained Sounds Group Empire) out of Sweden and Italy have released an album which has roughly the same spirit as such post-Industrial/dark ambient musicians as Lustmord or Steve Roach.  Taphephobia is the brainchild of Norwegian composer Continue Reading

Fallen – Ljós

Italian artist Lorenzo Bracaloni composes under the name The Child of A Creek / Fallen, and this release on ROHS! Records is quite a treat for fans of ethereal music.  It reminds me deeply of when Harold Budd collaborated with the Cocteau Twins, but in an instrumental form.  A truly calming Continue Reading

Flora Yin-Wong – Holy Palm

After coming across an interview over at The Quietus with the London based composer Flora Yin-Wong, I wasn’t quite sure of what to make of her work.  The new album they discussed, Holy Palm sounded fascinating, less so by the interviewer’s rather tepid questions but more so by the evocative Continue Reading

Oceanic Vibrations – Vol. 1

This is one I’ve been waiting to hear for some time, and it did not disappoint. American poet Shane Beck (who happens to be a very old friend) paired up with British electronic musician Dave Onley as Oceanic Vibrations to join their worlds together elegantly.  Beck’s voice lends itself to Continue Reading

Alejandra and Aeron – España 1998​-​2004

Alejandra Salinas and Aeron Bergman have been working together as sound and multimedia artists since at least 1997, and perhaps farther back, though their prodigious corpus vitae isn’t so clear on when, exactly, they began recording together.  One can surmise that they have been collaborating on CD since 1998, if Continue Reading