• Music

    EABS – Slavic Spirits

    October 12, 2022 - By 

    I am floored at how consistently good Polish jazz is, and though I find the idea of dabbling in demonology somewhere between hokey and morally bankrupt, what matters for people who read this blog is consistency in great music. From EABS’ Bandcamp site: “The idea for “The Darkness”, the composition opening the Slavic Spirits LP, was born out of collective improvisation performed before a Komeda-inspired medley of “Free Witch and No Bra Queen / Sult” played in concert. It came as a surprise to us that this new album, devoted to broadly understood Slavism, turned out to have its roots…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Pharoah’s Tarot

    October 10, 2022 - By 

    Pharoah Sanders left this mortal coil on September 24, 2022, after leaving a stellar body of work and his influence on countless musicians including Jeff Gburek.  The influence was profound, and you can hear it on this album, where the guitar glides into something free, not as in noisy free-jazz, but something free-floating, gentle, relaxing, almost heavenly.  It certainly bears the stamp of his own work, and that of Sanders, but I hear also a touch of Sonny Sharrock in this mix as well. This is experimental music that is gentle on the ear and on the mind.

  • Music

    Doc Wör Mirran – Second Try

    October 9, 2022 - By 

    Doc Wör Mirran got its start as a multi-disciplinary project out of Nürnberg, Germany in around 1985, and for nearly 40 years, the band have continued to produce strange, intriguing avant-garde rock and experimental music.  From their Bandcamp site: “Contrary to most compilations which compile the greatest hits of an artist, “Second Try” is a compilation that highlights the drumming talents of DWM’s drummer Stefan Schweiger. He compiled, edited and partially remixed this album himself of his favourite tracks, and added new sounds and samples to make some of the tracks quite different from the “normal versions”. Stefan also contributed…

  • Music

    I Have No Face – Feelings That Won’t Return

    October 7, 2022 - By 

    It pays to explore the myriad of free albums available on Bandcamp these days.  Though there is a lot of garbage one has to sort through, you will always come up with a few gems during the day if you are persistent, and I Have No Face, a project out of Poland, turns out to be one of those. This isn’t music per sé, but rather four wispy, ghostly, well-crafted tones that flow together pleasantly.  It is ear candy – tasty, tasteful and a nice EP worth hearing.

  • Music

    Mikael Tariverdiev – Visions in Black & White

    October 6, 2022 - By 

    Mikael Tariverdiev was a Russian cinema and TV composer of Armenian extraction but raised Tbilisi, Georgia, a true man of the Soviet world.  Though he was quoted as not particularly liking jazz, he was as good an improviser that Russia ever produced. From the release’s Bandcamp page: “Visions in Black and White is a collection of rare jazz and improvised themes by one of the greatest Russian film composers Mikael Tariverdiev (1931-1996). Transferred from the original tapes and beautifully remastered, these recordings manage to retain their original ambience and capture a master at work. Originally composed for cinema and TV movies…

  • Music

    Ernesto Dj​é​djé – Roi Du Ziglibithy (Limited Dance Edition Nr. 15)

    October 4, 2022 - By 

    Analog Africa released a disc of music from Ivory Coast legend Ernesto Dj​é​djé recently, and it was rather eye-opening to see that even in a place as far away as Côte d’Ivoire, they had the same problems of so-called foreign influence getting in the way of local music, with Ernesto complaining about the Congolization of the local music scene.  Dj​é​djé more than remedied that situation with this burner of an album.