Lonsai Maïkov & New Orthodox Line – Sobornost

Breton musician Thierry Jolif (who records as Lonsai Maïkov here) is a fellow Orthodox who also happens to make boomingly dark experimental drone music.  It’s quite something to hear both worlds collapse into each other so violently, but if I could trust anyone to pull of such a feat, it Continue Reading

Various Artists – Made with love, Peter Zinovieff – Tributes

Peter Zinovieff passed away on June 23, 2021, but he left quite a mark on avant-garde music.  The British-born son of Russian aristocrats, he sold his wife’s tiara for his first computer, and from there, he would work with some of the greatest bands of the 20th century including Pink Continue Reading

Primitive Air – Creation Hymn

The spirit of Krautrock has spread well beyond the German-speaking world, and has for some time now.  Primitive Air is an American collaboration between Drew Piraino, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Emil Amos reminds me of the more freaky (yet still gentle) parts of bands like Popol Vuh and modern bands like Continue Reading

LeiLuo Studio (磊落声音艺术) – An Ancient Tune of Shanha

LeiLuo Studio is a small record label based in my former home of Beijing, China.  The track reviewed today is a fusion of musics from Zhejiang from the She ethnic group.  The label/band’s Bandcamp site explains further below: This is a piece of new fusion single composed and arranged by Continue Reading

Various Artists – Studio One: Dancing the Ska

I can’t think of a music more joyful than ska.  Jamaica’s finest export (next to reggae and its sub-genres, of course) is wonderfully represented on this compilation put together by the legendary Kingston-based record label Studio One.  Lee Perry, Delroy Wilson and The Wailers feature prominently on this comp, and Continue Reading

Rapt – None Of This Will Matter

This Z Tapes release left me floored.  Rapt are a folk band out of London who have an ethereal sound which reminded me of musicians like Nick Drake fronting a band on 4AD.  Think, perhaps, of a more airy-sounding This Mortal Coil gone neofolk. The sound is folky without being stale, Continue Reading

Roy Montgomery – Roy Montgomery 40th Anniversary 2021 LP Series

I think it’s impossible to overestimate the important place Roy Montgomery has in the annals of New Zealand’s experimental rock scene.  Thanks to his work on labels such as Kranky Records and Drunken Fish, he has quite a high international profile, and it helps that the music he’s produced for Continue Reading

William Ryan Fritch – Built Upon a Fearful Void

Soundtrack composers don’t seem to need films to cue inspiring, haunting scores anymore.  Take, for example, the new double album by Californian composer William Ryan Fritch. The story that goes along with this fabulous artifact is as impressive as the music is.  We let the label, Lost Tribe Sounds, tell Continue Reading