Expand your taste in music. Based in Beijing, China.
Seah is an experimental music artist from Bradley, Illinois who produces long, sweeping ambient drone. There is an organ-like elegance to the compositions, especially with the first track, Unfurling, which meanders in a way that would fit in an old 1920s soundtrack of walking on the tundra. Many thanks to Somnimage for sending me this evocative gem.
Our dear friend Hubert Heathertoes collaborated with Roger Smith (he of some rather amazing experimental music projects like CHEFKIRK) as Lumber for a drony, well-sculpted collection of noise compositions. It’s such a pleasure to hear noise that is well-done, well-composed, rather than the boring vacuum-cleaner-like garbage that pollutes most of the so-called harsh noise scene.
As I will be back in Beijing in a few weeks from now, I thought I’d spend Western Easter introducing my friends here to Dolphy Kick Bebop, a band out of Hangzhou, China. The label, Space Fruity Records, is connected with Beijing’s coolest record shop, Fruity Space, and the music is heavy-duty psychedelic rock. Brilliant, and I’m looking forward to catching up with the local scene on my return.
Our friend George Christian has produced an album that is an icy minimal masterpiece. The pieces, especially Track 1, O Vento, is perfectly named. I literally felt a chill hearing the tune, replete with faraway vocals and a windy atmosphere, befitting the song’s title. From his Bandcamp site:
“Thanks to my friend artist Iarly Patricio, I’ve had an epiphany of an album I could release having her charcoal carving picture as a cover. The cover art blends her picture of a face and an A.I. representation of a picture based upon the art of the painter William Turner. The music was recorded sporadically from February 2021 until January 2023. As a result of such individual research, this is a very percussive album, even when having noises, with drones and electric moments by the end. I aimed to make a blend between the new African desert blues with a percussive Brazilian guitar with it, as much as working on the exploration of different textures.”
For those of you who remember the band Dadamah out of New Zealand, you’ll find a familiar vein here. Stunning.
For my friends in the West, today is Good Friday, and I wish you a wonderful, blessed and prosperous Paschal celebration. I send you a gift in the form of the ensemble DÜNYA offering Christian and Islamic chants in celebration of Holy Weekend and Easter.
A compilation of new music out of avant-garde China. From the Old Heaven Books Bandcamp site:
“A creative collaboration of producer Tu Fei and artist Liu Qingyuan. Event organization by Tu Fei, artwork for promotion and production by Liu Qingyuan. Event programs include talks, screenings, forums, workshops, musicians’ commission creation and live performance, recording, publishing, and many more.
Admiring tradition and exploring the future, the duo’s goal is to bring music to various places, from village to city, from square to factory, from bookstore to family altar, from theater to village hall, and from gallery to drying field…”
Despite being in a very tough neighborhood, Iran’s new music scene is as healthy as ever, and thanks to Bandcamp, Soundcloud and social media in general, the wider world is finding out about what kind of talent is residing in the country. Take our friend MOREGO, who produce an IDM-inflected psybient music. There are gentle beats, floating interludes, and the album maintains a cinematic atmosphere throughout. Great to chill out to.
Ryuichi Sakamoto left this mortal coil on March 28, 2023. This is the second major loss of the year for us after Yukihiro Takahashi’s repose a few weeks back.
We celebrate his passing by posting a video of him performing one of his greatest tunes, Riot In Lagos, on piano. Even here, it sounds wonderful.
Today’s offering is from Lappländer, an artist from Finland who offers up some very chilled-out synthwave. I like the cold, minimalist feeling to the music.
Kalia Vandever is a New York- based trombonist whose playing is about as elegant as anything I’ve heard in a while. From her Bandcamp site:
“We Fell In Turn is the solo debut from Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and quartet leader Kalia Vandever. Vandever, who plays with Harry Styles and Japanese Breakfast, “sculpts her trombone’s golden tones into dazzling compositions” (Pitchfork), writing music that tends to “dip you into a feeling or a pattern or a breathing speed, and keep you there” (The New York Times). In 2022, Vandever released Regrowth, an album that “features the ecstatic, brilliant melodies that have become Vandever’s signature sound” (Bandcamp). This spring, Vandever brings contemplative reflection to We Fell in Turn, a brave and understated work from an ascending voice in American jazz.”
A keeper.