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Egari, Paata Chakaberia – In Qvevri Veritas. Original Soundtrack

Egari and Paata Chakaberia provide a stunningly good instrumental music from the Republic of Georgia serving originally as a soundtrack to a film about Georgian winemaking.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“This music was composed as the soundtrack for Leonid Parfyonov’s documentary In Qvevri Veritas. The film is dedicated to the traditional Georgian winemaking, surely, we couldn’t do without Georgian music. We recorded 13 tracks, including folk tunes from various regions and corners of Georgia, as well as my own compositions.”

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Batavia Collective – Propulsion

I haven’t had a chance to review anything from Indonesia in some time, so it gives me pleasure to introduce you to a band called the Batavia Collective.  Their sound is a great balance of jazz, fusion and electronica.  One track only, but it’s a solid one.

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Vidna Obmana – Dante Trilogy: Tremor . Spore . Legacy

Dirk Serries has kept his Industrial/Fourth World project Vidna Obmana alive since 1984, but this release for metal label Relapse Records will be his coup de grace.  Loosely based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, this 3-CD set covers all the music genres Serries has worked in over the past four decades.  From his Bandcamp site:

“An almost his 25 year existency as VIDNA OBMANA Dirk Serries never shied away from challenges, sometimes to the regret of many of his fans, but it’s when he was offered a record deal with the renowned metal label RELAPSE RECORDS/RELEASE ENTERTAINMENT Vidna Obmana took his boldest step ever. With his DANTE TRILOGY he created his most ambitious, daring and unique set of albums which, for good, made him to be one of the most unique voices in the ambient and experimental scene.

Not only brought he VIDNA OBMANA to a definite conclusion but executed for him that perfect fusion of everything his project stood for since the first release in 1984.
His industrialism, the minimal ambience, the fourth world explorations and his electronic processing experiments went into blender. Utterly surreal, intense and expansive, the 3 albums TREMOR, SPORE and LEGACY showcase VIDNA OBMANA at his creative peak while conceptually the trilogy expresses Dirk Serries’ frustration, disappointment and creative turmoil as his role as VIDNA OBMANA in the ambient scene. This trilogy became that end of the road for probably his most critically-acclaimed and world-wide appreciated project but a change was necessary.“

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Hadi Bastani and Maryam Sirvan – trans​.​placed

It’s wonderful to hear one of my favorite sound designers, Maryam Sirvan come up with new material.  She is paired with fellow expatriate Hadi Bastani in this 20-minute mini-LP of electroacoustics and field recordings.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“Stretching from Berlin to Tbilisi, trans.placed starts with the simple act of opening a door. This everyday gesture forms the fabric of this dense, meticulous and profound work which obsesses over the dramatic sonic transitions which occur when we move from outside to indoors. What sounds come with us as we make this transition? What new soundscapes do we encounter? And what sounds fade away as we move through different spaces? These are the questions trans.placed with its carefully crafted sonic trajectories asks us to meditate on. Built from soundwalks, field recordings and electronics trans.placed is the first collaboration between Iranian composers Hadi Bastani and Maryam Sirvan.”
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William Ryan Fritch – Heavy EP

One of the great composers I have had the pleasure of reviewing is William Ryan Fritch.  This EP is his latest, and these notes come from his latest EP via his Bandcamp site:

“‘Heavy’, from composer William Ryan Fritch is a bombastic and ever-moving work that draws equally from the forward-thinking arrangements of modern chamber music as it does the snarling, imposing presence of Garage Rock. The whirring barrage of sounds and textures that percolate through it’s six songs are both wildly varying and effortlessly assimilated.”

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Phil Tomsett & Aaron Martin – At Sea

We have had the pleasure of reviewing the work on cellist Aaron Martin in the past, but it’s nice to see a new release with him collaborating on a project with accordeonist Phil Tomsett which, ironically, began in London.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“At Sea grew out of my walks along a particular part of the coastline. I took this walk at least once a day and over time built up a relationship with the sea, as if it were a sentient being observing me as much as I was observing it. Here I was trapped on dry land and the sea was another realm entirely, free from and uninterested in whatever dramas were going on in my world. It was this indifference, (which i’ve often found in nature but particularly with the sea) that became the main theme for the album- the unknown and the unknowable.”