• Music

    Liu Ying (刘英) – JUST (抓时)

    If you have come across the landslide of reissues of stunningly sublime Japanese new age music composed by the likes of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Haroumi “Harry” Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame) or Midori Takada, I have a strong suspicion that JUST, just released today by Chinese composer and synthesizer/guitar player Liu Ying is going to appeal greatly to you.

  • Music

    Marcus Webb – sPaCeS pLaCeS

    Marcus Webb is a sound designer and composer based out of New Jersey in the United States who creates “foreboding soundscapes and craters of bass and noise serving as the constants within alternating conceptual constructs of city life and drones wrapping around cavernous spaces with clearly defined tones from his modular synths.”  Truth in advertising, as he makes great use of his studio to produce a sound that has the vibe of old ritualistic ambient cassettes of the early 1990s.

  • Music

    Bandcamp Friday and Help For Ukraine

    Politics is loathsome.  Human beings, however, can be beautiful.  All of them, not just your favorites. If you can help out those in need from all points in this disgusting war, I’m sure the labels, the artists, and most of all, the people who could use the funds to survive, would appreciate it.  Even if Bandcamp Friday dips into the well too much these days, at least they’re trying to help, so kudos to them. Here are three that caught my attention, so look, enjoy, and support if possible.    

  • Music

    Divanhana – Zavrzlama

    In January, we had the pleasure of reviewing a track called Ćilim from Bosnian ethno-folk band Divanhana, and now, it’s our pleasure to bring you the rest of the album! Zavrzlama is a collection of sevdah tracks which have a darker, more minor-key quality than what I’m used to from the genre. For my ears, it gives the music an even more sensual tinge than normal. There is a muted joy in tracks like Peno, my favorite song, which reminds me why the Balkans is the place I love more than anywhere else in this world despite the challenges they…

  • Music

    Daniele Baldelli – Back My Funky Side

    Beefy, gritty, nasty funk.  That’s what you will hear from this  monster by DJ Daniele Baldelli.  There are elements of tribal funk, Afrobeat, and soundtrack music that wouldn’t be out-of-place in old German or Italian krimis or Poliziotteschi.  Calibro 35 would be the most apt comparison to Daniele’s work, but this feels more dance-floor-ready.

  • Music

    Ernesto Diaz-Infante – Vacilando EPs

    We had the pleasure of reviewing an album by Bay Area guitarist Ernesto Diaz-Infante in January, and now, we can introduce you to Vacilando, a collection of instrumental tracks recorded on guitars, oud and banjo.  The material is comprised of Ernesto’s composition, none of which exceeds six minutes in length, but feel packed with sounds which drone and mutate swimmingly.  Effects-laden, and all the better for it.  A good night-listening disc.

  • Music

    Etran de L’Aïr – Agadez

    Thanks to a bit of luck and our friends at Sahel Sounds, I was fortunate enough to obtain an album by Nigerien (no, not Nigerian) troupe and stars of the local wedding music scene, Etran de L’Aïr (or Stars of the Aïr region).  From their Bandcamp site: “Recorded at home in Agadez with a mobile studio, their eponymous album stays close to the band’s roots. Over a handful of takes, in a rapid-fire recording session, “Agadez” retains all the energy of a party. Their message too is always close to home. Tchingolene (“Tradition”) recalls the nomad camps, with a modern…