• Music

    George Christian – Nothingness, ou​.​.​. O Vento

    April 8, 2023 - By 

    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…

  • Music

    Visera Crash – Babé

    March 1, 2023 - By 

    Some time in 2017 or so, perhaps earlier, I stumbled onto Bandcamp thanks to some friends sending me links.  I thought I’d do some exploring, and one of the first bands I came across was one from Argentina, a classical string quintet from Buenos Aires called Visera Crash.  The music was achingly beautiful, and I played it quite a bit.  This release opened me up to the idea of reviewing new bands, mainly on Bandcamp, hoping to point friends and readers out to new music.  What a pleasant trip this has been, and I owe much to Visera Crash for…

  • Music

    Thanatos – Christmas Moments

    December 10, 2022 - By 

    If you’re going to spend the winter holidays listening to Gothic Christmas music, you could do much worse than hearing Thanatos doings warm and rather respectable Christmas tunes. May you, my friends who are either Orthodox, Catholic or those who participate in one way or another in Advent, enjoy a pleasant time.

  • Music

    Steve Kilbey – Of Skins and Heart (Acoustic Sessions Vol.1)

    October 27, 2022 - By 

    I don’t think Steve Kilbey of The Church needs much of an introduction, but it’s been awhile since I’ve heart what he’s been up to.  This album shows him playing an acoustic set based on The Church’s second-finest album, and the recordings are of sparse, but warm and stunning quality.  It’s nice to hear the songs in a more stripped-down setting.

  • Music

    Various Artists – The Hired Hands: A Tribute to Bruce Langhorne

    May 31, 2021 - By 

    We will be celebrating Memorial Day with my family today, and in honor of the holiday, we offer up this compilation dedicated to American guitarist Bruce Langhorne, who influenced so many indie musicians that it’s a wonder so few outside of this select club have heard of him. Byron Coley, whose writing influenced my music selection so much in the 1990s when he wrote for Forced Exposure, then a magazine, now a wonderful distributor of weird music, speaks warmly about Bruce in this essay he contributed for this compilation: An Introduction to Bruce Langhorne Greil Marcus has often written about…

  • Music

    Emel – The Tunis Diaries

    February 13, 2021 - By 

    NPR does a great disservice comparing Tunisian singer Emel’s voice to Björk.  There’s absolutely no comparison, and I say this as someone who likes Björk’s work a lot.  Emel is simply a better singer. Her album, The Tunis Diaries, is something closer to the Portuguese band Madredeus, whose singer, Teresa Salgueiro, Emel bares some vocal resemblance to. The production is sparse, and it works perfectly for this album.  She also does a great rendition of David Bowie’s, The Man Who Sold The World, which you can hear below.  Remarkable.