• Music

    O Yuki Conjugate – A Tension of Opposites Vols 3 & 4

    O Yuki Conjugate are among the top-tier post-Industrial/experimental projects of the past 40 years, and it’s been an amazing experience going over their catalog over the past few weeks in my personal collection.  This is archival material and a complement to A Tension of Opposites Vols 1 & 2.  From the band’s Bandcamp site: “Two years after the first two volumes of A Tension of Opposites (ATOO) were issued OYC return to the form they created to house their looser more exploratory works. ATOO allows them to expand their musical horizons and release their music more expediently. The original ATOO…

  • Music

    Karolina Ossowska & Jeff Gburek – Ariadne’s Thread

    I’m used to expecting amazing things from composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Gburek, and certainly so when he pairs with violinist Karolina Ossowska, but this is a shockingly good album even with such expectations. The album has four compositions which are about as gentle and pleasing as anything I’ve heard in the past few years.  It’s farther out than, say, Kosmische Musik, yet elegantly restrained.  This is music for taking an inner journey and finding what terrain lies inside of yourself. Don’t think of missing this one, I implore you.

  • Music

    Bana Haffar – Genera – Live at AB Salon, Brussels

    Touch Records has introduced so many experimental recording composers to the world in its 40 years of existence that it’s hard to keep up with them.  This latest release by Saudi-American composer Bana Haffar immediately spins a web for you to get tied into her shimmering compositions.  Found sounds and acoustic instruments feel and sound perfectly balanced, a feat made more impressive since this is a live recording.

  • Music

    Marc Méan – Winds

    I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Marc Méan’s previous works while working on my old blog, but this one just came across my radar, and it is absolutely shimmering (no pun intended, as Shimmering Records is his label for this release).  This will appeal greatly to those who enjoy the work of Lubomyr Melchik and Philip Glass, especially the cinematic feel of the second track.  It was impressive to read that he also had a background in free jazz and psychedelic rock, which gives him a wide palette to work from.  Smooth, gentle and engaging listening.

  • Music

    Pete Swinton – First Journey To Antarctica

    I receive a double blessing for this release.  I have the privilege of pointing my readers to a wonderful boutique label out of Brazil called z0 who are producing quality experimental music, and I add to this the joy of introducing more music from Pete Swinton, whose work has really caught my attention (thanks, in part, to Jeff Gburek). There are two tracks on this album.  The first, Blizzard In Antarctica, clocks in at 15 minutes, and is as cold and noisy as you would expect such a natural phenomenon to be.  It’s noise in a sense, but sculpted and…

  • Music

    Robert Scott Thompson – Night and Day

    Our friend Robert Scott Thompson offers a gorgeously minimal take on the Berlin School of Electronic music, something the doctor ordered for today.  RST is usually on-point with his long-form compositions, but this one sits perfectly in my ears today.  Well done.

  • Music

    Heejin Jang – Me and the Glassbirds

    Heejin Jang is a sound designer and composer from Seoul, South Korea who makes noise unlike other composers in the genre.  The sounds are more subdued, sculpted, and in many ways, engaging listening.  It’s not anti-music, but something abrasive, yet pleasing, to listen to.  From her Bandcamp site: “The Korean producer’s new album features the most intricate and brutal tracks of her career. Here, she presents mosaics of sound that endlessly mutate and rearrange themselves in elegant ways. Jang’s ability to position harsher sections against moments of unnerving calmness provokes the listener into a variety of mental states, including panic,…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Anthology Of Experimental Music From Latin America

    Our friends at Unexplained Sounds Group continue their ambient and experimental music travelogue series, this time concentrating on wonderful Latin America.  From their Bandcamp site: “After almost 6 years from the latest compilation focused on experimental music from Latina America, finally Unexplained Sounds Group publishes a cd release including, in addition to some of the musicians who participated in the initial project, many other artists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Venezuela, thereby providing evidence of continuous aesthetic research beyond all conventional barriers.” The label is a treasure of the genre, and I await what…