I am going to assume that picnic hails from Australia, as this is where their record label, Dais Art, is based. The album has a cinematic, drone-laden feel, but rather than being foreboding, it’s a very warm-sounding album. Imagine music to swim in warm waters to. Quite pleasant!
Australia
Jeff Gburek – Madhuwanti
Madhuwanti is a collection of guitar instrumentals played sublimely by Jeff Gburek. The title name itself comes from Hindustani music and can read about further here. The playing is as honey-like as the title implies. How, you ask? Let the good man explain further at his Bandcamp site: “Madhu means Continue Reading
Fathomage – The Doxologion Codex
I never thought the dungeon synth genre would produce excellent Orthodox Christian music, but he we are. Fathomage are from Australia, and they produce a music that, though generally electronic, incorporate Eastern Orthodox doxology, Celtic Christian themes and fine folkish instrumentation.
Loren Connors & David Grubbs – Evening Air
What an absolutely sublime record performed by two legends, released on one of the best labels in operation today. From Room40’s Bandcamp site: “Evening Air is the result Loren Connors and David Grubbs’s first trip to the recording studio in the two decades since their first duo album, Arborvitae (Häpna). Continue Reading
Willebrant – Coastal___
Karl Willebrant released an EP’s worth of meditative music that would be appealing to fans of groups like Embryo and Popol Vuh. The tunes are gentle, a bit on the kosmische side, and well-balanced in terms of its sonic character. This is a rather fine little release.
Love 666 – Take a Chance on Death
A quick warning ahead of time – do NOT put this in your hi-fi stereo system. Love 666’s latest album is about as lo-fi as it gets, and considering the audience chatter, this has to be a live recording. The music is harsh, brutally in-your-face noise-rock that bands like Les Continue Reading
Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything
After a long, rather painful, but necessary break, we are back! Thank you kindly for your patience. We start off with an album I’ve anticipated for awhile now, as I have been immersing myself in the works of Dirty Three’s leader Warren Ellis and his collaborations with Nick Cave as Continue Reading
Chapovski – Fogged, Encased
Bleak and morose, this is the debut recording (as far as I know) of Alexander Chapovski, related to the Čapovski clan of musicians from North Macedonia. There’s a thread of Tindersticks, Leonard Cohen and Swans in this piece, perhaps a neofolk influence as well. I look forward to hear his Continue Reading
Willebrant & Williamson – Night Daze
I was introduced to a project new to me coming from Australia. From Karl Willebrant’s Bandcamp site: “Night Daze blends immersive textures and emotive expanses that invites the listener to conceive a visual experience through soundscapes and drones utilizing bass, trumpet, field recordings, and improvised performance. The album evokes themes Continue Reading
Helen Svoboda – The Odd River
Helen Svoboda is a Finnish-Australian composer, double bassist and singer whose work reminds me in some way of Laurie Anderson’s work, but perhaps denser and more lush. This makes for a pretty phenomenal listen.