• Music

    IO – ∀LICE

    May 6, 2021 - By 

    I have a particularly strong attraction to Porto Alegre, Brazil.  I have a few friends from there, one in particular who was a charmer, and it seems that everything from jazz to progressive rock seems to do well there. This is the breeding ground of IO, a visual artist, scenographer, fashion designer, performer and musician from Porto Alegre.  She uses a more cinematic approach to musique concrète music, and the pieces play like wordless stories that play for the cinema in your mind.  It’s a very well-recorded album, easy to get lost in, and it was a pleasure to listen…

  • Music - Youtube

    [Youtube] Sofia Gubaidulina – Sieben Worte for cello, bayan and strings

    April 30, 2021 - By 

    No reviews today, as I will be celebrating Easter weekend (for those who are confused, it is because most Eastern Orthodox celebrate Easter using the Julian Calendar) with my friends.  To honor Good Friday, I offer to you Tatar-Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina’s magnum opus, Sieben Worte for cello, bayan and strings.  It is a composition dedicated to the last words of Jesus Christ during His passion. For those who celebrate today, Είθε ο Θεός να μας δείξει έλεος.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek with Ilaria Boffa – Reifications // Minimal Animal // Reanimations

    April 29, 2021 - By 

    Another Akashic Records masterpiece.  This imprint never fails for me. Jeff Gburek works with Italian composer, researcher and poet Ilaria Boffa to make a hazy, deeply psychedelic piece of musique concrète.  The three works on this album are sonic storytelling, layering voice on voice, and  is perhaps the best way I can describe this release.  Sublime, but I expect no less from the parties involved.

  • Music - Spoken Word

    Steve Buscemi & Elliott Sharp – Rub Out The Word

    April 10, 2021 - By 

    Few inside of the world of avant-garde music will not have heard of composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp.  He has one of the most impressive bodies of work in experimental music.  This release is a very pleasant surprise for me, though, because, despite the wonders of Sharp’s music on its own merits, having actor and experimental theater veteran Steve Buscemi reading William S. Burroughs’ works just adds to the fun. From their Bandcamp site: Actor Steve Buscemi and composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp collaborate on a new CD based on texts by William S. Burroughs. Two significant figures in the formation of…

  • Music

    Orphan Sound System – Layered Seed Water

    April 4, 2021 - By 

    My (Western) Easter listening happens to be an avant-garde recording put together in the mid-nineties in Italy and just now being released.  Imagine works being recorded nearly a quarter-century ago still sounding fresh and relevant.  This is the sound of Orphan Sound System.  The project features the talents of Jeff Gburek, John El Manahi and John Palumbo.  I find it difficult to compare it to an artist of that particular time period, though perhaps I can hear a corollary with groups like AMM, the scores of incredibly talented cassette culture artists who worked with lo-fi conditions to make incredible art,…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Three New Albums

    February 19, 2021 - By 

    We have the tremendous pleasure of announcing three new albums by composer Jeff Gburek. The first album is in collaboration with his partner Karolina Ossowska, who plays violin, ocarina and kalimba on this release.  Gburek performs on zither, mandolin, miniature bandura and something called a blue-sky instrument, something new to me.  The music is quiet, thoughtful, and meditative.  It was a relaxing experience hearing Jeff’s and Karolina’s interplay. The next release deals with shortwave radio sounds.  This is in keeping with the best of experimental music, where one lets the noises speak for themselves.  Jeff states: Flux and Permittivity is…

  • Music

    Joseph Benzola – When You Get to Saturn, Make a Left.

    February 9, 2021 - By 

    I cannot think of any genre of music percussionist and composer Joseph Benzola doesn’t sound comfortable working in.  There might be some bizarre concoction lying dormant in the underground somewhere, but it’s not worth wasting one’s time thinking much about. This collection puts together what sounds something similar to Balinese percussion on the first track, Improv 24 November 2019, and then smoothly transitions to atonal piano music, then some improvisational music, and so on. The variation of styles, and how well everything meshes together, is impressive. Hints of Alban Berg, Sun Ra, jazz played at a bar over a scotch…

  • Music

    Maja S. K. Ratkje – Corona Lockdown Concert For TUSK Festival 2020

    January 29, 2021 - By 

    Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje is perhaps the most important active composer in Norway’s experimental music scene.  The Trondheim native not only works with avant-garde music, but with contemporary classical, choral, experimental, electronic and even rock music. She provides a new release which clocks in about 30 minutes of vocal improvisation which goes from quiet blips and boops to what sounds like harrowing growling and shreiks (yes, it works perfectly within the context of this music), textured with loops and the sorts of soundscapes Ratkje is known for.  The release is a documentation of her virtual performance at the TUSK Virtual…