Serbian-Hungarian multi-instrumentalist and composer Szilárd Mezei is perhaps the most adventurous musician coming out of Hungary these days, and that’s saying a lot, considering the great quality of improvisers who have come from that country (think of the legendary A.E. Bizottság, for example). This is a trio album from 2008 Continue Reading
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øjeRum – Vågnende Jeg Ser De Døde
Danish composer øjeRum has recorded for and with some of the best ambient and electronic music labels active today, and this latest release is published by the estimable Room40 Records out of Australia. From the release Bandcamp site: “While recording, radio waves and static electricity interfered with the signal – Continue Reading
Akira Sakata (坂田明) – a.k.a. Tombo (赤とんぼ)
Akira Sakata may be best known internationally for collaborations with guitarist and composer Jim O’Rourke and bassist Bill Laswell, but in Japan and among jazz aficionados, he’s also known as one of Japan’s best purveyors of spiritual jazz. This album is his latest, and it’s imbued with deepness and humor Continue Reading
Fallen – The Floating World
I’ve been a fan of ROHS! Records out of Italy (HT: Ivo Petrov – thanks!) for some time. They put out consistently good ambient music and organic electronica every month, it seems, and this release from Lorenzo Bracaloni, who goes by the monicker Fallen, is a delight to listen to. Continue Reading
Yunchi Ensemble – Aleksandrovka, Milyanfan: Dungan Music from Kyrgyzstan
Yet another amazing collection has been released by Antonovka Records, now based in Moldova. This collection features a Chinese Muslim ethnic group called the Dungan who live in the passes between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and surprisingly, they don’t write in Chinese, but in Cyrillic! From Antonovka’s Bandcamp site: “Most of Continue Reading
Meitei (冥丁) – Kwaidan (怪談) (5th Anniversary Edition)
Meitei made its debut in 2018 with this freakishly disturbing, yet beautiful, experimental album. It was a revelation for a lot of music critics, and each listen makes you feel like you’re locked in some disjointed Kurosawa film. Kitchen Music and Evening Chants have combined to reissue this seminal album Continue Reading
Gibraltar Drakus – Hommage A Zanzibar
Awesome Tapes From Africa, the legendary blog and record label, have produced another winner, this time from a Cameroonian artist called Gibraltar Drakus, who produced bikutsi, a local dance music. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “By the early 1990’s, Les Têtes Brûlées were indisputably the most famous and influential artists Continue Reading
Samo Salamon, Emanuele Parrini & Vasco Trilla – Eating Poetry
Another dear friend of the blog, Samo Salamon from Slovenia, brings along a few friends for a well-done, gorgeously recorded improvisational album. Joining Salamon on this disc are Emanuele Parrini on violin and Vasco Trilla on drums and percussion. From Samo’s Bandcamp site: “A great improvising trio session of three Continue Reading
Baklava – From Skopje With Love
Our friends over at the indomitable CPL-Music have released a charming disc of traditional music from my second homeland of Skopje, Macedonia! Baklava, the subject of today’s listening, work with folk music and does sterling work reinterpreting it for a more modern, updated sound. Speaking of that sound, the band Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek – Vigilance Suite I & II
Fellow giromondo Jeff Gburek offers another incredibly profound album, balancing perfectly his own signature experimental sound touched with folk and blues, with the spirits of Robbie Basho and John Fahey once again coming along for the ride. For the influence behind this album, please consider taking the time to read Continue Reading