• Music

    ShooDja-ChoDja – Shooldyrak

    March 26, 2021 - By 

    Our beloved comrade in World Music, Christian Pliefke, releases another gem on his label CPL Music.  This new release by the band ShooDja-ChoDja from comes from the region of Udmurtia, populated by people of Finno-Ugric stock, and having traditions far different from their fellow Russian citizens. The music is played on a mix of traditional and modern instruments, with complex vocal harmonies throughout.  Of particular interest to me was the track entitled Krez, which sounded like a mournful dirge.  A bit heartbreaking in parts, but beautiful in its own way.  I’m sure ShooDja-ChoDja must be phenomenal to see live.

  • Music

    Zeena Parkins, Mette Rasmussen, Ryan Sawyer – Glass Triangle

    March 25, 2021 - By 

    Relative Pitch Records is making a great case for becoming a favorite label of mine.  There are so many great releases covering the best of improvisational and free music that I’ll probably go broke trying to purchase all of them. It’s fitting to make my first review that of avant-harpist Zeena Parkins, whose work should need no introduction to the initiated, but for those new to her work, she recorded on labels such as John Zorn’s Tzadik Records and No Man’s Land, a German improv label best known to American and British audiences thanks to their distributor, Recommended Records, who…

  • Music

    Manne Skafvenstedt – Archway

    March 23, 2021 - By 

    This was a happy surprise.  Manne Skafvenstedt is a Swedish pianist, composer and producer who works in the fields of jazz, ambient, electronics and sound design.  His latest album, Archway, is a calming experience.  There is a sort of sweetness to this music, where the listener actually feels good enjoying these sounds.  It’s not the sugary nonsense one hears in lower quality New Age or modern ambient music.  This resonates, and it might be because he is also a professional sound designer while he’s not busy composing. I have no doubt that those who enjoy the works of Robert Rich,…

  • Music

    Secret Agent – Mata Hari EP

    March 22, 2021 - By 

    Combining surf rock, garage rock, touches of psych and having a generally lo-fi vibe to it, Mexico City’s Secret Agent combine a couple of cool instrumentals with two sung tracks, including the title track, Mata Hari, featuring Vince Montes Rivera, which you can listen to below:  

  • Music

    Neon Noodle – Swamplands

    March 21, 2021 - By 

    Neon Noodle mixes lo-fi noise with what sounds like horror soundtracks, touches of vaporwave and a bass line that reminds me of something one could hear out of an early 80s garage post-punk or experimental cassette demo.  It’s crunchy, but interesting.  I’d like to see how Neon Noodle develop as time passes.

  • Music

    Daniel Casimir – Safe (Part I) (feat. Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Al MacSween & James Copus)

    March 20, 2021 - By 

    Bassist Daniel Casimir is a young lion of London’s jazz scene.  This is a one-off composition in preparation for a full album coming out later this year on Jazz re:freshed, and it features some of the best instrumentalists active today.  Observe the names on this track.  Each is leaving a huge mark on music these days, and will be lauded for decades. Quintet Daniel Casimir Moses Boyd Al Macsween Nubya Garcia James Copus Brass Sean Gibbs Tom Dunnet Rosie Turton Andy Davies Woodwind Faye MacCalman Samuel Rapley Gareth Lockrane Strings Julia Dos Reis Miranda Lewis Rebekah Reid Rhiannon Dimond

  • Music

    Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs – Bonus Disc

    March 19, 2021 - By 

    This has to be one of the most charmingly weird, frankly unclassifiable discs I’ve heard in a while.  Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs manage to pull together a collection that should sound like a mess, yet it’s a rather enjoyable one.  The music goes from lo-fi disco tracks (which for some reason, remind me heavily of the ur-supergroup Big In Japan) to outtakes from a later-era David Bowie session.  This is a gritty gem of a disc.  The only shame is that it took me six years to come across it.

  • Music

    Clara Engel – A New Skin

    March 18, 2021 - By 

    Clara Engel is based in Toronto, Canada.  Her work has been described as “Folk-Noir” or “minimalist holy blues,” and who am I to disagree?  This takes the best elements of neofolk, stripped-down to just voice, cigar box guitar, electric guitar, melodica and harmonica, and it sounds like a rare self-pressed release worth thousands one could find on eBay, but living up to the hype. Clara’s voice is a perfect match for the ethereal music supporting it.  I have a feeling those who like the folkier elements of Current 93, Nick Drake, Shirley Collins and 70’s progressive folk are going to find…

  • Music

    Hideki Umezawa & Andrew Pekler – Two Views Of Amami Oshima

    March 16, 2021 - By 

    Electroacoustic music inspired by painting and field recordings done in the Ryuku Islands off the coast of the Japanese mainland.  This definitely caught my attention.  Edições CN out of Antwerp, Belgium released this album in 2020, and it features the works of Japanese composer Hideki Umezawa and the Samarkand, Uzbekistan born resident of Berlin, Andrew Pekler. The back story of this release comes to us from their Bandcamp site: In 1958 the painter Isson Tanaka (°22 July 1908 – *11 September 1977) moved to Amami Ōshima, an island in the Ryukyus. There, in self-chosen isolation, he committed himself exclusively to…