Various Artists – Meticulous Midgets 2023

Our beloved friends at Russia’s finest indie music magazine, Meticulous Midgets, has released their annual compilation of weird experimental, lo-fi and avant-garde music. Featured artists include Russia’s own Assembly of Honey, the Italian ambient sound sculptor Marco Lucchi and Latvia’s Ш​у​м​и​л​о​в Б​о​р (Shumilov Bor) among a host of talent worldwide.

Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us

A big and hearty thanks goes out to my dear friend and brother in music, Hubert, for turning me on to this album.  Brìghde Chaimbeul plays smallpipes, a wonderful instrument criminally neglected in comparison to its more famous cousin, the Highland pipes.  These smallpipes have a more ethereal sound to Continue Reading

JOHN 3:16 – The Pact

Folks, we have a very long wait for JOHN 3:16’s next opus (April of 2024), but judging based on how good the samples have been so far, this is going to be the band’s most profound release yet.  The tension on the album reminds me of early, more Industrial-era Laibach Continue Reading

Ivan Grebenschikov – The Endless Winter

I’ll be in-flight over South Korea by the time you’re reading this post, and I thought I’d leave you with an incredibly rich and diverse album by Russian pianist Ivan Grebenschikov and his group.  The Endless Winter is his latest work, and it is a seamless combination of art-rock, contemporary Continue Reading

Omar Ahmad – Inheritance

Judging by the sole track available from AKP Recordings artist, the Brooklyn-based Palestinian-American Omar Ahmad, this album should be considered one of those albums you listen to at 3 a.m. in order to relax and be at one with God.  The chilled out atmosphere of the track Lapses is shimmering, Continue Reading