• Music

    Zhang Si’an (Djang San 张思安) – Hutong Jazz – 胡同爵士

    November 25, 2021 - By 

    Jean-Sébastien Héry is a French ex-pat musician living in China.  He has a very impressive body of work covering over 50 albums of music ranging from electro music to rock performed on traditional Chinese instruments like the zhonguran and pipa.  His work is singular, as there doesn’t seem to be anyone, either inside or outside of China, combining these elements together. His latest album covers ten evergreen recordings, including Herbie Hancock’s masterpiece, Cantaloupe Island, and My Favorite Things, made into a classic by the film The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews.  The album is charming all the way through.

  • Music

    Jacaszek & Kwartludium – Catalogue des Arbres

    November 24, 2021 - By 

    Michał Jacaszek is a Polish composer joined by the Kwartludium, a contemporary classical music quartet who, until coming across this recording, I had never heard of previously.  Jacaszek, the quartet, and the musicians who supplement this recording make a very tense, yet totally organic series of an electroacoustic series of soundscapes, which, as he says, are “forgotten songs performed secretly by my beloved trees.”  He lists his inspiration as coming from the legendary French composer Olivier Messiaen’s seminal work, “Catalogue d’Oiseaux.”  A stunning work to be inspired by, and the ensemble have done justice to Messiaen’s memory.

  • Music

    Scott Lawlor – The Mountains Cast Long Shadows

    November 23, 2021 - By 

    Scott Lawlor is an incredibly prolific composer out of Corinth, Texas.  He’s collaborated with scores of musicians and has many fine albums under his belt, but this is a one-track piece clocking in at a bit over 1 hour and 14 minutes.  It’s drone laden, cavernous in sound, and surprisingly warm, a bit like going for a walk under a volcano and feeling the magma and steamy water while you journey ever deeper into the bowels of the earth.  Well done.

  • Music

    Kawol Samarqandi and George Christian – Telegraph Paths

    November 22, 2021 - By 

    The Internet, for all the garbage one finds on it, amazes me some days.  This album, a collaboration of a friend of the blog, George Christian (out of Brazil), collaborates with Kawol Samarqandi (based in Japan) and release this collection on a Spanish record label, Bestiar and an Australian label, Ramble Records.  The world becomes smaller everyday. The is a pure guitar album.  George performs on acoustic-electric flat-top guitar, electric guitar, while Kawol performs on electric oil can guitar.  The plucks and twangs blend into each other seamlessly, and the music suits the day rather well, as it is rainy in Brno…

  • Music

    Muva – Yum Cháak

    November 20, 2021 - By 

    Mexico’s new music scene is criminally underrated, which is a shame considering the immense talent hidden there.  Yes, of course, we love boleros, the folk songs out of Veracruz and Yucatan, and the insanely good psychedelic music of the 1960s and 1970s, the Rock-In-Opposition of bands like Nazca, Decibel and Banda Elástica, all worthy listening. Let us introduce you to a new group called Muva.  They evoke a cinematic aesthetic which combines atmospheres of many national cultures (think Scotland, Mali and Israel) surrounded by elements of rock, electronic, classical, tribal music and jazz improvisations.  It’s not quite any genre, but…

  • Music

    monobeat original – Rough Mixes

    November 19, 2021 - By 

    One of the true founding fathers of Krautrock, Zappi W. Diermaier, is still going at it with a new album slated to be released in December of 2021.  The tracks blend together the Krautrock Zappi is obviously known for, while adding psychedelic, progressive and even post-Industrial elements into the brew.  For what should be a rather brutal sounding mix of sounds, it’s actually makes for a hypnotic and lovely listening.  Much respect to our friends at áMARXE Records for releasing this record.

  • Music

    Upupayāma – Upupayāma EP

    November 18, 2021 - By 

    From the Upupayāma Bandcamp site: Upupayāma is the musical persona of Alessio Ferrari, an Italian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who lives in a small mountain village above the city of Parma. In addition to playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, Ferrari himself also incorporates a number of other instruments into his work, including sitar, erhu, transverse and wooden flutes, and a variety of percussion instruments. This is a stunning debut by Upupayāma, whose take on psychedelic rock caught my attention. The album swims along nicely, reminding me of bands like Kikagaku Moyo. I hope they stay on this vein. It’s pleasantly heavy…

  • Music

    Rosie Turton – Expansions and Transformations: Part I & II

    November 17, 2021 - By 

    Rosie Turton came to my attention a while ago with her EP Rosie’s 5ive, which served as a stellar introduction to her work, but this latest album shows how incredibly expressive a trombone-led band can be.  So many players in London’s Nu-Jazz scene are leaving a mark that there will probably come a day when bands like Rosie’s and others operating today will be referenced in the same way fusion bands of the 1970s are. Truly expansive, a full sound, and utterly engaging.  What a fine sophomore release.

  • Music

    Hualun (花伦) – Wuhan Wuhan (武汉武汉)

    November 16, 2021 - By 

    It’s a shame that Hualun, and electronic music artist from Wuhan, China, has only one track available to peruse on his latest CD.  By the sound of it, the album is going to rival the slew of Japanese New Age reissues that have been coming out recently on various labels.  It’s a mish-mash of synths, cosmic vibes and a light, airy drone which was pleasing to my ears.  I await the full release, which is due on December 10, 2021.

  • Music

    miserable.noise.club – Frost Confinement

    November 15, 2021 - By 

    miserable.noise.club is a collective of incredibly talented musicians based in Jordan, China and the US + other collaborators in East Asia and the Middle East.  The music they make is, by some miracle, a solid blend of experimental music, a paean to post-punk and lo-fi psychedelic rock.  It’s hazy enough to remind me of some of the great music coming out of New Zealand in the late 1990s revolving around luminaries such as Roy Montgomery or The Dead C. Once the radio podcast begins, I have a feeling these folks will be featured heavily.  Very impressive.  Much respect to Abood…