Finland’s Pelkkä Poutanen provide one of 2022’s best World Music albums, combining a wild combination of Scandinavian folk, drone, throat-singing and, if you can believe it, a very light touch of tango.
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Kalí Rodriguez-Peña – Mélange
Kalí Rodriguez-Peña is a Cuban-American trumpeter who is one of the leading lights of New York’s modern salsa scene. Salsa isn’t a genre that normally gets caught by my radar, but recently I’ve had the chance to explore the works of artists like Johnny Colón, Hector Lavoe and Willie Colón, Continue Reading
Delay 45 – Flux
Australian jazz continues to impress! To my ears, Delay 45 combine a tinge of Chet Baker and early trumpet-laden Durutti Column with the improvising abilities of fellow Aussies The Necks, and the results make for a free fluid, and even somewhat sensual experience. This will be seen as a classic Continue Reading
Nick Sudnick – Opera of the Fifteenth Hour
24 Rush Hours is a series done by Zga composer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Sudnick, and this is #15 of 24. The two long pieces are a pastiche of art-rock (think Rock-In-Opposition like Art Bears or the composers Alfred ’23’Harth and Heiner Goebbels). Add an element of Bertolt Brecht-like lyrics for Continue Reading
JOHN 3:16 – Because I could Not Stop for Death...
Because I could Not Stop for Death... is a quote from poet Emily Dickinson, and listening to JOHN 3:16 interpret it is a pleasant experience, as the music on this one-track single is sweeping and cinematic, a touch different from his other work.
Liu Ying (刘英) – JUST (抓时)
If you have come across the landslide of reissues of stunningly sublime Japanese new age music composed by the likes of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Haroumi “Harry” Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame) or Midori Takada, I have a strong suspicion that JUST, just released today by Chinese composer and synthesizer/guitar player Continue Reading
Big Hogg – Pageant Of Beasts
Bigg Hogg are a Scottish progressive rock band who remind me of old Canterbury Bands like Caravan and Soft Machine. Really mellow and charming prog.
Marcus Webb – sPaCeS pLaCeS
Marcus Webb is a sound designer and composer based out of New Jersey in the United States who creates “foreboding soundscapes and craters of bass and noise serving as the constants within alternating conceptual constructs of city life and drones wrapping around cavernous spaces with clearly defined tones from his Continue Reading
Vis-A-Vis – The Best Of Vis-A-Vis In Congo Style
Even in the midst of war and apocalypse, you should find ways to feel a sense of joy. Hope trumps all, and Ghanian music, like that of Vis-A-Vis, makes for a good remedy. Cheerful vocals, lo-fi production and a pulsing beat cures many ills.
Bandcamp Friday and Help For Ukraine
Politics is loathsome. Human beings, however, can be beautiful. All of them, not just your favorites. If you can help out those in need from all points in this disgusting war, I’m sure the labels, the artists, and most of all, the people who could use the funds to survive, Continue Reading