Gold has made an appearance on the blog before and left a great impression, reminding me that noise can still be a valuable genre. His latest release is more wall-of-feedback sound, but rather than something horrid and abrasive, this has a more natural feel to it, like an immense wave of water crashing down on rocks. Powerful, but with an organic element to it that I appreciate.
Touch Records introduced many experimental and post-industrial music fans to some of the most crucial artists of the past 40 years or so. This compilation originally came as 28 single tracks which were available via subscription only, but since that option was shut down, the label thankfully compiled these tracks into one album.
I don’t remember Somewhere in Time as being a classic movie, but the film was enjoyable and starred Christopher Reeve (of Superman fame) and Jane Seymour. It’s fun to hear a much darker take of the soundtrack coming from composer Scott Lawler. This would have made the film a much more emotionally gloomy affair.
Richard Bégin‘s latest release is a truly beautiful headphone-worthy work published by Reverse Alignment Records. From their Bandcamp site: “”Lavrador” is a Portuguese term signifying peasant, plowman, or cultivator. Additionally, it is the name of the explorer João Fernandes Lavrador, associated with Labrador, a continental region in eastern Canada. Despite having a population of fewer than 30,000 inhabitants over an expansive area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers, this polar and subarctic expanse in the North Atlantic captivates with its dreamlike landscapes, vastness, tranquility, and solitude. Inspired by this immense terrain and the lives of the solitary peasants and isolated communities…
Many honorable composers of note were fascinated by radio static, and as someone who owned a shortwave radio in my youth, I happily admit to having the same fascination with such crunchy sound. Our friend Jeff Gburek uses radio sounds for his latest release. From his Bandcamp site: “This album combines a recent sequence of Shortwave radio capture performances from late April (tracks 1 – 11) and two VLF recordings from the X class solar flare and geomagnetic storm day May 11. Inspired to put this album out quickly after hearing what seemed to be a call for newly recorded…
Absolute respect to the estimable Ernesto Diaz-Infante for telling me about this noble cause. Foxy Digitalis has a nearly 3o-year track record, first as a xeroxed zine, and the in its current digital incarnatiom, of reviewing what I would rate as the absolute best of non-mainstream music. This compilation, featuring Ernesto, Lawrence English, Yann Novak, zàke, Stephen Vitiello and a number of names who are new to me, but no less impressive, have contributed tracks for the purpose of helping to keep Foxy Digitalis up and running. Do consider a donation. The magazine, as I hope is the case with…
Today is a workday for us in Beijing, so there is no review today, but I did want to point you to an Indonesian band called Senyawa, who is featured on Rafaelle Pezzella’s incredible Unexplained Sounds Group‘s digipak retrospective called the Far East Music Collection. It is a reissue of three seminal compilations covering experimental music from China, Indonesia and the Far East in general. The set looks gorgeous, and Senyawa‘s contribution is mind-blowing.
Something rather different from friend of the blog Jeff Gburek, whose work you know quite well if you have been following our page for a while. From the Soundcloud site: “The Rifles & Garbage Podcast is named thusly to create a strong an mental association between militarism, waste and pollution. I am not opposed to subsistence hunting but maybe use a trap rather than firearms or maybe even try subsistence farming instead of the venison survivalist hype. This podcast has three movements. One introductory, paying homage to sources. The second featuring a recital of poems by Yahia Lababidi, Ghassan Kavafani,…
I was introduced to a project new to me coming from Australia. From Karl Willebrant’s Bandcamp site: “Night Daze blends immersive textures and emotive expanses that invites the listener to conceive a visual experience through soundscapes and drones utilizing bass, trumpet, field recordings, and improvised performance. The album evokes themes of time and place moving in congruent motion. ‘Night Daze’ Full performance interpretation with special guests Peggy Lee (cello) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums) viewable here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQgYvLem3lY “Each track feels like a seemingly large area in which the sounds of the bass and trumpet echo around luxuriously. I…
Alphaxone are a Tehran-based project who put out profoundly deep and lush dark ambient music.