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.
Eyriahrk Nunshkar is the latest project of a beloved friend of the blog, Amandine Fradejas. The music crosses drone, metal, and even a touch of Zeuhl. Magnificent.
This is some of the best late-night listening I’ve heard in a long time. Neither Jeff Gburek nor Karolina Ossowska ever fail to please my ears, whether it be with a deep intellectual piece or compositions which teeter on the edge of being mournful, but this one deserves a special place in the collection. From Jeff’s Bandcamp site: “Inspired in part by a recent renaissance in listening to dhrupad and other music of the Indian subcontinent and early European music, I transformed my standard GDR zither into a swarmandal, developing a full moon raga scale. When I invited Karolina to…
Hiemis are a project out of Spain, not exactly a mecca (yet) for dark ambient bands or dungeon synth, but this album is wonderfully bleak and enveloping. It has the feel of a lo-fi Spanish or Italian horror soundtrack, but with a lot of warmth to it. Eerie, of course, but accessible.
The legendary Lustmord has a new album which releases on March 15, 2024. Judging by the one track currently available to sample, this will be a creepy, heavy album with all the horror of watching a Bosch painting melt while on acid. This will be that deep.
Mykel Boyd is one of the leading lights in experimental music and drone, and has done so much to promote the genre that it is (pleasantly) hard to keep track of his releases. He is paired with Brume (the working name of French composer and long-time contact Christian Renou) who is, frankly, a legend in the cassette culture scene. The album is a fine take on electroacoustic music with an ominous vibe floating throughout these pieces. Perfect to get lost in thought with.
Today is a travel day, so I leave you in the ever-capable hands of Jeff Gburek and one of his latest creations.