• Music

    Chris Child & Micah Frank – Tape Pieces Vol​​.​​ 3

    April 26, 2022 - By 

    Chris Child & Micah Frank are two incredible composers out of the New England area of the United States.  From this particular release’s Bandcamp site: Tape Pieces Vol. 3 represents the final installment in the collaboration between composer/producer Chris Child (Kodomo) and sound artist Micah Frank. Volume 3 culminates in a rich cacophony of noise and emotional charge while still remaining subdued in a contemplative state. Chris and Micah continue exploring simple asynchronous micro loops, layering upon them until what emerges becomes a rich ecosystem of interwoven parts, embracing unexpected noises and sounds disintegrating. It is perhaps the most experimental…

  • Music

    Mansur – Minotavrvs

    April 6, 2022 - By 

    Bassist Jason Köhnen has a deep pedigree in the world of darkjazz.  He was a member of the profoundly interesting Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble out of The Netherlands, and he’s now participating in a new project with Dimitry El-Demerdashi (ex-Phurpa) and Martina Horváth on vocals. As noted on Mansur’s Bandcamp site: “‘Minotavrvs’ is Mansur’s first live improv recording. An ambient journey. A musical homage to the mythos of the Minotaur. The minotaur as a mirror of self reflection;  the fear of confronting one’s inner monster. ‘Minotavrvs’ is a sonic voyage through subterranean ruins and labyrinths, evoking spirits from past echoes of Minoan…

  • Music

    Federico Mosconi – Air Sculptures

    April 5, 2022 - By 

    Our friends at Lost Tribe Sound have at least three releases coming up which will be reviewed here.  I’m pretty excited to introduce you to ambient composer Federico Mosconi, whose compositions feel cavernous, made more impressive that he’s pulling this together with guitar and effects.  For those of you who appreciate the work of Spanish composer Rafael Anton Irisarri, you’re going to love Mosconi’s work.

  • Music

    Gang Violins – Greater Forces

    March 26, 2022 - By 

    Hear me out on this one.  Gang Violins, a duo out of New Zealand, released a single to their upcoming album Inner Realms, and it’s a well-crafted mix of cinematic ambient music and post-rock, but it triggered a memory of the subtle buildup to the song Where The Streets Have No Name by U2.  No surprise, as Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno had a lot of input, and made a rather decent pop song start lushly. I’m looking forward to hearing more from these lads.

  • Music

    Orphan Sound System – Tantric Tantrums

    March 22, 2022 - By 

    Experimental music isn’t a genre that avails itself to the power trio.  In this case, however, Jeff Gburek, John El-Manahi and John Palumbo should be given such a venerable title.  The music they produce as Orphan Sound System is reminiscent of vintage progressive rock bands like Faust or Cranioclast but with production input by the Gyuto Monks.  This is sitting on the nexus point of psychedelic music, post-Industrial and experimental.  Challenging listening, but ultimately rewarding, as the listener will feel as though they’re being transported on a not-unpleasant tour of Saṃsāra. Lineup: Jeff Gburek: electric guitar, bassic guitar, microfreak, drum machine,…

  • Music

    FRKTL – Prose Edda

    February 15, 2022 - By 

    FRKTL is the nom de plume of British-Egyptian composer Sarah Badr, and her work straddles so many genres that it’s quite hard to describe accurately (a wonderful thing, as it means her work is incredibly fresh-sounding). There are, of course, long, drone-y elements to the music, but once you go into tracks 3 and 4 (Hverfa af himni heiðar stjörnur and Hart er með hölðum, respectively, you start hearing elements of techno (!), bleak synthetic choruses sounding like the angels reciting the liturgy over the bowels of Hades (or, in this case, Hel, in order to maintain a proper cosmology). …

  • Music

    Assembly Of Honey – Морозные Узоры (Frost Patterns)

    February 14, 2022 - By 

    Assembly Of Honey are a magnificent Russian ambient drone project related to the magazine Meticulous Midgets, friends of our blog.  Their latest album has several tracks which would appeal to meditative musicians like Steve Roach, but also to New Age artists like Kitaro and even experimental bands like Britain’s O Yuki Conjugate.  There is a calming aspect to the music that, frankly, I needed to hear after a stressful Valentine’s Day.  Well done, as always.

  • Music

    Mong Tong 夢東 – Mystery 秘神

    January 31, 2022 - By 

    We had the pleasure of reviewing Mong Tong last year.  They have produced yet another surreal post-progressive electronic gem.  On this album, there are elements of post-rock, modified traditional Taiwanese music, but also the eerie grooves which would do bands like Goblin proud, as the creepiness is quite subtle.  Read their Bandcamp site for a more in-depth account of this latest album.

  • Music

    Cergy-Pontoise – CP01

    January 17, 2022 - By 

    This is a curious release.  Cergy-Pontoise are an Italian duo, and their albim starts out with drone-y ambient sounds but then falls into atmospheric progressive-folk at times, sounding like a better recorded lo-fi artist out of New Zealand, perhaps.  There are also elements of space rock, prog and psychedelic music in this.  It’s a mixed bag in the positive sense of the word.