From the ever-magnificent Sub Rosa Label: “Composer Ahmed Essyad was born in Salé, Morocco, in 1938. After studying music at the Rabat Conservatoire (Morocco) he moved to Paris in 1962, where he became a student of Max Deutsch and, later, his assistant. Trained in the avant-garde practices of Western musical Continue Reading
Electroacoustic
Fallen Sun I Sacher Pelz I Thomas Bey William Bailey – Acousmatomisation
Sacher Pelz is one of the early monickers of Maurizio Bianchi (MB, who is legendary to fans of experimental noise), and he returns in collaboration with consistently amazing Malaysian composer Fallen Sun and the American artist Thomas Bey William Bailey. As with a great deal of MB releases, this one Continue Reading
Jean-Michel Jarre – Deserted Palace
Much respect to Transversales Disques who have lovingly reissued (on vinyl and digital, no less!) the first album of Jean-Michel Jarre before he became a commercial success in France and then worldwide. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Transversales Disques proudly presents the first official LP reissue of Deserted Palace, a Continue Reading
William Ryan Fritch – Adhesion
Being under the annoying grip of having to use a VPN has been an irritant living in the city of my employment. Being in Japan led to a horrible surprise in that I have been missing some stunning releases. Thankfully, I have a chance to amend this, so I start Continue Reading
MadMen Duo – Through the Night
Our dear friends at Mahorka Records continue to surprise and delight us. Their latest release features two musicians, the MadMen Duo (I don’t know where they are from, but they did record these tracks in Bulgaria if I understand correctly) whose music comes off as a wonderfully dark combination of Continue Reading
Trajectories – Quiet on Kökar
Trajectories is a troupe from Quebec who produce electroacoustic music. From their Bandcamp site: “The album Quiet on Kökar was conceived of during a recent artist residency undertaken on the small island of Kökar in the Åland Archipelago in Finland, experimenting with a variety of recording set-ups and collaborative compositional Continue Reading
Lionel Marchetti & hamaYôko / Yôko Higashi – U chu Jin (les êtres en dehors de la Terre)
French electroacoustic composer Lionel Marchetti makes absolutely mind-blowing soundscapes made out of percussion and found sounds, which is impressive enough. However, in this 20-minute piece done in collaboration with vocalist hamaYôko, he puts a level of eeriness that will be extremely engaging to fans of avant-garde music.
Holger Czukay / Die Angel & Zappi W. Diermaier – Gvoon: Version 1
As much as I loved the work of Can bassist Holger Czukay, there are a couple of his releases that I passed by. This one features die ANGEL, whom I have never heard of previously, and Faust drummer Zappi W. Diermaier. This sounds far less like Krautrock and more like Continue Reading
Claire Rousay – The Bloody Lady
As I wrap up my vacation in Los Angeles and prepare to head back home to Beijing, I thought I’d share the work of a Los Angeles-based composer who has intrigued me for a while now. Claire Rousay (stylized claire rousay) is a local composer who works in the electroacoustic Continue Reading
Christophe Bailleau – Insight and Vision
Before I get to the promotional blurb on the website for Mahorka Records, I can give my thoughts on the album. Christophe Bailleau’s Insight and Vision crosses so many genres that one would think, based on the description, that the music would be unlistenable. Nothing could be further from the Continue Reading