• Music

    Valerio Orlandini – Syntagmata

    Valerio Orlandini is a sound designer and composer from Firenze, Italy whose work reminds me of that of artists like French electroacoustic music composers like François Bayle or Michel Chion.  It is, of course, dark, nearly claustrophobic, music.  Yet it has a nice cinematic feel to it.  He’ll be worth watching and listening to as the years pass.

  • Music

    UBURGRUND – Dionelos

    At least as I am able to understand it, UBURGRUND is a graphic artist and composer who hails from Băicoi, Romania.  This release is inspired, in part by the Romanian modern surrealist author Mircea Cărtărescu and his magnum opus, Solenoid. I have not had a chance to read the book yet, but from what I am hearing from a dear seraphim in Bucharest, he is as worthy as read as he is weird. You can read more about this work here. This album was released by our friends at Kalamine Records, and, as expected, it maintains their high standard of…

  • Music

    Albireon / Zeresh – No Longer Mourn For Me

    Our beloved friends from Israel, Zeresh, have collaborated with Italian project Albireon for an apocalyptic doom-folk classic.  Considering the state of the world, I choose that word advisedly. This album has something special to it because so many parties come together and work seamlessly, something rare for a split album.  The music is both spacious and claustrophobic at the same time, as the tones are dark, a bit creepy and haunting.  This would compare rather well to the early acoustic forays into folk that Current 93 took decades ago, though with a gloomier feel about it. Take, for instance, the…

  • Music

    Various Artists – That Sounds Greek To Me | Apr 27 | Muses & Sirens

    First, a debt of thanks goes to Dimitris Tsironis who took the time to send me this compilation for review.  His label, 1tracktape, is doing a great service exposing Greek experimental and avant-garde music to the world, and the quality of this compilation is superb.  What’s more, the label is unique in that it releases albums every New Moon and (most of) Full Moon dates.  I can’t say I’ve heard of any other labels maintaining such a specific schedule, so each moon that pops up will be an opportunity to check out what new releases Mr. Tsironis has in store for…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Anthology Of Experimental Music From China

    I don’t do top-ten lists, and I don’t ever plan on doing that in the future, but things can change at any moment.  Still, if I had to nominate a favorite record label at this moment, there’s no doubt it would be Italy’s Unexplained Sounds Group.  Each compilation is a tour guide of experimental music from select parts of the world.  This one is near and dear to me, as China was and shortly will be my home for quite a while, and Raffaele Pezzella does yeoman’s work documenting what is happening in the Middle Kingdom experimental-music-wise. Here are some…

  • Music

    IO – ∀LICE

    I have a particularly strong attraction to Porto Alegre, Brazil.  I have a few friends from there, one in particular who was a charmer, and it seems that everything from jazz to progressive rock seems to do well there. This is the breeding ground of IO, a visual artist, scenographer, fashion designer, performer and musician from Porto Alegre.  She uses a more cinematic approach to musique concrète music, and the pieces play like wordless stories that play for the cinema in your mind.  It’s a very well-recorded album, easy to get lost in, and it was a pleasure to listen…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek with Ilaria Boffa – Reifications // Minimal Animal // Reanimations

    Another Akashic Records masterpiece.  This imprint never fails for me. Jeff Gburek works with Italian composer, researcher and poet Ilaria Boffa to make a hazy, deeply psychedelic piece of musique concrète.  The three works on this album are sonic storytelling, layering voice on voice, and  is perhaps the best way I can describe this release.  Sublime, but I expect no less from the parties involved.

  • Music

    Destruktionsanstalt / Cyanosis – Split

    For those of you, my friends, who were avid readers of my previous blog, A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music, among the musicians I was proud to champion was Destruktionsanstalt, whose works were featured at this link.  I’m pleased to say that Per Najbjerg Odderskov has a fresh release under that monicker, splitting it with a project which is new to me in Cyanosis.  The first two tracks from from Destruktionsanstalt, and unlike many noise bands, there is a nearly surgical focus on both tracks.  The pummeling noise fest has a vibe utterly indebted to the masters, especially early period-Throbbing Gristle…

  • Music

    Schloss Tegal – Musick From Madness

    Schloss Tegal have a storied history in post-Industrial, ritualistic and experimental music.  The duo of Richard Schneider (based in Prague) and MWBurch (based in New York) developed a body of work on their own, drawing from some extremely dark places, as well as collaborating with musicians like Aube from Japan and the American experimental music composer John Duncan. Our friend and colleague Raffaele Pezzella is releasing and has remastered these cassette recordings and unreleased tracks into a very coherent album.  To learn more about the history of the band, and how this collaboration came to be, consider going to the…

  • Music - Spoken Word

    Steve Buscemi & Elliott Sharp – Rub Out The Word

    Few inside of the world of avant-garde music will not have heard of composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp.  He has one of the most impressive bodies of work in experimental music.  This release is a very pleasant surprise for me, though, because, despite the wonders of Sharp’s music on its own merits, having actor and experimental theater veteran Steve Buscemi reading William S. Burroughs’ works just adds to the fun. From their Bandcamp site: Actor Steve Buscemi and composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp collaborate on a new CD based on texts by William S. Burroughs. Two significant figures in the formation of…