Jeff Gburek returns to these pages presenting an album featuring himself improvising on his mandolin. The album is sparse and very well recorded. The clarity really helps one to focus on the sounds emanating from his weapon of choice. Think of a mix between experimental music, jazz, a horror soundtrack, and your friend musing.
“The Last American Poet” Shane Beck collaborates with Japanese experimental composer mora-tau for an album of spoken-word-laden soundscapes.
sirr-ecords is Portugal’s preeminent experimental music label, and this compilation covers some of the artists who work with them. Each of the artists provide a track based on weather, and the notes over at the album’s Bandcamp site are very much worth reading.
The loops Richard Pinhas (once leader of the legendary Heldon) are in full force, but this has a more beat-laden flavor to it. It’s spacious, relatively heavy in parts, but a really pleasant listen besides.
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.
I have not had the pleasure of hearing Oval, Markus Popp’s microsound project, in ages. It’s good to see Markus still releasing glitchy music.
Compared to the human voice, everything else is mimicry. Hatis Noit is an Japanese artist working out of London whose experimental vocal works compare favorably to artists like Laurie Anderson and the ever-wonderful Anna Homler. It’s a strangely soothing listen.
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.
This is the second time I have the pleasure to share the work of Bay Area guitarists Ezra Sturm and Ernesto Diaz-Infante. Maybe it is because this is recorded live, but I get the vibe of something crossing free-improvisation, lo-fi garage guitar and something that reminds me of the work of SST Records boss Greg Ginn. Minimal, noisy, but this works well!
Sometimes experimental music can produce either dour listening or tie itself to miserable cover art showing the worst of humanity in some sort of fetishistic way. Not so with this release! London-based Chinese composer Li Yilei’s album concentrates more of a happy, carefree childhood, where, as she puts it, “…learn[ed] about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.” Sitting back and listening to this after hearing my own Chinese geography students caterwauling for nearly two hours is balm for the soul. A gentle listen that deserves a more appropriate tag than “experimental,” as much as…