• Music

    Shopworn – How Could Children Disturb Internet Dialogu​è​?

    January 10, 2023 - By 

    I haven’t heard anyone do an album in a plunderphonics style in some time now.  Stanislav Aladev, who composes under the name Shopworn, is a Russian musician who has released one of the most charmingly weird albums I’ve heard this year. From Stanislav, regarding his work: “I thought for a long time how and from what to create this album. In 2015, I came across an article about the philosophical current Metamordenism, which was supposed to serve as the beginning of a new era and the end of the old postmodern pleasures. I have always looked at music and other…

  • Music

    William Ryan Fritch – Polarity

    January 1, 2023 - By 

    Welcome to 2023!  We start the year by sharing a release due on January 13 by American composer William Ryan Fritch, who has been previously featured on the blog before.  From his label, Lost Tribe Sound’s Bandcamp site: “‘Polarity’ is the first in a three album series reflecting on the many calamitous water crises affecting life on this planet. Fifty percent of the sales for the three album series will be donated to communities that are at the front line of these crises, in perpetuity. Much of the sound of Polarity was inspired by experiments in “real world-ing” various synthesized…

  • Music

    Ani Zakareishvili – Fallin

    December 29, 2022 - By 

    Ani Zakareishvili has produced a work of genius – something that feels like it would have fit in the classic movie The Shining, with its surreal, hazy feel to it.  From Warm Winters Ltd.’s Bandcamp site: “Tbilisi, Georgia-based artist Ani Zakareishvili joins the Warm Winters Ltd. roster with a hazy, phantasmic EP titled ‘Fallin’. Centred around crackling piano loops and edited snippets of Eartha Kitt’s interview from 1982, Zakareishvili ponders on the meaning of “falling in love” and reveals a deeply resonant layer of her work. This is hypnagogic, hushed music, untroubled yet profound, which somehow waltzes past you in…

  • Music

    Pete Swinton – The Book Of Chuang-Tzu, Ch. 18

    December 21, 2022 - By 

    Zhuang Zhou is the pinyin transliteration of Chuang Tzu, the Chinese taoist philospher who lived some time during the 4th century B.C. during the Warring States Period, and was part of a movement where Chinese philosophy enjoyed an explosive period of development.  He is the subject of the album being reviewed, and it’s nice to have composer Pete Swinton bring his name up after such a long absence. Why he is mentioned in relation to the music is a mystery, as the first six tracks, according to Swinton himself, are meant to imitate insect sounds.  After a deep listening, I…

  • Music

    The Crossing – Carols after a Plague

    December 9, 2022 - By 

    I knew nothing about the band The Crossing, but after seeing that a composition by drummer Tyshawn Sorey was featured, I thought it prudent to listen to that track and then to the whole album.  It is, unsurprisingly, a gorgeous, if dissonant, listening experience. From The Crossing’s Bandcamp site: “Throughout its history, the Philadelphia based contemporary chamber choir The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, has championed works that address social, political, and environmental issues. So it is consistent with the group’s history and mission that their latest release, Carols After a Plague, takes a broad view of our collective…

  • Music

    Illusion of Safety & Z’ev – Illusion of Safety & Z’ev

    December 7, 2022 - By 

    This release, by No Part Of It Records, is a fine label putting out quality discs, and this archival album combines Dan Burke of Illusion of Safety and Z’ev, two of America’s foremost Industrial musicians. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “What we have here is a potent cocktail of scrap metal, processed field recordings, modular synthesis, and plenty of aptly placed intermittent percussive clatter. The overall impression I’m left with is a very calculated sound collage that still feels like the sonic equivalent of a deep epiphany, or maybe a catalyst for one. What seems like a casual interweaving of…

  • Music

    Methuzelah (Jeff Gburek & Pete Swinton) – First Album

    December 1, 2022 - By 

    Today is an auspicious day, as I’m proud to say that this is the 700th consecutive post this blog has produced since January 1, 2021.  The release is one I held onto for such an occasion, as Jeff Gburek, heavily featured on my site for the astounding quality of his work, pairs with Pete Swinton, a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Java, Indonesia.  The music has a hazy, lo-fi psychedelic rock quality to it, and the pieces on this album feel alive.  You get the sense that you’re not only listening to the album, but it’s crawling inside of you. …