It’s wonderful to welcome back an old friend of the blog, Hector Javier Ayala, a guitarist hailing from Mexico and living in France. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this is a very song-focused album, featuring a couple of genuinely Mexican guitar tunes and the beautiful jazz classic, Days Continue Reading
Experimental
Francesca Marongiu – Still Forms in Air
Mexican record label Umor Rex has released an album by Italian composer Francesca Marongiu, which is heavily influenced by some spectacular Japanese New Age/Ambient releases from the mid-1980s. This was a wonderful time for ambient music in Japan, and Francesca captures the spirit perfectly while adding her own spin.
Alphaxone – ARCHIPENOM.II
From the Alphaxone Bandcamp site: “A continuation of fractured atmospheres, slow-moving tension, and submerged emotional weight. This chapter dives deeper into erosion, distance, and the quiet violence of time.” Iranian artists could use a hand at the moment, as do all good souls suffering in their war-torn homes.
Valgeir Sigurðsson – Architecture of Loss
Going through my archives, I came across a release from 2012 by an Icelandic composer named Valgeir Sigurðsson. I remembered that this was one of the first purchases I made on Bandcamp. 16,481 releases later, I can still come back to this release, a quite experimental one.
Various Artists – Post Orientalism Music: Memorial for the Victims of Iran’s Black January Vol. 1
There is currently a tragic situation unfolding in Iran. Several artists, including Krister Hansén, Mean Flow, RDKPL, Itaru Ouwan, Ehsan Saboohi, ZÖJ, Mohammad Amin Akbarpour, Sina Majd, and Mahtab Miandehi, have collaborated on tracks to raise awareness about what is happening there. Respect to our friends at Post-Oriental Music for releasing Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek – Rounded Sleep (for Eliane Radigue)
Perhaps the most important contemporary experimental musician, Éliane Radigue, has passed away. Jeff Gburek offers a wonderful tribute in her honor. Words fail at the moment.
Constanza Pellicci – Espacio Adentro de Una Perla
From Constanza Pellicci’s Bandcamp site, translated from Spanish: “A pearl falls from a fantasy necklace, a memory of dragons and reflections of a full moon. A buoy on a still lake, a spinning top in motion, enveloping. An eye without pupils that doesn’t see what it sees, inhabits a labyrinth. Continue Reading
Ashtoreth & Grey Malkin – A Crown Of Silver Antlers
My goodness, this is going to be a genre-defining release once it comes out! Two luminaries in the ritualistic folk scene, Ashtoreth and the inestimable Grey Malkin, collaborate on this upcoming release (due Friday the 13th, ironically enough), which is dedicated to their fathers, both of whom passed away during Continue Reading
The Microscopic Septet – Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down to Me: The Micros Play the Blues
Cuneiform Records released this gem by The Microscopic Septet in 2017 and it has held up well. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Since storming back into action in 2006 after a 14-year hiatus, the radically old-school combo has continued to evolve and extend its reputation. The new album builds on Continue Reading
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit – Axis/Another Revolvable Thing
Blank Form Editions out of New York has reissued a concert by Japanese free jazz guitarist Masayuki “Jojo” Takayanagi from 1975. From their Bandcamp site: “Axis/Another Revolvable Thing is the second installment of Blank Forms’ archival reissues of the music of Japan’s eternal revolutionary Masayuki Takayanagi, following April is the Continue Reading