Being an insomniac has some advantages. As is normal for me, I stayed wide awake until 4 a.m. listening to music. While doing so, I came across an album by kamancheh maestro Saba Alizadeh which was so eerily beautiful that I had to suggest it for your perusal. The avant-garde Continue Reading
Experimental
Jeff Gburek – Nowruz 26
After the stresses (and occasional joys) of 2026 so far, I have a feeling that I may have found my favorite album of the year. Jeff Gburek has made a sublime album that nods at the direction of De Lucía and the Romero family, all while putting his own mark Continue Reading
Bneleti (ბნელეთი) – Bneleti (ბნელეთი)
We have brutal experimental music on offer by an American who has integrated himself into the Tbilisi experimental music scene. From the Bneleti Bandcamp site: “Bneleti (ბნელეთი), named after a pre-Christian Georgian word that translates to “Land of Darkness,” is a project by Ben Wheeler. His first full-length, self-titled album Continue Reading
Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota – Domestic Scene
The latest release by two of Lisbon, Portugal’s top improvisers, Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota, sounds less like experimental music and more like the soundtrack to a minimalist horror film. It’s intensely oppressive (yes, that’s a compliment) and creates an uncomfortable, eerie atmosphere, but I found it hard to stop Continue Reading
Robert Scott Thompson – Ice and Ember
Blog friend and fine American composer Robert Scott Thompson offers his latest release, one which would qualify as a Mimi-album or EP, but which sounds deeply calming and engaging. From his Bandcamp site: “Ice and Ember is a distilled meditation within my larger body of ambient and electroacoustic work—a 14-minute Continue Reading
F.P. & The Doubling Riders – Doublings & Silences Vol. I
I discovered this album by F.P. & The Doubling Riders in the 1990s, and I struggled to classify it. While it had an ethereal quality, it shared similarities with bands like Tuxedomoon. I loved the album, but unfortunately, I lost it a few years ago. Thankfully, it has now been Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek – Sprites + Persian Dub Synergies + Raw Radio Captures from Feb 28, 2026
The latest album by Jeff Gburek has quite a story behind it. From his Bandcamp site: “This an album containing three albums. Three swung in a swirl. Three moments of attention framed by the different kinds of time and listening horizons. Sprites is about ephemeral ionospheric lightning such as you Continue Reading
Philippe Petit – The Acoustic Cornet, an hommage to Leonora Carrington
From our friends at Mahorka Records via their Bandcamp site: “Philippe Petit approaches (Leonora) Carrington’s text as one would approach a signal coming from another frequency. Fragments. Resonances. Distorted transmissions. The acoustic cornet becomes a metaphor for listening itself: an instrument that amplifies what society prefers to keep inaudible.”
HJ Ayala – Wesserling En Direct
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
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.