From the ever-magnificent Sub Rosa Label: “Composer Ahmed Essyad was born in Salé, Morocco, in 1938. After studying music at the Rabat Conservatoire (Morocco) he moved to Paris in 1962, where he became a student of Max Deutsch and, later, his assistant. Trained in the avant-garde practices of Western musical Continue Reading
Experimental
Mamer 马木尔 – Awlaⱪta / Afar 离
Mamer 马木尔 is perhaps my favorite underground artists operating in China today. His work fuses Kazakh folk music with avant-garde music, bordering on experimental, even though he has a pedigree in working with record labels like Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. It’s rare to see an authentic musician dig into Continue Reading
Philippe Neau – hORs SoLs
Our friends at Mahorka Records introduce us to yet another brilliant composer. Phillippe Neau masterfully uses nature sounds to paint sonic ‘pictures’ that envelop the listener. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “”I started with sounds from different places: the house, the garden, the workshop, the forest next door in Mayenne, Continue Reading
Ceget – Sïbïzƣï
Ceget is an artist from Karachay-Cherkessia in the Russian Caucasus region. The sounds produced on this short but pleasantly recorded album come from the Sïbïzƣï, a flute native to the region. The composer’s style for these tracks take on elements of ambient and experimental music, but are not harsh listening Continue Reading
Fallen Sun I Sacher Pelz I Thomas Bey William Bailey – Acousmatomisation
Sacher Pelz is one of the early monickers of Maurizio Bianchi (MB, who is legendary to fans of experimental noise), and he returns in collaboration with consistently amazing Malaysian composer Fallen Sun and the American artist Thomas Bey William Bailey. As with a great deal of MB releases, this one Continue Reading
Helena Espvall / Ernesto Diaz-Infante / Marjorie Sturm – A Shadowed Fulguration
Thanks ever so much to Ernesto Diaz-Infante for alerting me to his latest release with percussionist and Nepalese flute player Marjorie Sturm (his spouse, if I am not mistaken) and cellist Helena Espvall. Musically, there is a gritty, lo-fi feel to the recordings, with the guitar sounding more like a Continue Reading
Stephen Briggs – Good Friday
In celebration of Good Friday, we present Stephen Briggs and his dark, brooding ambient masterpiece that gives an unpleasant image of The Lord starting this Paschal period through His death. The music sets the tone quite well. From his Bandcamp site: “Good Friday was also inspired by the spirit that Continue Reading
Various Artists – Spotted Peccary Records: 33 – Free Ambient Electronic Sampler
From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Spotted Peccary Music is an independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and immersive soundscapes. From deep drone, to chillout, to high energy beats, Spotted Peccary traverses the worlds of Ambient Electronic, Classic Berlin-School, Ethereal Atmospheric, Spacemusic, Rock, Pure Acoustic and more; all Continue Reading
Hervé Perez and John Garner – Bell of Evening Skies
This has to be one of the first albums where the Shakuhachi plays a large role in improvised music that I’ve come across. From the duo’s Bandcamp site: “This album is the first encounter between improvisers John Garner and Hervé Perez. We came across each other’s work through the jazz Continue Reading
KABRA – The Return of the Cambrian Period
KABRA are another discovery from the near-flawless Reverse Alignment Records out of Sweden associated with our friends at Unexplained Sounds Group, themselves possessing exquisite taste when it comes to dark ambient and drone music. We know nothing about them (him, her?) except for the music, but what music it is! Continue Reading