• Music

    Samo Salamon & Hasse Poulsen – String Dancers

    Musicians never cease to amaze me.  Despite the horrible conditions which have led to worldwide lockdown, artists like Samo Salamon, a guitarist out of Slovenia, and Hasse Poulsen, originally from Denmark, manage to weave together an acoustic guitar-only album of improvisations that don’t sound like what you normally associate with “improv.”  It’s a mellow album, and though there was a distance between the two musicians, they ping-ponged tracks back and forth to each other, growing and molding each tune until the final product was crafted.  It’s a stunningly relaxing album.  Those words should not go together under normal circumstances, but…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Anthology Of Experimental Music From China

    I don’t do top-ten lists, and I don’t ever plan on doing that in the future, but things can change at any moment.  Still, if I had to nominate a favorite record label at this moment, there’s no doubt it would be Italy’s Unexplained Sounds Group.  Each compilation is a tour guide of experimental music from select parts of the world.  This one is near and dear to me, as China was and shortly will be my home for quite a while, and Raffaele Pezzella does yeoman’s work documenting what is happening in the Middle Kingdom experimental-music-wise. Here are some…

  • Music

    Der Finger – Le Cinque Stagioni

    Russia has a pretty remarkable history with jazz.  Even during the Soviet times, everything from Dixieland to hard bop was represented rather well, and free jazz is no exception.  Der Finger are the trio of Anton Efimov (bass), Evgenia Sivkova (drums & saxophone) and Edward Sivkov (bass clarinet, saxophone and bass-domra).  They make a racket (and that is meant in a good way) that is indeed free and open, and almost borders on Industrial music in parts.  Good listening.

  • Music

    Zeena Parkins, Mette Rasmussen, Ryan Sawyer – Glass Triangle

    Relative Pitch Records is making a great case for becoming a favorite label of mine.  There are so many great releases covering the best of improvisational and free music that I’ll probably go broke trying to purchase all of them. It’s fitting to make my first review that of avant-harpist Zeena Parkins, whose work should need no introduction to the initiated, but for those new to her work, she recorded on labels such as John Zorn’s Tzadik Records and No Man’s Land, a German improv label best known to American and British audiences thanks to their distributor, Recommended Records, who…

  • Music

    Rafał Mazur & Satoko Fujii, Guillermo Gregorio, Natsuki Tamura, Artur Majewski, Ramon Lopez – The Great Tone has no Sound

    Though I cannot say I know much about Fundacja Słuchaj’s background, I can say that their releases tend to be excellent, releasing some of the bigger names in improvisational music.  This collection is no different. The personnel on this four-disc set is pretty phenomenal: Rafał Mazur plays bass, Satoko Fujii plays piano, Guillermo Gregorio wields the saxophone, Natsuki Tamura and Artur Majewski perform on trumpet and Ramón López fills out this group on drums and percussion.

  • Music

    Fradejas & Fradejas – Oum

    It’s always a pleasure when you get to announce the release of an album made by dear friends.  Amandine and Santiago Fradejas operate in two different genres of music – she, in a more ethereal and progressive rock sound​ and he in a more experimental and improvisational setting.  Both of their respective talents compliment each other well, and the record is a very pleasant creative departure for both.

  • Music

    Throbbing Gristle – Throbbing Gristle’s Greatest Hits

    In 1984, I was introduced by the luck of having a few weird friends in high school to the world of Industrial Music.  This album was the first of many I would end up buying, not only from Throbbing Gristle, but the whole roster of freaks Industrial Records was putting out, like Cabaret Voltaire, Monte Cazzaza, S.P.K. and The Leather Nun. As today is Bandcamp Friday, I point to those who want to get to understand the genesis (pun intended) of Industrial music to purchase and listen to this survey.  It is anti-music, but with a warm touch to it.

  • Music

    Santiago Fradejas – Montages, Volume One

    Santiago Fradejas is an experimental musician based currently in Spain, though he hails from Argentina. He is also a friend whose work I have been honored to champion for several years now, along with the work of his wife, A.M Ferrari Fradejas. In this release, the two pair up with Diego Mamani Di Giuseppe and Coco to make bleak, dystopian guitar and moog-scapes. Considering what a horrible year 2020 was, and what disasters wait for us this year, this may well serve as a perfect soundtrack to the mess awaiting us.