• Music

    Willebrant & Williamson – Night Daze

    I was introduced to a project new to me coming from Australia.  From Karl Willebrant’s Bandcamp site: “Night Daze blends immersive textures and emotive expanses that invites the listener to conceive a visual experience through soundscapes and drones utilizing bass, trumpet, field recordings, and improvised performance. The album evokes themes of time and place moving in congruent motion. ‘Night Daze’ Full performance interpretation with special guests Peggy Lee (cello) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums) viewable here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQgYvLem3lY “Each track feels like a seemingly large area in which the sounds of the bass and trumpet echo around luxuriously. I…

  • Music

    Fumio Itabashi – Watarase

    Our friends over at Wewantsounds have released a post-bop gem by pianist Fumio Itabashi which will be available in April 5th, 2024.  From their Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Fumio Itabashi’s sought-after album “Watarase” hailed as one of the great Japanese jazz albums and featuring Itabashi on piano playing an inspired mix of standards and originals. Recorded in 1981 for Denon and released the following year, the album has since reached cult status among jazz connoisseurs, thanks to Itabashi’s inventive piano playing and to its cult title track, a superb soulful and spiritual composition. Newly remastered by Nippon…

  • Music - Soundcloud

    [Podcast] The Drone Pilots #056 – Sirens of the Sea

    Our friends The Drone Pilots have bequeathed us a full hour of trance sprinkled with some incredible music.  The sample list is shown below: 00:00 The Drone Pilots – The Drone Pilots 00:15 Above & Beyond – Sirens of the Sea 00:58 Oceanlab – Sirens of the Sea (Cosmic Gate Remix) 01:56 Above & Beyond, Oceanlab, Marsh – Sirens of the Sea (Marsh Extended Mix) 03:52 Above & Beyond Pres Oceanlab Feat. Justine Suissa – Sirens of the Sea (Above & Beyond Club Mix) 05:05 Above & Beyond, Oceanlab, Marsh – Sirens of the Sea (Marsh Extended Mix) 07:11 Tomi…

  • Music

    Majid Bekkas – African Gnaoua Blues

    Majid Bekkas produces a stunning take on blues from a Moroccan perspective.  From his Bandcamp site: “This secular music is still considered the “healer of souls” from Essaouira to Marrakech, easily understandable when you listen to the spellbinding sound of Bekkas’ voice, guembri and guitar. Like a watermark, the mystery of Africa can be felt in the background, alongside the blues. Gnawa’s intact purity is the essence of authenticity. By claiming to be part of Africa, the mother of the blues and its numerous offspring such as funk, Bekkas is placing gnawa in its primary dimension.”

  • Music

    Various Artists – Antonovka Records: Made in Davlekanovo: Russian and Chuvash Songs from Bashkortostan

    The brilliant folks at Antonovka Records continue to amaze and delight with their travelogues across Russia, Moldova and the Balkans.  This particular recording covers an area I have ready plenty about, but have not yet passed through.  From the label’s Bandcamp site for this release: “The album features Russian folk songs in stage arrangements, as well as a couple of Chuvash ones (tracks 5-7). These are performed by musicians from the Davlekanovsky district of Bashkortostan, a republic in the southern Urals within Russian Federation. Some of the songs (for example, 3) are traditional of local origin, some are Cossack ones…

  • Music

    Úzgin Űver – Patak

    Our dear friends at the Lollipoppe Shoppe released a stunning slice of psychedelic folk prog that came out in 2018 and holds up beautifully six years later.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “In the music of Úzgin Űver traditional folk is stretched far beyond the average world music. Of course, this calm, psychedelic, rich and scale-based instrumental process music draws from a mix of genres and methods, and has an ancient layer as well as some unique velvety emotional and electric charge. The disregard for any current trends gives the music a timeless attraction, and yet takes you on a…

  • Music

    Thierry Zaboitzeff – Le Passage

    Thierry Zaboitzeff was for many years a member of the seminal avant-progressive/RIO group Art Zoyd, and since 1997, he has been involved in numerous solo projects and collaborations.  This is one of the bleakest records I’ve heard in recent memory, and the liner notes on the Bandcamp site sum up the mood perfectly: “Our world is in the midst of turmoil. Human madness forces Earth to defend itself with violent aftershocks, like so many distress signals. Will wisdom finally become the watchword of the times to come, clearing the path to a possible future? This is the undoubtful aim of…

  • Music

    Audion 60

    The legendary Audion Magazine has a new (well, new to Bandcamp) edition out, and included with it is about 1 1/2 gigabytes of tracks from albums reviewed within.  They were my first doorway to progressive rock, and I am forever indebted to them.