I wish to thank organist Karoline LeBlanc, who reached out to the blog and sent us her latest album with percussionist Paulo J. Ferreire Lopes. I was expecting improvised music, and I’m sure this is, but the feel of this album is more akin to modern classical music. The depth Continue Reading
Portugal
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
Various Artists – Death Is Not The End: Your Kisses Are Like Roses: Fado Recordings, 1914-1936
From Death Is Not The End’s Bandcamp site: “The definition of the word ‘fado’ is technically ‘fate’, though the Portuguese meaning bound up with this term is more complex. The music itself can be fairly closely compared with that of Greek rebetika – also the American blues or the original Continue Reading
Gil Sansón – The perspective of the lizard
From the sirr-ecords Bandcamp site: “The perspective of the lizard is an exercise in microsound, benefitting from a long gestation process with decantation and distillation as central procedures. The intent, as the title suggests, is to focus on small sonorities, amplified to reflect perception attuned to smaller scale. For this Continue Reading
Various Artists – sirr-ecords: Noli Me Legere … To Maurice Blanchot
The venerable record label sirr-ecords from Portugal offer a collection of electroacoustic, musique-concrète, and microsound artists honoring the French philosopher Maurice Blanchot. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “With Brandon Labelle/Maria Nilsson, Toshiya Tsunoda, Julien Ottavi, Steve Roden, Paulo Raposo, Christof Migone and Stephen Vitiello. “Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003) is one of Continue Reading
Rossana – À La Portugaise
It took me a minute to understand the album, but Rossana and her band’s claim to be Portuguese psych-fusion comes off as relatively true. This reminds me of a cross of the sort of prog-fusion mixed with Iberian pop of the 1970s and 1980s which was so good for its Continue Reading
Tensal – Dethroned EP
Tensal produces some of the denses and beat-heavy techno I’ve run into in a good, long while. Quite an intense listen.
Various Artists – sirr-ecords: Meteorologia
sirr-ecords is Portugal’s preeminent experimental music label, and this compilation covers some of the artists who work with them. Each of the artists provide a track based on weather, and the notes over at the album’s Bandcamp site are very much worth reading.
Jos Smolders – Textuur 2 [ |||| – – – – ]
![Jos Smolders – Textuur 2 [ |||| – – – – ]](https://musicyouneedtohear.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/a1058058926_16.jpg)
Dutch composer Jos Smolders, a friend of this site, has a new release out on Portugal’s Crónica Electronica Records. This is a sample of the text associated with the album, which you can read in full here. “Each Textuur project is built up in a similar fashion. There are two Continue Reading
Criatura Azul & Jota – Pessoas
Criatura Azul hail from Portugal, and the music they offer is a hazy, bluesy sort of psychedelic rock. Echos, effects, mellow strumming and spoken word make this into a good disc to chill out to.