Peter Zinovieff passed away on June 23, 2021, but he left quite a mark on avant-garde music. The British-born son of Russian aristocrats, he sold his wife’s tiara for his first computer, and from there, he would work with some of the greatest bands of the 20th century including Pink Continue Reading
Progressive Rock
Primitive Air – Creation Hymn
The spirit of Krautrock has spread well beyond the German-speaking world, and has for some time now. Primitive Air is an American collaboration between Drew Piraino, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Emil Amos reminds me of the more freaky (yet still gentle) parts of bands like Popol Vuh and modern bands like Continue Reading
Igra Staklenih Perli – Igra Staklenih Perli
Igra Staklenih Perli were one of the greater monster progressive/psychedelic rock bands to come out of Yugoslavia (the band themselves were Serbian) during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and though some of their work could be seen as taking cues from legendary western groups like Pink Floyd, I hear Continue Reading
The Hauchzart Ensemble – Hauchzart Momentum Vol. I
What a remarkable work this is. The Hauchzart Ensemble includes our dear colleague Wilfried Hanrath, who plays guitar, bass, drums, beats, synth and electronics on this album, along with Matt Getchell, who also provides electronics, synthesizer and beats. This album takes quite a journey, starting off with a track that, Continue Reading
F.P. & The Doubling Riders – Doublings & Silences Vol. I
The Doubling Riders were one of those bands that came out of 1980s Italy who were criminally neglected. It’s great to see this published digitally. This reissue came out today, and it was considered a big score in my collection when I had the vinyl version. From the Bandcamp site: Continue Reading
Ángel Ontalva – Angel On A Tower
Ángel Ontalva is a welcome site on this blog, and he has a new release to share with us. He continually surprises us by mixing a Rock-In-Opposition sound (think Samla Mammas Manna) and jazz-rock (maybe a touch of National Health). It’s unique, taking cues, of course, from some of his Continue Reading
Psycho & Plastic – Soundtrack 2: Pappel
I seem to be running into a lot of Berlin-school style musicians recently, but this is the first one I’ve run into who is actually from the Berlin area. From Psycho & Plastic‘s Bandcamp site: Award-winning German author Dalibor Marković commissioned Psycho & Plastic to create an original soundtrack for Continue Reading
Frames – In Via
Frames aren’t quite a new name for me, but it seems I missed this post-rock gem. I was amused to read that a lot of post-rock fans don’t see much good in this album because it doesn’t fit their pre-conceived notions of what music in the genre should sound like, Continue Reading
Align In Time – On A Spiral
This release came out in 2020, and Align In Time’s John Boles sent this to me during a time I was flooded by a wave of emails that I’m still, after all this time, going through. Align In Time are an American post-rock band out of Providence, Rhode Island. The Continue Reading
Wilfried Hanrath – The Sweet Scent of Dreams
This album has to be one of the more intriguing releases I’ve heard this month. Wilfried Hanrath is a composer based in Wuppertal, Germany (home, if I remember correctly, to free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann as well), and grew up surrounded by some of the most radical music imaginable: Krautrock, Continue Reading