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
Progressive Rock
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
KAUAN – Ice Fleet
KAUAN hail from Estonia and bring something extra to both progressive rock and post-rock. Long, drone-laden, repetitive music that holds one’s interest throughout. Perhaps the best way to describe this is like a very much slowed-down My Bloody Valentine with a symphonic progressive tinge to it. Unique. I quite like Continue Reading
Controlled Bleeding – Songs From The Drain
Controlled Bleeding were one of the few bands who could glide from genre to genre easily. They were comfortable working with EBM, harsh noise and experimental music, and would even appeal to some elements in the goth-rock crowd, but this particular album stood out as their magnum opus for me. Continue Reading
Dzivia – Flower Maiden
Dzivia are a project out of Belarus specializing in a music that crosses ambient, Nordic folk music, symphonic progressive rock and regional music. They manage to do all this in one track. Impressive.