Castles In Space are a label whom I just stumbled into over the past few days, and I’m liking what I’m hearing from them a lot. This particular piece of hauntology comes from Jonathan Sharp, a composer who is, like me, a child of the 70’s. He split his time between Cumbria and London, and the music reflects his memories of those years long gone by.
It has been far too long since I’ve had the pleasure to review albums by Sonologyst, perhaps the finest dark ambient project to come out of Italy in the last decade and impresario of Unexplained Sounds Group, who have introduced dark music from all over the world. This album offers lush drones that wrap themselves around your ears. Best to let Raffaele explain further: “The new Sonologyst “sonic documentary” delves into the secretive realm of shortwave transmissions; a chronicle of clandestine shortwave transmissions culled from a span of nearly four decades (1982-2021). These mysterious transmissions – repetitive voices, signals, sound…
Mirt, a Polish experimental artists, offers up sound recordings from Thailand. From his Bandcamp site: “This is another part of an ongoing series of recordings made on Tarutao island. This time, the entire album focuses on the overall soundscape of the island and is a collection of random recordings I made during last trip to Tarutao National Park. Tracks 1 and 3 are recorded from a drop rig with no human presence on site and seem particularly interesting. Although these are not binaural recordings, I recommend listening with headphones.”
Ian Vine, a composer out of the United Kingdom, provides us with a conceptual piece of classical music. From his Bandcamp site: “Recently I have written a series of pieces that are concerned in one way or another with the presentation of unique, and yet similar, events or objects. In this work I examine closely a chord played by four guitars and bass guitar. There is no repetition in the piece, except gesturally.. five strings is presented in its original 36-minute version and also as five shorter pieces, five strings I-V. In January 2021 I asked our mother, my brother…
We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records (charming name, better known by its acronym WRWTFWW) has released a rather unique album. It pairs Japanese ambient/environmental legend Takashi Kokubo (Ion Series) and Italian & Swiss trombonist Andrea Esperti (Esperti Project) working under the name of Music For A Cosmic Garden. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Takashi KOKUBO is a Japanese environmental musician who produces healing music that gently resonates with people’s hearts. He has recorded “sound scenes from nature” in countries around the world using a binaural “CyberPhonic” microphone of his own invention, and incorporates these dimensional sounds of nature in his…
Though this album is a decade old now, it’s so incredibly well-done that I thought it worth sharing if you like experimental music melded together with field recordings. Jeff Gburek’s sound art is organic and engaging, the recording was handled so masterfully that one gets the feeling of sitting in the locations listed on the liner notes as Jeff’s Bandcamp site.
There are two very short tracks on this release by They Came From Hell, one of the many fine side projects of composer Philippe Gerber, but the music is so oppressively dark are foreboding that it would make for stellar soundtrack music.
I can’t say I’ve ever had the pleasure of introducing Chihei Hatakeyama to my readers before, but he is a master of elegant sound design. These three compositions are based on his travel to Amami Oshima, north of Okinawa.
It’s wonderful to hear one of my favorite sound designers, Maryam Sirvan come up with new material. She is paired with fellow expatriate Hadi Bastani in this 20-minute mini-LP of electroacoustics and field recordings. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Stretching from Berlin to Tbilisi, trans.placed starts with the simple act of opening a door. This everyday gesture forms the fabric of this dense, meticulous and profound work which obsesses over the dramatic sonic transitions which occur when we move from outside to indoors. What sounds come with us as we make this transition? What new soundscapes do we encounter? And…
Drummer and percussionist Joseph Benzola is amazing at his craft, but composer Dave Seidel adds to Joe’s playing by stretching the sounds without distorting their energy.