• Music

    Saadet Türköz – Urumqi

    Saadet Türköz is an international treasure.  Born to Kazakh and Turkish parents in Istanbul in 1961, she has developed a style that comfortably blends Central Asian traditional music with free jazz.  A very pleasant listen.  

  • Music

    Mich Gerber – Shoreline

    Thanks to one of my friends for turning me on to the works of Swiss bassist Mich Gerber.  From his Bandcamp site: “Instrumental album with Andi Pupato (perc, drums), inspired by music that has been played during the blue hour concerts along shorelines. Mich Gerber plays the double bass as a lead instrument, layering tracks over tracks.”

  • Music

    Takashi Kokubo & Andrea Esperti – Music For A Cosmic Garden

    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…

  • Music

    Marc Méan – Winds

    I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Marc Méan’s previous works while working on my old blog, but this one just came across my radar, and it is absolutely shimmering (no pun intended, as Shimmering Records is his label for this release).  This will appeal greatly to those who enjoy the work of Lubomyr Melchik and Philip Glass, especially the cinematic feel of the second track.  It was impressive to read that he also had a background in free jazz and psychedelic rock, which gives him a wide palette to work from.  Smooth, gentle and engaging listening.

  • Music

    Wabjie – Lull

    Wabjie are a Swiss trio made up of singer Soraya Berent, pianist/composer Michel Wintsch and drummer Samuel Jakubec who produce a sound that references Thom Yorke, Bobby McFerrin and Betty Carter at their most experimental, but perusing the promo sheet, one name was left off that hit me very hard when listening to the album (which will be fully released on February 25): Laurie Anderson.  That gentle, experimental but ever-so-pleasant way Anderson has of speak-singing is matched quite well by Berent, whose voice flows effortlessly on top of rhythms that sound as if Björk had a date at The Knitting…

  • Music

    Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari, Nelson Veras – Conversation #1: Condensed

    Swiss drummer and percussionist Florian Arbenz was featured on our previous website, A Miscellany of Tasteful Music, some time in 2020 on a record he did with American saxophonist Greg Osby.  This album is equally as engaging. This slightly unusual line up of guitar, trumpet & drums might, at first glance, miss a bass instrument. But despite the challenges, the creativity of the musicians involved, as well as Florian’s addition of custom percussion instruments covering this range, make for a fascinating listen which moves from hard-swinging soloing to dreaming soundscapes. Imagine making an album which swings, yet has no bass…