• Music

    Methuzelah (Jeff Gburek & Pete Swinton) – First Album

    December 1, 2022 - By 

    Today is an auspicious day, as I’m proud to say that this is the 700th consecutive post this blog has produced since January 1, 2021.  The release is one I held onto for such an occasion, as Jeff Gburek, heavily featured on my site for the astounding quality of his work, pairs with Pete Swinton, a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Java, Indonesia.  The music has a hazy, lo-fi psychedelic rock quality to it, and the pieces on this album feel alive.  You get the sense that you’re not only listening to the album, but it’s crawling inside of you. …

  • Music

    Mimi Roman – First Of The Brooklyn Cowgirls

    November 15, 2022 - By 

    Unless one thinks of the ever-amusing singer Kinky Freidman, I can’t say I’m terribly familiar with Brooklyn Jewish people being heavily involved in country music.  Enter charming Brooklynite Mimi Roman, whose voice was among the early pioneers of rockabilly.  It’s a large collection at 35 tracks, but it’s worth every penny.

  • Music

    Johnny Gandelsman – This Is America – An Anthology 2020-2021

    October 30, 2022 - By 

    Before I left to China in 2018, the last concert I caught was Iranian-Kurdish master Kayhan Kalhor along with Brooklyn Rider.  As it turns out, their violinist, Johnny Gandelsman, was selling one of his albums on vinyl, which I duly purchased (and have nearly worn out).  I’m pleased to say he has new work out, though this album was released on the 1st of July of 2022. From his Bandcamp site: “To say that 2020 was a difficult year for the United States would be an understatement. Covid 19 took the lives of 385,000 people. Racism and police brutality took the…

  • Music

    Odeya Nini – Ode

    October 26, 2022 - By 

    Los Angeles-based composer Odeya Nini is a marvel to listen to.  She uses her voice and body to full effect as an instrument and composes profoundly interesting contemporary classical music, and whose works are radical enough to fit into musique concrète.  If you enjoy the works of Meredith Monk or Anna Homler, this just might appeal to you.

  • Music

    EYRYX – Psychological Projective

    October 19, 2022 - By 

    There aren’t too many releases that seamlessly blend electroacoustic music, post-Industrial and noise-rock, but to their credit, EYRYX seem to have straddled this very thin line perfectly.  The release features friend of our blog, Philippe Gerber, who not only performs on the album, but who released it on his Alreon Musique.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Pharoah’s Tarot

    October 10, 2022 - By 

    Pharoah Sanders left this mortal coil on September 24, 2022, after leaving a stellar body of work and his influence on countless musicians including Jeff Gburek.  The influence was profound, and you can hear it on this album, where the guitar glides into something free, not as in noisy free-jazz, but something free-floating, gentle, relaxing, almost heavenly.  It certainly bears the stamp of his own work, and that of Sanders, but I hear also a touch of Sonny Sharrock in this mix as well. This is experimental music that is gentle on the ear and on the mind.