• Music

    Various Artists – Canary Records: To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman​-​American Diaspora, 1916​-​30

    October 27, 2021 - By 

    Ian Nagoski’s stunningly and consistently impressive Canary Records releases a giant collection of songs from immigrants of the, by then, collapsing Ottoman Empire.  These songs span the time period between the First World War and the Great Depression, and are lovingly transferred and curated by Nagoski, whom you can hear in tracks 54, 55 and 56. Be they Christian, Muslim or Jew, the sons and daughters of the Empire brought so much incredibly good music to America’s shores.  It’s a blessing to have these works preserved.

  • Music - Spoken Word

    Oceanic Vibrations – Vol. 1

    October 19, 2021 - By 

    This is one I’ve been waiting to hear for some time, and it did not disappoint. American poet Shane Beck (who happens to be a very old friend) paired up with British electronic musician Dave Onley as Oceanic Vibrations to join their worlds together elegantly.  Beck’s voice lends itself to the soundscapes Onley produces, melding a clear, heartfelt and pensive poetry draped on top of music that reminded me of early-period Tangerine Dream or even Cosmic Jokers in the more pulsating parts.

  • Music

    Alejandra and Aeron – España 1998​-​2004

    October 18, 2021 - By 

    Alejandra Salinas and Aeron Bergman have been working together as sound and multimedia artists since at least 1997, and perhaps farther back, though their prodigious corpus vitae isn’t so clear on when, exactly, they began recording together.  One can surmise that they have been collaborating on CD since 1998, if this compilation is anything to go by. What do we find from their oeuvre?  Electroacoustic music that has a hazy, dreamlike quality to it.  There are gentle rumblings, drones and bits of electronic music that have a nearly magical quality to them.  It’s pleasant music with which to daydream –…

  • Music

    The Myrrors – Hasta La Victoria

    October 17, 2021 - By 

    Sunday is going to be hectic, so today, I wanted to impart to you an album by The Myrrors, easily one of America’s finest psych bands.  The music is all instrumental and sounds like the outtakes of a more relaxed Blue Cheer or some of the modern drone composers like Terry Riley. I never would have thought would be referenced by a psych band, but has been done so perfectly).  Let the hot Arizona winds flow on top of you today.  This album is worth your time.

  • Music

    Yann Novak – Bathed In Light And Rapture

    October 14, 2021 - By 

    We’re lucky to have so many talented musicians and composers in Los Angeles covering all genres.  One of the most intriguing I’ve come across lately is Yann Novak, who hails from Wisconsin originally, but who is, like myself, a Southern Californian.  Yann has recorded with labels such as 901 Editions, Dragon’s Eye Recordings (which I believe may be his own label), LINE, Room40, and Touch, among others. His credentials are impeccable. This release on Room40 (all praise to Lawrence English for running a fine imprint) has as its cornerstone the composition The Ecstasy of Annihilation, which is 7:30 in length. …

  • Music

    Primitive Air – Creation Hymn

    October 6, 2021 - By 

    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 The Myrrors.  This is a blissful little record, and it would have sit comfortably among the greats of German psychedelic music of the late 1960s and early 1970s had these folks been around during those heady days.

  • Music

    William Ryan Fritch – Built Upon a Fearful Void

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    Soundtrack composers don’t seem to need films to cue inspiring, haunting scores anymore.  Take, for example, the new double album by Californian composer William Ryan Fritch. The story that goes along with this fabulous artifact is as impressive as the music is.  We let the label, Lost Tribe Sounds, tell the story below, courtesy of their Bandcamp site: ‘Built Upon a Fearful Void‘ was an album seemingly fated to never be completed. For the last 8 years the album had been recorded and either lost or discarded three times; a leak that water logged and ruined most of the half…

  • Music

    Southeast of Rain (东南有雨) – 42 Days (四十二天)

    September 16, 2021 - By 

    Sophia Shen and Lemon Guo work together as Southeast of Rain (东南有雨), an electroacoustic/field recording project based in the United States, with one living in New York and the other living in the San Francisco Bay area. The album is the result of 42 days of mixing avant-garde experimental music, natural sounds, traditional Chinese instruments and improvisational techniques and sublime vocal work into a gentle, though very experimental album. I request this of everyone, but specifically of my former students in Beijing – take the time to listen to this.  It is a stunningly beautiful piece of work.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Diaphragmata

    August 25, 2021 - By 

    This release allows me to kill two birds with one stone.  First, it’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to review music by Jeff Gburek (one of the several venerable composers who always manage to find a welcome home on these pages), and this is a strikingly quiet and meditative album.  Second, I have sampled some of the wares of Muteant Sounds, a fine experimental label out of Florida in the United States, but I believe this might be the first album from that label I’ve had the change to listen to in full. Jeff explains the concept…

  • Music

    Celer – In Light Of Blues

    August 14, 2021 - By 

    Will Long is Celer, an ambient music composer living in Japan and therefore, a relatively close expatriate neighbor of mine.  He releases a lot of music, as is the fashion with some highly competent composers these days, but his work feels like a cut above.  Though this album has 12 tracks, they are rather short compared to some of his other albums, where one track can clock in at over an hour.  The material is dark, but not claustrophobic, and quite easy on the ears if you’re listening on headphones.  Really, consider following his Bandcamp site.  He’s constantly putting out…