Another dear friend of the blog, Samo Salamon from Slovenia, brings along a few friends for a well-done, gorgeously recorded improvisational album. Joining Salamon on this disc are Emanuele Parrini on violin and Vasco Trilla on drums and percussion. From Samo’s Bandcamp site: “A great improvising trio session of three fantastic improvisers from three different European countries. Samo Salamon (Slovenia) has this time played exclusively acoustic guitars – 6 and 12-string string. Especially the 12-string guitar is a hugely underrated instrument in the improvising context. Naturally, names such as Ralph Towner or Marc Ducret come to mind, but still Salamon…
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George Macreyannes (Γιώργος Μακρυγιάννης) was a violinist active during the early part of the 20th century. Some of these archival recordings are nearing 100 years old, so it is quite nice to get a glimpse of music that has such a remarkable history. Respect to 1tracktape for a job well done in remastering and declicking these recordings.
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Our dear friend, the Mighty Sieben himself, Matt Howden, is launching a series of 10 singles under the banner BRAND NEW DARK AGE. For those of you who were wise enough to support Matt’s Patreon, you will be receiving the first chance to hear these, and the tracks will be free to patrons supporting the Sieben cause. For the rest of you, prepare yourselves for a year of a perfect balance of neofolk, goth, and post-punk.
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I’m used to expecting amazing things from composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Gburek, and certainly so when he pairs with violinist Karolina Ossowska, but this is a shockingly good album even with such expectations. The album has four compositions which are about as gentle and pleasing as anything I’ve heard in the past few years. It’s farther out than, say, Kosmische Musik, yet elegantly restrained. This is music for taking an inner journey and finding what terrain lies inside of yourself. Don’t think of missing this one, I implore you.
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Some time in 2017 or so, perhaps earlier, I stumbled onto Bandcamp thanks to some friends sending me links. I thought I’d do some exploring, and one of the first bands I came across was one from Argentina, a classical string quintet from Buenos Aires called Visera Crash. The music was achingly beautiful, and I played it quite a bit. This release opened me up to the idea of reviewing new bands, mainly on Bandcamp, hoping to point friends and readers out to new music. What a pleasant trip this has been, and I owe much to Visera Crash for…
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This work by Chinese composers Li Hongqi (violin) and Yang Haison (theremin) is a 52-minute piece of droning experimental music. The feeling of the recording reminds me of early Industrial music and it flows rather nicely. Thanks to storerecords out of Beijing for releasing this.
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Hakki Obadia was a New York-based violinist of Iraqi Jewish extraction. The ever-wonderful Canary Records presents a 25-track collection of wonderfully remastered tracks Obadia did for various labels. The music is a reminder of what Baghdad must have been like a century ago.
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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…
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Los Camperos de Valles are Huastecan musicians and are considered to be national treasures in their native Mexico. This album, released by Smithsonian-Folkways, serves as a great introduction to the sound of son huasteco.
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Russian violinist Valentina Goncharova is having something of a renaissance these days. She had an album come out earlier in the year which were unpublished (you can find Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here). Now, we have a full album of recordings last heard on Leo Records many years ago as part of a box set called Document – New Music From Russia – The 80’s, a pinnacle of Russian avant-garde music. The recordings have been lovingly remastered, and the drony sound is magnificent.