Of Montreal’s Pandemic-fueled Freewave Lucifer Is a Challenging Listen
Of Montreal’s Freewave Lucifer was inspired by and created during COVID’s isolation. Here and there is a catchy moment, but those bits are rarely repeated.
experimental
Duet Emmo’s ‘Or So It Seems’ Is a Testament to Analog Electronic Music
Duet Emmo’s Or So It Seems is an experimental one-off between Wire’s Lewis and Gilbert and Mute Records’ Daniel Miller. Pedigrees don’t come much better.
Inside ‘Modern Folk One’ lurks one strangely fascinating Americana album.
Modern Folk One rings from serenely pastoral to shockingly different, making it a terrifically new twist to some sounds that are, on their own, not that surprising.
Bassist Max Johnson Explores Different Jazz Angles on ‘Orbit of Sound’ and ‘Sketches’
Bassist Max Johnson gives us a traditional bop album recorded with two veteran musicians and a contemporary jazz LP with two younger but no less adventurous artists.
‘Confetti in a Coalmine’ Is Matt DeMello’s Joyful Explosion Amidst a World Falling Apart
Experimentalist Matt DeMello throws his ample talents and wide-ranging tastes into a blender for ‘Confetti in a Coalmine’ which is full of chaotic, dense mirth.
Nancy Mounir Mines Music from Egypt’s Past to Write Its Profound Musical Future
Sampling recordings over a century old, Egyptian composer Nancy Mounir delivers an album where the past and present converse to help write the future.
Björk Orkestral in Berlin Is an Ode to a Lifetime of Achievement
Icelandic musician extraordinaire Björk finds a new outlet for artistic expression with a series of “body exploding” “unplugged”, orchestral performances.
Malka Spigel Updates ‘Gliding’ EP with New Songs for ‘Gliding & Hiding’
Malka Spigel fastens an older EP of reworkings to a newer EP of reworking. Gliding & Hiding is a small-scale revolution and a highly listenable one.
Matmos Brilliantly Re-purpose Electro-Acoustic Composition on ‘Regards Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer’
Matmos flit between the high and low transforming them into sound art that gives pop culture a friendly jostling on Regards/Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer,
Travis Laplante’s ‘Wild Tapestry’ Embraces Unpredictability
Avant-jazz saxophonist Travis Laplante and the weather can be equally hard to predict. His latest stunning album, Wild Tapestry, combines both.
Bye Bye Tsunami Honor a Banana in “Bye Bye Tsunami” (premiere)
Exciting, manic avant-jazz/noise trio Bye Bye Tsunami further indulge their fascination with chaos, frenetic energy, entropy, and… bananas!
Misha Sultan Shows His Musical ‘Roots’ Are Everywhere
Geographically Misha Sultan’s roots may be in Siberia, but sonically they’re everywhere. Ambient, dub techno, krautrock, chill-out—he does it all.