Album review: Matchess’s ‘Sonescent’: an irresistible flow of experimental, meditative drone recollection and conscious absence

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Album review: The Jazz Butcher – ‘The Highest In The Land’: one final pop postcard from Northampton’s foremost gent

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Album review: Black Flower – ‘Magma’: a perfumed souk of North African psych jazz from the Lowlands quintet

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BALMORHEA, the Texan duo of Rob Lowe and Michael A. Muller, whose particular take on the modern compositional form nods to the American West, have signed to Deutsche Grammophon for their seventh album, The Wind, which record will be out at the end of April. That The Wind should be released by Deutsche Grammophon, which …

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THE ABSURD and surreal is a strand of music that brings much joy and not a little brain-tickling to your humble correspondent here; and while there’s a grand old tradition of the point where hallucinatory songwriting meets music, there aren’t too many working in the field right now. We’ve had, and adored, the Hibernian surreality …

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NAOKO SAKATA is a supremely free, expressive, elemental pianist, very much cheerful and thriving in the avant-garde end of the modern piano spectrum. Born in Japan, she’s now based in Gothenburg; whence she’s come to the attention of Anna von Hausswolff who, caught by her experimental incantation, is to release Sakata’s album on her own …

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CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA is one of those sonic voyagers who have the muse whispering seemingly constantly. He’s one of those artists, like The Fall, Sun Ra, John Dwyer and the spiral arm of Thee Oh Sees/Oh Sees/Osees, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, who who produce, produce, always have an album due, a musical iron in …

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MONTREAL producer and beatz head Jesse Futerman has signed for Vancouver dance opportunity facilitator (as they style themselves), Pacific Rhythm; and he’s lighting the blue touchpaper on that partnership with the sophisticated jazz-funk breakz of “Luckey” – you can hear that just down there. It’s got smooth groove, but sidesteps the slick with some neat, transporting …

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ELIZA BEGG, the vocalist and composer who guises as Lisel musically, and electronica creator and percussionist Booker Stardrum, have been friends a long time, in each other’s musical orbit; and have spent recent time wisely with a six-week, remote collaboration eliciting an album, their first together: it’s to be called Mycelial Echo, and it’ll be …

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RADIO BIRDMAN founder and garage rock legend Deniz Tek is to have his ’92 solo outing featuring The Stooges’ Ron Asheton, Take It To The Vertical, lovingly reissued by Wild Honey Records on March 19th. The album, which also features former cohort in Radio Birdman Chris Masuak, was previously issued by Red Eye Records and …

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MATHIAS ENGWALL is no stranger to these pages, though a relative newcomer; based in Gothenburg, he’s enthralled, like so many of us, by the heady twin rushes of dreampop and shoegaze, his particular vision of which he introduced us to in November gone with “Reverie Neverending”, a lovely slice of ‘gazey pop with a little …

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WE’RE a way towards the release of Chris Porpora, aka Cheval Sombre’s, first album in eight years, Time Waits For No One; brighter days to come, seasonally and musically, for sure, come February 26th. It seems serendipitous that, with the ‘rona and the lockdown and all, the globe has wound down to Cheval Sombre’s pace just …

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CHRISTOPHER DEVINE has been a-shakin’ and a-movin’ on the Glasgow music scene for a fair old while now, as part of Dutch Wine and Stock Manager; but he’s changed costumes once more over in a Sauchiehall Street phone box to re-emerge as Western Column, with a very fine diffusion line in proper shoegaze pop like …

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