Album Review: Meril Wubslin – Faire Ça : Bluesy drones, alt-rock crunch and a world of rhythms make this band unique.
Does Bongo Joe Records have a signature sound? Well listen through the bulging rosta of releases since the label first output way back in 2015 and the conclusion would probably be a resolute ‘No’. But it does have a mission to give a platform to the extraordinary and less conventional, whether from the Swiss underground …
Track/Video: Composer of definitive ambient music Adam Wiltzie previews solo album with the spectral beauty of ‘Tissue Of Lies’.
It’s staggering that in around thirty years as a key contributor to the development of ambient and modern classical music, Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie has released very few ‘solo’ albums. Firstly there was 2015’s ‘Travels In Constants Volume 24’, then a couple of soundtrack compositions for ‘Solero’ in 2016 and ‘American Woman’ three years later. Still, …
News: Supersonic Festival 2024 announces a stellar cast celebrating the vast sound of the underground.
Well the line-up that Birmingham’s mighty Supersonic Festival assembled last year for its 20th anniversary was awe inspiring and then came this announcement for 2024. Yes the bill is a slayer, a statement of intent to celebrate the vitality of underground music, a wish list that any leftfield listener would find hard to imagine. But …
Track/Video: Multi-instrumentalist/producer Forest Law returns with the psych-infused global grooves of ‘Ooo,I’ ahead of a summer album.
To sum up multi-instrumentalist/producer Forest Law’s journey to this point as “Essex born, now London based” only hints at his musical story so far. Coming through Giles Peterson’s ‘Future Bubblers ‘artists’ development programme, earning a Brownswood EP release in 2020, being a key member of Esa Williams Afro-Synth Band then taking up an extended residency …
Album Review: The Body & Dis Fig – ‘Orchards of a Futile Heaven’: One extraordinary partnership delivers an experimental doom statement piece.
For seminal Portland doom metal duo The Body, co-working with other musicians has long been part of their modus, ensuring their music never stands still. Alongside the influential releases carrying ‘The Body’ nameplate, Chip King (guitars etc) and Lee Buford (drums etc) have unleashed around fifteen collaborative albums since 2011. Recently these efforts have diverged …
Album Reviews : Transportive albums from Rune Clausen and Bobby Jewell which guide us beyond ourselves.
For their February releases the ever – probing Katuktu Collective label have delivered two impactful albums from the new age of new age. ‘Svartor’ by Rune Clausen and Bobby Jewell’s ‘Wind & Water’ present intensely contemplative sounds less concerned with self-improvement, or finding the inner calm and more at looking beyond the ‘me’. Both albums …
Album Review : Mohammad Syfkhan –‘I Am Kurdish’ : Bouzouki driven song and dance soul- music which makes a mighty impression.
Singer/ bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan’s bio underlines the fact that some back stories are more important than others. His journey to the release of his debut solo album ‘I Am Kurdish’ on Nyahh Records, while clearly fuelling his joyous North African electric dance sounds, has significance that extends far beyond music. Syfkhan began playing the …
Premiere: Art-Rock non-conformists Be Kind Cadaver preview epic EP with title track, ‘The World’s Greatest Mind’.
Avid Backseat Mafia explorers might remember this name (although it’s hard to forget) Be Kind Cadaver and their attention seizing EP from last July ‘Post Partum’ (re-check the review HERE ). A set that pulsated to an angsty industrial soundtrack with shoegaze shards and a leaning towards the cathartic chorus, these were songs that didn’t …
Album Review : Champagne Dub – ‘Rainbow’ : Space-dub and cosmic grooves with a distinct kick.
There are ‘drummers’ and there are ‘more than drummers’. ‘Drummers’ play the drums very well as they move from gig to gig, band to band, session to session. ‘More than drummers’ can also do this but they naturally do the ‘more’. Composing, producing, band leading, improvising, collaborating and beyond, think Charles Hayward or Jim White …
Track/Video: A statement of scale and integrity – Montreal ensemble FYEAR preview the dramatic ‘Pt.1 Trajectory’ from upcoming debut album.
So the presser says “FYEAR interrogates our present and future post-capitalist polycrisis“. Any creative project aiming to probe into that vortex would require scale, focus, finesse and integrity, which are exactly the qualities that this Montreal convened collective possess. Led by composer/ saxophonist Jason Sharp and poet/novelist Kaie Kellough, FYEAR have been sculpting their resonant …