experimental
Album Review: boycalledcrow –‘eyetrees’: More heartfelt hauntological pop from a singular sound artist.
There’s something reassuring about the music of sound artist boycalledcrow regularly sneaking through all the noise and getting some attention. It restores faith that singular, outsider work will always find its way to listeners who want something less defined, tinged with eccentricity and creative determination. It also suggests the lineage which extends from Syd Barrett …
Album Review: Iván Muela –‘Ether’: a subtle and sublime merging of neo-classical and experimental music.
Writing a review of pianist/composer Iván Muela’s latest album ‘Ether’ feels almost like a redundant endeavour. Here is a recording likely to affect the listener differently each time they tune in, so any attempt to describe the music will only capture that one single encounter, the next time your emotions may shift. So perhaps the …
EP Review: Millsart – Powerland
Part 6 in the Axis Expressionist series The relationship between our star, the source that gives us life and the land we occupy during this transcendental process is one of sensitivity and compassion. Topography and rock settlements are positioned as conductive posts of energy. An energy line wrapping around a planet that straddles between …
Album Review: Michael Scott Dawson – ‘The Tinnitus Chorus’ : A poignant and moving ambient statement crafted through collaboration.
Saskatchewan sound artist and producer Michael Scott Dawson is someone who’s both artistically prolific and restless. A stalwart for the Torontonian We Are Busy Bodies label, he’s released three solo albums plus two other records as a lead member of post-rock minimalists Peace Flag Ensemble, and all since 2020. But Dawson’s momentum has been cruelly …
Album Review: Federico Balducci & fourthousandblackbirds –‘Succulent Succubus’ : probing and powerful philosophical-drone music bursting with ideas.
Writing about any music released via the defiantly unconventional Difficult Art and Music imprint should not be a straightforward undertaking and maybe the task exposes the gaping flaws in the reviewing game. What is good, why compare, what is shallow, why is this deep and who says so? All a reviewer really does is say …
Album Review: Belong – ‘Realistic IX’: The illusive ambient-shoegaze duo return, their deceptive power undiminished.
Things may come and things may go but the shoegaze dance still unravels. Thirty years on from a time when Catherine Wheel were possibly the most important thing in the world to a small herd of droopy fringed teenagers, some of the scene’s more prominent pioneers have been having another moment. Ride have heaved themselves …
Album Review: Passepartout Duo And Inoyama Land – ‘Radio Yugawara’ : A sublime collaboration delivers a fresh and fulfilling ambient statement.
Living with music, living through music, living inside music are descriptions which could all get thrown around when trying to capture Passepartout Duo’s relationship with their sound art. The sonic partnership between pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito which began in 2015, thrives on constant travel, seeking out new collaborations as well as inspirational …
Album Review: Colin Fisher – Suns of the Heart : Spectacular sound sculptures with an internal energy.
“Distinctly gifted musician”, “Canadian mainstay”, “master sonic storyteller” are all quotable snippets which journos have rustled up for multi-instrumentalist and composer Colin Fisher. But as you dig into his sprawling catalogue you begin to realise that for once these aren’t empty words, if anything they’re an understatement. Here is a musician who’s been energising the …
Track: Sound artist extraordinaire, Michael Scott Dawson previews new album with the achingly poignant ‘Present Day’.
You could say that Saskatchewan sound artist and producer Michael Scott Dawson is a key contributor to the We Are Busy Bodies catalogue. Since 2020 he’s gifted the label three solo albums and two collections as a lead member of the post rock minimalists Peace Flag Ensemble, but those numbers only hint at his significance. …
Album Review: Jeff Mills – The Eyewitness
“Trauma and the shock effect of it – the leftover residue of harsh reality so impactful that it shapes the way you imagine, envision and calculate your position in regard to everything and everyone around you. A new type of psychological radius evolves. Boundaries are reinforced. Relationships are recessed. A damaged brief system float aimlessly. …