experimental albums
Album Review: Land Trance – ‘First Séance’: dazzlingly cinematic and truly exploratory
A cinematic vista of an album, stitched seamlessly through each siphoning of emphatic, elevating, melancholic elation.
News: FatCat call time on the Split Series with a final 12″ from Ian William Craig and Kago; hear the latter’s ‘Tetermats 2’
I DON’T know about you, with the vinyl revival – I mean, really, it’s a re-arrival now, isn’t it, here again for the foreseeable – that maybe the 12″ is one thing that hasn’t really had the credit it’s due in the resurgence. For while the LP, double LP; hell even the loud-cut, 45rpm, 180gm, …
Album review: Tomas Nordmark – ‘Exit Ghosts’: electronic landscapes that move from the amniotic to the apocalyptic
LIVING these days in London, but hailing originally from the small Swedish coastal town of Västervik, some 280km further down the coast from Stockholm, Tomas Nordmark is a electronica producer and soundscaper with a very complex and organic musical vision. His interest in the sonic avant-garde was brooked by the 1960s’ art scene in New …
Album review: Conrad Clipper – ‘Heron’s Book Of Dreams’: a pseudonymous, textural ambient gem
Heron’s Book of Dreams is glorious. It knows what to do, it knows what you need, and never aims for cheap and maximal when stripping back, excellent arrangement and contrast can do the job. Think a slightly more abrasively edged, more intimate A Winged Victory For The Sullen. A very beautiful record for people who love the interstices where ‘flesh and blood’ instrumentation gets it on with drones. Delightful.
Album review: Tristan Kasten-Krause – ‘Potential Landscapes’: a debut quartet of potent longform drones
Tristan’s solo debut is a quartet of pieces that all head out from the same wellspring in different directions, different emotions; yet with a unity of feeling. If you worship at the altar of a well-executed drone-based record, then this one is mightily pleasing, if it doesn’t break new ground, it takes you for a different look round places you thought you knew and introduces them afresh. Classy
Album review: TOMAGA – ‘INTIMATE IMMENSITY’: a final testament in darkwave from Tom Relleen
TOM RELLEEN was a cornerstone of London’s experimental/electronic music scene. Co-founder of Phonica Records, promoter and prolific musician, he was a hub around which creativity revolved. Forming Tomaga with percussionist Valentina Magaletti in 2013, the duo went on to release six expansive albums as well as boundary-pushing collaborative records with Pierre Bastien and Neil Tolliday. …
Album review: Deniz Cuylan – ‘No Such Thing As Free Will’: a pastoral instrumental guitar gem
No Such Thing As Free Will is a much prettier and more enveloping record than words can convey; it has a really nice poise between the disciplines of the leftfield, the guitar soli and that of bright folk melody. In this regard if you’re a fan of early to mid-period James Blackshaw, but also very much the quartet of ‘free folk’ albums Stockholm’s Andreas Söderström released as ASS in the decade from 2006, you’ll find an awful lot to love. A bright, studious, harmonic, pastoral gem
Album Review: Colin Stetson – All This I Do For Glory
Well, this is some way from “a man shouting into a hoover bag full of saxophones”. I can’t remember who described one of the tracks from Stetson’s ‘New History Warfare: Vol 3’ in that way, but it had me scooting down the record shop. It was an accurate description of one of the tracks (Stetson …
Album review: Xiu Xiu – Forget
From the howled opening lyrics to ‘The Call’ it’s very clear that Xiu Xiu’s latest project is a giant step away from last year’s Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks. Forget takes the project back into original songwriting, yet keeps the haunting atmosphere that they created on their last record. From the leads singles ‘Wondering’, …
EP: Blood Sport reveal new EP ø, and download it for free
One of the things about music is it can create mood. You hear a piece of music and at once it can take you back to a moment in your life, or a mood you felt. I’m sure that when I was younger I had break-up songs and stuff like that, but I can’t remember …