experimental
Album Review: James McVinnie – Counterpoint
What is it about the tags neo-classical or contemporary-classical that often brings out that immediate ‘not for me’ reaction in people? Too much baggage, too many connotations associated with that word to the right of the hyphon. It’s musicians like organist and sound sculptor James McVinnie who can help shift mindsets . He may be …
See: Guitarist Duncan Marquiss ventures into folk motorik with the seductive ‘Drivenhalle’
ELSEWHERE a very fine guitarist with The Phantom Band, Duncan Marquiss is stepping out into the world of solo instrumental guitar in the spring with an album for folk imprint of high regard, Basin Rock. And he’s already held in such esteem in guitar soli circles that he’s picked up a support slot with the …
News: Constellation sign Kee Avil, who debuts with the burrowing, fracturing post-folk of ‘See my shadow’
MONTREAL’S Constellation, who’ve brought us so many great leftfield moments these past two decades from Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Fly Pan Am, Do Make Say Think and a host of others, have added another string to their bow with the signing of Kee Avil, the new project from hometown singer, guitarist and producer Vicky Mettler. …
Track: El Ten Eleven share the grand alien (post-)funk of ‘New Year’s Eve’ and detail a massive tour
WITH our ears still ringing and our souls still swooning while getting our heads round last year’s conceptual triple album, Tautology, (No! come back this instant! For it (post) rocks so hard and so delicately, by turns – hey, read our review and have a listen if you don’t believe us) El Ten Eleven, the Southern …
Track: Leo Abrahams pushes six strings into a pyroclastic flow of glitch on ‘Spiral Trem’
GRADUATE of the esteemed Royal Academy of Music, and a man who’s collaborated musically with a host of the truly great and good – that CV including, since you ask, Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, David Byrne, Grace Jones, Regina Spektor, Jon Hopkins and Paul Simon, and that’s just a précis; on that CV Leo Abrahams also has also …
See: Rival Consoles drops the darkly pulsing choreography of ‘Monster’ ahead of tomorrow’s album
WITH a sooo hotly anticipated album, Overflow, out in the racks tomorrow, December 3rd, for Erased Tapes – the label originally set up specifically to bring Ryan Lee West’s musical vision to the world – Rival Consoles have released one final teaser, and that’s a ten-minute, monochrome filmed dance piece for the album track, “Monster”. …
PREMIERE: KRISTEENYOUNG goes for the jugular as she shares striking new song ‘Life Kills’
This song and its accompanying video aren’t for the faint of heart, so fair warning – it thrives on chaos and the thrill of the unexpected. If you’re new to KRISTEENYOUNG‘s world, then welcome, she’s been expecting you. Young last released The SubSet in 2019, and she’s been at work on its follow-up. For now, …
Album Review: Matt Baber & Richard Wileman – Baber Wileman
Richard Wileman’s 2020 album, ‘Arcana’ was a melodic yet unnerving gothic treat, with a Hammer Horror, Wicker Man vibe. This new offering continues in a similar vein, a collaboration with Matt Baber of Sanguine Hum. They had previously worked together in 2011, on a track (Mondo Profondo 1) for Wileman’s earlier incarnation, Karda Estra. This …
See: The intrusive flicker of memory brings disquiet to Fhunyue Gao & Sven Kacirek’s theremin and breaks drift ‘Bowie’
THE POTENT, experimental sonic meeting of minds that is Fhunyue Gao and Sven Kacirek came about quite by chance, and with a first single and video from that meeting, “Bowie”, being released today, those of us who enjoy our music nuanced and leftfield and odd can be thankful for the serendipitous. Fhunyue, who has previously …
Album review: Cluster – ‘Cluster 71’: the German electronica scene on the cusp of breaking through, lovingly reissued
AS WELL as hosting a whole stable of contemporary bands that are mainly spinning in the leftfield electronics and synthpop galaxies, Hamburg’s Bureau B has also been doing sterling work in curating the krautrock archive, keeping the torch burning with deep dives into the unreleased tapes of Conrad Schnitzler, reissuing lost gems and offering that …