experimental
Album review: Joel Vandroogenbroeck – ‘Far View’: a curated, cosmic library set from the Belgian psychedelic scion
A MUSICIAN who ventured far in both life and his chosen creative form, Joel Vandroogenbroeck is maybe not a name that trips with ease from your lips; unless of course, you’re a proper head of the deep psych persuasion. For Joel was both the driving force behind and ever-present in the hard-psych voyagers Brainticket, whose …
Track: Former Zun Zun Egui sonic traveller Yama Warashi steps up and out with the space-jazz chant of ‘Dividual Individual’
BASED in Bristol for a decade and more, since she, Kushal Gaya, Matthew Jones and Luke Mosse first fell upon the complex high-life meets psych meets Deerhoof grooves sound of Zun Zun Egui, and with that band precipitously in the rear-view mirror, Yoshino Shigihara has, for a while now, needed to ring the changes. Come …
Album review: John Thayer – ‘Supermundane’: a palimpsest of nuanced, intelligent ambience
NEW YORK percussionist, audio engineer and all-round musical polymath John Thayer, fresh from two collaborative, cassette-only albums last year – Untangling The Ghost, on which he sparred with reeds player Stank Zenkov, and Mountain Rumors, in tandem with Craig Schenker – is not about to depart this grinding year of our lord 2021 without dropping …
Album review: Resina – ‘Speechless’: a record that takes cello and choir into the apocalypse
KAROLINA REC is the darkly immense talent behind the Resina name, and she’s about to release her third album for FatCat’s modern and post-classical imprint, 130701, entitled Speechless; and as we dive deeper, we’ll see that that title was chosen with acuity. It’ll leave you, often, lost for words. It’s a hell of a record, …
PREMIERE: Kramer shares video for adaptation of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘At Apollinaire’s Grave’ as he releases ‘WORDS & MUSIC, Book One’
He’s had a hand in producing albums by Low and Galaxie 500, runs a record label and is an esteemed artist in his own right, so having Joyful Noise name Shimmy-Disc owner Mark Kramer (or simply Kramer) as their Artist in Residence for 2020 acted as suitable testament to his capabilities. This year, he’s been …
Album Review: Cluster Lizard – Star Corsair
Overview: Freedom of the Star Corsair “Whoever wishes the eternal, must leave the temporal behind”. Cluster Lizard: While meditating on the concept of our next album, we listened to the soundtracks of our favorite movies and dreamed of composing our music for the films. What could the film be like, what would be the story, …
Premiere: Sensoren releases the hard edged electronica of Krankenwagen
Philadelphia based electronic musician Sensoren has been skirting the edges of avant-electronica, swerving over territory normally classed and techno to pop to extreme, and ahead of his forthcoming album Idiot Brian, we’re delighted to premiere the track Krankenwagen right here on Backseat Mafia today. The album featured new tracks and reworks of old track from …
See: The kosmiche of New Age Doom & Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s ‘Step In Space’: a final, collaborative dose from the dub genius
LIKE his unparalleled predecessor Sun Ra, much-missed dub legend Lee “Scratch” Perry always claimed he came from outer space – and who are we to argue? Let’s hope he’s returned to whichever planet is was that deigned to let him spend a little while upping the weeeerd ante down here on Planet Earth. Taken from …
Album Review: Nigh/T\mare – Katharsis
Overview: From the depths of an ancient dark underworld, Nigh/T\mare has conjured a powerful offering of burning emotions that light the fires of one’s demons and invite thebeginning of an epic journey through the unknown. Via Thrènes Records from Switzerland, this offering is on point with their consistent releasing of top quality industrial/experimental techno. Entitled …
Track: Leo Abrahams’ ‘Harm Organ’ refracts solo guitar through a hall of ‘tronica mirrors
LONDON-based guitarist, composer and sonic manipulator Leo Abrahams has shared another track of out-six string journeying from next month’s album for figureight, Scene Memory II. it’s called “Harm Organ”, it’s a real hall of mirrors, and you can listen to it below. An alumnus of Marylebone’s Royal Academy of Music, and besides being one half …