experimental
ALBUM REVIEW: Gunther Wüsthoff – ‘[to|dig]ital’: deep tronica from the Faust man’s vault
BUREAU B is one of those beautifully interesting labels – nein, curators – out there on the fringes, lovingly delving in the depths of the crates, remastering and compiling, making sure an absolute plethora of lost music is brought back to our ears. It’s main archival thrust is to dig beyond the major catalogue of …
See: Standing On The Corner – G-E-T-O-U-T!! The Ghetto
American experimental jazz group Standing On The Corner Art share the video for track ‘G-E-T-O-U-T!! The Ghetto’ starring 7 year old Star Annalise Chanel Renee Williams and Directed/Poetry by Carlos de Jesus (The Devil is a Condition, The Picnic) The video shot of a live performance has Williams introducing the band as an intro before …
SEE: Otta’s ‘Sick Inside’ has a gorgeous, genre-busting fragility
SOUTH London-based, British-Finnish singer Otta is plotting an intriguing and sonically dazed course out on the creative fringes of singer-songwriter, lofi and soul. Her second EP, entitled Songbook, follows a critically tipped debut at the end of last year; and on the strength of lead track “Sick Inside” promises to be innovative, inventive, playful and …
ALBUM REVIEW: Aārp – ‘Propaganda’
MAKE no mistake, the debut album from classically trained experimentalist Aārp has serious conceptual intent. Entitled Propaganda, and out now on Paris-Lyon-Berlin imprint InFiné, it is pointedly political. The title is predicated on the media portrayal of death of Steve Canico, the French techno fan found drowned after an altercation with police at a festival …
TRACK: Home Counties’ ‘Dad Bod’ – fantastically Peel show awkward squad
IT WOULD seem the Bristol underground scene is in rude health. Last week we had a new download-only only round-up from Dorset boys moved uptown with a whole clutch of stoner psych goodness, Leeches. And now we have a second missive from Brizzle-based guitar shamblers Home Counties: and it’s a cracking, snotty-cuffed slice of John …
ALBUM REVIEW: Yair Elazar Glotman and Mats Erlandsson – ‘Emanate’
FATCAT’s boutique 130701 imprint is one of the leading go-tos for the experimental edge of modern composition: that zone where classical bleeds and blends with modern rock and electronic thinking, cross-fertilizing and moving forward. Out now is a first full-length collaboration for the label between Berlin’s Yair Elazar Glotman and Stockholm’s Mats Erlandsson, who have …
ALBUM REVIEW: Check Masses – ‘Nightlife’
FOR MY money, Edinburgh is the most beautiful first-division city in these isles. Its architecture, its hills, its views north and east over silvered cold seas. And, god, the culture. But it’s also the city of Ian Rankin’s crime noir; of the graffitoed walls and burnt-out cars of Royal Academician Jock McFadyen; of some Irvine …
TRACK: Jaga Jazzist’s “Spiral Era” remix is heading for other galaxies
GRADUALLY and cultishly, Norwegian octet Jaga Jazzist have been building probably the most interesting and wide-ranging catalogue in the modern jazz sphere; wholly unafraid of leaping genre fences, taking and tempering and incorporating strands of other musics in the most creative way. Listen to an album such as 2002’s A Livingroom Hush, or 2015’s Starfire, …
EP REVIEW: JOCKSTRAP – Wicked City: we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto
WARP debutantes Jockstrap – the duo Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, jazz and electronics students respectively in a previous life – really do screw with the ol’ head, in the nicest possible way. It’s not like you haven’t heard many of the influences they draw on before, perhaps; but it’s the insouciant way they combine …
Premiere: Tristan Welch – Asset / Defect
Washington D.C. experimental artist Tristan Welch has returned with a new single Asset / Defect, out tomorrow and taken from the cd of the same name and we’re delighted to premiere it today on Backseat Mafia. Welch specialises in creating soundscapes using electric guitars and effects, and has active since the early 2000’s, his outlook …