Joe Acheson of the Hidden Orchestra come at us with his masterpiece. Soft, subdued, but an absolutely incredible listen.
Month: February 2018
[Music] Ghost Bike – Nothing Charms
I don’t know what’s going on in Jerusalem these days, but it seems there’s quite a goth/darkwave/witch-punk scene brewing over there.
Thanks kindly to Tamar Singer for recommending me the work of her colleague Vlad Shusterman (working as Ghost Bike), whose work reminds me of bands like early Sisters of Mercy, Rubella Ballet and X-Mal Deutschland in their calmer moments.
[Music] Rebekah Heller – Metafagote
Metafagote is Rebekah Heller’s second release for the New York City-based record label New Focus Recordings. The bassoon is one of the most difficult instruments to not only play but to compose for. It seems Rebekah has done an outstanding job handling both.
[Music] Zeresh – Sigh For Sigh EP
I love unsolicited material coming into one of my many inboxes. I ended up having the pleasure of discovering Zeresh, a neofolk band out of Israel who rather deftly interpret, on three of the four songs, the poetry of William Ernest Henley (of Invictus fame).
There is a lot of dark, pulsating music that would have been rather comfortable inside of the earlier releases of Current 93. Looking forward to hearing more, obviously.
[Music] Mark McGuire – Glass Bowls
Mark McGuire is a guitarist and improviser out of Cleveland, Ohio, who has a large body of work available via Bandcamp, but this one caught my ear because of pleasant, gentle, floating music within. There’s a vibe here that reminds me less of psychedelic music, and more of something akin to early Pink Floyd or Krautrock.
[Music] Wirephobia – Kurdistan
Kudos to Wirephobia, an experimental/noise project based out of Erbil, Kurdistan in Iraq, for doing their part in developing a local noise music scene in what one could imagine is a hostile area.
The music on Kurdistan, released in 2016, is a pastiche of ethnic recordings and bolts of feedback, radio emissions and it all seems to work quite well.
[Music] The Dusko Goykovich Sextet – Swinging Macedonia (1967)
Trumpet player Dusko Goykovich released one of the finest jazz albums to ever come out of the Balkans in 1967. Swinging stuff.
[Literature] Debunking the Caricature of Jack Kerouac the Nihilist
Jack Kerouac, according to the essay provided by Scott Beauchamp over at The American Conservative, was much more of a spiritualist than a mere Beatnik.
Follow this link to read his essay here.
[Music] Nick Sudnick – Opera of the Fourtheenth Hour
Nick Sudnick has been the leader of the Latvian experimental-improvisational ensemble Zga since 1984, but he’s been venturing into new territory lately.
This release pairs him with librettist Emily Loseva in what I could best describe as avant-opera. Wonderful, challenging, but still somewhat accessible.
[Music] Ernesto Chahoud – Ernesto Chahoud presents TAITU – Soul-fuelled Stompers from 1960s – 1970s Ethiopia
Lebanese DJ and crate-digger supreme Ernesto Chahoud has done sterling work collecting some of the most impressive 7-inch sides to come out of Ethiopia. BBE Records has done a great job in remastering and packaging this collection. What I’m looking most forward to is seeing the 3-LP collection. It looks gorgeous.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 