Thirteen years ago, I was given an opportunity to work with Shoom, an Israeli band whose sound nestles comfortably within the realm of Mediterranean ethnocore, avant-rock and ethno-rock, a term I’ve not heard in quite some time, but which seems appropriate for this band.
Lots of percussion and guitars flow quite nicely with a duduk making melodies on top. Definitely worth a listen to this album, as well as their back catalog.
Stefan Knappe is a man who wears many hats. He runs Drone Records, which releases some of the best in dark ambient and experimental music, and serves as both a mailorder and distributor of music not directly found on his label as well.
The talent we wish to concentrate on is as a composer with his project TROUM. In this release from 2015, Knappe unleashes a cascade of some of the darkest experimental music I’ve heard in some time. It is dark, however, in a way that is not vulgar or cheap, as too so-called ‘noise’ bands are wont to be. You won’t hear any children with vile fetishes for rapists or serial killers who turn on their vacuum cleaners and try to sell this as ‘music’. No, in this case, Knappe actually goes through the process of crafting something worthy of being a soundtrack to a very intense film. There is a lot of sub-bass throbbing and pulsating, but all of it done with the precision of a master surgeon who knows how to weild his scalpel. TROUM is always releasing music of note, or collaborating with others to do the same.
If you have a Bandcamp account, follow his work. You will find no disappointments there.
A.M Ferrari Fradejas is a composer based in France who also happens to be the wife of noted guitarist and composer Santiago Frajedas, whose amazing work has graced these pages in the past. Ferreri Frajedas’ new release is an absolute delight to listen to, and it came as a shock to my ears.
I was expecting progressive rock, and I was rewarded with that in spades. What I didn’t expect to find was a deep thread of ethereal music, some of which reminded me of past bands like Chandeen or Love Is Colder Than Death. There is also a touch of cabaret music here, as well as reminisces of groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Dagmar Krause’s solo work. Fans of Laurie Anderson might find something familiar here as well.
It was weird, hazy, and utterly fun listening for me.
Dead Can Dance at their most sublime.
Francisco López is perhaps Spain’s finest experimental music composer. I’ve had the pleasure of watching him perform in Los Angeles and Washington D.C., and would always enjoy the opportunity to see his events. Challenging, but worthwhile listening.
I’m perfectly pleased to have friends like composer Steve Layton. This is beautifully recorded, organized chaos. A perfect way to wade through this evening.
Auktyon were one of Russia’s best post-punk bands, and certainly among the most creative in what was then Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Russia.
Dark, scratchy, and feverishly creepy. This is the hallucinatory soundscape of Klara Lewis, an amazing artist recording for Editions Mego, one of Austria’s coolest weirdo-electronica labels.
vivienxo is a Finnish musician who does ‘dreampop’. I have no idea what the genre really is, but there’s a lovely, muffled sound to it that reminds me of old 80s dreampop that I’m familiar with, such as bands like Dream Academy. Definitely worth investigating further.
I have to admit that I’ve been waiting for such a release to come about for a while now. Noël Akchoté, perhaps the most prolofic guitarist working in improvisational music today (and maintaining astoundingly high quality throughout each release) pairs with NYC-based Mary Halvorson, a guitarist I have only become acquainted with this past year. This is a purely improvised duet, with no rehearsals, recorded in Belgium this year.
For those who already collect the work of Noël Akchoté, this will be another treasure to add to your collection. As for Mary’s work, this is a fine introduction, which makes me want to delve into her solo work.
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