Not a lot of bands are coming out of Belarus at the moment, but Five-Storey Ensemble are about the best working out of Minsk today. They are the standard bearers for the modern Rock-In-Opposition movement.
Experimental Music
[Music] Alapastel – Hidden for the Eyes
I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to releases by James Murray’s beautifully-curated label Slowcraft Records. This one by Alapastel, at least given the two tracks available currently (the whole album will be released on March 9), seems to be the gem of the collection so far.
Lukáš Bulko (the aforementioned Alapastel) is a composer out of Slovakia, where a lot of amazing independent music is coming out of these days. He manages to patch together a mesmerizing blend of contemporary classical music, a touch of musique concrète, and maybe a speck of post-rock in a way not dissimilar to Ólafur Arnalds. I’m very much looking forward to following which direction Lukáš will go in the future.
For a more in-depth review, I recommend visiting Dan’s review over at Fluid Radio.
[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] 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] Maurice Pozor – 2056
My friend Maurice Pozor has released an intriguing album. Though in the Bandcamp tags the album is listed as a noise or experimental album, this has to be some of the most gentle ‘noise’ I’ve heard in some time. It’s a rather floaty piece, somewhat in keeping with good electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s, but with a far crisper, cleaner sound.
[Music] Finders Keepers Celebrates 100+ Crate-Digging Releases
Finders Keepers have released 100 of the most brilliant reissues imaginable. Spanning from weird African tapes to Jean Rollin horror soundtracks, the lads at FK seem unstoppable at the moment. Here’s to another 100 gems, at least!
[Music] Hypnodial – Aether Alcoves
Though this release isn’t breaking any radical ground musically, Hypnodial reminds me of some of the more solid ambient and electronic music releases of the late 80s and early 90s. Well done, well produced, and something quite nice to relax to.
[Music] Blake DeGraw – Electronic Duodecets for Humans
Blake DeGraw is a very interesting multi-instrumentalist and experimental music composer and improviser out of Seattle, Washington. On this album, he is deconstructing a violin, making some terribly pleasant noise along the way.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 