It is very good to welcome Chihei Hatakeyama back to this blog. His new offering, Journey To The End Of August, will be released on April 16 by Ukrainian record label Hidden Vibes.
MP3s
[Music] El Mahdy Jr. – Raï Dubs
El Mahdy Jr. is a composer and beatmaker originally from Alergia, but who is now hailing from Turkey. His work is informed by VERY heavy dub (his dad, apparently, had quite an awesome collection) and sampling. Very creative.
[Music] Leila Abdul-Rauf – Diminution
The first time I came across San Francisco, California resident Leila Abdul-Rauf’s name was when she was playing with the all-female avant-garde metal/dark ambient band Amber Asylum. She has become a far more powerful musician as time has passed (if you know anything about her previous work, that’s very high praise), and, given the brutal darkness of the one track shared, this new album should end up quaking my speakers rather badly (and yes, I’m looking forward to that).
The album is due to be released on April 13.
[Music] Jeff Gburek – FLOOPS
FLOOPS marks the sixth appearance of American expatriate composer Jeff Gburek to this blog.
His latest release is a collection of loop-oriented pieces played on a prepared guitar. Though Bandcamp is horrible for this sort of work, I recommend buying the album, putting the tracks into “shuffle” mode, and letting the sounds wash over you. You may hear the same pieces over and over again, but the context will feel different.
FLOOPS ends up becoming several hours’ worth of intensive listening, reminding me somewhat of Brian Eno’s generative music or Adrian Belew’s recent flux experiments.
[Music] Cuasares – Afro-Progresivo
Guerssen Records out of Barcelona reissue a very mellow, rather nicely acid-washed slab of Argentinian psych courtesy of a band called Cuasares (Quazars).
Outside of the link provided, I have no info on the band, and it’s a shame there isn’t much more to tell you about these guys other than this is nice, funky, and damn near danceable.
[Music] Various Artists – Planeta Post-Rock: Flama
Planeta Post-Rock is a (you guessed it) post-rock label out of Portugal. So far, from what I gather, they have made four compilations, with Flama being their most recent. It was released on April 1, so it’s all of a few days old, and it paints a great picture of what the post-rock and post-metal scene must be like old Lusitania.
If you feel like purchasing the whole catalog for 3 Euros, click on this link here.
[Music] NERATERRÆ – The NHART Demo[n]s
NERATERRÆ is the dark ambient/drone project of Alessio Antoni. He graces these pages with a release very much reminiscent of early Lustmørd but made on modern equipment.
Though he classifies this under Power Electronics, there’s something more elegant to his compositions than what I normally find in that genre. This is Power Electronics for the thinking man.
[Music] Sturqen / vÄäristymä – Atonia
Nervu is a Portuguese ambient music record label who debuted with this split release between their countrymen Sturqen and Finnish brothers Janne Liimatainen and Jarko Hedenius (who operate under the monicker vÄäristymä).
This release reminds me of the gorgeous minimalism of Pan Sonic and their side project Ø. Perfect headphone music.
[Music] Sean Khan, Hermeto Pascoal – Palmares Fantasy featuring Hermeto Pascoal
Many thanks to Andrew Jervis over at Bandcamp Weekly for not only sharing Sean Khan’s work but for a stellar interview with a young man who will be seen as one of the UK’s leading lights of new jazz.
[Music] Zinovia Arvanitidi ~ Ivory (Happy Piano Day)
Many thanks to the writer postrockcafe over at A Closer Listen Blog for reminding us about Piano Day, a little holiday of sorts invented by Nils Frahm to take place on the 88th day of the year.
Equally important is the fact that Greek pianist Zinovia Arvanitidi, whose latest release, Ivory, was reviewed by us in February of this year, has released her debut on vinyl, courtesy of the Kitchen Label.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 