Toàn is a French sound designer based in England who has a wonderful gift for blending jazz, hip-hop, ambient, classical and avant-garde music into one very pleasant jumble.
MP3s
[Music] Tony Buck – Unearth
Though we’re not yet allowed to embed the release, it looks like there will be a new release coming in September by The Necks drummer Tony Buck. Our friends at Room 40 Records in Australia will be doing the honors, and you can go directly to their Bandcamp site to pre-order it.
[Music] Awesome Tapes From Africa: An Interview with Brian Shimkovitz
Awesome Tapes From Africa is lucky to have an owner who has a deep passion for the music he puts out. PopMatters.com lets Awesome head honcho Brian Shimkovitz hold court. It’s worth checking out Brian’s blog which started his interest in African music.
[Music] Ethel Koffman – Flor Verbena
Editorial Municipal de Rosario is a record label out of Rosario, Argentina, which normally focuses on classical music. After digging into their catalog, I noticed that they’re not limited to that genre alone.
This album features the warm voice of Ethel Koffman, a fellow Argentine whose voice lilts in a way that would fit well with Bossa Nova music.
[Music] O Yuki Conjugate – Into Dark Water
O Yuki Conjugate were an early experimental music troupe out of Nottingham, England. They were not a conventional noisemaker, as their music straddled the line of ambient, experimental and ‘Fourth World‘ music made popular by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno.
This album is a reissue of an album from 1987. It sounds brilliant even after 30 years.
[Music] Democracy of Sound Project Number Eight: Ored Recordings and the Sounds of Caucasus
The Hum Blog introduces Ored Recordings and their aesthetic to the world. Check out their Bandcamp site – it’s loaded with amazing ethnic music from parts of Russia.
[Music] Discovering the World of Italian Psych Rock
Jeff Treppel of Bandcamp does a decent job of introducing new audiences to some rather wonderful Italian progressive rock, both old and new, here on Bandcamp’s WordPress blog.
[Music] Cosmic Analog Ensemble – Les Sourdes Oreilles
We send a mountain of respect to Charif Megarbane, head honcho of the Cosmic Analog Ensemble, for producing an album that combines the best of jazz, funk, noir, soundtrack music and deep groove. We’re looking forward to more from him!
[Music] 6 – 6
My favorite avant-prog couple surprised me recently with a release I completely managed to bypass. It looks like Amadine and Santiago Fradejas’ project, 6 (Seis), was recorded in their original home of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The music sits squarely inside the progressive metal genre, with powerful-but-restrained musicianship, a Floydian feel with vocals which would not compare unfavorably to James Hetfield of Metallica. You can hear touches of jazz here and there as well. Both musicians have come a long way, but you could already hear the raw beauty in their sound from this decade-old project.
[Music] Scanner – Nomadic Concrete
I normally find tribute albums done hours after the death of someone to be ghastly and in poor taste, but Scanner does an honorable job paying homage to Pierre Henry.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 