[Music] Twilight Fields – Further Up, Further In!

Never, ever allow anyone to tell you that there is no good music being made today. Ever!

Twilight Fields is a band out of Northern Canada, but you wouldn’t know it judging by the influences they’ve sponged up into their body of work. One can easily hear touches of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, the acid folk of The Incredible String Band, and more modern psychedelic fare from groups like Spacemen 3 and Spectrum.

The crisp recording adds to the pleasure of hearing this recording on a great set of headphones. A highly recommended release.

[Music] Disemballerina – Poison Gown

Poison Gown‘ is a release which came to me via my inbox, and I find it to be a wonderful stroke of luck that Myles Donovan and his bandmates in Disemballerina decided to ask me for a review.

The release sets itself quite favorable with bands who do this type of gothic/classical hybrid. The tracks tend to be dark but delicate, and, should the band decide to aim their focus in this direction, they could produce a perfect soundtrack to any Tim Burton movie.

[Music] THE POST​-​DECADENT SINGERS by THE POST-DECADENT SINGERS

I don’t know what is going on in France that is drawing in such amazing talent from outside her borders (it’s probably the incredibly good quality of local performers who are developing massive catalogs and worldwide respect for their bodies of work), but the country is seeing a small explosion of creativity. One case-in-point is the Mexican guitarist Hector Javier Ayala. He has begun releasing some incredible CDs recently (his newest will be reviewed here soon, but this particular album was done in collaboration with drummer Cedric Lemaire. The recordings are sparse, but gel together quite nicely. A lot of the material reminded be of Derek Bailey and is free improvisations with percussionists around the world.

[Music] Santiago Fradejas – Sketches For Sarah, Vol. 2

I had the pleasure of reviewing Mrs. Fradejas a couple of days ago, and now it’s time to review Mr. Fradejas! Santiago’s new release sits in an equally unique point on the music reference chart. One can find something akin to post-Industrial noise, a brutalist interpretation of contemporary classical music, improvisation in the fine European-American free jazz tradition, and avant-progressive rock which labels like Cuneiform Records champion. Another masterpiece by one of the best young composers operating in Europe today.

[Music] Shoom – Tried To Sing But Couldn’t

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.

[Music] Troum – Acouasme

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.