strom|morts have a very odd, warped take on electronic music which at ones reminds me of the weirder moments of Aphex Twin and something you would hear in a B-movie soundtrack or special effects catalog out of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (think Delia Derbyshire). And yes, this is high praise. The sounds are disconcerting, uneasy listening, and that’s precisely what has impressed me most.
Experimental Music
[Music] Eurock Documentary, 47 Years Of Music
Eurock Documentary Fundraiser from Don Slepian on Vimeo.
When I was growing up and getting into strange music during the early to mid-1980s, I had several resources I would go to monthly (or quarterly, after a while) to find out about anything that had to do with progressive rock: Audion, a magnificent English magazine which covered pretty much everything I liked at the time, and the American equivalent, Eurock. I had the pleasure of meeting Archie Patterson, the mag head, a few times when I was working at a record shop in Los Angeles, and the guy was absolutely brilliant.
Eurock has a 47-year history of giving their readers a peek at the best in avant-progressive music. He is working on a documentary on both the magazine and some of the musicians he has been doing business with for the past 40 years, including Gilbert Artman, Mikhail Chekalin and Luis Perez.
This is a worthwhile cause. Check out Archie’s IndieGoGo page to learn more about this project.
[Music] Current 93 – In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land
Being a fan of Current 93 for over 30 years, I have to say that I’ve never heard David Tibet use the term “Hallucinatory Patripassianist rock group” to describe their sound. Apocalyptic folk, neofolk, post-industrial folk, certainly. Experimental? Always. This new name? I’ll have to chew on that for a while. Be that as it may, this is one of the few albums I had not heard until recently, as it was always sold out wherever I looked. Now, it’s in my computer, and I couldn’t be happier.
This incarnation of the band includes the aforementioned Tibet, along with Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound and their occasional collaborator, Christoph Heeman (better know for his work with Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa, or H.N.A.S.). All are masters of making sonic alchemy, and the chiming, drifting pieces give one a hallucinatory (as David puts it) feeling. I regret not hearing this album earlier.
[Music] DR – Tea Sessions
Much respect to Dominic Razlaff for this album of four sessions which drift off gently into the sea, rather than in space. I’m not quite sure why, but while relaxing and listening to the album, I feel a sense of calm that I felt in places like the Black Sea, where I’m headed to in a couple of weeks. This is a truly chilled-out work from an artist who deserves to be heard more.
[Music] Michael Bonaventure – In Tenebris Ratione Organi
Raffaele Pezzella of Eighth Tower Records continues to show what a magical ear he has for new music artists. His latest release is by composer Scottish composer Michael Bonaventure, who makes full use out of the organ. There are bits of sci-fi music, creepy soundtrack clips, electroacoustic music in the style of Pierre Henry’s freakier compositions, and a hazy, psychedelic vibe throughout. It’s not overpowering, either, which I think adds to the enjoyment of listening to this record. It’s challenging without beating you over the head with racket. A job well done.
[Music] Haram Tapes – Scorpions & Fountains
Haram Tapes is the side project of our friend Sumatran Black, and he’s really outdoing himself on this latest release. Genres blend seamlessly here, with ambient music, old industrial-influenced electronic music, field recordings and synth music being balanced well enough to be creepy and engaging. The material is very topical, quite political in a way that is not preachy or obnoxious, and it goes to show HT put a lot of thought into composing a story with this work.
A brilliant piece, but I expect this coming from Pete of SB.
[Music] Mr. Bungle Reuniting For First Shows In 20 Years — Avant Music News
Source: Stereogum. The experimental rock band Mr. Bungle are reuniting for their first live shows in almost 20 years. The band’s most recent album was 1999’s California — it celebrated its 20th anniversary just last month — and the band played their last live show the following year. As Metal Sucks reports, the group will […]
via Mr. Bungle Reuniting For First Shows In 20 Years — Avant Music News
[Music] Naujawanan Baidar – Volume 1
It’s not everyday you come across Afghan experimental music recorded in the Arizona heat. Myrrors vocalist/guitarist N.R. Safi had composed these tracks as mere impressions (expect a Volume 2 to be released shortly), but the quality of these pieces stand out. These could hold their own with the best of 1980’s cassette culture. A brilliant debut, though Safi is planning to do a properly recorded album sometime soon, adding to his psychedelic CV.
[Music] Glåsbird – Svalbarð
This album by Glåsbird is so utterly enthralling to my ears that I feel like the angels are talking to me at the moment. There is a sense of a cool peace that this album is making me feel at the moment in a grimy, grotesque Beijing that I have to thank the creators of this sublime work for their efforts to keep me sane in this very, very odd place.
From the Whitelabrecs Bandcamp site:
In February 2019 we released the debut album by an anonymous artist named Glåsbird, in the form of Grønland, a sonic expedition of Greenland. The album received much critical acclaim despite being from an anonymous artist and was even featured on Bandcamp Daily under their ‘best Ambient’ feature. CD copies of this record have long since sold out, but the Glåsbird continues its flight to a new destination: Svalbard.
Svalbard lies 78 degrees north, is inside the Arctic Circle and had a population of around 2600 people and an estimated 3000 polar bears! Its calendar year divides between the midnight sun and the polar nights. The former is a period of constant daylight and the latter is the opposite. However, the dark season is broken from time to time by spectacular Northern Lights.
In Svalbarð, Glåsbird became immersed once more in this next excursion, through means of Google Earth, 360° photos, blogger accounts of the isles, maps and also, videos by Efterklang who were an obvious reference point with the band having visited.
This time, we are treated to a greater number of tracks, as ten movements weave Modern Classical influenced Ambient soundscapes. The pristine, polished reverb of Grønland is replaced with a slightly muddier, more lo-fi approach to the sound as the artist strived to present a tape-eroded aesthetic to their work. The recordings deal with dramatic landscapes, glaciers, an abandoned coal community, a seed vault, the Island’s capital city Longyearbyen and of course, polar bears. Each piece feels icy cold, yet the warmth and hiss provided by the decaying tape effects provide a comfort blanket for the listener as perhaps you take in these scenes from a lonely cabin, at one with isolation and natural beauty.The packaging for the album includes photography from Svalbard itself, courtesy of Aldona Pivoriene who is a professional photographer based in Norway. We are also set to release the next Glåsbird album next year. Where will the destination be? For now, we hope you enjoy immersing yourself in this new set of works exploring Svalbard.
Cold-climate ambient.
[Music] Rob Mazurek Octet – Skull Sessions
Rob Mazurek is a cornetist, composer and sound explorer out of Chicago who has collaborated with some of the best groups and instrumentalists in the world of experimental music. He has collaborated with Jim O’Rourke, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Stereolab, along with fellow Chicagoans Tortoise.
The record sounds like a paean to Miles Davis-era fusion where he collaborated with Hermeto Pascoal, but adding a more free, weird, avant-progressive angle to his work. Beautiful noise.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 