The recent explosion of ambient music is making it hard to weed the great from the good (all music is good, objectively). Thankfully many resources exist as necessary sieves, one such is the always trustable A Closer Listen. A recent perusal of their site led me to stumble upon nocny, a ‘heavilyContinue Reading
A riveting experiment at the intersection of spoken word, performance art, and electronica, Tongues by Tanya Tagaq is an absorbing, challenging, and often uncomfortable listening experience. The imagery throughout the album is fiercely somatic, using the metaphor of tongue removal as a symbol of language and culture loss at the hands ofContinue Reading
Robert Stillman is an American experimental jazz practitioner currently based in the United Kingdom. This transplant of continents has led the artist to some self-reflection on the philosophy of nationality on What Does It Mean To Be American? Sprawling opener Cherry Ocean is a brooding piano-based piece, Stillman’s velvety vocals resting atop the sporadicContinue Reading
Photo by Inga Seliverstova No Contact – Heart Shaped indie/pop Belfast based outfit Heart Shaped (the dream pop project of Texan native Kendall Bousquet) recently released the colourful single No Contact on Poison Moon Records and Unique Technique Records. Ethereal vocals delivered with equal measures of attitude and grace soar over the grittyContinue Reading
Canadian/Japanese electronic music label/website ADSR Collective have unveiled the first installment in their new ‘Sound Stories’ series. This carefully shot documentary is an intimate glimpse into the passionate pursuits of modular synth producer Hikari Instruments, who are based in Tokyo, and who offer some philosophical nuggets. It’s not easy toContinue Reading
Photo by Hayes Potter Metal Bird – Eve Adams folk I’ve had Metal Bird by Eve Adams playing in my kitchen all morning. The slow burning sensorial landscapes Adams paints with elongated song structures have gone well with my hypnopompic coffee. The mixes contain layers of ear candy buried beneath theContinue Reading
Photo by Lisa Fotios Triangle, L’Orage (2022) jazz/afro/funk Hailing from Switzerland, L’Orage are a jazz ensemble operating at the intersection of classic and progressive styles of jazz, mixing the results with a dash of afro funk for good measure. While opener Pentatetrahydratonic is a straightforward free jazz affair, tracks suchContinue Reading