“Dance music” and “music for dance” have different meanings. While the former is often associated with alcohol-fueled parties and festivals, the latter is more common at teatotalling performing arts conservatories. However, on Phobos, a recent EP from Italian composer Stefano Milella, aka Nother, these modes intersect with cinematic finesse. MovementContinue Reading
Avant-garde trumpeter Nathan Plante has thrown caution to the wind; after 20 years of performing as a classical musician, he releases his first EP as a purveyor of darkly subduing ambient explorations, Electric Birds. The Californian started at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and continued his academic training atContinue Reading
There’s an explosive quality to the songs of Scottish alternative shoegaze group Sunstinger. Their recent EP, Worthless, opens with its oceanic title track, which builds in intensity through stucco-textured synths, escapist basslines, and a thumping drum march. Frontman Taylor Wright has an exotic voice, as though it’s coming from aContinue Reading
Not for the faint-hearted, Decoy are a Baton Rouge hardcore outfit that brings the intensity up to 11 on their recent EP, re:selection. The band are made up of the tortured and ostensibly possessed vocals of Jonah Smith, the shredding guitars of Matt Rumfellow and Bobby Burnette, the grounding andContinue Reading
New Yorker John Beckmann has had a productive few years. Since 2022, the genre-averse artist has released four albums (one of which was an opera titled HANUSSEN) and numerous EPS and singles. Going under the nome de plume Mortal Prophets, Beckmann incorporates experimental traditions and sensory indulgence into his cinematicContinue Reading
Photo by Valeriia Miller Yea Big and Tatsu Aoki – The Hand and The Moon, Part One When Bloomington, IL multi-instrumentalist Stefen Robinson, AKA Yea Big, first heard the work of Japenese traditional musician Tatsu Aoki, who primarily performs solo on the shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese instrument, he knew heContinue Reading
Rotterdam-based artist Marinka Stam established the musical project Kalulu in 2016. Since then, she has collaborated with other artists to make divine electronic pop that neither gets too commercial nor too obscure. Instead, Stam’s music bounces along with an alluringly intellectual gait, underpinned by thoughtful production and polished songwriting. HerContinue Reading
With a tonic of indiscernible sounds, sultry bass lines, snappy percussion, colourful guitars, and hauntingly elusive vocals, The House Flies beguile the listener with their recent EP, Glimmer. The solo recording project of Murnau’s Alex Riggen, The House Flies delivers a gothic brand of alternative post-punk, obscuring emotionally led songsContinue Reading
While his work as a film composer has landed him some big-name projects, LA-based musician David Deutsch flexes his ‘serious composer’ muscles on his debut EP Prism. Constituted by ambient-leaning pieces that play with sonic intensity, the EP often finds moments of serenity and beauty through acoustic piano, orchestral strings, andContinue Reading
From Belfast via Bristol, the whispery folk balladeering of Ryan McMurtry makes a light-hearted but lasting impression on his joyous new EP “Thoughts Like Birds”. Strings, brass, and backing vocals help to accentuate the true spirit of McMurtry’s dryly performed songs. Sacrificing energy for clarity, the pieces are delivered inContinue Reading