Jorge – Entre células (Album Review)
Looking for information on Portuguese experimental electronic composer and producer Jorge is fruitless. His recent album, “Entre células”, is accompanied only by the cryptic statement that Jorge was “born and raised in the Portuguese alternative rock world” but that he now focuses on ambient-leaning electronic inspired by the works ofContinue Reading
Welcome Strawberry – Welcome Strawberry (Album Review)
Two of the most intriguing states of mind are the hypnopompic, when you first wake up, and the hypnogogic, right before falling asleep. These moments often provide a mix of the waking and dream world, and Descartes noted it was when he did his best philosophizing. While they appear toContinue Reading
Paraphon – Anecdotes of Wired Minds (Album Review)
Swiss electronic duo Paraphon came together out of a mutual love of synthesizers. This is not surprising as their debut album, “Anecdotes of Wired Minds”, is built upon a foundation of crafted electronica and atmospheric mixes. Using the dreamy possibilities of synthesized sound as a catalyst for catchy pop melodies,Continue Reading
Single Reviews – 23 October 2022 – Joshua Burnside, Furrows, CHRISTOPHERSEN
Photo by Julia Rekamie Joshua Burnside – Rough Edges folk One of Ireland’s, and specifically Northern Ireland’s, more endearing songsmiths, Joshua Burnside, has a new single out. This is cause for celebration. Burnside lingers on the more whimsical and exploratory side of guy-with-guitar folk and is as much a poetContinue Reading
49 Burning Condors – Seventh Hymnal (Album Review)
The personification of nature as a mother makes sense; the word “nature” comes from the Latin “natura”, meaning “birth”. If nature is our meta-maternal figure, we are the fruit from her branches. We grow and fall around her multi-faceted world with merely the illusion of choice. The Gaia hypothesis supposes thatContinue Reading
Burs – Holding Patterns (Album Review)
‘Psychedelic’ is an odd genre classification. The ‘psy’ suggests something heady; music that feels like you’ve taken mind-bending narcotics. And while the destination of the genre might be a floaty headspace, the means of transportation needn’t be long-haired chaps wailing out endless guitar solos. This is proven by Torontonian psych-folkContinue Reading
Memory Constructions by Jakob Lindhagen (Album Review)
Music and memory have an important connection. Not only does music help us conjure old memories, but it also helps create new ones. “Our memories play such a huge part of our identities, yet they are extremely unreliable,” writes Swedish artist Jakob Lindhagen in a text accompanying his new album “MemoryContinue Reading
Single Reviews – 10 October 2022 – Sasha & The Bear – Rival Consoles – Penny
Photo by Markus Spiske Sasha & The Bear – Wake Me Up pop As intrinsically annoying and intentionally attention-grabbing as pop music is, not even chin-stroking music academics can deny its redemptive power. On a song like “Wake Me Up” by Sasha & The Bear, one can get a simpleContinue Reading
The Dead Shakers – Some Shapes Reappear (Album Review)
Somewhere in the hilly city of Burlington, Vermont, Kevin Bloom is experiencing something profound. Perhaps it’s deep thought about the ethics of eating animals or something more personal like the futility of living in the past. Regardless of the specific content of Bloom’s mind, it’s likely to come out asContinue Reading
Nadia Kamrath – Confessions (EP Review)
Being fragile in a world where stoicism is seen as the highest virtue is difficult. We are often forced to harden our soft inner nature to better fit society’s hard edges. And while fragile people can be beacons of light in our cruel world, showing us all the precious yetContinue Reading