A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #18
Hello! Joseph again, as always. Welcome to all the new Listeners who have subscribed since our Fall previews dropped. Going to try to keep it brief today so I can get this out sooner than later. I’ve been working on a podcast series on the housing crisis with a collective of Montreal-based sound artists & activists, about which more soon. But now that we’re almost done with that project, the Sound Propositions podcast will (finally) be returning in November for the second half of our third season, with episodes featuring kranky co-founder Bruce Adams (discussing his new book about the label and the wider Chicago music scene of the 1990s), Jessica Moss (on pandemic touring and the creation of her two most recent LPs), a special look at an Italian-Somali podcast series, and the long-promised ACL ten year anniversary episode.
BANDCAMP FRIDAY
The time has come again: October 7 is Bandcamp Friday. We wholeheartedly encourage everyone who is able to support artists by purchasing their music, and while we have conflicted feelings about “Bandcamp Friday” just as we do for Record Store Day (better to generalize these habits), it has proven to be a huge help for artists as touring has become much harder than ever. So I’m pleased to announce Soundscape Overview, a new audio-visual work by the young Italian artist Demetrio Cecchitelli on my Lost Children label. Mostly a net label offering free streams and downloads, the only time I’ve done a physical edition in the past was for my own Jorge’s guide to DF, for which I did a small run of tapes. Both releases are quite abstract work of field recording, are now available in limited editions of 20 hand-dubbed cassettes in a recycled cardboard o-ring. If you’re interested check out bandcamp or write to me (joseph@acloserlisten.com) directly to calculate postage.
RECENT REVIEWS
Reviews are at the heart of ACL. Here are a few of my favorite reviews we posted on the blog in the last few weeks.
Andrew Sherwell ~ Invocation of Deities by Working of Ritual Instruments
Amsterdam’s Shimmering Moods leaves nothing to chance, continuing the rollout of new imprint Slow Tone Collages with what is now its fourth bundle of releases. We especially love the new logo, a stylized snail that implies the speed of the music. Andrew Sherwell has an almost unfair advantage over Knower and Trent Hawkins, whose works were released the same day. After seeing the cover image, one just has to know what the music sounds like. As befits the label, it’s a collage. Another even spookier card image can be found inside.
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay ~ Withering Field
Media artist, composer and researcher Budhaditya Chattopadhyay dares to tackle [complex] questions. … Withering Field, released by the Portuguese label Crónica, follows this same line of work, providing a 35-minute contemplative listening journey through the alienating process of dislocating indigenous habitats from their natural settings, in specific sites now considered Special Economic Zones (SEZ), forced to gearing fast towards a contemporary urbanisation. Contemplative listening places the listener at the heart of the process. Through the different sequences of the work, the artist presents what is/was at stake, what was and will be.
Halina Rice ~ Elision
Elision may be Halina Rice‘s second album, but she hasn’t been quiet for the last five years; during that time, she worked on the “New Worlds” project, which showcased four club-worthy tracks, “each with their own visual identity and virtual world.” The ethos of that project seeps into Elision, which amplifies many of the techniques used on “New Worlds,” in particular the melding of voice and synth. As Rice writes, “The idea is to evoke places that don’t exist – like a surreal parallel world.”
V/A ~ CLAP. An anatomy of applause
CLAP is the sort of anthology that should come with a book, as the topic is so fertile and easy to understand and yet so infrequently covered. Why do we clap? What are the differences between various forms of applause? What do amplitude, tempo, variation and duration tell us about ourselves and our reactions to events? Fortunately the album includes copious liner notes, a starting point for further discussion. [Andy Moor, Ji Youn Kang, Moor Mother, Eraldo Bernocchi, Fani Konstantinidou, Yannis Kyriakides, Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), Maurizio Bianchi, Terence Hannum, Barbara Ellison, Massimo Pupillo]
Ukrainian Field Notes XIII
We’ve previously covered a fair amount of electronic and techno venturing into mixmag territory, so it’s a pleasure to approach “regular disco” with Kadiristy and Katia Stieber for the current episode of Ukrainian Field Notes, while Vlad Fisun discuss the current state of the clubbing scene. But to open proceedings we chat to Tofudj, who declares humour invaluable, we discuss CT scans with Incorrect Waves and we chew the fat with ambient superstar Fedor Tkachev while Hidden Element expresses gratitude to anyone who sent good wishes. We also hear from Monotonne who subscribes to the idea that every sound should tell its own story, and люсі / luci who talks Girl Power.
Read the entire piece here.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
Early autumn is an unusual time for many locations, as local beaches are still open and the temperatures continue to soar. Yet vacations are over and many of us have returned to school and/or work. We may not be quite ready for autumn, but here it is. Fortunately, there’s always an array of new releases to accompany us across the change of seasons, and this fall harvest is particularly large, as readers have discovered through our Fall Music Preview. New music is added daily; we hope you’ll find your next favorite album right here!
Adam H. ~ Floods (Debacle, 7 October)
Brian Harnetty ~ Words and Silences (Winesap, 7 October)
Chris Williams & Patrick Shiroishi ~ Sans Soleil II (Astral Spirits, 7 October)
Ensemble D’Oscillateurs ~ 5 Directions (LINE, 7 October)
Eric Griswold ~ Sunshowers (Room40, 7 October)
Ernesto Cervini ~ Joy (TPRRecords, 7 October)
Fallen ~ Moonlight Romance (Aural Canyon, 7 October)
Glenn Natale ~ Absolved (Bigo & Twigetti, 7 October)
Greg Stuart ~ Subtractions (New Focus, 7 October)
Hannes Lingens ~ Nachthund (Umlaut, 7 October)
Heith ~ X, wheel (PAN, 7 October)
Jessica Moss ~ Galaxy Heart (Constellation, 7 October)
Keiji Haino & SUMAC ~ into this juvenile apocalypse our golden blood to pour let us never (Thrill Jockey, 7 October)
Keyan Emami ~ The Black Fish (Centrediscs, 7 October)
Loraine James ~ Building Something Beautiful for Me (Phantom Limb, October 7)
Olivia De Prato ~ I, A.M. (New World, 7 October)
Olof Corneer ~ Three Sisters (Bigo & Twigetti, 7 October)
Peter Knight ~ Shadow Phase (Room40, 7 October)
Sofie Birch & Antonia Nowacka ~ Languoria (Mondoj, 7 October)
SPILL ~ mycelium (Corvo, 9 October)
Alex Velasco ~ Imbued (10 October)
Ordos Mk.0 ~ Sisyphean Audio Therapy 3 (10 October)
Fire-Toolz ~ I will not use the body’s eyes today (11 October)
Garreth Broke ~ Four Songs for Ralph Vaughn Williams (Bigo & Twigetti, 12 October)
Apparitions ~ Eyes Like Predatory Wealth (The Garrote, 14 October)
Bill Converse 2 ~ Take Parts (Dark Entries Records, 14 October)
Cripticz ~ Transition of Eye (Cosmic Bridge, 14 October)
Deniz Cuylan ~ Rings of Juniper (Hush Hush Records, 14 October)
Feldermelder ~ Euphoric Attempts (~OUS, 14 October)
Girih ~ Ikigai (dunk!records/A Thousand Arms Music, 14 October)
Giulio Aldinucci ~ Real (Karlrecords, 14 October)
HANDS HOLDING THE VOID ~ BRDLND (14 October)
Humbros ~ Druidarium (Matomah, 14 October)
Jeremy Rose ~ Disruption! The Voice of Drums (Earshift Music, 14 October)
Jonathan Higgins ~ Good thanks, you? (Flaming Pines, 14 October)
KORCHO ~ Kor:c:ho (14 October)
Masako Ohta, Mattias Lindermayr ~ MMMMH (Squama, 14 October)
Matthew J. Rolin ~ Passing (American Dreams, 14 October)
No Base Trio ~ NBT II (14 October)
øjeRum ~ Reversed Cathedral (Cyclic Law, 14 October)
Photay with Carlos Niño ~ An Offering (International Anthem, 14 October)
Rival Consoles ~ Now Is (Erased Tapes, 14 October)
Rupert Lally ~ Cruise Controlled (Subexotic, 14 October)
Salvatore Mercatante ~ DECAS (Subexotic, 14 October)
Sam Gendel ~ blueblue (Leaving, 14 October)
Sunwarper ~ Radiant Visage (Audionautic, 14 October)
Surgeons Girl ~ Sever (Lapsus, 14 October)
Tujiko Noriko & Paul Davies ~ Surge Original Soundtrack (SN Variations, 14 October)
Ümlaut ~ Musique de Film II (Audiobulb, 15 October)
Noctuid ~ Vestige (Coprolalia Digital, 17 October)
Ameel Brecht ~ The Locked Room (blinkwinkel, 21 October)
Blightcaster ~ S/T (Danse Noire, 21 October)
Cate Kennan ~ The Arbitrary Dimension of Dreams (Post Present Medium, 21 October)
Cindytalk ~ Subterminal (False Walls, 21 October)
Clarice Jensen ~ Esthesis (Fatcat/130701, 21 October)
Douglas Andrew McCombs ~ VMAK<KOMBZ<<<DUGLAS<<6NDR7<<< (Thrill Jockey, 21 October)
Flore Laurentienne ~ Volume II (RVNG, 21 October)
Holland Patent Public Library ~ Songs to Fall Asleep at the Wheel To (Dear Life, 21 October)
Ibises ~ In the Swim (American Dreams, 21 October)
Jairus Sharif ~ Water & Tools (telephone explosion, 21 October)
Jason van Wyk ~ Descendents (n5MD, 21 October)
Maxime Denuc ~ Nachthorn (vlek, 21 October)
Pauline Oliveros & James Ilgenfritz ~ Altamirage (Infrequent Seams, 21 October)
Picard & Picard ~ Hold Music for a Space Rescue (21 October)
Rubbish Music ~ Upcycling (Flaming Pines, 21 October)
Takuya Kuroda ~ Midnight Crisp (First Word, 21 October)
33 ~ 33-69 (C.A.N.V.A.S., 21 October)
Carbon in Prose ~ Cataclysmic System Binding Loss (24 October)
Steffi ~ The Red Hunter (candy mountain, 24 October)
Vanessa Wagner ~ Mirrored (InFiné, 25 October)
Harmonic Cross ~ The Grand Paradise (Dark Operative, 26 October)
Yair Elazar Glotman ~ Speculative Memories (SA Recordings, 27 October)
Adriaan Swerts ~ One (piano and coffee records, 28 October)
Chad Taylor Trio ~ The Reel (Astral Spirits, 28 October)
Mats Persson & Kristine Scholz ~ stilla sväva (kuyin, 28 October)
nueen ~ Diagrams of Thought (Balmat, 28 October)
Rafael Karlen ~ Equally True (Earshift Music, 28 October)
Rodrigo Amado ~ Refraction Solo (TROST, 28 October)
rýr ~ Transient (Golden Antenna, 28 October)
Senyawa+ ~ The Prey and the Ruler (Room40, 28 October)
Simon Belelty ~ Pee Wee (Jojo Records, 28 October)
Jürg Frey / Reinier van Houdt ~ lieues d’ombres (Elsewhere, 30 October)
Seabuckthorn ~ Of No Such Place (LAAPS, 31 October)
Sun Dog ~ Col des Tempètes (Cronica, 1 November)
Brad E. Rose ~ Annular Silhouettes (Room40, 4 November)
Daniel Avery ~ Ultra Truth (Mute, 4 November)
Ethan James Startzman ~ Shamanic Verse (Subexotic, 4 November)
Federico Musso ~ Leave the world as it is ([MoM]rec, 4 November)
John Also Bennett ~ Out there in the middle of nowhere (Poole Music, 4 November)
µ-Ziq ~ Hello (Planet Mu, 4 November)
Noah Wall ~ Speech Patterns (Chaikin, 4 November)
NO HAY BANDA ~ I had a dream about this place (No Hay Discos, 4 November)
OLO ~ Neige Noir (Midira, 4 November)
Onepointwo ~ Music for Spaces (Subexotic, 4 November)
Seahawks ~ Infinite Echo (Cascine, 4 November)
Suryo Botofasina ~ Everyone’s Children (Spiritmuse, 4 November)
V/A ~ Duet Layers (7K!, 4 November)
Avawaves ~ Savage Waters OST (One Little Independent, 11 November)
Christina Vantzou ~ No. 5 (Kranky, 11 November)
Colin Stetson ~ Chimæra I (Room40, 11 November)
Eventless Plot ~ Memory Loss (Moving Furniture, 11 November)
Franz de Waard & Martijn Comes ~ Equal Weights (Moving Furniture, 11 November)
FreqGen ~ Future 1990s (FiXT Neon, 11 November)
H.C. Behrendtsen ~ S/T (Schatulle Bömm, 11 November)
J.WLSN ~ 1993 (Room40, 11 November)
Lotus Eater ~ Plasma (Stroboscopic Artefacts, 11 November)
Mehmet Aslan ~ The Sun Is Parallel (Planisphere Editorial, 11 November)
Plaid ~ Feorm Falorx (Warp, 11 November)
Tengger ~ Earthing (Ramble Records, 11 November)
V/A ~ Introducing (Bigo & Twigetti, 11 November)
Greg Dallas & Jan Esbra ~ Confluence (The Slow Music Movement Label, 17 November)
Andrew Poppy ~ Ark Hive of a Live (False Walls, 18 November)
Drew Wesely ~ Blank Body (Infrequent Seams, 18 November)
Jonas Colstrup ~ At the Crest (7K!, 18 November)
Sunda Arc ~ Night Lands (Gondwana, 18 November)
The Home Current ~ The Circus Hunter (Subexotic, 25 November)
Jon Iverson ~ Many Worlds Interpretation (Seance Centre, 25 November)
Snowdrops ~ Missing Island (Injazero, 28 November)
Starlings ~ Ax Locked in Pipeline (Machine Records, 25 November)
TRÓNCO ~ S/T (Torto Editions, 30 November)
Cloud Management ~ S/T (Altin Village & Mine, 2 December)
Jameson Nathan Jones ~ Somewhat the Same (2 December)
Terence Fixmer ~ Shifting Signals (Mute, 2 December)
BJM Mario Bajardi ~ Vortex (16 December)