A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #37
New Mix, Reviews, and the summer lull...
Hello, Listeners, I hope everyone is keeping as well as is possible. The recent floods in New York and Vermont are on my mind. The weather here in Montreal has been cycling between dangerous air quality due to the forest fires, incredible heat and humidity, and periods of constant rain and thunderstorms. But those rainy days made it easier to get some work done. I finally finished the ACL anniversary podcast episode, featuring interviews with ten ACL writers, clocking in at a whopping 100 minutes of music and conversation. It should be on the blog soon, and so will be featured in our next newsletter.
Did you catch our extra edition with our First Half Highlights (our top 20 records of 2023 so far)? Have a look at the list if you missed it, and please share your own picks in the comments. Next installment will have more features, but for now we’ve got a new mix from Adriana Camacho and Stefan Christoff, and a handpicked selection of recent reviews.
Adriana Camacho and Stefan Christoff presents Un Pájaro Azul [mix]
Adriana Camacho and Stefan Christoff recently released Años y Minutos, a collaboration recorded on a sunny winter day in CDMX last year. Released by Boston’s Moon Villain label, Años y Minutos features the two prolific improvisers delicately exploring new sonic territory. Camacho, a Mexico City based improviser and double-bass player, grounds Christoff’s cascading piano tones, occasionally contributing bells and flutes as well. To celebrate the release of this record, the duo have created a joint mix, Un Pájaro Azul, named after a track on the album, weaving together selections from their tape with works by friends, trying to capture the spirit of inquiry and openness in playing that is foundational to their collaboration.
Tell us a bit more about the mix.
Stefan: This mix reflects some of the influences on Años y Minutos, there are tracks from the album and also other works by Adriana from the album Loope, which involves a collaboration with Anne Waldman and Zazil Collins. Also there are tracks that reflect a network of free players in North America, both on the Jazz side, but also within ambient and experimental musical networks. This mix is about creating an atmosphere of reflection but also to reflect on the ways that manifesting both creative spirit and a capacity for dialogue speaks to the healing power of free music as a language that easily travels across borders.
RECENT REVIEWS
Reviews are at the heart of ACL. Here are (excerpts from) a few of my favorite reviews we posted on the blog in the last few weeks. And we have a lot of old friends in this round up.
Berlin Strings ~ On a Dark Night
Our sharpest readers may remember the enchanting Toechter, whose debut album we reviewed last year. On a Dark Night might be considered a sequel, in that the cover art shares the same design format and Lisa Marie Vogel is found on both albums. In Toechter, she was part of a string trio; in Berlin Strings, she’s part of a quartet. Yet each work is a debut. An additional selling point for On a Dark Night is the presence of different collaborators on each track, keeping the variety high.
CORIN ~ Lux Aeterna
Lux Aeterna is an audio-visual sci-fi excursion. We’ve only seen a taste of Tristan Jalleh’s visuals, but the teaser helps us to imagine an immersive, in-person experience. We do, however, have access to the audio, which honors both the gradual awakening of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the battle scenes of The Expanse. CORIN (Corin Ileto) has taken a huge step forward on her second album, creating a “celestial opera … (that) explores the idea of sound as a sentient being.” The title – eternal light – is borrowed from György Ligeti, as is the cloud-like composition of the more gossamer tracks, where elements coalesce and disperse. When Gregorian chant and A.I. melodies are pulled apart like taffy, one is hard-pressed to tell the difference.
Lyndhurst ~ Platforms
We love summer music, so when the new U.K. duo Lyndhurst sent us their first single, “Swimming,” we made sure to include it in our article, Ten Tracks That Sound Like Summer. The duo describes the single as an “electronic hug,” and we couldn’t agree more. It’s a perfect track for a beach drive, windows down, cooler packed, new swimsuit waiting to be worn. The entrance of brass at the halfway mark is like the first glimpse of the ocean after a long winter away. Then the chimes, like sunlight reflecting from swim buoys. And it’s not even the EP’s best track! That award goes to second single “Transcriptor,” which starts with sunny glockenspiel before adding percussion and clarinet, breaking down beautifully to highlight the mallets late in the piece. If “Swimming” is the sea, “Transcriptor” is the sun. These tracks are reminiscent of the more ebullient pieces of Jilk and Haiku Salut, which dance between modern composition and electronics, smiling all the way. But wait ~ let’s not pigeonhole the duo so early.
Mark Vernon ~ Call Back Carousel
How long does it take for something to peak, become outdated, and return in a nostalgic rush, a pleasantly retro experience? Some might say this occurred with vinyl (although it was never really gone), Polaroids and bell bottoms. This week Mark Vernon turns his attention to slide shows, whose origin can be traced back centuries to “magic lantern slides”, but whose 35mm glamour peaked in the mid-twentieth century. During that time, some even paid to see slide shows, although a more derided version was the home slide show, a horror to which neighbors subjected each other upon return from their vacations. On Call Back Carousel, Vernon resurrects the audio portion of the slide show in all its glory, adding music to found tapes of slideshow commentary to create a disorienting, time traveling montage.
Tiny Leaves ~ Mynd
The greatest asset of Mynd is its specificity. The field recordings that run throughout the album were made in the Shropshire countryside (U.K.) while enjoying a residency with the National Trust at the Long Mynd, declared an Area of Outstanding Beauty. We’re a bit jealous of this opportunity, as it includes the Burway Loop (look at those sheep!) and the shorter but no less stunning Lightspout Waterfall Walk. This unspoiled area is one of the last remaining refuges, although in order to keep it pristine, it must also gain funds from tourism: thousands of visitors each week. Joel Pike (Tiny Leaves) captures the sounds of the area and works them into his own compositions, or the other way around, the sounds of mountains and valleys suggesting the notes.
Silent Noise Revolution ~ Icarus Tapes #2
Based in Belgium, Icarus is a record label and radio show dedicated to experimental music. Last year Silent Noise Revolution, the name under which pianist Jan De Block releases music, performed a live session with Luc van Lieshout at a recording studio, the results of which have been mastered and released as Icarus Tapes #2, the second in the label’s library series. The world is full of solo piano music but Silent Noise Revolution’s album for Icarus feels vital despite the faint familiarity of its melodies. The technological filters help— the distance of the vinyl and the hazy warmth of the recording. So does van Lieshout’s horn and its spare but perfect deployment: When it loudly enters to trace a brief line of melody at several points on “Synapse Sync” or “Don’t say anything,” for example, it transforms the time and place of De Block’s piano playing, pushing it more directly into the specific, the darkness of an LA night, perhaps, as opposed to the more universal imagery of the piano.
V/A ~ Healer
How many experimental electronic Hungarian artists can you name? I can’t name any … hold on, now I can name 14. That’s the value of a good compilation, and Healer is an excellent primer for the uninitiated. Our guess. is that these artists are not household names in Budapest either, although people may be walking by them without knowing the talent in their midst. As one might expect from a compilation of this sort, the styles are diverse, encompassing ambient, drone and even noise, often in the same track.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
The season we’ve waited for is finally here! (Sorry, Australia & New Zealand!). Even when we’re inside, we’re dreaming of the outside. Summer is a time for beaches, barbecues, driving around with the windows open, get-togethers with friends, action movies and of course, lots of music! This page is only the beginning; the summer music slate is already packed, and tours and festivals are on our calendars. New previews are added to this page daily; we hope you will find your next favorite album right here!
Gustav Kwarts ~ Concrete Lake (BLWBCK, 13 July)
Somni451 ~ The Eighteen Minute Gap (LAAPS, 13 July)
V/A ~ Disruptive Frequencies (Nonclassical, 13 July)
appian ~ fragments vol. 1 (sound as language, 14 July)
AxOxH ~ Lost on the Dance Floor (Cudighi, 14 July)
AWARE ~ Requiem for a Dying Animal (Glacial Movements, 14 July)
Berlin Strings ~ On a Dark Night (Italic, 14 July)
Christina Giannone ~ Reality Opposition (Room40, 14 July)
Coral Sea ~ If Memory Serves Me (Lo Recordings, 14 July)
CORIN ~ Lux Aeterna (UIQ, 14 July)
Hecq ~ Form (Mesh, 14 July)
Hyunhye Seo ~ Eel (Room40, 14 July)
Jeremy Rose ~ Project Infinity Live at Phoenix Central Park (Earshift Music, 14 July)
Lecu ~ Leck (Lo Recordings, 14 July)
Lyndhurst ~ Platforms (14 July)
Miki Yui ~ Strömen (LINE, 14 July)
Philip Johnston ~ I Cakewalked With a Zombie (Earshift Music, 14 July)
Richard Chartier ~ on a continuous form (LINE, 14 July)
Shilaba ~ Dreams Are Our World of Experience (Cyclic Law, 14 July)
Tiny Leaves ~ Mynd (14 July)
V/A ~ Arise (Cold Spring, 14 July)
Harry Towell ~ photo synthesis (Whitelabrecs, 15 July)
Botanica ~ Invisible Gardener (Umé, 16 July)
Daryl Groetsch ~ Frozen Waste (18 July)
Daryl Groetsch ~ Gardens in Glass (18 July)
David Shea ~ Ana Nota Soto (Room40, 18 July)
Coma World ~ S/T (Byrd Out, 20 July)
DJ Mell G ~ Issues (Juicy Gang, 20 July)
Fabiano do Nascimento ~ Das Nuvens (Leaving, 21 July)
Fallen ~ The Floating World (ROHS!, 21 July)
Juha Mäki-Patola ~ Vague Light (Bigo & Twigetti, 21 July)
Kevin Daniel Cahill ~ Impossible Worlds (False Walls, 21 July)
Luke Schneider ~ It Is Solved by Walking (Centripetal Force, 21 July)
MAEBE ~ Rebirth, Relive, Repeat. (21 July)
Nilotpal Das & Enesai ~ A Synonym of Dust (Brahmancore, 21 July)
Paul Flaherty, Jim Matus, Larry Derdeyn ~ Wednesday Weld (577 Records, 21 July)
Philippe Deschamps ~ Blue Baths (21 July)
Tanti Aglaia ~ Animal Carnival (See Blue Audio, 21 July)
Underwards ~ Delve (Earshift Music, 21 July)
Audrey Carmes ~ Quelque chose s’est dissipé (Métron, 24 July)
Wil Bolton ~ Red to Orange, Blue to Black (Home Normal, 25 July)
Wil Bolton ~ Södermalm In Autumn (Home Normal, 25 July)
Andrew Smiley & Kate Gentile ~ Flagrances (Obliquity, 28 July)
Bear the Mammoth ~ Purple Haus (Art as Catharsis, 28 July)
Cate Brooks ~ Easel Studies (Clay Pipe Music, 28 July)
Chris Green-Armytage ~ Still (Bigo & Twigetti, 28 July)
Dario Calderone ~ Isolario (Moving Furniture, 28 July)
El Contessa ~ Nos Habet Caramel (Bilna’es, 28 July)
Eivind Lønning, Espen Reinertsen, Romke Kleefstra & Jan Kleefstra ~ IT DEEL II (Moving Furniture Records, 28 July)
Gareth Broke ~ Being (Bigo & Twigetti, 28 July)
Gunn Truscinski Nace ~ Glass Band (Three Lobed, 28 July)
Hazel Cline ~ Spell Song (Sweet Wreath, 28 July)
a Light Sleeper ~ Equaeverpose (Cuneiform, 28 July)
Lisa Cameron & Ernesto Diaz-Infante ~ Ghosts of the JA (Loma, 28 July)
Maria W Horn & Vilhelm Bromander ~ Earthward Arcs (Warm Winters Ltd., 28 July)
Rascal Reporters ~ The Strainge Case of Steve (Cuneiform, 28 July)
Cheng Daoyuan ~ Consumed Leaders (Absurd TRAX, 29 July)
Ava Rasti ~ Ginestra (Flaming Pines, 30 July)
Nico Less ~ Still (1 August)
Nilotpal Das & Bio Contrast ~ Harmonium I (1 August)
Sana Nagano, Leonor Falcon ~ Peach and Tomato (577 Records, 1 August)
P.E.A.R.L. ~ The Light We Choose (KAOS, 2 August)
Andra Ljos ~ Megalithic Statues of Vishapakar (Not Not Fun, 4 August)
Dustin Wong ~ Perpetual Morphosis (Hausu Mountain, 4 August)
Flaer ~ Preludes (Odda, 4 August)
Oiro Pena ~ Puna (We Are Busy Bodies, 4 August)
Pavor Nocturnus ~ Ecatombe (Cyclic Law, 4 August)
Raison D’Etre ~ Prospectus I – Sublime Edition (Cyclic Law, 4 August)
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving ~ Oscillating Forest (Bird’s Robe/Dunk!, 4 August)
V/A ~ МИФ (Not Not Fun, 4 August)
Memory Scale ~ And All Things Begin to Drift (Audiobulb, 5 August)
Requiem ~ POPulist Agendas (Mutineer, 7 August)
Joe Melnicove ~ You Is You (577 Records, 9 August)
Anthony Wilson ~ Collodion (Colorfield, 11 August)
Din of Celestial Birds ~ The Night Is for Dreamers (A Thousand Arms/A Cheery Wave Records, 11 August)
Morten Georg Gismervik ~ Dunes at Night (Huber, 11 August)
Paul Dunmall ~ New Quartet: World Without (577 Records, 15 August)
Alexandre Bazin ~ Innervision (Umor Rex, 18 August)
Kim Moore ~ A Song We Destroy to Spin Again (Blackford Hill, 18 August)
McKenzie Stubbert ~ Waiting Room (Curious Music, 18 August)
Reformat ~ Precursed (Fearbone, 18 August)
Awadagin Pratt ~ STILLPOINT (New Amsterdam, 25 August)
Cameron Graham ~ Becoming a Beach Angel (Phantom Limb, 25 August)
Euglossine ~ Bug Planet Is the Current Timeline (Hausu Mountain, 25 August)
FLOCKS ~ S/T (Zehra, 25 August)
Scott Clark ~ Dawn & Dusk (Out of Your Head, 25 August)
autodealer & The Corrupting Sea ~ Sonic Ablutions (Somewherecold, 1 September)
The Color of Cyan ~ Egress (1 September)
Enclosed & Silent Order ~ Entrainment (Hypostatic Union, 1 September)
Joshua Marquez ~ Recycled Sounds (1 September)
Natasha Barrett ~ Reconfiguring the Landscape (Persistence of Sound, 1 September)
Sult ~ Always I Gnaw (Thin Wrist, 1 September)
RRUCCULLA ~ Zeru/Freq (Lapsus, 7 September)
Matthew Halsall ~ An Ever Changing View (Gondwana, 8 September)
Pauline Hogstrand ~ Áhkká (Warm Winters Ltd., 8 September)
Phase4our ~ Coordinates EP (Machine Records, 8 September)
Salò ~ S/T (Kuboraum Editions, 8 September)
Siema Ziemia ~ Second (Byrd Out, 8 September)
Veil ~ A Circle in Stone (Other Facts, 8 September)
Akira Kosemura ~ Rudy OST (Schole, 15 September)
Keope ~ Flikka Flokka (Bigamo, 15 September)
Droneroom ~ The Best of My Love (Somewherecold, 22 September)
Stereo Minus One ~ Everything Is So Beautiful, I Need to Lie Down (Machine Records, 22 September)
zeitkratzer – Reinhold Friedl ~ Scarlatti (Karlrecords, 22 September)
Jlin ~ Perspective (Planet Mu, 29 September)
David August ~ VĪS (99CHANTS, 6 October)
Up High Collective ~ Koinonia (San-kofa Rhythms, 11 October)
Bex Burch ~ There Is Only Love and Fear (International Anthem, 20 October)
Thomas Vanz ~ Colors of Invisible (Mesh, 27 October)