A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #59
Mini-Reviews, Reviews, and Upcoming Releases
Dear Listeners, Joseph here. I took last week off while recovering from my birthday, so expect an Out of the Box feature on Yellow Swans and John Wiese next week. We’ve also got this month’s Ukrainian Field Notes on Resonance.FM broadcasting today, up on Soundcloud and the blog shortly. Next week will also see Sound Propositions podcast featuring C Lavender discussing her book Transcendent Waves and her upcoming album for iDEAL Recordings. But we had a dearth of features in this previous fortnight, so this is a review heavy newsletter. Let’s get into it.
Mini-Reviews
Short highlights
Agriculture ~ Living is Easy
It’s rare for a rock record to grab my attention these days, but I found this LA quartet’s unique tonal juxtaposition they call ecstatic black metal to be immediately resonant.
Cavalier ~ Different Type Time
Six years is a lifetime in the music industry, but this New Orleans via Brooklyn MC wisely refused to be rushed. Cav’s on a different type time, afterall, a theme that he explores across his 21 track Backwoodz debut, more than a third of which was produced by longtime collaborator Quelle Chris, with additional bangers from Jacob Rochester, Messiah Musik, Malik Abdul-Rahmaan, Ahwlee, Child Actor and others. The only features come from two “unhoused brothers” recorded on the streets of different cities on the same day, letting Cavalier bask in the overdue limelight.
Dawuna ~ Southside Bottoms
Following “A Prayer In Support of Palestine” released on PTP’s RESIST COLONIAL POWER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY compilation, Dawuna returns with, Southside Bottoms, a 21 minute blend of whimsical pop, funk, and experimentation.
Francesco Fonassi ~ Quasai
Hypnotic rhythms and mutating melodies swirl into hypnagogic hallucinations on this limited LP from the Italian sound explorer.
Giuseppe Ielasi ~ unfamiliar music vol.1 (guitar duets)
Just a month after releasing a solo guitar record for 901 Editions, our favorite Italian microsound explorer returns with a suite of recent electroacoustic experiments to be listened at very low volume.
Lord Spikeheart ~ The Adept
Sometimes a record comes out of nowhere and makes you exclaim wtf!? The Adept is one of those. Did I enjoy it? I really can’t say, but it’s so rare that I have this reaction anymore that I had to mention it here.
Pacific Loon ~ Imaginary Loops
Francesco Busiello aka Pacific Loon did a mix for ACL a few years back, impressing us with his translations of natural beauty into meandering melodies and soundscapes. Imaginary Loops coaxes peaceful sonic environments from field recording, acoustic guitars, ethereal synths.
ML Buch ~ Suntub
This double album of open-tuned seven string guitar and vocal excursions from Danish composer/producer ML Buch was released last fall, escaping my attention in the glut of late year releases. If you also missed out do yourself a favor and a have a close listen.
various artists ~ Bologna For Palestine
Red Bologna lives up to its storied reputation for leftist political action with this 20 track compilation in support of Palestine. Non-Stop Electroacoustic Improv from 17 Bologna-based artists.
Reviews are at the heart of ACL. Here are selections from a few of my favorite reviews we posted on the blog in the last few weeks.
Buildings and Food ~ Echo the Field
After spending her early years in an indie alternative rock band, Jen K. Wilson struck out on her own as Buildings and Food. The traces of her history can be read in the name, which references a 1978 album by Talking Heads. Only occasionally can one hear the influence of the band, as Wilson’s primary timbres are ambient and electronic in the Morr Music vein. Yet even this is deceptive, as other timbres sneak in, from early experiments with glitch and vocals to shoegaze and field recordings on 2023’s Infinity Plus One. The sky-d EP, released earlier this year, is all ambient, an interesting approach in that the three tracks, which showcase one side of the Toronto composer, are now integrated into the more electronic template of Echo the Field.
Ezéchiel Pailhès ~ Ventas Rumba
Ventas Rumba is the fifth solo album from Ezéchiel Pailhès, a French singer, pianist and composer whose work has generally focused on blending synth-pop with chanson. In 2022 a long-planned project for solo piano led to a trip to David Klavin’s studio to record on the famous Una Corda, beloved of Nils Frahm. The gentle timbre of the Una Corda is featured prominently in the virtuosic title track, “Ventas Rumba”, but as the neon aesthetics and gentle synths of the video illustrates, this is not your typical Una Corda album. Returning from the Klavins studio in Latvia to his studio Montreuil, Pailhès added synths and digital effects, combining the various timbres in various ways, at times playful (“Opus 53”, “Flat Feet”, “Pianovado”), at times organic (“La ligne”, “Louanges”, “Sway”).
Gabríel Ólafs ~ Orchestral Works
Gabríel Ólafs may be only 25, but he’s been playing piano for twenty years. Over the past five years, he’s released albums for solo piano, piano and cello, and piano and small ensemble, but Orchestral Works ups the ante considerably and should shoot his career into the stratosphere. The album revisits tracks from his last three albums, reimagining them for the artist’s own Reykjavik Orkestra, conducted by Viktor Orri Árnason. The additional instrumentation shifts the tone from intimate to majestic, never drowning the ivories, but adorning them with light and hue. With Orchestral Works, Ólafs has taken not a step forward, but a leap; and he’s stuck the landing. Many composers take a lifetime to produce something so refined; these “greatest hits” now come across as a symphony. With every album, we grow more confident that we’ll be talking about the composer for decades to come.
The Galaxy Electric & Droog Mulholland ~ Muzak from the Korova Milkbar
We’ve reached a tipping point in the appreciation of retro sci-fi music. Most of the original composers are gone (Bebe and Louis Barron’s Forbidden Planet, released in 1956, is cited by The Galaxy Electric & Droog Mulholland as an influence). Original fans, who received the music as futuristic, are dying off, while younger fans, who regard the same music as nostalgic, are replacing them like pod people. Only for the next decade will the two groups coexist, after which the first wave of fans will all be gone. The Galaxy Electric (Jacqueline Caruso & Augustus Green) sunk into the comfort of classic films during the COVID years, “a cocoon of sci-fi isolation.” The music they heard inspired them to reach out to Drew Mulholland (amusingly billed as Droog Mulholland, referencing the droogs of A Clockwork Orange; the Korova Milkbar, also featured in that film, is a place where milk is spiked with drugs). One might also draw reference to Mos Eisley’s cantina in that the influences are so far afield. The album is both a tribute and an expression of joy, yet the title is tongue-in-cheek; the album should be no means be categorized as muzak.
Mary Lattimore & Walt McClements ~ Rain on the Road
Harpist Mary Lattimore has been popping up all over the place this season, from Montgomery and Turner’s Spring Became Silent to Moor Mother’s GUILTY. An Adult Swim collaboration with Juliana Barwick just became available as well. Few artists have a scope this diverse. This month she’s teamed up with Walt McClements to produce a gorgeous suite of edited improvisations for harp and accordion ~ although curiously it begins with a creak and a bell. Rain on the Road is the first recorded collaboration between these performers, but we hope it won’t be the last; it presents us with a sound we didn’t know we needed until we heard it.
Mary Kouyoumdjian ~ 2 Suitcases
The refugee crisis continues to rage around the world, sparking a dual backlash of racism and xenophobia. The focus may have shifted from the southern border of the U.S. to the demolished camps of Gaza, but the story remains the same: millions are fleeing violence and persecution: tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The story is conveyed through the lushness of the music, which often recalls Armenian folk tunes; it is also told in Arabic, Armenian and English. At first (not knowing every language), one yearns to understand; eventually, with attention, one will. The decision to open the dialogue like this mimics the response many have to immigrants: at first, they are “not like us;” but after conversation, they are us. Later, to our chagrin, we realize that they were always us.
Musala nan Elian ~ Glossolalia
Founding our own Glorious Chapels is a collective in the true sense of the word, shifting not only members, but monikers. Founded in 2016 when the bands Stems and Anathème joined forces as The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears, the project then continued as the solo project Notre Dame de la Colline before entering its current incarnation as Musala nan Elian. Each release, or Chapel, is a part of the whole. This makes the title of the latest project, Glossolalia, particularly appropriate, as the term not only means “speaking in tongues” but the ability to understand each other’s languages, a phenomenon experienced on Pentecost, which just so happens to be observed this month. In this case, the language is musical, although some wordless vocals surface in the curtain folds.
Taylor Deupree ~ Sti.ll
Most albums have one lead story; Sti.ll has two. The first is that the album presents an acoustic ensemble reworking of an electronic classic. The second is that it comes in an extensive hardcover edition, thanks to greyfade’s brand new FOLIO imprint. The shift from lowercase to upper is an indication of its importance. While the book contains digital downloads of both Sti.ll and its source material, Stil. (2002), the new album is also available on luscious orange vinyl. Let’s talk about the second story first. We’ve often lamented the dearth of liner notes in the digital era, which robs listeners not only of context, but of the very knowledge of the participants. Physical formats are often objets d’art, pored over by listeners as they play the music, seeking insight into the meaning and construction of what they hear. The FOLIO edition of Sti.ll is a fan’s dream come true. Ironically, Joseph Branciforte was a fan of Taylor Deupree‘s Still. from the very start, and was overwhelmed when the composer invited him to rearrange one of his seminal works. “Why?” the arranger asked. “There’s not a single sound I would want to change on that album.” The full story, covering all the hardest challenges, can be found in the book, along with keen observations from clarinetist Madison Greenstone.
Tomáš Šenkyřík ~ Waiting for a Song
There are many times when people are waiting for a song: waiting for a DJ to spin a song in a club or on the radio; waiting for a song to be sung in concert; waiting for “Happy Birthday” or “Silent Night” or “Auld Lang Syne,” each of which signifies a specific setting and set of feelings. Tomáš Šenkyřík is waiting for the dawn chorus, the “chiffchaff sound” of the Zelienka wetland, the song that means restoration efforts have worked. We last encountered the artist on Jaro (Spring), his son endearingly asleep in a bicycle seat as field recordings were captured. Šenkyřík is still waking up early, now traveling to the aeolian sands and wetlands of the Bor lowland, listening for its song: a song that was once harmonic, then dissonant and distorted, today again seeking harmony. Undisturbed, the sand sometimes conquered the wetlands, the wetlands sometimes conquered the sand. But then the familiar tale: humans interfered, extracting peat, disturbing the natural rhythms, the give and take.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
By mid-spring, life has returned in full. Green leaves pop against azure skies. Cherry trees and magnolias give way to tulips and daffodils. Baby animals tumble in the yard. And a new season of music springs forth from the creative ground. Dozens of new albums are appearing every week, with hundreds on the horizon; there’s always something to look forward to. Fresh previews are added to this page daily; we hope you’ll find your next favorite album right here!
Acid Mothers Reynols ~ Vol. 3 (VHF, 17 May)
Alan Braufman ~ Infinite Love Infinite Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search, 17 May)
Andy Clausen ~ Few III Words: Solo Trombone at the TANK, Vol. 1 (17 May)
Animal, Surrender! ~ S/T (Ernest Jenning Record Co., 17 May)
Christopher Cerrone ~ Beaufort Scales (Cold Blue Music, 17 May)
Church Andrews & Matt Davies ~ Yucca (Odda Recordings, 17 May)
Denman Maroney ~ The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (Neuma, 17 May)
Ezéchiel Pailhès ~ Ventas Rumba (Circus Company, 17 May)
Federico Bonacossa ~ Elettroarmonaco (New Focus, 17 May)
Fil Uno ~ Suite Nipples (piano and coffee records, 17 May)
James Ilgenfritz ~ Stay Logged In On This Trusted Device (Infrequent Seams, 17 May)
John Kameel Farah & Nick Fraser ~ Farahser (17 May)
Keith Freund ~ Trash Can Lamb (Students of Decay, 17 May)
Ludwig Berger ~ Garden of Ediacara (~OUS, 17 May)
M Wagner ~ We Could Stay (Extremely Pure, 17 May)
Panoram ~ Great Times (Balmat, 17 May)
Purgate ~ Transcend (Aesthetically, 17 May)
Richard Francés, Konpyuta ~ Music for Healing (Planisphère, 17 May)
Rick Baltz ~ River of January (Neuma, 17 May)
Runaway Horses ~ Recollected in Tranquility (Dronarivm, 17 May)
Sophia Jani ~ Six Pieces for Solo Violin (Squama, 17 May)
Taylor Deupree ~ Sti.ll (Nettwerk/Greyfade/12k, 17 May)
Tupperware ~ Pentagonono (Keroxen, 17 May)
V/A ~ Born Coast (Industrial Coast, 17 May)
V/A ~ Kuboraum Sound Residency (Kuboraum, 17 May)
Wolfgang Seidel ~ Friendly Electrons (Karlrecords, 17 May)
YRLNG ~ Rbia Harsha Cinta (Antibody, 17 May)
Giannis Gogos ~ Linger (Whitelabrecs, 18 May)
OdNu ~ Ronroco Rococo Memories (Audiobulb, 18 May)
xu & Francis Gri ~ Valley of Languages (Whitelabrecs, 18 May)
Sabled Sun ~ 2150 (Cryo Chamber, 21 May)
Aki Yli-Salomäki & Antti Salovaara ~ Matala (24 May)
Bethany Ley ~ Sundial (Lo Recordings, 24 May)
Frédéric D. Oberland / Grégory Dargent / Tony Elieh / Wassim Halal ~ SIHR (Sub Rosa, 24 May)
The Gibraltarians ~ Frequency Bias (24 May)
Halma ~ Driving by Numbers (Kapitaen Platte, 24 May)
John Ken Nuzzo, HAIOKA ~ East Wind (DL Emerald & Doreen, 24 May)
Kenny Warren ~ Sweet World (Out of Your Head, 24 May)
Mazz Swift ~ Mazz Swift – The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious (New Amsterdam, 24 May)
Micha Volders & Miet Warlop ~ ICCHĀ (Mutropia, 24 May)
Natalia Beylis ~ Lost – For Annie (Outside Time, 24 May)
Nightports w/Matthew Bourne ~ Dulcitone 1804 (Leaf, 24 May)
Orlando Jacinto Garcia & loadbang ~ la vida que vendrá (New Focus, 24 May)
Romain Azzaro & Jeanne Briand ~ Gear(s) (fluxus temporis, 24 May)
Room 31 ~ Crazy Town (Positive Elevation/577 Records, 24 May)
{scope] ~ Nightcap (Kohlhaas, 24 May)
Sebastian Mullaert & Henrik Frendin ~ Hind (Lamour, 24 May)
Suzanne Darre ~ Fragile (Fluttery, 24 May)
Tenhornedbeast ~ Capra Hircus (Cold Spring, 24 May)
Theef ~ Sun & Smoke (A Strangely Isolated Place, 24 May)
Tinkerhell ~ Gatekeeper (Intrepid Hell, 24 May)
Yuni Wa ~ You’ve Come So Far (Doom Trip, 24 May)
UMAN ~ âme soeur (27 May)
Kathy Hinde ~ Twittering Machines (TBC Editions, 30 May)
Akira Kosemura & Lawrence English ~ Selene (Temporary Residence Ltd., 31 May)
Andrew Land ~ (music for an unmade film) (Bigo & Twigetti, 31 May)
Bag of Bones ~ No One Gets Saved (577 Records, 31 May)
Basher ~ May Day (Sinking City, 31 May)
Basile3 ~ 43°C (InFiné, 31 May)
Benny Bleu ~ Banjo Meditations (31 May)
Corker Cowboy~ In Light of that Learnt Later (31 May)
Daniel Lentz ~ Lips (Unseen Worlds, 31 May)
DELTAphase ~ synced (31 May)
Ed Herbers ~ Upper Atmosphere (Passed Recordings, 31 May)
Ezra Feinberg ~ Soft Power (Tonal Union, 31 May)
FIN ~ Cleats (Hausu Mountain, 31 May)
FINAL ~ What We Don’t See (Room40, 31 May)
HHY & The Macumbas ~ Bom Sangue Mau (Horror Vector, 31 May)
Hubble ~ S/T (31 May)
Jasmine Guffond ~ Alien Intelligence (OOH-Sounds, 31 May)
Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman ~ Murals for Immersion (Important Records, 31 May)
Lisa Ann Schonberg ~ Old Growth Playback (31 May)
Lorenzo Montanà ~ VION (n5MD, 31 May)
Mike Cooper & Jason Kolàr ~ Mauve/Pink (Mondoj, 31 May)
Pablo Diserens ~ turning porous (forms of minutiae, 31 May)
Snorri Hallgrímsson ~ Innocence (Moderna, 31 May)
Tobias Wilden ~ A Path to Open Air II (Kitchen, 31 May)
adaa ~ …img… (mappa, 3 June)
Pieter Kock ~ Bright Bars from the Stars (Meakusma, 3 June)
Pablo’s Eye ~ The light was sharp, our eyes were open (STROOM.tv, 4 June)
Peder Simonsen & Jo David Meyer Lisne ~ Spektralmaskin (SOFA, 31 May)
Reunion Island ~ Night Words (Tall Corn Music, 4 June)
Annelies Monseré ~ I sigh, I resign (Horn of Plenty, 5 June)
Jan Wagner ~ Energie Braucht Zeit (Quiet Love, 5 June)
Toada ~ Alta Onda 01 (6 June)
A Journey of Giraffes ~ Retro Porter (Somewherecold, 7 June)
Akio Suzuki ~ Stone (Room40, 7 June)
Dani Scheffels ~ hi (tunnel.visions, 7 June)
David Cordero ~ Important Small Details (Home Normal, 7 June)
Drew Gardner ~ Cygnus A (Centripetal Force, 7 June)
Elninodiablo ~ Infinitely Venus (Nein, 7 June)
Emma dj ~ Lay2g (Danse Noir, 7 June)
Fortresses ~ East (Flaming Pines, 7 June)
France Jobin + Yamil Rezc ~ Un día en México (LINE, 7 June)
GiGi FM ~ Movements (Sea~rène, 7 June)
Janek Krukowski ~ Latent (Okła, 7 June)
Kresten Osgood Quintet ~ Live at H15 Studio (7 June)
Men Seni Suyemin ~ Believe (2MR, 7 June)
The Nausea ~ Requiem (Absurd Exposition/Buried in Slag and Debris, 7 June)
The Rhythm Method ~ Pastorale (New Focus, 7 June)
Tashi Wada ~ What Is Not Strange? (RVNG Intl., 7 June)
Van Boom ~ Nuborne (Cease 2 Exist, 7 June)
V/A ~ 10 Years Love on the Rocks – Sky Is the Limit (Love on the Rocks, 7 June)
Wojtek Kiwer ~ Disconnect (Okla, 7 June)
OrangeTone ~ Portal Opaque (Jolt Music, 12 June)
Fireground ~ Love Letter (Tresor, 14 June)
Floating World Pictures with Ocean Moon ~ S/T (Lo Recordings, 14 June)
Giovanni Di Domenico, Pak Yan Lau, and John Also Bennett ~ Tidal Perspectives (Basilic, 14 June)
Halvcirkel ~ Vida (FatCat, 14 June)
Hess & Harrison ~ Rogue Signal (BlackCat, 14 June)
Kory Reeder ~ Everywhere the Truth Rushes In (kuyin, 14 June)
KRM & KMRU ~ Disconnect (Phantom Limb, 14 June)
Michael Griffiths ~ Things of the Dark (piano and coffee records, 14 June)
MONO ~ OATH (Temporary Residence Ltd., 14 June)
Otto A. Totland ~ Exin (LEITER, 14 June)
Stumbleine ~ Deleted Scene (Monotreme, 14 June)
Tam Lin ~ bluelightnospaceflattime (Flaming Pines, 14 June)
V/A ~ 10:10 Kasra V presents 10 years on NTS radio (V-sion, 14 June)
Daniel Carter ~ Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 (577 Records, 15 June)
Neuro… No Neuro ~ Mental Cassette (Audiobulb, 15 June)
Braille ~ Triple Transit (Hotflush, 20 June)
Kate Carr ~ Midsummer, London (Persistence of Sound, 20 June)
Alessandra Novaga ~ The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle (Die Schachtel, 21 June)
Black Decelerant ~ Reflections Vol. 2 (RVNG Intl., 21 June)
Blurstem ~ Ocelli (Western Vinyl, 21 June)
Cemento Atlantico ~ Dromomania (Bronson Recordings, 21 June)
David Douglas & Applescal ~ Démarrage (Atomnation, 21 June)
d’Eon ~ Leviathan (Hausu Mountain, 21 June)
Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson ~ Stífluhringurinn (Carrier, 21 June)
Moon Diagrams ~ Cemetery Classics (No-Gold, 21 June)
Powers / Rolin Duo ~ Clearing (Astral Editions, 21 June)
Qoa ~ SAUCO (Leaving, 21 June)
Solpara ~ Melancholy Sabotage (Other People, 21 June)
Stephen Roddy ~ Stardust Sonata (21 June)
Terence Fixmer ~ The Paradox in Me (Mute, 21 June)
Voide ~ Milkwood (Less, 21 June)
Gryphon Rue ~ 4n_Objx (28 June)
SUSS ~ Birds & Beasts (Northern Spy, 28 June)
Unstern ~ Es Geht Der Tag (A L T E R, 28 June)
Titanoboa ~ Seth (A-Musik, 4 July)
Antonia Nowacka ~ Sylphine Soporifera (Mondoj, 5 July)
David Vélez ~ Comfort Food (Flaming Pines, 5 July)
Fire-Toolz ~ Breeze (5 July)
John Reidar Holmes ~ Lost in Some Stream of Time (5 July)
Million Moons ~ I May Be Some Time (5 July)
Modern Silent Cinema ~ Anemic Music (5 July)
Seamus O’Muineachain ~ Liminality (7 July)
Colin Fisher ~ Suns of the Heart (We Are Busy Bodies, 12 July)
Droneroom ~ as long as the sun (Decaying Spheres, 19 July)
Elori Saxl ~ Drifts and Surfaces (Western Vinyl, 19 July)
Lilacs & Champagne ~ Fantasy World (Temporary Residence Ltd., 19 July)
Veins Full of Static ~ A House Wrapped in Sleep (Machine, 2 August)