A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #72
Reviews, New Music, and Upcoming Releases
Dear Listeners, Joseph again and what a fortnight it’s been, eh? Though I am American and grew up in NY, I’ve spent much of my adult life living in Montreal. But I’ve been back in the States a lot this year, including traveling around the south and midwest, and I can’t really say I was surprised by last week’s election results. We’re not here to discuss politics, but obviously all of us at ACL care a lot about social issues, and while we as a global music community have faced many difficulties in recent years (the viability of touring during a pandemic, the inadequacies of the streaming economy, rise in postage rates making mail order less accessible, and so on), I suspect things are unlikely to improve in the coming years. All the more reason, then, for us to continue to invest in and support each other. We’re going to need it.
Did you happen to catch that episode of High Maintenance in early 2018 that (gently) satirized the 2016 post-election malaise? I was in Missouri for the election this year, but it seems that regardless of location this year’s result was met with a greater sense of resignation. That makes sense for now, but I hope we manage to regroup and recharge, because we’re in it for the long haul, and to be clear I’m not talking at all about party politics here. In any case, speaking of declining empires, I spent the week rewatching the BBC’s I, Claudius, a 1976 TV series based on Robert Graves’ novels from the 1930s fictionalizing the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the first five emperors of the Roman Empire, including the tyranny of Tiberius, and the mad reigns of Caligula and Nero. Make of that what you will.
In music news, I’ve continued to dig into the latest batch from our friends at Longform Editions, about which I wrote in the Mini-Reviews some weeks ago. And our friends at Dinzu also have preorders available for two new tapes, from Aki Onda and Mattie Barbier, as well as a repress of Barbier’s earlier Dinzu tape for solo trombone (which now that I’m writing about it appears to have already sold out!).
The year is coming to a close, and while we’re beginning to compile our annual End of Year lists, there are still many promising new records on the horizon, some of which I’ve included in the Mini-Reviews section below. In fact, I have two new tapes coming out myself, one with Stefan Christoff on OKLA, out this Friday, and another with Jordan Christoff out on Global Pattern, soon to be announced. The three of us released a tape on AMEK back in 2021 as Anarchist Mountains Trio, so these two tapes are the closest we’ve yet come to following up on that well-received release. But more on those next time, I suppose.
Tomorrow, I’ll be sending out a special feature reflecting on living with Michael J. Schumacher’s Living Room Pieces for two weeks in October. And in two weeks, we’ll finally have the latest episodes of the Sound Propositions podcast and the next in Gianmarco Del Re’s Ukrainian Field Notes series. But since there are no other special features this time, this newsletter, we’ve got more reviews than usual. Let’s get into it.
Mini-Reviews
Short highlights
AKA HEX (Aïsha Devi x Slikback) ~ Do The Rite Thing / Hex On Fire
Kenyan producer Slikback’s appearance on Aïsha Devi’s Death Is Home (2023) must have been successful, because the duo have announced AKA HEX, their new collaborative project. “Do The Rite Thing” goes hard enough to have us counting down the days til their full-length.
Angelo Harmsworth ~ Without Blinking
Sandwiched between two longform tracks is a short collaboration with Felicia Ledesma, a sinister air runs through the whole tape, but ultimately leaving the listener with a profound sense of catharsis.
Cavalier & Child Actor ~ CINE
Cav’s Different Type Time, released in April, is a strong contender for album of the year, but his second solo LP of 2024, produced entirely by Child Actor, may be even better. Backwoodz hot streak continues.
Dakim ~ Funkenwolf
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything new from Dak, so I’m very pleased to see him sneak in some juice before 2024 ends. 13 tracks of electro funk recorded in a two week span in between teaching audio production classes using tweaked presets on an OG MPC and MPK mini, as always these beats knock. And it’s free, so go download now, and dig into that back catalog if you’re unfamiliar.
Darius Jones ~ Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)
The 7th chapter (of 9) in the jazz composer’s expansive Man’ish Boy epic finds the alto saxophonist in a tight trio with longtime collaborator Gerald Cleaver on drums and the dynamic Chris Lightcap on double bass, six long tracks exploring black mental health and healing from collective trauma.
ESTELLE SCHORPP ~ In My Ears (for Maryanne)
The latest from the eminent LINE label finds the French-born, Montreal-based composer’s tribute to composer and sound artist Maryanne Amacher, algorithmically composed using SuperCollider, exploring otoacoustic emissions.
shemar x Child Actor ~ sunscreen
Brooklyn rapper shemar’s latest EP is produced entirely by Child Actor, one of the most interesting producers working today.
small professor ~ i had to be a watchmaker in the past
Philly’s Small Pro takes inspiration from philosophy of time and Christian Marclay’s The Clock to reflect on time over 24 track on this excellent new beat tape.
Various Artists ~ Sarha (a "Women with Gaza" benefit compilation)
15 track benefit compilation including work from Nurse With Wound, Andrea Penso, Danny Clay, Donato Epiro, Delphine Dora and more. All proceeds go to "Women with Gaza" to improve the living conditions of women and girls in Gaza effected by the ongoing genocide. (Direct donations can also be made here.)
RECENT REVIEWS
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.
Diane Barbé ~ musiques tourbes
musiques tourbes (bog musics) is more than just an act of field recording; Diane Barbé‘s album is also an example of “field remembering” and recreation. Divided between natural soundscape compositions and musical reflections, the album explores sounds that are often unheard and others that exist only in the imagination until they are brought to light.
Francisco López ~ HIMAVANTA: environmental sound matter from Thailand’s forests
The artist pleads with the listener to play these sounds on “decent headphones or speakers,” lest the intricacies and low end be lost. Even better than a superior sound system is the forest nearest one’s home, which features natural surround sound. López spent an incredible amount of time in the field capturing these recordings, then even more time mastering and arranging. To listen is to spend half a day in the rainforests of Thailand; but even more, the set urges listeners to connect with the immersive, majestic power of the natural world.
Lara Sarkissian ~ Remnants
Remnants is not only Sarkissian’s first full-length album, but the first release on her own new platform btwn Earth+Sky, which encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration and experimentation. Her debut album exemplifies this approach by shifting between genres and timbres, all the while celebrating her Armenian heritage. Kanun, duduk, davul and dhol drums feature strongly on the release, which melds past and present by placing ancient instruments, stories and songs in a modern context.
Lars Bech Pilgaard ~ Folklórica
Earlier this fall, Lars Bech Pilgaard went on a small tour around his home country of Denmark to celebrate his latest album’s debut. The improvisational nature of the music and the fact that Pilgaard’s designer arranged the stage differently for each performance ensured that every show was unique. The tour was designed to “create the framework for a sensual, intimate experience.” As much as we would have loved to attend such a concert in person, we are pleased to report that simply listening to the recorded version of Folklórica is itself a deeply sensual and intimate experience. The album embodies such a raw vulnerability and sense of connectedness that it imparts a taste of hygge to listeners wherever they may be.
The Necks ~ Bleed
Bleed begins with just a piano, four notes, and a lot of silence. Each note left to run its natural course. Their decay lingering, before being repeated, for the first few drawn out minutes of the record. When individual keys are given that degree of spaciousness it feels significant because it’s rare. It’s a powerful opening statement. The Australian trio The Necks, comprised of Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck, and Lloyd Swanton, regularly explore the themes present on Bleed—space, decay, and repetition—through minimalist, improvisational work often oriented around the keyboard.
Philip Jeck ~ rpm
rpm is a long, slow, generous farewell to a beloved composer from the label and artists who loved him. We thought last year’s Oxmardyke might be Philip Jeck‘s coda, as many of the recordings were made at his bedside; as such, rpm arrives as a gift. The double album includes compositions and collaborations by Jeck and friends: sketches fleshed out, ideas realized, hidden tracks released, and pure tributes. In the same way that Vinyl Requiem “was never a final statement but a testament to the work to come,” neither is rpm a final statement, but evidence of an enduring legacy.
Rafael Anton Irisarri ~ FAÇADISMS
The cover photo, captured in La Perla, Puerto Rico—a place associated with Irisarri’s childhood—is a metaphor for kingdoms that rise and fall, and those whose power rests on thin pretexts. Irisarri’s fascination with “The American Myth” and Potemkin villages stretches the metaphor to a global scale. FAÇADISMS addresses the “illusions of safety, democracy and free speech” built by despots and their ilk. Fittingly, the LP will drop on the first Friday after the American presidential election, whose results may imbue the album with an even greater resonance. Whatever the outcome, the sub-theme still holds true: “The American Myth” is in decline, Shelley’s “Ozymandias” more prescient by the day.
SABIWA, Queimada, Nathan L. ~ Sons of _
Sons of _ is an album about impermanence, as evidenced by titles such as “There is no end and no beginning”, “What is true is not true” and “There is nothing and there is no name.” The photo is foggy, and even the print on the Bandcamp page is faint. The timbres shift beneath the ears and slip between the fingers like loosely held sand. SABIWA‘s words tumble and turn and disincorporate, while the sonic experiments of Italian brothers Marco and Lorenzo Colocci (Queimada and Nathan L.) crash like breaking waves and recede like spent surf.
Travis Laplante ~ The Golden Lock
“The golden lock teaches us to snap it open,” writes Travis Laplante, referencing Ma Dayang’s 12th century Taoist ode 12 Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky and Able to Heal All the Many Diseases, in which odes, songs and acupuncture are part of the same intermingled treatment. The writing began on an artists’ retreat, where Laplante felt a new compositional freedom, evident in the relaxed tone of the seven-part piece. The album unashamedly says what it needs to say, without a lot of adornment or mucking around, whether the spacious opening chords of the first movement or the improvised free arpeggios that close the second. The melodies of some sections – the third, fourth or seventh movements for example – might work as stadium rock if seen in a different context, demonstrating a remarkable flexibility.
Will Bolton ~ Quiet Sunlight
The acorns and leaves are piling up, and the yellow, orange and red hues have faded to a muted brown. Filtered sunlight is shining through the foliage that remains. Flocks are flying overhead; on the ground, the squirrels are burying their winter meals. This is the perfect time to release Quiet Sunlight, a package that looks, smells and sounds like the season. Due to the field recordings “from a wood in East London, a beach on the East coast of England and a forest in South Korea,” when the music is played indoors, it sounds like the outdoors.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
Hundreds of amazing fall albums have already been announced, with many linked below, more in our Fall Music Preview and even more to come. Fall is the best season for music, a consolation for the end of summer. We’re particularly excited about this year’s crop, as it has as much color as the soon-to-fall leaves. From big names to fresh discoveries, there’s always something new on the horizon; we’re adding new albums daily, and hope you’ll find your next favorite album right here! Happy autumn, everyone!
Aki Onda ~ 99 Cent Dreams (Dinzu Artefacts, 8 November)
Andrea Belfi & Jules Reidy ~ dessus oben alto up (Marionette, 8 November)
BANTAR ~ This Heat Is Exhausting (8 November)
Bit Cloudy ~ The Visitation Plays (8 November)
Black Rain ~ Neuromancer (Room40, 8 November)
claire rousay ~ The Bloody Lady (VIERNULVIER, 8 November)
HUM ~ Live in Milano (Elli, 8 November)
Leo Okagawa ~ Lower the Tonearm (Flaming Pines, 8 November)
Lili Holland-Fricke & Sean Rogan ~ Dear Alien (Melodic, 8 November)
Mattie Barbier ~ paper blown between the spaces in my ribs (Dinzu Artefacts, 8 November)
Rafael Anton Irisarri ~ FAÇADISMS (Black Knoll, 8 November)
Rasmur Persson | Lee Noyes ~ RATIOS (Idealstate, 8 November)
SABIWA, Queimada, Nathan L. ~ Sons of _ (Phantom Limb, 8 November)
Vazesh ~ Tapestry (Earshift Music, 8 November)
Will Bolton ~ Quiet Sunlight (Dronarivm, 8 November)
William Selman ~ The Light Moves Between (Old Technology, 8 November)
Wolfgang Mitterer ~ Quiet Riots | Peter Herbert & Wolfgang Mittere (col legno music, 8 November)
Yoo Doo Right ~ From the Heights of Our Pastureland (Mothland, 8 November)
Glitchkase ~ KALI (ALLES, 10 November)
Tomoyoshi Date ~ Piano Trilogy (Tsuyukuza, 10 November)
E/I ~ Explicit Isolation (mappa, 12 November)
Void Stasis ~ Eschaton (Cryo Chamber, 12 November)
Casey Golden ~ Present Day (13 November)
Abdullah Miniawy ~ NigmaEnigma أنيجم النَجم (Hundebiss, 15 November)
Baldruin ~ Mosaike der Imagination (Quindi, 15 November)
Bestia Astrum ~ Fury 161 (Cold Spring, 15 November)
Blake Lee ~ No Sound in Space (OFNOT, 15 November)
Elori Saxl ~ Earth Focus (Original Score) (Western Vinyl, 15 November)
Ffroeds ~ Luuma (Flaming Pines, 15 November)
Ka Baird ~ Ictum Exercises (Polyrhythmic Studies) (Astral Spirits, 15 November)
Lara Sarkissian ~ Remnants (btwn Earth+Sky, 15 November)
Maja Osojnik & Black Page Orchestra & Maiken Beer ~ Doorways (Mamka, 15 November)
Manja Ristić ~ Dew (okla, 15 November)
MastroKristo ~ Passage (Lost Tribe Sound, 15 November)
Monopoly Child Star Searchers ~ The Year in Coconuts Vol. 2 (Discrepant, 15 November)
Murcof ~ Twin Color (vol. 1) (InFiné, 15 November)
Nizar Rohana ~ Safa (Worlds Within Worlds, 15 November)
Oöhna Call ~ Bauerngarten (L’octuple lunaire, 15 November)
Peggy Lee & Cole Schmidt ~ Forever Stories Of: Moving Parties (Earshift, 15 November)
Pleizel ~ Primal Touch (Mesh, 15 November)
R Grunwald ~ Iterations (15 November)
Samuel Rohrer ~ Music for Lovers (Arjunamusic, 15 November)
Sly & The Family Drone ~ Moon Is Doom Backwards (Human Worth, 15 November)
Stefan Christoff & Joseph Sannicandro ~ Transmissions in Silver (okla, 15 November)
Various Artists ~ Have Faith (Faith Beat, 15 November)
Zacc Harris ~ Chasing Shadows (Shifting Paradigm, 15 November)
Zaumne ~ Only Good Dreams For Me (Warm Winters Ltd., 15 November)
Canopy of Stars ~ Waves Remixed (Rednetic, 16 November)
civic hall ~ the trembling line (Lost Tribe Sound, 16 November)
DIAN ~ Glamour, Grammar, Grimoire (Anterior Insula, 17 November)
michaela turcerová ~ alene et (mappa, 18 November)
numün ~ Opening (Centripetal Force, 20 November)
Mariska Baars / Niki Jansen / Rutger Zuydervelt ~ Hardanger (laaps, 22 November)
Benjamin Damage ~ Violet Ray EP (NIX, 22 November)
Brueder Selke ~ Stimmen in Prague (oscarson, 22 November)
Chloe Lula ~ Oneiris (Subtext, 22 November)
Dave Mackay ~ The Looking Chamber (Colorfield, 22 November)
David Evans ~ Can You Hear Me (Flaming Pines, 22 November)
Eva Novoa ~ Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 1 (577 Records, 22 November)
Fan Club Orchestra ~ VI_Stay (12th Isle, 22 November)
HAPTIC ~ Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions (LINE, 22 November)
Human Error ~ S/T (Astral Spirits, 22 November)
Jean D.L. ~ Standing/Engraving (vlek, 22 November)
Kristen Roos ~ Universal Synthesizer Interface Vol. III (We Are Busy Bodies, 22 November)
Lia Bosch ~ Polar Code (Glacial Movements, 22 November)
Quiet Husband ~ Religious Equipment (Drowned by Locals, 22 November)
Supersigil ~ Spectres (Aion, 22 November)
V/A ~ Echoes (Piano & Coffee Records, 22 November)
VESCH ~ Kitchen-Factory No. 2 (Incompetence, 22 November)
Viola Klein ~ Confidant (Meakusma, 23 November)
Driftwood ~ S/T (Room40, 25 November)
Merchants ~ Marrow (Artetetra, 25 November)
Sakura Tsuruta ~ GEMZ (all my thoughts, 26 November)
aus ~ Fluctor (flau, 27 November)
David August ~ VĪS Reinterpretations (99CHANTS, 28 November)
Michaela Antalová and Adrian Myhr ~ Sing Nightingale (mappa, 28 November)
Alva Noto ~ Xerrox Vol. 5 (NOTON, 29 November)
Bara & Isa ~ (ii) (Warm Winters Ltd., 29 November)
Belief Defect ~ Desire and Discontent (raster, 29 November)
Ben Klock & Fadi Mohem ~ LAYER ONE (LAYER, 29 November)
Ben Lukas Boysen ~ Alta Ripa (Erased Tapes, 29 November)
Evan Parker ~ The Heraclitian Two-Step, Etc. (False Walls, 29 November)
Kenneth Kirschner ~ April 27, 2023 (Room40, 29 November)
Nordvargr ~ Resignation IV (Cyclic Law, 29 November)
Norman McLaren ~ Rythmatic: The Compositions of Norman McLaren (We Are Busy Bodies, 29 November)
Passepartout Duo ~ Argot (29 November)
Rites of Passage ~ S/T (Mindtrick, 29 November)
Scan 7 ~ Dark Territory (Tresor, 29 November)
Spekki Webu x Heliobolus ~ HoxV-2: Spekki Webu x Heliobolus – Phylogenetic Analysis (Amniote Editions, 29 November)
Tolouse Low Trax ~ Fung Day (TAL, 29 November)
Various Artists ~ The Jettison OST (Crooked Acres, 29 November)
Eventless Plot | Francesco Covarino ~ Methexis (Innova Editions, 30 November)
Rikuko Fujimoto ~ Distant Landscapes (FatCat/130701, 30 November)
Bipolar Explorer ~ Memories of the Sky (Slugg, 1 December)
Rosales ~ Half-Light (Home Normal, 1 December)
Danielle Antezza ~ STRATA (Melatonia, 5 December)
Adam Tendler ~ Inheritances (New Amsterdam, 6 December)
Alice Hebborn ~ Saisons (Western Vinyl, 6 December)
Alvin Curran ~ ARCHEOLOGY//ARCHEOLOGIA (Room40, 6 December)
Ava Rasti ~ The River (Fatcat/130701, 6 December)
Brötzmann / Nilssen-Love ~ Butterfly Mushroom (trost, 6 December)
CEL ~ Five minutes to self-destruct (Gagarin, 6 December)
G Clef Fusion ~ Geryon Claque Fermata (6 December)
indek ~ Cringe Wold (Rubber City Noise, 6 December)
microplastique ~ blare blow bloom! (Irritable Mystic, 6 December)
Paul Dietrich’s Elemental Quartet ~ A Small Patch of Earth (Shifting Paradigm, 6 December)
Philip Samartzis & Michael Vorfeld ~ Air Pressure (Room40, 6 December)
Pope John Paul Van Damme ~ Disinfamy (Gearbox, 6 December)
WANU ~ Magma (No Sun, 6 December)
V/A ~ Intermezzo Tre (Dischi Autunno, 6 December)
Yanling ~ Cymatic (Aurora Edition, 6 December)
Ben Glas ~ Music for Listeners (2) (Room40, 13 December)
Glim ~ Tape I (Room40, December 13)
Giuliano d’Angiolini ~ )))((( (elsewhere, 15 December)
Baldini/Dafeldecker/Strüver ~ Prismatic (Room40, 20 December)
V/A ~ Winter Vol. 2 (Bigo & Twigetti, 27 December)
Erik Klinga ~ Elusive Shimmer (thanatosis, 1 January)
Ayumi Ishito ~ Roboquarians, Vol. 2 (577 Records, 3 January)
Hearts & Minds ~ Illuminescence (Astral Spirits, 13 January)
Ian Wellman ~ Can You Hear the Street Lights Glow (Room40, 3 January)
missing scenes ~ dream or memory? (Varia, 10 January)
Asa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz ~ GHOST (Celestial Excursions/Het HEM, 20 January)
Emily Mikesell & Kate Campbell Strauss ~ Give Way (ears&eyes, 24 January)
Maria Teriaeva ~ Sayan / Savoie (28 January)
Thibault Mechler ~ All Vanished Forms (31 January)
Yama Warashi ~ At My Mother’s Piano (PRAH, 14 February)