A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #73
Gratitude
Dear Listeners, Joseph here. Today is American Thanksgiving, not a holiday I ever was very invested in, what with the role it plays in the national myth making of whitewashing the genocide of this land’s indigenous peoples. That said, 2024 has been the most difficult year of my life in various ways, and I recognize how important it is to be grateful. So, much gratitude to all of you for checking for us and reading and listening and all your support.
This week, in addition to our usual reviews and upcoming releases, we’ve got the latest from Gianmarco Del Re’s Ukrainian Field Notes, including the second volume of his UFN benefit compilation. We’ve also got the final two episodes (for the foreseeable future) of the Sound Propositions podcast, a special double feature finale that takes us back to the UNSOUND festival where we began in fall 2018. No Mini-Reviews this time; I’ll send out another newsletter with an extra number next week. Until then, happy listening.
Ukrainian Field Notes XXXVIII
This month we have a predominantly female lineup starting with Iryna Lazer from Mavka talking about art as beauty and war as absolute blackness. Meanwhile Anna Aloka delves into Ukrainian traditional music and Advikainsane dispels some of the misconceptions about Donbas.
Furthermore, Rita Kulyk holds listening parties in Vienna, and Stipa reflects on fading connections and respect in differences. To round things up Denys Chornomorets expresses his love for Italo Disco and talks about the importance of music for military personnel.
New Releases include nes albums and EPs by Selective Softener, Revshark, Lu Joyce, Stipa, Trinidad Shevron, RinniR, Pymin, NRNT, Andrii Kunin, Kotra, Khrystyna Kirik, Danilenko, an honest fox, essentialmiks, walakos, ummsbiaus, ЛІЗА ПАДЛІЗА, and v4w.enko.
But to begin with, for our monthly podcast on Resonance FM, we celebrate the release of the second volume of UFN with the collected interviews from the second year of the Russian full-scale invasion. The ebook is available both in PDF and ePub formats and comes with a 35 track fundraiser with proceeds going once again to Musicians Defend Ukraine.
Special thanks are due to Ivan Samokrutkin for releasing the album on the bandcamp page of система system, Clasps for doing an excellent job mastering such a diverse album into an organic whole, Massimiliano Masa for the ebook layout, Ellis for the artwork and Anastasia Batyr for help with the translations.
This is followed by our Spotify playlist featuring our interviewees and new releases from November 2024. To round things up we have new videos by Human Margareeta, TANKATAKA, The Unsleeping and Alina Pash.
Tracklist:
Alexander Stratonov – Traces of Ember
Hockins – Arzamas On Fire
Juli Riot – Bozhevillia
Zahvat – Bouquet for Olha
Septim – Cyber Thoughts
Phite Noise – Hydrogen
Myroslav Trofymuk aka. AЙKTRONER – 31.03.24
Kirik & Sidletskyi – area of passive recreation
A SOUND PROPOSITIONS DOUBLE FEATURE
These episodes are an UNSOUND double feature, marking the conclusion of season 4 of the Sound Propositions podcast. Half of the episodes this season have featured artists whose work foregrounds the voice and/or human speech. Here we profile pioneering culture jammers, Negativland, Polish composer and singer Antonina Nowacka, and NYC-based noiser Dreamcrusher.
Episode 39: REVERSE POLARITY – with Negativland
Negativland has always been about media literacy; their pranks are not only humorous but reveal something about how media function. But in recent years, as the world has changed around them, their relationship to this aspect of their practice has had to evolve. What was subversive in the 80s is mostly met with a shrug today. While sampling has become less essential to their work, the group continues to reappropriate and recontextualize human speech, and in an age of AI voice clones, the importance of using actual voices becomes even more significant. Last fall, I sat down with Negativland’s Mark Hosler and Jon Leidecker (Wobbly) at Krakow, Poland’s Unsound festival to discuss the history of their long running group, the importance of radio, and how the changing mediascape has transformed the meaning of their work as collage has gone mainstream.
Episode 40: FASHION (or, MONEY IS FERTILIZER) – with Antonina Nowacka and Dreamcrusher
The second part of a special double feature, returning us to Krakow’s Unsound festival, where we began with Episode 1. The inaugural episode featured Resina and Lea Bertucci, from Poland and New York, respectively, and so for the sake of symmetry, this episode pairs Antonina Nowacka and Dreamcrusher, two artists who make affective, vocal-based music, but to very different affects. That is to say, this is an episode that leans into contrasts: the US and Europe, home and away, morning and night, quiet and noise. We discuss non-dance DJ sets, the relationship between music and fashion, the joys and difficulties of traveling as an artist, and the adventurous programming of Unsound.
Sound Propositions should be available wherever you get your podcasts, so please keep an eye out and subscribe (and rate and review, it helps others who might be interested find us). You can support Sound Propositions on Patreon if you are so inclined, or send a one-time donation via PayPal. The first two seasons are also available on Bandcamp. I’m very grateful for any support.
This episode marks the end of season four of Sound Propositions, and will be the final episode for the foreseeable future. I’ll be taking an indefinite hiatus while I work on a book. So until I return, thanks to all the artists who’ve taken time to speak with me, and thanks to all our listeners over the years.
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.
Ben Lukas Boysen ~ Alta Ripa
After 20 years in Berlin, Ben Lukas Boysen began to think about the “youthful musical language” that he spoke in the first 20 years of his life in Altrip, on the left bank of the Rhine. Alta Ripa is the town’s Roman name, a metaphorical example of returning to one’s roots. The album feels liberated and free, neither childlike nor aged, but joyful in the manner of an adult reclaiming youthful tendencies.
Félicia Atkinson ~ Space As An Instrument
Standing but not facing completely what’s in front of me…Félicia Atkinson softly utters in the opening track “The Healing” off the aptly titled Space as an Instrument. Piano and subtle field recordings accompany Atkinson’s deeply poetic words, her enchanting exchanges with the world around her. A sort of wake-up call against forgetfulness. Space as an Instrument is a testimony and an invitation to “explore the phantasmic landscapes created in such transformative encounters, when the mind is open and receptive to its environment.”The seven compositions offer a soothing, emotionally-transparent journey through Atkinson’s meditation on Earth, how its elemental presence vibrates through her mind, body and memory.
ØKSE ~ ØKSE
New York hip-hop label Backwoodz Studioz continues their hot streak with the self-titled debut from international experimental jazz quartet ØKSE: California-raised NYC-based drummer Savannah Harris, Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, Swede Petter Eldh on double bass, synths and sampler, and Haitian electronic musician Val Jeanty. Known for their genre-expanding underground hip-hop, it should come as no surprise to find Backwoodz taking a chance on this unusual experimental jazz project, but ØKSE includes four guest rappers for good measure. Even after verses by ELUCID, billy wood, maassai, and Cavalier, ØKSE lands its most face twisting moments with the deep groove of the seven-minute instrumental closer.
Mouse On Mars ~ Herzog Sessions
Let’s cut right to it: yes, the title refers to Werner Herzog. No, sadly, he doesn’t appear on the album. Although a Werner Herzog / Mouse On Mars collaboration would, in all likelihood, be amazing (think the Von Südenfed collab with Mark E. Smith, only more Germanic), this album is only Herzog-adjacent. In 2007, an Italian film festival contacted Andi Toma & Jan St Werner and offered them the opportunity to create a new score for any film, to be performed live. The duo picked Werner Herzog’s 1971 film Fata Morgana, which had not been a critical success but had gone on to become a favourite of students who indulged in a certain amount of recreational drug use.
Murcof ~ Twin Color (vol. I)
The best part of Twin Color (vol. I) is that the title promises a vol. II. Only a month ago, we included Murcof‘s Remembranza in our list of favorite fall albums; the new set recalls that fall feeling, earth-toned and atmospheric, an ode to the onset of night. The full production is an audiovisual performance produced in conjunction with Simon Geilfus, which can be previewed in [this] video.
So what will happen in vol. II? We suspect some combination of the following: survivors will be found in the wreckage; a stowaway will infiltrate the invaders’ ship; a small resistance force will gather; the battle will be taken to the enemy planet. Because Murcof’s music has always leaned into the darkness, we’re not sure how it will end; but the father-daughter collaboration implies a turn toward the light. Bring on the sequel!
Per Störby Jutbring ~ Tenants of Misty Mansion (According to the Landlord)
Five years have passed since The Thief Bunny Society, whose animated title track imitated a children’s book, with a flying whale, a bunny on a motorbike and a pernicious lynx. In the videos from Tenants of Misty Mansion (According to the Landlord), the graphics have improved, while the tone remains endearing. Per Störby Jutbring calls the generous full-length work “a concept album about the different occupants in his head,” while AI-Midjourney helps to bring them to life. In the first of the videos, “Orb,” clouds hover in a Victorian mansion, growing faces and arms and charm. The staircase scene is reminiscent of Marvel’s “Dr. Strange,” while the cloud creatures suggest “If.” Some kids may be frightened by the stuffed animals moving below and atop the bed, but they are meant to be more whimsical than frightening; the track itself is a comfort, the felt piano adorned with the contributions of string ensembles and soloists.
Soshi Takeda ~ Secret Communication
Secret Communication is a record that feels weightless as it just glides along without any sense of friction to hold its motion back. The bass lines propel, as the drums shuffle, showing as much personality as they can within a programmed 4/4 beat. The percussion gives it a slight Latin feel, while the lead instruments channel a jazzy element into the compositions – a vibraphone here, a piano solo there. The result is a six-track suite that doesn’t put a foot wrong and will transport the listener away from whatever may be out there. It’s an album that is boundlessly uplifting, so if life seems bleak and gloomy (and it may not just be the weather), Secret Communication will usher you for a short time into a place of sunshine, joy and eternal optimism.
Yara Asmar ~ Stuttering Music
Yara Asmar is a Lebanese musician and video artist based in Beirut, and the release of her third album, Stuttering Music, has sadly coincided with this latest resurgence of conflict. A puppeteer, Asmar turned to home taping during the pandemic, using broken instruments, field recordings and deconstructed music boxes to sculpt delicate and enchanting lo-fi compositions. Her debut, home recordings 2018-2021, was released in fall 2022, as we noted in our fall previews that year, and I included 2023’s synth waltzes & accordion laments in my personal end of year list, though I missed my chance to grab a cassette copy. Luckily both records have been released jointly on vinyl, as home recordings 2018 – 2021 / synth waltzes & accordion laments (remastered), just shortly in advance of Stuttering Music, released on Ruptured.
Absent any words, voices, or concrete sounds within the music, these evocative lowercase titles obscure as much as they reveal, adding to a pleasant sense of disorientation. Not unlike Saloua Raouda Choucair’s abstract paintings, it is refreshing to see Asmar mining her relationship to her home and history—using her grandmother’s lost accordion, transforming her phone recordings of the city’s churches into waltzes—without having to center the tragedy, conflict, and war that so often dominates the discourse on Lebanon. After all, this is art, not documentary, and Asmar has no obligation to cater to Western media narratives. She should be able to title her album with an obscure reference to an experimental Japanese film as much as any other artist. That said, she clearly has a personal stake in what for many is just another news story, and she has announced that she’ll be donating her share of the profits from her albums to practical relief efforts.
V/A ~ Ukrainian Field Notes Volume II
News on the war in Ukraine has greatly accelerated. A new president was elected in the U.S., pledging a swift end to the war; but many fear his allegiances lie with russia. The sitting president approved the use of long-range, U.S.-made missiles for Ukraine, and russia countered with a warning about World War III and a long-range missile demonstration of their own. Into this backdrop arrives Ukrainian Field Notes Volume II, an eBook and compilation from Gianmarco Del Re, who continues to write his ongoing series of interviews for A Closer Listen and Resonance FM.
“When I first initiated Ukrainian Field Notes,” writes Del Re, “I had a sense I was going to be in it for the long haul.” Del Re’s real-time reports are packed with historical significance; few others have ever recorded such reactions from the onset. As the nation has changed, so have its inhabitants and its art. The 35 tracks on UFN II were all composed after 24 February 2022, while all proceeds go to Musicians Benefit Ukraine.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
Now we’re bounding to the end of the year, when the release slate grows a bit sparse in preparation for the winter calendar. In December, the leaves are off the trees and one can see farther than ever before; in like manner, with fewer album announcements, the gems tend to stand out. Proactive labels and artists have already begun to announce their 2025 releases, but there’s still a lot to do before then ~ holidays, travel and year-end lists! We’re dedicating December to such festivities, while continuing to update this page daily. We hope you’ll find your next favorite album right here!
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)
Onasander ~ Dawn Metrics (Winter-Light, 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)
Stina Stjern ~ Vivid Peace Restored (SusannaSonata, 29 November)
Sun Rain ~ mea culpa (Imaginary North, 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)
Ümlaut’ ~ Un être humain ordinaire (Audiobulb, 30 November)
Bipolar Explorer ~ Memories of the Sky (Slugg, 1 December)
Comechelet x que ~ TIME (re:core, 1 December)
Rosales ~ Half-Light (Home Normal, 1 December)
Sándor Vály, Júlia Heéger, Sheikh Abdullah al Zaili ~ Prayer (1 December)
hujiking ~ you pour out of me (4 December)
Cora Novoa ~ Mental Diary (ACT 3) – This is not about you and me. This is about us (Seeking the Velvet, 5 December)
Cosomo Fiaschi ~ Wunderkammer (Granny, 5 December)
Danielle Antezza ~ STRATA (Melatonia, 5 December)
Karl Pelzmann ~ Life and Death and In-Between (Xtelyon, 5 December)
Mark Vernon ~ Otoconia (Granny, 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)
David Lord ~ Forest Standards Vol. 4 (6 December)
Drekka x ~ Drekka x [Hydzik + Trecka] (Orb Tapes, 6 December)
FLOOD ~ Geographies Vol. 1 (Kein Rauch Ohne Feuer, 6 December)
G Clef Fusion ~ Geryon Claque Fermata (6 December)
indek ~ Cringe Wold (Rubber City Noise, 6 December)
Mia Zabelka / Tungu / Stefan Strasser ~ the confidence of one swimming against the current (FMR, 6 December)
microplastique ~ blare blow bloom! (Irritable Mystic, 6 December)
Nils Frahm ~ Paris (LEITER, 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)
Quatuor Bozzini ~ Alexandre David: Photogrammes (Collection QB, 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)
V/A ~ The Downward Uproar: A Kilometre Club Remixtape (Imaginary North, 13 December)
Marc Neys ~ Tides (Audiobulb, 14 November)
Giuliano d’Angiolini ~ )))((( (elsewhere, 15 December)
Modern Silent Cinema ~ Hammitt (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Bad Channels, 15 December)
Baldini/Dafeldecker/Strüver ~ Prismatic (Room40, 20 December)
NC333 ~ Sky Burial (UKhan, 21 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)
Nate Wooley ~ Happy House (Ideologic Organ, 10 January)
Wilson Trouvé ~ One Life (Bigo & Twigetti, 10 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)
William Basinski & Richard Chartier ~ Aurora Terminalis (LINE, 10 January)
Michael Sarian, Matthew Putman, Federico Ughi, and Ledian Mola ~ The Sea, The Space, and Egypt (577 Records, 16 January)
Blue Lake ~ Weft (Tonal Union, 17 January)
Isak Edberg ~ Belt of Orion (XKatedral, 17 January)
Marc Kirschenmann ~ 7 Melodies for Trumpet with Bamboo Mouthpipe (Infrequent Seams, 17 January)
Saba Alizadeh ~ Temple of Hope (30M, 17 January)
Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson ~ Glory Fades (XKatedral, 17 January)
Memory Scale ~ Chapter Five (Audiobulb, 18 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)
400 Lonely Things ~ Children of Eidolon (Room40, 24 January)
Hourloupe ~ Levitating Fields (24 January)
Sarah Pagé, Patrick Graham ~ Littoral States (Envision, 24 January)
Maria Teriaeva ~ Sayan / Savoie (28 January)
Memory Pearl ~ Cosmic-Astral (Boiled, 28 January)
Jon Rose & Erik Griswold ~ Unnamed Road (Harrimans Lane Collective, 31 January)
Lawrence English ~ Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds (Room40, 31 January)
Thibault Mechler ~ All Vanished Forms (31 January)
Matt McBane ~ Buoy (1 February)
Alanna Thornburgh ~ Shapeshifter (2 February)
Christopher Dammann Sextet ~ S/T (Out of Your Head, 7 February)
David Wallraf ~ Crudeltá Necessaria (Karlrecords, 7 February)
Benjamin Fulwood ~ The Stars Are Very Far Away From All This (Room40, 14 February)
Jean-Claude Vannier ~ Jean-Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines (Ipecac, 14 February)
Yama Warashi ~ At My Mother’s Piano (PRAH, 14 February)
Wrekmeister Harmonies ~ Flowers in the Spring (Thrill Jockey, 21 December)
Penelope Trappes ~ A Requiem (One Little Independent, 4 April)