A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #82
Post-Hardcore Reflections, Jeremy Young Mix, Interview with Saapato, Ukrainian Field Notes, and more
Dear Listeners, Joseph here for another bi-weekly newsletter, collecting the best that’s run on our blog, A CLOSER LISTEN. We’ve got a lot piled in this week, including a mix from Jeremy Young, and interview with Saapato, and Gianmarco Del Re’s latest installment of Ukrainian Field Notes. That’s more than the email word limit, which I usually don’t let stop me, but because I delayed this installment for an extra week to recover from my trip to New York, I’ll save my Mini-Reviews for another off-cycle marathon post, coming soon.
And yet another reminder that earlier this year, I launched an ACL internet radio show at CAMP, airing every other Sunday at 6pm CET and available on their Mixcloud soon after. This Sunday is a special mix in honor of my friend Cole Pulice's new record, Land's End Eternal on LEAVING records. I first met Cole in Minneapolis back in 2014, and it’s been a pleasure watching their work evolve over the last decade. We recently sat down to discuss their career and new record. Look for my review soon, and a full interview transcript will be available to paid subscribers.
As I mentioned in previous newsletters, I spent the last two weeks of April in and around my hometown of New York. After a mid-afternoon Easter Sunday dinner with my family, I set off for Public Records, where I caught Andrew Pekler and Jan Jelinek on the first of several North American dates. I’ve been a fan of both of their work for a long time. I’ve written about Pekler’s music, solo and with Giuseppe Ielasi, and we were collectively very interested in his Phantom Islands project. Much of the background imagery that played during his set recalled both Sounds From Phantom Islands and Tristes Tropiques, so it was so surprise that Pekler recently announced New Environments & Rhythm Studies, which finds the artist “returning to the humid zones” of those previous records.
I vaguely recall some near misses seeing Groupshow (their trio with Hanno Leichtmann)—a gig at LPR in NY, maybe an edition of Mutek where I was out of town? I can’t say—but I’d never had the opportunity to see either Pekler or Jelinek live before, and it was a true pleasure to witness them together, in an intimate setting and on the excellent sound system of Public Records. Jelinek is of course best known for his beloved, era-defining class Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records (2001), but his catalogue and infuence are deep, with critically acclaimed work as a solo artist, collaborator, and curator of the Faitiche label. Jelinek performed with with an overhead camera projected behind him, so the audience could watch him fidget with digital recorders and a modular synthesizer, for whatever that offers. Actually, I think it’s somewhat demystifying, despite not actually offering much in the way of transparency. Better to listen. The complex rhythmic excursions Jelinek spent the evening juggling gradually unfurled into a recognizable Eartha Kitt sample. The reveal is important, if only to underscore how disconnected the source is from our experience of it. I picked up the faitiche edition no.2 tape on my way out, which includes a live recording of a Jan Jelinek concert for four loudspeakers, 20 July 2022, where he does the same trick but with a song by The Carpenters. I also grabbed the LOVE/HATE 7” with Roméo Poirier and The Exposures [aka Jan Jelinek], which I’ll write about in an upcoming installment of OUT OF THE BOX.
As part of my “day” job as a course lecturer at SUNY Purchase, I organized public artist talks with Joseph Morris and Lucia Hierro. Those events kept me busy, in addition for preparing for my own set on Saturday. I had hoped to catch one of Jad Atoui’s shows as part of his week curating The Stone, but I couldn’t fit it in. So let me recommend again Modern Individual, Atoui’s 2024 record with Jawad Nawfal & Sharif Sehnaoui.
When I’m home in New York, I always stop by MoMA PS1, and I planned this visit to catch Selma Selman’s performance in the courtyard. Thanks to Molly for the invite! This performance is part of the museum’s show The Gatherers, on display until October, in which fourteen international artists reflect on rummaging, assemblage, and waste. There’s so much about the show that I enjoyed, and I recommend you catch it if you can. But for brevity’s sake, Selman’s contribution to the show includes a gold nail half-hammered into the gallery wall. The artist developed a technique of extracting gold from computer motherboards, referencing the often toxic work done by her Romani community in Bosnia. For her performance—which included the artist in black sunglasses, and matching leather dress and trench coat— Selman and two assistants violently smashed their way through a pile of hundreds of identical computers to extract their motherboards, to eventually produce another golden nail. The addition of electronic beats and textures from the side of the stage was hardly necessary. Did we really need more than the sound of hatchets tearing through circuitboards?
What a way to get amped up before my own performance later that evening! We rushed from PS1 to Wavefield in Brooklyn for transmutations ii, a show I co-presented along with my friend Michelle at Koncepshun. I organized transmutations i in Montreal for my 40th birthday in 2024, and so this was another stealth birthday celebration where I got to play with friends and artists I wanted see, which this year included Amanda Gutiérrez, Cory Bracken aka REAL ADULT, and Midi Neutron. Special thanks to Hunter (Cable Visions) for the live visuals! We had a great time, despite the rain. I be presenting two related compositions I’m tentatively calling “رمل | Las Ramblas,” comprised recordings I made during my residency at Centro Negra in Blanca (Murcia), Spain. Hopefully it will become an annual tradition.
Cory and I met in front of Club Crannell in Poughkeepsie circa fall 2001, at a time when he was drumming in a grindcore band and I was playing bass and guitar in various go-nowhere local metal and hardcore groups. That is just to say that a theme of nostalgia permeated so much of this trip, more so than an average trip home, as Sunday featured a double feature of high school throwbacks, a true hardcore double feature. Now that it’s over, it’s probably the closest thing I’ll have to a high school reunion for quite some time. I first heard Saetia in 2001, my senior year in high school, when they released the A Retrospective CD compilation. I was into screamo by then and had heard of them (and came to see Hot Cross many times in the coming years) but I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see Saetia live. I wasn’t able to make the reunion shows that have happened since 2022 but the stars aligned this week. It was amazing to see the band under any circumstances, and honestly Billy sounds better than ever. Check out their new EP Tendrils.
That said, I was at least as excited to see On the Might of Princes, a band I’ve seen many times. I even almost booked them once (I think it fell through but I’ve got a flyer somewhere with their name on it and since we didn’t have cameras in our pockets back then the details of what happened may be lost to time). Their 2001 CD Where You Are And Where You Want To Be was a favorite of mine, and I was bummed when they broke up shortly after the release of Sirens, their 2003 swan song for Revelation. Through my friend Vadim Taver, I later came to know drummer Chris Enriquez a bit, and would often see him play in various other bands, or booking shows around the city. OTMOP did a few reunion shows that I caught over the years, but after singer and guitarist Jason Rosenthal died in 2013 it seemed like that was the end. They reunited unexpectedly in late 2023 to coincide with the release of the documentary Hold on to a Time, with fellow Long Islander Rachel Rubino taking on vocals. I knew Rachel as a member of bands including Bridge & Tunnel, Regarding I, and Con Amore, but was still unprepared for what a perfect fit she turned out to be. I wasn’t able to make it home for those shows, so as much as I loved seeing Saetia, being in a room full of old punks and young kids screaming along to those old songs was incredible cathartic. Some true channeling happened, and it was especially beautiful to have all us, older and greyer, alongside so many young listeners who weren’t even born yet back then. I mean, literal children on stage singing all the words! Really beautiful stuff. Look at me, being unapologetically sentimental! Thanks to all the bands and everyone who made this happen.
"Where you are and where you want to be!"
These really are mostly teenage memories for me. By the end of college, I’d stopped playing in rock bands and generally drifted away from the scene, embracing instrumental music, hip hop and electronic music, partly in a bid to escape the suburban incestuousness of it all. But I find myself periodically in need of a dose of nostalgia. Did I mention the OTMOP/Saetia show was a matinee? We could see the sun shining obscenely through the Bowery Ballroom’s arched window. I recalled the old hardcore matinees at CBs as my brother and friend and I rushed to the subway to head over to the Brooklyn Paramount for part two of our hardcore double header, featuring Poison the Well, Glassjaw, and Better Lovers (ex Every Time I Die and Dillinger Escape Plan).
This one was special for a different reason. Back in the day, I saw PTW and GJ (and ETID and DEP) many times. Opposite of December was the soundtrack to my high school years. At one point the opening seven seconds of “Nerdy” was my morning alarm. And actually, Jeff dated a friend of mine and we had the typical post hardcore show ritual of eating in large groups in the local diner. But I haven’t seen PTW since they reunited, and it was such a pleasure to see my old friend Vadim Taver (of the great bands This Day Forward and Marigold) playing guitar as a member of PTW and especially in a sold out show of this magnitude! Can’t wait to hear the new music those guys are cooking up. I also ran into a bunch of old friends that night, reminding me of how tight that community was (and apparently still is). My throat and my body were sore for days afterwords, it was certainly the first time I’d been in the pit in more than a decade! After that week, my heart was feeling recharged.
And if all that wasn’t enough, I found time to squeeze in one last show before leaving town, Tim Hecker’s first of five shows in New York, taking me back to Public Records. Since moving to Montreal in 2009, I’ve had the opportunity to see Tim play many times in a great variety of rooms and systems. Most recently I saw him in 2023 on the No Highs tour in Minneapolis and again in Montreal for Mutek. I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity to see him play in such an intimate setting again, probably the smallest room I’ve seen him in since the Ravedeath release at Sala Rossa in 2011. And for what it’s worth, the room at Public Records sounds a heck of a lot better (no shade to Sala!).
Anyway, always good to be home, and to be able to catch so much amazing art and music and see so many friends old and and new. Now with that, enough from me. Let’s get into it.
Jeremy Young presents “With all our knowable ills, in airs thickened by electricity, we reset our chessboards.” [mix]
We’ve been fans of Jeremy Young’s work, as a solo artist and band member, for as long as we’ve been doing this blog; we reviewed a Sontag Shogun split and a solo szilárd record way back in 2012, and before that we were writing about (the) slowest runner (in all the world) at The Site Before. When Jeremy released Filaments on Eliane Tapes in 2020, we invited him to put together this mix, which was followed shortly after by his excellent solo record, Amaro. We’ve been loving his new record, Cablcar (read our review), and so it seemed like the right time to welcome Jeremy back for another mix, which, like the record, incorporates various voices alongside textural studies and concrète experimentation. We’re honored to share with you “With all our knowable ills, in airs thickened by electricity, we reset our chessboards.”
Have you got any upcoming shows or tour dates or anything else you’d like to plug?
Yes! Thanks for asking, I’m on the road a lot in the coming months. Here’s a few of those dates 🙂
5.08 — Zagreb, Croatia @ Suputnici
5.09 — Belgrade, Serbia @ Kvaka22
5.11 — Novi Sad, Serbia @ Kulturni Centar Lab
5.15 — Rijeka, Croatia @ Filodrammatica Gallery7.12 — Guelph, Ontario @ Silence
7.16 — Paw Paw, Michigan @ The Lucky Wolf
7.17 — Lafayette, Indiana @ The Spot
7.18 — Indianapolis, Indiana @ State Street Pub
7.19 — Rock Island, Illinois @ Rozz Tox (Outlet Series)
7.20 — Iowa City, Iowa @ Trumpet Blossom Café (Ox Cart New Music Series)
7.24 — Minneapolis, Minnesota @ Center for Performing Arts (Crow With No Mouth Series)
7.25 — Madison, Wisconsin @ Common Sage Arts
Read more, including full interview and tracklist, here.
A Frog Call Can Operate Like a Piano Chord: An Interview with Saapato
Saapato is a project by New York-based musician Brendan Principato, who is deeply interested in the aural connections of the natural world. His new album Decomposition: Fox on a Highway was released last month and includes collaborations with KMRU, Ben Seratan, Laraaji and more. This email interview was edited collaboratively by both the interviewer and the artist. You can find the result below.
David Murrieta Flores (A Closer Listen): Hi Brendan, could you please tell us a bit about Saapato as a project, for readers unfamiliar with your work?
Saapato (S): Hey David, thanks so much for having me—really appreciate it. I’ve been a fan of yours for a while.
Saapato started around 2017, originally as a way to help me deal with insomnia. I’ve always carried a field recorder with me, and back then I’d run those recordings through a pedal-board, layering sound and building textures until I felt calm enough to fall asleep. Those early “sleep sketches” eventually became the first Saapato album. Since then the project has grown into something much more expansive and intentional but that’s where I began.
At its core, Saapato is my way of world-building with sound. Sometimes that means creating imagined environments—places that only exist in my head—and sometimes it means capturing real spaces and complementing them with electronic composition. For example, my album On Fire Island came out of a residency with the National Park Service, where I worked with natural recordings from the island’s environment.
Each record is a little different, but they’re all shaped by the natural world and my deep love of sitting and listening to the forests around my home.
ACL: Often, field recordings are used under a “realist collage” framework that connects a composition directly with something outside of it by sheer juxtaposition, but from Decomposition’s liner notes and your past albums, I get the sense that the framework here is more systems-driven. What is the role of field recordings in your work?
S: That really depends on the album. For albums like Spring at Home and On Fire Island, the field recordings are left in their natural state. There’s no processing whatsoever. They’re tied directly to place and time. With those records I wanted to let the natural environment speak for itself and shape the emotional tone of the music. The goal there was more about a complimentary atmosphere—connecting the listener to moments I experienced, and then building around that with more traditional compositional tools.
On the other hand, with albums like Decomposition: Fox on a Highway and Somewhere Else, the role of field recordings shifts entirely. There, I treat them more like instruments, bending and layering them into unfamiliar forms. I’m not trying to evoke a specific location—I’m building a world that never existed. That process is much more design-driven: in those cases, the recordings might still begin with real-world sounds, but they’re processed and layered to behave in unexpected ways. I’m more interested in creating systems where sound elements interact dynamically, forming a kind of fictional landscape that suggests its own internal logic. The resulting spaces feel organic, but they aren’t realistic—they’re imagined environments built from familiar sonic material. This obviously ranges from gentle modulation to extreme processing and treatment, based on what I feel the piece calls for.
So I guess the difference is: on some albums, the recordings anchor the music in a real world while on others, they unmoor it. But in both cases, I’m using field recordings to explore how we relate to place—whether fabricated or not.
Ukrainian Field Notes XLIII
Over the past three years we have covered many genres, with Ukrainian Field Notes often looking more like Mixmag than ACL. With the current episode we stray into KERRANG! territory, so maybe this should have been called Ukrainian Field (Metal) Notes.
But before we venture into the largely uncharted (for ACL) waters of grindcore and extreme metal we return to Crimea with Aziza Eskander and pop over to Dnipro to talk to Toucan Pelican, fresh from his debut album Toucan.
Following from there we discuss nationalism with Mikyola Jack from White Ward, and V.E.L. a one man metal act from Odesa while Ezkaton pays tribute to his own brother and to a fellow musician who both died on the front line with Frontcore knocking on Hell’s Gate.
Back on “safer ground,” we chat to Pøgulyay about making music with instruments created from military ammunition, we hear how Hillmer learnt to produce with GarageBand on his phone in Mariupol together with Valmaid and Moon Projection reveals his multiple aliases.
Over at the frontline city of Sumy we chat to Bondeni about the local scene, – this only a few days before a ballistic missile killed dozens on Palm Sunday in the city centre including Olena Kohut, a soloist and organist of the Sumy Regional Philharmonic.
In the meantime, Schattenfall abandons the German language in favour of Ukrainian, in Dnipro Dada vs Evil understands music his own way and They Came From Visions don their twilight robes, while Act Now Records calls a gathering of friends, and Vyr Muk notices malfunctions in his general thinking process due to the constant shelling of Kharkiv.
Furthermore, Deepswarming Bloodmagik see mosh pits becoming less violent, while True Tough experience the exact opposite.
To round things off, Olha Marusyn learns a piano tune over the sound of waves, Anton Sominaryst likes to soften his tracks with a touch of opera and folk music and Death Pill talk about the making of their long distance sophomore album.
There’s no podcast this month, we’ll be back in May. In the New Releases section we find the latest from XCTLVR, 58918012, monodont, Oleksiy H / Sitka, Tsatiory, Human Margareeta, Shadow Unit, Brainhack Musicbox, and the fourth installment of the VA fundraisers Drones for Drones from Kyvpastrans.
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.
anthène ~ Frailty
To many, the notion of frailty will immediately evoke sorrow, suggesting something diminished, a back bent toward the drawing down of a life. But its richness of meaning can also unfurl as layers of quiet joy: the subtle triumph of a fragile flower in bloom, perhaps, or the tenderness of a caring hand outstretched. This latter sense of delicate beauty animates frailty, the latest from Toronto-based ambient composer Brad Deschamps’ work as anthène, issued in March by Brighton’s Home Normal label. It’s a contemplative and melancholy journey, of course, but there’s little here to suggest darkness or doom. Instead, the tone poems on frailty convey the kind of warmth and generosity that come from reflection and acceptance, profoundly peaceful and calming yet possessed of enough tactile vitality to keep the focused listener engaged throughout the album’s brief 36 minutes.
Christopher Hamilton ((o)) ~ Euthermia
Spring is taking its time. This sentiment underlines the fact that spring doesn’t just spring at the equinox, but spreads slowly from south to north, a few miles a day, like returning birds. The same principle applies to recovery, to relationships, and even to justice, which makes Euthermia a flexible metaphor. The Appalachian equinox is still the northern winter in all but word. Only now are the daffodils poking through the dirt, the dawn chorus expanding, the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom. One day the long-sleeved shirts are shed; that same night an unexpected frost. Christopher Hamilton ((0)) captures this feeling beautifully on Euthermia. At first not much seems to be happening; and then everything does. The opening “brumation” – which refers to the dormant period of reptiles, amphibians and let’s be honest, some humans – is a slow, undulating drone, its development as patient and subtle as the outline of growing buds against the winter sun. In the heart of winter, one sees, but doesn’t notice how poised these protuberances are to unfurl.
Joshua Bonnetta ~ The Pines
Poet Wendell Berry writes of having “the wisdom to survive, to stand like slow-growing trees on a ruined place, renewing it, enriching it.” On his four-disc set The Pines, Joshua Bonnetta finds a similar alchemy through sound. The long version of the album ~ if one can call this an album ~ is 8760 hours long. It is quite likely that only Bonnetta will ever listen to the whole thing, although the tree in Tioga County certainly heard everything. The microphone was placed ten feet up the trunk in upstate New York, sound cards periodically changed over the course of a year. Bonnetta then perused the recordings, looking for sonic events, culling the total down to an hour per season. The result is an active set of curated sounds, the “action scenes” parallel to those in a film or the noteworthy events that one records in a personal journal. …this reviewer returns once again to the hope of Wendell Berry’s “A Vision”: “Memory, native to this valley, will spread over it like a grove, and memory will grow into legend, legend into song, song into sacrament.” In the same way as patient humans discovered the patterns in whalesong, Bonnetta has found the song of the forest, preserved in arboreal time, and presented it to a larger audience. The Pines may be a slower sacrament than most, but it is no less holy. While the project captures time, it also opens a window to the eternal.
Lila Tirando a Violeta ~ Dream of Snakes
Kate Bush once sang, “let me sleep and dream of sheep.” In contrast, Uruguayan composer Lila Tirando a Violeta dreams of snakes. But in true gothic-industrial fashion, she welcomes the vision, connecting it with her ancestors while translating it into music that could only have been made in this century. It may also be the first album to blend ostriches and IDM, a testament of uniqueness. As demonstrated by the striking cover art, Dream of Snakes contains the sort of music that would fit well on a sci-fi soundtrack. This makes it all the more surprising that hidden in the nooks and crannies of the mix are field recordings of the Irish countryside, the artist’s current home. One of her strengths is the integration of disparate elements to form a whole. By making friends with danger, Lila Tirando a Violeta flips the script on ancient fears. The snake need not be an object of fear, but may instead be a totem of power. By channeling this power, the artist has claimed it for her own.
Manon McCoy & Alice Brookes ~ objects aligned out of time
We were immediately intrigued when we read the words “two wine glasses, a stack of paper and some dried peas.” These represent only a sampling of the objects aligned out of time that coalesce in the unique sonic universe of sound artist Manon McCoy and vocalist/composer Alice Brookes. The individual voices separate and peak, as if they have found value in their differences. Perhaps the point is not to fuse image and self, but to make peace with their distinct natures. The album, despite being the work of separate artists, offers a singular vision. Yet even if one were to remove all of the intentions and interpretations, one would still be left with a beautiful residue, honoring the “sirens” to which the artists refer, without the danger of crashing on the rocks.
Serge Bulat ~ Phonomundi: Selected Recordings of Heritage Sites and Traditions 2017-2024 Today is UNESCO’s World Heritage Day, and to mark the occasion, Serge Bulat is set to unveil a generous collection of recordings captured in twelve countries over the course of eight years. 49 recordings in all, the album still manages to be only the length of an average CD, which lends itself well to a non-stop listening experience. Some of these sites are protected, but not all. Bulat writes, “I’ve spent seven years chasing sounds that might not be here tomorrow – traditions, landscapes, and voices barely holding on against the tide of over-tourism and environmental collapse. Every sound in Phonomundi is a fight against time, against erasure, and indifference.” To listen is to travel around the globe while experiencing sounds of incredible value.
The Vernon Spring ~ Under a Familiar Sun
In the current climate, it’s refreshing to hear music that affirms the good things in life: family, community and social responsibility. The calming nature of Under a Familiar Sun is a reminder that many blessings still remain, and that they multiply when we reach out to help others in need. As 2025 already seems to be the most destabilizing year since the pandemic ~ in a splintering manner as opposed to “we’re all in this together” ~ we expect to hear even more reassuring music like this, as well as its angry counterpart. Sam Beste made his early reputation as the pianist for Amy Winehouse’s live shows; as The Vernon Spring, he’s found his own voice. The father of three, Bette dedicates the album to his family, emphasizing the gratitude he feels and extending it to others. There’s some jazzy soul in here, heard as early as the first track, along with the warmth of familial field recordings and a smattering of guest stars. …if one is concerned with the happiness and well-being of one’s own children, then it’s a short step to empathy for the happiness and well-being of other people’s children, wherever one lives and around the world. Should such empathy develop on a global scale, the world might experience the societal equivalent of a vernon spring.
William Tyler ~ Time Indefinite
An 1100-word description on Bandcamp doesn’t leave much to add about this sublime album, so we will try to say different things in more succinct fashion. Time Indefinite may be a guitar album, but it’s not just a guitar album; the sonic additions and idiosyncrasies make it something more. This is apparent from the very first note, a shuffling static drone that catches the listener off guard and shifts expectations into chaos. A ghostly song surfaces, as if beamed from the inside of the antique tape recorder William Tyler found in his grandfather’s office. Is this the sort of music his grandfather listened to, or is his grandfather singing to him right now? Only when the distortion calms to guitar and thunderstorm does one begin to sink into the serenity of the title, borne off in a sonic stream.
V/A ~ Fundraiser Compilation “24.2.25”
How does one even begin to comprehend a 5 hour, 40 minute, 68-track compilation? (There’s also a 3 hour, 48 minute mix.) A more pointed question to ask is “How does one even begin to comprehend a three-year invasion?” Ukraine is at a vital juncture, having lost much of its Western support due to a returning despot. The world’s attention is waning. Into this fray steps the ОЧІ label, which for the third year continues to raise funds for the cause; 57 artists in all responded to the call, most but not all artists from Ukraine, with proceeds benefiting those on the front lines. As we’ve learned through Gianmarco Del Re’s Ukrainian Field Notes series, the Ukrainian music scene has blossomed under fire, every release an expression of life in the presence of death. How can we begin to comprehend a compilation like this? We can’t; we can only wonder that it exists.
Various Artists ~ For LA, Vol. 3
The fires in L.A. are out for now, and the attention of the press has drifted away. But many of those affected continue to be in crisis: lost homes, lost income, lost loved ones, the daunting challenges of rebuilding or relocating. In addition, there are residual effects in air quality, plus chemicals that have soaked into the soil and water supply. Responders Hollie and Keith Kenniff continue to raise funds for We Are Moving the Needle and GiveDirectly, which offer frontline support to those in need. This third volume contains 23 tracks and raises the total to 88, with a fourth installment now a possibility as well. We always admire benefit compilations, which are often compiled, and in this case mastered, in a brief period of time. But there’s a huge difference with this project. As it has continued to grow, the For LA series has also transformed into an overview of the ambient genre, casting a wide net and gathering many glittering fish. Many of these artists seem to be turning in their very best work. The Kenniffs are part of this glow, as are all of the contributors to date, as well as everyone who has invested time and money into this project. The time, art and donations all speak to humanity’s best selves, extending the gift not only to LA, but to all who experience it.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
The cherry blossom micro-season is ending, giving way to the hydrangea season. In like manner, the early spring releases are already out, while colorful new blooms have taken their place. New announcements arrive daily, and new music is sprouting like green grass, bursting through the rain-soaked soil. We hope you’ll find your next favorite album right here!
The Child of a Creek/Fallen ~ we are lone swans floundering in a deep river of sudden magic (Shimmering Moods, 8 May)
Retina.it ~ Amabilis Insania (Stochastic Resonance, 8 May)
Afterlife & Moonseed ~ Hidden Deep (Subatomic, 9 May)
Arrowounds ~ The Loneliness of the Hollow Earth Explorer Vol. 1 (Lost Tribe Sound, 9 May)
Ben Chatwin ~ KLASIS (Videos Disinter, 9 May)
The Blackstar Experience ~ Maximum Sunlight (Low Versions, 9 May)
Buildings and Food ~ Provincial Park (9 May)
Devin Sarno ~ Low Endings (Perceived Sound, 9 May)
Ināra Quartet ~ Diakron (Warm Winters Ltd., 9 May)
Jacobo Vega-Albela ~ Un-belonging (577 Records, 9 May)
Kara-Lis Coverdale ~ From Where You Came (Smalltown Supersound, 9 May)
Lars Fredrik Frøislie ~ Gamle Mester (Karisma, 9 May)
Luke Hess ~ Arkeo (DeepLabs, 9 May)
Miriam ~ Sing a Beast (DISSIPATIO, 9 May)
The Music Liberation Front Sweden ~ Peter Saville’s Wrapping Paper (Submarine Broadcasting Company, 9 May)
Octavia M Sheffer ~ Shivering; (Bezirk Tapes, 9 May)
Øystein Skar ~ Hem (Moderna, 9 May)
Shifting Heigo ~ To Model Phenomena (Benshi, 9 May)
SIGILLUM S ~ Aborted Towns, The Deadly Silence Before Utopia (Subsound, 9 May)
Surface Detail ~ Marea Nera (9 May)
Tamir Barzlay ~ Phosphene Journal (Colorfield, 9 May)
Trem 77 ~ Blacklight Sunset (9 May)
Uwalmassa ~ EP3 (Sundial, 9 May)
The Vernon Spring ~ Under a Familiar Sun (RVNG Intl., 9 May)
PiP & Ambroos De Schepper ~ Sans Loup (ZitStill, 11 May)
Adam Badí Donoval ~ a mirror where the image and the mirror wholly coincided (mappa, 13 May)
Rumpistol ~ Nebula (The Rust Music, 13 May)
LudoWic ~ HORIZONTAL FALL (Wic Recordings, 15 May)
The Pink Elephants ~ Mothers of the Sun (15 May)
Alex Paxton ~ Delicious (New Amsterdam, 16 May)
Beatrice Dillon / Hideki Umezawa ~ Basho / Still Forms (Portraits GRM, 16 May)
Charles Chen ~ Building Characters (Cellar Music, 16 May)
Concepción Huerta ~ El Sol de los Muertos (Umor Rex, 16 May)
David Handler ~ Life Like Violence (Cantaloupe Music, 16 May)
François J. Bonnet / Sarah Davachi ~ Banshee / Basse Brevis (Portraits GRM, 16 May)
Grails ~ Miracle Music (Temporary Residence Ltd., 16 May)
J.G.G. ~ BOMBOLLA (unjenesaisquoi, 16 May)
Jake Henry ~ Feelings (Amalgam, 16 May)
Makeshift Spirituals ~ Volume 1 (577 Records, 16 May)
Masahiko Satoh & Giotis Damianidis ~ Thousand Leaves (Trost, 16 May)
Michelle Helene Mackenzie & Stefan Maier/Olivia Block ~ Orchid Mantis / Breach (Portraits GRM, 16 May)
Rolando René ~ Pra’ (Prata Veituriorum) (Torto Editions, 16 May)
Taz Modi ~ Involuntary Memories (Kartel Music Group, 16 May)
Zoo Too Trio ~ Poetry Legroom (Shifting Paradigm, 16 May)
Ali Balighi ~ Zone 19: An Algorithmic Journey Through the 19-EDO Soundscape (Post Orientalism Music, 17 May)
Midi Neutron ~ whosgonnafeedyou likeThis (18 May)
Michael Begg ~ WITNESS. Ambient Chamber Works 2020-2024 (Omnempathy, 18 May)
Daniel James Burke ~ Twilight Furniture – just a moment (20 May)
Furtherset ~ Wounds of Melody (Kohlhaas, 20 May)
Amuleto Apotropaico ~ S/T (Perf, 23 May)
Angel Snake / Monopoly Child Star Searchers ~ Snakinist Sand Form (Discrepant, 23 May)
AVA RABIAT ~ Elektro Erotyk (FUU, 23 May)
Ayman Fanous and Joe Morris ~ Zuhour (Infrequent Seams, 23 May)
Carla Boregas & Anelena Toku ~ Fronte Violeta (Other People, 23 May)
Casanora ~ The Year of the Jellyfish (Infinite Machine, 23 May)
Christian Winther, Anja Lauvdal, Espen Reinertsen ~ Night As Day Day As Night (Sofa Music, 23 May)
Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Adam Rudolph ~ Beingness (Meta, 23 May)
David Cordero ~ Los recuerdos dormidos (Noray, 23 May)
David Van Tieghem ~ Even As We Speak: The Music of David Van Tieghem (Phantom Limb, 23 May)
emptyset ~ Dissever (Thrill Jockey, 23 May)
Eva Novoa ~ Novoa / Kamaguchi / Cleaver Trio – Vol. 2 (577 Records, 23 May)
Herzog Muche Nillesen ~ anasýnthesi (thanatosis, 23 May)
Johannes Malfatti ~ Fragments (LINE, 23 May)
Joke Lanz ~ Zungsang (23 May)
Jonathon Crompton ~ Cantata No. 1: An Island Seen and Felt (23 May)
Ludwig Berger & Vadret Morteratsch ~ crying glacier (forms of minutiae, 23 May)
Maria Gajraj ~ exhale. (people | places | records, 23 May)
Mike Lazarev ~ Tarnished Signals and Saturated Signals (Dronarivm, 23 May)
Novoa / Kamaguchi / Cleaver Trio ~ Vol. 2 (577 Records, 23 May)
peachlyfe ~ Medusa’s Revenge (PEACCH, 23 May)
Quelza ~ Pensa Poetico (Dekmantel, 23 May)
Tatsuya Yoshida and Martín Escalante ~ The Sound of Raspberry (Wash & Wear, 23 May)
Ilia Belorukov ~ NRD DRM TWO 2022-2024 (Cronica, 27 May)
Sage Martens ~ Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers (Edições CN, 27 May)
SARCOMA ~ KAAMOS (She/Her, 29 May)
Abul Mogard ~ Quiet Places (Soft Echoes, 30 May)
Bella Wakame ~ S/T (Umor Rex, 30 May)
CEE ~ Primary Forest 03 (30 May)
Christina Giannone ~ The Opal Amulet (Room40, 30 May)
Dickson and Familiar ~ All the Light of our Sphere (30 May)
Efrén López, Ciro Montanari & Jordi Prats ~ MEL (Worlds Within Worlds, 30 May)
Fredrik Rasten with Asterales ~ Fuse Modulations (thanatosis, 30 May)
Hari Maia ~ The Endless Hum (Room40, 30 May)
Heather Stebbins ~ On Separation (Outside Time, 30 May)
Laura Cannell ~ LYRELYRELYRE (Brawl, 30 May)
Leonidas & Hobbes ~ Together (Hobbes Music, 30 May)
Maurice Louca ~ Barĩy (Fera) (Simsara, 30 May)
People Like Us ~ Copia (Discrepant, 30 May)
Robert Humber ~ Threnody for Rocking Chair (people | places | records, 30 May)
Samir Böhringer Sazzerac ~ Olympia (577 Records, 30 May)
Swansither ~ Ransack (Subexotic, 30 May)
Various Artists ~ Only Sounds That Tremble Through Us (Bilna’es, 30 May)
Goldmund ~ Layers of Afternoon (Western Vinyl, 2 June)
Santa Cecilia & Semionauta ~ Transcendence Artificiali: Act I (Strange Therapy, 3 June)
Stilluppsteypa ~ Schokolino Choco Loco (Futura Resistenza, 3 June)
36 & zake ~ Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel III (Past Inside the Present, 3 June)
enabler-x ~ Lights in the Sky (4 June)
Elizabeth Klinck ~ Chronotopia (Hallow Ground, 6 June)
Exploding Skull ~ Coyote (Bad Channels, 6 June)
GPS ~ Directions + Destinations (577 Records, 6 June)
IDTIL ~ A Screensaver of Emotions (Machine Records, 6 June)
Object Collection ~ Possible Thieves (6 June)
øjeRum ~ Til Vinden I Dine Øjne (Room40, 6 June)
Sequence of Events ~ The Art of Memory (Subject to Restrictions Discs, 6 June)
Wampís of Guayabal & Aboutface ~ Los Bosquesinos (6 June)
zakè | Spieth | Guentner ~ Arcadia (Affin, 6 June)
Nobuka ~ Monologue Intérieur (Audiobulb, 7 June)
Aiko Takahashi ~ The Grass Harp (LAAPS, 9 June)
Salomé Voegelin ~ Cassette Album (Flaming Pines, 9 June)
Anthony Joseph Lanman ~ Hommages (10 June)
Cyrus Pireh ~ Thank You, Guitar (Palilalia, 13 June)
Fredrik Rasten ~ Murmuration and Stasis (Moving Furniture, 13 June)
Giovanni Di Domenico & Rutger Zuydervelt ~ Painting a Picture / Picture a Painting (Moving Furniture, 13 June)
Good Weather for an Airstrike ~ suspended animation (Echoes Blue Music, 13 June)
Juri Seo, Latitude 49 ~ Obsolete Music (New Amsterdam, 13 June)
Lagoss & Abagwagya ~ Island Slang (Discrepant, 13 June)
Lyra Pramuk ~ Hymnal (7K!, 13 June)
Wallace, Vazquez, Von Schultz ~ Siesta (577 Records, 13 June)
Thamel & Jean D.L. ~ Temporary End (14 June)
Verloren Schatten ~ S/T (Omnempathy, 16 June)
Various Artists ~ TERRAFORM – I Knud Viktors Lydspor (Edições CN, 17 June)
Chad Kouri ~ Mixed (20 June)
Eduardo Ella ~ Desvíos (577 Records, 20 June)
Elskavon ~ Panoramas (Western Vinyl, 20 June)
Hampus Lindwall ~ Brace for Impact (Ideologic Organ, 20 June)
Julien Mier ~ Gradually (Lapsus, 20 June)
Matmos ~ Metallic Life Review (Thrill Jockey, 20 June)
Sally Anne Morgan ~ Second Circle the Horizon (Thrill Jockey, 20 June)
Susana López ~ Materia Vibrante (Elevator Bath, 20 June)
Vanessa Tomlinson ~ The Edge is a Place (Room40, 20 June)
ZÖJ ~ Give Water to Birds (Parenthèses, 20 June)
Sveið ~ Latest Imprints (577 Records, 26 June)
Canzonieri ~ All Creature (Kuboraum Editions, 27 June)
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha ~ Surface Disorder (Perf, 27 June)
Nev Lilit ~ Hyperit (Moloton, 27 June)
Tropos ~ Switches (endectomorph music, 27 June)
Zimoun ~ Harmonium I-IV (Room40, 27 June)
Rival Consoles ~ Landscape from Memory (Erased Tapes, 4 July)
Traverse ~ It’s Broken (Somewherecold, 4 July)
V/A ~ Perceptions Vol. 6 (Bigo & Twigetti, 4 July)
Aho Ssan & Resina ~ Ego Death (Subtext, 11 July)
Reid Willis ~ Reliquary (Mesh, 11 July)
Siavash Amini ~ Caligo (Room40, 11 July)
Yearns ~ Fata Morgana (Room40, 11 July)
Norman Westberg ~ Milan (Room40, 18 July)