A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #88
Theo Parrish mix, RIP Bill Exley, and much new music
Dear Listeners, Joseph back again for a quick fortnightly regular newsletter. As usual, I’m stressing various deadlines as the fall semester rapidly approaches, so I’ll keep this prelude as brief as I can manage.
The site is on vacation this week, and by the next regular newsletter, I’ll be back to teaching, so I’m using this edition to catch up on some loose ends. This selection from our reviews brings us up to date, and I do expect my long overdue reviews and interviews to see the publication before September. I made a serious dent in my “Mini-Reviews” list with recent installments, but to get even more out there, this installment includes simply ten bandcamp links, something I’ll be calling “Recommendations” in the future. I’ll save the more labor intensive Mini-Reviews as a quarterly feature.
I’m of mixed opinion when it comes to Resident Advisor (as I’ve alluded to in the past, I think there’s a deep tension in being a for-profit music “journalism” company that makes money off ticket sales) but I’ve got to link to RA.1000 Theo Parrish. I’ve been a huge fan of Parrish, as DJ and producer, for many years, after catching an all-vinyl DJ set he did at Mutek in Montreal at 2010. I was mostly been writing about post-rock / ambient / IDM / jazz back then, and was still still pretty new to learning about electronic dance music, getting into minimal techno through Vladislav Delay, Basic Channel, and so on, so Parrish’s influence, particularly his Ugly Edits, was really formative for me. Check out this classic mix from Parrish here.
Speaking of mixes, my bi-weekly internet radio show for CAMP this week features Ten MORE Tracks That Sound Like Summer as well as Ten from Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires. Listen on CAMP this Sunday at 6pm CET, and available on their Mixcloud soon after.
RIP Bill Exley (1939 – 2025)
Lastly, I want to mention the passing of Nihilist Spasm Band (NSB) vocalist Bill Exley, who died on 15 July. NSB is a noise group founded in London, Ontario in 1965, and while they have their fans in the know, and have been an important influence on various international experimental music scenes, it seems to me—as an immigrant to Canada—that they never quite reached the heights of renown as peer groups in the US, UK, or Germany. By the late 1970s, it was somewhat common to find non-musicians playing music and making tapes, but in 1965 it was very unusual. Eschewing any desire to actually learn to play traditional instruments, the group began with kazoos and expanded into modified devices and homemade noise makers.
The five core members, several of whom are visual artists, have stayed consistent for sixty years—John Boyle, John Clement, Bill Exley, Murray Favro, Hugh McIntyre, and Art Pratten. Founding drummer Greg Curnoe was killed by a truck while cycling in 1992, while founding bassist Hugh McIntyre died in 2004 and multi-instrumentalist Artie Leitch retired. Despite their relative obscurity, like many other groups they benefited from renewed interest during the networked historiography of the MP3 blog era, with international performances increasing as a result.
The Wire counters that “for all The NSB's reputation as one of the key 'lost' experimental groups, they have ever been quite as marginalised as most histories maintain.” The NSB released over a dozen albums, but the group is really meant to be experienced live, something that can’t be captured on record. Various guests and additional musicians have contributed to their weekly Monday night sessions over the decades, and their international performances have included fellow-travelers Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke, Aube, Alan Licht, Ken Vandermark, Voice Crack, and Michael Snow. Exley has been described as the group’s “vocalist,” what the Wire describes as his "occasionally madcap and sometimes overly Beat-influenced rants," and his distinct contributions were a crucial part of the NSP, granting some cohesions and unity, though it is important to note that the group has no leaders.
A feature in the Wire magazine #292 (June 2008), describes the group as “as much a fight club as the first family of noise,” and claims that after decades of playing their homemade instruments the band “agrees on hardly anything except that they’ve learnt nothing about making music.” For someone who cut their teeth in the DIY punk scene, this attitude is exactly what attracted me to noise in the first place. Indeed, NSB were included in the famous the Nurse With Wound list, and Steven Stapleton would go on to release their 1985 album 7x~x=x on his United Dairies label. An additional important take away from that Wire feature is that “Exley's vocal interjections are the only aspect of the NSB sound to be worked out beforehand.”
The Museum of London remembers Exley:
More than a teacher, performer, or cultural contributor, Bill Exley was force of creativity, intellect, and inspiration whose legacy continues to echo across generations.
As head of the English Department at Elmira District Secondary School in Southwestern Ontario for over 30 years, he shaped such young minds as bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell and New York Times media editor Bruce Headlam.
Bill’s voice—both literal and metaphorical—continues to resonate.
You can also listen to a 2019 oral history with Exley here.
And here’s a free download for you:
Recommendations
Cymarshall Law & Slimline Mutha ~ The Peaceful Warrior 2: Raw Self Expression
Fat Ray and Black Milk ~ The Set Up
Sofie Birch & Antonina Nowacka ~ Hiraeth
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.
Almost an Island ~ Almost an Island
We don’t often start in the middle of an album, but on these long, hot summer days, with heat waves on both sides of the pond, “In Light Of” is a panacea. The LP contains very few words, so when twin voices gently urge the listener to “slow it down,” one imagines the hand signal: palm down, pressing on air. The larger phrase: “slow it down in light of it all.” In the current climate, meteorological and sociological, the advice could not be more timely.
How might one arrive at this place that is Almost An Island, characterized by calm? The bread crumbs are laid out by the multi-faceted Kenneth James Gibson and the husband-and-wife duo James and Cynthia Bernard (also known as awakened souls, and Cynthia as marine eyes). The first step is centering, which one may accomplish by simply being still. In the opening track, gorgeous waves of synth wash over the listener without crashing, while Cynthia sings a wordless blessing. In the cover image, a benign presence watches over bucolic hills.
The album peaks in “In Light Of,” then walks slowly back down the mountain, transformed. There is time to think about all that has transpired, to reflect on the journey, to process the minute shift in consciousness that may have a momentous effect. In the finale, the synths sound like strings and offer a soft serenade. We have rested long enough to know that we need not rush back into the world. What we have gained may be intangible, but it holds infinite worth.
Glinca ~ Tament
Tament is a personal translation, an audio diary of sounds created and heard. Glinca calls it “the audio of the everyday.” The timbre is warm and welcoming: the tenderness of thumb piano, music box and chime set against the click-clack of rail lines and the blur of unfocused conversation. One walks through this life as if it is a dream, or as the cover photo suggests, the memory of a life. On “Swoq,” one hears what seems to be a modified clock. The gorgeous Fluid Audio packet includes survey maps, slides, prints and photos, travel tickets and reel-to-reel snippets. The combination of material objects and collected sounds creates a hazy glow, suggesting that the pleasant feelings of the past can be recreated, or at least re-experienced, in the present.
Glinca highlights the value of everyday sounds that form a sonic fabric: “These are the sounds that often fade into the background, yet they form the soundtrack of my existence.” Highlighting “the sounds that normally slip past us,” the artist invites his listeners to appreciate their own audio environments, however humble: not just the waterfall, but the sink, not only the words of a conversation, but the simple beauty of a human voice. The meditative chimes of the closing piece suggest a holy space in which the everyday becomes the divine.
Loula Yorke ~ Time is a Succession of Such Shapes
Time is a Succession of Such Shapes, declares Loula Yorke. But what shapes? The answers can be found within this double disc, which includes a hard copy of June’s exquisite The Book of Commonplace mixtape. Through her yearlong project of monthly releases, Yorke has been proposing that life itself is a mixtape, and we have the ability to capture its sounds and to share them with others. No matter how common or mundane these sounds may be – for example, the advertisment that follows the cassette click of the album’s opening seconds – they form a sonic fabric in to which we are woven. Whether flitting between TV stations or outdoor locales, we are entering different biophonies and anthropophonies. Yorke dances to them, and embeds them in ambient frames. The discs deserve to be heard in tandem, as they approach from different angles. The first disc plucks moments from the sea of time; the second throws them back in and allows them to flow. Either way, the message is the same: there is wonder in the commonplace.
Nao Kuroda ~ Stillness (Zen Gardens in Summertime)
Nao Kuroda‘s debut EP is a reminder of the soft spaces to which one might retreat to find restoration and rest. Stillness is a series of vignettes, separated by silent intervals, which allows each vignette to act as a koan. Recorded at “the stone gardens (karesansui) of the temples Taizō-in, Tōfukuji, Ginkakuji, Ryōanji, Konchi-in, Ryōgen-in, and Myōshinji” in Kyoto, the recordings skip like a stone from garden to garden, bequeathing a different lesson or feeling at each. How long does it take to find Zen? Can one be moving, yet still? If one cannot get to a Zen garden, can one plant one in one’s own soul? The answers are hidden in the raindrops, the laughter and the silences in-between.
Orkestrafria ~ Erosion/Disappearance
The Erosion/Disappearance EP tells a true life tale in abbreviated form, tracing the slow disappearance of land in Atafona on the north coast of Rio de Janeiro. Over the last sixty years, 500 buildings and 14 blocks of the town have been submerged, and the process has accelerated over time. Through field recording and processing, Orkestrafria (Eduardo Bichinho) brings the town to life, even as it sinks. Once the LORD proclaimed, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt” (Job 38:11). Humankind altered this sacred pact, first insisting that fossil fuels and deforestation would make no difference, then ignoring and finally denying climate change. The wreckage of Atafona is only one of many. Using hydrophones, Bichinho captures the sound of a drowned town; “Submersion” is a grand drone, a disaster of our own making, another warning that may never be heeded. As politicians argue and the residents of Rio continue to retreat, the water crawls ever higher: impassive, relentless, unrestrained.
Summer Fades Away ~ Endless
Changsha, China post-rockers Summer Fades Away released their first album in 2011 and their second in 2012, with an expansive sound that was often compared to that of MONO. But just as the quintet seemed ready to explode to the next level, they disappeared. Thirteen years later they have returned, having gained wisdom and experience while not missing a musical beat. Fittingly, their comeback album is titled Endless. …the album builds to “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day,” inspired by Shakespeare, sporting a similar tone, but with different spoken words. The relevant line of Sonnet 18: “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” (italics added); with deference to their name, Summer Fades Away seems to lean toward the Endless, as their closing words are “Thank you for walking with me all this time, Up this long slope, I’ll walk it again, And again,” which is incredibly romantic, or tragic, or both, depending on how one receives it. The music suggests surrender, acceptance, and finally, peace. Summer may fade away, but the memories remain.
Wil Bolton ~ Rusted in the Salt Air / Yui Onodera ~ Kiso Three Rivers
For those enjoying or enduring summer heat, lazing near a body of water might be a perfect relief. If you can’t get to the water, music can transport it to you. On their new records, two maestros capture the atmosphere of the coastline and the riverside. As we enjoy the blissful sounds, they weave in the stories and histories of specific places. The locations are not passive backdrops for leisure time, but active participants in substantial narratives. Nuclear power and international collaboration inform our sojourn. Just as the landscape is cut across by water, our restful reflection borders on a world of industry and engineering. Both artists use field recordings as part of their toolkit, but not their main method of exposition. Synths and analogue instrumentation are used to express and complement the airy and aquatic settings.
Wil Bolton continues a streak of productivity, with four albums (that we are aware of!) in 2025 so far. Rusted in the Salt Air is named from a passage in W. G. Sebald’s fictionalised walking tour of Suffolk, The Rings of Saturn. The album integrates recordings and radio waves from the real East Anglia into an enthralling sonic journey at the shoreline of the listener’s mind. An interesting piece of trivia: Sebald’s journey was also retraced in Grant Gee’s film, Patience (After Sebald), with soundtrack by The Caretaker. It is hard to think of another novel that has prompted this much excellence in the ambient genre.
Given the quantity of work submitted to ACL, there are plenty of albums that amaze us but don’t receive a review. Recent records by Yui Onodera fall into this group. Too Ne (2022) and Mizuniwa (2023) are especially recommended for their richly detailed style of immersive, unbroken ambience. Kiso Three Rivers takes a different approach, more spacious and melodically dynamic. The bedrock is created with nebulous swathes of sound enriched by field recordings. Atop this, New Age seeds grow into organic micro-environments. Traditional instrumentation features, with the bamboo tubes of the sho and the cracked steel of the hamon. The album offers a softly beautiful sketch of the Kiso, Nagara, and Ibi rivers, which together define the Kiso Three Rivers national park.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
It’s hot, it’s humid, and hurricane season is on the way! In the meantime, we’re drinking in as much summer as possible: early mornings, long nights, summer drinks and respites in the shade. Soon we’ll have to return to work and school, but not yet. When we land safely on the shores of autumn, a wealth of great music will be awaiting; a sneak preview is below. We hope you find your next favorite album right here!
Francesca Marongiu ~ Still Forms in Air (Umor Rex, 14 August)
Toninato & Lecours ~ Homeostasis (14 August)
Aki Onda ~ In the Depth of Illusion: A Soundtrack for Nervous Magic Lantern (Room40, 15 August)
Encounters ~ Veil of Echoes (Over the Moon, 15 August)
Friendly Rich ~ The Birds of Marsville (We Are Busy Bodies, 15 August)
Galactic Sound Station ~ Music for the Mental Health of Astronauts (Volume 1) (15 August)
Jake Baldwin ~ Vanishing Point (Shifting Paradigm, 15 August)
Lingyuan Yang ~ Cursed Month (15 August)
The OO-Ray ~ Marginals (Beacon Sound, 15 August)
Peter Chilvers ~ Dust 4 (Curious Music, 15 August)
Steve Gunn ~ Music for Writers (Three Lobed Recordings, 15 August)
Adrian Lane ~ Where Once We Danced (Whitelabrecs, 16 August)
Conrosa ~ Held in the Unfolding (16 August)
JARR ~ Sun Swift Swoon (Whitelabrecs, 16 August)
Arilez Ramos ~ B Side (mappa, 21 August)
Hand to Earth ~ Ŋurru Wäŋa (Room40, 22 August)
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten ~ Drops (Sonic Transmissions, 22 August)
John Gallen ~ Improvisations 1 (Coastal Electronauts, 22 August)
Karl Evangelista’s Apura ~ Bukas (577 Records, 22 August)
Moses Brown ~ Stone Upon Stone (Post Present Medium, 22 August)
Peter J. Woods ~ Learning by Listening Vol. 9 (Strategic Tape Reserve, 1 August)
Richard Carr ~ The Escarpment (Infrequent Seams, 22 August)
Scree ~ August (Ruination Record Co., 22 August)
Zachary Good ~ Lake Heritage (Add Dye Editions, 22 August)
Murcof ~ Twin Color (Extended Play No. 2) (InFiné, 26 August)
V/A ~ Ping Volume One (Different Circles, 27 August)
Florian Stéphant ~ La sympathie des horloges (TONOT, 28 August)
offthesky ~ Nocturnes (LAAPS, 28 August)
Benny Nilsen ~ True than Nature (Ideologic Organ, 29 August)
Christian Wallumrod ~ Percolation (Sofa Music, 29 August)
C.R. Gillespe ~ Island of Women (sound as language, 29 August)
Dan Rosenboom ~ Coordinates (Orenda, 29 August)
Eliot Krimsky ~ I Made My House (Moon Glyph, 29 August)
Galya Bisengalieva ~ Polygon Reflections (One Little Independent, 29 August)
Mast Years ~ Mast Year (29 August)
The Peel ~ In the Ferns (Sun Cru, 29 August)
BBJr ~ The Antique Heartbeat (No Part of It, 1 September)
Daniel Gall ~ Exit Paradise (1 September)
Lorenz Weber ~ Coordinates of Existence (1 September)
David Lee Myers ~ Terrenus (Cronica, 2 September)
Jetski ~ The Radiant Radish (Hausu Mountain, 2 September)
Richard Hronský ~ Pohreb (mappa, 2 September)
Alessandro Bosetti ~ Carnaval 2 (three:four, 2 September)
Chip Wickham ~ The Eternal Now (Gondwana, 5 September)
Chris Cochran ~ unhinged (Gold Bolus, 5 September)
The Color of Cyan ~ As Human (5 September)
Emil Fris ~ Moving Images (FatCat, 5 September)
Etceteral ~ Kimatika (Glitterbeat, 5 September)
Eventless Plot | Savvas Metaxas | Spyros Emmanouilidis ~ Undertow (Innovo Editions, 5 September)
Flur ~ Plunge (Latency, 5 September)
Gwenifer Raymond ~ Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark (We Are Busy Bodies, 5 September)
Illustrious ~ Mesmerine 111 (Cold Spring, 5 September)
Kaukolampi ~ Synestopia Variations 1-4 (Öm-Sound, 5 September)
Lyndhurst ~ Tapes (5 September)
lynyn ~ Ixona (Sooper, 5 September)
Matthew Putman, Hill Greene, Francesco Mela ~ Believe That Was Me (577 Records, 5 September)
Matthew Ryals ~ Exalge (Infrequent Seams, 5 September)
Okkyung Lee ~ just like any other day (어느날): background music for your mundane activities (Shelter Press, 5 September)
Ørdop Wolkenscheidt ~ The Years of Rain and Thunder (5 September)
Secular Music Group ~ Volume 2 (Love All Day, 5 September)
Shrunken Elvis ~ Shrunken Elvis (Western Vinyl, 5 September)
Stephen Thelan & Markus Reuter ~ Rothko Spaces, Volume 4 (iapetus, 5 September)
Torpa ~ New Low (5 September)
Seth Thorn ~ a curious doubling of terms (Audiobulb, 6 September)
dj sniff ~ Turntable Solos (Discrepant, 7 September)
Rutger Zuydervelt ~ The Wonder of It All (music for a performance by Daniel Linehan/Hiatus) (9 September)
Ujif_notfound ~ Postulate (I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free, 9 September)
Jansen Interceptor ~ Interception (International Chrome, 11 September)
Arnold/Schwer ~ Terra Formica (12 September)
Dun-Dun Band ~ Pita Parka, Pt. II: Nim Egduf (We Are Busy Bodies, 12 September)
Emery Dobyns ~ Improvs (Hammock Music, 12 September)
Holly Palmer ~ Metamorphosis (Colourfield, 12 September)
Ida Urd & Ingri Høyland ~ Duvet (Balmat, 12 September)
Isambard Khroustaliov / Ben Carey ~ Field Recordings From Other Constellations (Not Applicable, 12 September)
Katharina Ernst ~ EXTRAMETRIC II (Extrametric, 12 September)
Kety Fusco ~ BOHÈME (A Tree in a Field, 12 September)
Lawrence English ~ WhiteOut (Room40, 12 September)
Mark Vernon ~ Memento Mori: Brussels (Flaming Pines, 12 September)
Matt Bachmann ~ Compost Karaoke (Orindal, 12 September)
Modeselektor ~ DJ-Kicks: Modeselektor (!K7, 12 September)
Oren Ambarchi & Frederik Rasten ~ Dragon’s Return (Viernulvier, 12 September)
Tomas Fujiwara ~ Dream Up (Out of Your Head, 12 September)
Venera ~ Exinfinite (PAN, 12 September)
Verses GT ~ Verses GT (LUCKYME®, 12 September)
The Dwarfs of East Agouza ~ Sasquatch Landslide (Constellation, 15 September)
SANAM ~ Sametou Sawtan (Constellation, 15 September)
Brunhilde Ferrari ~ Errant Ear (Persistence of Sound, 19 September)
Kieren Hebden & William Tyler ~ 41 Longfield Street (Temporary Residence Ltd., 19 September)
Oasis Boom ~ Cactus Dust (Dur & Doux, 19 September)
øjeRum ~ Drømme I Langsomt Stof (Glacial Movements, 19 September)
Patrick Shiroishi ~ Forgetting Is Violent (American Dreams, 19 September)
Rafiq Bhatia ~ Environments (Anti-, 19 September)
Weston Olenki ~ Broadsides (Outside Time, 19 September)
Danek Lipko ~ Eclipsoid (Somewherecold, 24 September)
Annette Vande Gorne ~ Tutti Frutti (Persistence of Sound, 26 September)
BABON ~ Tropical Desert (Wonderwheel, 26 September)
Bruno Duplant & Judith Wegmann ~ Univers Parallèles – Des Nuits Et Des Jours (Moving Furniture, 26 September)
Donny McCaslin ~ Lullaby for the Lost (Edition Records, 26 September)
Early Fern ~ Wetland Interiors (sound as language, 26 September)
Fani Konstantinidou ~ Undertones (Moving Furniture, 26 September)
Gideon Broshy ~ Nest (New Amsterdam, 26 September)
Grandbrothers ~ Elsewhere (_and_others, 26 September)
Hatis Noit ~ Aura Reworks (Erased Tapes, 26 September)
Heirloom ~ Familiar Beginning (Shifting Paradigm, 26 September)
M. Sage ~ Tender / Wading (RVNG Intl., 26 September)
Nastia Reigel ~ Identity (Infrastructure New York, 26 September)
Nobukazu Takemura ~ knot of meanings (Thrill Jockey, 26 September)
Pulse Emitter ~ Tide Pools (Hausu Mountain, 26 September)
Sam Prekop ~ Open Close (Thrill Jockey, 26 September)
Spyros Polychronopoulos & Yorgos Dimitriadis ~ Nearfield (Room40, 26 September)
SYBAX ~ TWIN (TC Prog, 26 September)
Call Super ~ A Rhythm Protects One (Dekmantel, 28 September)
Ben Horton ~ Flowers Made of Light (Wayside & Woodland, 29 September)
Blue Lake ~ The Animal (Tonal Union, 3 October)
DNA?AND? and Lampeknusekontoret ~ Hot, Hot, Hot (Den Pene Inngang, 3 October)
Eva Novoa ~ The Freedom Suite, Novoa/Carter/Mela Trio, Vol. 2 (577 Records, 3 October)
Iiris Viljanen ~ So much of you was sleeping (sing a song fighter, 3 October)
Lophae ~ Imagine More (3 October)
Marta Forsberg ~ Archeology of Intimacy (Warm Winters Ltd., 3 October)
Sergio Merce ~ Archipiélago (Room40, 3 October)
Širom ~ In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (Glitterbeat, 3 October)
The Corrupting Sea ~ Symphony of a Radical II (Somewherecold, 4 October)
Mateusz Kowal ~ T-Bop: Prologue (Lamour, 7 October)
Ellen Fullman and the Living Earth Show ~ Elemental View (Room40, 10 October)
Luca Formentini ~ I Am Ghosts (Curious Music, 10 October)
The Necks ~ Disquiet (Northern Spy, 10 October)
Richie Culver ~ I Trust Pain (Supernature, 10 October)
V/A ~ TD10 (Timedance, 10 October)
Melvin Gibbs ~ Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 1 (Hausu Mountain, 14 October)
Dylan Henner ~ Star Dream FM (Phantom Limb, 17 October)
Fatan Kanan ~ Diary of a Candle (Fire, 17 October)
John Harvey-Whyte & Paul Cousins ~ in a fugue state (None More, 17 October)
Orphax ~ Embraced Imperfections (17 October)
will sōderberg… ~ let the machines sing… [2] of desire to salvage (Machine Records, 17 October)
Yuhan Su ~ OVER the MOONs (endectomorph music, 17 October)
Zane Trow ~ Ibis (Room40, 17 October)
Alex Kozobolis ~ Assymetry (24 October)
Richie Culver ~ I Trust Pain (Supernature, 31 October)