A Closer Listen
This year’s spring slate of experimental music is so large that we’ve split it into two parts. Today’s post covers electro-acoustic and avant-garde works, while tomorrow’s will cover improvised and experimental jazz. There are some truly unique recordings on the docket, from multi-media excursions to theatrical dance scores, concept albums to box sets. The hidden bonus is a revival of distinctive packaging, which took a blow during the pandemic but is again in a period of healthy growth. We are even more excited than usual about the upcoming avalanche of sounds paired with sights; this is the season of sonic bloom!
Our cover image is taken from 9T Antiope’s Horror Vacui, previewed below!
With 24 tracks in 26 minutes, Traces only seems slight. The project also includes a book of collages, while the original installation provided the backdrop for a series of stop-motion film clips. The love child of Filax Staël, this project is out March 22 on REV Lab.
Concept album Horror Vacui is another triumph for 9T Antiope, as spooky as the cover, which seems more suited for Halloween than spring. Mandolin, electronics, vocals and more score a tale best told at night (American Dreams, April 12). The founder of Phantom Limb (and Yndi Halda member) James Vella returns as A Lily for an entirely new sort of project. Sara I-Qamar integrates archival recordings from Maltese to produce a dialogue between nations and generations (Phantom Limb, April 5).
Alëna Korolëva gives us the year’s first great field recording album (and trust us, we’ve been looking) in premonitions, which travels from field to sea, calm to storm, a single-track, immersive soundscape (Forms of Minutiae, March 20). Sounds are turned to texture, instrument and percussion on Encyclopedia Sónica Vol. 1: an ocean wave, a passing vehicle, a buzzing mosquito, ping-pong balls and more. These tracks expose the hidden musicality in daily life and they represent a collected triumph for renowned Mexican composer Leonardo Heiblum (Language of Sound, March 26). Pando Pando combines the strength of two percussionists and one electronic performer, leading to an exciting, expansive sound. Their self-titled album is named for a series of interconnected trees (Not Applicable, April 12).
Unchained‘s Gabba is a set of homemade meanderings made for “daydreaming introspection,” augmented by bass and percussion. We’d call it ambient if it weren’t so abstract (A Colorful Storm, March 21). On Affirmative Action, Zachary James Watkins experiments with reverberation and investigates how sound interacts with body and environment (Sige, March 29).
An “homage to slow movers and late bloomers,” Michelle Moeller‘s Late Morning is built on a bed of electronics that keeps shifting beneath one’s feet (AKP Recordings, April 5). Synth and tape experiments form the basis of the dragon is still alive, by now solo artist T’iju T’iju. The moniker means “grasshopper,” and the music often sounds like a feeding frenzy in a field of wheat (Esc.rec. & MOLK, March 28). Noise of Cologne 3 combines 73 one-minute compositions from a wide array of artists, the resurrection of a vital series whose last installment arrived over a decade ago (A-Musik, April 5).
Electric air pump allows FUJI||||||||||TA to investigate the sonic properties of the organ. On FUJI||||||||||TA – MMM, the tones are dronelike in their extension, with some Friday the 13th-esque vocal intrusions (Hallow Ground, April 18). Organ, Yamaha and subtle glitch is an unusual combination, one found on James Rushford‘s Turzets. The two side-long pieces are filled with sonic exploration (Blank Forms Editions, April 5).
Referencing “Creep,” Guests laments, “I wish I was special”. The album features angular, disjointed voice atop lofi atmospheres (World of Echo, April 5). “Voice, bleeps and boops” populate Nicolas Cueille‘s angular Curiositi, which sounds like something Emma Stone’s character from “Poor Things” might enjoy (unjenesaisquoi, April 12). Spoken, whispered and shouted word is the starting point for the self-titled album from SPECIO. The duo’s atmospheres are just as important, the combination disorienting (Prohibited, April 11). Ciro Vitiello‘s The Island of Bouncy Memories is fanciful and beguiling all at once, with unusual vocalizations reminiscent of a children’s book on tape (Haunter, April 12).
Nick Dunston‘s COLLA VOCE is “an Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera,” the first time we’ve seen those words in that combination. The results are suitably dramatic, bursting the boundaries of speakers and stage (Out of Your Head, April 28). The score to a contemporary dance piece, Áron Porteleki‘s hi-energy Smearing includes spoken word, screaming and a whole lot of drums and guitars, making it an experiment in avant garde metal (blindblindblind, March 23).
Ka Baird‘s Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos is deeply weird, sometimes purring and other times screaming, a visceral experience with over a dozen participants. The album is released March 22 on RVNG Intl. But as always in this section, YoshimiO gets the last word, because SAICOBAB‘s NRTYA is the season’s wildest, most raucous release. We can’t wait to hear what these intense vocalizations and international timbres sound like live! (Thrill Jockey, March 22).
Richard Allen
Tue Mar 05 00:01:00 GMT 2024