A Closer Listen
Mark your calendars: next Friday is not only the first big release date of fall, but it may end up being the biggest release date of the season. We are currently tracking nearly 100 instrumental and experimental EPs and albums with a release date of September 6, so many that we started reviewing them in August. Our week-long Fall Music Preview will add hundreds more, and these are only the ones announced by late summer! We’ve scoured the internet to bring you the widest array of upcoming releases we can find, hoping to get you as excited as we are about the changing of the seasons. Happy meteorological fall!
Our cover image is from Polaroid Notes’ Quiet Rooms, covered below and up for pre-order this Friday!
We begin with an equinox release from the Ceremony of Seasons imprint. This time, VISUALS Wine and the Ritual of Senses Wine Club has paired a botanical aperitif wine with a cassette from Farewell Phoenix, another artist from the surprisingly diverse Asheville music scene. The album shifts subtly between ambient and electronic, mirroring the gradual shift between seasons and the slow transition from green to brown. The Angels In These Fields is out September 22.
Masayoshi Fujita is a master of vibraphone and marimba, and continues to stretch his wings on Migratory. The album features two of the most unexpected guest appearances of the season, from Moor Mother and Hatis Noit, and each works perfectly. This is an album to play while the birds are flying overhead to their winter homes (Erased Tapes, September 6). Another artist reeling in the guest stars, Alaskan Tapes offers the elegant, seasons-spanning Something Ephemeral, with appearances from Moshimoss and Andrew Tasselmyer. There’s even t-shirts in ephemeral black or green (Nettwerk, September 20). Also on Nettwerk, Black Brunswicker returns with her specific take on bucolic ambience, filled with vocal and instrumental loops and informed by nature. Down at the Creek is the first single from Been Around Here Before, due September 27.
Ibukan Sunday‘s Harmony/Balance is one of fall’s more distinct offerings, incorporating West African ambience and Hindi philosophy. Interspersed throughout the recording, subtle Nigerian field recordings contribute a sense of place (Phantom Limb, September 20). Pietu Arvola injects Meidän täytyy valvoa jottemme nukkuisi, sillä maailma on liukas with field recordings taken from a Finnish forest; decorated with bells and electronics, the album resists the temptation to retreat into apathy. The lead single was released under the artist’s prior moniker of Bereen Ondo (Paa jotaki, September 9). Layers, loops and light gauze make John Davis‘ Landlines a smudged experience. Snippets of instrumentation expose the pointillist approach (Students of Decay, October 3). After finding an old high school piano cassette, William Basinski went to work re-contextualizing and reworking the tape. September 23rd is the first release in his Arcadia Archive series (Temporary Residence Ltd., September 23).
There’s always something new from Whitelabrecs, one of the most dependable and consistent labels around. September 21 sees the drop of two new albums. Swedish duo Henrik Meierkord and Knivtid brings a bit of modern composition to I ett annat land as they explore the wonders of travel. Polaroid Notes wrestles with tinnitus on Quiet Notes, hoping to achieve physical and aural calm. After years of suffering with increasing tinnitus, Michael Scott Dawson invited a host of collaborators to help him realize his latest vision. “The clicks, ringing tones, and hiss in his ears had been drowning out the ringing tones, clicks, and hiss in his studio.” On The Tinnitus Chorus, the sounds seem like friends (We Are Busy Bodies, September 6). Home Normal launches its fall slate tomorrow with Far Away Nebraska‘s peaceful Come partire in un giorno di primavera and will continue with Michael Santos‘ white noise-dominated Defocus on October 4.
Shimmering Moods has just announced its September bundle for albums being released September 27. The playlist below includes pieces from Stas Ostrikov‘s Psaltery, an investigation of a traditional instrument with a very cool cat on the cover (see right); Protest on the Mountain (remixes), including 21 remixes of a piece by Stefan Christoff & Aidan Girt, including contributions from KMRU, Jeremy Young, Jonas Bonnetta and our very own Joseph Sannicandro; the upbeat, positive-toned Atelier Silencio, from YDVST; Nosar‘s peaceful, rain-watching A Window With a View; and Strata-Gemma & MA Spaventi‘s Ristoranti Innovativi, the jazziest and most electronic of the pack, in which we can intuit some disco chill.
The Hardy Tree (Frances Castle) releases All the Hours, a gorgeous 20-minute piece that traces a day from dawn to dusk, as part of the Clay Pipe mini-CD series. Clay Pipe Music was our Label of the Year in 2023, and shows no sign of slowing down (September 6). zakè and Tyresta return with The Worlds We Leave Behind, a “spiritual sequel” to Drift, enhanced by undulating guitar and hints of choir (Past Inside the Present, September 10).
After a ten-hour heart procedure, Alex Henry Foster had to go months without speaking or singing. This excruciating yet life-saving setback is translated to a peaceful patina on A Measure of Shape and Sound. The compositional process acted as therapy, while the music soundtracks the goal of inner peace (September 20). Don’t be fooled by the abrasion of Klara Lewis‘s electronic preview track “Top.” The rest of Thankful is different: meditative, reverent, graced with ukulele and synth. A tribute to Editions Mego’s Peter Rehberg and his work as PITA, the album is a goodbye and a celebration (Editions Mego, September 27). Ukulele also appears on Build Buildings‘ Ecotone, along with processed lap harp, zither, mbira and clarinet. It’s the last summer-themed set from LAAPS before they turn their attention to fall. To be fair, it’s still astrological summer for the next three weeks (September 9)!
Using reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes, Mark Templeton produces sonic snapshots; but his photographic work produces physical snapshots, which he shares in his AV presentations. One encounters his visual art in the split screens of Closing/Scene, taken from Two Verses (Faitiche, September 27). Nexcyia travels back in time to recreate his family’s journey from Texas to L.A. in the 70s. With a title tip to Bob Marley, Exodus is rife with associations and drenched in nostalgia (Haunter, September 6). Nexcyia, mu tate (whose own album is covered below) and more appear on the compilation 29 Speedway:Ultra Body, a showcase for the label’s Brooklyn performance series (September 13).
Piano, organ, synth and dog snores populate broken things, which amelia courthouse calls “hymnambient.” A modern take on “Nearer, My God to Thee” emphasizes the point (SPINSTER, September 6). Are you ready for “recomposed revival hymns?” You may be after hearing Jill Fraser‘s Earthly Pleasures, recorded on fifty-year-old synthesizers (Drag City, September 27). Also on Drag City, Whitney Johnson (Matchess) blends organic and electronic instruments to “meditate on the duality of the human body.” Hav is released September 27 along with a new drone album under the Matchess name; a bundle is available.
Heartbeats from Mads Emil Nielsen + Chromocolor lands in the minimal department, a set of sine waves and pulses conceived as a radio soundtrack and available in the 10″ format (arbitrary, September 6). ARIGTO offers the OST to the video game Selfloss for Sony Playstation. Game and album will both be released on September 12. The release is intended to raise awareness for the Whale and Dolphin Association and to help protect our seas; the sounds of sea creatures can be heard throughout the score.
Mary Lattimore isn’t the only harpist around. London’s Marysia Osu makes her debut on harp, beats and dreams, to which she also contributes piano and electronics, with friends on cello and flute. The first single “seaside” demonstrates her penchant for peace (Brownswood Recordings, October 18). A new age tinge is evident on Ataraxia, the final piece of White Poppy‘s three-year Paradise Gardens trilogy. From instrumental dream pop to guitar-flecked electronica, she creates space for joy (Not Not Fun, September 20). Prajñāghoṣa hits all the bases with “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring,” a track from the meditative Prajnaghosa – Flow of Adhisthana, released today on Into the Deep Treasury.
In the current climate, we greatly appreciate an album whose premiere single is “Calling for Peace.” Ocoeur‘s Breath is a call to appreciate the beauty of the earth and to extend the peace of its quiet places to the chaotic bustle of societal life (n5MD, September 6). In like fashion, Tristan Eckerson, recording as Purple Decades, intends Fraction of Centuries to be a reminder to slow down in a fast-paced world, to center one’s self in the midst of overstimulated cacophony (Beacon Sound, September 6). Bluestem writes of being “in a battle with the noise of life,” but turns the tables by “embracing noise.” Silence Spoken is still quiet, a meditation on liminal spaces (Bigo & Twigetti, September 6).
Eno Piano 2 is the sequel to … no, we’re not going to tell you. Bruce Brubaker‘s second round of piano tributes is just as lovely as his first (InFiné, September 25). Speaking of Eno, Music for Bus Stations is an obvious tribute. Rob Modell‘s set transfers the timbre to another transit location, raising hopes for another album called Music for Space Stations (13 / silentes, September 23). Bremer McCoy‘s ivory-laden album may be called Kosmos, but the intent is to “transport (the listener) to the idyllic Danish countryside, where they might witness the Northern Lights (Luaka Bop, September 6). The first peaceful volume of Chihei Hatakeyama and Shun Ishiwaka‘s Magnificent Little Dudes was released May 24 on Gearbox; the second follows October 18, preceded by the single “M6.”
The best bookstores are usually savvy in their music selection, but few of them commission their own. Tsutaya Books is the exception. Aoi Mori III is the latest installment, composed on electric piano by Haruka Nakamura. This time, the theme is the blue forest, which honors the composer’s home of Aomori (October 23). Hiroshi Ebina”s Into the Darkness of the Night is an album that one might play after returning from the bookstore, a “lullaby for the sleepless” composed for an insomniac partner. Let’s hope it works! (Kitchen, September 27).
We like the idea of Ambient Short Stories, which Bistro Boy will share on Möller Records. The last two titles, “Into Silence” and “Sleep now, sleep” suggest that the artist has children, and that these are their bedtime stories (September 9). We love the title of Charlie Wright‘s first single, “It’s Far Too Lovely To Stay Inside.” It’s what our parents told us as children, and finally we understand. WITHIN is released today! Hidden Rivers takes one last glance at summer on “Endless Summer Rain,” a piano-based, precipitation-drenched single from Always Somewhere Else on the Serein label (September 6). Birds, dogs, cars, chimes, neighbors and home movies populate Chadburn and Meadowood, the first single from Dalton Alexander‘s Please Take Nothing But Memory (September 27).
Guenter | Spieth‘s Overlay continues to enjoy new life. This spring, Hollie Kenniff and Rafael Anton Irisarri presented their takes on the 2023 album; this fall, veteran artists Pole and Abul Mogard appear on Overlay Reworks | Pt. 2. The lathe cut 10″ looks like a collector’s edition (Affin, October 4). Ernesto Longobardi + Demetrio Checchitelli collaborate on Maloviento, which asks questions such as, “What is the sound of voice on a windy day?” These granular experiments beg for the headphone treatment (LINE, September 6).
The Kaito Collection brings together a number of Kaito‘s ambient-electronic EPs and singles under one roof in newly remastered versions. There’s also a Japanese edition that contains three extra tracks (InFiné Éditions, September 13). YAI‘s Sky Time is jazzy, graced by generous flute, sax and conga drum, providing a cool contrast to the electronics (AKP Recordings, September 6). The electronic jazz of Paradise Cinema crosses boundaries, and returning, dream offers a chance to peer inside a kaleidoscope of tumbling, ever-morphing sound (Gondwana, September 13). Are you ready for a 45-minute arpeggio? This should come as no surprise, given the track titles (“Continuum I-X”) and the album title (Endlessness). Yet surprisingly Nala Sinephro is not repetitive, with 21 string players and a healthy dose of saxophone (Warp, September 6).
The description of Ümlaut‘s An Auxiliary View as “beat-less themes and atmospheric percussions” may be a little misleading, because what’s that we hear in “In heaven, all”? The electronics are key, sometimes met by organic static and laser effects (Audiobulb, September 12). Dialect‘s Atlas of Green has an interesting arc, from ambient to electronic and back again. The center cuts are the most beguiling, especially “Late Fragment,” which comes with a very cool video (RVNG Intl., September 20). The Handstitched* label resumes its split artist series with coastal / à main levée from Of the Night Sky / Jean-Emmanuel Rosnet. Maps & Diagrams adds a pair of remixes (September 6). CHANTSSSS‘ Shyness is vast and vaporous, with taffy-pulled vocals, sometimes with beats, sometimes without (Theory Therapy, September 6).
“Step into the haunting soundscape of a dystopian future,” writes Ontzeiling of All These Moments Will Be Lost. The album is an excursion of modular synth traveling slowly through a post-apocalyptic landscape (esc.rec., September 5). Warm Winters Ltd. calls mu tate‘s wanting less “Pure Bliss!”, a mutating (yes, we meant to write that) collection of post-club sounds suitable for the modern chill-out room (September 27). Everything Above the Sky / Astral Traveling with Luke Una is a collection of instrumental and vocal tracks with a “transcendental feel,” the love child of the renowned DJ. Collector alert: the physical and digital versions are slightly different! (REWARM, October 7). Do people still make radio requests? If so, good luck pronouncing Civilistjävel! who presents the dubby sounds of Brödföda, incorporating guest vocalists for the first time (Felt, September 13). The artist also appears on Iridescent, an autumn compilation from Semantica that also includes Joachim Spieth, Rrose and more (October 18). Not Not Fun is releasing their own compilation, Alley of the Sun, to celebrate their 20th anniversary and 400th release. The set splits the difference between ambient and electronic with intriguing textures and subtle grooves (October 4).
A single piece split into five movements, Alessandro Cortini‘s Nati Infiniti is an extension of the artist’s four floor audio installation from last year’s Atonal Festival (Mute, October 4). Live guitar and synth improvisations occupy Telecaster‘s Lontano, an album “made at night and made to be listened to at night” (September 27). Prairewolf‘s Deep Time is peaceful, a series of guitar tracks with programmed beats and an invitation to “say yes to everything” (September 20). 103 tracks is, well, a lot of tracks, but Kilometre Club‘s Earnest Tub is “only” 160 minutes long. If you’re looking for a perfect-length piece to close out a mixtape, you’ll definitely find it here (Imaginary North, September 6). Felbm & Louis Reith split the difference between ambient and electronic on G, A & D, with a love for texture and an experimental bent (Objects & Sounds, September 23). In 2022, Scrimshire released the Music for Autumn Lovers EP, a blend of peaceful electronic pieces suitable to the season. This year the artist has expanded the set to an album, concentrating on the inspiration of trees (Albert’s Favourites, November 1).
Lap steel, double bass, tape loops and piano are the foundation of An Unexpected Giant Leap, a sprawling, Midwestern-sounding set from Christopher Haddow. One can imagine rocking on the front porch sipping iced tea from mason jars as the storms roll in off the prairie (Errol’s Hot Wax, September 6). more eaze injects experimentalism into lacuna and parlor with cello, organ and eclectic Americana (Mondoj, September 20).
Richard Allen
Sun Sep 01 00:01:10 GMT 2024