A Closer Listen
Want to go on a wild adventure? That’s where the Experimental category comes in. These artists travel across history, rescuing untold and undertold stories. They use voice and instrument in unexpected and often unprecedented ways. They are often ahead of the crowd, and never part of it. Seldom seeking mainstream recognition, they blaze their own trails and are all the better because of it. Never content with established rules or expectations, they push music forward while expanding listeners’ minds. Many of these releases are like nothing anyone has ever heard; the artists are outliers, trailblazers and auteurs. Not every experiment works; but every experiment is crucial, a gift to the industry, an expansion of sound.
Electro-Acoustic
Flaming Pines begins the year by asking, “What goes on inside a cell?” Kate Carr and Matt Atkins‘ Organelles answers the question with elaborate textures and microsound sequences that spark the scientific imagination (January 24). [something’s happening]‘s Buzz is an amalgamation of texts and textures, restless and undecided, rewarding the patient, curious listener (January 31, pictured above). The enmossed label continues the theme of fractured poetry on in essence, which gathers various artists in a collage of sound and impression. The Split cassette from Kati Roover / J, Koho is imprinted with leaves and looks lovely. In the hands of these Finnish artists, field recordings and music are meditation and mulch. Both tapes are released on January 14.
Ideologic Organ offers a pair of unique releases this winter. Nate Wooley‘s Henry House comes across as a mini-opera, with texts from Wendell Berry, John Berryman and a Kafka biography, nestled in electronic settings (January 10). Nina Garcia‘s Bye Bye Bird flirts with reverberation and drone: a minimalistic album in which every nuance rises to the surface (February 21). Sawyer Editions tends to be quiet for a while, then releases albums in batches. The five-strong Batch #7 will surface on January 10, and includes “music by Morton Feldman paired with Tobias Hume (1579 – 1645); the Insub Meta Orchestra; Kari Watson (Chicago) on their debut release; Ben Richter with House on Fire; and Ashlee Mack performing Jeff Herriot, Ian Mikyska, Eva-Maria Houben, and Marti Epstein on her new solo piano repertoire.” The five albums contain a wide variety of music, from minimalist to orchestral and everything in-between.
How happy would you like to be this season? R. Weis follows the somber The Reaper and Me with the joyful explosion of Cuando tira el agua (When you throw the water), a composition based on recordings made at Carnaval parades in Cajamarca, Peru. The release will be out just in time for Carnaval 2025!
Can’t get enough of Yoko Ono? The Great Learning Orchestra presents Selected Recordings from Grapefruit, the first complete collection of this sonic ephemera from 1964. Whether text or transit, step or bicycle wheel, the sounds offer constant historical intrigue (Karlrecords, March 21). Also on Karlrecords: Martina Bertoni‘s Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone, a precise set concerned with tuning, math and algorithms (February 21).
Tehran’s Saba Alizadeh offers a Temple of Hope, constructed with Kamancheh, strings, synth and radio sequencer, bearing witness to conditions past and present, seeing injustice and atrocity, yet choosing to focus on the possibilities of the future (30M, January 17). Featuring “fractured lyrics derived from a custom-built, grief-text based generative AI,” GHOST is the latest album to use the nascent technology in an attempt to create something surprising and new. The work of Asa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz, the album is sure to cause discussion, if not admiration (Celestial Excursions, January 31).
While we don’t normally cover such vocal works, we feel compelled to call attention to Another Mississippi Sunday Morning: Parchment Prison Prayer, a soulful experience that opens a stained glass window to the inner workings of a maximum security prison. It’s impossible to listen to without hearing the humanity (Glitterbeat, January 17). In similar fashion, Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs‘ Slavic Folk Songs is exactly what it sounds like, pulsing with emotion and power. Produced by Maria W Horn, it’s one of three January 17 releases on XKatedral. The others are Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson‘s Glory Fades, a set of reflective duets that turn into ensemble pieces; and Isak Edberg‘s Belt of Orion, a pair of sidelong piano pieces that reflect the cold and stillness of a Stockholm autumn. All are released on January 17. And we are very much looking forward to Penelope Trappes‘ A Requiem, which features exquisite, creative vocal work backed by dark, immersive instrumentation. The album isn’t out until April 4, so you’ll hear more about it in our Spring Music Preview, but isn’t it nice to have a preview now? (One Little Independent).
Jazz and Improvisation
577 Records continues to be proactive, with a slew of releases already announced for 2025. Ayumi Ishito‘s Roboquarians, Vol. 2 leads off the pack, an “avant-punk” adventure featuring numerous guest stars (January 3). Next up is The Sea, The Space, and Egypt Vol. 1, an Afro-Futuristic tribute to Sun Ra from Michael Salan, Matthew Plummer, Ledian Mola, Federico Lighi (January 17). Brandon Lopez, DeYeon Kim follow with Syzygy, Vol. 1, a celebration of gayageum and bass (January 31). The percussion-led Stephen Davis Unit presents one of the best covers we’ve seen from the label (pictured above), along with an energetic, jazz-funk sound (February 14). Ayumi Ishito then reappears with 577 Records’ Daniel Carter on Endless Season, which contains a surprising array of beats, widening the timbre (February 28). Swedish drummer Dennis Egberth debuts sextet The Dennis Egberth Dynasty on March 4; and soon after that, spring will arrive!
TROST Records is offering Sven-Ake Johansson Quintet‘s Stumps, a newer version of the piece than was previously available, and Hautzinger/Schick/Johansson‘s Rotations +, a quieter set of improvisations with intricate textures. Both are available January 24. Han-Earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas have taken an interesting approach with Juno 3: Proxemics. The digital release is the main event, but the cassette version is a live bootleg (January 15).
Not to be outdone, Out of Your Head Records has already announced three albums for 2025. Sun & Rain kick things off with Waterfall, which honors the rhythms of the earth. One member of the quartet recently appeared on an ACL year-end chart; bonus points if you can guess who (January 10). Alto saxophonist Tim Berne follows with Yikes Too, half studio recordings and half live (January 17). Christopher Dammann Sextet makes its debut on February 7, the bassist in fine form, the tracks boasting long, post-rock-esque titles.
Shifting Paradigm has also announced three releases for 2025. Outside the Sphere‘s Full Potential combines sax, drums and electronics for a fully improvised sound (January 17); Jackson Potter‘s small things is far more accessible, melodic and jazzy (January 24); and Dennis Mitcheltree & Johannes Wallmann‘s Holding Space is on the more placid side, a peaceful acoustic set (February 7). Together, the three releases reflect the label’s well-chosen name.
In the second such offering of the season, Jon Rose and Erik Griswold include a track titled “Something to do with Sun Ra” on Unnamed Road. The difference is the timbre, which here includes prepared piano and tenor violin (Harrigans Lane Collective, January 31). Jazz meets hip-hop beats on Darren Barrett‘s dB-ish: Straight Vibesss, a showcase for the trumpet, but also for the funk (dB Studios, February 7). Dub flavors surface on Appearance, a series of live studio performances from Invictus Hi-Fi, bolstered by vocal samples and loops (January 31, pictured right).
Everything Is Possible according to Peace Flag Ensemble, an ambient jazz collective centered around the piano improvisations of Jon Neher. The album strikes a hopeful, and yes, peaceful tone, well-suited for winter (We Are Busy Bodies, February 7). Similarly soothing is Driftingland: For Guitar & Piano, a series of improvisations from Adam Coney & Richard Pike that takes its time, like two old friends sharing stories around a hearth (Trestle, January 31). Jazz pianist Bill O’Connell assembles a trio for Touch, offering mostly originals, but also a composition by Herbie Hancock (Jojo, January 17). Elliot Galvin‘s The Ruin welds the lo-fi to the high, with iPhone piano improvisations fleshed out by the Ligeti Quartet and other honored guests. The title refers to a 9th century poem about a ruined city, and the album expands the concept to the personal (Gearbox, February 7).
Sarah Belle Reid avoids the expected on Accidental Ornithology, recorded with Vinny Golla. The new album sounds nothing like her last, eschewing drone for a series of woodwind improvisations meant to imitate the calls of imaginary birds (Infrequent Seams, January 31). Also on Infrequent Seams: Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet with Bamboo Mouthpipe from Marc Kirshenmann. The title should be adequately descriptive, but we’ll add that the album also seeks to dispel gender stereotypes and Western conventions (January 17).
Simon Grab lies on the rocking side of improvisation, and has two collaborative releases lined up for winter: the energetic EP Eruptive Shifts on January 12 with Simon Berz and the pounding Porœs on January 24 with David Meier (~OUS). Both investigate the interface between electronics, drums and noise.
Charlemagne Palestine & Seppe Gebruers‘ Beyondddddd the Notessssss is as dark and mysterious as its Slytherin title. Playing four grand pianos in a church “surrounded by divinities,” the duo produces a holy racket (Konnekt, February 1). Dissonance, hum and microtonal repetitions populate Philip Golub‘s loop 7, the latest release from the Greyfade label. Part of an ongoing project, this latest installment makes use of a 22-note per octave tuning system (February 7).
Science meets sci-fi on Flowers Are Blooming in Antarctica, the new project from tenor saxophonist Laura Agnusdei and friends. The fantastic cover art (seen at the top of this article) is a perfect match for the music found within, a global mix of genres and influences (Maple Death, January 31). Synthesizer lends Illuminescence an electronic tinge, although the primary tone is improvisational. The Hearts & Minds trio is heavy on groove and ready to shine their light (Astral Spirits, January 13). Rob Mazurek uses synthesizer, field recordings and trumpet to make a joyful noise on Nestor’s Nest, whose fruity tracks honor mangoes, papayas, bananas and star fruit (KEROXEN, January 24, cover pictured right).
Richard Allen
Fri Jan 03 00:01:41 GMT 2025