Fall Music Preview - Experimental

A Closer Listen

Tired of hearing the same old stuff?  The fall experimental schedule includes a collection of unearthed Soviet treasures, a boxed set of field recordings, a debut album of gothic theremin, art books, free jazz, improvisation and an industrial opera.  Originals abound.  There’s something here for every taste.  On the flip side, this is the place to go when a friend says they “like every kind of music.”  We’re betting they don’t.  On the other hand, their minds may be blown and their horizons expanded.

Rich’s Pick: Various Artists ~ Metaphonics (Temporary Residence, September 21) This limited edition 7-LP set is the one to beat this season, arriving in a carrying case along with a hardbound book.  The music is based on field recordings from Stuart Hyatt and has interpretations from Eluvium, Gazelle Twin, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Loscil, Matmos, Mary Lattimore, Lullatone, Marcus Fischer, Rafael Anton Irisarri and many more.  The book includes essays by a wide range of contributors and an introduction by sound ecologist Bernie Krause.  Temporary Residence is only pressing 225 copies and I’ve reserved one of them, so if you want one of the others, act now!

Philip Sulidae‘s new Hemisphäreの空虚 label is set to release its second trio of tapes on September 21.  Andrea Borghi‘s Superelief is a bubbling electroacoustic set that features turntable and “playable casts of various surfaces.”  Phil Maguire‘s Folamh, Endless may be one of the quietest things you’ve ever heard.  The tracks include “Music for Blank Cassette No. 1 and 2,” which evoke the spirit of “4 33.”  And Sulidae’s own Petrification and Stride melds found objects, metal and cardboard, evoking a spirit of playfulness.  Percussionist Eli Keszler expands his sonic palette on Flying Floor for U.S. Airwaves, incorporating field recordings, keyboards, brass and strings; yet despite what one might guess, the end result remains subtle (Shelter Press, mid-October).  Also on Shelter Press, Thomas Ankersmit delivers an Homage to Dick Raajimakers, filled with cassette experiments, contact mics and sonic exploration (mid-September).  Fragment Factory’s Spinhouse is an installation-based work from Anna Schimkat.  The multi-media artist tackles the Brexit vote on one track and the sounds of an office building on the other (September 1).  The roughly self-titled cassette from la plimbare (Diana Voinea) is the score to a fading summer and a way of life in a small town on the Black Sea (ACR, September 10).  Spoken word, field recordings and snatches of music form the sonic scrapbook of Joachim Badenhorst‘s Typhoon Days, an homage to the public library of Antwerp (KLEIN, September 1).  The Composer Built label can be proud of Sound and Stone, a celebration of the sound stones of Hannes and Klaus Fessmann.  Featuring sonic experiments by Machinefabriek, Leyland Kirby, Paul Jebanasam and more, the tape is bound to be an object of conversation, as it comes with its own stone sample pack (October 26).

Adventures in Electronics

Ana de Silva & Phew began collaborating through file exchange, and the practice yielded such promising results that it became an album.  Island is filled with subtle electronics, engaging textures and bilingual experiments.  The album serves as a reaction to the current political climate and a sign of hope (shouting out loud!, September 28).  Earlier this year, Andrea Taeggi released an exploration of the sonic properties of piano innards.  Now he’s turned his attention to vintage analog instruments, including a flight simulator.  Zimní Král is released September 1 on SM-LL.  Taking up the experiments of Taeggi, Andrea Neumann | Mads Emil Nielsen present Refound, a study in electronics and “inside piano,” available as a 10″ record on Arbitrary (September 28).  The high pitched frequencies of Kaori Suzuki may startle listeners at first, but stay tuned.  The single-track Conduit plays with expectations of melody and harmony, and turns out to be incredibly unified (Second Editions, September 7).  The “controlled eruptions” found on Bob Bellarue‘s music of liberation are signs of his industrial roots, and serve as an homage to collaborator Z’EV, who passed away as the album was nearing completion (Elevator Bath, September 14).  Meanwhile, Klara Lewis & Simon Fischer offer a remarkable series of contrasts on Care (Editions Mego, September 28).  Stutter, birdsong and drone all find a place to hang their hats.  Some may know Lewis as the daughter of a famous experimental composer, but she deserves to be heard in her own right.

Continuing the collaboration theme, Ilia Belorukov, Miguel A. Garcia and Alfredo Costa Monteiro team up on Etwas, a set of compositions for electronics and flutophone (Tanuki Records, September 4).  Lars Graugaard | Grup Instrumental de València are returning this September with Engage and Share (Kairos).  Anders Vestergaard and Finn Loxbo present dissonant plucking and soft electronics on I’m fine with the swirling colors, set to appear September 13 on Gikt Records.  Toshi Wada joins his father Yoshi Wada and friends on Neu, the 14th installment of RVNG’s FRKWYS series.  The first taste arrives in a kaleidoscopic video by Jana Papenbroock (September 28).  Also on RVNG we find the new album from Oliver Coates, on which cello takes a back seat to electronics and traditional composition to hexadecimal notation.  Shelly’s On Zenn-La is released September 7.  Samples of a care home find their way into Two Rooms, an electro-acoustic tape from Klon Dump on NoCorner (September 7).  One of the season’s longest titles comes from Kammerflimmer Kollektief, who are set to release There are actions which we have neglected and which never cease to call us on Bureau B.  The album switches between genres with aplomb and is yet another sign of the ensemble’s ageless appeal (September 21).

The September Batch from Lincoln, Nebraska’s Tymbal Tapes dances between genres, so we’re listing all four here.  More Eaze‘s 14ngu4g3 contains opera, piano, TV ads and some miscellaneous music, all caught in a light whirlwind.  MAbH‘s cinjusti is more sedate, with waves of ambient and drone, but roughs up the mix with field recordings and tape samples.  Endurance uses loops and microsound to create a disorienting ambient effect on Celestial Governors.  And Budokhan Boys presents five mangled pop songs on That’s How You Become a Clown; you won’t hear these tunes on the radio.  The cassette covers are black and white, but form a unified, intricate template, a sample of which can be seen to the left (September 1).  Scroll through the TT site to find 21 prior releases.

Free Jazz and Improvisation

Bang on the Can’s Ken Thomson leads the Sextet on a new album that begins with Ligetti and continues with Thomson originals.  The album is brass-heavy with trumpet, trombone, and sax, and is out September 7 on New Focus.  Andrew Bernstein‘s An Exploded View of Time sees the saxophonist engaging the listener in real time, demonstrating a talent for breath control (Hausu Mountain, September 28).  Clarinet, bass and Buchla are only a few of the instruments featured on Bird Saw Buchla, from Rothenberg/Hein/Tammen.  Readers will recognize Rothenberg from his books on the music of birds and bees (Clang, September 14).  Label Astral Spirits will release four albums on September 21.  Crazy Bread‘s Vocoder Divorce is comprised of guitar and tape deck explorations, courtesy of Ryley Walker and Max Allison (also known as Mukqs); Brandon Seabrook Trio‘s Convulsionaries attempts to “turn doom into catharsis;” East of the Valley Blues‘ Reassemblera honors the sound of John Fahey; and Brandon Lopez’ quoniam facta sum villis turns Bach cello suites into bass.  A New Wave of Jazz counters with three Tonus albums, each featuring different lineups.  Intermediate Obscurities I+IV is a performance recording built around a piano motif; Texture Point is a minimalistic set that honors its title; and Cagean Morphology is a single pointillist statement.  All are released on October 5.  The music of Ariva Endean is often sparse, but there’s a reason; the clarinetist practices “holicipation,” a style of “playing for oneself.”  cinder : ember : ashes is out October 19 on SOFA.  Booker Stardrum may sound like the name of a glam band, but it’s actually a percussionist.  Temporary etc. shatters preconceptions with non-linear constructions and electronic enhancements (NNA Tapes, October 26).  No stranger to long songs, Dressed in Wires presents six improvised rock tracks in 80 minutes on Piss Wires Volume ii: The Arrangements while promising five releases to follow in five months, which makes the name of their label oddly fitting (Bear With Me Records, September 14).  Golden Oriole follows a similar template on its self-titled, half-hour, two track album, filled with energetic jamming, due October 7 on Drid Machine.  Per Anders Store presents the performance album Live fa Grense Jakobselv on October 1, playing all the instruments himself.  In contrast, the largest group in our preview is the twenty-eight-strong Wet Ink Ensemble, who bring the work of multiple avant-garde composers to life on Wet Ink: 20 (Carrier Records, September 15).

The Outer Limits

Audrey Chen has played cello on many of our favorite albums over the years, so it’s a surprise to hear her vocal experiments on Runt Vigor.  The artist remains relevant by continuing to catch us off guard (Karlrecords, September 21).  More aggressive vocal treatments can be found on Derek Piotr‘s Grunt, in which the human aspect is often virtually unrecognizable, chopped and stuttered by vicious electronics (DPSR, September 28).  Colin Self‘s Siblings is part six of an electronic opera that debuted at MOMA; the studio version includes dance beats and masticated voice (RVNG, October 26).  Céli Lee and 無 (MU) are about to release 變形記 – A Journal of Transform, an unusual album paired with Lee’s even more unusual drawings, pictured right.  Each composition starts in an accessible fashion before finding its own path (Entertaining Violence, September 3).  Babe, Terror mixes sampling, backwards masking, turntablist trickery, and musique concrete; Fadechase Marathon is out September 28 on Glue Moon.  With so many new theremin albums on the market, it’s hard to tell which to choose.  Just kidding, there’s only one: Hekla‘s Á. Not only is it a great way to experience the instrument, it also adds something new to the conversation.  Directed by Logi Hilmarsson, the latest video is a visual tribute to classic fantasy films and an aural glance forward (Phantom Limb, September 14).

We’ve already reviewed Notes from the Underground: Experimental Sounds Behind the Iron Curtain, and we may have jumped the gun a bit as the album won’t be out until September 28.  But since these songs were recorded in the 70s and 80s, we felt it was fair.  The compilation crosses multiple genres while shining a light on a bevy of underground artists, many of whom never got their due (Iron Curtain Radio).  Ele Ypsis is one of the most distinctive duos around, combining a gothic sensibility with operatic vocals and industrial/IDM rhythms.  The drama is over the top on Linga Dei, which sounds like a cross between Carl Orff, Apotheosis’ club version of “O Fortuna,” E Nomine and the wilder excursions of WEG (September 21).  Not for the squeamish is Rudolf Eb.er‘s 31-track Om Kult: Ritual Practice of Conscious Dying – Volume I.  But of course most people would glean that from the title.  Sounds include maggots, monks and grunts, so put this puppy on your Halloween list (Schimpfluch Associates, September 1).

Coming tomorrow:  Fall Music Preview ~ Electronic!

A Closer Listen

The wild, the strange, and the seemingly inaccessible meet in our Experimental category, which includes some of the most original music of the season.  From silence to spoken word, calculation to improvisation, this is your guide to an unpredictable cavalcade of music.  This category is not for everybody, but if you’re ready to expand your horizons, you’re in the right place!

Photography courtesy of Holly Holdredge Bangert of Holdredge Images.

Rich’s Pick #1:  Matana Roberts ~ Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis (Constellation, October 18) In 2015, Coin Coin Chapter Three narrowly missed being our Album of the Year.  This year the path seems clear for another run.  Each chapter in what may become a lifelong project has increased our appreciation for the series as a whole.  Memphis locks in to issues of race and gender, and its call for empathy could not be more timely.  Snippets of song are interwoven with diary entries to decorate this transportive yet harrowing set, which is wholly unique and vital.

Rich’s Pick #2:  V/A ~ STUMM433 (Mute, October 4) Readers with good memories may recall that this was our pick of the season last winter; a six month delay has bounced it back down to #2.  But at least now we know it’s for real!  58 artists reinterpret John Cage’s 4’33” over the course of four and a half hours.  Expect a lot of unintentional field recording and a few surprises, especially when looking at the artist list.  The vinyl box set comes with a set of candles, but even the label warns that it is exorbitantly priced; if you’re on a budget, the CD version will do just fine.  Also on Mute:  the intentionally disturbing GUO4, from GUO, a collaboration of Daniel Blumberg and Seymour Wright with filmmaker Peter Strickland and other friends (September 20).

Marcus Fjellström has only been gone two years, but he’s sorely missed.  Miasmah is releasing his back catalog on vinyl, beginning with Exercises in Estrangement and Gebrauchsmusik.  The listening astonishment is that each of these albums sounds as if it could have been released today.  In a short period of time, Marcus released more quality music than most composers do in a lifetime.  We’re glad that we have another chance to celebrate his genius, but the reminder is bittersweet (September 20).

Good Things Come in Threes (and Twos and Fours and Sevens)

The reliable Recital label returns with two releases on September 6.  On Stones : Dreams,  Geoffrey Hendricks tosses rocks across a room while Philip Corner performs on prongs and his shoe while reacting to Hendricks’ art.  You can’t get much more experimental than that!  Then on Towards a Total Poetry, various LA poets are preserved in live recordings from 1980.  Buh Records dusts off some old tapes from Miguel Flores on Lorca: Lost Tapes 1989-1991, dedicated to Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca.  And is that a theremin we hear?  It is!  Continuing their theme of self-explanatory titles, the label then releases VVAA – Interactions: A Guide to Swiss Underground Experimental Music.  A wide variety of sounds is on display, spilling into other genres (October 18 and 21).

Over at Trust Records (Vienna), three new releases are popping up on September 27.  Brötzmann /  Schlippenbach / Bennink pay tribute to the classic Machine Gun sessions on Fifty Years After… Live at the Lila Eule 2018.  The THRENODY trio gets raucous and rambunctious on A Paradigm of Suspicion, while Kodian Trio‘s III is a wild ride on sax, guitar and drums, featuring Dirk Serries.  The latter artist also appears with Rodigro Amado on the energetic Jazzblazzt (Raw Tonk, September 9).

Gilgongo Records is starting the season early; their first three fall albums were released on the first of September.  John Collins McCormick‘s Ad for Nails is an album of rhythm and texture, highly percussive but happy with found sound; Waxy Tomb‘s Imminent Fold is an art book plus a disorienting blend of abstract industrialism and spoken/sideways-sung word; and Tashi Dorji & John Dieterich‘s Midden (co-released with Moone Records) is an album of improvised electric guitar with a member of Deerhoof expanding his horizons.

tsss tapes has two distinct offerings on the docket for September 25.  Derek Baron & Zoots Houston‘s A Realistic Morning Prayer is about the joy of found sound, and is described as “Resonating metal surfaces, chains, paper, thin strips of wood, a broken radio, a couple of small battery-powered oscillators, and maybe a floor tom;” while Dominique Vaccaro‘s Overlapped Memories is a bit more liquid, featuring field recordings and amplified tape squelch.  Each shares an intricate, investigatory approach.  Morphine Records is releasing a quartet of albums this fall, two in October and two in November.  Upperground Orchestra‘s Kaigo is percussive and upbeat, featuring swirling sax; Stefan Fraunberger‘s Elegie is pensive and measured, recorded on abandoned church organs; MA‘s Shoqsh sets menacing monologues over gurgling electronics; and Contagious offers a collision of organic and electronic, with a tone of drone.

A New Wave of Jazz tops all the other exploratory/improv labels with a massive seven releases on October 18, marking the first day of their festival.  The albums play with space and time, showcasing various combinations of players to create a cornucopia of sound.  One can listen here, and save cash by pre-ordering all seven CDs:  Traces of Eternity: From What Is Yet to Be (Antoine Beuger – Dante Boon); Air (Asmus Tietchens & Dirk Serries); Segment Tones (TONUS); Now Is the Time to Learn Hope (Antoine Beuger – The Extradition Ensemble); Close | Quarters (Benedict Taylor & Anton Mobin); Boskage (Daniel Thompson & Colin Webster); and Impetus (Serries / Vanderstraeten / Verhoeven).

More Improv, Please!

Piano, violin, shofar, drainpipe and saw can be heard on Café Grand Abyss, from Jon Rose and Alvin Curran, who remain vital despite their combined age topping 150 (ReR Megacorp, September 27). Guitar, objects, tape and minidisc make a miasma of abstraction on Tracking / Racking, from Torsten Papenheim (Tanuki Records, September 25).  One cold day, no prior meeting, and what they did is what you hear:  acoustic guitar and lap steel duets from Jim McAuley & Scot Ray on Second Earth (Long Song, September 15).  Astral Spirits plays host to a lot of trios, including Josh Berman / Paul Lytton / Jason Roebke on cornet, percussion and bass; Trio Discripancies is released on September 20.  More clarinet, along with free jazz instruments, can be heard on Kozmik Bazaar, from collaborators Konstrukt + Ken Vandermark (Karlrecords, September 27).

Does The Vegetable Orchestra know that there is a band called the Anti-Vegetarian Orchestra?  Comic book artist Mazen Kerbaj is a member, and now he offers a double dose of his musical talent on Trumpet Solo Vol. 2.1: No Cuts, No Overdubs, No Use of Electronics and Trumpet Solo Vol. 2.2: Cuts, Overdubs, Use of Electronics (Discrepant, September 20).  Jazz drummer Dan Weiss is now Dan Weiss Trio +1, yielding a variety of timbres from Cuban groove to Led Zeppelin tribute (on “Bonham”).  Utica Box is revealed on Sunnyside Records November 8.  The piano is enhanced by three percussionists on Sarah Hennies‘ Reservoir 1, the first of three one-hour pieces (Black Truffle, September 27).  Drum and bass (not drum ‘n’ bass) can be heard on Forecast, along with piano, courtesy of Stranahan / Zaleski / Rosato.  Live at Jazz Standard is released September 20 on Capri.

Laptop/sax duo Binary Canary seem to be having a lot of fun on iterative systems, producing an unusually playful tone (Carrier, October 4).  Mark Hanslip/Emil Karlsen perform jazzy improvisations with sax and drums.  planish is released on noumenon September 9.  On Hypertide Over Kiribati, Lothar Ohlmeier, Rudi Fischerlehner, Isambard Khroustaliov create long, intricate improvisations with bass clarinet, drums and modular synth (Not Applicable, September 6).  Gongs, wind chimes, metal, marbles an more form Perpetual Possibility, a creative collaboration between Lino Capra Vaccina and Untitled Noise (Dark Companion, October 25). Tape loops and instrumentation meet on INTERSTAT, which started with instruments poured out on the living room floor.  Donoval & Fiala‘s sky blue tape is part of the Cascade Series on Canigou (September 27).  Vibracathedral Orchestra make a “joyous racket” on Squeeze the Lids Through Coming Window, two side-long tracks dedicated to the endangered pangolin.  All of the proceeds of Oaken Palace Records go to environmental organizations, so this is a clean digital buy (September 1).  Members of Sun City Girls, Rangda and more unite as The Clandestine Quartet to present an explosive blend of rock, groove and improvised psych.  One for the Fossa, Two for the Wolverine is out October 11 on Thirty Three Thirty Three.  Russian jazz/noise band offer High-Time Seizures on Sounds et al, with a fiery, seizure-like cover to match (October 20).

But Wait, There’s More!

We’ve already reviewed Mats Eden | Stefan Klaverdal‘s annual growth rings, which is absolutely perfect for the season.  The artists use string instruments and computer to portray not only the life cycle of a tree, but the year in the life of one single tree.  The cyclical nature of life is underscored just as the leaves are beginning to turn (September 6).  Guitarist Bill MacKay and cellist Katinka Kleijn join forces on STIR, which is partially inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf.  Lead single Hermine is dark and moody in sight and sound (Drag City, October 11). Trombonist Peter Zummo isn’t afraid to try new things; turntable, cello and spoken word are all featured on Deep Drive, opening ears to new possibilities (Tin Angel, September 13).  A sound artist, a cellist and a prison psychotherapist join forces as Tears|Ov, whose debut album is being released as part of The Tapeworm’s tenth anniversary.  The trio may regret the title; it’s impossible to Google A Hopeless Place without landing on Rihanna (The Wormhole, November 1).  Also forthcoming from collective The Tapeworm, The Bookworm and The Wormhole:  Achim Mohné‘s ritualistic Haitian voodoo tape, Voodoo/Rara (September 27); new works from Aaron Turner, Biting Tongues, NYZ, Cristian Vogel and Jay Glass Dubs; and the debut album from Laura Agnusdei.

Anne Imhof is releasing a fascinating score to the performance / installation Faust.  Some tracks offer rough instrumental abrasion, while others include smooth vocals, piano and strings.  The variety alone makes it a must-hear, while the photography booklet sweetens the deal for those who purchase the double vinyl (PAN, September 13).  Ka Baird returns with the abstract utterances and jutting instrumentation of Respires; preview video Symanimygenic offers but a taste (RVNG, October 25).  Eight narrated stories are matched by instrumental versions on The Fairy Tale Factory, the music composed by Gabriel Scotti for a unique exhibition (Musee D’Ethnographie de Geneve, September 27).  Voice and field recording feature in Jean-Philippe Gross‘ soundscape Curling, which is based on the sport of the same name, while Reflex is a modular Serge workout (EICH, September 5).  A new edition of Ernest Hood‘s Neighborhoods is twice as long as the original, with expanded liner notes; the Portland recordings include his childhood field recordings, and represent “joy in reminiscence.” There’s some really neat gold vinyl, if you’re quick to pre-order (Freedom to Spend, October 11).

There’s beauty among the rocks in the video for Her Presence and Tides, from Joanna John & Burkhard Stangl.  It’s an interesting way to introduce Lynx, which has a similarly curious and meditative tone (Interstellar Records, October 4).  As part of the One Instrument Sessions, Fahmi Mursyid chose six instruments for his single-mike recordings.  Indonesian timbres include the saron, kendang, halaman and more (One Instrument Records, September 6).  Iranian composer Cameron Shafli offers electro-acoustic outliers on Pithy & Prolix, an unusual offering on Anòmia (September 20).  The Secret Lives of Electromagnetic Transducers sounds like nothing else this season.  Hadas Pe’ery worked with a host of musicians to perform duets between the organic and the electronic, then added some poetry to guarantee a uniqueness of tone (Elli, September 10).

Electric guitar partners Álvaro Domene and Henry Kaiser wrote a new abstract score for the classic 1927 film El Tren Fantasma / The Ghost Train, and both electric and acoustic versions can be heard on the album (Iluso, September 3).  Aki Onda and visual artist Paul Clipson collaborate on Make Visible the Ghosts, a release that is all the more bittersweet given Clipson’s death last year (audioMER, September 20).  “Instrument builder” Pierre Bastien shares well with experimental duo Tomaga on Bandiera di Carta.  After all, what are instruments without players?  Listen closely and you may hear the sound of rubber bands and paper (Other People, September 20).  Richmond Avant Improv Collective (RAIC) brings us full circle with Chance Operations, which was inspired by John Cage’s Silence and is released on Cage’s birthday, but is anything but silent.  The project features 20 musicians whose pairings were determined by the drawing of ping-pong balls ~ a very Cageian thing to do (Blight, September 5).  Finally, how does one remix an album that features no sound?  Maria Chavez treats Stefan Goldmann’s Ghost Hemiola grooves as source material on Plays (Macro, September 20).

Richard Allen

A Closer Listen

A Closer Listen

The creative spirit provides energy and a sense of forward motion in a time of perceived stasis.  During the last eighteen months, these sonic innovators have been locked in their labs like Tony Stark in Iron Man. What better time than lockdown to play with new sounds?  Musicians exchanged files online, multi-tracked home recordings and occasionally escaped to jam in the great outdoors.  This fall, they will present their findings: new ideas, approaches and sounds.

By design, the improvisational arena is packed with more live and single-take recordings than any other.  Live opportunities have been sorely missed.  But wherever the recordings were made, the fall slate proves you can’t keep a good musician down.

Rich’s Pick:  Patrick Shiroishi, Hidemi (American Dreams, October 29) Saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi dedicates Hidemi to his grandfather, who was incarcerated in an American camp during WWII.  The limited edition deluxe package also contains Tangled, an 82-page chapbook which investigates the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans.  The subject matter could not be more relevant, and the music is sublime (American Dreams, October 29).

577 Records

As always, Brooklyn’s 577 Records is on top of its game, with a full slate of fall releases announced well in advance.  The fun starts with Daniel Carter, Tobias Wilner, Djibril Toure, Federico Ughi on the tightly rocking New York United, Volume 2, which reflects the nervous, pent-up energy of the city that never sleeps (September 3).  Jessica Ackerley and Daniel Carter‘s collaborative Friendship: Lucid Shared Dreams and Time Travel highlights the comfort level of shared improvisation (September 10), as does Music Frees Our Souls, Vol. 1 from the trio of Francisco Mela feat. Matthew Shipp and William Parker (September 17).  Luis Vicente & Vasco Trilla offer jazz abstractions on trumpet and percussion, playing like their music is Made of Mist (September 24); Sean Conly‘s The Buzz may be billed under a solo name, but Francisco Mela reappears, along with Leo Genovese (October 8).  No secrets hide in the billing of quintet Roy Campbell, John Dikeman, Raoul van der Weide, Peter Jacquemyn, Klaus Kugel, whose hour-long improv session will be released When the Time is Right (which happens to be October 16); after that, a 2013 concert tribute to Roy Campell, performing with John Dikeman, Raoul van der Weide, Peter Jacquemyn, Klaus Kugel and being released When the Time Is Right (October 22). Meanwhile on the sister label Orbit577, Takatsuki Trio Quartett with Tobias Delius and Axel Dörner was one of the few groups able to perform in that brief window when we thought the pandemic was ending; highlights of weekly concerts appear on Berliner Quartette (October 16), which will be followed by Vladimir Luuchanski‘s alto sax set Transitions on October 30 and a collaboration with Silke Eberhard on November 5.

Jazz and Improvisation

Astral Editions keeps up its busy release schedule with Mako Sica‘s Garden of Heads, featuring Tatsu Aoki, Thymme Jones and Jacob Fawcett.  The music seems ready to spring forth at any moment, curling into unexpected shapes (September 17).  A week later, the label will release “everyone is rolling down a hill” or “the journey to the center of some arcane mystery and the entanglements of the vines and veins of the cosmic and unwieldy millieu encountered in the midst of that endeavor” by Crazy Doberman, an ensemble whose members are nearly as numerous as the words in the album title.  The release arrives concurrently with a reissue of the band’s Illusory Expansion.

Will Guthrie‘s sequel to 2017’s People Pleaser (on Black Truffle) is the obviously titled People Pleaser Pt. II, a raucous, percussive affair on Kythibong (September 17).  Percussionist Abe Rounds has The Confidence to Make Mistakes, but from the sound of his debut EP, he doesn’t make many; save for the fact that the preview is only 33 seconds long! (Colorfield, September 17).  When people think of Flaming Pines, they normally think of field recording; but Oblique is a set for percussion and sax improv.  Corder & Yantis‘ album is out September 17.  Bassist Max Johnk debuts his Division of Masters moniker, which features friends on drums and guitar.  Laid Across Your Path takes blues as its starting point and expands from there (September 3).

A series of wide-ranging duets helps bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck to showcase the diversity of her instrument.  Her self-titled album is released October 22 on Pyroclastic, followed one week later by pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson‘s avant exploration Searching For The Disappeared Hour.  The following month, the label’s attention will turn to Tony Malaby and Sabino‘s The Cave of Winds (November 26).  Free jazz and a bit of prog populate GoBruCcio from Bob Gorri, Pete Brunelli, Peter Riccio, due September 9 on New Haven Improvisers Collective.

The Nelson Patton duo calls its sound “ambient jazz,” although we can detect a bit of post-rock in there as well.  Laden with trombone, percussion and electronics, Universal Process shifts from drifting to darting and back again.  We’ll let readers decide for themselves below (September 10).  Trumpeter and flugelhorn player Steph Richards joins forces with Joshua White (on piano and percussion) on Zephyr, an ode to water and its various permutations (Relative Pitch, October 15).  Mark Kirshenmann uses electronic techniques to twist his trumpet into a variety of timbres; the futuristic-minded Cybersonic Outreach is out September 17 on New Focus Recordings.  Classical guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina launches his Attaboy label on October 22 with a pair of releases.  Pendulum is recorded in the artist’s signature style, while Klotski adds viola, bass, Moog and drums, and is recorded as Gordon Grdina’s Square Peg.  Thinking way ahead, the artist has also announced new albums for next January and May!  Chuck Owens and the Jazz Surge‘s self-explanatory Within Us: Celebrating 25 Years of the Jazz Surge invites veteran members, along with a 19-piece ensemble, to the festivities (Summit, September 17).  And 10 10 10 captures a just-unearthed concert set from Mujician (Paul Dunmall, Tony Levin, Paul Rogers, and Keith Tippett), finally appearing a decade after it was recorded (Cuneiform, September 24).

Jazz trio Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette soars high above the cityscape with Skyline, the first of a planned trilogy on 5Passion Records (September 17).  Norwegian jazz quartet Flukten formed during lockdown and debuts on Hubro Records with Velkommen.  We’re not sure about that cover, though; too much time in quarantine? (September 3).  Sax, drums and friendship (the latter a common theme) are the basis of Tunnel to Light, an instinctive new set from Laplante / Nazary (Tripticks Tapes, September 3).  Jazz guitarist Juanna Trujillo dedicates Ímpetu to his late grandfathers, assembling a quartet for the occasion (Falcon Gumba, October 1).  Assembling six drummers for six tracks, bassist Petter Eldh creates a joyous sound somewhere between disco and jazz.  Projekt Drums Vol. 1 is out September 3 on Edition Records.

Jon Gordon‘s Stranger Than Fiction shares a name with a Bad Religion album, but sounds nothing like it.  The nonet ( ! ) is led by the alto saxophonist and is meant as a “call to action” in response to rampant global authoritarianism (ArtistShare, September 17).  Seventeen players congregate on Gabriel Zucker & the Delegation‘s Leftover Beats from the Edge of Time, a suite that unfolds like a theatre production, with narrative snippets and sudden turns of tone (ESP-Disc, September 24). Jazz, improv and opera collide on Premonitions of the Unbuilt City, an ambitious adaptation from Matt Rogers & Kit Downes (Nonclassical, September 3).  Free jazz saxophonist Evan Parker dedicates Winns Winn to his friend John Russell, although the album itself is inspired by the activism of William Morris (Byrd Out, October 1).  Shiver‘s Night School is a single album-length track, “a deconstruction of the song followed by the song itself” (New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings, September 30).

On a Lawn of Its Own

We needed to include a separate category for Noisephony of Lawnmowers, which seems like a soundscape, but was scored for suburban machines.  Taavi Suisalu‘s work was recorded in 2013, and this fall has finally found its way to wax.  Credit Staalplaat for recognizing its unique appeal and releasing on the criminally underused 10″ format (September 5).

Electro-Acoustic

One of the world’s most colorful and unknown tribes is celebrated on Kamana, as Carlos Casas received permission to record the Aeta of the Philippines.  Field recordings and musical impressions form a hunting and gathering of sound (Discrepant, September 10).  Serrisme is an ambitious excursion that travels from field recordings to modern composition and arrives accompanied by a 32-page booklet of photographs, poetry and prose.  The project is brought to life by Christina Vantzou, Jan Matthé, Christophe Piette, and Lieven Martens and celebrates the dying art of greenhouse grape cultivation, still hanging on after all these years.  Both grapes and workers get their time in the sun (Edições CN, September 1).  A field recording from an Istanbul demonstration lies at the center of Nick Zanca‘s Cacerolazo.  He surrounds these sounds of protest with “righteous noise” of his own, culled from cutlery and other household objects (Full Spectrum, October 8, pictured at the top of this article).

The Yarn / Wire piano and percussion quartet has two albums coming out this fall.  Becoming Air / Into the Vanishing Point features the music of Annea Lockwood and guest trumpeter Nate Wooley (Black Truffle, September 10), while Tonband includes pieces by Enno Poppe and Wolfgang Heiniger (WERGO, September 10).  The two are vastly different, the first more abstract and airy, the second more composed and earthy; together, they demonstrate the ensemble’s wide tonal range.  Also on Black Truffle:  Richard Youngs presents two side-long tracks on CCXI, toying with sine waves, generative music and “tape-echoed trombone” (September 24).  Jessica Pavone‘s Lull is a work for string octet and soloists: Yeah Yeah Yeahs percussionist Brian Chase and (for the second time in this paragraph alone) trumpeter Nate Wooley.  Such expansion of timbres adds an even greater breadth to her work (Chaikin, October 22).  Collecting works from various installations and choreographies, Tomasso Rolando presents Music for a Different Room, which is dedicated to the artist’s grandmother (Torto Editions, September 15).  Simon Balestrazzi – Paolo Sanni‘s Disrupted Songs begins with the sound of children at play; then the instrumentalists rush in.  So which is the disruption, the children or the music? (Dissipatio, September 10).

Satoko Fujii‘s Piano Music may look like a piano album and be described as a piano album, but it’s an experimental album.  The composer improvised segments of sound from inside and outside of the instrument and rescored them to produce sidelong treatises (Libra, September 17).  Stein Urheim & Jørgen Træen join forces on Krympende klode, a playful collection that folds in strings, synth and a special barnyard animal.  To misquote Judy Collins, “send in the cows.  There have to be cows.  Don’t bother – they’re here” (Hubro, September 24).  With 21 musicians, 12 composers, 3 discs and 211 minutes of music, Quebec collective GGRIL is pulling out all the stops.  Sommes is a no-holds barred celebration of their 15th anniversary (Tour de Bras, September 10).

We’ve already noted that Room40 is responsible for a wide array of music this fall, none more out there than candlesnuffer‘s apsomeophone, which chops, rearranges and mangles classic compositions until they are virtually unrecognizable (September 17). Rhythm and voice perform odd linguistic maneuvers on Hiro Kone‘s Silvercoat the Throng, conjuring an otherworldly appeal (Dais, September 24).  Scene veteran Phew twists and garbles her voice on New Decade, a declaration of relevance and longevity (October 22).  Also on Mute’s vocal / experimental roster, hackedpicciotto approaches The Silver Threshold in a manner that will thrill fans of off-kilter 80s ethereal music (November 12).  Nina Dante + Bethany Younge engage in “eco-experimentalism” on Lizard Tongue, an album packed to the gills with whistles, growls, trills, and found and homemade instruments in dialogue with the natural world (TAK Editions, September 1).

Moving Furniture will release three albums on September 17.  Jos Smolders & Jim O’Rourke‘s Additive Inverse highlights reel-to-reel and guitar; Philipp Bückle & Martijn Pieck combine field recordings and modular synthesis on Field Reports; and Gagi Petrovic goes “beyond abstraction” on Choosing Freedom.  Two albums are forthcoming on Neither/Nor Records.  Diaphane‘s lineup of viola, piano, tuba and percussion may look like chamber music on paper, but the album-length track Paris lands far left of center.  Flin van Hammen‘s You Can Know Where the Bombs Fell uses recorded sound as raw material for new compositions, folding in foghorns, choirs and whatever else he can find.  Both are released September 16.

David Grubbs & Ryley Walker join forces on the unusual A Tap on the Shoulder, which is far more than just a dialogue between guitars (Husky Pants, September 3).  The album title of Roland White‘s 7 Consolations seems perfectly chosen for our time; the 7-part suite breezes through various styles, bordering on the dissonant yet returning time and time to the accessible (Paravision, September 7).  The music of audio-visual artist Andrew Brooks is described as “abstract yet melodic,” which is hard to believe until one has heard it.  The album East is rife with sax, flute and percussive loops, and is preceded by the pulsating vocabulary video One Hundred and Six Words (September 9).  Ingnico‘s Vanished World may have an ambient coating, but its center is experimental.  The album delves into darkness with off-kilter melodies and rhythms (September 5).  And finally, the fall’s fastest, hardest release is likely Fire-Toolz‘ 25-track Eternal Home, which amusingly is offered with options of herb grinder, t-shirt and fanny pack (Hausu Mountain, October 15).

Richard Allen

A Closer Listen

The world may often seem stagnant, but as long as there is art, there is hope.  In every field ~ art, music, cinema, literature and more ~ experimentalists test the boundaries of the expected, breaking through to unexplored territories.  Today’s experimental music may become tomorrow’s mainstream, or may not ~ the value is in the searching, striving and finding.

Why play the note as it is written?  Why play the note at all?  Is music found only in instruments?  Can the random be considered composed?  These questions and more are tackled by this season’s roster.

Our cover image comes from 8 Things You Can Make With All of Those Acorns on Family Handyman.

Electro-Acoustic

The concept of applause is dissected on the two-volume compilation CLAP, which includes works from Scanner, Maurizio Bianchi and more (Unsounds, September 15).  On the other end of the spectrum (or so one might think) is the fourth and final volume of ‘ ‘ [blank tape compilation], in which the only sources are blank tapes and the artists submit blank art for manipulation.  The results are surprisingly loud and visible (Sleep Gloss, September 2).  On Rental Yields: Volume Two, some tracks are electronic, some drone, some experimental and some noise, a true potpourri.  The set is a benefit album for Manchester’s homeless population (Front & Follow, September 17).

The Fall of Europe is a fascinating radio play that was constructed by collaging ham radio transmissions.  Il Radioamatore was even able to include segments from the war in Ukraine (Eiga, October 10).  Gamardah Fungus (recently featured in our Ukraine posts from Gianmarco Del Re) finished recording Metamorphosis just before the invasion, unaware of how relevant the title would become.  The album offers music in flux, flowing to match its every setting (esc.rec., September 12).  Jérôme Noetinger goes tape to tape, reel-to-reel on Sur quelques mondes étranges.  His works for ReVox B77 tape machine were recorded live with no overdubs (Gagarin, September 2).  We hope Noetinger is friends with Valerio Tricoli, since Tricoli also uses the Revox B77 (we’re playing match-up) on Say Goodbye to the Wind, an intense work inspired equally by Samuel Beckett, Otto von Guericke and the breath of the artist’s son (Shelter Press, September 2).

With loops, voice, white noise, electromagnetic fields, and samples of string quartet, Adrian Corker‘s Since It Turned Out Something Else is a study in sonic collection.  Corker uses many approaches, yet the album flows (SN Variations, September 30).  Leverton Fox recorded In the Flicker in the forest; one can hear the animals commenting throughout as the musicians hit their trees for percussion and otherwise incorporate local sounds in a respectful fashion.  One wouldn’t mind wandering into these woods (Not Applicable, October 21).  A different type of experience is suggested by Hekla‘s Xiuxiuejar.  Theremin is melded to moody electronics, producing a sense of being lost in the forest as the sun begins to set (Phantom Limb, September 9).

Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson‘s Landvættirnar fjórar is a complete outlier, an album made with curious instrumentation that sounds like an avant folk tale.  The music is inspired by a time when the king of Denmark seized all of Iceland’s sheep, then swam over in the shape of a whale and was driven back by wights.  We recommend reading the full story while listening (Carrier Records, October 28).  Perhaps one cannot dance to Timothy Sawyer Shepard‘s Long Ago Forgotten, but its sonic nature is reminiscent of Avalanches, with as many as a hundred samples per song.  These tiny splices of music are only the tip of the iceberg, as the artist also works on canvas and with 8mm split-screen film.  Long Ago Forgotten is released September 9.

Field recordings and synthesizer can be found on Delirious Cartographies; and to sweeten the pot, Richard Scott adds a half dozen drawings to the 12″ package (Arbitrary, September 2).  On Hungry Ghosts, Samuel Rohrer plays a swath of percussion, mixing in a healthy amount of synth to deepen his sound (Arjunamusic, September 23).

Philippe Petit drops everything he can find onto a piano soundboard to create a disorienting effect.  A Reassuring Elsewhere, Chapter 1 is the first of a trilogy on Oscillations (October 7).  Black, Pink and Yellow Noises collects 20 short, distorted pieces for tape and electronics by Marc Baron & Jean-Philippe Gross, tumbling through styles until the listener loses track of which way is up (Eich, September 15, pictured to the right).  Kotoka Suzuki mingles all manner of objects on “Automata,” from Shimmer, Tree, including children’s toys, bells, birds, and trains.  Another delight is “In Praise of Shadows,” in which all of the instruments are made from paper (Starkland, September 16).

Avant Jazz & Improvisation:  So Much Sax!

Inspired by paintings from The Group of Seven, Chet Doxas recruited a quintet to perform Rich in Symbols II.  The band leader asks, “What does it mean to be Canadian?” and exudes a sub-theme of winter (Justin Time, September 9).  It’s pretty clever to put cute children at the beginning of a music video of avant chamber music, because the images yield an instant accessibility.  The music of Maneri / Kalmanovitch / Jacobson / Osgood is far more abstract, as apparent in the title ‘Variations On No Particular Theme – Part 1 (Gotta Let It Out, October 21).  Will Vinson collects a “cordless trio” for Tripwire, often giving in to the groove (Whirlwind, September 16).  Multiple artists including Walt Shaw are present on the self-titled album from Wasp Honey, heavy on the sax and far from the mainstream (Discus, September 9).  Anthony Braxton & James Fei team uo for Duet (Other Minds) 2021, which slightly confusingly is released in 2022.  The explanation: it’s a live recording of “Composition 429,” generated in response to color-coded symbols (Other Minds, September 2).

Alto sax and viola are paired on MIROIR, as Cyprian Busolini / Bertrand Gauguet present two side-long tracks titled “Oscillation” and “Vacillation” (Akousis, September 5).  Two alto saxes are at the center of Six-ish Plateaus, from Alex Fournier / Triio, which is actually a sextet (Elastic Recordings, September 9).  Alto sax meets electronics on BA DI DOOM‘s appropriately titled graceful collision, with other players joining the fray as well (Astral Spirits, October 7).  On the same day, Astral Spirits releases Sans Soleil II, on which Patrick Shiroishi plays three different types of sax while Chris Williams shifts between horns.  But wait, there’s more!  New Astral Spirits imprint cow:Music launches with Blood In My Eye (A Soul Insurgent Guide), which showcases percussion, electronics, synth and (yes!) sax.  Konjur Collective‘s sonic density is also a nod to the pioneering work of the Black Panther movement.  No Base Trio is led by (what else?) an alto saxophonist.  The all-improvised NBT II adds electric guitar and drums, and slides into a comfortable series of grooves (Setola di Maiale, October 14).

Other Instruments, Including a Surprising Amount of Accordion

We covered violinist Maya Bennardo‘s four strings in our Modern Composition section; on two skies she is joined by bass clarinetist Erik Blennow Calälv and kacapi musician Kristofer Svensson, continuing to explore sound and silence, this time highlighting interval (Thanatosis, September 2).

Juno Award winner Mike Downes presents his first solo album, Mind Mirrors, multitracking the bass to sound like an ensemble (September 16).  Bass is but one of three instruments on the groovy Finding Light, from Jeff Denson, Romain Pillon, Brian Blade, exploratory yet accessible (Ridgeway, September 23).  Double bassist Ross Anderson is joined by a small group of friends on Cubism (including one on alto sax!), but the appeal of the album is that each track starts with a work of Cubist art (September 22).

Trumpet and accordion are a rare, but fine pairing, as evidenced by Eric Vloeimans & Will Holshouser on Two for the Road (V-Flow/Challenge Records, September 1).  The instruments also met early on, in recordings from Pauline Oliveros.  On Altamirage, flute and percussion join the fray with James Ilgenfritz with Anagram Ensemble (Infrequent Seams, October 21).

Piano and trumpet create a happy sound, almost like the holidays arriving early.  MMMMH pairs Masako Ohta and Matthias Lindermayr for the special occasion (Squama, October 21).  Wadada Leo Smith / Andrew Cyrille / Qasim Naqvi form a new trio of trumpet, drums and electronics.  Two Centuries not only describes their life experience, but what they bring to the table (Red Hook, October 7).

Double bass, drums, vibraphone and guitar are part of Multicolored Midnight, partially composed, partially improvised, available September 30 on Cuneiform.  Sliding between jazz and folk, the members of trio Bog Bodies (including sax!) seem comfortable in their own skin, ready to shift timbres whenever it enhances the music’s flow.  Their self-titled album is out on MIC November 11.  Over a dozen performers join trombonist Alex Paxton on ilolli-pop, which is just as colorful, lively and unusual as its title and cover indicate (Nonclassical, October 6).

Setar and electronics meet on Jamshid Jam, a tribute to the Persian inventor of music.  The set documents a live performance from Ramin Rashandel and Jean-François Charles (New Fiore Music, October 18).  Eleven years after launching live, Andrew Cyrille, Elliot Sharp, & Richard Teitelbaum‘s Evocation sees the light of day.  As with much improvised music, the non-linear presentation disconnects it from time (Infrequent Seams, September 30).

Harpsichord may be the primary instrument on François Couperin‘ Fåglarnas Närhet, but the selling point is that the vocals are all by birds.  Proceeds help to protect Sweden’s avian population (nouemienours, September 10).  How many clavichord and percussion albums can you name?  Tony Buck and Magda Mayas aim to corner the market as SPILL.  mycelium marks their twentieth anniversary of collaboration, and is released on Corvo Records October 9 (pictured right).  Mayas also appears as 1/3 of Great Waitress on the spacious back, before, teamed with Monica Brooks on accordion and Laura Altman on clarinet (Splitrec, September 16).

Aaron Turner and Jon Mueller‘s backgrounds in metal and rock come to the fore on Now That You’ve Found It, although the pleasantly caustic work does not sound much like Isis or Volcano Choir.  Moments of drone are offset by stretches in which the percussion sounds like a herd of rabid cows (American Dreams, September 16).  One man ensemble Jarius Sharif tricks the ear into thinking it is hearing an entire band.  The rocking, raucous Water & Tools is a work of free jazz, drawing equally from the realm of psychedelic groove (telephone explosion, October 21).

Hit It!

Batterie Fragile is not a metaphor, but a literal challenge, as Valentina Magaletti plays a porcelain percussion sculpture conceived by Yves Chaudouët.  One can imagine the anxiety over potential breakage (Un je-ne-sais-quos, September 23).  Drummer Jeremy Rose is joined by the eight-strong Earshift Orchestra on Disruption! The Voice of Drums, which pays tribute not only to the power of percussion, but its relationship with protest.  On the closing track, samples of street chants drive the point home (Earshift Music, October 14).

Drum and guitar duo Heikki Ruokangas and Landon George offer Devotional as an alternative form of prayer, the twin experience of playing and listening akin to an exchange with a higher power (Ramble Records, October 5).  Rhythm and experimentation are both important to Vincent Glanzmann, whose label calls SZSHH “an abstract form of dance music.”  Even if one doesn’t dance, it’s a complex and entertaining listen (esc.rec., September 2).

577 Records

577 Records is ridiculously on top of their game, which is why we always give them their own section.  A rather generous nine albums have already been announced for fall, with preview snippets ranging from a few seconds to full tracks.  First out the gate is the red vinyl release of SSWAN: Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster, from Jessica Ackerly, Patrick Shiroishi, Chris Williams, Luke Stewart, Jason Nazary, already out as of September 2.  Next up, Spam Likely, an amusing forecast from Jessica Pavone, Lukas Koenig, Matt Mottel (September 16), followed by the Tennessee-Cuba collision of Francisco Mela and Zoh Amba on Cause y Efecto Vol. 1 (September 30) and Eunhye Jeong‘s piano-centric End of Time / KM-53 Project, Vol. 1 on October 7.  Stepping Out is a studio album that includes field recordings of ice cream trucks and cicadas, presented by Playfield: Carter, Muhr, Ishito, Plaks, Namenwirth, Takahashi, Swanson, Panikkar on October 21.  Violinist Sana Nagano teams with friends on the sprightly Anime Mundi, offering the release on blue vinyl (October 28); Astroturf Noise releases a 45 titled Tennessee Blazes / Prospect Freeze on November 2; Justin Purtill feat. Leo Genovese and Sean Conly offer a Simple Treat on November 4; and Nichunimu unveils Un Cacho de Metal, Un Resto de Vaivén on November 18.  And then the holidays will arrive!

Just Add Voice

Melbourne’s Didem Caia and Emily Bennett are showcased on 3×3, a live set recorded at Program Records by I Hold the Lion’s Paw, which includes intriguing spoken word.  The release is the first of an ongoing series (September 8).  More slam poetry than haiku, Mikado Koko‘s Songs to Our Other Selves starts with Penny Rimbaud’s Acts of Love and stutters, cuts and loops raucous voice over violent instrumentation (One Little Independent, September 9).

Mali Obomsawin‘s Sweet Tooth is a mixture of folk and free jazz, instrumental and sung.  The album pays tribute to the Wabanaki people with kindness, empathy and respect (Out of Your Head, October 28).  Fourteen musicians participate on In Search of Our Father’s Gardens, including six percussionists and a trio of horns.  RA Washington / Jah Nada‘s album is a soulful excursion, with bonus material in the digital edition (Astral Spirits, September 16).

John Cage and John McEnroe have likely never shared space on an album … until now.  The parallel albums that comprise L’effet rebond turn quotations into lyrical fragments, courtesy of Pierre- Yves Macé and Sylvain Chauveau (Sub Rosa, October 7).  Chris Cochrane / John Thayer make a funky noise on Excavation, joined by a huge cast of contributors.  The album is always morphing, yet sustains an energetic vibe(Astral Editions, September 30).

‘A’ Trio (“the oldest free improvisation group to come out of Lebanon”) celebrates its 20th anniversary with Folk, an exciting album that twists and winds and coils (Maslakh, October 7, pictured right).  Free jazz, electronics and dialogue samples make DRONE OPERATØR‘s Welcome to Anxiety Group an album of surprises, a statement on current times with a built-in remedy (Participant, September 5).

Field Recordings

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay uses sound to describe the displacement of indigenous cultures and destruction of natural habitats.  The single track Withering Field is out September 6 on Cronica.  Sadly, Ian Rawes passed away last year, but recent work as The London Sound Survey is being published as From Dusk Till Dawn.  The recordings were made in East Anglia, including common seals and some incredibly active flocks (Persistence of Sound, September 16).  The next release on Forms of Minutiae comes from Diane Barbé, as A Conference of Critters captures the lushness of life in the jungles of Thailand, with occasional, endearing narration (October 21).

Richard Allen