Experimental / Ambient

João Almeida (trumpet) and Pedro Melo Alves (drums), two of the most creative and prolific Portuguese jazz musicians of their generation, are Mooris. Recorded in May 2021, right after the second lockdown in Portugal, “I” shows them freely exploring their instruments of choice but also finding and creating sound with “objects”, as they describe. Both musicians leave behind familiar ground and use their instruments to create sounds that appear ceremonial or even manifest themselves as rituals. “+”…

Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the rāga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood and atmosphere, each rāga thought to have its own distinct nature and personality, brought to life through improvisation. String…

Tathata is a central concept in Buddhism, literally translated from sanskrit as 'thusness' or 'suchness'. Tathata expresses appreciation of the true nature of reality in any given moment. As no moment is exactly the same, each one can be savored for what occurs at that precise time, whether it is thought of as being good or bad. However, Jeph Jerman and Doug Theriault are trying to give us the possibility to meditate on this word, they recorded three long improvised pieces for the same-titled al…

*200 copies edition* In its own way the music of British duo brothers Mark and Clive Ives—known creatively as Woo—seemed destined for a digital world that the internet offers. They began making music together decades ago, but it’s only been within the last decade that they’ve started to receive the critical acclaim they rightly deserve. Their music is largely instrumental (though not always the case) and is perhaps the best example of “mood music” I can think of. Occasionally it’s meditative and…

Queried on his favourite word in the German language, Masayoshi Fujita will pick ‘getragen’ – without a sliver of hesitation. Further questioning will reveal that he loves the term’s semantic signifiers, its inherent sense of “expansive, deep, quiet and sombre.” And yet, ‘getragen’ leaves plenty of room for interpretation: depending on context, it might also indicate wearing apparel or the state of being carried – two more mundane interpretations that I would rather keep from him. Does Masayoshi…

Records are almost always more than they seem. For all the sound and joy that they bring, they are works of art in multiple that indicate vast networks of happening, history, and ideas; beacons to be chased, leading to understanding beyond themselves. Particularly in the case of historical works, whether they emerge from dusty crates or as reissues and archival releases, these objects can reveal unexpected creative intersections that defy our notions of what was. Aguirre’s first-time reissue of …

Liz Harris of Grouper under the name Nivhek: Mellotron, guitar, tapes, field recordings and broken pedals, made during residencies in the Azores and Murmansk and at home in Astoria, Oregon.

**LP version on ivory vinyl** Current 93 have dreamt a new album, Invocations of Almost, using music from her FuturePast and her PastFuture, to accompany David Tibet's art exhibition, Invocations of Almost, which opened on March 9 at The Begovich Gallery in Fullerton, CA and lasted for around two months. The CD version is 59 minutes long, as it is launched on David's 59th birthday, March 5, whilst he was in LA for the official opening of his show. The music on Invocations of Almost was played on…

Two short pieces built from piano recordings made by Orphax at De Ruimte in Amsterdam Noord during summer 2017. The 7-inch marks a deliberate break with his usual drone vocabulary, foregrounding more openly melodic ambient writing and treating the piano as the primary voice rather than as raw material. One of his most personal works to date, dealing in textural terms with closure, regret and the slow effort of moving on.

Finally restocked: Tsembla's outstanding faux-gamelan and homemade ethnodelic fantasies from Finland’s Ikuisuus label "The cicadas rub their legs, singing as if sucking on inhalators, when past the great willows I see a dam resting deep in the shelter of the trees. The shadow of the dam, a dark cloak glowing green, spreads over the branches of the trees and far across the grass, transforming the yard beyond the road’s edge into an odd province ruled by frogs and mosquitoes that gradually slides …

Cinema Perdu is Martijn Pieck's solo vehicle for what he calls 'soundtracks without movies': field recording as compositional starting point, layered with synthesizers, contact-microphone material and other electronic sources to reconstitute the feeling of a place at a moment. Interventions in a Landscape unfolds across four pieces drawn from coastal sites where human modification of the terrain sharpens existing contrasts. Place-based composition on the musique concrète-ambient threshold.

Seems like only yesterday Barn Owl had a new record on Thrill Jockey, and in fact this, Lost In The Glare, is their third for TJ in about a year, coming hot on the heels of their Shadowland 12" which ranks up there as one of our favorites. Lost In The Glare doesn't radically reinvent their sound, just further stretches it out, and refines it, the opening track as fierce as anything we've heard from them, lush tangles of guitar, over swirling droned out shimmer, culminating in a wild squal…

Packaged in hand stenciled gatefold jacket with silkscreened inner sleeves. Key Of Shame is the most extreme entity to come from two cult collectives of the New York underground, No Neck Blues Band and Sightings. PLANAM proudly presents their first recordings, four threnodies for Judas Iscariot as performed by Mark Morgan (Sightings) and Pat Murano (NNCK, Decimus). Jesus answered and said "You will become the thirteenth, and you will be cursed by the other generations -- and you will come to rul…

Last copies available: there are a lot of good times happening in SoCal these days and the Stunned Records/Magic Lantern crew is responsible for a whole hell of a lot of it. Well, Super Minerals are an important cog in that machine and this duo's intentions are blaring loud and clear on their first proper CD, Multitudes. This duo of Phil French and William Giachhi may rip it up when they're moonlighting in Magic Lantern, but here they are burning it all down slow. This is an album full of zoned-…

This third full-length by London improv collective Morphogenesis was released in 1996. Formed in 1985, Morphogenesis consisted of seven people at the time of recording, but for all the sessions, except the live track, the line-ups are amalgams of various members and instrumentation. All tracks are free improvisations that were recorded direct to two channels and later edited with no other post production. Recorded between 1993-1996. "Shorepoints" was recorded live at the LMC Festival 1994. Featu…

Electronic album on themes by György Kurtág jr., arranged by László Hortobágyi, with Kurtág jr. and Hortobágyi on synthesizers and computers and Miklós Lengyelfi on bass and effects. Recorded August 2008 at the Guo Manor, Budapest.

Solo album by Stephan Micus in four parts for voice, hammered dulcimers, nay, sho, shakuhachi and Bavarian zithers, all played by him through overdubbing. Recorded January 1986 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg. ECM 1318, 1986.