One of the most recognizable 21st Century proponents of prepared piano music, Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka, returns with his first full-length studio album since 2014’s Abandoned City. It is not as if he has not been otherwise occupied during the intervening time. Quite the opposite in fact. He has been touring, curating festivals, collaborating on special performances, and composing soundtracks such…
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Sound Impression: No Home of the Mind by Bing & Ruth [4AD]
No Home of the Mind is the third album by Bing & Ruth, a critically acclaimed project formed by Kansas-born composer David Moore while studying music in New York, and represents the third configuration in as many outings. Eleven became seven between City Lake (2010) and Tomorrow Was the Golden Age (2014) and the ensemble has been streamlined once again,…
Read MoreSustainer – Medicina [Eilean Rec.]
Under the alias of Sustainer, Barcelona-based sound artist Alex Alarcón has a penchant for transforming the seemingly mundane into imaginative and exotic musical works. On Radiolas, released last fall on Room 40, it was shortwave radio recordings from the Mediterranean and North Africa. And on Taps, which closed out 2015 on Tessellate Recordings, it was the resonance…
Read MoreVarious Artists – Hawk Moon Records Volume V
On the western edge of England’s South Downs National Park, the city of Winchester is home to the famous Winchester Cathedral and a historic & cultural heritage spanning from the Iron Age to the Victorian era. It is also home to a net label that should be well-known to fans of experimental instrumental music called Hawk…
Read MoreTravelogue 2016.11.07: The Consequences of Collaboration part 1
I have to confess that when I first saw a release entitled The Exquisite Corpse from Bigo & Twigetti, I almost looked past it anticipating something of a morbid aesthetic. What a mistake that would have been. In fact, it is a reference to a game of chance and collaboration rooted in the Surrealist movement, a variant…
Read MoreSpecial Preview: Max Ananyev – Communication [Preserved Sound]
Born and raised in Obluchye, some 8,000 kilometers from Moscow on the border with China, Max Ananyev is a Russian composer and sound producer based in St. Petersburg. Having made music under the monikers of AMVI and Tree Bosier, he is also quite a fine classical guitarist and that is the instrument at the heart of…
Read MoreSiavash Amini & Zenjungle – Topology of Figments [Flaming Pines]
It was difficult not to become giddy at the prospects when this collaboration between Siavash Amini and Zenjungle (Phil Gardelis) was first announced by Flaming Pines. These are two of the most potent and expressive voices in experimental ambient and drone music on the scene today and the idea of them joining creative forces was tantalizing to say…
Read MoreMarconi Union – Ghost Stations [Just Music]
What do you do for an encore after recording “the most relaxing track in the world“? Earning that accolade along with extraordinary visibility and respectability in a cluster of eclectic genres that get too little of either might be enough to lure a band into stagnation, but on the evidence of their output since “Weightless”, there is little…
Read MorePorya Hatami & Arovane – Kaziwa [Time Released Sound]
While very well established and highly respected as solo artists, Porya Hatami and Uwe Zahn, aka Arovane, have only recently formed their creative partnership, but it has turned out to be a fruitful one with the release of three full length albums featuring their collaborative work in less than a year – Resonance on ÉTER (2015), Veerian which also featured Darren McClure on…
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Stationary Travels 