Journeys in Sound & Music
Isolarii is a word with roots going back to the Renaissance age that means ‘island books’. It represents a distinctive literary form that fuses many place-specific components together into a singular narrative that encompasses maps, nautical charts, travelogues, and history blended with elements of myth and legend. Its mere description ignites the imagination and so…
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This March will see the release of the long anticipated second full-length record by Japanese composer & pianist Daigo Hanada. The gap since his debut album Ichiru (2017) has encompassed an EP along with scattered singles and collaborations but also unfortunately the onset of a sudden and debilitating physical illness which has resulted in numerous…
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Continuing the first tentative steps into a new year of music, it seems fitting to focus next on the discovery of a brand new net label launched late last year by two brothers from Montreal who ambient music fans may know by their respective solo monikers of Lamasz and Grandbruit. Described as “an ambient label…
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What better way to ease into a new year of stationary traveling than to ride the oscillating waves of Layover by the Málaga-based duo of musician Lee Yi and visual artist Meneh Peh known as EmilÃa. Shifting from the uneasy ruminations of last year’s Spring Through a Window (and companion EP Pollinations) and the mournful…
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The EP is often overlooked when it comes annual round-ups, but this format continually proves it can provide us with outsized moments of wonder and delight and the year in music would not be the same without them as these 16 releases demonstrate.
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From the intimacy of a solitary piano to the harmony of an ensemble or the mysterious alchemy forged in the studio where the analog is fused with the electronic, here is a selection of some especially memorable journeys in modern & post classical music released during the past year.
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A selection of memorable releases from the year from the musical edgelands where electroacoustic ambient and field recordings meet acoustic, folk, and other analog experiments in sound.
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Music can be a great companion allowing us to feel connected, comforted, and even transported through just the sounds that fill the space between our ears. From their cinematic vistas and atmospheric soundscapes to their a generous embrace of stillness, beauty, and self-reflection, the albums in this category are especially well suited to do just…
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The act of creating a sense of a place or capturing a moment in time is a fairly common motif in a great deal of instrumental music, especially ambient, but it is intrinsically at the very core of these works released in 2021. Some are personal narratives or depictions of landscape either real or imagined while…
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Stationary Travels 