Music tips
Even if it's not Bandcamp Friday anytime soon
Of course… I started writing this post with the plan to send it next week, with the title Bandcamp Friday Tips. But I just found out the next one is in August. Fuck it. I can still recommend music, right? Buying stuff from independent artist is always a good thing, whenever. So I’m posting this now:
Mógil – Norðlandínus
I’m biased, cause I did the layout for this album, but there’s no harm in checking this fairytale-like gorgeousness. It’s all sung in Icelandic, and inspired by painter and philosopher Sölvi Helgason. Four Islandic musicians (with one you might know from this album), joined by Joachim Badenhorst (who you all know, right?).
Magda Mayas – Chant
Magda Mayas plays piano, and most of the time it’s prepared. She multi-tracks herself to create three long-form tapestries that are spellbinding. Really keeps you on the edge of your seat. On the second track, Halcyon, Magda’s piano sounds more like a distorted guitar, with a Loren (Mazzacane) Connors-like result. Very very good.
Released on the great Amsterdam-based Unsounds label.
Eric Honoré – Temporary Empire
Norwegian musician/composer Eric Honoré worked with David Sylvian, Sidsel Endresen, Arve Henriksen, and many more. He’s an expert in live sampling/processing of acoustic sounds, and that what he does on this short (30 minutes) live recording, with Eivind Lønning (trumpet, electronics, synth) and Mark Wastell (small percussion). The music is built around a spoken (English) text by Eric. The result is not unlike David Sylvian’s There Is No Love (also with Mark Wastell), though perhaps a bit fuller. Serious stuff!
tsrono – vrtiglavica
No, I hadn’t heard of tsrono either, before someone posted about it on Instagram, I chacked it out, and discoved that I really dig what Louisiana based Jason Lacombe is doing here. Melancholic and quite detailed IDM, with (I suppose) clear influences of Autechre and Richard Devine and such. Give it a listen:
F~M – Fose
F~M is Roel Funcken and Jeroen Bax. The latter I didn’t know before, but Roel is half of Funckarma, whom I’d say were the Dutch answer to Autechre in the early 2000’s. And that’s meant as a compliment, I love their early releases. F~M also ‘does IDM’, but a big difference to their peers is that they create very long tracks, more like suits I suppose. Very evocative, beautifully layered, and a must if you’re into the genre… Released on Old Technology, the label from Dan Bean and Anthony Child (Surgeon).
Speedy J – Walkman
More than Aphex Twin, Autechre, or whoever, probably my biggest influence (as a listener and musician) from the end of the 90’s, was Speedy J with his albums Public Energy No.1 and A Shockig Hobby (which still sound super fresh now). After these experimental albums, he went into a more four to the floor techno-y direction, which isn’t my thing. But he just released a new one, where he goes into wilder territory again, and it’s really great. 90 minutes of electronic bliss!
Prms – Ruins
Very nice guitar/synth project by Cloud Chamber’s head honcho Primož Bončina. Has a bit of an Emeralds vibe, but heavier. Dramatic, heavy, and beautiful. A nice one to play loud.
Altars – Ascetic Reflection
I was planning to listen to Altars, another project by the above mentinoed Primož Bončina, when I ended up on the Bandcamp page of this Altars – Now that’s a way to discover new music! And they make excactly the kind of death metal I really like. Technical, brutal, but still super catchy, and very well produced. Glad I discovered this, it’ll be on rotation quite a bit.
Aidan Baker – Songs of Waking & Weather
A soundtrack for the book (coming later this year) with the same name. Aidan plays multiple instruments on these recordings, and it’s all quite spatious and subdued post-rock-y… Reminds me of David Pajo’s instrumental projects, like Papa M and Aerial M. And that’s a good thing :-)
Actress x London Contemporary Orchestra – LAGEOS
This one is a few years old. It doesn’t sound like Actress is making music together with the LCO, but more that he took recordings from the orchestra to construct new tracks. It’s all quite sketchy, and there’s not a lot of coherence – there’s melancholic Basinski-like dusty orchestral loops, noisy concrète weirdness, funky electro tracks with vibraphone noodling, etc. – but that’s part of the album’s charm. It’s playful, and there’s multiple hauntingly beautiful moments.
fold/interval – fold/interval
The artist name probably doens’t ring a bell, though the duo is comprised of Guiseppe Ielassi and Fabio Perletta, both (in my bubble) well known masters of minimalist experimentalism. They’ve created this album (or should I say project) with photographer Giulia Bruno, who’s images can be seen in the gorgeous cd packaging. And the music (electric guitar and electronics) is really really beautiful.
Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire
I keep coming back to this one. Just pure lush electronic pop, with traces of garage, triphop, etc. It’s so so addictive… It might all sond a bit plain at first, but it’s so well done – so beautifully produced and soothing, I can’t get enough of it.
Emptiness – Nothing but the Whole
I’ve been obsessed with Emptiness album Vide since I saw it being performed live, online, at Roadburn Redux in 2021. As far as I know, the Brussels-based has their roots in black metal, but on Vide they create something really unique. It’s dark, but there’s none of the heavy-riffing or screaming from black metal… And it’s sung (or ‘gnarly whispered’) in French. Anyway, it was about time that I checked out their earlier efforts, and Nothing but the Whole doesn’t dissapoint. It’s defenitly more metal than Vide, but there’s pleny of hints to the direction they’d go on the latter album.
… and there’s of course some new/upcoming/recent stuff on my own Bandcamp that you might want to check… ;-)
Bye! Rutger