It’s hard to keep up with so much great music out there.
Here’s a selection that brings you from modern classical to futuristic dub (via reel-to-reel tape delay)!
Hightlights from Monochromie; Visionary Hours; Peter Grech; Northumbria and Mogano
More than ever before, it seems female artists are rightfully claiming their own space in experimental electronics.
Hot on the heels of the surprising Sleepstep album by Dasha Rush comes All In All – a new release by Cio D’Or (who’s track Distanz also saw a beautiful remix on the recent Sonae album).
Sleepstep and All In All are a perfect match, exploring the same musical areas of experimental yet atmospheric techno, pushing the boundaries of (dub-) techno into new and adventurous territories.
At first listen, her new album Sleepstep (subtitled ‘Sonar Poems for my Sleepless Friends’) does not sound like a ‘typical’ Raster-Noton release… maybe because her sonar poems are ‘feminine, subtle and personal reports’ – nothing like the usual concepts of electronic music created by nerdy, predominantly male tech-wizzards.
But as the album progresses, the musical soundscapes get more abstract and gradually prove Dasha’s perfectly at home on the Raster-Noton label.
This month’s edition focuses on new music from some ‘para-ambient’ releases: not exactly ambient by definition, but definitely atmospheric.
Introducing new albums by Dasha Rush, Yamaoka, Juxta Phona, Forrest Fang, Piano Interrupted, Cass., Bill Seaman, Biosphere, Matthew Mercer and Ah! Kosmos.
This “shortlist” is categorized under “Other Music” which means it’s only loosely related to what we call ‘ambient’.
Listen to reconstructions of Piano Interrupted‘s “Unified Fields”, your Inner Voicings with Dan Kearley and Daryn Cassie; intensely touching music from Bill Seaman; a playful Juxta Phona (which turns out to be Jason Corder) – to finally immerse yourself in the rhythmic patterns of Yamaoka
After they met when working together on Cloud Ensemble, Michel Banabila and Oene van Geel extended their collaboration which resulted in 2014’s “Music for Viola and Electronics”.
Both were so very enthusiastic about the new musical world that they had opened up, that they kept working on “Music for Viola and Electronics II”, which is released this month.
Judging by the (strikingly beautiful!) aerial landscape photography by Gerco de Ruijer on the cover, their collaboration will probably not end here: the crop of the (geometric) landscape on the Volume I cover photo is only partially harvested – by hand, line by line… a difficult, strenuous, but most rewarding work.
Could this be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music?
In fact, it really ís machine music!
Remember ‘Tron’?
I guess this is what Kevin Flynn must’ve felt like.
Imagine Jeff Bridges – or The Dude, if you prefer – sitting right next to your bed, telling you stories like a granddad to his grandson would do … bedtime stories, memories he just seems to improvise on the spot, or even guided fantasies to help you doze off…
Would you be able to fall asleep?
Or would you fight off sleep to make sure you can listen to all he has to tell you?
‘Borderlands’ is an extended meditation for multitracked cellos recorded by cellist William Mace. The composition ‘comprises of six interludes and six extended panels, each comprising twenty-eight short melodic fragments. Each panel uses the same fragments to form new melodies and harmonies.” – but for the listener it feels – and can be enjoyed – as one single uninterrupted piece.
A piece in which every single detail has its place, a piece that conveys that everything is as it should be. A very, very comforting piece.
