Reto Mäder is quite a prolific artist, from his solo work as RM74, with Steven Hess in Ural Umbo to his role in Pendulum Nisum. His more metal-influenced work as Sum of R (Mäder with guitarist Julia Wolf) has a relatively small discography, with this being his second full-length work other than a few self-released CDRs. Ride Out the Waves makes for a dense, psych tinged experiment that recalls some of the best moments of early Godflesh, juxtaposed with abstract free-form experimentation.
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Kang continues to show his range and vision as a composer and ensemble leader. Visible Breath is a startling album which takes many of the strands of 20th century composition and weaves them into new musical fabrics, far from imitation and full of innovation. His music hangs like a specter in the room, the notes either merging into each other like a ghost passing through a wall.
As the title suggests, this live album was recorded in London’s current hot spot for weirdo music and finds the trio taking their work further into the inner recesses of free improvisation. As expected, given their track record as a group and as solo performers in their own rights, Café Oto/London swerves between danger and calm; safety and turmoil. Every adjective ever thrown at free jazz is applicable but, more often than not, inadequate.
Across 13 tracks of sample abuse and digital detritus, the debut album from this duo is a hyper-kinetic, violent outburst of occasionally musical noise that mixes up some odd concoctions that sometimes work, and sometimes don't.
Considering Roden's recent album Proximities, an abstract, lo-fi piece of sound art, this is an odd step. Created through studio improvisations that were explicitly aimed at avoiding electronic instruments, it becomes a very different beast, which is made even more apparent once actual vocals appear, for better or worse.
Now on their third full-length, School of Seven Bells have evolved into playing a sleek, manicured style of dream-pop constructed with the live experience in mind. While I have mixed feelings on the album start to finish, Ghostory does contain some powerful moments within its palette of sounds.
Volcano the Bear continue their esoteric but quickly comprehendible sounds and structure via this lathe-cut 8" single, the debut release on the Alt.Vinyl label. This is the second piece of seven inch VTB vinyl in a many months to come out of the North East of England, and shows the band investing solid musical experiments with new labels, outside of their regular album schedule.
This reissue of Jeremy Schmidt’s album as Sinoia Caves is a nice homage to the analog synth pomp of '70s prog and psychedelica, from the music right down to the fonts used on the sleeve. The music is excellent but The Enchanter Persuaded isn’t intended as a manual in how to shake things up using a synthesiser; it’s a straight up tribute to synths as how they used to be played.
This album aims to recapture a childlike innocence and wonder by combining cartoon sounds with more exciting and grown up arrangements. The result is an enjoyable album that is like bubble gum for the ears, fun at first but it loses its flavor after a short time.
This might be heresy to some folk out there, but Neil Campbell’s work as Astral Social Club far outweighs that of anything done in his time with either the A-Band or Vibracathedral Orchestra. The floating membership of Campbell’s club is bolstered here by Arttu Partinen, a member of Finland’s brickheaded jamsters Avarus. One side of this lathe falls flailing but focused into the pit while the other still clings to the top rung of Jacob’s ladder.
