This consists of five relatively lengthy works culled from an eclectic array of recordings by this renowned Aussie experimental guitarist. The unifying theme seems to be that all are rare or out-of-print, which should make completists quite happy (especially ones without record players). Those new to Ambarchi should probably go elsewhere first, but casual fans will likely find many pleasantly diverting (though not revelatory) moments here to tide them over until Oren's next album emerges.
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This is nothing short of perfect mood music for breaching the walls of reality. This is music for that dark hallway you have to walk down from time to time, every step an uncomfortable one. Feelings of unease and vague fear permeate both sides of this cassette. Sounds fall, trip up and collapse in on each other. Nothing is what it seems to be; everything changes in the darkness into the unfamiliar and alien.
Amberhaze is the solo project of an Italian expatriate currently living in Singapore, which seems to be an unexpectedly fertile ground these days for warm electronic music such as this. However, Giulliano Gullotti also exhibits quite a healthy (and well-justified) passion for early ‘90s English shoegaze (which obviously Singapore is not as known for). Despite that substantial temporal and geographic disadvantage, this debut album combines those two loves with a sometimes stunning degree of success.
This reissue of the trio’s only album together fills in a gap in my Krautrock collection but unfortunately does not live up to the quality I expect from any of the artists involved. Heavily inspired by African rhythms, this 1983 album has dated badly and sounds and upsettingly reminds me of one of my most hated albums of all time (Paul Simon’s Graceland, a more harrowing record I have never encountered). However, there are still moments of brilliance shining through but overall this is an album that might have been better left in the vaults.
Sometimes I have to wonder how much life is left in rock and roll. How long before every possible note is exhausted? Then I think, who cares as long as albums like this exist. It is rough as sandpaper and about as original as any other retro-styled artist but this album rocks very hard. This is not surprising considering it is the work of Michael Polizze of Birds of Maya but this solo album has clicked with me even more than his main group already has; its guitar-heavy mix and hypnotising riffs tap into a primeval feeling of rock and roll abandon and it feels like a living fossil from a time when Blue Cheer and The Stooges were punk kids shaking things up.
Dean McPhee’s debut EP takes a divergent path from the current prevailing solo guitar trends, venturing into neither Fahey/Basho-inspired steel guitar virtuosity nor pedal-stomping soundscapes. Instead, Brown Bear quietly captures the sound of a man simply playing a guitar extremely well, with little ostentation or outside artifice.
Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950 is an astonishing document of 75 sepia photograph reproductions with a disc of 25 songs and sermons. As usual, the Dust to Digital label rises above concepts of social division and genre by including music made by both African-Americans and European-Americans. There's a primal appeal both to these sounds and to the haunting, almost other-worldly photographs. 
In the first solo museum exhibit of C. Spencer Yeh, the prolific musician and sound artist shows off his more personal and playful side. The two installations and two videos show him equally at home in the halls of a gallery as he is on stage or on a record, and marks another milestone in his ever growing body of work.
This, I believe, is the ninth full-length album that Tokyo’s Yasuhiko Fukuzono has released since 2004, but this young composer has somehow managed to balance his voluminous output with an unwavering elegance and painstaking meticulousness. The glitchy pastoral ambience of Light in August, Later is certainly nothing new, but it is nevertheless done quite well…a bit too well, actually. While technically flawless, there are too few cracks to allow very much emotion to seep in.
This ten-band concert DVD celebrates the weird, sweaty entropy of LA’s unique all-ages DIY club. There are some fairly well known bands included here, such as High Places and the reliably excellent No Age, but the most memorable performances are generally delivered by those that lurk in the most aggressively uncommercial shadows of the lunatic fringe (like Captain Ahab and Foot Village).
