Sonomu Reviews

From Sonomu:

Rothkamm, Opus Spongebobicum (Flux Records)
Frank Rothkamm has been an avant-garde pianist since his childhood in Germany. Now he is a bicoastal American with repetitive strain injury who also accepts commissions for commercials, video games and movie trailers. I am unfamiliar with any of his previous work but am informed that it always… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 08:12, 09 Oct 2008

Larsgarden & Rowenta, Grdn (3″ CDR Tuguska)
Presenting the first collaboration between well-known Austrian field recordist Frank Rowenta and relative newcomer C.J. Larsgården from Sweden. This piece recorded two years ago smears Swedish and English in its titles to indicate its beginning, middle and end, book-ended between which are two… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 07:50, 09 Oct 2008

Mariska Baars, Wouter van Veldhoven & Rutger Zuydervelt, Zeeg (Digitalis Industries)
A single thirty-seven minute track in three distinct movements, recorded live (and possibly improvised?) in Wouter van Veldhoven´s digs on a summer day in 2007. Rutger Zuydervelt has worked with Mariska Baars and van Veldhoven before, but never to my knowledge on the same album. Their combined… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 07:34, 09 Oct 2008

Feu Follet, Paradis Paysan (CDR Gruenrekorder)
Tobias Fischer runs (at least) two labels, maintains a highly informative website where he writes eloquently about music, but above all meticulously crafts his own, very distinctive sounds, putting him in the vanguard of a new generation of ambient and drone composers. The special niche carved out… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 07:28, 09 Oct 2008

Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd, After the Night Falls (Darla), Before the Day Breaks (Darla)
Two masters, two CDs. Conceived as “experiments in the dualities of music and emotion”, the long-standing relationship between pianist Harold Budd and guitarist Robin Guthrie began as far back as the curious and classic “The Moon and the Melodies” EP, featuring all the members of Guthrie´s old band… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 07:19, 09 Oct 2008