Avant Music NewsSource: Dusted.
Vessel of Iniquity — The Doorway (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet — Let The Free Be Men (Trost)
Joe Morris/Damon Smith — Gusts Against Particles (Open Systems)
Growing — Diptych (Silver Current Records)
Source: roam artist of the week.
Rhodri, who lives in Swansea, South Wales, is a world-renowned harpist who has both a vibrant solo career and is known for some of the most varied collaborations in contemporary music. We talk about some of the interesting things he has done with the harp and discuss some of the most interesting people with whom he has played. He also talks about his latest project Telyn Rawn, the horsehair harp. Not suitable for vegans!
Source: Bandcamp Daily.
Fred Rzewski, who passed away on June 26th of this year, was not only one of the great composers in modern classical music but one of the greatest political artists in American culture. As Rzewski himself pointed out, those two things normally didn’t go together. In 1997, he told K. Robert Schwarz of the New York Times, “People keep harping on this political motif, and I’ve never understood why they think it’s so important. If it were pop music, it would be considered natural. But an American classical composer is supposed to be right-wing or an academic or just removed from reality.”
Heavy guitar duo Ryan Betschart and Rachel Nakawatase offer up their third album of slow-moving distorted power chords and soundscapes. The most obvious comparison is with Sunn O))), given Shrine Maiden’s grinding drones and ponderous themes. But this pair is distinct sonically, with one or both guitars focused on manipulated feedback and effects. There also are further lines that appear from time to time that are either heavily processed guitar or other instruments. Case in point, A Warning to the Curious is a lush yet foreboding ambient landscape with plenty of subtle details. But this does not imply the absence of oppressive, face-crushing, overdriven madness, of which there is plenty.
Solo guitarist Dylan DiLella hangs out in a similar aural location, using feedback, loops, and other processing to create walls of distorted sound. Human Shield consists of three long (12-15 minute), discordant tracks. In addition to unusual chording, DiLella employs speed picking, effects, and varying pitches that merge into massive sonic assaults. But he is more than just a metal guitarist making a lot of noise. DiLella’s playing is loosely patterned, yet unpredictable, incorporating aspects of free improv. The closest comparison is probably Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, or perhaps the recent solo works of Alvaro Domene. In any event, your ears will be ringing after this one.
Source: The Quietus.
Peron discusses X-ray records and classic Faust albums in the latest instalment of our Le Guess Who? preview series centered around the coinciding Mega Record & CD Fair in Utrecht.
Source: Takuroku.
EIKO ISHIBASHI – LIVE AT INCUBUS
“Actually, I’m still afraid to play music live. But the feeling of jumping off a cliff, the feeling of being able to go far from my consciousness, the feeling of resetting to go to creation again, the feeling that my world is inevitably opened by customers and people I meet at live performances… these feelings, I wouldn’t get anywhere else. I am deeply grateful that I was able to have such experiences with the help of many live music venues and their staff in Japan and overseas.”
GILGUL – OS-22
Straight outta the gutter and splattered onto digital for our Takuroku series, we’re pleased to welcome this new suite of incendiary, liquid abstractions from gilgul. We first heard of gilgul’s (otherwise known as Genghis Cohn) prolific spell of 7″ and tape releases from the enthusiastic words of Kenny from Low Company (RIP). Anyone who has revelled in Wolf Eyes’ junk concrete, Graham Lambkin’s primal vocal work on ‘Poem (For Voice & Tape)’, Henri Chopin’s tape work and Container’s breakneck punk take on techno will a home find in gilgul’s macerated sounds. Listing as many comparative names might seem a bit disingenuous, but how gil’s work flows seamlessly between different stylistic approaches, while retaining a driving, caustic energy at its core, is truly something to behold.
Source: Vital Weekly.
LIMBS BIN – BURNT WHITE ELEPHANT (CD by Damien Records) *
JEAN MICHEL VAN SCHOUWBURG/ DOMINIC LASH/PHIL GIBBS – OVERLAPPING LAYERS (CD by Intrication) *
SVERDUP BALANCE – JEAN MICHEL VAN SCHOUWBURG/ YOKO MIURA/LAWRENCE CASSERLY – ARCTURUS (CD by FMP) *
CHARLOTTE KEEFFE – RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW (CD by Discus Music)
INCLUSION PRINCIPLE – THE 4, THE 8, THE 10 (CD by Discus Music)
THE BLIZZARD SOW – FOGGY SONGS FOR THE FIRST PERIODS (CD by Exklagato) *
CHRISTIAN RONN & BOB BELLERUE – INTOKU INVERSIONS (CD by Nische/Anarchymoon Recordings) *
STIRFRY – ELECTROACOUSTIC IMPROVISATIONS (CD by Vision Of Sound) *
THOMAS ANKERSMIT – PERCEPTUAL GEOGRAPHY (CD on Shelter Press) *
LAURENT SAïET AND GUESTS – AFTER THE WAVE (CD TrAce Records) *
JOSEPH BEUYS – BEUYS LACHT (10” by Edition Staeck/Steidl)
LIMINAL HAZE – VOLUME 4 (cassette by Important Drone Records) *
PHILIP SULIDAE – BROEKAS (cassette by Important Drone Records) *
NICOLAS MALONEY – AN INFLUX OF LINEARITY (cassette by Important Drone Records) *
CARNEDD AUR – BEETLES (cassette by Superpolar Taips) *
STICHFLAMME DORMAGEN – IHRE MEINUNG IST UNS WICHTIG (cassette by Superpolar Taips) *
Source: The Quietus.
While there are great ‘pandemic albums’ being released now, it’s hard not to gravitate toward records where the charged, spontaneous interplay of musicians feels palpable. Complete Communion has both polarities covered, says Peter Margasak, with some gripping stops in between.
Source: Bandcamp Daily.
To say that Alessandro Cortini sounds excitable in conversation is an understatement. More than once during a recent chat he mentions “running on a lot of coffee.” But there’s also the well-earned satisfaction he gets from his work: “I work every day and record stuff, so I know that there will be an output from this phase of my life, probably a little brighter than usual, even.”
His use of the phrase “brighter than usual” is key: Cortini is well-known for both his dark-hued electronic compositions and, since 2005, his participation in various iterations of Nine Inch Nails. First recruited by Trent Reznor for the tour supporting With Teeth Cortini, a few years’ break aside, continues in this role on keyboards, bass, and other instruments as well as contributing to the group’s studio work.
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