Category: AMN Reviews

Yousef Kawar – Unclear Frequencies (2023; Reverse Alignment) New to these ears, the music of Yousef Kawar on Unclear Frequencies falls loosely into the experimental / dark ambient category. An acclaimed videographer and musical collaborator outside of this sphere, Kawar turns his attention on this release to haunting drones and soundscapes. With that effort, he…

Earlier this year, Italian duo ILUITEQ, consisting of Sergio Calzoni and Andrea Bellucci, released the well-received Reflections from the Road on vinyl, inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel. Now, they return to reflect on their stellar ambient work along with a passel of talented friends.  It is particularly rewarding to listen to an album of remixes that flows with such cohesiveness…

In short, this is well-done Zeuhl music. If you can’t get enough Magma, Tozïh is a good choice. It features keyboard-driven electric jazz with sax and violin, repeating rhythmic structures with assertive bass, and four-part chant-like vocals. They are even from France and have a drummer named Captain Flapattak. What is not to like? There…

Saxophonist Steve Lehman is still a mystery even though we know so much about him. An accomplished composer, improviser, and educator who did his doctoral studies with Tristan Murail, George Lewis, Fabien Lévy, and Fred Lerdahl, he combines jazz, classical, open improv, electroacoustic music, and even hip-hop. Listening to a new Steve Lehman album is…

Despite his long tenure in the UK creative music scene, British improvising pianist Pat Thomas has only just begun to gain widespread recognition as a singular talent. Over the last thirty years, Thomas has collaborated with a who’s who of musicians – Derek Bailey, Lol Coxhill, Eugene Chadbourne, Steve Beresford, Keith Tippett, Phil Minton, Charles…

Experimental trumpeter Hilde Marie Holsen will be releasing this album shortly. It is based entirely on sounds generated by way of her trumpet. Along with long-held, plaintive notes, there are looped and echoed noises, scaping and fluttering, and jagged structures. But these more unusual elements are surprisingly well combined with her slow, melancholic melodies. Many…

Composer Stefan Węgłowski teaches at the Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw. Smooth Inertia is his fifth recording, born, he writes, after a period of stagnation out of which he was determined to break with an album of ambient music “which would transcend…my full understanding.” He certainly must be pleased with the results, having added an absolute gem…

What is this thing with saxophone players recording themselves in large resonant spaces? It seems to be a trend of late (see Ida Toninato and Patrick Shiroishi). Nonetheless, each of these spaces has its own unique sonic character in terms of resonances and echoes. As a result, the growing number of resonance-based recordings are all…

First things first, this album will be released on September 1st on the Persistence of Sound label.  They have released a number of things from Natasha Barrett and I believe I’ve written about them all (and then some) in this space.  BIG thank you to the folks at PoS for continuing this examination of one…

This is the fourth full-length release from Italy’s Nihil Impvlse, a one-person endeavor of Francesco di Stasio. It is a follow-up to 2020’s Stasis, and shares that album’s dark mechanical acousmatic approach and attention to detail. Indeed, to appreciate those details, listening in a quiet room at generous volume is highly recommended. Fog of War…

This exercise in free and textural improvisation focuses on fluttery bursts and staccato passages – a jagged start/stop mixture that never stands still. An instantaneous creation of saxophonist John Butcher, pianist Pat Thomas, bassist Dominic Lash, and drummer Steve Noble, Fathom challenges the listener’s notion of creative jazz across three long tracks. While there is…

With bassist Michael Formanek and drummer / percussionist Mike Pride in the lineup, one would think that this debut from Location Location Location would focus on weird composed and/or improvised creative jazz. Maybe. But whether from the addition of guitarist Anthony Pirog, or the intrinsic proclivities of Formanek and Pride, Damaged Goods exhibits more of…

Experimental, electroacoustic, or dark ambient – however you’d like to refer to it – is a broad and growing genre that continues to evolve decades into its existence. Here, we carry on with our reviews of a handful of recent releases. Shinkiro – The Birth Of The Gods (2023; Cyclic Law) Shinkiro is Manabu Hiramoto,…

While another entry in the “classical music with heavy guitars” microgenre, Calibrating Friction by Harry Stafylakis is better thought of as chamber music. Admittedly, said chamber music includes distorted 8-string guitar as one of its instruments, rock-oriented drumming, and lively tempos. But the overall sound is more reminiscent of progressive rock groups Univers Zero and…

Just a few pictures from this performance last night. It was a sold-out show at Constellation, one that just popped up with little warning. While several subsets of these musicians had recorded and played together before, some had not, and the sextet was a first-time performance (and likely a one-off). The show began with three…

Experimental, electroacoustic, or dark ambient – however you’d like to refer to it – is a broad and growing genre that continues to evolve decades into its existence. Here, we review a handful of recent releases. Pavor Nocturnus – Ecatombe (2023; Cyclic Law) A solo project of Milan-based Eugenio Mazza, Pavor Nocturnus explores the intersection…

Necks drummer Tony Buck is worth checking out in any context. Here, he offers up a nearly 2-hour continuous piece of music that is a slowly-evolving and densely-overlapped amalgam of instruments that manages to both have direction and remain open-ended. Unsurprisingly, the most dominant sounds are from drums, cymbals, bells, and other percussives. These are…