Shards – Find Source (Erased Tapes)

Beauty sometimes comes from the unlikeliest of marriages. Enter the debut album of London-based vocal ensemble Shards: Find Sound. Their vision takes the shape of choir music amorously intertwined with electronic music and synthwave. Choirwave, perhaps? The staple track off this record might be the second one. “Summer Sickness” has all the nostalgia and longing it can muster in its dissonant intervals, so poignantly used it’s truly heart-wrenching. The song starts with arpeggiated chords on synth, and a lush, vibrant polyphony of voices, later joined by some percussion and bass. All this … Read more

Jessica Ackerley – A New Kind of Water

Canada-born, New York-based guitarist Jessica Ackerley has a harmonic language and playing style all her own. That much is evident on her new jazz album for quartet, A New Kind of Water—which sounds like the slogan for “energized” bottled water or something like that—and upcoming noise rock album with Essi. Building on her previous work, Coalesce, Ackerley offers a set of alternatively challenging and rewarding compositions, with a refined contemporary sound. Over the course of the album, Ackerley easily displays a broad range of inspirations, ideas, and proficiency, which … Read more

G. Calvin Weston & the Phoenix Orchestra – Dust and Ash (577)

Dust and Ash is a surprising album. First of all, it goes straight into a Zeuhlish upbeat tempo filled with odd harmonies and distinctive string whims. Then, it settles, still upbeat, into passages providing colourful modulations and a wide palette of emotions. The Phoenix Orchestra lends Weston its range of timbre and expression, while he, in return, provides a steady, groovy, vicious drum beat. The whole album is stellar, a trip you won’t forget!

Ben Hedquist – The Mists of Uncertainty

Polyrhythmic and filled with odd times and … Read more

The Central – Van Dyke Browne’s Crystal

Wisconsin-based mathcore group The Central has been a longtime favourite of mine. Just look at my past reviews of Discovery of a Rat and Sick and Dying for proof. Well, out of the blue and without warning, the duo just put out a new EP, and it’s as good as anything they’ve done before! If you want crunchy off-time riffs with a healthy dose of weird, look no further!

Organic Noises – Organic Noises (Lynx Music)

Some of you might recall—but I doubt it—of a band named Relocator, birthed out of the … Read more

Joliette – Luz devora (Penelope)

Mexican mathcore act Joliette have always been cool. Today, it’s because they’ve recently released Luz devora, a massive hourlong overdriven math rock adventure. This awkward description is also why I reluctantly call them “mathcore”. They do not sound like your Car Bomb or your Dillinger Escape Plan. They’re more like a heavy math rock band with some hardcore influences. Never mind the taxonomic squabbles, try out Joliette and figure out for yourselves!

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Liquid Quintet – Bouquet (Sirulita)

Sirulita Records never disappoint, when it comes to free improvisation. The last of these … Read more