Christopher Cerrone – The Pieces that Fall to Earth (New Amsterdam)

Brooklyn composer Christopher Cerrone just released his newest album, a collection of three compositions split into a total of eighteen tracks, adding up to about forty-five minutes of material. The whole thing was recorded by Los Angeles-based Wild Up ensemble. Cerrone’s compositions offer an emotional and contemporary vision, which is perfectly executed by the Wild Up team. New Amsterdam Records keep on bringing stellar works to the table, and Christopher Cerrone is one of the most recent examples of this!

Bureau Berlin – Earthbound Akupunkture

Bureau Berlin is a … Read more

Michael Gordon & Deborah Artman – Acquanetta (Cantaloupe Music)

Acquanetta is a short hour-long opera written by composer Michael Gordon. This piece takes its inspiration from horror movies of the forties, telling the tale of an actress that rose to fame before vanishing from the scene. The composition is far from traditional, for an operatic work. Instead, Michael’s score feels at the same time very contemporary and much like a movie soundtrack. Needless to say, this studio-recorded version of the piece is of the highest calibre, thanks to the Bang on a Can Opera Ensemble and the invaluable vocal … Read more

John Ghost – Airships Are Organisms (Sdban Ultra)

Upon first listening, Airships Are Organisms immediately made me reminisce Canadian prog act Glaswegians and the timeless Tubular Bells. This was perhaps only a temporary passage, but it was nonetheless present strongly in the opening piece, “Deconstructing Hymns”. In fact, the entirety of John Ghost‘s opus is highly diversified and masterfully crafted. As they put it, the album is “an exploratory symbiosis drawing on electronics, post-classical, cinematic atmospherics + jazz”, and I’ll have to agree with them. Airships Are Organisms draws as much from contemporary classical and jazz as it … Read more

Sevish – Horixens

After a series of impressive albums, the bar is high for UK microtonal electronic music artist Sevish. Horixens is set for release in July, independently. From the rhythmic experiments of Rhythm & Xen to the harmonic complexity of Harmony Hacker, what’s the next step? Well, Horixens seems to take a step down in terms of intensity, complexity, and experimentation in order to craft a more atmospheric experience. The beats and motifs therein are generally more gentle and make for a relaxed listening experience. The goal, I think, is to cater to a different crowd, one … 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!

Le String’Blö – March for Nature (Veto)

The Swiss avant-garde jazz quintet just released March for Nature, an incredible, challenging, … Read more