Joey Molinaro – Tale of the Lovelorn Outlaw

My previous encounter with Joey‘s music was with his Awash album, which was a really interesting mix of hardcore or metal music firmly rooted in folk. The Tale of the Lovelorn Outlaw stays within this realm, but seems slightly less experimental to my ears, given Joey’s cleaner vocal performance in general. It’s truly an amazing spin on modern folk music, and, being a concept EP, there’s a strong sense of continuity throughout, which helps keep all the individual songs together. We need more of this to reinvigorate folk music.

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Sales de baño – Geometría del vínculos (Buh Records)

Sales de baño is an ever-impressive jazz-rock band from Buenos Aires. Their previous effort, Horror vacui, is still one of my favourites, and their upcoming full-length, Geometría del vínculos will most certainly deserve the same fate. Out on April 30, the album explores plenty of truly interesting musical ideas on its eight tracks, from strange counterpoints to polyrhythm manifolds, you won’t be disappointed.

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Town Portal – Of Violence (Art as Catharsis)

The delicate interweaving of post-metal and math rock so idiosyncratic of Australian band Town Portal is back in full force on their new effort: Of Violence. It’s no news to anyone that the trio has incredible compositional chops. Their songs sound at times beautiful and brittle and others harsh and empowering. This alchemy is not unbeknownst to others, as similar bands have risen up brewing similar potions, but Town Portal remains master of its craft. Of Violence comes out on the fifth of April.

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E.A.R. – A æ u å æ ø i æ å, æ i å u å æ ø i æ å?

You really can’t forget an album with a name like this one. The E.A.R. trio consists of Adrián Perales on drums, Raül Bonell on Warr guitar, and led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Efrén López, who plays so many different instruments here that it is no use enumerating them. Know that he specializes in ancient instruments, like the hurdy-gurdy, and those from the Mediterranean and Middle East. There are also a host of guest musicians sprinkled throughout this huge, hour-and-a-half release. Even if it might appear onomatopoeic, A æ u å æ ø i æ å, æ i å u å æ ø i æ å? is a real sentence in Danish—which sounds like gibberish most of the time anyways—made of vowels only. Musically, the album is rather incredible: a mix of progressive metal with a strong influence of Balkan rhythms and oriental melodies… This definitely gives a cutting edge to the band’s sound. It’s marvellous!

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Quantum Trio – Red Fog (Emme Records)

The Netherlands’ Quantum Trio has ditched the dichotomy found on Particles & Waves and coalesced the various aspects of their music together into a new, modern sound. Red Fog is a progressive and bleak heavy jazz album that’s worth your time for sure. It comes out on the 29th.

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Whim Ensemble – Pre-Fall (Actuellecd)

The avant-garde duo of pianist Ofer Pelz and percussionist Preston Beebe just released Pre-Fall, an amalgamation of various experiments in the spontaneous synchronicity of the two performers here. While the recorded output is a fantastic experience in its own right, there is something truly mesmerizing in witnessing such performance being played live, as I had the chance to. Hopefully, you’ll get to do the same, but in the meantime, let this incredible release engulf you whole.