William Covert – Music for Synthesizer and Drums (Coup sur coup)

Highly anticipated on my end, William Covert‘s solo album doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. The seven tracks on display are based on keyboard motives, atop which drums are played, half-written, half-improvised. Thanks to the odd metres often found in said tracks, the vibe is very much into progressive rock territory. Music for Synthesizer and Drums is excellent, and it’s quite enjoyable just letting it drone on in your ears.

Key to Abyss – Beautiful Demons [2-disc]

Key to Abyss‘s Beautiful Demons is a free jazz concept double … Read more

Nudo – La última de las burocracias

Nudo is a duo from Buenos Aires playing some really impressive, rhythmically challenging jazz. La última de las burocracias is their debut album and consists of seven tracks exploring the piano and drums duo, but also the use of tuned and un-tuned percussions. It’s a highly energetic and rewarding avant-garde jazz album to listen to, not too far off from another great piano-drums duo called Dialectical Imagination.

Lost Crowns – Every Night Something Happens (Bad Elephant Music)

Lost Crowns is a retro prog band that seemingly aims to recapture the more psychedelic … Read more

New Thread Quartet – Plastic Facts (New Focus Recordings)

Contemporary classical music doesn’t get enough spotlight here (and I vow to change that). Let’s start with New York-based New Thread Quartet, a saxophone tetraphony playing pieces that are, at times, utterly terrifying and powerful; at other times contemplative, meandering, or intriguing. Each track is from a different composer, but they all shine equally on this record.

Review.

Richmond Avant-Improv Collective – Multiplicity (Thirsty Leaves Music)

Known more succinctly as RAIC, the Richmond Avant-Improv Collective is an ensemble made of a great number of musicians. Correspondingly, they also create music from