Japanese-American saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, whom we’ve come to spect and respect for his involvement with some of the best and craziest music acts out there – like Upsilon Acrux, Corima, Sewing Circle, and Nakata, to name a few –, is going to release new music under a his solo moniker with the album Tulean Dispatch. The project deals with the Tule Lake internment camp, where his Japanese grandparents were placed during World War II. The album not only reflects on these past events but draws parallels to what is happening today in the world and the USA. It’s a … Read more
Monthly Recommendations – October 2017
Coma Cluster Void – Thoughts from a Stone
Thoughts from a Stone is a praise-worthy successor to the band’s debut album, and expands many ideas that were expressed there further. For example, what I like to call the “chromatic neighbourhood” – many consecutive chromatic notes – in chords and scales. Its traditional use is to bridge the perfect fourth and fifth with a tritone, especially in blues, but it can sound very unsettling when using it around the tonal centre and with more than three neighbouring notes.
Ariadne – Stabat Mater
… Read moreOn Stabat Mater, however, Christine and Benjamin take
Fissures, Ni, Lou Kelly, Playgrounded, Frequency Eater, Golden Hymns Sing ‘Hurrah’, Zenxienz, Cryptic Fog, and Keith Price
Fissures – The Long Winter Demos
You might remember, back in 2013, Slice the Cake’s singer releasing one song – “I” –, under the Fissures moniker; a sort of progressive, atmospheric post-metal track. The rest of it would not be released until 24 October 2017 as The Long Winter Demos, nine tracks and one hour long. The whole album is quite good and really promising as far as being a demo. I suggest you take a look!
Ni – Dedoda
I got really excited when I saw something about a new release from Ni, one of my favourite French … Read more
Gershlauer, Fiuczynski, DeJohnette, Garrison, and Mikadze – Mikrojazz! Neue expressionistische Musik
They’ve done it! Again, perhaps, but Mikrojazz!, with the subtitle Neue expressionistische Musik (New Expressionist Music), is the latest, and arguably one of the first, completely microtonal jazz records to come out. With the combined talents of Philipp Gerschlauer on saxophone, David Fiuczynski on fretless guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Matt Garrison on fretless bass, and Giorgi Mikadze on keyboards, Mikrojazz! has all the fuel it needs to develop xenharmonic compositions for jazz. Does it deliver? Yes, it does, but not without a few criticisms of mine. The players take up the challenge of writing and playing jazz in … Read more
Ariadne – Stabat Mater
On 27 October, New York’s experimental electronic multimedia duo Ariadne will release their long-awaited fourth album, titled Stabat Mater. While I wasn’t initially fond of their previous release, Tsalal, it grew on me tremendously, leading me to believe I might simply have not been ready yet for this sort of experience. On Stabat Mater, however, Christine and Benjamin take things to a whole new level. Here, songs are shorter, but there are a lot more of them: twenty, in total – but it could be argued that there is only one, a fifty-minute giant split into various … Read more