This October is a lot more dry than I expected it to be. Apart from releases from bigger names, the understream level is quite low! Let’s see what I salvaged anyways.
Redrick Sultan is a psychedelic rock band using microtonal instruments as their main composition strategy. The songs, which I believe are in nineteen notes per octave -, are nonetheless very accessible and enjoyable. There are a few places, here and there, where their tuning system clashes with our perception, conditioned to twelve notes per octave, but, with a short adaptation time, you will get to appreciate even the most … Read more
Mini-Reviews XXII
The beginning of October has presented itself as a pretty slow moment for experimental underground music. So today I will include a few releases from earlier this year and last, and a big name in metal! You won’t see this often here.
Italian label AltrOck Productions released yet another interesting release. This time from the band Promenade. Their debut album is called Noi al dir di Noi – meaning something along the lines of ‘we tell ourselves’ -, and it’s a pretty funky progressive rock one! The first track, ‘Athletics’, goes a lot of places as the instrumental opener, … Read more
Help Fund Ian Ethan Case’s New Acoustic/World Music Album
Ian Ethan Case is a name you might be familiar with, if you’ve read our blog for some time. His impressive double-neck acoustic guitar (and associated skill set) makes for an attentive listen while atmospheres are summoned from the void itself to fill in the aural landscape. This vision of the world will be even more tangible with the horde of world-class musicians mentioned in Ethan’s indiegogo campaign video. Flutes, percussions, live strings… You name it!
The Earth Suite will be Ian Ethan Case’s fourth full-length album, and his most ambitious yet. Check out a playthrough video for ‘Butter II’ … Read more
Thinking Plague Just Released ‘The Echoes of Their Cries’ for Their Backers
The legendary avant-garde/art rock ensemble Thinking Plague started a crowdfunding campaign, last year, to help finance their seventh studio album, temporarily titled Hope against Hope. The album was set to be released in September of 2016, but, as you may have noticed, it hasn’t.
However, if you were a funder of the project, you should by now have received an email from Kickstarter with a download link and code to get the first track from the album. The song is called ‘The Echoes of Their Cries’, and we can also notice a small change in the album title: … Read more
Monthly Recommendations: September 2016
‘The Second One is a collection of nine opera (plural of opus). This Ukrainian band plays really top notch avant-garde fusion metal, bringing math metal to the jazz world. It’s an improvement on all fronts from their debut album, “42”. Don’t miss them!’
Mini-review XIV.
‘Boston avant-garde metal band Ehnahre released their latest album, Douve, back in January, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from releasing an EP in September. Nothing and Nothingness is a two-track, twenty-two minute dive into the depths of experimental doom and black metal. The album is as dark and gloomy as it gets, with … Read more