Tag Archives: avant-garde jazz

Lunatic Tone Orchestra, Forelunar, Brendan Byrnes, and Spinifex

by Dæv Tremblay

Lunatic Tone Orchestra – Chronicle of Faith


Take symphonic metal and J-pop, what do you get? If you thought Babymetal, you’re not far off! While the emphasis is less on high-energy rock anthems or mellow ballads, Lunatic Tone Orchestra—狂奏楽団 (Kyō sōgaku-dan) in Japanese—is focused more on the prog aspect of the genre, calling themselves “progressive philosophy metal”, whatever that means. If you have a Coexist sticker on your car, you better start listening to this album right away!

Forelunar – Beloved and a Thousand Seraphim


Iran is undergoing some kind of turmoil these days. Look it up, it’s a revolution!… Read more

Brian!, Trevor Dunn, Miriodor, and Oiseaux-Tempête

by Dæv Tremblay

Brian! – Cataclysmic Engine (Nefarious Industries)


What if you replaced the bassist with a bassoonist? Well, Brian! answered this question in 2010 with their debut EP EEE. Twelve years on, the New York power trio has mastered its peculiar sound and grown more confident, more adventurous, and more certain. With the Cataclysmic Engine, you can hear the idiosyncratic sound of the bassoon, somewhere between electric bass and synthesizer during the riffs and a genuine woodwind instrument during solos. I love this instrument, and I’m really grateful that such a band exists! Be sure to check out this new… Read more

Just Mustard, Aronious, Mmulreso, and Íkarus

by Dæv Tremblay

Just Mustard – Heart Under (Partisan)


Irish post-punk five-piece Just Mustard released their amazing new album earlier this year, back in May. Heart Under is their second album, and it really captures the ideal of the band: dark moody atmospheres, hypnotic rhythms, repeating structures, melancholic vocals, droning bass… With these ingredients, the band is able to do a lot of mileage: the album is just over 45 minutes long, and I wouldn’t like it any shorter! Between shoegaze and industrial, noise rock and trip-hop, that album is going to pull you in, that’s for sure!

Aronious – Irkalla (The Artisan

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Best of Modern Jazz 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


Here’s some of the best jazz albums of 2021!

Number Five: Wood River & Cantus domus – Sediments We Move


On Sediments We Move, Charlotte Greve takes us on quite the panoramic tour! Backed by the Cantus domus choir, this is jazz with choir, and it’s positively disconcerting. I love it so much!

Number Four: Skrim – The Crooked Path


The avant-garde jazz journey of Skrim’s Crooked Path release is one you can’t easily forget, as you’ll constantly be thrown this way or that, to the whim of the composers-improvisers leading the boat. An amazing album!

Number Three: Patrick

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Saint Sadrill – Pierrefilant

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Pierrefilant is the debut album of Lyon, France’s Saint Sadrill sextet, who plays a thoroughly interwoven mix of avant-garde prog and jazz fusion. Out on November 2 via the excellent French label Dur et Doux, the album is over an hour long and features a full-time vibraphonist. I was anticipating the album since the first single came out, and, now that it is, let me tell you about it.

I was expecting the release to be good; I mean, listen to “Corq”: it’s beautiful. Even if it’s not the most theoretically interesting track on there, it … Read more