Just in time to close 2017 with a microtonal bang!, composer Taylor Brook released Virtutes occultae: an exploratory double album for piano. Somewhere between procedural, improvised, and strictly composed, the eighteen parts of this magnum opus take you into the world of overtonality. In a nutshell, this album is played by six virtual pianos, each tuned to a different 11-limit just intonation tuning. The details on how Brook’s approach extends Partch’s are scarce and blurry, but, in any case, the result is utterly mesmerizing. The fact that the music is played only by pianos, virtual ones at that, … Read more
Tag Archives: experimental
EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Patrick Shiroishi – “The Screams of a Father’s Tears”
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
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
Tweet Tweet – Bearer
Tweet Tweet is a soft experimental project from Steve Pardo; it hovers between indie music, folk, and experimental pop. Bearer was released on 20 October and accounts for almost thirty minutes of gentle compositions with soaring flutes, saxophone, and vocals from Lindley Cameron. Some parts sound like some beloved passage on a Sufjan Stevens recording – one known to favour flutes in his compositions –, some are more electronic, with low fidelity guitar recordings supporting the uncertain woodwind notes, some still are almost like a singer-songwriter piece, but all undeniably appeal to the listener’s soft side with whispered notes to … Read more
Toehider – “Good”
Releasing tomorrow on October 19th, the aptly named new album from Mike Mills’ Toehider is not just “Good” it’s great! But that’s to be expected of Mike as he’s continued to push the envelope in the prog genre in weird and interesting ways.
Mike’s early work under the name Toehider consisted of twelve EPs that he completed in twelve months. Quite a demanding schedule that only someone as crazy and driven as Mike could accomplish. I first really started following Toehider around when he crowdfunded his last album, What Kind of Creature Am I?, on the … Read more