Recordings
Scott Walker. Bish Bosch. Scott Walker's output since 1995's Tilt is unquestionably some of the most flamboyantly unique and ambitious song-craft of the past two decades, and Bish Bosch is no exception. The prevailing feeling is one of revolting and sensational corporeality—teeming[...] Read more
Various Artists. REWORK_ (Philip Glass Remixed). And how, you may well ask, do the epochal Beck and the magisterial Glass bond and re-bond? With lots of echo, I’m here to report. Echo and backwards-boinging. And the chanting of an avant-garde choir. Because “avant-garde” is “now,” for now, this choir sings[...] Read more
Maciunas Ensemble. The Archives Part 1, 1968–1980. The term process music usually designates compositions that develop along predetermined parameters. It may be attached to pieces built on algorithms or to certain minimalist works, such as those composed by Tom Johnson. You don’t very often find it associated with improvisation, or[...] Read more
Lina Allemano Four. Live at the Tranzac. The “Four” in Lina Allemano’s band’s moniker is apt. Live at the Tranzac starts with a geometric four-note figure on “Flummox,” and throughout the album, the Toronto trumpeter demonstrates a penchant for rectangular shapes in her cool contemporary post-bop. To[...] Read more
Kyle Brenders Quartet. Offset. Toronto-based saxophonist Kyle Brenders has studied and played extensively with Anthony Braxton, and he’s also a member of The Rent, a group dedicated to playing the compositions of Steve Lacy. The influences of both these American saxophonist-composers are evident in the debut recording[...] Read more
Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Instrumental Tourist. Don't be fooled by the geeky irony of some of its technogically oriented song titles, such as “Whole Earth Tascam” and “GRM Blue I.” Instrumental Tourist is among some of the most deliberate and best work by Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Moving[...] Read more
Le Grand Grouped Régional d’Improvisation Libérée & Evan Parker. Vivaces. At a time when it’s possible to find cadres of improvisers almost everywhere, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that there are enough improvising musicians in Rimouski, Quebec to form an eleven-member ensemble, and more of a surprise still when one hears the group’s[...] Read more
Peter Van Huffel’s Gorilla Mask. Howl! Originally from Kingston, Ontario, saxophonist Peter van Huffel has been creating a growing body of work in New York and Berlin, much of it integrating improvised music, expanded jazz harmonies, and sometimes chamber music dynamics, like the subtle HuffLiGNoN with the Belgian singer Sophie[...] Read more
Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! By the time Yanqui U.X.O., Godspeed’s previous full-length album, had hit the shelves, their marriage of Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs-inspired strings, grim crypto-political field recordings, and gory climaxes of guitar angst, had spawned legions of imitators worldwide.[...] Read more
Buke and Gase. Function Falls EP. Buke and Gase are a Brooklyn-based duo that makes a robust racket from a ramshackle collection of homemade and home-modified instruments. And it’s their unique instruments—Arone Dyer’s Buke (“byook,” a baritone ukulele) and Aron Sanchez’s Gase (“gace[...] Read more
Peter Brötzmann. Solo + Trio Roma. This two-CD set chronicles Brötzmann’s solo and Trio Roma concerts at 2011’s FIMAV on the approach of his seventieth birthday, a momentous occasion for an artist whose work combines titanic stamina and anarchic expressionism. The solo concert might stage[...] Read more
Anthony Braxton and Buell Neidlinger. 2 By 2. Braxton and Neidlinger’s 2 By 2 is a resurrected set from 1989, recorded live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, which explains the sparse but polite applause, which is tentative, at times, at the end of solos. Braxton and Neidlinger convey a sense of urgency; they have[...] Read more
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