Bedroom Community Reykjavik to Breidholt, a suburban district south of downtown that is home to Valgeir Sigurdsson’s Greenhouse recording studio and the offices of Bedroom Community, the record-label collective that the native Icelander cofounded in 2006 with American composer Nico Muhly and Australian[...] Read more

Recordings Jonathan Bunce Issue 115

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

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 115

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

Recordings Andrew Hamlin Issue 115

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

Recordings René van Peer Issue 115

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

Recordings Jonathan Bunce Issue 115

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

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 115

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

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 115

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

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 115

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

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 115

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

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 115

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

Recordings Jonathan Bunce Issue 115