It’s always a good indication that the music is working the way the artists intend for it to work when you struggle to pigeonhole it but can easily get a firm grasp of its emotional impact. Syrinx Effect ‘s ‘A Sky You Could Strike A Match On’ does just that.
Satoko Fujii is issuing an album in every month of 2018, and if there’s one musician with enough ensembles, projects and ideas to pull it off, it’s her.
Anteloper’s ‘Kudu’ suggests that there is so much art waiting to be tapped with only a trumpet, drums and a little bit of circuitry.
Kelly Moran’s ‘Bloodroot’ is not your common minimalist record, and even those who hadn’t embraced that style of music could be drawn to the strange peacefulness wrung from a prepared piano.
Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition’s the original mission of melding modern group-level stream-of-consciousness with contemporary raga remains intact, ‘Agrima’ builds on those original ideas, too.
‘Astral Cube’ is the latest in a long line of Mazurek projects that demonstrates the leader’s great ability to bring divergent talent together for a chaotic yet cathartic sonic experience.
When great musicians from different bands and projects get together for the express purpose of making music without the restrictions they usually face elsewhere, it should bring out the best in all of them. That’s just what happened with the guys in Modus Factor on their inaugural effort ‘The Picasso Zone.’
Here is a review of the Greg Ward/Caleb Willitz experimental Gaps & Space project ‘Synoptic Optiks.’ Once again, Greg Ward finds another way to defy not only expectations but discourage the very notion of setting expectations on him in the first place.
A new collaboration with DJ Shigeto represents the lastest musical twist in an intriguing journey filled with them for trumpeter Dave Douglas.
Electroacoustic musique concrète might not make for the most harmonious sound, but it can be so fascinating. Especially when Attilio Novellino, Saverio Rosi, Tim Barnes and Rob Mazurek pool their ideas together.
