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Album Review

J. Peter Schwalm & Stephan Thelen: Transneptunian Planets

Read "Transneptunian Planets" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


To get any further out than Transneptunian Planets, one would have to travel to the edge of the solar system. The title of the album— offered up by electro-acoustic composer J. Peter Schwalm and guitarist, composer & mathematician Stephan Thelen—refers to objects orbiting the sun in the far reaches, out beyond Neptune. Many of these objects may be news to those who do not follow the progress of astronomy; though, surely, everyone is familiar with Pluto—way out there, once a ...

6
Album Review

Three-Layer Cake: Stove Top

Read "Stove Top" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


If nothing else, the trio of Mike Pride (drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells, organ), Brandon Seabrook (guitar, banjo, tapes) and Mike Watt (bass) deserves a “truth in advertising" award, because Stove Top, their first collaboration, is precisely that: a three-layer instrumental cake. Stove Top began cooking when Pride appeared as a guest on Watt's podcast. Suspecting their musical connection, Pride recorded a series of drum tracks and sent them to Watt, who laid down matching bass tracks and then ...

3
Album Review

Red Kite: Apophenian Bliss

Read "Apophenian Bliss" reviewed by Doug Collette


Even more so than on Red Kite's wholly excellent eponymous debut, the follow-up release, Apophenian Bliss, by this Norwegian quartet illustrates how fine are the lines between metal, prog and fusion music. The powerful dynamism this band commands generates thoughts of a more free-form version of the electric Return To Forever quartets, electric music for the mind and body that would be ideal as a soundtrack to an epic piece of sci-fi, while the disc's cover art (by Per Spjotvold) ...

4
Album Review

Jo Berger Myhre: Unheimlich Manoeuvre

Read "Unheimlich Manoeuvre" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Norwegian bassist Jo Berger Myhre is not new to the music scene—he has worked extensively with Nils Petter Molvaer's quartet, contributing to the trumpeter's Buoyancy (Okeh, 2016) and Stitches (Modern Recordings, 2021). But Unheimlich Manoeuvre is Myhre's first recording under his own name. In experiencing the artistry of a new (to a particular listener) musician, it is helpful to look toward his touchstones, and Moleavar is a strong one for Myhre. His music contains a similar blend of ...

16
Album Review

Magnet Animals: Fake Dudes

Read "Fake Dudes" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Its press release refers to this band as a “combustible beat-skronk" unit for its follow-up to the 2016 Butterfly Killer album, where guitarist Todd Clouser iterates his poetry under the semblance of a rebel using a small megaphone. It seems as if he could be on a corner somewhere in Greenwich Village, NYC., to forewarn the willing populace of dour sociopolitical issues, along with oddball humor and sober expressionism. Once again, Clouser and guitarist Eyal Maoz (who played with Lou ...

15
Album Review

J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter: Aufbruch

Read "Aufbruch" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


German electro-acoustic composer J. Peter Schwalm is probably best known for collaborating with Brian Eno on Drawn From Life (Opal, 2001) and other projects. More recently, he created How We Fall (RareNoise, 2018) and Neuzeit (RareNoise, 2020), the latter a collaboration with Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen. Touch guitarist and composer Markus Reuter has been prolific, recent releases including Truce (MoonJune Records, 2020), Nothing Is Sacred (MoonJune Records, 2020) and Shapeshifters (MoonJune Records, 2020), as well as Music Of Our Times ...

4
Album Review

J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter: Aufbruch

Read "Aufbruch" reviewed by Doug Collette


The first recorded collaboration between J. Peter Schwalm and Markus Reuter, Aufbruch, is one of those very rare and unusual albums that unobtrusively, almost surreptitiously, wends its way into the subconscious. It compels repeated and often frequent replays, not so much to comprehend the arcane sounds, but to simply become immersed in the moods and textures the two men generate. Synths, pianos, live treatments, programming and electronic percussion from the former interweave with the Touch Guitars, soundscapes and ...

4
Album Review

J. Peter Schwalm / Markus Reuter: Aufbruch

Read "Aufbruch" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


In 2020 electro-acoustic programmer/keyboardist J.Peter Schwalm paired up with Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen for the excellent outing Neuzeit (RareNoiseRecords), one of the year's standout discs. 2021 finds Schwalm collaborating with touch guitarist Markus Reuter, of Stickmen fame. The music this collaboration creates can be described as industrial sound-scaping mixed with noises welling up from deep Earth or emanating in from deep space, tectonic and galactic at the same time. “Wall of sound" is a phrase used to describe ...

6
Album Review

Jerry Granelli: The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison

Read "The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Drummer Jerry Granelli, bassist Brad Jones and pianist Jamie Saft team in a trio that Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison to honor two of the most influentially lyrical and bluesy composer-musicians in jazz history. Granelli possesses deep personal insight into both principals. He landed in the drum chair in Vince Guaraldi's trio just as the title track to the pianist's 1962 landmark Cast Your Fate to the Wind was breaking out in the US singles charts and ...

1
Album Review

Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balázs Pándi: Cuts Open

Read "Cuts Open" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Calling Cuts Open by Merzbow (aka Masami Akita), Mats Gustafsson and Balázs Pándi their sotto voce record would be like saying you received a love tap from Mike Tyson. This is the trio's fifth release, following the inaugural Cuts (RareNoise Records, 2013), Live In Tabačka 13/04/12 (Tabačka Records, 2015) and two sessions with the addition of Thurston Moore, Cuts Of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (RareNoise Records, 2015) and Cuts Up Cuts Out (RareNoise Records, 2018). The trio's quietude is though, relative. ...


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