Ambient percussion, unusual instrumental combinations, dubby electronics, glitches, odd beats and generative tunes…
LISTEN AGAIN because you deserve it. FBi website has the stream on demand, or podcast right here.
Maria Moles – River Bend [Room40/Bandcamp]
Melbourne drummer Maria Moles plays in myriad bands of different types, including the wonderful experimental indie band On Diamond, but her solo music has tended to emphasise tuned percussion and ambient synths over beats. For her incredible new release on Room40 For Leolanda – dedicated to her mother – she draws inspiration from Kulintang music of her Filipina heritage, translating harmonies and rhythms into the synths, tuned percussion, tape manipulation and drum kit. These pieces move from rhythmic to lush to sparse with little regard for expected structure, and make for immersive, evocative listening.
Martha Skye Murphy & Maxwell Sterling – 86 km [American Dreams/Bandcamp]
For those who know the work of either of these UK artists, this duo seems like a departure. Vocalist Martha Skye Murphy makes experimental songs that recall Kate Bush at her most experimental, through a modern electronic lens; double bassist Maxwell Sterling‘s latest album is full of experimental beats & compositions on AD93. Their duo together, initiated on this release Distance On Ground, is borne of freeform improvisations, with realtime processing of voice and instrument lending an otherworldly sensibility. Their theme of travel and distance – and the associated yearning that so many of us have had in our locked down state – comes through strongly in the wordless vocals and transformed double bass.
The Declining Winter – First Picture [The Declining Winter Bandcamp]
Interestingly, Hood is one of the bands called out as “RIYL” for the duo above. Just this week I received a 3″ CD and photo zine released by Hood’s Richard Adams in his The Declining Winter guise late last year. Hazy guitar strumming, field recordings and odd collages are found on the EP, including this excellent vignette of guitarscapes and buried drums.
Franck Vigroux – Perdu [Aesthetical]
Franck Vigroux – Capaupire [Aesthetical]
Franck Vigroux – Desarticulé [Aesthetical]
I first discovered French musician Franck Vigroux in a duo with the late Mika Vainio. His solo music is of a piece with those industrial electronics, albeit perhaps more structured. Last year he released a very raster-noton album on raster-media, but now he’s back on his own Aethestical. There are the bleeps and glitches and tones of raster style electronics, and distortions and dramatic synths of industrial techno. It’s a familiar sound that I find easily enjoyable, and Vigroux gets the tone just right – if you like Pan Sonic, Ben Frost, emptyset et al – or even instrumental Nine Inch Nails – you’ll likely find this right up your street.
PLESS – La grenouille volante [Everest Records/Bandcamp]
Swiss duo PLESS also hint at industrial in their dark sound – dark downtempo, dub-infused electronic beats and ambiences. Philipp Thöni and Leo Matkovic evoke fictional spaces on their debut album, merging the futuristic and fantastical for an evocative journey.
Ö – AFK [PC Music]
Nicolas Petitfrère is the latest signing to PC Music, and very fitting for the collective. Previously known as Nömak, he’s now switched to just Ö. He’s produced tunes with Charli XX and Christine and the Queens, and so in true PC Music style there’s fragmented shiny pop hiding in the experimental, glitchy electronics of this debut single “AFK” (“away from keyboard”). A.G. Cook provides extra production, and the IDM influences of his 7CD set from 2020 are found here too. Pretty crazy stuff.
Distance – Untouchable VIP [Distance Bandcamp]
A year or so ago, veteran dubstep producer (DJ) Distance released a collection of tracks from circa 2007, when his brilliant My Demons album was released. Now we’re finally treated to a new EP, three tracks of dark’n’heavy bass riffs as only he can make them. It has the cyberpunk noir feel of classic jungle & drum’n’bass, with classic dubstep’s inversion of the roles of bass and beats and judicious dub effects. Don’t sleep.
Vromm – Bees (Original) [Over/Shadow/Bandcamp]
Vromm – For The New Dawn (feat. Agama) [Cosmic Bridge/Bandcamp]
Vromm – Bees (B-Key Remix) [Over/Shadow/Bandcamp]
Spanish producer Vromm aka Alvaro Martinez has always been an outlier in the drum’n’bass scene, infusing influences from jazz and funk into ambitious productions. It’s interesting finding him on the Over/Shadow imprint, which up to now has concentrated on core drum’n’bass and UK hardcore as per their predecessor Moving Shadow. It’s not that Vromm doesn’t fit – his break juggling is top class – but it’s slower than you’d expect, at least until original junglist B-Key drops his darkside remix on the flip. Back in 2018, Vromm released a superb, surprising 12″ on Om Unit’s Cosmic Bridge, the title track a gorgeous piece of proggy, jazzy d’n’b pop with Agama on vocals. It’s great to have him back.
Cypha – Cy-1er [e-quarium]
Cypha – Bound By The Not Yet [e-quarium]
In 2020 the Naarm/Melbourne label .jpeg Artefacts introduced new Melbourne artist Cypha, with dark yet colourful electronic beats melding techno, drum’n’bass and post-dubstep sounds with an experimental bent. In December I was sent his follow-up, Cymatics/Ghost Money by Gadigal/Sydney label e-quarium. It was originally due out in last December, but has been pushed back to late January now, so you’re the first to hear these two tracks – bearing those same influences, and again impeccably produced. Keep an eye out on the label’s Bandcamp and social media for this superb extended release!
Tristan Arp – Oddkin [Human Pitch/Bandcamp]
Tristan Arp – Instinct [Human Pitch/Bandcamp]
Tristan Arp – Curved Space [Eternal Ocean/Bandcamp]
Mexico-based musician Tristan Arp was a new discovery for me in 2021, with creative beats stretching back a few years now. He had a massive year last year, with a number of EPs as well as a full album released late in the year. I was very pleased to discover his sound, particularly the more upbeat works – he’s a master of ambient and beatless productions as well, solo and with trio Asa Tone along with Indonesian musician Melati Malay and New York-based Kaazi, but I love the interplay between the syncopated house/techno/bass beats, tuned percussion and bass on productions going back a few years, on his Human Pitch label and others such as Eternal Ocean. A producer to watch.
Tristan Arp – Shell [Mubert/Bandcamp]
Berke Can Özcan – Sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy [Mubert/Bandcamp]
Tristan Arp also appears on a new compilation called Infinite Limits: A Generative Music Compilation, put together by the people behind a generative music platform called Mubert. Mubert seems to use “AI” to generate music for creatives and businesses to use, but it also allows its AI algorithms to “collaborate” with musicians – hence the 25 tracks on this PWYC compilation, ranging from ambient to IDM to jungle to noise, including experimental artists like Richard Youngs, Astral Social Club and Senyawa, and electronic artists like Jay Glass Dubs, Etch and Haco, as well as those known from the generative music world like Helena Celle. Tonight I also played some downtempo beats and fuzzy textures from Turkish musician Berke Can Özcan. It’s a very varied collection, although if you listen carefully you can see the tracks are mostly made up of small recombined musical cells. Well worth checking out and following.
Gareth Davis – In Vivo III (feat. Steven R Smith) [IIKKI/Bandcamp]
Gareth Davis – In Vivo I (feat. Robin Rimbaud) [IIKKI/Bandcamp]
Dutch clarinettist Gareth Davis has turned up all over the place since I discovered him collaborating with Machinefabriek some years ago. He’s capable as a jazz improviser, classical interpreter and collaborator in psych-rock bands like Oiseaux-Tempête, but his solo music has always tended towards the minimalist, and so it is on his latest album, In Vivo, released as is the fashion for IIKKI as a CD or vinyl record along with an art book – here photographer Klavdij Sluban. Davis’ patient swells on his clarinet, along with electronics and field recordings, are joined on various tracks by the aforementioned Machinefabriek, the multi-instrumentalist (and instrument maker!) Steven R Smith, and sound-artist extraordinaire Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner. Beautiful, subtle stuff.
Listen again — ~203MB
Comments are closed.