Noise act Lucky Bone released a new album this past week. Recorded after viewing the 1988 Dutch film “The Vanishing”, the album was created using locked grooves cut and pasted onto a groove-less, blank record. Opening with warped samples of ekphrastic film analysis, the album then continues into a bright, psychedelia-tinged soundscape of repetitious clangor and crackling texture; things conclude
Read more
Singer-songwriter brothers Nelson and Max Devereaux teamed up for a new single recently. With Max on vocals and guitar while Nelson handles the rhythms, this song touches on the “what if’s” surrounding a successful career and making a name for yourself. With a breezy, guitar-driven pop flavor that provides a comfortable atmosphere to ask these hard-hitting questions, the Devereaux’s aren’t
Read more
The track successfully intertwines conventional elements with unconventional sonic intricacies.
Read more
Restraint Malfunction unleashed a new album recently. The harsh-experimental noise act brings ten tracks that are meant to be listened to as one piece. Michael Jurek traverses a range of textural territories here from searing static to abrasive grinding to fearsome screeches to hellish clangor over nearly thirty minutes. Enter the power plant of auditory havoc with Restraint Malfunction’s “Torrential
Read more
The two-song EP features ambient, fading loops that merge into each other to create an apocalyptic sonic tone.
Read more
Experimental duo Smooth Cactus released a new album. Covering substantial ground with 21 tracks, the album consists of mostly short compositions typically between one and two minutes long, favoring liquid textures and minimalist production styles that together encourage a tranquil state of being. With elements of chillwave, lo-fi hip hop, ambient electronica and jazz blended into a unique palette, Smooth
Read more
Experimental act Whaler released a new two-song EP out on Triple Eye Industries. The first track, “Lumpy’s Revenge”, incorporates droning guitar soundscapes against a bed of bright synths while the second track “Torture Roid” conjures a suspenseful, unsettling atmosphere with repetitive grunting sounds and industrial-adjacent textures. It’s the first we’ve heard from Whaler in some time, but “EP-SUX3” is a
Read more
Veteran noise artist Peter J. Woods released a new album out on Skinwalker Recordings. It consists of two tracks, one being almost 14 minutes and the other being over 25 minutes. “The Display” consists of prolonged static harshness that eventually transitions into obfuscated, garbled vocal samples. The title track…is absolutely golden…it samples and loops Tina Fey talking on TV while
Read more
Experimental artist-producers Docx and Papi Sabor teamed up for a three-song EP. Showcasing production that combines ominous textures with danceable qualities, Docx and Papi Sabor conjure a dark party atmosphere here. Dexonia appears on the first track “OUT” with rap verses in Spanish, and then the following two tracks “pools” and “SUMMERtime LOVE” incorporate reggaeton-friendly rhythms into heated grooves. There’s
Read more
Experimental artist Sarnal Key has a new composition out. Recorded in Portland during quarantine, this track shines with bright, twinkling soundscapes of digital ambient origin. It’s blissful and meditative, akin to walking through the first spring bloom, which is perfectly timely as we’ve had our first dose of warm and beautiful weather this week. Bask in voluptuous flora with Sarnal
Read more
Cobblers With Heart are the experimental-improvisational duo of David B Collins and Paul Westfahl. Their latest record stems from a session at the Jazz Gallery in Riverwest back in 2021, right before Collins would move to Oregon. With Collins on modular synth and Westfahl on percussion and electronics, this album is shrouded in a mysterious atmosphere marked by suspenseful soundscapes
Read more
Experimental project The End, I Love You! released a new album out on FTAM Productions. Recorded over a period of two years, this album is inspired by memories and sunlight. Spanning twenty tracks, these compositions consist of guitar strumming twisted and altered with a tape recorder, weaving in and out of lucidity like nostalgia and warmth. The last quarter of
Read more
Experimental noise act Restraint Malfunction released a new composition recently. Spanning fifteen minutes, this piece consists of industrial noises that are simultaneously watery and metallic, just like the title suggests. Restraint Malfunction lets the sink run with “Total Drain.”
Read more
Dennis Hawk and Dave Schoepke released another composition together, and this one revolves around Karma. As Hawk’s flute rings with a loving aura and Schoepke’s drums march with determination, we are ensnared by bright sonic colors. There’s a sense of courage and resolution with this piece, like we’re watching a montage of truths unfold. Dennis Hawk and Dave Schoepke have
Read more
Electronic artist Tarek Sabbar released a new EP. It’s three tracks that each occupy their own niche of style; “Strata” opens things with waves of ambient bliss, “Process” gets the blood flowing with a danceable tempo and industrial textures, and “Subcutaneous” is a techno cut that feels mysterious with metallic resonance. Tarek Sabbar delivers a stunningly creative and versatile EP
Read more
Prolific electronic act Doormouse released a new EP recently. Coming off from his previous EP “Breakcore”, these compositions favor a more relaxed chillout approach. Fuzzy, distorted drum breaks and blasted 808s accompany samples from 90s news reports describing raves. The final track “You Are Here Again” is the previous four tracks in one mix. Doormouse strips things down while keeping
Read more
Experimental pop act It’s Dangerous to Go Alone have their debut single and video out. The song has a dreamy, psychedelic feel and describes a vision of personifying the titular toy. Featuring a miniature world where people are all slinkies, the visual contains cardboard cars, cotton ball trees and dollhouse props in an adorably surreal production. We look forward to
Read more
Experimental electronic act Wavefiler teamed up with Vermont-based artist Go Outside for a collaborative album. Meeting one another via Instagram, the two wrote each track one at a time in order to conjure maximum cohesion, so the album flows like a river. With wandering ambient soundscapes and breezy textures, “Send / Return” is a pleasant exercise of two artists building
Read more
Dennis Hawk and Dave Schoepke continue their prolonged collaboration with a piece about leaving parts of you behind. As such, there’s a profound sense of sadness with Hawk’s flutes, balanced by marked determination from Schoepke’s rhythm. Living into one’s dreams requires departure and forfeiture, which can certainly evoke melancholy akin to Hawk and Schoepke’s duality here. “Sacrifice” is a contemplation
Read more
E.B. Albeit details the bitter cold with a warm dub.
Read more
Experimental-improv artist Eli Smith released a new composition recently. Spanning over a half hour long, this piece utilizes no digital elements and instead favors entirely acoustic instruments and objects. Among the sonic tools Smith uses here are singing bowls, a violin bow, a thunder tube, a cymbal with water poured on it, chimes and bells. As shrill tones beam in
Read more
The latest from Cody Steinmann is an eight-minute journey of audio storytelling.
Read more
PAY DIRT is new side project of conceptual/performance artist Kleaner which finds them exploring drone and noise territories. “MOB” is their debut release, being a seven-minute composition of rumbling distortions and clangorous crashing sounds. It’s got an ominous atmosphere like we’re anticipating something about to happen in a psychological horror movie. We hope to hear more from PAY DIRT and
Read more
Contemporary classical/improvisational project Darkpebble-Bluewave released a new album, featuring collaborative pieces between Wilhelm Matthies and Paulo Chagas. There’s eight tracks here that balance spontaneity with intention and unpredictability with anticipation, created using exchanged music files between the two artists. The poetic song titles conjure vividness and daydreams as well. Matthies uses an invented string instrument featuring movable resonators, and Chagas
Read more
OnlyFerns is a new artist to watch. Her music incorporates flora as a core theme – “plant rock”, “budstep” and “ferncore” are just a few terms she’s used to describe what she does. With glitchy, chaotic electronica and luxuriant forest samples, her debut single “Windy” is an animated excursion through dense, endless greenery; it’s got the pace like you’re running
Read more