Categories
Ambient Art Drone Experimental Musique Concrète Review Synth

CHINA Sound Mapping: Anthology Of Experimental Music From CHINA

Unexplained Sounds: May 2021

Since free market reforms and opening up to foreign trade in the late 1970s, China has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies. Along with pulling 800 million people out of poverty, it has also become the world’s largest economy and with it a growing cultural and arts scene.

China’s experimental music and sound art scene began to take shape in the post-Tiananmen era in the late 1990s. A few musicians from the mainland’s underground music scene started to experiment with new ways of making music while the music industry co-opted the once revolutionary and independent rock music scene.

This particular collection of pieces runs the gamut of experimental styles, from music concrete to drones, arpeggiated synth pieces to field recordings. All achieved in a pure and focused dedication to the sound. A really stunning anthology musically and excellent curation from the label.

Recommended.

Categories
Electro Experimental Review Techno

VA – All The Bleeps

Fun in the murky – Release: May 14th, 2021
Trevor Wilkes · All The Bleeps – Bleep 500

Big, bad and heavy. Longtime supporter of the the weird and wonderful side to techno music, Toronto’s Trevor Wilkes runs the Fun in the Murky blog and label. He is also an amazing DJ/Selector and has been broadcasting his radio show regularly online, long before the days of facebook live.

In his words, the immense 4×12″ box set “represents the artists whose music I play the most on Bleep Radio. Literally and objectively played the most. I’m a big number crunching statistics nerd and have trended my own track-lists for years as many of you know. As a Canadian, far removed from where the music I like shines the brightest I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to meet with and play alongside a lot of these folks in person and not just via the stream.”

All the tunes bang as to be expected (including one of mine ;), however the super-standout track for me is the Ben Pest ‘Tilt Lock’, serious bang time !!!

Categories
Art Article Experimental Synth

New Label: Eastern Ears

Twinkle3 – I Rode A Tiger But Dared Not Dismount (2/4/21)

Great to see local sound experimentalists and noise enthusiasts, Eastern Ear (formally NNSAC), have started releasing recordings of music performed at their events.

Their first release by Twinkle3, consisting of Clive Bell (shakuhachi and other woodwind), David Ross (drosscillator and percussion) and Richard Scott (electronics and analogue synthesiser), was a very memorable gig. So it’s great to hear the sounds again, in clean digital form (especially that wonderfully blooping and burbling EMS Synthi).

A mesmerising blend of futuristic alien rhythms, electro-acoustic interludes and 1950’s synthesis.

Twinkle3

Eastern Ear are based in Norwich and organise regular workshops, performances/events, along with the excellent Yarmonics sonic arts festival in Great Yarmouth.

Categories
Ambient Article Experimental House Synth Techno

Bandcamp Friday Roundup

In case you’ve been living under a virtual rock, ‘Bandcamp Friday’ is where the website waives their commision fees for a day each month.

On one hand, this results in every artist with an instagram account shouting further into the void. But on the other, labels and artists are now planning their release schedule around this day, to capitalise on releasing and pre-releasing new music. So it is certainly worth a dig!

Here’s our top picks from yesterdays busy, yet fruitful Bandcamp Friday (2nd April 2021).

Polypores – Shpongos

Black Girl / White Girl – Hyper Reality

Benge – Syndrones and Syntones

Apologist – Air Foundry

Ben Pest – On The Three

Dexorcist – Body Clock EP

Categories
Drone Experimental Review

Drew Mulholland – A Trip To Hob Moor / Cambridge Drifts

Woodford Halse – Release: 16th April 2021

Woodford Halse have been rather prolific with their cassette releases this past year or so, putting out a couple of releases a month with a consistent artwork style. Musically, their output is quite varied and ranges from experimental beat driven trax, to sparser, more ambient excursions.

In Mullands’s new cassette, he focuses on two UK locations for inspiration, Hob Moor in York and a trip to Cambridge. Utilising field recordings and dark, drawn out drones. The two long form pieces have a nice dynamic range and move across textures, gradually becoming increasingly smudged in vast swathes of reverb.

The press release refers to ‘hauntology’ (a term which appears to be adopted on various other labels lately). I’m not entirely sure what it means, other than to describe electronic music that contains a ghostly, spooky or gothic feeling (uneasy drones, minor keys and lots of reverb). I’ve heard it disparately referred to in (electro-acoustic) works by Pierre Shaeffer and more recently (garage) artists like Burial, hence my slight confusion. So I guess it’s a descriptive term for music that evokes a certain gloomy vibe?

Categories
Ambient Experimental Industrial Minimal Wave Radio Synth

Sseagulls – Mutant Radio 13/3/21

Mutant Radio · Sseagulls [Flatland Frequencies] [13.03.2021]
Zoe De Souza Clearwater
Nick IngmanLazy River 1
Tim BurnessTouch Together
Duncan MacKay Gin Sing
Cath BaxterCanon in D
Wolfgang KaferSpellbound
Orchestra ArcanaLife Class
Jimi BazookaCountryman Pt 2
Anaalivaihe0.11.2012 (Gatto Fritto Edit)
Dane CloseJohnny Hatez Jizz
Soft RocksThe Crazy Frog
Tarjei NygardSuratkorps (Target’s Handarbeidsversjon)
Klaus KrugerMetallic
John Cooper Clarke(I Married A) Monster From Outer Space
Man from UranusAeroplane to Australia
The MetronomesSex I
Tombo no YuMineral
Ash Black BuffloGo ‘way Old Ghosts
Lewis HunterBye Then
Categories
Ambient Electro Experimental Radio Synth

Luke Sanger – Mutant Radio 13/3/21

Mutant Radio · Luke Sanger [Flatland Frequencies] [13.03.2021]
Gareth E Rees & PolyporesEverything is Interesting
Lewis HunterBuilds Ago Ekei
ApologistNo Closer Than The Moon
Passepartout DuoEpigram III
Me Lost MeNightingale (accapella)
Dead LegA Series of Embrasures
Andrew TuttleAscending Spring Clean
Passepartout DuoEpigram V
Lewis Hunter Bye Then
ApotekAwake
LampeoDying Energy
ApologistSignals
Controlled WeirdnessDrifting Through The Streets
Gareth E Rees & PolyporesDream Motion Trip
Categories
Ambient Experimental Review

Polypores & Gareth E. Rees – Deep Motion Trips

Miracle Pond (Subconscious Suggestions) – 3/3/21

The second release in the new Subconscious Series from Miracle Pond, a sister label, focusing on more long-form, deep listening concepts.

Stepping up this time round, prolific electronics wizard Polypores has “mind-melded with best selling author Gareth E. Rees to create Deep Motion Trips“.  

The result of this collab is a mad concoction could be best described as 1980s new age meditation meets kitchen sink realism, which kept me hooked throughout the two 10 minute pieces.

Expect full previews of these on the next Flatland Frequencies Mutant Radio show, on the 13th March.

Categories
Experimental Minimal Review Synth

Lampeo – The Electric Music Box ‘Year One’

An intriguing audio diary of sketches, taken on the Buchla Music Easel and recorded over a year. Lampeo really highlights the character and range of the instrument here, deftly using looping and spacial effects to layer the sounds, which range from the percussive to the melodic.

1974 Buchla ‘Electric Music Box’ (aka Music Easel)

The instrument itself has a unique tone, due to the additive nature of the primary oscillator and an analogue signal path that differs significantly from traditional subtractive synthesisers. There’s so much info out there already on the Easel, that I wont bore you with the same old stories. However, it’s worth noting that a large proportion of the online demonstrations using the Easel really do not represent the capabilities of the instrument, which takes time and dedication to master. Something Lampeo is highlighting in this release and firmly stamping their compositional mark.

Categories
Ambient Dub Experimental Radio Techno

Jeran Portis – Mutant Radio 23rd Jan 2021

TrackArtistLabel
Frost Patrol (Ambience)Aura MinimumModern Nature
Mystical DynamicsMr. CloudyODrex Music
Hordes DescentFluxionSubWax
Starlight (Echospace Unreleased Mix)Model 500Echospace
WaterfoolNarson NelsonInsectorama
While In LockdownJon Dixon / minor INVENTION4EVR 4WRD
Optimal Power FlowRob StrobEMotech
MijoteC HH ICKInsectorama
Ela Konta MouJor-GGreyscale
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