The Answer Is In The Beat

Hisato Higuchi: She (Ghost Disc, 2003/Family Vineyard, 2017)

February 4, 2018 at 7:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This was originally released as a CDr in 2003 and has been reissued twice so far, so I guess it must have some sort of following. I can definitely say that this is something I didn’t know I needed in my life until I heard it. It’s like very minimal 4AD-style ethereal folk, but in Japanese, and with sudden, piercing bursts of frazzled noise. The intro track even sounds like a stalling modem. So much of this album just catches you completely off guard. “Ghosts Ghost” departs from the outer space folk balladry for blasted noise with some soft drone undercurrents. “Sister Girl” also douses pretty/sad melodies in all manners of destructive distortion. Fans of Fennesz or Pita need to hear this one for sure.

Treasure Hunt: Space Jam tape (Roof Garden, 2016/Moon Glyph, 2017)

February 4, 2018 at 6:32 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

This one starts out with some very out-there cosmic free jazz, sounding like the drums from the last track on An Electric Storm going completely off the rails and being doused by radioactive horns. By “Moment of Weightlessness”, it moves into another direction entirely, with Gregorian chanting buried underneath dramatic film score melodies, but also a few dozen other things refracted and superimposed on top. The psychotic jazz comes back harder than before on “Portals”, and “Three Orbs of Planet X” is sort of a very mutated, scrambled exotica trip, with multiple drums battling it out and some airier passages where flute and trumpet take over. “Nebulae” continues from this but smooths everything out, concluding with some astral church organ. It’s impossible to say what planets, solar systems, or galaxies you’ve visited over the course of this album.

Jeff Snyder: Sunspots (Carrier Records, 2018)

February 4, 2018 at 10:41 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Jeff Snyder recorded this lengthy album of Buchla improvisations at ElektronMusikStudion in Stockholm, using a self-created controller. The first half sounds like classic eerie synth music (Subotnick, The Forbidden Planet, et al), all slowly moving shapes, colors, and phases, acidic burbles, and lengthy ominous pauses. “Sunspots IV” gets a bit hyperactive towards its midsection, with some heavy growls around the third movement and some more rapidly flashing, panic-warnings around the fifth. “Sunspots V” has moments of dread akin to Wolf Eyes (especially their recent work), and lots of suspense. Very slow moving, very creepy. The last two pieces are 18-minute drones; no sudden stops or explosions, just constant waves which sometimes seem to interact and produce chemical reactions. “Sunspots IX” is far more singular, and would be calming if it didn’t seem somewhat distressed. Listen from a distance or a low volume and it might just sound like two or three keys being pressed over and over again. However, listen closely and there’s plenty of subtle, sublime trickery going on.

Suss: Ghost Box (self-released, 2018)

February 3, 2018 at 10:51 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

While this album shares its name with a British label associated with hauntology, this group has a much different concept on their mind. They make ambient country, as if Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks was made to score a Western instead of a film of moon missions. The music emphasizes the wide open spaces of the West, rather than the “wild wild” part, so there’s loopy steel guitars, lonesome whistling (on “Late Night Call”), and lots of cosmic dust. “Big Sky” is maybe the most densely layered track, with electric soloing as well as strumming and some banjos. “Rain” is much gloomier, with a resounding series of dark, slow twangs. “Laredo” is more rhythmic, with a drum machine ticking under the crisp, clear guitars and synths — not quite as rough and rugged as the actual West. “Gunfighter” uses some film samples, but they’re a bit clipped and distant, and the slide guitar and harmonica take center stage over the haunting pulsations keeping time. “Canyonlands (Return to Wichita)” is a calm drift into the sunset, and seems to be the most synth-heavy track on the album.

Jonathan Kawchuk: North (Paper Bag, 2018)

February 1, 2018 at 9:13 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Composer Jonathan Kawchuk’s first album for Paper Bag is short, at only 25 minutes, but colossally ambitious. Kawchuk spent two years recording dozens of musicians and field recordings across several countries. Just look at the liner notes for a credits puzzle possibly even more complicated than the one for Syro. On top of all of this, Kawchuk played the recordings through speakers in the forests of the Jostedal National Park in Norway, so that the natural wildlife ambiance is embedded into the album. Musically, it’s a mix of acoustic, orchestral instruments, electronic processing (making the instruments sound like they’re disintegrating at times), and natural resonance. On “Aware”, there’s some slightly jarring bass rumbling underneath, bringing to mind that one moment on The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid. Even more dissonant is “Fast Twitch”, which starts with a louder, compressed noise for a few brief seconds, before cutting out, and then clusters and waves of instruments slowly creep in. As complex as the album seems, there’s moments that are incredibly sparse and minimalist, such as the delicately hypnotic “Ebb”. Closing piece “Lagos” has more voices than the preceding tracks, but they almost sound like they’re trapped in the forest and calling out for help.