In this installment of the Capsule Garden, I’m focusing on music from African and Asian artists (while recognizing that some of these are released on US/UK-based labels). I always try to make sure the Capsule Garden isn’t solely focused on music from Western sources, and so it felt like a good time to do an entire installment dedicated to sounds from outside of the usual places that fill my inbox (I’ll do future columns focused on the Middle East, Eastern Europe, & South America, too). So here we are.
One quick programming note – I released a new solo album last week called Trace Amounts (on The Jewel Garden of course) that is part of my ongoing series of works built around bodies of water in Oklahoma. I hope you’ll check that out HERE.
On with the show.
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Kiu Siu Le Hors-Champ (Fruit Exports)
Kiu Siu’s Le Hors-Champ has an almost narrative form. The first four songs are each focused on certain moods and elements, exploring the possibilities of each idea in a focused way. Organ drones bend into alien forms, expanding the tonal qualities inside out. Chimes are mutated into sharpened knives glistening in empty space before hypnotic soundscapes are sliced open with visceral guitar leads. Nothing here is disparate, though. Everything flows together in a way that makes sense. Minimal beats underscore triumphant, resonant flows before everything comes together in an ecstatic, whimsical reverie. Each vignette is now a part of something larger, a call into the ether to find a new source of light. Wonderful.
ayrtbh Synthetic Weather Reporter (Aloe Records)
Shanghai’s Wang Changcun (ayrtbh) crafts mystery in sonic form through minimalist soundscapes on the beguiling Synthetic Weather Reporter. Intricate details gurgle through sharp canyons like electronic water eroding our focus. Movement is constant. Tension builds in the periphery. A wave of sawtooth drones cuts in, weaving angular textures into mountainous toneshapes across the fading horizon. On “er,” Changcun cuts and morphs short vocal samples into a charred funhouse excursion. The chaos still exists here, but it’s pulled backward and restrained. Even so, “er” has a manic energy underlying the woozy swells. It’s restless and enthralling.
Atsuko Hatano Gaslight (Self-Released)
Atsuko Hatano expands her palette on Gaslight, offering new glimpses into her creative practice. As ever, her viola playing is at the heart of this music, but layered electronics add subdued rhythmic elements and waves of texture. Emotive passages rise and fall, the timbre of Hatano’s five-string viola flickering in ether, moving at different speeds to create an enveloping listening experience. Passages are sculpted into fleeting moments lost in time. Strings cry against a fading backdrop, the mournful elegies cast shadows across electronic dust and debris shimmering beneath the gentle timbres. A vulnerability is stitched within each aural pathway, as though Hatano, by expanding her approach, brings us closer and shows more of herself. It’s a wonder. Gaslight pulls us along with wistful reveries.
Khushboo Jain Echoes of Becoming (Self-Released)
Across two side-long pieces, Indian composer Khushboo Jain traverses dense sonic terrain. Countless synth layers build and fold into themselves, morphing multiple tones into amorphous soundscapes. “Becoming Whole” is the more introspective of the two tracks, dealing in a more subdued spectrum while finding emotive passages in silhouettes. In contrast, “The Fullness of Life” rides quick arpeggio bubbles into the sunkissed sky. Melodies dance whimsically, sometimes cut by cloud-like drones, moving in multiple directions to build mesmeric landscapes. This music is a colorful delight.
KMRU Natur (Touch)
Natur is expansive and at the same time feels like a moment of epiphany stretched into the infinite. Invisible pathways spark to life, snapping like static between synapses, the dreams of electricity. Corrosive tones emerge as dissonant shapes shrouded in constant, microscopic movements, buried in dust, and reformed. The tension between stasis and progress bubbles in noise swells and slow-building drones. It’s hard to know if we’re staying still with intention or if we’re being held in space against our will. Natur holds these two ideas simultaneously, blended with mournful progressions and textured sonics, and it begins to be overwhelming and all-encompassing. Jarring moments become permanent imprints on everything around us, expressed through harsh timbres encased in shadow. If there’s balance to be found, it’s a constantly moving point. An incredible album.
Peni Candra Rini Wulansih (New Amsterdam)
Time traveling might be a real thing based on Wulansih. Indonesian vocalist and composer Peni Candra Rini has a voice cast in amber, timeless, and wistful. Acoustic worlds create an organic foundation for Rini to gracefully ascend. The band on Wulansih is incredible (it includes Shahzad Ismaily, Lester St. Louis, I Gusti Putu Sudarta, and Andy McGraw, among others), and the deftness with which they play Rini’s compositions makes this music feel immersive and ageless. Everything from guitar and cello to gamelan and Indonesian string instruments color Wulansih with captivating timbres. Hypnotic structures emerge through sonic repetitions while Rini’s voice floats above the shapeshifting enchantments. This is so special.
tttc Sum / mer / cury (Ingrown)
tttc finds whimsical channels to swim through, pulsing with aqueous electronics, it opens up a new universe. Rhythmic cascades punctuate these escapes with pointillistic aural modes, fusing plucked melodies with wistful reflections. There’s something sweet underlying this music, bringing the impulsiveness of summer vacations into a darker, more subdued sound world. These connections, the moments when two divergent soundscapes come together, are where the magic blooms. Outer limits turn toward inward scopes decked out in synth washes and stilted reveries. tttc’s music is comfortable without being comforting – the familiar bounce and breeze, the warmth of recognized patterns, but it’s all presented within new shapes and unique perspectives. Sum / mer / cury is a deep source of sonic treats. Also, check out his Foretold album – it’s great.
Fran Nor Cry Freedom (Self-Released)
It’s easy to get lost inside these spacious aural explorations. Fran Nor reshapes familiar timbres and forms with an investigative, emotional approach. Sounds blur, digitally crushed together like half-remembered visions connecting us with the unseen world. Within these sonic confines comes release, a license to let go and feel a sense of relief. Darker shadows loom, though, expressed through minor chord progressions and hidden in cryptic samples. Piano repetitions get mangled to bits while still retaining an opaque beauty. An amorphous foundation fluctuates its shape beneath, holding voice-like aberrations gently and with care. Cry Freedom never stops searching, but its elegiac pacing and buried hymnal aura make us feel compelled to resist a destination. Stellar.
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “Domes” (Self-Released)
Repeating melodies form sky-bound patterns, eschewing any type of neon meditation for something still tethered to the past. Faded sparkles crack our dreams, leaving behind a blackened crystal ball unconcerned about the future and simply living in the now. Nilotpal Das is relentless. Love this.
Rushab Nandha Singing Inferno To Angels (Self-Released)
A dream for another day, a collection of another life. Singing Inferno To Angels is intimate yet otherworldly, music for secret places within and without. Rushab Nandha weaves together electronic histories of worlds long forgotten. Melodic cascades bleed into caustic sonic hellscapes, but the tendrils between the two float like weightless gloss across the night. Drones are cut short for maximum impact and the muted trails left behind open pathways for wistful piano meditations and hidden ambient whispers. There’s a lot here, but once it digs in, we’re left with a treasure trove of electronic spells.
Foxy Digitalis depends on our awesome readers to keep things rolling. Pledge your support today via our Patreon or subscribe to The Jewel Garden. You can also make a one-time donation via Ko-fi.
Thanks so much for featuring tttc! Long live Foxy Digitalis!