It’s been a long week of being snowed/iced in with my kid doing distance learning the entire time, and I don’t know that I have much left in my brain. A lot of beautiful music (this is only a small taste!) and art-making have been the things keeping the clock ticking forward.
A few quick notes:
- On Patreon, I have begun a semi-regular column called The Dollar Bin. It is somewhat similar in approach to The Capsule Garden but focuses entirely on releases that are $1 (or euro, GBP, etc) or less. There’s a ton of incredible music to be had on a budget where support goes directly to the artists. Sign up HERE.
- If you are an artist, label, etc. in need of a new bio, album one-sheet, audio mastering, cover or poster design, website help, mentoring, etc. – please get in touch. I am offering a variety of services for super reasonable prices and would love to work with you. More info and pricing can be found HERE.
- Lastly, I have worked this week to update my personal webpage with more of my visual art, if that’s of interest – check that HERE.
And with that, we’re on to the tunes.
Ariel Kalma & Asa Tone ◯ (Good Morning Tapes)
In the music of dreams, possibility becomes tangible. Ariel Kalma and Asa Tone’s ◯ is divine—a liminal séance in search of aqueous lucidity. Synthesis flows through organic channels, forming a gentle sonic tide filled with dancing patterns and sun-kissed harmonies. Kalma threads woodwind spectrality through Asa Tone’s intricate aural machines, crafting a sense of weightless wonder, as if floating above a lush world and taking it all in at once. At its core, ◯ is a whimsical spectacle—bouncing pizzicatos, buoyant rhythms, chiming reverberations, and infectious melodies zigzag through vivid corridors of sound and feeling. Flute wisps become airborne figures drifting across tonic treetops, everything moving in unison yet at oblique angles. Each texture is rich with depth and character, heightening the pleasure of listening as these pieces unfold, sculpting sonic landscapes in real time. ◯ is pure magic.
Gloria Cheng Root Progressions (Biophilia)
There’s a moment in the opening track of Root Progressions, “Piano Heaven: Spheroid,” where the light seems to shift and the breeze picks up. Gloria Cheng’s playing is, as always, brilliant—effortless yet deeply attuned to the quick shifts and angular melodies of this collection of compositions by Anthony Davis, James Newton, Gernot Wolfgang, Jon Jang, and Linda May Han Oh. Delicate flourishes ripple outward, sending melodic runs and exploratory solos that expand the music’s intricate framework. While whimsy and wonder are here in spades, Cheng’s touch remains reflective and grounded, soaring yet always tethered to the essence of these pieces. An exquisite journey in solo piano ruminations, where technique and emotion intertwine and bloom into aural magic.
Steven R. Smith Triecade (Worstward Recordings)
Lush, languid chord progressions drift through a hazy room as Triecade waltzes into existence. Thirty years into his musical journey, Steven R. Smith continues to conjure vivid soundscapes, layering guitars that rise from the earth, carried by sympathetic rhythms and an expansive sonic palette. Wistfulness lingers in the swirling clouds of distorted melodies, while ghostly keyboard whispers guide waiting silhouettes through spindly guitar leads and intricate drum patterns. Triecade trades in psychedelic textures, yet Smith’s work always retains a gentle undercurrent, making it as inviting as it is transportive. A trip worth taking—one that extends far beyond the cosmos.
Seraphim Blush rot fungus animorph (Self-Released)
Electricity crackles with ecstatic force on rot fungus animorph, where reverent harmonics collide with scattered whims. Seraphim Blush constructs intricate sonic machines, scattering countless sound fragments into a blooming fantasy garden. In the microscopic spaces between glitches, playful mirth emerges—frenetic electronics, hypnotic vocalizations, cut-up guitar melodies, and a kaleidoscope of textures coalescing into something wild, free, and utterly captivating. Her music feels limitless, with clattering chimes reverberating through dense, resonant forests. Some moments unfold like vivid, tape-mangled daydreams—neon motion captured and amplified inside glass jars, each detail illuminated. Just when the dance teeters on the edge of chaos, Seraphim Blush pulls the cord taut, takes a breath, and sends the tonic escapade surging forward once more.
Kevin Richard Martin / Dis Fig “Silent” (Self-Released)
This is a dream team cutting through nightmare fog. Felicia Chen (aka Dis Fig) strips back Martin’s aural mountain of darkness, centering herself within a stark fever dream. Dub inflections rattle softly against the void, skewing bass phantoms and subterranean shadows away from the light. Elegies etched in silver ink on a grayscale backdrop cut deep, Chen’s voice splintering the black as she sings, “I’m still falling apart.” It’s crushing yet tender, a cracked mirror reflecting the sting of every fractured piece we try to tape back together. Martin’s soundworld is desolate but mesmerizing, with minor-key melodies and looping patterns acting as an ashen salve against an insurmountable tide. “Silent” leaves me breathless, longing for another day beyond the divide.
Alexandre Navarro Les Toiles De Nuits (Facade Electronics)
Abstract shapes emerge on the horizon, beacons built from decaying sand. Alexandre Navarro’s Les Toiles De Nuits carries a quiet fragility, a sense of impermanence woven into its core. Fleeting yet deeply affecting, the album balances languid melodies with rich textural depth. Synthesizers glow and fade, their vaporous tones drifting against darkening skies, while acoustic guitar plucks tiptoe through muted tones, tracing delicate paths beneath a graying backdrop where hope feels distant. Across Les Toiles De Nuits, simple rhythms encode secret messages, intertwining with resonant guitar loops and saturated hiss. Subdued drama and introspective moments guide the journey, revealing new motifs with each listen Fantastic.
BLAKMOTH Rive (Self-Released)
Charred oscillations etch electronic scars across a barren landscape. BLAKMOTH’s mastery of bleakness and nuance burns incandescent on Rive. Drama surges through pulsing rhythms and guttural bass drones, sending sharpened frequencies fizzing into blackened skies. Windswept howls swirl around the thudding beats, balancing raw noise with quieter, melodic echoes. Across Rive, BLAKMOTH is constructing something vast—sonic scaffolding rising skyward like an intricate tower, only to be dismantled and stripped bare. Destruction lingers in the margins of these six pieces, an unseen force pulling our focus outward. Rive is a monument to heavy electronics, yet from its wreckage, countless new possibilities emerge.
Sophia Djebel Rose Sécheresse (Ramble/WV Sorcerer/Oracle)
The voice is a weapon—or at least the lingering echo of an ancient power. Sophia Djebel Rose summons the ether, shaping it into ageless paeans, fractured remnants of another world made whole. Sharp steel timbres cut through smoke-laced incantations, while the Earth hums in the spaces between notes, between words. Every utterance demands attention, her vocals imbued with a gentle, distorted grain. When she lets loose, the fire burns white-hot, levitating in spectral intensity. Ghosts become real. Time dissolves. Sécheresse exists in the liminal space between now and forever, and Rose assures us that whatever doom may come, there is another side. Incredible.
