Foxy Digitalis
Abbey Blackwell’s new album, Big Big Motion, sounds straightforward at first, but at some point, a few songs in, it begins constricting like a warm, enveloping sonic catharsis. She has played bass for loads of great artists, but now at the front of her own band (she worked with Ronan Delisle, Evan Woodle, Stephen Moore, […]
I swear, the more I learn about Pat Keen, the more there is to learn about Pat Keen. It’s genuinely a wonderful rabbit hole to dive into. His new album, “I Saw A Bug,” is a unique view into his sonic world, a place where technical prowess and inventive songwriting crash into mountains of whimsy […]
Luke Elliott creates immersive listening experiences where lines between the real and imagined become blurred. His new album, “Every Somewhere,” puts that through a sharper lens, with repeating patterns sending listeners through a sonic prism in search of a sense of freedom. Through inventive sampling processes and organic, fluid compositional approaches, Elliott reframes ideas of […]
Pajazzo is a new LP by the Finnish/Italian free jazz ensemble Muumiot, recorded during a break in their busy touring schedule in the winter of 2023. Muumiot had the opportunity to spend some studio time at Pelto Studio. The group comprises Virginia Genta on soprano sax, winds, and keyboards, Sami Pekkola on tenor and alto […]
From the opening moments of “High Priestess,” the first track on Gryphon Rue’s stunning new album, 4n_Objx, there’s a sense of grandeur and impossibility. Layered drones and electronics coalesce into moments of spectral wonder, spread across shapeshifting soundscapes and complex rhythms. Rue blankets this music with countless textures, pulled from an array of source materials […]
There are multiple moments on Miaux’s latest album, Never Coming Back, where I feel like I am spiraling away into the nothingness of the void. What sets it apart from other music that sends me in that direction is how warm and captivating the pieces are, even to the point of feeling comforting. It doesn’t […]
Morgan Garrett’s sonic stew is messy and precise at the same time. Shrapnel scattered in random patterns across the ground becomes a playground. Sounds are dissected and repurposed from the dust, twisted into jagged tone sculptures. His newest album, Purity, is restless and intense, as though it’s simultaneously running away from one thing and into the grime-infested arms of something […]
I haven’t heard an album quite like Lola de la Mata’s Oceans on Azimuth before. The violinist and composer was told to give up music in 2019 after a tinnitus diagnosis, but she took this setback as an opportunity to explore sound in new ways and intentions. She met A.J. Hudspeth who runs the sensory cell lab in New York where they study the cochlea. From there she began […]
Scott Amendola has seen and done almost everything in the world of free music. He’s unlocked something new with SticklerPhonics, the trio of Raffi Garabedian, Danny Lubin-laden, and himself. Their debut, Technicolor Ghost Parade, is a shapeshifting sonic wonderland, moving between freeform expression and complex instrumental textures. I talked to Scott about how the group came together, […]