Foxy Digitalis
“Roxa 1,” the opening track on Nick Storring’s ninth album, Mirante, is a buoyant homage to Brazil. Opening with a glowing sharpness, like dissonant halos echoing in all directions, it blooms into a lithe, rhythmic reverie. This is music that floats weightless and lush steeped in whimsical melodies. Storring layers countless percussive timbres to keep […]
Unexpected collaborations with hi-octane, prismatic results are the kind of fuel I crave. Free jazz improvisation trio Dromedaries (Keir Neuringer, Shayne Dulberger, and Julius Masri) join forces with writer and vocalist Alex Smith (Alexoteric). “The Burning Bright Light” floods the zone with frenetic, charging rhythms blazing the ground floor with a tangled fury. Movement is […]
Every year, life feels like it’s moving even faster. I’m not sure how, since everything is always in the red, but each time put on Brian John McBrearty’s lilting gem, “Believing,” stops everything in its tracks. Repeating, simple chord progressions provide a foundation rooted in stillness and ease where warm timbres spiral skyward through Matt […]
On kinjarling studies: soundtracks (five years on), Amby Downs reimagines this series of film soundtracks and creates a spellbinding, haunting sonic document. Field recordings become liminal specters, tactile reminders of the history embedded in specific places. “jidda” crawls forward beneath high-frequency whisps, moving toward the source of each muted piano toll. Even with its heightened […]
Viktor Kubal’s 1981 animated film, The Bloody Lady, is full of whimsy and horror that are mined for interest and tension. Unsurprisingly, it is fertile ground for claire rousay’s alternate score. “VIII” swims in melancholy with emotive piano melodies pockmarking a droning underscore like acid raindrops through limestone. String arrangements waver into growing dissonant charms […]
“A Thick Event” glows white with guttural viscosity, sound bellowing within space within space. Alma Laprida uses low frequencies to resonate her tromba marina, turning the instrument into sonic ghosts in the void. Strings shake out notes buried under debris, hinting at trembling melodies humming deep within the abyss. Laprida rides the edge of disintegration […]
There are a dizzying number of layers to “Matines,” the opening track from musique actuelle vets Martin Tétreault & Érick d’Orion’s new album, Cisterciennes. Textured repetitions grind through hypnotic, disassembled drones and gliding harmonics. The mix of turntablism and electronics is satisfying. Tétreault & d’Orion create a unique sonic language to twist varying tonal components […]
Tension blooms in relentless, expanding waves on “when air collapsed within.” Sonic expressions move between calm, crystalline drips, and quiet moments to find grounding even as these quiet tones rise toward the sky. Each grain flickers in unique patterns leaving us feeling light as air. But our dear friend, the medic guides our thoughts through […]
Track Premiere: Black Rain “Tokyo Night City” With William Gibson’s Neuromancer celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Room 40 is releasing the first proper edition of Black Rain’s soundtrack for the audiobook version from 30 years ago. These recordings are legendary in certain circles but have remained largely unavailable until now. The duo captures the […]