Foxy Digitalis
Panghalina is the trio of Maria Moles, Bonnie Stewart, and Helen Svoboda, and on “Glass Lake,” immateriality finds solidity. Svoboda and Stewart’s swirling vocal waves swim around one another, leading us down an aqueous, amorphous pathway lined in glowing specters. A wash of synth textures rises through the undercurrents, their shapes moving in slow motion […]
Since I reviewed Jessica Ackerley, Kevin Cheli, and Gahlord DeWald’s Submerging Silently in a previous Capsule Garden, I’ve found myself thinking about the record at random moments. Sometimes I’ll be washing the dishes and a few of Ackerley’s inquisitive guitar runs will pop in my head, or sitting on the front porch watching leaves fall brings to mind […]
Zigzagging vocal threads trace wild, whimsical patterns that live at the intersection of joyful and chaotic. “Cardinal” is blink-and-you-might-miss-it quick – the cadence, the arpeggiations, the dancing percussion, and the lyrical repetitions all veering into 100 unimaginable directions. Cascading melodies are gilded in frenetic glee, timbres bright and bouncy like a collection of magical creatures […]
Steve Fors’ 2022 album, it’s nothing, but still has stuck with me. The opening track, “(good enough) for now,” is a view into the wider album, a wistful welcome to this beautiful, melancholic sound world. Expansive landscapes are reflected in the visuals, and the washed-out color palette heightens the timelessness of the emotive aural swells. Fors builds […]
Multi-dimensional shapes dance in amorphous patterns, echoing the sharp-angled movements of David Bird’s beguiling composition. This connection between the sonic and visual elements heightens the impact of both, with the aqueous gesticulations softening the incisive electronic timbres veering at sharp angles in every direction. Even with the depth of this music’s framework, the underlying playfulness […]
The Spanish, Iranian, and Afghan trio Badieh explores traditional folk music from the Greater Khorasan while fusing contemporary takes and approaches to create new, inviting worlds of sound. Michel Gasco (Spain) and Mohammad Miraghazadeh (Iran) form Badlieh’s core, and throughout their new album, II, they are joined by a host of incredible Afghan musicians. “Asheq Bodom […]
Mexico City’s Pidgins explores percussive landscapes. The duo of Milo Tamez and Aaron With fuses layered rhythms with a host of engaging sound worlds from voice and other instruments, creating a puzzle-like environment to dig into modern, often banal, trance-like states. Refrains of the Day, Volume 1 is enigmatic and beguiling. Tamez weaves a polyrhythmic fabric across […]
VÍZ is the moniker of Hungarian multi-disciplinary artist Réka Csiszér. Following on from last year’s debut, Veils, Csiszér worked with Italian director, Radiana Basso, to create the experimental short film, “Wake up where the clouds are far behind me.” Visceral imagery pairs with creeping sonics and crawling narratives to explore themes of ‘womanhood, disconnection, abortion, alienation, and the […]
Scratchy chord swells overwhelm a looping sense of decay churning beneath the waves of “Night Owl.” Los Angeles’s VESSITT fuses moments of enticing aural drama with a tranquilizing sonic undercurrent. This music has sharp edges around its lithe flow, echoed in the visual dichotomies presented throughout this captivating video. Movement is a constant, bright color […]