Foxy Digitalis
I randomly stumbled upon Chuck Soo-Hoo’s wonderful Ki Oni project earlier this thanks to Emma Palm/No Translation and it’s been an aural love affair ever since. Ki Oni makes music that is cotton candy to my ears and Life After the Digital Spa is no exception. His effervescent compositions are an unobstructed flow of billowing aquatic ripples. […]
New music from Joel Shanahan (Golden Donna, Auscultation, etc) is always good news, and Euphoria Journal is no exception. Did You Find My Letter? is a fuzzy dreamworld of entangled guitar shards and sticky bass drones. This is a zone I’m not used to Shanahan exploring, but the world he creates on Did You Find My Letter? Is distinct […]
Across three longform pieces, Isnaj Dui (aka Katie English) moves slowly, intricately draped fabric following her, leaving a behind delicate path. These compositions are inspired by Keats’ sonnet of the same name. They teem with life, primeval energy flowing through the sonic crevices of these gentle, expansive drones. English uses an array of instrumentation to […]
As soon as the stellar new batch from Constellation Tatsu came through, I was immediately drawn to Pastorale because of the eye-catching cover. Digging into the credits, of course it’s by Keith Rankin. Thankfully, the album is just as beautiful and inviting as the cover art. Arian Shafiee plays guitar in Guerilla Toss and has been on […]
Until now I was only familiar with Norman W. Long’s incredible field-recording-based solo work, so learning about his drone project, eXU-9, was exciting. On Space Cadet, Long takes these dense explorations to find meditative spaces where we can ruminate on “freedom, resilience, expansion, openness, and universal consciousness.” There are mountains of pain and trauma underlying these recordings, […]
New Haven’s Mountain Movers are lifers. Going on 15-years-strong, this quartet is a zonked-out shredfest that flings earworms as readily as they bomb out fried-psych solos. Their latest, World What World, is a dynamic gut-punch filtered through a spectral prism, searching for a solid place to stand in a world that may no longer exist. The […]
On her first soccer Committee album in 15 years, Mariska Baars’ work continues to take the barest moments and offer them as sonic sacraments to hold gently before they fade away. Over eight songs in under 15 minutes, Baars’ music flits in the air and soothes like a cool breeze. Tell From the Grass is gone before […]
William Parker is truly a gift to the world and over the past 18 months I’ve connected even more with his work than ever before. Beyond his inimitable vision and leadership in music, he is a community figrehead and sage. There are not enough superlatives to describe the impact and influence has had on the […]
Each little snippet on Japanese composer Morimoto Naoki’s Kuuhaku feels like a cool breeze whispering across your neck. There’s a gentleness to his work that slows life to a crawl as passing imagery reduces to still shapes. Kuuhaku exudes pastoral environments while still transmitting a potent, infectious current. Looping tones fracture and fall to the side, circling through intricate […]