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[mykpi]

album 41/365

"Matter" by Noémi Büchi

There's definitely something going on here. The kind of experimental music where there's a definite plan to do something and something that's genuinely new, and as a result sometimes a little uncomfortable. I think it's a thoughtful piece but it didn't really engage me emotionally. Glad I listened to this but I'm not sure I'm going back to it

[mykpi]

album 40/365

"Hyper-Dimension Expansion Beam" by The Comet is Coming

I really like this group but this album was hard work. And it's hard work in a lot of senses. I felt the group really were putting effort into this and trying hard to make something happen. This isn't just about playing around in the studio and putting what emerges out there. But as much as a struggle is recorded I struggled to really connect with it. It doesn't really soar. I also felt this with the last Soccer96 album from the duo at the heart of the band. Every groove becomes a rut and I just hope that they'll find something different to say sooner rather than later - just trying harder isn't going to develop anything new

[mykpi]

album 39/365

"Crespuscule I & II" by Tujiko Noriko

I was putting this album off until I had the time. It runs for an hour and three quarters - this wasn't something I could just listen to on the commute. So it's a Sunday morning and I settled down to listen to it - and I think that's half the thing about this piece. It needs time setting aside and the setting aside of time is an act in itself that changes listening. This meanders and it's hard to tell when a track has finished and one has started but there are definitely distinct pieces. This has a level of complexity without being busy and without percussion still has a flow and a rhythm. I'll not be putting a track from this on a playlist but there will be a point where I'm setting some time aside on a weekend or a day off...

[mykpi]

album 38/365

"Come Around" by Carla dal Forno

Ugh... at least this was short as I don't think I could have got through something much longer. It just feels really conservative - this is music that has been made a thousand times before, often better

[mykpi]

album 37/365

"Portrait of a Dog" by Jonah Yano

It's a sweet album but a slight one. I tend to get into a song through the music first and that can be a block to me getting into the lyrics. These songs do look at relationships and especially those with his grandparents as they start to show the signs of dementia but I never quite got to any of that as the musical setting is more than a little bit lame. Just not for me

[mykpi]

album 36/365

"All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out" by Luke Haines and Peter Buck

It's a Luke Haines album but with better guitars. And since I do like Haines, although I'm never quite sure why, this is a good thing. Could have done with paring down a touch - 17 tracks of stuff that isn't particularly diverse pushes it a bit - but the good stuff here is really good

[mykpi]

album 35/365

"Diagonals" by Born Under a Rhyming Planet.

Fairly minimal ambient/electronic but with a really deep bass boom at times that just gives it more substance. This isn't going to leave it's mark on me but I enjoyed the time I spent with it

[mykpi]

Album 34/365

"...on reflection" by William Basinski and Janek Schaefer

Man this was a trip. It's quiet, subdued, reflective, sorrowful... it's some piano loops and field recordings. But it is much more than that. It's calming and arresting. I couldn't really listen to anything for an hour after finishing this.

The best music transforms. You gain something, you are changed by it when it finishes - even if just for a short while. This will stay with me

[mykpi]

album 33/365

"Nothing Special" by Will Sheff

Accurately titled, inaccurately reviewed.

[mykpi]

Album 32/365

"Calque" by Billow Observatory

Ok, it's an EP not an album but I listened to it twice! And for an ambient set had more ideas in its short runtime than some "experimental" albums I've endured (and that 32 number would have been higher if I had been able to finish at least 4 albums I've not listed here)

It's on the minimalist side but that gives the music space to breathe.

[mykpi]

album 31/365

"Seclused in Light" by Arun Ghosh

this was fine. A decent listen but manalive it went on a bit. It's a double CD album that hides one really good CD of music. There are tracks that add nothing and kinda just duplicate. The pacing is just not good and so it just sprawls. People need to kill their darlings and edit

[mykpi]

album 30/365

"La Force Aquarianne" by Andy Aquarius

New age woo but pleasant enough. A slight and inoffensive thing

[mykpi]

Album 29/365

"Bar Mediterraneo" by Nu Genea

This was derivative in a good way. There's nothing really challenging here but it very much did make me think of Summer in February. There's a deliberate attempt to create a specific feel and whist all being familiar does make a bit of a turn from time to time and kept my interest up. Southern Italian artists but no small hints of eastern med and north african sound in this.

[mykpi]

album 28/365

"Hert" by Lara Rosseel

I'm starting to get annoyed with works described as "experimental", "playful" and where "groove" and "atmosphere" are seen as key characteristics. This has it all - it's slight and more than a little empty. Just people dicking about essentially and not really trying to communicate anything - because they've nothing to communicate. Just playing music for themselves. Great, hope they had fun but there's no reason to release anything and take up space

Harrumph

[mykpi]

album 27/365

"Blurt" by Joy Helder

I was looking through my list of albums to play and I swear I had listened to this but couldn't remember anything about it. So I listened again to make sure and found my attention wandering. And I guess that is that then

[mykpi]

Album 26/365

"Cry Sugar" by Hudson Mohawke

A bit busy. A bunch of ideas, many of which don't ever seem properly finished but where nothing outstays its welcome - and when it all does click then it really works. Not an album to chill to but one to relieve boredom

[mykpi]

Album 25/365

"The Work" by Gold Panda

I've listed to some of his stuff a few years back and it was an entry point into more ambient electronic music for me. This just didn't stick with me though. Pleasant enough but not really saying much or going anywhere and I'm struggling to remember much a couple of days later. A slight thing.