#fred lonberg-holm

[soundgrammar]

Listen/purchase: MIMIKAKI by Dave Rempis / Elisabeth Harnik / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Tim Daisy

[buttererer]

Earscratcher - Sugar Maple, MKE December 8, 2024

Dave Rempis - saxophones

"Lisa Arnik" - piano

Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello

Tim Daisy - drums

video by Bragmilwaukee

[sinceileftyoublog]

Yakuza, Oxbow, & Sybris Live Show Review: 2/25, Thalia Hall, Chicago

Yakuza's Jerome Marshall & Bruce Lamont

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For two Chicago bands, Sunday night was all about reflection. First and foremost, local metal legends Yakuza were there to celebrate 25 years of existence. They first caught the eyes and ears of listeners with their independently released debut album Amount to Nothing before signing to a label for 2002's Way of the Dead, an album that truly introduced them as a hard rock band with elements of avant-garde and jazz. On Yakuza records, folks like Ken Vandermark and Fred Lonberg-Holm would rub elbows with members of Mastodon; founding member Bruce Lamont, the lead singer and saxophonist/clarinetist, was the tying thread between the musical worlds. Yakuza steadily released records for the next 10 years before taking a decade-long break, while Lamont would stay active, playing saxophone, participating in bands like Bloodiest and Corrections House, and tending bar at Empty Bottle. Finally, last year, Yakuza picked up where they left off with Sutra (Svart), a record that again dipped its toes into seemingly disparate genres--thrash, prog, free jazz--and managed to churn out a cohesive stew.

From left to right: Marshall, James Staffel, Lamont, Matt McClelland

Sunday night, the Sutra songs sounded among the best, standing tall with Yakuza's back catalog. Set opener "Capricorn Rising" gradually built into a chug, Lamont alternating between sax flourishes and a chanted vocal. Matt McClelland's brawny guitar carried "Burn Before Reading". In general, the rhythm section--bassist Jerome Marshall and drummer James Staffel--provided steadily swirling noise to contrast the unpredictability of McClelland's riffs and Lamont's incantations. Perhaps the most moving moment of the night was when Lamont, visibly choked up, dedicated a song to the late Mars Williams, a fellow Chicago area journeyman saxophonist who passed away late last year.

McClelland

Lamont, Staffel, & McClelland

Lamont, Staffel, & McClelland

Sybris' Shaun Podgurski and Angela Mullenhour

Speaking of decades of inactivity, how about Sybris? The local stalwarts, who have released only two records, 2005's self-titled LP and 2008's Into the Trees, played their first Chicago show in 10 years last summer and are now gearing up to release their long-shelved third album Gold on Hold (Absolutely Kosher), recorded in 2011. It's very easy to play "what if?" with the four-piece, as their unique mix of epic, feelings-heavy indie rock and nervy rhythms could have seen them further soar among beloved sounds and bands of the 2010s: the early 2010s emo revival, the late 2010s post-punk revival, Screaming Females, and Hop Along, to name a few. On Sunday, they primed the passionate crowd with clear old favorites, like the jagged "Hurt Hawk", country-tinged burner "Burnout Babies", slow love song "Blame It On The Baseball", and the thunderous "Something About A Darkhorse Or Whatever". As if to whet our appetites for what's to come, they ended their set with two Gold on Hold tracks: the unreleased "Dance" and driving album opener "Watermelon". For music fans all over the globe, Gold on Hold should be one of the more anticipated upcoming releases of the remaining year.

From left to right: Podgurski, Mullenhour, Clayton DeMuth, Phil Naumann

Naumann

Podgurski, Mullenhour, Naumann

From left to right: Oxbow's Dan Adams, Eugene Robinson, Greg Davis, & Niko Wenner

In between the two Windy City phoenixes? None other than San Francisco experimentalists Oxbow, who used the most of their 40-minute set, not limiting the sensory experiences and media to just music. Indeed, for five-plus minutes, they played a short film, whose images, sound-tracked by a droning instrumental, repeatedly cut to black, as if they were pulsating. All this time, they were burning incense. When guitarist/keyboardist Niko Wenner, bassist Dan Adams, and drummer Greg Davis finally entered the stage, they launched into the pseudo funk of Thin Black Duke highlight "A Gentleman's Gentleman". Eventually, vocalist Eugene Robinson sauntered on and did what he does: screech and wail devastating lyrics, his voice raw as hell, and expressively dance and convulse. Similar to Yakuza, Oxbow's most recent songs, from last year's Love's Holiday (Ipecac), sounded the most fresh and urgent: "The Night the Room Started Burning", "Icy White & Crystalline", and "Lovely Murk". The album version of the last one features Kristin Hayter, who Robinson made sure to mention was not there but is playing Thalia Hall in a couple months. Nonetheless, Wenner admirably filled in, emulating her soulful vocal turn. And the band took time to remember another experimental genius and collaborator who passed last year, Peter Brötzmann, but made sure to take advantage of Lamont's saxophone prowess, having him fill in on tempo-changing freak-out "Cat and Mouse". (Though "Cat and Mouse" was released on their sophomore album King of the Jews, their live version with Brötzmann has become well known.) While the three bands who played on Sunday might have constituted an odd group on paper, all share one of the preeminent qualities of good performers: unbridled passion.

Robinson

Robinson & Wenner

Wenner & Robinson

[narizentupidocartazes]

[2021] 28 de Setembro | USOF | Transition Zone - Fred Lonberg-Holm | Abdul Moimême | Carlos Santos | Movimento Presente - Lisboa

Cartaz [Carlos Santos]

[dustedmagazine]

Rempis / Harnik / Lonberg-Holm / Daisy — Earscratcher (Aerophonic)

Earscratcher by Earscratcher

You could call this record a late, late birthday present. In 2019, Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik first played with saxophonist Dave Rempis, drummer Tim Daisy and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm. The encounter was sufficiently satisfying for her to plan a tour with them in May, 2020 in celebration of her 50th birthday. Of course, that tour didn’t happen; it took two full years and a couple postponements before the quartet finally commenced it on May 2, 2022, with the concert preserved on this CD.

You can hear pent-up anticipation being dispersed, but that’s not all you hear. When she first convened the quartet, Harnik undertook a gambit sufficiently familiar that someone else named their band after it — The Chicago Plan. The city’s creative music scene has sufficient mass that an outsider can have a pick of partnerships that permit them to tap into both geographic and group dynamics, and Europeans have been taking that route ever since Brigitte Fontaine recorded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1970. Daisy, Rempis, and Lonberg-Holm have been performing all together or in subsets since the late 1990s in Triage, the Vandermark 5, Rempis Percussion Quartet, Klang and Ballister, so Harnik dialed up both a thoroughly tested collective compatibility and a breadth of sonic-stylistic possibilities when she made the calls that assembled this group. 

One quality that prolonged practice can cultivate is mature judgment, and it’s in ample evidence here. No one feels the need to bring the full breadth of their sound into play. Instead, they contribute what the situation at hand requires. Sometimes that means being subliminal or silent, but even when an individual is playing full-on, they astutely balance whatever they play with everything else around them. Consequently, the album’s three lengthy (between 16 and 20 minutes) collective improvisations sustain cohesion despite a prevailing dynamic of rapid change. Rempis, who plays several horns, confines himself to alto sax, on which he plays darting, discrete phrases that coil and stretch around Lonberg-Holm’s just-distorted-enough shudders and scrapes like a serpent wrapped around a broken physician’s staff. Daisy is like a turbulent weather system, shifting suddenly from gusty vectors to stormy sound-bursts that imbue the music with motion and shape, but never add too much weight. 

Harnik often places herself within this group dynamic, playing more sparsely than I’ve heard in other settings. Sometimes, a strum across the piano’s strings or a quick, isolated phrase completes the music happening around her, such as when she draws bright, thin arcs of sound through a thicket of similar gestures near the end of “Penggaruk Telinga.” But in other passages, her playing adds ballast and intricacy. She has a percussive attack that melds especially well with Daisy’s drumming, creating by turns a complex field of discrete strikes and a tidal surge of aggregated sound during “Ohrenkratzer” (all three tracks translate from another language into English as “Earscratcher”). For better or worse, as long as you’re alive, you keep having birthdays. If this quartet found a way to play music this engage on an annual basis, that would definitely be for the better.  

Bill Meyer

[noloveforned]

no love for ned is back on wlur tonight from 8pm until midnight with a new theme! tune in at 8pm to see what will help shape the show this winter. if you can't listen live, you can check out last week's show on mixcloud from now until eternity.

speaking of last week's show, we belatedly wrapped up our fall theme last week. for the past four months we've been starting shows off with songs that mention food. we've heard songs from the memories, yo la tengo, bettie serveert, personal and the pizzas, the b-52's, tuscadero, the flaming lips, peach kelli pop, pavement, men i trust, luna, cibo matto, elf power, teenage fanclub, of montreal, leyna noel, oasis, and warren zevon.

no love for ned on wlur – january 5th, 2024 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label warren zevon // werewolves of london // excitable boy // asylum fraser bell // still spinning // still spinning 7" ep // little lunch barbara manning // don't hold back // charm of yesterday…convenience of tomorrow // ba da bing! uni boys // let's watch a movie // buy this now! // curation wolf girl // get you // every now and then // everything sucks nathy sg // corporate lawyer // nathy sg 7” ep // cowie jaw tyvek // m-39 // overground // ginkgo thee retail simps // rubble // rubble 7" // goodbye boozy sundae painters // in came you // sundae painters // leather jacket mhaol // jack // attachment styles // merge team dresch // molasses in january // hand grenade 7" // kill rock stars circle pit // infinity // bruise constellation // timberyard nighttime // when the wind is blowing // keeper is the heart // ba da bing! simon joyner, michael krassner and fred lonberg holm // my love isn't yours to give away // this is where the ocean begins // grapefruit brian eno and fred again.. // radio // secret life // text matthew sage and zander raymond // it is isn’t it // parayellowgram // moon glyph ambrose akinmusire featuring bill frisell and herlin riley // weighted corners // owl song // nonesuch brent fuscaldo and przemyslaw krys drazek featuring hamid drake, tatsu aoki, thymme jones and joshua abrams // mirror beams // june 22 // feeding tube / astral spirits angelika niescier, tomeka reid and savannah harris // oscillating madness // beyond dragons // intakt tierra whack // chanel pit // chanel pit digital single // interscope evelyn "champagne" king // love come down (12" version) // the essential evelyn "champagne" king // legacy missy elliott // work it // under construction // elektra the young senators // ringing bells (sweet music), pt. 2 // if there's hell below... compilation // numero group joey valence and brae // punk tactics // punk tactics // jvb 2m8o // what trent does // 2m8o // under the gun hazy sour cherry // i need your heart // hazy 7" ep // freak city soundtrack hero no hero // rabbit hole // pacific standard time // subjangle secret shine // temporal // untouched // sarah blue ocean // take a care // fertile state // slumberland hydroplane // we crossed the atlantic // selected songs 1997-2003 // world of echo duster // cigarettes and coffee // remote echoes // numero group

[snackpointcharlie]

Music from seven or eight continents, beamed to and from elsewhere and beyond… I mean check this dude, when you look down at the earth from like, the moon, Mexico and Africa are like thiiiiiis far apart… kinda makes you think, right? RIGHT? Anyway we’re live at 10pm tonight on WGXC, 90.7 FM in upstate New York, streaming on wgxc.org and the Wave Farm app, and podcast so soon afterwards it’s like, freaky ….aaaand poof! here it is now:

Snackpoint Charlie - Transmission 118 - 2023.07.05 PLAYLIST https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/12emfd [ ^ click for download ^ ]

1) Cheryl E. Leonard - “Oceanus Meridiem” from ANTARCTICA: MUSIC FROM THE ICE https://cherylleonard.bandcamp.com/album/antarctica-music-from-the-ice

2) El Wali - “The Day of the Free Nation” from TIRIS https://elwali.bandcamp.com/album/tiris

3) Freedom of Rhapsodia - “Freedom” from THOSE SHOCKING SHAKING DAYS: INDONESIAN HARD, PSYCHEDELIC, PROGRESSIVE ROCK AND FUNK 1970-1978 https://nowagainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/va-those-shocking-shaking-days

4) Etran De L'Aïr - “Toubouk Ine Chihoussay” from LIVE IN SEATTLE https://etrandelair.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-seattle http://www.groundcontroltouring.com/artists/etran-de-lair

5) WITCH - “Toloka (Live in Philadelphia 2022.10.14)” from SOMETIMES MAGAZINE https://weintendtocausehavoc.com/release/381888-witch-lp-sometimes-magazine-the-zamrock-issue-toloka-flexi-disc?lang=en_US

6) Groupe Doudou Tamasna - “The End of our Love Story” https://www.facebook.com/Dawnaproduction https://sites.google.com/view/dawnaproduction/accueil

7) Super Djata de Bamako - “Bimoko Magnin” from VOL. 2 https://www.discogs.com/release/1865922-Super-Djata-De-Bamako-Vol-2

8) Czesław Niemen i Akwarele - “Sukces” from AKWARELE https://www.discogs.com/master/165146-Czes%C5%82aw-Niemen-i-Akwarele-Sukces

9) Medicine Singers - “Sage” from BOARD ROUGH MIXES (NASHVILLE EDITS) https://medicinesingers.bandcamp.com/album/medicine-singers

10) Becky G, Peso Pluma - “Chanel” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2wQtu9YnWk

11) Ｔ字路s (Tjiros) - “この夜いつまで (How Long This Night)” from これさえあれば (IF ONLY THIS) http://tjiros.net/disco/

12) กิ่งดาว จันทร์สวัสดิ์ (Kingdao Chansawat) - “ตายเสียก็ดี (It's Good to Die)” from รวมเพลงดังอมตะที่สุด https://www.discogs.com/artist/4324828-%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A7-%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%94

13) Violeta Parra - “Gracias a la Vida” from LAS ULTIMAS COMPOSICIONES https://www.discogs.com/master/390176-Violeta-Parra-Las-Ultimas-Composiciones-De-Violeta-Parra

14) 浅川マキ [Maki Asakawa] - “Just Another Honky” from 灯ともし頃 [WHEN THE LIGHTS COME ON] https://www.discogs.com/master/250564-%E6%B5%85%E5%B7%9D%E3%83%9E%E3%82%AD-%E7%81%AF%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%97%E9%A0%83

15) Home and Garden - “Dolores” https://nadir-novelties.net/ubu/mp3.htm http://www.homeandgardenmusic.com

16) IO Xavier - “Radio World” from RADIO WORLD https://www.discogs.com/release/2958579-Io-Xavier-Radio-World

17) Peter Jefferies - “State of the Nation” from CLOSED CIRCUIT https://grapefruit1.bandcamp.com/album/closed-circuit

18) Gate - “Land” from THE NUMBERS https://birdmanrecords.com/collections/gate https://gatemm.bandcamp.com/album/the-numbers

19) Peter Brötzmann / Heather Leigh / Fred Lonberg-Holm - “Johnny Anaconda” from NAKED NUDES https://broetzmannleigh.bandcamp.com/album/naked-nudes

20) Pere Ubu - “Blow Daddy-O” from DUB HOUSING http://www.ubuprojex.com/ubutiqueUS.html

[clubw71]

Ballister

10.3.2024

Ballister sind Dave Rempis (sax), Paal Nilssen-Love (dr) und Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello). Eine Supergroup der improvisierten Musik nach langen Jahren wieder in "einem der besten Clubs" (Danke für das Kompliment an Dave). Der vollbesetzte W71 mit seinen auch weit angereisten Zuhörern war aus dem Häuschen. War das noch Jazz oder ist das schon Rock...

...fragt sich

Schorle

[beakuency]

Beakuency December 2023: The Wren Day, and looking back the 1st year of Beakuency

Listen to this episode HERE!

Photo: St Stephen's Day, Wren Boys : Three wren boys in road, Athea, Co. Limerick. (1947) from UCD Digital Library. "The custom of hunting the wren on St. Stephen's day is known throughout most of Ireland. Groups of people dressed in disguise go from house to house, singing and playing music and asking for money in return. In former times the wren-boys carried a dead wren on a bush and asked for money to "bury the wren".

Happy Wren Day! The December episode of Beakuency featured “The Wren Song” by The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Mackem, and two “Hunt the Wren” recordings: instrumental version by Manx Folk Dance Society, and a song version by Sharron Kraus.

It has been one year for this radio program Beakuency. I have learned a lot from every local bird person I spoke with for this show, but particularly inspiring were the conversations with biologists. So we listen back to excerpts from two interviews with them: Anne Bloomfield of Hudson Valley Farm Hub, and Erik Kiviat of Hudsonia.

Listen to the full interviews:

Anne Bloomfield on Beakuency March 2023 episode

Erik Kiviat on Beakuency September 2023 episode

Also on the show: bird-inspired music released in 2023, including “Birds of Spring” by Simon Joyner, Michael Krassner & Fred Lonberg Holm, “The Dream Island Of Birds” by Mike Cooper, “Pigeon Tones for Eggflute” by Ecka Mordecai & Malvern Brume from a bird-inspired compilation Synthetic Bird Music (Mappa 2023), and Jim Denley “With Weather Volume 2: Gadigal Country” (Splitrec 2023).

[musikblog]

MusikBlog präsentiert Simon Joyner Wer da? Simon Joyner, ein US-amerikanischer Singer/Songwriter aus Omaha, Nebraska, und seine Band, bestehend aus Michael Krassner und Fred Lonberg-Holm. Und was macht der so für ‘nen Sound? Der Promozettel sagt: “Simon Joyner’s Stärke ist ein Songwriting das musikalisch wie poetisch kratzt und schabt: am amerikanischen Traum, an dessen Wirklichkeit und den Menschen, die ihn […] https://www.musikblog.de/2023/04/musikblog-praesentiert-simon-joyner/ #FredLonbergHolm #MichaelKrassner #SimonJoyner #Folk #News #SingerSongwriter

[musicmakesyousmart]

Fred Lonberg-Holm - Lisbon Solo

Notice Recordings

2020

[dustedandsocial]

Fred Lonberg​-​Holm & Simon Camatta - Lisboa

For the #celloheads. Here’s the cello you’ve been begging for.

[cdlistening]

Corbett/Gustafsson/Kapsalis/Longberg-Holm, 'Battuto' (Random Acoustics)

Thursday, January 27, 2022, 7:57pm (full listen)

This album was a highly pleasant shock: I am a huge fan of John Corbett's writing, and his work as a reissue record label head has changed my life multiple times; I know that Terri Kapsalis is also a noted writer and (I think) JC's partner - so I know two renowned writers were involved here with two heavyweight improvisors with whom i am very familiar, but I really did not know what to expect, musically, from the former half of this equation. Well, I have to say, both JC and TK are both excellent players and improvisors, and if I'd not known any better (which I think would have been better ultimately), I would also have assumed that they are full-time dedicated musicians (especially TK, whose violin prowess is highly admirable) and not folks whose Google search results mentions nothing of their obvious musicality. Overall, this is a really solid album of European-style free improvising, with Mats Gustafsson sounding typically amazing (a blend of highly technical abstractions of Evan Parker, the emotional fury of Peter Brotzmann, and the turn-on-a-dime dynamic sense of a Han Bennink/Derek Bailey duet) and the oft-understated Fred Lonberg-Holm sliding into the crevices as ably as ever.

[buttererer]

al margolis / brent gutzeit - graphic scores  (haha 3) 2021

this is a compilation of interpretations of graphic scores by al margolis and brent gutzeit by margolis, gutzeit, fred lonberg-holm & zoots houston, walter wright, dei xhrist, and ben vida. includes printed scores

forthcoming

https://haha.institute/album/haha-3

[this-took-too-much-effort]

I went to my first free jazz concert yesterday and it was AWESOME!

I got to see Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and THE PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE LIVE!!

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 10, Number 2

Ballister

It’s a leap year, so we all get an extra 24 hours to listen to February music.  Why not try some of these selections from our endless piles of when-i-get-to-its?  We’ve got unhinged beatmakers and noise-addled Canadians, smashing, grabbing jazz men and psychedelic post-punk.  And really a lot more.  February always seems long.  This year it’s even more extended.  Use your time wisely.  Play records. 

This month’s contributors include Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Bryon Hayes, Tim Clarke, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Jim Marks and Andrew Forell. 

8ruki — POURquoi!! (33 Recordz)

This ain’t your mother’s TTC. Bilingual Parisian 8ruki takes most of his cues from Atlanta, acting with a whole lotta Whole Lotta Red in mind and squeezing 22 songs into his third album — about right for contemporary hip-hop in this vein, which frequently abandons ideas after less than two minutes and leaves a trail of incomplete sketches in its wake; like others his age, 8ruki has evolved to consider this less a bug (especially for stans forever thirsty for the next “project”) than a feature, the default mode of working. I don’t know what good it would do to comment on a song called “Andrew Tate!!” or “Elon Musk!!” at this stage other than to suggest the guy’s just being (what the French call) a provocateur, but peek elsewhere and you’ll find an unexpected beat switch on “VAris//PIENna,” not to mention a world-shrinking reference to the Golden State Warriors; the high-pitched squeaks of “CA$h!!” and “GIVENCHY MARgiela!”; the string sample and rolling bass of “EDQuer!!”; and a whole lot more to enjoy. Ignore the annoying tendency to turn caps off halfway through a song title; this is a fun record with a lot going on that’s even better if you more than half understand it.

Patrick Masterson

ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT — “Darling The Dawn” (Constellation)

The credits for this duo’s second release are deceptively simple; Ariel Engle (La Force, Broken Social Scene) as just “voice” and Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt Zion) as just “noise.” But there are whole worlds contained in voice and noise, and there’s a sonic, emotional, and political complexity here that makes it feel much weightier and more elaborate than the work of any two people. (It also had one of the best song titles of last year in “We Live on a Fucking Planet and Baby That’s the Sun.”) There are distinct songs here, even some refrains, but the whole of “Darling The Dawn” also feels like one long ebbing and flowing movement, culminating in lovely, shattered grandeur with the closing one-two punch of “Anchor”/“Lie Down in Roses Dear.” Shoegaze without guitars (although not without occasional strings or drums, from Jessica Moss on violin and Liam O’Neill, respectively), emotional noise music, kosmiche played in a paupers’ graveyard; it’s hard to know what to call what ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT does, other than impressive. Maybe voice and noise is enough description after all.

Ian Mathers

Ballister — Smash And Grab (Aerophonic)

In Chicago, the smash and grab game is strong. People aren’t just breaking windows but driving vehicles through them. Ballister apply that spirit of aggressive enterprise to performance on this memento of saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love’s reunion at the Catalytic Sound Festival in Chicago in December, 2022. The reeds wail and probe, the strings splinter and scrape, the drums smash rhythm in the air and reshape them. And that’s just in the first few minutes. Over the course of the set, they find ways to apply that assertive spirit to quieter passages and slower passages, fashioning rough thickets and inconsolable laments from the same rough material. While Dusted does not recommend literal application of the album’s title when acquiring it, we confidently predict that you’ll find the record sticking to your fingers, obliging you to return it to the playback device for another go around.

Bill Meyer

Cuneiform Tabs — Cuneiform Tabs (Sloth Mate)

The Sloth Mate label is the psychedelic tendril sprouting from the flourishing vine that is the modern Bay Area post-punk scene.  There’s certainly an affiliation with Famous Mammals, Children Maybe Later and others of that ilk, but there’s a tendency to stray from traditional idioms that is unique to the Sloth Mate catalog.  Violent Change, headed up by the imprint’s owner Matt Bleyle, is at the center of this sub-underground cabal, coming across like a garage punk band noisily banging out Face to Face-era Kinks jams after gobbling some mind-altering flora.  Sterling Mackinnon’s The False Berries on the other hand is a lo-fi ambient electronic project that recalls the early beat-inclusive work of Christian Fennesz.  Bleyle and Mackinnon collaborate remotely under the Cuneiform Tabs moniker (the latter musician is based in London, England).  The cross-pollination works incredibly well, with the most listenable aspects of each unit rising to the forefront.  When it appears, Mackinnon’s Dan Bejar-meets-Marc Bolan warble acts as a foil for Bleyle’s deeper crooning.  Similarly, the former’s atmospheric tendencies highlight the beautiful melodies hidden beneath the latter’s noise-baked tunesmithery.  Cuneiform Tabs’ psychoactive sonorities require work to decipher, but the endeavor is certainly worthwhile.       

Bryon Hayes

Mia Dyberg Trio — Timestretch (Clean Feed)

It’s tempting to take the title of Timestretch ironically, since this Scandinavian trio compacts a lot of action into 43.18.  There are 14 tracks, all but three composed by bandleader and alto saxophonist Dyberg. But more likely, it addresses this paradox; while the music never feels like it’s in a hurry, there’s a fair bit going on. Tonally, Dyberg shifts easily between slightly sour and just sweet enough, and her phrasing is mobile, but never busy. On a few unaccompanied tracks, she unburdens herself more directly, mourning for those laid low by conflict. Bassist Asger Thomsen anchors the music with stark, strategically placed notes, and adds dimension with occasional sparse, bowed comments.  But it’s drummer Simon Fochhammer who gives the music shape, sometimes with a quick rustle, other times by building an eventful structure around his partners.

Bill Meyer

Kali Malone — All Life Long (Ideologic Organ)

Swedish composer and organist Kali Malone takes a rigorous, structured approach to making music, crafting deliberately pared-back and laser-focused pieces that make the listener acutely aware of the shifting harmonic dynamics within thick layers of sound. This 78-minute album presents an intimidating edifice to a casual listener, but it is organized to allow curious immersion in more easily digestible sections. The longest tracks are organ pieces stretching to around 10 minutes in duration, aching with melancholy. However, there are also shorter vocal and brass pieces that deviate away from held drones into more spacious, overlapping progressions that are, on occasion, almost buoyant. All Life Long feels like music for a less easily distracted age; to be patient enough to bear witness to its full, solemn unfolding requires commitment, but how often do you hear music this awe-inspiringly pure?

Tim Clarke

 Michael Nau — Accompany (Karma Chief)

Accompany rides the line between cosmic country and garden variety indie pop, its gentle melancholy enlivened by radiant runs of twanging guitar. “It’s an impossible life to get over,” Michael Nau croons in “Painting a Wall,” sounding beaten down but not quite broken, grounded in the ordinary but yearning for transcendence. Nau, you might remember, fronted the indie chamber pop Page France in the early aughts and the slightly more countrified Cotton Jones in the late ones.  This fifth solo album hits its peak in plaintive “Shape-Shifting,” where an otherworldly echo sheathes both Nau’s voice and the rumble of piano, and a glow suffuses everything, making it more.

Jennifer Kelly

Note — Impressions of a Still Life EP (The North Quarter)

Manchester’s Note hasn’t been around all that long — the earliest traces of his Soundcloud only reach back to October of 2021 — but just within the last year, he’s demonstrated a knack for fusing airy, sultry R&B moods with the breaks n’ bass of UK dance music’s storied past. Late January’s Impressions of a Still Life EP out via The North Quarter imprint, helmed by Dutch producer Lenzman (himself a veteran of labels like Metalheadz, Nu-Directions and Fokus), is another fine example: Aside from the stirring “Vespertine” that debuted last summer and features poet and spoken word artist Aya Dia, plus “Cold Nights” that came in November, Note fills out the EP with three additional songs of varying speed and mood. The best might be “EVR,” which again features a vocalist, this time singer-songwriter Feeney. Employing deep bass, fluttering percussion and featherweight piano flourishes, the production here is top-notch Brit-inflected R&D&B. Watch this space.

Patrick Masterson

Plaza — Adult Panic (Self-Release)

The novelist and rock critic (and one-time Dusted writer) Michael Fournier spent the pandemic on Cape Cod with his wife Becca, he learning the bass and she the drums.  Adult Panic collects 11 spiked and minimalist cuts from this experiment, almost entirely instrumental (there’s a shouted refrain on “(The Real) Mr. Hotdog”) and rife with lockdown agitation. The drums are pretty basic, a skitter of high-hat with snare on the upbeats, but the bass parts wander and jitter intriguingly. The title track has a Slint-ish post-rock open-ended-ness, repeated riffs left to linger and shift in the air. “The Tomb of Santa Claus” moves faster and more insistently, letting surf-like bent notes flare from rickety architectures. The whole experience is rather dour and claustrophobic, right up until the end when “(The Real) Mr. Hotdog” clatters into earshot and the two Fourniers seem to be, finally, having some fun.

Jennifer Kelly

Caroline Polachek — Desire, I Want to Turn to You: Everasking Edition (Perpetual Novice)

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you all about how big Caroline Polachek’s 2023 was; if you were paying any attention to the conversation, you already know Desire, I Want to Turn to You was universally, justifiably acclaimed. The Everasking Edition tacks on seven additional songs, five fresh out the box, one an acoustic rendition of “I Believe” and one a cover. Regarding the latter: Anyone paying attention to the machinations of the modern music business will know the name Jaime Brooks, who was half of Elite Gymnastics and now works as Default Genders in addition to unflinching commentary on whatever the fuck is going on with Billboard charts and the ugly realities of how no one’s getting Spotify royalties. “Coma” was originally theirs from Main Pop Girl 2019, a beautiful, delicately skipping adrenaline rush of a love song. Polachek doesn’t radically reinvent what’s already great; instead, she leaves the music alone and takes ownership of the rendition with her lower pitch and breathy delivery. A heartfelt nightcap on an imperial year, you couldn’t have scripted that Valentine’s Day release any more perfectly.

Patrick Masterson

Proton Burst — La Nuit (I, Voidhanger)

When the wife of storied French comics artist Phillipe Druillet died in 1975, Druillet poured his grief and rage into an idiosyncratic graphic narrative, La Nuit (1976); it’s full of mutant biker gangs, Druillet’s signature fever-dream architectural forms and hair-raising violence. French thrash metal weirdos Proton Burst loved the book, and in 1994 they produced an album-length project, part response, part soundtrack to the comic’s maniacal intensities. I, Voidhanger has given that Proton Burst record a deluxe reissue, including the original music, an extended live performance of it from 1995 and a booklet including eye-popping images from Druillet’s comic and an essay. If you’re in this for the music, the real treat is the live set, which is nearly as unhinged as Druillet’s illustrations. The band rages, rants, foments and froths—and is that a harp? Who knows. Like the original graphic narrative, what matters here is the volatility of the feeling tone, more so than any sense-making (or sonic) throughway. Lose yourself in the violence of it. Maybe that feeling of dislocation gets closest to the irrational agony of loss Druillet drew La Nuit in the teeth of, some 50 years ago.

Jonathan Shaw

Mariano Rodriguez — Exodo (self-released)

Mariano Rodriguez is an Argentinian guitarist in the Takoma school tradition with a large and high-quality back catalog. He often focuses on playing with a slide but is equally adept at playing without one and sometimes incorporates experiments with sound, as on Huesos Secos (2020), and fuller traditional instrumentation, as on Praise the Road (2017), into his recordings. Exodo, released late last year, is a set of mainly guitar soli. The playing is typically inspired, impressive without being flashy, and the compositions are tuneful and well-developed. Included is a 12-string anthem (“Lazaro”), Rodriguez’s signature slide work (such as on “The Desterrados”), bluesy 6-string meditations (“Diaspora”), and a couple of experiments with studio effects and overdubs (“The River and the Blind”) and drone (“Mother of the Road”). Over all, Exodo is a fine set of tunes that flows cohesively.

Jim Marks

Twin Tribes — Pendulum (Beso de Muerte Records)

Pendulum by Twin Tribes

It’s unclear precisely which tribes are twinned here, but if the music on Pendulum is any indication, it’s the deathrock freaks (with their long-standing romance of moldering, undead bodies) and the coldwave kids (who like to dance in place, furiously, disaffectedly, bodies frosty for entirely different reasons). Twin Tribes hails from the bastion of moody electronic music that is Brownville, TX, and somehow these Latinx fellows have managed to survive their local cultural climate long enough to release three LPs, a live tape and a whole bunch of singles and remixes. Pendulum refines the essential sonic template laid down in 2019’s Ceremony: tuneful, shimmery synths; snappy, brittle rhythm tracks; baritone vocals about zombies at the disco. If that sounds like fun, it surely is—but you’ll have a hard time convincing the kids in black eye makeup to crack anything like a smile. This reviewer can’t help it. The songs are too good, the vibes are way too goofily gravid. Dance, you flesh-eating misfits, dance.

Jonathan Shaw

Volksempfänger — Attack of Sound (Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube)

Attack Of Sound by Volksempfänger

Attack of Sound’s swirling boy-girl harmonies instantly call to mind shoegaze luminaries Slowdive, but Volksempfänger’s noise-strewn guitar latticework is more aligned with The Jesus and Mary Chain.  Furthermore, the Dutch duo’s melodic flavor is as sweet as 1960s AM radio.  Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy) and Holly Habstritt combine these disparate sonic strands to create tidy noise pop gems, which they wrap in Phil Spector sonics.  The wall of sound approach imbues each song with a pulsating thrum.  This is the beating heart of their sound, underpinning the delightful vocal harmonies, shimmering guitar melodies, and waves of coruscating feedback.  The pair attains a balance between saccharine and savory aromas: dream pop wistfulness (“What the Girl Does” and “Your Gonna Lose Hard”) interchanges with propulsive garage rock (“How We Made It Seem” and “Damned & Drowned”).  The album closes out with the kaleidoscopic psychedelia of “You’ve Lost It,” introducing yet another aspect of Volksempfänger’s oeuvre.  This last-minute shift in mood adds a quirky sense of quietude to an otherwise exhilarating journey.   

Bryon Hayes

Ian Wellman — The Night the Stars Fell (Ash International)

The Night The Stars Fell by Ian Wellman

Recorded in the fire swept forests and deserts of Southern California, Ian Wellman’s The Night the Stars Fell plays like a Disintegration Loops for natural disasters. Wellman’s treated field recordings encourage the listener to subsume themselves in the natural rhythm of the wind that fanned the wildfires much like Basinski’s seminal work. While Disintegration Loops drew its potency from the association with 9/11, Wellman’s project is a more deliberate meditation on destruction. He coats his field recordings of deteriorating human structures — railcars, homes — and landscape ambience with short-wave radio static and decaying tape loops. There’s a concentration on both the violence of the destruction and the desolation of the aftermath. Huge swells of sound are interspersed with howls of wind, coruscating swathes of static and the creak and crank of burnt timber both natural and manufactured. The Night the Stars Fell is an absorbing evocation of nature’s power. 

Andrew Forell

Wharfer — Postboxing (Self-Release)

Postboxing by Wharfer

Wharfer’s Kyle Wall has long made the kind of shadowy, pared down indie-folk singer/songwriter music that elicits comparisons to Bill Callahan and Will Oldham. This time out, however, he ditches vocals and verse chorus structure entirely and enlists Chuck Johnson (pedal steel), Ian O’Hara (acoustic bass) and Duncan Wickel (violin) for a set of ambient, piano-forward reflections. These tracks are quietly riveting as, like “Wishing Well in White Noise,” the blend the chalky, elegiac tones of the piano’s upper registers with limpid pools of sustained pedal steel. Not quite ambient, the piece swirls and rounds to its own subtle rhythms, a faint thunk of bass ordering it forward. “Alto” brings the long, bowed vibrations of violin into the mix, then a sprightly sprinkle of pizzicato strings. And in the title track, a ritual voice flickers in and out of focus, but only as tone and texture. The piano carries the narrative, as string washes build and bass notes drop in and seagulls cry in the distance. It’s a subtle but powerful voice on its own, and you don’t miss the words one bit. 

Jennifer Kelly