#johan berthling

[dustedmagazine]

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin — Ghosted II (Drag City)

Although Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin play guitar, bass and drums respectively, their music is far from that of the standard rock power trio. Instead, they cleave closer to the meditative, exploratory grooves of The Necks, laying down intricately detailed and gradually evolving parts, with each piece stretching to around the 10-minute mark. Each of the four tracks on Ghosted II, the follow-up to 2022’s excellent Ghosted, comes across as a single-minded and deeply focused exploration of a particular dynamic between the three players. As Dusted’s Jennifer Kelly highlighted in her review of Ghosted, “this music seems to move restlessly while also remaining fundamentally in place. Time and timelessness co-exist in its rigorous but joyful grooves.” 

Opener “En” has a skittering, almost Latin flavor to Werliin’s drumming, while Berthling’s bass holds down the pulse. Ambarchi’s guitar offers much of the textural interest, sounding like it’s being fed through a phalanx of effects, as well as a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet. “Tva,” the longest piece at 13 minutes, begins with chiming bass harmonics and more glassy organ-like tones from the guitar. Here, Werliin’s drumming takes on more of an Indian flavor, sounding almost like tabla at times. “Tre” is a more groove-based piece, punctuated by rimshots and triangle, with a real swing to Berthling’s bass playing. Again, Ambarchi delivers swirling organ-like tones, but progresses into pretty, pitch-shifted arpeggios that dance around in flurries, like snow in moonlight.

Closer “Fyra” is perhaps the most varied of the four pieces, with two defined guitar parts either laid down using a looper or multi-tracked after the fact. The questioning chords that ring out over the fast guitar patterns and clacking drums are especially beautiful, spiraling and ascending away from the sparse bass beds. As the drums ease off and washes of cymbal are introduced, the piece seems to warp and bend. Finally, the trio skilfully carries the track, and the record, towards a gentle dissolve into the clouds as the drums fade out entirely, leaving the dulcet bass and guitar tones to play off one another in the closing moments. Sublime.

Tim Clarke

[ozkar-krapo]

FIRE!

"She sleeps, she sleeps"

(LP. Rune Grammophon. 2016 / rec. 2015) [SE]

[donospl]

Co w jazzie piszczy [sezon 2 odcinek 15]

premierowa emisja 24 kwietnia 2024 – 18:00 Graliśmy: Vårterminen Trio “If I Should Lose You” z albumu “Vårterminen”    Big Fish “Seule mais pas trop” z albumu “Big Fish”    Prospectus” Navette Spaciale” z albumu “Météorie”    Ruth Goller  “Next timeI keep my hands down” z albumu “Skyllumina” – International Anthem Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed “I” z albumu “gratitude” – International Anthem Randi…

[sinceileftyoublog]

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin Interview: Winning Concepts

Photo by Thobias Fäldt

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Well, that didn't take nearly as long. A mere two years after releasing the once dormant and eventually critically acclaimed Ghosted, Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin are releasing its follow-up on Friday via Drag City. The trio returned to Studio Rymden in Stockholm last June, with years of performing together under their belt, and laid down the tracks for Ghosted II in a mere two days. Like its predecessor, Ghosted II delves into jazz and drone music, has numerical track titles, and features guitar from Ambarchi that sounds like an organ, album art by Pål Dybwik, and video art by Cédrick Eymenier. Less like its predecessor (though not wholly unlike it), Ghosted II plays with dynamics, is more improvised with minimal overdubs, and roots itself in everything from ambient music to funk. Oh, and its numerical track titles are in Swedish instead of Roman numerals.

Seriously, Ambarchi, Berthling, and Werliin could follow the same four-track formula with the same featured artists every time and I would be more excited with every release. That's how potent Ghosted II is. “en” sports brilliant textural contrasts, pattering drums, scraggly guitar, and barely-there bass, but nonetheless wears a zesty groove. “två” I can most aptly describe as chrome lounge jazz, rife with repeated bass, slow hand percussion, and cold, warbling guitars that pulsate at constantly changing speeds. “tre” is where we first truly hear those inexorable Ambarchi guitar sounds, whirring and shapeshifting with a light chirp and glitch as Werliin's percussion circumvents Berthling's bass. The song sounds like it's traveling through a prickly continuum. And “fyra” ends the set with shimmering ambiance, syncopated bass and drums steady until Werliin jumps into a clattering groove, eventually letting Ambarchi take front and center before the three descend into silence. Ghosted II is the type of album as easy to listen to as it is heady and complex, an achievement that should further this trio's welcome emergence in the experimental music realm.

Oh, and I forgot to mention another similarity to Ghosted: Ambarchi, Berthling, and Werliin once again were willing to answer some questions from me over email about the album. Read their responses below, edited for clarity, including some can't-miss music recommendations.

Since I Left You: How would you say Ghosted II is different from the first record, and how is it a continuation of what you were doing on Ghosted? Oren Ambarchi: I would say that it's a continuation from the first one. The approach in the studio was very similar: We simply got together and improvised with little discussion beforehand. It was recorded very quickly--from memory, all the pieces are first takes, and there was minimal overdubbing.

SILY: How did playing live as a trio inform Ghosted II? When you went in to the recording, did you think of it like a live concert with no audience? OA: Playing live has been really great, as we've been developing our language as a trio from show to show, and this definitely impacted the new one. Like the first trio recording, the vibe in the studio was very relaxed. It was like playing together in someone's lounge room. Personally I tried to approach the new one with newer guitar sounds, many of which I discovered in real-time whilst we were recording. I was hoping my playing would be a little different to the playing on the first record. I didn't want to repeat myself, and I'm sure the others felt the same way regarding how they approached the recording. So the new album is, on the one hand, a continuation from the first album, but on the other hand, it's an exciting new development for all of us. Johan Berthling: I think playing live has merged our sounds together quite a bit. We know each other's playing a lot better. When recording the first album, we had nothing. Now, we have a sound and a foundation we can continue to build on. For me, the studio (could be) a magical environment where all is possible. The live situation has so many parameters that are not controllable, so I want to keep them apart. I never look at recording as a live performance. Andreas Werliin: Playing live in front of an audience is very different from being in a studio recording session.[It has] different energy. It’s weird: The great live shows rarely transform into a good recording. It’s usually too much information. What we experienced when playing live was that we could use much more dynamics than on our albums. In a studio recording, you can use the room and vibe to play less and still keep it interesting, making small changes instead of the big movements we do live.

SILY: Is there something unique about Studio Rymden that fosters creative collaboration? OA: It feels super relaxed recording there, which really suits our vibe and somehow enhances what we are going for. I think we are all inspired by the room at Rymden and play off of the space. JB: It has a really nice living room atmosphere and has all the equipment we need. Daniel [Bengtson], who runs it, is also a great and knowledgeable guy making everyone feel at ease. AW: [It's] a good sounding, very relaxed place. [It] feels like being at a home party.

SILY: Why was it important for you to have continuity between the two albums' visual identities (cover art, music videos)? JB: Why change a winning concept? :) AW: These days, things are moving so fast. Everything and everybody has to change all the time to not lose the audience's attention, both visually and musically. We took the opportunity to go against that movement, I guess.

SILY: What inspired the track titles this time around? OA: Laziness. It's 1/2/3/4 in Swedish. Maybe we'll pick another language when we do another release.

SILY: How did the songs on the first record end up evolving live? Do you foresee these songs having a similar live evolution? OA: Absolutely. It's been really fun expanding on the pieces on the first album in a live context. Those pieces have really gone places. Some live versions of the pieces have lasted 30-40 minutes each. We've already been playing some of the new pieces live, too, and they are already morphing into new explorations that are quite different from the recorded versions.

AW: We developed a new form and used more improvisation and a lot more dynamics.

SILY: What's next? OA: We have some shows coming up as a trio which I'm really looking forward to. I really love playing with Johan and Andreas. My next big show...is a new piece titled "Sous Vide" with conductor Ilan Volkov and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. I'm also hoping to start on a new solo record later this year. AW: I'm excited to release [Ghosted II]. We’re all pretty busy with other projects and family life, so [I'm] just hoping for peace, love, and understanding in general, I guess.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that you've enjoyed or that's inspired you? AW: I would highly recommend Brighde Chaimbeul's album The Reeling (River Lea). She will play live in our village on the west coast of Sweden on July 7th in an incredible church. Much welcome. JB: Lately, I’ve been listening a lot to Howlin' Wolf's Message to the Young and John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat's Hooker 'n Heat. Live, I recently saw a fantastic performance by Evan Parker and Alexander Hawkins in Germany!

OA: [I've been] listening to plenty non-stop, but here's a few recent things that come to mind:

James Rushford's Turzets

An unreleased 1974 live recording of Salamat Ali Khan from Berlin

ML Buch's Suntub (15 love)

Tyshawn Sorey's Continuing (Pi)

Ahmir Khan's Khayal By Ustad Ahmir Khan

RLW's When freezing air stings like ice I shall breathe again (Drag City)

Lenny Breau's Quietude

Eduardo Mateo

Glenn Gould's version of Brahms: 10 Intermezzi

Mikel Rouse Broken Consort

Tirzah

Weather Report's Live & Unreleased

I also just picked up an amazing new remaster of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which I've been playing endlessly.

I recently watched Dog Day Afternoon with my 16-year-old last night. It was good to revisit that one. I also recently saw a great UK documentary on Cornelius Cardew with footage of the Scratch Orchestra and AMM. Other than that, it's always Law & Order before bed.

Reading:

Scott McClanahan's The Sarah Book Ian Penman's Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors Adrian Sinclair & Allan Kozinn's The McCartney Legacy Henry Threadgill & Brent Hayes Edwards' Easily Slip Into Another World Dorothy B. Hughes' The Expendable Man

[spilladabalia]

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin "Tre"

[experimentik]

Experimentik #78 / 16.Oct.2024 /

Marina Cyrino / Alexander Markvart / Javier Areal Vélez

16. October 2024 / 20:30- (doors 20:00) *no entry during sets

3 x solo

Marina Cyrino - amplified flute, objects

Alexander Markvart  - feedback acoustic guitar, objects

Javier Areal Vélez - laptop

FB event ———————————

Marina Cyrino is a Brazilian flutist and sound artist based in Berlin. She works in the fields of improvisation, composition and performative installations. Her flute playing is characterized by singular techniques developed through the use of internal amplification. The rhythmic use of the flute, the extensive use of objects and balloons attached to the instrument, and the use of disassembled flute parts are other distinctive elements of her playing. She is a member of the Brazilian experimental music label Seminal Records.

photo © Cristina Marx_Photomusix

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Alexander Markvart - is a musician, member of theater projects and organizer of events and festivals. Born on January 5, 1987 in Kemerovo. Now based in Berlin. He is a notable figure on the Russian new improvised and experimental music scenes. Uses in many projects and performances a wide range of musical instruments: as quite common - piano, guitar, accordion, saxophone, trumpet, analog synthesizers, electric drums, flute, laptop, etc., and also various objects, wires, appliances, etc. Stylistically he works in a lot of musical genres from radical free improvisation, EAI, noise, hardcore, to well-structured projects, minimal techno and post-folk.

Founder of such polystylistic musical formations as Studio of Unconscious Music (SUM) and Siberian Improvisation Company (SIC!). Also in different years is a member of another experimental bands and projects - Sacrifices, Verevka, Radical Muzak Septet, MITLO, Klub Demboh, Inorganic Blossoming, PSVSV, Cherubs, Importunate Twins, Sekta Phoenix. Works and plays concerts in various projects with different musicians such as: Axel Dörner, Lucio Capece, Burkhard Beins, Mazen Kerbaj, Joke Lanz, Adam Asnan, Jonas Kocher, Fire! (Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin), Ilia Belorukov, Joel Grip, Nick Sudnik, Michel Doneda, Bryan Eubanks and with many others. 

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Javier Areal Vélez (Buenos Aires, 1985) is an experimental music composer, improviser and curator. His recent work focuses on the coding of digital companions for the performance of live improvised music. Javier's electronic music develops around noisy polyrhythms of extra-human complexity to make the most deformed audiences move. He researches human+machine collaborations through the use of samples, synthesis, lights, and mechanical robots. Additionally, Javier has a long career as performer of prepared electric guitar. His characteristic style relies heavily on a primal technique that emphasizes timbre and rhythm over traditional forms, favoring intensity and dynamic contrast. Javier has released records on labels worldwide and has collaborated with artists such as Heiner Goebbels, Audrey Chen, Chris Pitsiokos, Violeta García, Brian Chase, Shayna Dunkelman and Jorge Espinal. He is a member of CALATO, KYSE and VVU and wrote commissions for ensambles Híbridx, Rotativo and Tempi. Over the past decade, Javier has performed extensively in Argentina and toured across South and North America, Europe and Japan. Javier is the founder and director of RUIDO Experimental Music Festival (active since 2017), and he coordinates the Sound Arts Center (CASo) of the Secretary of Culture of Argentina.

photo © Susi Maresca

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Experimentik 2024  is supported by inm - initiative neue musik berlin / field notes

[burlveneer-music]

Goran Kajfeš Tropiques - Tell Us - this one tripped *4* of the monitored keywords in my RSS reader, thanks to the RIYL list in the promo copy:

The Swedish quartet Goran Kajfeš Tropiques share their new music We Jazz Records on May 3rd. Tell Us, an album consisting of three long pieces composed by the group, is "slow music" to the bone, a deep body of work utilising the language of jazz as its core mode of communication but echoing way beyond. The quartet is expanded with strings, adding wings to the music and helping it lift off the ground in a personal, highly engaging manner. The Tropiques quartet consists of Goran Kajfeš (trumpet, synthesizer), Alexander Zethson (piano, organ, synthesizer), Johan Berthling (acoustic bass) and Johan Holmegard (drums) – each a key member in the Swedish creative music scene, with experience from groups such as Dungen, Ghosted, Fire!, Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, Oddjob, plus many more, including Goran Kajfeš's own Suptropic Arkestra. Their music, groove based and connected to the tradition of "minimalism" has at times been called "hypno-jazz". All three compositions on Tell Us expand on what the Tropiques have done before, building around their signature style and its spacey texture and rooting the musical narrative in strong melody, rolling groove and their collective limitless urge for sonic exploration. As the opener "Unity In Diversity" goes to show, Tropiques's compositions are like flowers opening slowly, each element and layer growing out of what has come before, in a constantly surprising manner. This music, then, becomes the perfect antidote for the quick-fix eye candy rolling down your smartphone screen. This music will take its time, but it'll also create new dimensions with each second as it unfolds. RIYL: Alice Coltrane, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Pharoah Sanders, Laraaji, "Crescent" era John Coltrane, Swedish psychedelic music, "Kosmische Musik"  Goran Kajfeš - trumpet, synthesizer Alexander Zethson - piano, organ, synthesizer Johan Berthling - acoustic bass Johan Holmegard - drums + Josefin Runsteen - violin Leo Svensson Sander - cello

[deep-dive]

2022

albums: Alex G - God Save the Animals Alex G - We're All Going to the World's Fair Anthony Naples + DJ Python - Air Texture VIII Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You Björk - Fossora Bladee & Ecco2k - Crest Broadcast - Maida Vale Sessions Carla dal Forno - Come Around Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time Cass McCombs - Heartmind Charli XCX - Crash Daphni - Cherry Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments Hikaru Utada - Bad Mode Huerco S. - Plonk Isabella Lovestory - Amor Hardcore Junior Boys - Waiting Game Kali Malone - Living Torch Malibu - Palaces of Pity Marina Herlop - Pripyat Oren Ambarchi - Shebang Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin - Ghosted Organ Tapes - 唱着那无人问津的歌谣 / Chang Zhe Na Wu Ren Wen Jin De Ge Yao Phoenix - Alpha Zulu Physical Therapy - Teardrops on My Garage PPJ - Trindade Rachika Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing Raum - Daughter Sally Shapiro - Sad Cities Sam Prekop - The Sparrow Sam Prekop & John McEntire - Sons Of Shinichi Atobe - Love of Plastic Shygirl - Nymph The Soft Pink Truth - Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This? Torus & DJ Lostboi - The Flash Two Shell - Icons The Weeknd - Dawn FM William Basinski & Janek Schaefer - “ . . . On Reflection “

songs: Alex G - JLB's Drawing Bibio - Off Goes the Light Björk - Ancestress (ft. Sindri Eldon) Bladee & Ecco2k - Faust Bladee & Ecco2k - The Flag is Raised Call Super - Swallow Me Carla dal Forno - Side by Side Carly Rae Jepsen - Anxious Carly Rae Jepsen - Talking to Yourself Cass McCombs - Belong to Heaven CFCF - After the After (Bodysync Remix) Charli XCX - Sorry If I Hurt You Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Haha Coco & Clair Clair - Bad Lil Vibe Cole Pulice - City in a City Daphni - Take Two Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Sandstone Demi Lovato - Substance DJ Heartstring - Can't Stop the Night Doss - Look (All Night Mix) Doss - Strawberry (Singin' Club Mix) Double Virgo - Kicked Out by Seven Ecco2k & Bladee - Amygdala Ela Minus & DJ Python - Pájaros En Verano Embaci - Tiniest Whisper Hikaru Utada - Somewhere Near Marseilles Hudson Mohawke - Bicstan Isabella Lovestory - Exibisionista Job - Lore Junior Boys - Thinking About You Calms Me Down Kelela - On the Run Luis - Jack Anderson Malibu - Iliad Marina Herlop - Abans Abans Merely - The Killing Sun Mr Twin Sister - Resort Mura Masa & Erika de Casier - e-motions Objekt - Ballast Oren Ambarchi - I Organ Tapes - Burnout Organ Tapes - heaven can wait Physical Therapy - Chain Reaction PinkPantheress - Boy's a liar PPJ - Dar Um (Lauer Remix) Purelink - Butterfly Jam Rachika Nayar - Gayatri Raum - Walk together Sally Shapiro - Sad City SG Lewis & Tove Lo - Call on Me (SG's Dub Edit) Shinichi Atobe - Love of Plastic 1 Shygirl - Firefly Two Shell - Unrequited Yasmine - Doce Atração Yung Lean - Lips Yves Tumor - God Is a Circle

games: Elden Ring Kirby and the Forgotten Land Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Signalis Sonic Frontiers Squaredle Tactics Ogre: Reborn

film: Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) Ambulance (Michael Bay) Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron) Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg) Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) I Thought the World of You (Kurt Walker) Jackass Forever (Jeff Tremaine) Kimi (Steven Soderbergh) Nope (Jordan Peele) Orphan: First Kill (William Brent Bell) Pacifiction (Albert Serra) Sharp Stick (Lena Dunham) Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) Tár (Todd Field) Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller)

[fard-rock-blog]

Fire! Orchestra | Echoes

Etichetta: Rune Grammofon Tracce: 14 – Durata: 110:23 Genere: Avant Jazz Sito: earthwindand.com/wp Voto: 9/10 Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (basso) e Andreas Werlin (batteria) hanno riacceso la miccia della  Fire! Orchestra per far esplodere Echoes, un nuovo album monumentale (un’ora e cinquanta minuti per due CD o tre LP) realizzato con un ensemble di 43 elementi a cui si aggiunge per…

[soundgrammar]

Listen/purchase: Ghosted by Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year 2024, Part I (Oren Ambarchi to Loma)

Oren Ambarchi and crew

Half the year is gone already, and how did that happen? At Dusted, we’ve spent six months listening to good records and bad.  We’ve picked our very favorites, the top two from this year’s pile.  And now, in an annual tradition, we turn them on our fellow writers.  Hah, take that!   

Some of our Mid-Year switcheroos have been highly contentious.  We may have lost a writer or two in the aftermath.  Others have been remarkably collegial and full of positive discovery.  This one falls more or less in the middle.  Only a couple of reviews are notably grumpy.  A slightly larger (but still not large) number show evidence of newly awakened fandom.  For the most part, we came out with the same favorites we brought with us, though perhaps a little wiser about the music that we’re missing. 

For this reason, it is harder than ever to identify winners.  There’s no universally admired album we can call “this year’s Heron Oblivion.”  Rosali and Winged Wheel each got four votes, as close to a sweep as this year brought.  Oren Ambarchi’s Ghosted II notched three.  There were lots of lone pics—which is fine.  More music to check out. 

As always, we’re breaking the mid-year into three parts.  This one covers the front of the alphabet, a second will deal with the back.  The third, as always, provides longer lists from participating writers.  We hope you enjoy it. 

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin —Ghosted II (Drag City)

Who recommended it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Tim Clarke said, “They cleave closer to the meditative, exploratory grooves of The Necks, laying down intricately detailed and gradually evolving parts… Sublime.” 

Bill Meyer’s take:

Count me among the Dusted writers who hold this trio in high esteem. Ghosted II strikes so precise a balance of texture, stillness and motion that it’s easy miss how fragile it is; one misplaced note or beat could bring it all down in a second, but the trio sustains each of the album’s four tracks for ten minutes or thereabouts. While it’s easy to appreciate the tidal flux of Oren Ambarchi’s guitar>>table of boxes>>Lesley speaker signal chain, and Johan Berthling’s immovable bass presence, if you are about to put this record on the hi-fi for the first time (PLEASE listen in stereo), consider focusing on the infinite mirror effect of Werliin’s percussion. Your third eye will thank you.

Olivia Block — The Mountains Pass (Black Truffle)

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

This has actually none of the pretentious stuff you expect to find in a work by somebody who has been dubbed a “media artist.” The second part of The Mountains Pass is especially stunning where ‘f2754’ has clearly a Giallo-esque feel to it, fast paced and a tad prog rock-ish. “Violet-Green,” perhaps the best composition on the album, brings in mind those creepy soundtracks, with synths and bells, which we usually hear on bad horror movies. And even when Olivia Block, on the same track, begins to sing, her voice is outlandish enough to think that she was abducted by the aliens. 

Camera Obscura — Look to the East, Look to the West (Merge)

Who Picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew said, “Campbell writes movingly about memory and friendship. Looking at what was rather than regretting what might have been with an honesty that goes directly to the heart of things.” 

Bryon’s take:

This record makes me realize that I should listen to more Camera Obscura. The Glaswegian indie pop group is a delight to take in, especially Tracyanne Campbell’s lovely voice. Look to the East, Look to the West is a comeback album, the band’s first since they went on hiatus following the death of keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015. The most striking aspect here is the use of pedal steel and organ, which lend the album a country and western flair. This seems to be a new development for Campbell and company, but they pull it off well and the new sounds really suit the band. Similarly effective are the digital drums that the band employ on tracks like “Liberty Print.” Camera Obscura have altered course slightly but retain the loveliness that lies within their core.

Chief Keef — Almighty So 2 (RBC)

Who nominated it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No.

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Six years in the making and continually delayed—a fact the artist refers to several times during the run-time—Almighty So 2 is massive and ambitious, with operatic hooks and wall-shaking, body-pummeling beats. A mountainous swagger rocks, “Grape Trees,” the cut with Sexyy Red, a machine-gun ratatat thundering under brutal lyrics about gender relations. The politics are embedded in the subject matter, in the screaming sirens, the South Chicago gangland scenarios, the profanity, rage and cynicism. “Jesus Skit,” though, gets a little more explicit about it, positing a sliding reparations scheme that depends on skin color; light skinned rappers like Drake and Chance the Rapper lose out big time, while darker ones, like Sosa, get millions. The violence comes in the shattering beats, as in “1,2,3,” a slow-motion eruption. Here the artist sketches the bleak world that made (and continues to make) him, chanting, “I always believed I was gon' get paid/When I got to hustlin' up in sixth grade/You ain't givin' off that nigga, you won't get laid/Sleep for the weak, I been up for six days.” The track, like the rest of Almighty So 2, is gritty and nihilistic and undeniably powerful. So glad I got to hear this, non-expert though I am.

Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)

Who nominated it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? Nope (and shame on us…)

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

Diamond Jubilee commences with three dazzling songs: the title track, “Glitz” and “Baby Blue.” Even if the rest of the record weren’t so excellent (it is, and at over two hours, there’s a lot of it), the strength of those three songs would propel it into frequent rotation, on my various devices and in my head, and likely onto the year-end list I will eventually compose. “Baby Blue” is the crucial track: it’s one of those songs (along with Warren Zevon’s “The French Inhaler,” Townes Van Zandt’s “For the Sake of the Song” and a few others) that is so ruthlessly fine in its execution and so suited to some of the least comfortable angles in the emotional furniture in my head that it requires a kind of commitment to listen to. Beyond that irretrievably subjective response, Diamond Jubilee commits, as well: to gorgeous melody, without entirely smoothing out the sharp edges that distinguished Lee’s What’s Tonight to Eternity (2020); to the reverb-saturated aesthetic of fading girl-group harmonies, clubland at 3 am, spangled cocktail dresses of motheaten satin and the pleasures of the last cigarette in the pack when there’s no money for another; and, it seems, to love, in social conditions that make love nearly as unthinkable as it is completely necessary. The surreal, in its modernist avant-garde iteration, emerged in similarly extreme social conditions, after the slaughter of the Great War and amid fascism’s rise. Those forces were enough to distort human relations into monstrous shapes nigh irrevocable. Lee’s music has strong relations to the dreamlike quality of the surreal, and we have our own terrors now: climate’s awful and furious change, social media’s psycho-social poisons and fascism, once again. Those terrors’ spectral presences are audible all over Diamond Jubilee, but they can’t blunt the sharpness of human longing in songs like “All I Want Is You” or “Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong” or “Government Cheque.” Love’s intensities may not be sustainable, or even particularly livable, but they won’t be denied. Cindy Lee captures that set of truths with that aforementioned dazzle, and with depth.

DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water (Fantasy)

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes. Tim Clarke said: “Despite the music’s dense layering and the overall feeling of frustration and confusion, Frog In Boiling Water thankfully leaves the listener with a feeling of hope and eventual redemption.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

If I were given this with no title and artist’s name I’d say this was written by a no name indie band circa 2016. It’s the same shoegazy guitars and sweet and melancholy vocals we’ve been hearing since when, 1994? The songs like “Reflected” got things moving but it’s far from boiling temperatures, merely lukewarm. It’s been written somewhere that the DIIV’s album is about “coping with capitalism,” yet it’s evident that it’s feeding the same capitalism, giving the fans the same thing over and over. And that is how capitalism works. 

Nomi Epstein — shades (Another Timbre)

Who picked it? Christian Carey

Did we write about it? Yes, Christian said, "Epstein’s music is unfailingly attractive and elegantly paced. Shades is an excellent introduction to her work."

Bill Meyer’s take: 

Since Nomi Epstein leads the Chicago-based new music ensemble a.pe.ri.od.ic, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to hear her guide performances of other people’s music. But shades is only the second album devoted to hers. Its three long pieces are, like the Wandelweiser and minimalist composers that a.pe.ri.od.ic has often supported, sparely arranged and deliberately paced. She puts intriguing sounds — some prepared piano notes, or a barely-there vocal tone — just far enough inside the frameworks of the music to invite one to listen in. Once your consciousness is inside the music, the slow movement of what surrounds you mesmerizes. Music this reserved and respectful is a welcome respite in a world where reality smacks you upside the head every day and even that influencer babbling on the phone belong to the person sitting next to you on the train insists on staring you in the eye.

Fuera de Sektor — Juegos Prohibidos (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Who nominated it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan wrote, “It’s a singular sound, by turns compelling and bewitching—like the beautiful face you can just about discern across a dim and crowded room, a set of lines and textures briefly lit up by occasional drags on a cigarette. Not quite (or not just) postpunk, pop or dance music, the songs on Juegos Prohibitos itch at your hips and scratch into your brain.”

Christian Carey’s take:

Barcelona band Fuera de Sektor released a demo in 2022, but Juegos Prohibidos is their first full length recording. No Wave is a significant influence, particularly in the fiercely intense sing-shout vocals from Andrea Jarale. If you visit the band’s Instagram, it includes an amateur video that is an homage to Richard Hell, replicating a 1970s comic from NY Punk Magazine in which he starred. But there are many more reference points. The guitars channel the chops and soloing of eighties New Wave, and the rhythm section provides relentless uptempo playing. The defiant demeanor of the songs themselves depicts an unstoppable wall of intensity.

Daryl Groetsch — Above the Shore (self-released)

Who picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew called it “a 75-minute floating symphony that insinuates its way into your subconscious with almost imperceptible stealth.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

Whether approvingly or not, works like this 75-minute composition/album are often described as if they were very static in nature; as if even when there are changes they happen in rigid, predictable ways. It may be that if you poke around under the hood of Above the Clouds enough you might be able to diagram out the way elements meld, progress, and separate again, and possibly under that light the whole thing looks regular. But in terms of the way it feels when you listen to it, there’s something quite different going on with Groetsch’s work. The whole thing does feel quite immersive, almost environmental. But as opposed to any number of ground-level or even underwater vistas that come to mind with similar works, here I feel suspended in the air, very far above any shore indeed. The listening experience feels akin to endlessly falling, eventually not so much above as through softly glowing clouds. It’s somehow soothingly vertiginous, and more captivating (and attention-rewarding) than most of its peers.

Icewear Vezzo — Live From the 6 (Quality Control Music)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No.

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Chivez Smith has been a familiar name to anyone keeping an eye on Detroit rap for the last decade — longer than you might think and long enough, now, to make him an elder statesman among the city’s spitters. What better time, then, to take a step back and assess not just how far you’ve come, but what all that hustling has amounted to? So goes Live From the 6 (not a Drake reference, in case you were momentarily confused; Vezzo’s from 6 Mile on McNichols north of Hamtramck), which isn’t quite a career retrospective but carries the themes of one. Vezzo’s in a reflective mood over the course of these 13 songs, his slightly frayed vocals forever unhurried and his beat selection consistently nodding to the high West Coast era; you could put Ice Cube or Snoop (or, for that matter, YG or Nipsey) over most of these productions and it wouldn’t throw you off. It’s not totally insular bars-wise, either; a questionable DaBaby feature aside — his double-time admission that he sees a therapist is heartening given how deservedly he got shunned by the establishment just as he was fixing to peak — Memphis artist YTB Fatt also shows up. Fellow Motor City emcees Babyface Ray and Chuckie CEO provide the remaining color, but end to end, this is Vezzo’s show and he shows up. There’s no lack of entry points to Icewear Vezzo’s discography by now, but if you were hesitant before, Live From the 6 is merely the latest display of his acumen. Hear why he’s the one.

Loma — How Will I Live Without A Body? (Sub Pop)

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim wrote, “Yes, this is a heavy album, but luxuriously so. It’s music that stares death in the face and instead of running, hunkers down and gets comfortable.”

Alex Johnson’s take:

Listening to How Will I Live Without a Body? is like eavesdropping on a collage of someone else’s thoughts. Contemplation or confusion or a eureka one moment to the next. It’s theatrical, passionate music that, to me, shares a heavy sensibility with the operatic post-rock on Portishead’s Third. Like an unsettling daydream, the lyrics blur the mundane and existential. In “Affinity,” the narrator stares “into the dark,” finding herself multiplied but disconnected – “my shadows move/with and without me.” In “I Swallowed a Stone,” a“kettle boil[s] forever” and she “can’t live this feeling anymore.” Given the song’s tense, foreboding percussion and muted guitar “can’t” sounds like “might have to.” 

Might, but not necessarily will. Despite the doses of dread, How Will I Live Without a Body? never feels resigned. You’re treated to interjections of sound, instrumental and otherwise —  flashes of illumination, portals to enter. “Unbraiding” fits sheets of strings, bird song, and burning punches of guitar fuzz around a simple, repeated piano, illustrating the line “bring somewhere out of nowhere.” Loma is working with a robust sonic palette here, but the album’s ethos seems grounded in a DIY curiosity. That “Broken Doorbell” features what sound like actual broken doorbells and then ends with waves hitting a shore is emblematic. It’s a lovely, if perhaps temporary, moment of arrival, having followed the shadows wherever they led.

[dannymoney]

Favorite Albums of 2024

2024 was an especially excellent year for music, best in a while. This top ten is pretty stacked. So, without further ado...

I say a prayer and rank 'em.

The Hard Quartet by The Hard Quartet

Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation

Rack by The Jesus Lizard

Giant Beauty by [ahmed]

If I don't make it, I love u by Still House Plants

You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To by Knocked Loose

Cool World by Chat Pile

Passage du Desir by Johnny Blue Skies

The Healer by Sumac

Love Changes Everything by Dirty Three

Flight b741 by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Death Jokes by Amen Dunes

As It Happened: Horse Lords Live by Horse Lords

Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend

In E by Water Damage

You Never End by Moin

plastic death by glass beach

Free Energy by Dummy

Wild God by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Frog In Boiling Water by DIIV

Total Blue by Total Blue

Antenna by Antenna

SMILE! :D by Porter Robinson

EELS by Being Dead

Bleed by The Necks

Vertigo by Wand

Guided Tour by High Vis

Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace by Shabaka

Žaltys by Raphael Rogiński

life till bones by oso oso

Hovvdy by Hovvdy

Final Summer by Cloud Nothings

BLUE LIPS by ScHoolboy Q

Norther by Ex-Easter Island Head

A Dream Is All We Know by The Lemon Twigs

What Is Not Strange? by Tashi Wada

Tristwch Y Fenywod by Tristwch Y Fenywod

Ghosted II by Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin

Spectral Evolution by Rafael Toral

The New Sound by Geordie Greep

Spot Land by Gnod

Box for Buddy, Box for Star by This is Lorelei

Two Star & The Dream Police by Mk.gee

Wall of Eyes by The Smile

Endlessness by Nala Sinephro

My Anti-Aircraft Friend by julie

The Crying Out of Things by The Body

Night Palace by Mount Eerie

All Life Long by Kali Malone

Queda Livre by Caxtrinho

[golvio]

Soothing instrumental/ambient soundtrack for stress cleaning: “Ghosted II” by Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin.

[galprod]

https://www.dragcity.com/tours#oren-ambarchi-johan-berthling-andreas-werliin