rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Remember a time when everything musical fitted neatly into very strict sonic groupings? When you belonged to, and identified with, a certain musical tribe? When you were required to fight for your cause and be dismissive of music that didn't fit with your tribal allegiances? Where demarkations were strict and genric divides insurmountable? Horrible wasn't... Continue Reading →
As a music reviewer, you never really know what sort of music is going to fall under the pen from one hour to the next. Occasionally you are faced with something that you might happily pay good money for, something that you immediately transfer from the work pile to the personal selection. More often than... Continue Reading →
Hip-Hop started life as a pioneering new form of musical manipulation. Young sonic adventurers rebuilt record decks and spliced electronics to create new technologies, ones that enabled them to not just play records but to mould them into new forms, cutting pieces of one track into another, scratching music to create exciting new sounds, in... Continue Reading →
To most people "instrumental music," a term really too broad to have any significant or specific meaning, is the stuff of background listening, a mood enhancer or perhaps a soundtrack to something more engaging such as a film or a video game. Brain Bleach, the latest album from Samvridh, proves that it can be something... Continue Reading →
From the opening strains of Bach’s Cantata 147 it is clear that Joe Hodgson is more than just a “guy with a guitar,” that he perfectly understands the broader musical landscape in terms of genre, geography and history. And as those classical notes scatter and re-assemble into the funky, blues, electric and eclectic instrumental of... Continue Reading →
Anticipation is a much under-appreciated tool in the composers bag of sonic tricks but Call of Dreams is built almost exclusively on just such an energy. From the first, soft and oozing electronic washes it is a track which causes the listener to be constantly waiting for the big sonic jump, the musical pay-off. And... Continue Reading →
Pekkanini’s music is always going to have that 60’s vibe to it, when one of your most prominent instruments is the Theramin, the associations with past sci-fi theme tunes is hard to avoid. But as his latest album proves, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it” and his deftness as... Continue Reading →
Even before the music casts its ambient spell on you, and it will, the titles of the tracks alone will have conjured wonderful images and painted wild scenes in your head. Titles such as “Just Before Nightfall In The Forest” and “In The Late Autumn Afternoon Rainstorm” say as much in their one line as... Continue Reading →
Even with his trademark Theramin playing a slightly lesser role this time out, Pekkanini is still able to fashion some intriguing music. His source of inspiration for this latest album is Strindberg’s “A Dream Play” each tracking being a sonic character study exploring the personalities and traits of the people within in but communicated via the... Continue Reading →
With instrumental music, such as this elegant offering, I find myself making the same point as I do when reviewing music with lyrics that are in a language other than my own. Take away the direct communication that the words provide and you are left with just the music itself as the bridge between the... Continue Reading →
With instrumental music, such as this elegant offering, I find myself making the same point as I do when reviewing music with lyrics that are in a language other than my own. Take away the direct communication that the words provide and you are left with just the music itself as the bridge between the... Continue Reading →
Where as music with up-front lyrics, where there is communication using the usual conventions of recognisable words and familiar language taking place, is a format in which it is relatively ease to make yourself understood, instrumental music has be much cleverer in how it interacts with the listener. In the case of Martin Ptak’s gorgeous... Continue Reading →
Interesting things happen when worlds collide. Sometimes the results are catastrophic and earth-shattering, sometimes they are unexpectedly compatible and beautiful. Forest Robots has always fallen into the latter category and this new album of electronic music used to describe the majesty of the natural world is no exception. Continuing where Super Moon Moonlight left off... Continue Reading →
Japanese harp and synth player Ian Thorn and Bassist Alex Lawton met on tour in Europe, performing as part of a Canadian space-rock orchestra. They bonded over their shared passion for Finnish experimental band Circle, Pink Floyd, Television, Broadcast and Brian Eno, and went on to form instrumental space-surf band, Japanese Television, with James Moriaty... Continue Reading →
Sitting here in England writing about a band from Croatia not too long after my own country's World Cup defeat to them, might cause some writers to look harshly on them through some sense of sport related, warped national pride. Well, with me, music has always been way more important than over paid prima donnas... Continue Reading →
If the term instrumental rock immediately conjures up thoughts of being in the lift of a big department store or the background score for an advert announcing the new season of Formula 1 racing, then you need Itay Lavi in your life. Yes, instrumental rock is exactly what is going on here, put Lavi is... Continue Reading →
You can trust Mr Dog The Bear to take an unusual approach to releasing an album. Normally, as a reviewer, I receive an intangible link to the album’s on line home, if I’m lucky I get a physical version through the post. But Mr Dog The Bear has always been about music built around a... Continue Reading →
It is interesting to see how our musical tastes mature over time. Much of the music of my formative years was about making a lot of noise in the shortest amount of time, short, sharp musical shock treatment designed to get the job done in the time it takes to lightly boil and egg. But... Continue Reading →
As the amount of wannabe musicians, fledgling bands and self styled producers seems to form an everlarger percentage of society, thanks to the ease of access and cost of home technology, the fight to get noticed also seems ever more desperate. The biggest problem with being on such a trajectory is however much an artist... Continue Reading →
If the drum was the first instrument to be conceived, after the human voice that is, then the idea of making an instrumental album with drums and drum technology at its core is certainly tapping into a primal beat. Davide Compagnoni is more often found within the ranks of power trio Stearica, but with Khompa... Continue Reading →
Where to begin, where to begin! Trying to describe Alarmists instrumental creations is a bit like trying to untangle a ball of string. Maybe if I find a loose end and work my way in from there I may be able to put it into words that everyone can understand. A loose end that allows... Continue Reading →
