Simon Scott - Migrations (Touch)
Simon Scott is a British composer, mastering engineer and sound artist from The Fens in Cambridgeshire, England. His work explores creative methodologies of field recording, the process of active listening, the implications of recording the natural world using technology and the manipulation of natural sounds used for musical composition. “Each of us is beginning to feel the ground slip away beneath our feet. We are discovering, more or less obscurely, that we are all in migration toward territories yet to be rediscovered and reoccupied.” (Bruno Latour, Down To Earth: Politics in the New Climate Regime, 2018, Polity Press. Cambridge).
Sven Wunder - Wabi Sabi (Light In The Attic Records/Piano Piano Records)
Piano Piano Records’ love for library music smoothly continues to bridge the gap between the genre's golden age period and nowadays, recently releasing its second long play, Wabi Sabi. The title couldn't be more inspiring, as it comes from two of the key Japanese aesthetic concepts: Wabi meaning things that are fresh and simple, while Sabi means things whose beauty stems from age. Musically speaking, Sven Wunder's approach here is slightly different than what it was on Doğu Çiçekleri, with a much jazzier feel, brilliantly blending the traditional renaissance lute with synths, electric piano or strings. 3/4 echo delays are often present on top of the psych-oriental breaks, while the tracks panning was meticulously tuned, revealing a perfect mixdown. Overall a superb journey grounded in simple things, offering a unique emotional depth and sincerity.
Picked by Alexandru Drăgănescu / JB
UCBM - United Color of Black Metal (zamzamrec)
United Color of Black Metal is the duo of Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy (Pneu, La Colonie de Vacances, Tachycardie, Futuroscope) and Guillaume Brot. Oscillators, transducers, microphones, outdated objects, two people, fermented fruit juice without additives, percussions, humour in the colours of the project and a very special tool, chance.
Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro - Due Matte (Commando Vanessa)
British musicians Valentina Magaletti (Tomaga, Vanishing Twins, etc) and Marlene Ribeiro (Gnod, Negrabranca) were invited to contribute to Hysteria, an artistic residency in Porto 2019. "Due Matte" is the fruit of it: an interaction game between styles and sounds, mesmeric in its echoes of distant landscapes and enveloping in its spatiality.
Vance Provey, Bob Gorry, Paul Gunsberg - Collective Expression (New Haven Improvisers Collective)
Collective Expression is the debut album from the improvising trio of Vance Provey (Trumpet), Bob Gorry (Guitar), and Paul Gunsberg (Drums and Saxophone). Throughout the LP, three distinct personalities combine into a unified expression of the musical moment.
Wetware - Flail (Dais Records)
Brooklyn-based outfit Wetware (Roxy Farman and Matt Morandi) return with the intense follow-up album to 2018’s Automatic Drawing, an electronic dirge, simply titled: Flail. Formed in 2015 and known for their odd and unpredictable live performances, Wetware’s new album captures this disorienting confusion in a series of definitive documents that encompass a concentrated, noisier sound that pushes and pulls against electronic textures and frenetic vocals, creating a palate of wild, unhinged sonic collages.
Yannis Kyriakides & Andy Moor - Pavilion (Unsounds)
Andy Moor (guitar) and Yannis Kyriakides (electronics) made a recording In at Xavier Veilhan’s ‘Studio Venezia’ at the French pavilion, Venice Art Biennale. They were in residence there for a few days in October 2017 recording and performing in an open environment.