Keir Neuringer, Shayna Dulberger, Julius Masri - Dromedaries II (Relative Pitch Records)
Dromedaries II presents four improvisations moving between 10 and 13 minutes by the powerful comprising Keir Neuringer on saxophone, Shayna Dulberger on bass and Julius Masri on drums.
Kukaya - Kukaya Bili (1000HZ Records)
The new album of Mzuzu based Kukaya band, again performed in the formula of live-in-the-field-studio-in-suburbs-of-Mzuzu, presents the band with leader Emmanuel Mlonga Ngwira and his musicians reaching for the particular themes of the north Malawian vimbuza style, which are the charms against evil. "It is related to a difficult time in Ngwira's life, who in recent years, despite the relative success of the first album, lost his home and encountered many existential challenges. Hence, the band performs its most trance-like and meditative character. In several songs, the band sings the names of the donors who supported the production of the album. The recording, just like on the first album, is embedded in the sonic environment of suburban life - there are children's laughter, rooster's crowing or a distant mill."
Maalem Mahmoud Gania - Aicha (Hive Mind Records)
"Aicha was previously released on cassette in Morocco only in the late 1990's. Maalem Mahmoud Gania was a particularly prolific artist recording for many labels in Morocco and many details about the recording of this particular album or the people involved are destined to remain a mystery. However, we do know the album was recorded in the Gania's home town of Essaouira with only a small and intimate group of supporting musicians. The resulting album, after the dizzying intensity of the opening song, offers more relaxed, laid back interpretations of the Gnawa ritual repertoire, and a deeper, more gentle sound than our previous Gania release, Colours of the Night. The album shines a light on Mahmoud's virtuoso guimbri playing and mastery of Gnawa songcraft, and is a standout amongst his many cassette releases."
Milan W. - In Bloom (Radio Tests Antwerpen)
Antwerp based electronic producer and musician Milan W. returns with a new album. As Spencer Clark puts it, "on
In Bloom he departs to a touching sidereal impressionism allied with Coil’s instrumental pieces on Horse Rotorvator — an album whose cover portrays the potential powers of the pavilion just as Milan W. is portraying the generative soul and alienation of Europe’s ‘Night Play’. Because of In Bloom we can come to believe that there is a secretive energy in alienation, a playfulness that is alight at Night."
V.A. - New Neighborhoods (Freedom To Spend/ RVNG Intl.)
In recognizing and celebrating mutual communities, and with ambition to both envision a better world and hold onto precious local histories, Freedom To Spend shares New Neighborhoods, a collection of sixteen new works by an international, intergenerational cast of artists acknowledging, and pushing forward, the sonic path traveled by Ernest Hood, the musician and field recordist from Portland, Oregon responsible for the 1975 “joy in reminiscence”
Neighborhoods.
Pouya Ehsaei - RocRast (Zabte Sote)
Pouya Ehsaei is an Iranian musician, audio-visual artist and performer currently residing in London. Beside his solo sound projects, he is involved in different collaborations with dancers, performers and other musicians. His latest effort,
RocRast, out on Zabte Sote, is an 11 songs odyssey which provokes our perception of time. How experiencing time leads to sensations, feelings, emotions and how these become the matter that is sound.
Organizatsiya - À l'ombre des roches (Knekelhuis)
Organizatsiya is a music project hailing from Lyon, France and comprising Leo and Zoe, two musicians with strong roots in folk and acoustic music. These ‘old worlds’ blend in surprisingly well with more contemporary digital, futuristic sounds. Soothing analog recordings meet hyperdigital compositions reminiscent of IDM creations and peppered with spoken words that dance around in unexpected ways.
