ambient
CD: Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux PrimaSaturday, 09 March 2019
As collaborations go, it’s a doozy. Karen O’s signature vocals over Danger Mouse’s production – it was always going to pique interest. And Lux Prima does much to meet expectations, gorgeous cinematic soundscapes that flit between haunting and... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2018: Black Merlin - KosuaSunday, 16 December 2018
Kosua was released only last month, but its journey began two years ago when George Thompson, aka Black Merlin, released Hipnotik Tradisi, a beautiful and captivating document of his travels through Indonesia, seamlessly blending field recordings,... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2018: Erland Cooper - Solan GooseThursday, 13 December 2018
I’ve noticed a stark shift in transition of the kind of music I want to spend my time listening to over 2018. I’ve slowed down. I’ve started listening to Radio 6. I’m a little bit in love with Mary Anne Hobbs. And I bought a record player.... Read more... |
CD: Tim Hecker - KonoyoSunday, 23 September 2018
It may be mean to say, but it seems sadness agrees with Tim Hecker. The Canadian has been a mainstay of the global experimental music world almost since the turn of the millennium, sitting somewhere between neo-classical, shoegaze, ambient and... Read more... |
CD: Mogwai - KIN: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackSaturday, 25 August 2018
Following on from last year’s blistering blast of conviction, Every Country’s Sun, it’s tempting to view Mogwai’s latest offering – the soundtrack to a new sci-fi action drama from the producers of Stranger Things – as a continuation of this return... Read more... |
CD: Jah Wobble - Dream WorldSaturday, 28 July 2018
He's known for his myriad collaborations – Public Image Ltd, Primal Scream, The Orb, The Edge, Can, all the way through to recent work with singers PJ Higgins and Hollie Cook – but Jah Wobble really deserves attention in his own right. A cosmic... Read more... |
CD: Tanukichan - SundaysSunday, 22 July 2018
Shoegaze was only a moment really, a scene that flared briefly as the Eighties drew to a close. The music press – the “inkies” - used the term to describe bands, usually flop-fringed with lazy posture, whose heads would hang as they played gigs,... Read more... |
CD: Laurel Halo - Raw Silk Uncut WoodFriday, 06 July 2018
So the ambient revival continues apace, getting deeper and wider with each passing year. From the interstices between the classical concert hall, abstract art installations, the backroom of more insalubrious little raves and festivals, the small... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Olivia De Prato, Kärt Ruubel, Third Coast PercussionSaturday, 30 June 2018
Streya: New works for solo violin and violin with electronics Olivia De Prato (violin) (New Focus Recordings)Combining acoustic instruments with electronics is a dark art, and tantalisingly few details about the process are revealed in the... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 40: Talking Heads, Ornette Coleman, Crayola Lectern, Brian Eno, Ash and moreThursday, 21 June 2018
Earlier this year, in May, Brighton hosted the Vinyl World Congress where Paul Pacifico, head of the Association of Independent Music, told the assembled that, “People pay for vinyl not because they have to but because they want to - they want a... Read more... |
CD: Morcheeba - Blaze AwayFriday, 25 May 2018
Their ninth album should please Morcheeba fans. Take the song “Find Another Way”, for example. It rolls in like a haunted breeze, an acoustic/twangy combination preceding front-woman Skye Edwards, one of the sweetest-sounding vocalists in pop, and... Read more... |
CD: Jon Hopkins - SingularityThursday, 03 May 2018
Jon Hopkins navigates the territory between avant-garde electronic and beat-driven dance music with brilliance. There’s plenty here to make you want to get up and move, but as much to persuade you lie down and let the symphony of textures and... Read more... |
