Neo-classical electronic pop, contemporary jazz both electronic and acoustic, experimental metal, experimental beats.
Darian Donovan Thomas – Microcosm Friend [New Amsterdam Records/Bandcamp]
Last year, American violinist, composer and multimedia artist Darian Donovan Thomas released his debut album A Room With Many Doors: Night, which drew on equal parts melodic classical arrangements and hyperpop songwriting & production. The album title clearly heralded a series, and thus in late August we’ll have A Room With Many Doors: Day. Beginning with looped, glitching violin, this one turns quickly into an experimental pop song very quickly, with gently-autotuned vocals, drum machines and splashes processed violin, it’s perfectly-executed neo-classical hyperpop.
alice does computer music – The candle of eternity burns for all [JOLT/alice does computer music Bandcamp/Nina]
New Yorker Alice Gerlach is a cellist, but also a singer & electronic producer. Her solo work comes out under alice does computer music, with her excellent debut album Shoegaze 5G released in 2023. Her new album Bliss is made up of four tracks, each exactly 10 minutes long, each finding their own balance between multi-tracked cello orchestrations, experimental beats and voice. The album’s available on cassette & vinyl as well as digital, and you can find it on Nina as well as Bandcamp – but if you do want a download, there’s a free link up on her website! Recommended.
HAAi – Hey! [Mute Records/Bandcamp]
Originally from the coastal town of Karratha in WA (nearer to Broome than Perth), Teneil Throssell has been steadily on the rise over the last decade, since swapping rock bands for DJing after relocating to London. Humanise, out on October 10th, will be her second album for Mute Records, full of floor-filling techno tracks, but there’s always an exploratory aspect that pulls her music into this show’s orbit. There’s a lot more vocals on this album, both computer-generated and human, with a sardonic thread about “AI”, and guests like UK non-binary choir TRANS VOICES. I’m particularly keen for the James Massiah feature.
Sebaas – No Plastic [forthcoming on Sebaas.Waveform Bandcamp]
Amsterdam-based producer Sebaas has a couple of releases under his belt, which he describes as “multifaceted floor-groove”. Seems about right – percussive bass music, whether techno or on a more 140 tilt. “No Plastic” is based around a sample of Spanish singer Nathy Peluso rapping “I’m a nasty girl, fantastic / este culo es natural o no plastic” (found here), switching up the minimalist reggaeton for high-energy bass-heavy breaks. According to my promo it’s meant to be out now, but it ain’t, so keep an eye on his Bandcamp.
Leese x Christian Coiffure – ○○ [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Leese x Ancestral Vision – ΞΞ [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Belgian producer Leese aka Leslie Deboeur has released some first-class experimental bass stuff on YUKU in the last couple of years, and also co-curated (alongside Swiss producer Julia Häller aka Chewlie) an all-women EP called Leese and Chewlie Invite 001 on the label earlier this year. But prior to the two curators’ collab there, Deboeur has habitually created music on her own, so new album Δ is a deliberate move outside her comfort zone, inviting others to collaborate. The result is a very YUKU album, and still very Leese, but you can hear how her co-creators pull her music into new directions. With Rennes, France-based producer Lucas Marciniak aka Christian Coiffure she brings syncopated & skittery percussion with a squiggly bassline pushing things along. But Prague’s Ancestral Vision draws things into even more frantic territory. It’s interesting how very dancefloor-oriented this collection is, but across a pretty broad range of tempos. I expect Leese’s own music will be richer for it.
Sobolik – Sandbox [early reflex/Bandcamp]
Brooklyn producer Sobolik lands on Turin’s early reflex with two contrasting tracks of bass music. “Sandbox” has a low-slung thump with a repetitive one-note bassline and lots going on in between the beats. On “Turning Back” the tempo rises for a ring-mod bassline and synth sweeps which gradually take over. Nice stuff.
Carrier – The Fan Dance (feat Gavsborg) [Modern Love/Boomkat]
Guy Brewer continues his Carrier project with a slab of half-time d’n’b, with skittery beats flickering over the bassline while contemporary Jamaican legend Gavsborg (of Equinoxxx et al) informs us not unconvincingly of his sexiness.
Tutu Ta – Samurai Igloo [Long Gone/Bandcamp]
If it seems like I was only playing London’s Tutu Ta last week, that’s because I was – and the week before! He’s just popped out the Pepper album, which leans in to his dancehall, dub, bass music side. But now the Violence or Violets EP has been announced on London’s Long Gone, his second on the label, with a handsome vinyl edition as well as digital, and the first track available is this slightly dubby postpunk dance number. Very nice.
Melvin Gibbs – Felonious Monk [Hausu Mountain/Bandcamp]
When his previous album The Anamibia Sessions Vol.1: The Wave was released on Editions Mego (post-Peter Rehberg’s tragic passing), the label copy said “Melvin Gibbs is the renowned bass player and producer from Brooklyn who’s vast resume includes playing with Sonny Sharrock, John Zorn, The Rollins Band, Dead Prez, Caetano Veloso and Femi Kuti amongst others. A solid resume, no doubt, but what is Gibbs doing on Editions Mego?” Well, the answer was that he had been working on a whole lot of electronic, experimental tracks highlighting sound design, albeit still bass-led. Now Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 has been announced, on the very experimental, generally electronic-focused Hausu Mountain. The punning “Felonious Monk” manages to transition from bass-led Dilla-esque beats into more contemporary bass music. There’s a big list of musicians on the Bandcamp page, including the likes of John Medeski, who plays organ on this track, French hip-hop/jazz beatboxer Napoleon Maddox on a few tracks, master drummer Greg Fox on one track and many more.
Match Fixer – saving skin [Match Fixer Bandcamp]
Andrew Cowie released lo-fi drone-pop or out-rock or *mumbled-genre-name* for years as Angel Eyes, but in 2017 debuted a new project, Match Fixer, for weird-beat experiments – and by 2018’s Rubble he was already creating genius breakdowns of electro/IDM, ascending to the psychedelic ambient/IDM of Done last year. Somewhere in there was another experiment, a collection of tunes that was almost released as an album but Cowie held back at the last minute, not convinced of the direction they’d taken. From 2019 until now is long enough that it’s hard to discern the particulars of what made him drop the release, and it’s nice having some new-old, definitely weird beat stuff.
Cornel Wilczek, Alex Olijnyk – The Beginning of Something Wonderful! [Lakeshore Records (seemingly not on their Bandcamp)]
Cornel Wilczek, Alex Olijnyk – MUSCLE RELAXANT! [Lakeshore Records]
Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s darkly comedic horror movie Together is getting quite a lot of press, for its premise, and the fact that Franco and Brie are real-life partners, and for some controversy around possibly-swiped concepts. In any case, it’s awesome that its awesome soundtrack is by a couple of Aussies. Cornel Wilczek was a bit of an old favourite even pre-Utility Fog – his first album as Qua, forgetabout, came out in 2002, the year before FBi & Utility Fog started. I wrote a rave review of that album in the very first proper print issue of Cyclic Defrost – on p16 of the PDF here (print page 30). “With forgetabout, Qua has brought a new level of craftmanship to Australian electronica”. Young Peter had some annoying writing mannerisms but surprisingly good taste. In the intervening years, Cornel has moved from beautifully-crafted folktronica to beautifully crafted film and TV scores, with a lot of amazing credits including recent Aussie horror sensations Talk To Me and Bring Her Back. Film scoring tends to be a collaborative venture, and for a number of recent commissions, Cornel has worked with young Melbourne film composer Alex Olijnyk – in fact, she’s credited on all the tracks that I shortlisted to play tonight! For a creepy film it’s pretty creepy music, suspenseful and dynamic, with full orchestrations melded with electronic processing, particularly effective when voices are mixed in. I’ve always enjoyed listening to film music even when I haven’t seen the film, and this score is both clearly a collection of film cues and also a dramatic and enjoyable listen on its own. I hope Wilczek and Olijnyk both find continued success in this area, as they’re skilled at writing for the medium while also willing to push the envelope.
Submerged – Ojanurme Inferno [Ohm Resistance/Bandcamp]
Kurt Glück, boss of the long-lived industrial techno/drum’n’bass/breakcore/dubstep label Ohm Resistance, has been making music as Submerged for even longer. It’s generally been about drum’n’bass and related genres, but his latest, Reparations Collected In Flesh, leans heavily on the industrial side, with beats slower than d’n’b, and even sinister vocals slid into the mix. He’s calling it “Outdustrial”. This is heavy shit, reminiscent of JK Broadrick’s Godflesh and JK Flesh work or perhaps early Scorn, perfect for cathartic banishing of evil spirits.
Lord Spikeheart – ANNYNAKI feat. Brodinski, Vina Konda [Hækalu/Bandcamp]
Martin Kanja was lead singer of the groundbreaking Kenyan extreme metal band Duma, released on Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Tapes. His solo work as Lord Spikeheart began in earnest with last year’s album The Adept, involving an all star cast of producers in heavy, experimental electronic music supporting Kanja’s varied metal vocals. That album initated Lord Spikeheart’s Hækalu label, which is intended to highlight heavy music from the African continent. The second release is the three-track Reign EP, with two French producers on the first track. Brodinski also appeared on The Adept, and here Vina Konda is on board too – both of whom work in the hip-hop/bass/industrial space. Hard-hitting indeed.
Chat Pile (+-) – Lost 3 [Dungeon Earth]
Chat Pile (+-) – She’s an Original [Dungeon Earth]
Oklahoma’s heaviest, Chat Pile, are a very political band but also incredbily creative. You’ll not just hear hardcore or doom metal from them – there’s a lot going on, from grunge influences to noise to just plain experimentation. When they were recording last year’s Cool World they got together with various fellow travellers to do regular in-studio improv sessions. Contributing more concretely to the record were a collection of manipulated tape loops created from cassettes found in thrift stores (as they call them in the USofA). It’s noisy, lo-fi stuff, whether rhythmic like the improv I played first, or more of a wash of doomy thrashing. Love me some noise.
BlankFor.ms – A Fleet Of Celebrants [Leaving Records/Bandcamp]
I think of Tyler Gilmore aka BlankFor.ms in the jazz space because of a lovely album he did 2 years ago called Refract, in which the piano of Jason Moran and the drums of Marcus Gilmore are sampled, looped and manipulated on tape by Gilmore. Out on September 5th is After The Town Was Swept Away, his second solo album for Leaving Records following 2023’s In Part. The earlier album collected 6 textural ambient tracks with queasy tapes wowing and fluttering grainily, electronic and acoustic sounds minced up. The first single from the new album offers a a surprisingly structured, Four Tet-like wordless song with a 4/4 kick, although everything’s melted into the background. The second single is a gorgeous layering of lopsided loops, with hisses and clunks as rhythm and various organ tones pumping and glistening as the track progresses. A quiet stunner, this.
BELIEVE – Spirits of the Dead Are Watching [Forthcoming on Relative Pitch]
On Saturday night I was lucky to be in the audience at the album launch for Sydney improvising quartet BELIEVE, who have been playing and playing for the last couple of years, becoming a single organism of improvising prowess. Their album Spirits of the Dead Are Watching is out soon through Relative Pitch. The band is made up of four of Sydney’s best improv & jazz musicians, from a younger generation through to, well, mine. Sax player Peter Farrar would be found at just about every improv gig around town, either attending, playing, or doing sound. Novak Manojlovic is pianist and keyboard player with Microfiche among many others, and was heard only a few weeks ago with TRUE SILOS doing gorgeous minimal jazz. Double bassist Clayton Thomas organised weekly improv gigs at Space 3 in Chippendale back in the ’00s, founded the NOW Now Festival and continues to convene improvising musicians around town regularly, recently Sound(ing) the Alarm about the genocide of Palestine. And Laurence Pike was drummer in Pivot/PVT and Triosk, helping show Sydney what improvised music could be in the ’00s, and has released a series of excellent solo albums of late. The group are dedicated to improv as situated in history, as an act of listening to our forebears and our fellow musicians, and letting loose when called for. The title track here starts with harsh saxophone calls from Farrar, only joined by drums one & a half minutes in, and despite the frantic nature of the saxophone, this is a fragmented piece that draws drama from quietness. Prepared piano takes us through the mid-section, while all four musicians contribute percussion as well. 7 minutes in, the other three drop out again and Farrar’s trilling saxophone carries us out.
Erik Griswold – Wake Up [Room40/Bandcamp]
Erik Griswold – Wild West [Room40/Bandcamp]
Queensland musician Erik Griswold is a seasoned improviser and composer, with 2 decades playing with Vanessa Tomlinson in the Clocked Out duo, and his composition & performing history going back more than 3 decades to when he grew up in San Diego. Griswold has released many brilliant albums of percussive, melodic, textural prepared piano on Room40, going back to 2004’s Altona Sketches, through many other albums exploring the entire physicality of the piano. His new one, Next Level Avoidance, references the now-ten-year-old Pain Avoidance Machine, an album recorded before Brexit, Trump or LLMs, which nevertheless was concerned with insular politics, the spiral of social media and ugh, the stifling heat… As he says in this album’s description, “If only I had known how far we had to go.” Honestly, if we ever get to talk to those innocent souls ten years ago, just be kind and don’t mention it (unless they’re in a position to effect change?) In any case, this album is a lovely thing to settle into, whether you know Griswold’s earlier work or not. Sparkling prepared piano numbers, wild sound processing snippets, flittery synths. The goods.
Andy Graydon + Klaus Janek – Premeridian [Room40/Bandcamp]
Also out on Room40 is an electro-acoustic album from Andy Graydon + Klaus Janek. The two musicians are, on paper, from quite separate domains – Janek is a double bassist and Graydon works with field recordings and no-input mixer, a staple of noise sets. But Janek works deeply with electronics, processing his double bass in realtime, and the two have worked together for years. A Book of Waves came about when Graydon moved from Berlin to the USA, and the musicians wanted to continue their creative relationship. But the two musicians know each other so well that the pieces on this album feel like a single creative vision – the acoustic string sounds notwithstanding, it’s not always possible to disentangle who is making what noises. But Janek’s beautiful playing encompasses high melodies and harmonics, tremolo bowing and percussive, wooden sounds, as well as crackling granular processing of those sounds, which weave in and out of field recordings and controlled feedback from Graydon. It’s worth listening to this actively, although if you let it play in the background you’ll probably find your ears pulled back in.