Another wet day in Sydney, a day on which an estimated 100,000+ of us walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest Israel’s starvation and genocide of Gaza, the occupation, the killing of children, and Australia’s complicity. It was clearly more than the police had expected, because as the front of the march was pouring into Milson’s Point and North Sydney, the tail end was still on the other side, and they freaked out about the number of people and made us all turn back around. Mass confusion and outrage, but we made it back in an orderly fashion it must be said. It was a truly heartening thing to be part of.
Editrix – The Big E [Joyful Noise Recordings/Bandcamp]
Editrix – Another World [Joyful Noise Recordings/Bandcamp]
Last year’s Viewfinder album by Wendy Eisenberg was one of my albums of the year, and their “In The Pines” will be up there in songs of the decade I daresay. A guitarist’s guitarist, Eisenberg is a master musician, also playing tenor banjo and working with electronics, and playing in ensembles ranging from jazz and free improv to, well, what we have here: just brilliant avant-garde punk. I’ve seen Editrix described as math rock, and OK maybe, but really it’s just great, knotty, melodic punk to me, with Eisenberg joined by a great rhythm section: Steve Cameron on bass and Josh Daniel on drums. Our opener, their third album’s title track, has one of those melodies where the intervals are all bent out at angles, making it catchy as hell. The whole album’s perfect riffs, noise sections and top-of-the-lungs vocals. They’ve just signed to Joyful Noise Recordings, and this is absolutely a joyful noise.
Laurén Maria – Conversate [Warm Winters Ltd./Bandcamp]
Laurén Maria – Filled Up Smile [Warm Winters Ltd./Bandcamp]
I first heard Berlin-based Laurén Maria on a 12″ from Yu Miyashita‘s label The Collection Artaud, two tracks of deconstructed electronics with processed vocals hidden within. Her second album, You’re Beautiful, is a masterpiece of deconstruction, in which guitar-led songs jostle with glitch-noise and the subs and fractured beats of the club lurk around the edges. Whether it’s indie-emo songs, screamo tangents or abstracted electronics, Maria somehow makes it all hold together into a strangely affecting album. Also notable, her duo with Diamantista, LICITIR.
Lovers – Could I Expect Love No Matter What [Thanatosis/Bandcamp]
Forthcoming in mid-September from Alex Zethson‘s Thanatosis is the debut from Lovers, the duo of vocalist Linda Oláh and guitarist Giani Caserotto. But “voice and guitar” this ain’t, any more than Laurén Maria above is… The two singles both inhabit a glitched, transformed space of electro-acoustic experimentation – although the duo have modelled Lettres d’amour on the tradition of love serenades, performed by troubadors accompanying themselves on lutes. If so, this is the past seen through a crack’d mirror. Looking forward to the rest of the album.
On Diamond – Downslide [Eastmint Records/Bandcamp]
Here’s the second single from the long-awaited new album from Naarm/Melbourne’s On Diamond. On “Downslide” singer Lisa Salvo evokes a feeling of being lost and helpless. It’s a lovely song, lifted higher with the harp of Genevieve Fry, and ending with some deranged synth/guitar soloing (an On Diamond special).
Bird Battles – Overgrown [Sleep In The Fire Records]
Earlier this year I was pleased to play the incredible debut “Bird Battles” from the duo of the same name – in fact there I am quoted on the Bandcamp page! I expressed hope that more was to come, and here is the album announcement! Bird Battles features the voice and other sounds of London-based Scottish musician Euan Millar-McMeeken, better known as glacis and also one half of Graveyard Tapes with Matthew Collings and of Civic Hall with Craig Tattersall. Here he’s working with visual and sound-artist Jesse Narens, whose love of birds is all over his visual art and audio work. This promises to be emotive, raw songwriting, delicate and noisy, touching through abstraction.
Juanlu Barlow & his Love-Fi Recordings – Red lights [Oigovisiones/Bandcamp]
Juanlu Barlow & his Love-Fi Recordings – Beat street [Oigovisiones/Bandcamp]
This is not a new Three Broken Tapes album declares the new album credited to Juanlu Barlow & his Love-Fi Recordings. Those of us not acquainted with the Spanish indie scene (specifically Málaga) may not understand the reference, but Three Broken Tapes was a project started by Juanlu Gutierrez in 2009, who was then joined by Fran Barrionuevo until the band’s last release in, as far as I can see, 2018. Gutierrez is usually known now as Juanlu Barlow, and has for some years been releasing masses of music via “my private underground“, mostly under the electronic alias Lüüü and the more indie rock Little Bradley. Both musicians from Three Broken Tapes are also visual/film artists, and while the Oigovisiones label is much more focused on experimental music, they’d long wanted to put out a Three Broken Tapes release of some sorts. This isn’t it, but it has the indie rock basis, with krautrock and lo-fi electronic seams running through it. It’s super-quirky, experimental by definition, and it’s always great to discover a weird music scene from somewhere new!
Tutu Ta – Evil Cry (Ft. Lady I) [Tutu Ta Bandcamp]
Tutu Ta is a UK producer otherwise known as “Nomad the Shadow Dancer”, and nothing more identifying as far as I know, although there’s a connection with the Accidental Meetings crew somehow. His music is often dub or dubstep/grime/jungle based, but just as much can float towards some kind of arcane folk or postpunk jazz thing. He’s now released an 8-track album, Pepper, and this dancehall-ish, grimey track is the opener. Not sure who Lady I is!
Xzibit – Concentrate (Deepchild VIP) [Deepchild Bandcamp]
Here’s one from the vaults – not mine, but Deepchild‘s. A bootleg remix of Xzibit‘s 2006 single “Concentrate“, this is Deepchild at his most glitchy, IDM, almost drum’n’bassy, with the song sped up and the voice re-pitched. A million miles from either the Berghain techno or the ambient stuff Rick’s doing these days, but rad all the same.
Ceramic Model – Self Lick [General Merchant/Bandcamp]
From Eora/Sydney label General Merchant comes a two-tracker from local producer Ceramic Model. Like the most adventurous music coming out at the moment, it’s not quite techno or drum’n’bass, it’s kind of modern IDM but more for the dancefloor. Excellent, detailed production.
STEMcell feat. Propus – Ore [STEMcell/Propus Bandcamp]
The second release from artist collective STEMcell is once again credited to “STEMcell feat” a specific artist. Propus is presumably the alias of someone more well-known, but keeping the real identity hidden to focus on the sounds. It’s great, IDM-meets-bass stuff. I note that Propus is given the locaion of Colombia, while the first release from “Sceptrum” (also recommended) is located in Berlin. Make of that what you will.
Aitch – Metronotte [Hundebiss Records/Bandcamp]
A couple of weeks ago I played an excellent trip-hoppy single from Milan group Cortex of Light. I thought they were a duo, but in fact they’re a trio, and Aitch is one of the three. On his new single for the excellent Hundebiss Records, he presents two tracks of mutant bass music, with that two-tiered thing that goes back to jungle or further, where the bass pumps at a comfortable tempo and the beats jitter around in double-time. With Chicago footwork in the mix now the world over, bass music is a broad church.
Abstract Drumz – Rain Dub (2025 Remaster) [Abstract Drumz Bandcamp]
Adrian Walmsley aka Abstract Drumz is perhaps Wales’ greatest purveyor of modern jungle, and he’s not un-prolific, but some tunes still end up on the cutting-room floor. That’s what Unreleased Drumz Pt 1 is for – the first EP of old tracks that have been sitting on his SoundCloud for some years. “Rain Dub” was one of the most requested ones, and you can see why – brilliantly varied drumz, reversed and pitch-bent as well as shuffled around, and lovely warm bass. He says this one required quite a lot of EQing and other tricks to bring out the subs and bring clarity – which I’d say he’s done brilliantly.
Skee Mask – Untitled 1017 [Skee Mask Bandcamp]
Skee Mask – Van99 [Skee Mask Bandcamp]
Bryan Müller, the Munich DJ & producer known as Skee Mask (now based in Berlin), is usually released on the also-Munich-based Ilian Tape label, but for the last few years, in between those releases, he’s been popping big unmastered collections of old tunes up on his old Bandcamp. The latest of these is E, with tunes from 2016-2021, and as per the previous alphabetical comps, they are very much unmastered. The music runs the gamut from ambient to techno, downtempo to drum’n’bass, and even in these flat, squished forms there’s a lot to love.
Povoa – OK [99CTS/Bandcamp]
99CTS Records is run half out of Paris and half out of NYC by globetrotting DJ Miley Serious. Her French connection brings us the latest release, the NPT EP from Paris producer Povoa. Every track has incredibly filthy snarling bass, but past that, each track is different, from the syncopated garagey bass of “OK” to percussive house and high-speed techno. Crazy shit.
Kuntari – Kerak Terusi [99CHANTS/Bandcamp]
Indonesian duo Kuntari refer to their genre as primal-core, and you can hear them tapping into deep seams on their new album Mutu Beton, released on David August‘s never-predictable 99CHANTS label. Originally Kuntari was the solo project of Tesla Manaf, whose musical career began in classical music, broadened into jazz and then electronic music, but he’s now swivelled back to acoustic instruments, from the length and breadth of Indonesia and further afield. In Kuntari he’s now joined by percussionist Rio Abror, and together they reference but dismantle Javanese gamelan, including saron and various other metallophones, xylophones, glockenspiels and marimas, plus wind instruments like the cornet and hulusi, and rhythmic percussion like the thumping Rebanam, but they’re as interested in Indonesia’s storied metal scene or twisting trance rituals into technoid pulses. And it never doesn’t sound like Indonesian music, which is a joy.
Memotone – Glimpse [World of Echo/Bandcamp]
A new album from Will Memotone Yates could go anywhere, from the dubstep & uk garage-influenced early EPs to the minimal jazz-meets-folktronica that followed quickly on, with Yates playing just about any kind of instrument – percussion, piano, clarinet, cello… Not to mention the extra-saturated industrial techno/house stuff he does as HALFNELSON. New album smallest things, released by World of Echo, mostly pares things down to multi-tracked acoustic instruments, and whether it’s folk, avant-garde classical or jazz doesn’t really matter. On a track like “Glimpse”, there are beats but they’re acoustic; it’s folktronica Memotone style. Incredibly accomplished, and not a bad place to dive into Memotone – but don’t leave it here. There’s a huge range of his stuff right there on his Bandcamp (and further afield).
Andrew Staniland – Dancer Portraits No. 2 [Andrew Staniland Bandcamp]
Andrew Staniland – Dancer Portraits No. 1 [Andrew Staniland Bandcamp]
Canadian composer Andrew Staniland has written music for classcial ensembles, orchestras, operas and film, but he also works in electronic music. At Memorial University in St John’s Newfoundland he founded MEARL (Memorial Electroacoustic Research Lab), where he’s developed a number of new musical instruments, including a beautiful controller called Mune Music, and a multi-modal instrument called JADE which sonifies biological or environmental input – most notably, EEG data, i.e. the electrical activity in the brain. He’s just released an album called The Laws of Nature, which originated from music he created for a dance work commissioned by Kittiwake Dance Theatre. The first half is comprised of six “Dancer Portraits”, each a sonification of EEG data from a dancer in motion. As you can hear, the EEG data can be translated into washes of sound and effects, or it can be used as MIDI triggers for piano samples – there’s a lot of choice from the composer, but he’s working with rich data from artists in a different discipline. Just knowing how this electro-acoustic music was made adds an interesting overlay to the listening experience. The second half of the album, which lends it its title, takes this source material and integrates it with more direct compositional and sound-design work. If you’re attracted to the kind of genre-hybridisation that Utility Fog thrives on, you’ll find a lot to love here.
Caimin Gilmore – MVE II [New Amsterdam Records/Bandcamp]
Some more crossover-classical now, from Irish double bassist Caimin Gilmore. As well as being a member of contemporary classical (and crossover) group Crash Ensemble, Gilmore has lent his double bass to many well-known artists including Leonard Cohen, Damon Albarn, Sam Amidon and Dirty Projectors. For his debut solo album BlackGate Gilmore brings in the brilliant cellist Kate Ellis (who’s also in Crash Ensemble and has worked extensively with Laura Cannell) and Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer. Gilmore’s background in pop and folk as well as classical informs the compositions, which are also enhanced with the distinctive FM synthesis of his Yamaha DX-7. The album’s quite a trip, with Segues in between the “MVE” tracks that may twist into surprising noise drones, while any prettiness imparted by the harp and strings can be interrupted and problematised with strange electronics or inventive discords whenever Gilmore wants to wrong-foot the listener. This doesn’t lessen the listening experience; rather it’s just what makes it pleasurable over multiple listens. Adventurous compositions with impeccable musicianship.
SPIRIT RADIO – A Sighting 6 [Editions Vaché/Bandcamp]
When I played SPIRIT RADIO‘s album last year, I started by saying: The project of Stephen Spera & Tamalyn Miller, SPIRIT RADIO really does feel like a transistor radio trying to tune into nearly-departed spirits. The weathered, double-exposed, scratched & smudged photography of Spera is perfectly matched by his aural vision, and Tamalyn Miller adds to the unworldliness with her handmade horsehair fiddle as well as her vocals. Their new EP, DEW POINT, features the titular track, near-11 minutes of shimmering ambient – echoing bells, crackle and hiss, out from which disembodied voices partially emerge. The rest of the EP is taken up by 8 versions of “A Sighting”, whose base form is made up of see-sawing vocal figures in different registers, some possibly sped up or slowed down. Each version then recasts these loops into more or less degraded settings: white noise drones, reverberations, more of those bells, field recordings, distortion… Lovely stuff.
Madeleine Cocolas – The Lion Gate [Room40/Bandcamp]
For her third album on Room40 (depends how you’re counting mind you), Meanjin/Brisbane composer, musician and sound-artist Madeleine Cocolas collected sounds from her ancestral homeland of Greece on a visit decades after she’d last set foot there. Those sounds are woven into electronics, piano, voice and sundry other instruments. In some ways, this is a less “ambient” album than her previous couple, although that’s quite a loaded term. No two tracks use the same structure or the same sound palette, and if Cocolas’ use of these sounds is very personal, there’s plenty for us to imprint our own feelings on.
Snawklor – To Work Only at Loving and Being Loved [Snawklor Bandcamp]
In 2021, after about a decade’s absence, the originally-Melbourne-based duo of Dylan Martorell and Nathan Gray returned as Snawklor, to much celebration round these parts. They released a pair of EPs, one in 2021 and one in 2022, and three years hence they’re suddenly back again with a 7-track album called Materialising Distance – an album originally slated for 2023. The album takes its creative cues, as well as sonic material, from the musicians’ geographical separation. A lot of this album is made of small synthesized sounds somehow accreting together into melodies. “To Work Only at Loving and Being Loved” is the most like earlier Snawklor works, with percussive sounds colliding and vibrating around an abstract synth melody.
Felicity Mangan – Magnet, Paper, Frog [Elevator Bath/Bandcamp]
Berlin-based Australian sound-artist Felicity Mangan is an expert at disguising field recordings as instruments and electronics as field recordings. Her latest album String Figures is her first for Texas label Elevator Bath, run by Colin Andrew Sheffield. The album’s themed around vibrating strings, but it ends with this gorgeous piece of resonating fields (magnetic) embedded in a field recording, creating an eerie beauty.