I’ve been away for two weeks in Japan (it was amazing, needless to say). Huge thanks to Holly Conner (ilex) and Lachlan Stevens (Heyes) for brilliant shows on those two Sundays.
Tonight I’m excited about the selections available – intense experimental electronic rock, protest rap, free jazz-tronic poetry, glitch-folk, sound-art, jungle & idm, post-techno post-bass(?), and acoustic instruments distorted, processed, and played live.
Mandy, Indiana – Sevastopol [Sacred Bones/Bandcamp]
Mandy, Indiana – I’ll Ask Her [Sacred Bones/Bandcamp]
The debut album from Manchester’s Mandy, Indiana, i’ve seen a way, crashed into the contemporary musical zeitgeist with an abrasiveness that equalled their appeal. Valentine Caulfield sings mainly in French – or speaks and shouts – about systemic injustice, about toxic masculinity, about the genocide in Gaza… and the electrifying, sometimes brutal rhythms and bursts of noise & sampled sonic detritus rarely coalesce into anything melodic (making it all the more impactful when they do). The result is by and large disorienting in the best way. On the last track Caulfield swaps to English to best hammer home her message – more stark than ever with the latest Epstein files release. It’s a story about one of the boys, he’s your mate you know? And yeah you’ve heard some rumours, but “you know how they run their mouths, these fucking bitches / and anyway, you stand by your boys, ’cause they’re your boys / and that’s just how it is”. “They’re all fucking crazy, man” is the relentless excuse, and Caulfield doesn’t let up, all the way to the crushing end: “Yeah, your friend’s a fucking rapist but they’re all fucking crazy, man”.
Bleakly necessary.
B Dolan – How I(CE) Could Just Kill A Man [B Dolan Bandcamp]
Too many truth bombs here too. This song is a great interpolation/cover of Cypress Hill, but it’s also just fucking good. I know music’s just music, but I do believe we need more protest music, more than ever. Art is inspiration, art is community, art is what keeps people going. Buy this song and the money goes to AMOR, “Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistence”. And yeah, that’s the USA, Australia’s a different story, right? Well yeah, we’re different, but our racist post-truthers are on the rise just like Farage’s fuckwits in the UK, and frankly politics alone isn’t going to save us. Resist, however you can.
The more brutal the state, the more mutual aid will be / needed – proceeds are for the legal fund…
Tell ’em “this is something no strongman can ban”. Fuck ICE, free the people, free the land.
The Odes – You Owned It [Not Applicable/Bandcamp]
Déjeuner Sous L’Herbe, the title of the new album by the duo of postpunk saxophonist & poet Ted Milton and experimental electronic producer Sam Britton, is a flip of the (in)famous Édouard Manet painting “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” – you know the one, with a naked woman sitting at a picnic with two clothed men. While Manet pictured his subjects lunching on the grass, Milton suggests that we take our lunch under the grass (and the artwork hilariously turns the painting on its head, with text circling its four edges). Manet’s painting was made to scandalise; Milton may not be scandalous, but his poetry – generally barked more than sung through the history of his still-going post-punk art-rock band Blurt – is acerbic, humorous, down-to-earth and erudite. His poetry and artistic life considerably predates punk, let alone post-punk (a movement, mind you, that started approximately 3 seconds after punk), and his words reach back through the literary canon and non-canon as much as they do into normal & abnormal life. Look, I’m not great at writing about words, so let it be mentioned that the second disc of this upside-down naked lunch features Milton reading 32 poems that make up his poetry collection Anti Climb Paint. They’re all very short – it zips by in less than 15 minutes and it’s highly engaging. The first disc, however, continues Milton’s collaboration with Sam Britton, who I’ve known for more than a couple of decades as one half of Icarus, an English duo who started out making wicked Photek-like drum’n’bass and moved gradually into a musique concrète-informed folktronica without ever losing the d’n’b/jungle pulse; Icarus’ other half is Eora/Sydney-resident Ollie Bown, an esteemed academic and member of Tangents with yr humble narrator (me). Sam – who often goes by Isambard Khroustaliov – has worked & researched in the hallowed halls of IRCAM and STEIM and also works with many jazz & improvising musicians, and by now his collaborations with Ted Milton go back a decade and a half at least. So needless to say it’s a highly enjoyable, if avant-garde, listen.
Bara & Isa – 2×2 (Verschrin Tulip Mix) [Warm Winters Ltd./Bandcamp]
The latest release from London/Vienna duo Bara & Isa follows their album (ii) from 2024, also released on the wonderful Bratislava label Warm Winters Ltd.. It’s that kind of gently experimental music that’s pieced together from acoustic improvisations on odd instruments and with hesitant voices, mediated through electronic collage. A little reminiscent of Lucky Dragons, which is high praise.
Concrete Husband – As the Sun Falls [NNA Tapes/Bandcamp]
Concrete Husband – Procession of the New Sun [NNA Tapes/Bandcamp]
Via NNA Tapes, who specialise in experimental-yet-accessible music, the gentle violence of Concrete Husband is somewhere between electronically-rendered contemporary composition, soundtrack music and experimental ambient. Laden with mystery.
Toni Geitani – Ruwaydan Ruwaydan [Toni Geitani Bandcamp]
Toni Geitani – Wasla [Toni Geitani Bandcamp]
Originally trained in filmmaking, Lebanese musician Toni Geitani has since gained a Masters in live electronics in Amsterdam, where he is based now. His Masters thesis is titled “Sampling as a Political Medium”, which sounds fascinating. In his music, he melds Arabic vocals with classical instrumentation and experimental electronic production. Across 17 tracks on his new album Wahj, we hear his voice and electronics, along with processed performances on strings, oboe and bass, and some guest vocalists. It’s a stunning album. “Wahj” (وهج) means “radiance”, and Geitani invites us to look through the collapse we see everywhere, and seek that light.
Glasser – Vine (Melati ESP Remix) [One Little Independent/Bandcamp]
It’s been 2½ years since NYC producer Glasser‘s last album, crux, was released. A year or so later, Sept 2024, 7 tracks were added to make Crux Deluxe, and now, because you can never have enough rhymes, we get 6 remixes under the title crux redux. Cameron Mesirow’s music has always been a kind of pop-IDM, not too far from Björk or Braids, but there are some very dancefloor-friendly mixes here, including Peder Mannerfelt solo and with Pär Grindvik as Aasthma, and the IDM-loving DJ Python. But the brilliant Indonesian producer Melati ESP takes the angelic-voiced “Vine” into very jittery, drum’n’bassy waters on her remix, a definite highlight.
Xylitol – Falling [Planet µ/Bandcamp]
Catherine Backhouse debuted on Planet µ under her Xylitol alias in 2024 with the frantic drill’n’bass of Anemones, very much in the vein of the Planet µ output from the ’00s, as much as the jungle and hardcore she was immersed in in her youth. As DJ Bunnyhausen she was resident DJ at a krautrock club night called Kosmische, and is also a specialist in electronic music & pop from the former Yugoslavia. Her follow-up album Blumenfantasie is on its way from the µ-sters on March 20th, and ups the ante with more sophisticated beats (still manic, don’t stress!) and influences from Sarajevo-born synthmeister Miaux as well as early industrial and yes, krautrock. I’m also glad to see her remix of (-slash collaboration with) beloved friends of the show, space-rockers The Leaf Library, on the tracklisting. No question this’ll be a 2026 highlight!
Suburban Architecture – Rising (Kloke Remix) [Suburban Architecture Bandcamp]
UK DJs Chris Read and James Curry formed Suburban Architecture as a love letter to drum’n’bass & jungle, and have made forays across multiple subgenres of ’90s-styles since 2019. There are also many exciting remix 12″s from jungle & d’n’b originators that you can find on their Bandcamp, but in November they dropped two New Town Dub 12″s with newer jungle producers, the first featuring Tim Reaper & Drumskull, and the second pairing Repertoire boss Law with Naarm’s own Kloke. Bouncing bassline and stop-start breaks for a good time.
dgoHn – 4.37445 Yards [Subtle Audio/Bandcamp]
OK, and here’s the whole of this new jungle/drumfunk/drum’n’bass compilation from Limerick, Ireland label Subtle Audio! The label put out a series of great 2 or 3CD compilations in the mid-’00s with early drumfunk and jungle-inclined drum’n’bass – at the time it felt like the best source of really great beat production around. Many years later, here’s another 3CD set: Our Atmosphere has 2CDs of original tracks and a few a few previously released by Subtle Audio in a broadly “atmospheric” jungle, drumfunk and drum’n’bass vein. There’s a huge list of great producers, plus a DJ mix from label head Code on the 3rd disc. CDs have been out since December, but the digital version (without the DJ mix) is now also out. Kloke contributed one of many highlights, but here’s one from drumfunk/experimental d’n’b stalwart dgoHn (pronounced “John”). Super excellent comp all told.
Bruce – It Ain’t Over Till… [Poorly Knit/Bandcamp]
Bristol’s Bruce inaugurated his Poorly Knit label exactly 12 months ago, and his fourth release is the eight-track EP Four More Then Four. That’s four new tracks from Bruce and four remixes of earlier tracks from four like-minded producers in the bass/techno realm. And oh! That falsetto voice at the start of the first track! So, so great. It reminds me a little of Lakker’s work with singer Eileen Carpio on “Milch“, although it’s very much its own thing.
Shackleton – Contagious Illusion [AD 93/Bandcamp]
On the great, eclectic AD 93, here’s one of the greats from when early dubstep melded with dub techno, Sam Shackleton. His solo releases and collaborations have brought him into kraut-folk, arcane ambient, dubtronic kraut-pop and other half-made-up genres, while the UK dancefloor has never quite disappeared from view. Still, Euphoria Bound is the closest his solo work has gotten to the dancefloor in a while; very nicely dub-tinged technoid constructions.
Pharoah Chromium – IA JEBEL SARFIT 2 [Discrepant/Bandcamp]
German-Palestinian musician Ghazi Barakat engages with the Palestinian cause as Pharoah Chromium, creating collages of sampled voices, percussion, flutes and an electronic wind instrument. He makes extensive use of voices from Chants Révolutionnaires D’Oman, the children’s voices in the earlier tracks adding an extra poignancy given the continuing genocide.
Nicolas Van Belle – Veel en alleen [Klankhaven Records/Bandcamp]
Nicolas Van Belle – Allenig waren we [Klankhaven Records/Bandcamp]
Here’s something special. Back in 2023 I discovered a wonderful Belgian acoustic trio called Erem with their album Aare, and later that year the quartet Suura with their Stuve album. This was music sitting somewhere between the folk-jazz of Bill Frisell or Tin Hat, 20th century chamber music and something stranger and more experimental, including distorting drones and abstract sound-art. In common between those acts is the guitar and sometimes bouzouki and tzouras of Brussels-based musician Nicolas Van Belle. Van Belle has now released an incredible solo album, Einde Were, through Klankhaven Records. His acoustic instruments may start off in beautiful resonant spaces, but they’re frequently caught up in digital processing or shoegaze-influenced disortion, or they float up from cavernous drones, while Van Belle’s spoken words or wordless singing may appear at times. It’s an emotional journey, with sections of scintillating peace offsetting the foreboding and even anger found elsewhere. Find yourself some time to listen to this on headphones with your eyes closed.
Taroug – 1995 [Denovali/Bandcamp]
The music of Düsseldorf-based Tunisian musician Taroug (Tarek Zarroug) is a highly varied mixture of bass music with North African percussion, and dreamy indietronic postrock like this beauty. There’s a sense of melancholic nostalgia to this track which is quite moving. Look out for more soon.
Fabels – Luister [Fabels Bandcamp]
Sydney’s Fabels merge the psychedelic, minimal postpunk of singer/bass guitarist/keyboard player Hiske Weijers and the shoegaze & indie roots of guitarist & drum programmer Ben Aylward (notably leader of legendary Aussie shoegaze band Swirl in the ’90s). Weijers’ vocals and songwriting (and her Dutch background) give the band a distinctly 1980s European feel that hits differently from younger bands also influenced by the postpunks & new romantics, ’80s electronic pop, and ’90s shoegaze. Weijers also painted the beautiful eye on the album cover, staring admonishingly at us.
Lueenas – Diana [Barkhausen Records/Bandcamp]
Danish double bassist & singer Ida Duelund and violinist/violist & singer Maria Jagd formed their duo Lueenas in 2019, making music with a lot more doom and heaviness than a string duo might imply. Duelund, who studied for a time in Melbourne a while back, released a gorgeous, hella weird solo album a year ago, but it’s a pleasure to have the abstract, filmic music of the duo back with their second album-proper, Tender Anger. The “filmic” aspect explains my “-proper” caveat there, because they’ve released a number of soundtracks and recordings of installation works, which are just as attractive and mystery-laden as their self-titled album from 2022 and this new one. Second-last track “Diana” begins with lone plucked violin and operatic vocals, but swells into distorted gothic doom before ebbing back. This is not background music! Give it your attention, please.
Emily Wittbrodt – Lied [Futura Resistenza/Bandcamp]
Emily Wittbrodt – Coda [Futura Resistenza/Bandcamp]
Cologne-based cellist Emily Wittbrodt works in free jazz as much as classical, playing in various bands and lending her cello to friends’ releases such as Claire Rousay’s incredible 2024 album Sentiment. Also in 2024, leftfield German label Anna Ott released the second album from her Ludwig Wittbrodt duo with experimental producer/drummer Edis Ludwig, while a year earlier they released Wittbrodt’s first, unique, solo album Make You Stay, a suite of songs and instrumentals performed by an unusual lineup featuring herself as singer-cellist-composer with three other singer-musicians on organ, drums and electric guitar. On Wearing Words, this time released through Dutch/Belgian experimental label Futura Resistenza, Wittbrodt crafts another collection of hard-to-pin-down songs, with operatically-trained Sandro Hähnel on vocal duties accompanied by Wiitbrodt’s cello and keyboards, and musicians playing drums, accordion, clarinets and bass. A mere catalogue of instruments doesn’t convey much, though: these avant-garde compositions might evoke Sufjan Stevens or Judee Sill, Monteverdi through a contemporary lens, or some kind of stentorian drone. At the album’s centre, Wittbrodt, Hähnel & co wrap us in yearning melody in a gorgeous song simply entitled “Lied” (German for “song”), while the album’s Coda is a considerably more experimental and abrasive affair.
Kourosh Kanani and Matt Davies – Lay Laye – feat. Amena [Kourosh Kanani Bandcamp]
Iranian-Irish singer-songwriter & composer Kourosh Kanani draws not only from his father’s Persian background but also from his study of Carnatic rhythms from southern India, as well as jazz and the exquisite harmonies of Armenian folk music. He’s been working with drummer extraordinaire Matt Davies (who we often hear with Church Andrews), and together they’ve recently recorded a Kurdish lullaby with singer Amena. The beautiful harmonies are carried by a rhythm that keeps the baby’s carer on their toes, adding a semiquaver every four bars, a 6+6+6+7 rhythm that sways just a little off-centre each time. Gorgeous.
Max Ridley, Eleanor Elektra and Nat Mugavero – How Can I Explain? [577 Records/Bandcamp]
Brooklyn label 577 Records was co-founded by Italian drummer Federico Ughi and NY saxophonist/flautist/etc Daniel Carter about 25 years ago, supporting musicians from well-established to up-and-coming. Playing, Praying documents a cross-generational meeting, in which 89-year old drummer Nat Mugavero improvises with bassist Max Ridley and guitar & vocal improviser Eleanor Elektra. Hearing Elektra’s free vocals on some of the contemplative pieces here is extraordinary, but all three musicians instinctively home in on a shared sense of presence, truly composing together. The album preserves the spaces between the musical pieces, as well as a touching moment in which Mugavero speaks about how much this act of musical intimacy means to him.
Listen again — ~216MB