New releases today: Ambient/Drone

Review: In a commendable bid to musically relive and recapture the philosopher Plato's infamous cave allegory, explorer, researcher, paleorganologist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Walter Maioli makes a welcome return on the Black Sweat label. Here the Italian polymath keeps it simple in sound but expansive in concept; his specialism in the musicology of ancient societies resounds especially on this calming release, which investigates the secret dialogue between the trickling of pond waters and the faint percussive reverberations of stalagmites and stalagtites, all through the resonant chimes of mallet instruments such as tubular organs, Tibetan bells, glockenspiels, xylophones or stone marimbas. With seemingly every ding and bong sound at his disposal, Caverne Sonore makes for one of the most relaxing yet also the most engaging records of the year, one that admittedly beckons us further into the cave.