Review: **CLEAR VINYL RE-PRESS** Only 21 years of age when this was recorded, Ólafur hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside Reykjavík. He as immersed himself completely in the world of delicate symphonic compositions in a near weightless orchestral undertaking. Mixing strings and piano with loops, ambiance, electronics and beats, his music fits into the Erased Tapes catalogue like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Debut album 'Eulogy for Evolution' took the listener on a journey, representing different periods in life, from birth to death. The first pressing of the follow-up EP ?Variations of Static? sold out on his winter tour already and will now be available in stores. While keeping the classical foundations of his debut album, here Arnalds incorporates crackling electronics and the dead voice of a machine; like vague memories of tradition lost within the digital age we all live in. It comes with a voucher for a free digital copy of the 'Erased Tapes Collection I' compilation to celebrate the label?s 1st anniversary. The 10" is a super limited clear vinyl issue, we are getting 100 copies only.
PRESS: Full feature, EP review and covermount CD track in Rock Sound June issue coming out in the end of May! Gilles Peterson BBC Radio 1 Session, Classic FM & iTunes involved in Barbican show. More press & radio tba. 'Iceland?s best new export!' ? Clash Magazine ? Achingly beautiful!? ? Rock Sound ?An auspicious debut from a promising young talent.' ? Drowned In Sound
Review: Current scene favourite Nils Frahm teamed up with Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds on three breath taking excursions through lush ambient textures on "Stare" as a surprise release back in 2012 for label founder Robert Rath. "A1" features Frahm's entrancing irresistible melody over some gorgeous all-consuming strings and glacial soundscapes courtesy of Arnalds. "A2" with its heavenly, transcendental beauty has just got to be heard while "B1" explores darker territory with its excavating soundscapes accompanying the most hauntingly delicate cello notes. Exquisite!
Review: Louis Johnstone is known for his mischievous and anti-art approach and here he teams up with Trilogy Tapes for Dracula Completo, an unhinged, chaotic release that defies conventional music. Operating under multiple aliases including Wanda Group and A Large Sheet of Muscle, Johnstone's work blends concrete electronics, warped samples and dark, often distorted spoken-word pieces. Dracula Completo embodies his subversive style and is a mix of absurdity, mutant poetry and rebellious energy. Though Johnstone's work challenges norms and provokes, it remains surprisingly accessible and engaging.
Luniz - "I Got 5 On It" (feat Michael Marshall - Tethered mix From US)
Review: Composer Michael Abels and Oscarr winner Jordan Peele have hooked up plenty of times on the big screen before, and this is another hugely successful partnership. Us was released in March 2019 and is an original nightmare that is set in present-day Santa Cruz on the Northern California coast. Lupita Nyong'o and Black Panther's Winston Duke star and the score features many highlights such as a 30-person choir, ten of them kids, on 'Anthem', while plenty of Eastern European instruments, violins and percussion were also employed. 1995 hip-hop anthem 'I Got 5 On It' by Luniz is also included and never fails to stand out.
Review: An about-face is a complete and utter change in direction; it's this sonic capriciousness that the producer, whose namesake is drawn from the word, finds solace in, and wishes to welcome. Following a period of exploring theta wave and hemi-sync techniques - don't ask us, we're still not sure - the artist also known as Le Sculpteur d'Esprit (the Mind Sculptor) is said to have touched down in this dimension with the ambition to transport listeners through at least four portals of altered consciousness; each of these are intended as thought-worlds in which interactive sculptures, evoked through sound alone, are revealed in the listeners' collective mind. From opener 'Le Tournesol (The Sunflower)' to closer 'L'il De L'elephant ('The Elephant Eye'), these are thoroughly well-sound-designed sonic lemni-scapes, bringing complex sets of progressive builds and electro-spirituals to an awestruck form; immaculately experimental, the record would sound well at home on an Invisible Inc. or Cascine tape.
Review: It's fair to say Placelessness is the work of an Australian experimental supergroup. Oren Ambarchi has been a towering figure of hyper-minimalism since the mid-80s, most notably creating tense and elongated stretches of recordings and performance using guitar tone. Robbie Avenaim is an accomplished experimental drummer, and Chris Abrahams heads up The Necks. That's a very condensed biography for three incredibly accomplished musicians who finally make good on years of live collaborations and criss-crossed pathways to deliver a stunning album which brings their respective qualities into sharp relief, somehow fuller than their solo efforts without losing the vital subtlety and patience which has guided them to greatness.
Review: After numerous patches, Cyberpunk 2077 has come an astoundingly long way since Keanu Reeves himself announced it at the now-defunct E3 expo. Phantom Liberty is an expansion on the original game set in Dogtown, the ruins of an abandoned luxury development project that was forced to be scrapped when old military complexes, bunkers and labs were uncovered by construction. A tale of espionage and political intrigue ensues, scored by P.T. Adamczyk and Jacek Paciorkowski once again following the duo's Game Award-nominated original score. The highlight is, of course, 'Phantom Liberty', the title and credits track that features Polish X Factor winner and multi-diamond recording artist Dawid Podsiadlo, his voice booming in front of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Pressed on heavyweight 180gm vinyl and includes a double-sided insert with key art of Songbird for fans of the series to enjoy.
Review: Federico Albanese's Blackbirds and the Sun of October is a deeply personal album inspired by his native Monferrato in northern Italy, where it was entirely written and recorded. Returning home in autumn 2022 after years in Berlin, Albanese found creative inspiration in the region's landscapes, history and legends and he describes the album as a reflection on origins, heritage and the freedom that comes with returning home. Unlike his previous works which explored memories and imaginary worlds, this album embraces the tangible beauty of nature and history with a newfound sense of positivity and connection to his surroundings.
Review: For the first time, the soundtrack to Giuliano Carnimeo's 1974 erotic comedy film, La Signora Gioca Bene a Scopa? (released under the international title Poker In Bed), gets a vinyl release through BTF Italiy. Set in Parma, Italy, the film follows Michele, a penniless poker player, whose rock-bottom recourse, born of gambling debts, is to become a prostitute. Scored by Italian erotic film greats Gianfranco Plenizio and Alessandro Alessandroni - two virtuosi of great late 60s and early 70s eminence - we hear a teasing, undying vibe of irreverence here, with tempt-estuous vocals and pizzicato string tickles making light of the lurid relational meeting of minds and bodies that drives the film's action.
Review: A release that honours the centenary of Alessandro Alessandroni's birth with a collection of previously unreleased tracks from the iconic composer and multi-instrumentalist. This album uncovers a hidden chapter of Italian film scores and library music, featuring Alessandroni's lesser-known work between 1969 and 1978 for war documentaries and films. Paesaggio Bellico isn't just a military march through battlefields but a deeply nuanced exploration of war's human and existential facets. Alessandroni expertly balances sweeping, cinematic themes with moments of tension and unease. His compositions juxtapose stark, unsettling imagery with softer, more hopeful tones that has a poignant counterbalance to the brutality of conflict. The maestro's signature whistle floats over gentle 12-string guitar melodies, while his fuzz-laden Fender Stratocaster electrifies more intense passages. The Cantori Moderni, Alessandroni's trusted vocal ensemble, contribute haunting vocals that delve into the psychology of warfare. An elegant string section adds layers of drama and sentiment, enhancing the album's orchestral weight. With 18 tracks in total, the release is visually enriched by Eric Adrien Lee's cover art, which reimagines the bold design of 1970s Italian war-themed records. With a tip-on hard cover and a unique inner sleeve, the vinyl is a fitting tribute to Alessandroni's enduring legacy, blending sonic and visual storytelling into a truly special release.
Review: Alfa Mist and Amika Quartet share a new ennead of never-heard-before tracks, alongside a few expansions on earlier releases: Recurring. An eternal return of saintly jazz and storytelling hip-hop, the record comes hot on the heels of Mist's recent Variables LP (2023) and the Manchester quartet's Amika's earlier 'Exist' release from earlier in 2024. The latter group have toured extensively with Alfa Mist in recent years, and the new live record notably foreruns its full release with a new exclusive, 'Checkpoint (Violence)', on which Mist not only drums, but at the same time MCs, with verve and flair. Here Mist concept-checks everything from modern-day apartheid to astrology (and exasperations thereof - "don't ask me your starsign"). Amika, meanwhile, embellish each mix with searing string arcos and long fibrous tugs, which seem, ironically, to assure us about the future, though they do lend the songs a demure mood: "don't fret".
Review: Tin Iso and the Dawn has been a four part journey from the New York based composer and puppeteer Tristan Allen. It has brought to life a whole world of fantastical characters who share "universal longings" with us mere mortals. The opening part of the fine series showcases some meticulous sound design and alluring leitmotifs that all try to make sense of loss and what comes after. The album is loosely based on Wagner's three act opera Tristan und Isolde and was written over the course of seven years from 2105 with plenty of field recordings and a mix of acoustic instruments that were processed and arranged electronically. It's a transfixing listen, for sure.
Review: Storied German ambient, microsound and electronica musician Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) shares the fifth volume of his intentionally indefinite Xerrox series, Xerrox Vol. 5. First begun in 2007, after envisaging a series of albums released in chronic sequence, the Xerrox series expressly aims to prove that the continued copying and replication of recorded sound will produce an indefinite variation, each copy infinitely more interesting than the last. With every edition of Xerrox using the same album cover, the sonic contents of the Xerrox albums similarly mimic each other's movements, through a process of making minuscule changes that go onto produce cascading, domino-effecting results. The palette is expansive and cinematic as ever, though it is striking to know that these suites were achieved solely through the manipulation of recordings made and subsequently timestretched from scratch.
Review: Vrioon was the first ever collaboration album between Alva Noto and legendary synth man and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. 20 years after it became the first instalments of V.I.R.U.S.'s five records together it gets the full reissue treatment. The original tracks from the album are joined by an all new composition 'Landscape Skizze' which was laid down in 2005. The record is defined by alternate piano chords, lush electronic tones and quivering timbres that are delicate yet impactful.
Review: Black Truffle is celebrating the tenth anniversary of Oren Ambarchi's Quixotism with a special reissue, originally released on Editions Mego in 2014. This remastered edition, with enhancements by Joe Talia, brings back Ambarchi's ambitious workia summation of his past explorations and a precursor to future innovations. Quixotism presents a single, LP-length composition divided into five parts, anchored by Thomas Brinkmann's pulsating electronic rhythms. The album starts with delicate orchestral and piano textures, gradually evolving into a vibrant polyrhythmic shuffle featuring tabla player U-zhaan. Ambarchi's guitar traverses a wide array of acoustic spaces, from crisp, clipped tones to deep, reverberant expanses. The piece's slow, dream-like transitions and the intricate interplay of its elements reflect both a culmination of Ambarchi's previous work and a hint of his future directions. A fresh opportunity to rediscover the charm of Quixotism.
Review: Double Consciousness is not just the name of the new collaborative album release between Oren Ambarchi and Eric Thielemans; it's also a term developed by revolutionary theorists such as Frantz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois to describe the cognitive dissonance/dual self-perception of oppressed groups in unjust, often colonial societies. With that in mind, we're not just going in blind here. A forty-minute, single-take epic album recorded live at the Werkplaats Walter theatre in Brussels, this is Ambarchi and Thielemans as we know them best, the former handling the guitar as usual, and the latter on drums and percussion. Many disparate movements ensue, the music seeming to represent the arc of psychic revelation; the roller-coaster ride of fulfilment; tyrants overthrown; and former double-consciousnesses unified.
Review: Oren Ambarchi and Eric Thielemans' latest collaboration emerges from a recorded performance in Poitiers, France, in November 2023, showcasing their extraordinary duo chemistry. The single continuous performance, spanning over 45 minutes, encapsulates their shared language and willingness to push boundaries, blending meditative calm with unexpected melodic and rhythmic moments. 'Kind Regards' (Beginning) opens with Thielemans' entrancing tom patterns, which provide a steady undercurrent for Ambarchi's guitar, transformed into swirling tones by a Leslie speaker. As the music unfolds, it moves between introspective calm and more forceful bursts of energy, with Ambarchi's guitar eventually taking on an electric organ-like quality, echoing the soulful depth of Alice Coltrane. Later, 'Kind Regards' (Conclusion) takes on a more jazz-oriented direction, as Thielemans' delicate rhythmic shifts showcase his mastery of accents and cymbal work. Ambarchi counters this with jittery delayed tones, and a more active use of his fretboard, weaving through dissonant harmonics before concluding with a massive, yet detailed, climax of distorted guitar and crashing cymbals. The performance, free from any flashy tricks or filler, draws power from the deep intuition between the two musicians, and their shared commitment to exploring the limits of their instruments.
Review: Zone Black almost never was. The KPM music library originally commissioned Emil Amos to make a collection of new material which could be used in television and film. A little way into this process, the executive who did that hiring departed, and the artist opted to take what was there to the Drag City label in a bid to turn it into a proper album. The end result is something between the two. For all intents and purposes, plenty here fits into the library definition, but this is a far more personal, deeper and coherent take on the format. The foundations of library music - commercial use - soon thrown out with the dishwater, and instead the focus was on creating movements and arrangements that would hold up on their own, and create entire narratives independently, for themselves. Removed from what's happening on screen, you can live in these tracks and nowhere else.
Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn & Katie Lopez - "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" (3:07)
Kristen Bell & Idina Menzel - "For The First Time In Forever" (3:49)
Kristen Bell & Santino Fontana - "Love Is An Open Door" (2:06)
Idina Menzel - "Let It Go" (3:37)
Jonathan Groff - "Reindeer(S) Are Better Than People" (0:47)
Josh Gad - "In Summer" (1:49)
Kristen Bell & Idina Menzel - "For The First Time In Forever" (reprise) (2:20)
Maia Wilson & Cast Frozen - "Fixer Upper" (2:59)
Demi Lovato - "Let It Go" (Demi Lovato version) (3:42)
Review: A cinematic sensation and an instant classic and record breaker, Disney's animated movie 'Frozen' celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year with this special zoetrope double picture disc featuring scenes from one of the, now, most iconic movies of all time moving before your eyes. Included is, of course, Idina Menzel's award-winning score 'Let it Go' which charted around the world and wormed its way into the ears of parents to this day. Not to be slept on, though, is Demi Lovato's rendition that plays over the credits sequence or 'Fixer Upper', the jovial chorus musical number.The perfect Christmas gift for the fan in your life, and trust us, there is statistically one somewhere, no matter how old.
Review: Laurie Anderson's latest album, Amelia, marks her first release since the well-received Landfall (2018) and is inspired by the tragic final flight of aviator Amelia Earhart, featuring 22 tracks that delve into her much storied legacy. Collaborating with the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, under Dennis Russell Davies, and a roster of notable musicians including Anohni and Marc Ribot, Anderson crafts a deeply evocative narrative, while the album reflects Anderson's distinct style, blending lyrical introspection with innovative soundscapes. Drawing from Earhart's personal diaries and communications, Amelia explores themes of adventure and disappearance, providing a poignant auditory journey. A renowned avant-garde artist, Anderson's career spans music, visual art, and performance, recognised for her boundary-pushing work and poetic storytelling, and this album continues her tradition of merging the beautiful with the bizarre, as well as offering a fresh perspective on an historic figure.
Review: We also heard from Andrew Wasylyk late last year when he offered up his second LP for the esteemed Clay Pipe Music label. Now it is to Edinburgh's Athens of the North for Parallel Light, another collection of sumptuous ambient sounds that are so much more than just background music. The album is actually an alternate mix of his 2020 long player Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation so offers a different perspective with plenty of moving spiritual-jazz and neo-classical sounds that help paint alluring musical landscapes.
Review: The festive season can be busy, stressful and quite frankly hard work. Thank you to Joel Andrews then for serving up this perfect excuse to take half an hour to yourself and get lost in his most lush and soothing ambient sounds. The A-side is taken up entirely by 'Paradise Bird' which is rich with spring-like energies and delightful uplifting melodies. But this limited long player also offers more quiet moments of calm and introspection such as on the harp-like and heavenly melodies of 'Chamber Of The Heart.' Glorious stuff that will enrich and energise your life with its subtle and charming beauty.
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