Here’s five things new to me in the last six months or so. Leaning towards stuff you might not have heard. Switzerland, USA, Ghana, NZ.
Martina Lussi – Diffusion Is A Force (Latency)
A varied bag of electronic instrumentals that are fairly hard to pin down. I was vaguely reminded of Laurel Halo’s release on the same label, Raw Silk Uncut Wood, but no really useful points of comparison jump out. I already wrote on Bandcamp:
A great collection of tracks that often feel like their own little worlds, but work well together as well. Impressive when someone has their own voice across such a range of music, imo
Olivier Creurer – Bits (self-released)
Again, this is one I already wrote about on Bandcamp:
Living up to its name, this single track moves through a bunch of different bits, each one a curious little world.
Something intimate and inviting about a beatless album that’s not washed out in reverb too.
I apparently like describing things as little worlds. 🤔
It’s one of two in this list I discovered via the lines community, and Olivier’s comments about his approach there might be of interest to other music-makers.
GALTFaculty – E B O W (Human Pitch)
I keep coming back to this short and sketchy release. Me on Bandcamp again:
I’m not going to pretend I’m schooled up on Ghanaian beats, but the loops on here have the greatest feels. Sometimes loopy sample house hits just right. This is one of those. Favorite track: Owned It.
Rosenau & Sanborn – Bluebird (Psychic Hotline)
The second I heard about via lines. A duo play guitar and synths/samplers live and record the whole room, with the doors open. It’s really simple in the most enjoyable and direct way. Bonus points for the track where one asks “what did you think?” and the other complains about the ending. 👌
Paperghost – This is a Miracle Village (Sonorous Circle)
I reckon Zach Webber’s own words do the trick:
This album is my first fully instrumental release. Exploring West Coast synthesis combined with collage’d samples, field recordings and live instrumentation. Tape wear and degradation interplay the soundscapes to create an aged warped sound throughout the album. Created after watching too many hippie-cult documentaries the album acts as a kind of crypto soundtrack, a soundtrack for a film that does not exist.
Actually, there’s plenty in there that could make me wary – if he’d said “cinematic”, well, that’s a bit of a red flag for me – but I’ve been listening to this a lot and totally recommend it.