From the lessons of deep listening by Meredith Monk and Ryoji Ikeda, through meditations by Tarta Relena and FUJI|||||||||||TA, the psychedelic journeys of Jameszoo’s Blind Group and Flock, to back to the future with Robert Henke’s Commodores – this year’s Rewire showcased many facets of the contemporary music world that offers different narratives of reality.
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Tanya Tagaq doesn’t always sing specific words, sometimes she just makes a sound, builds an echo, a shamanic voice mixed with anger and evoking ghosts of the past. Tongues is an eloquent and very powerful reckoning with Canada’s current post-World War II colonial grip on the Inuits.
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– An immigrant always negotiates his position in some way. There are different strategies: mixing languages, preserving traditional costumes or seeking a place through speculative anthropology. This works at the university and in a gallery, but I believe it can also provoke something outside of them – says musician and composer, Wojciech Rusin.
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Philip Jeck, the composer who gave turntablism a new meaning, has passed away. An explorer of vinyl and hauntology long before both came back into favour.
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Marcel Baliński debuts with his trio with a separate, lyrical album, full of banter about the possibilities of a jazz trio. Trio_io shows how to think differently about contemporary improvisation.
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I take a deep dive into an album of ballads recorded by an enigmatic Ukrainian musician, now undergoing a timely reissue
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test report from the contemporary music scenes of eastern and central Europe in The Quietus, I look at Ukraine’s powerful electronic underground.
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New year brings my new column focusing on central and eastern Europe in The Quietus. In first episode I look looks at contemporary electronic sounds, alternative rock and improvised music from Poland.
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‘Agadez’ by Etran de L’Aïr is a perfect example of danceable guitar music with a social message related to nomadic culture and migration. Theoretically about North Africa, practically about the whole world today.
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Festival returns, remotely recorded albums, music highlighting local identity. My summary of 2021 in a few conclusions, 21 albums, 10 compilations and 10 songs.
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