Category: Reviews

Eyot Tapes album is a mesmerizing journey through a carefully constructed exotica landscape, recorded with cassette loops, spring reverbs, tape delays, and a modular synthesizer.

Algorithms using an archive of 300 tenor saxophones, amplified vocals and double bass, distorted accordion possibilities or drone possibilities of traditional instruments – Tripticks Tapes offers a colourful curation of unusual explorations of the contemporary improvised scene.

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.

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.

Festival returns, remotely recorded albums, music highlighting local identity. My summary of 2021 in a few conclusions, 21 albums, 10 compilations and 10 songs.

From lyrical minimalism and soft melodies to black metal, free music and the landscape of everyday rituals. I have chosen five most interesting records released last year by Patrick Shiroishi – one of the most active musicians of 2021.

Futuristic sounds, sound sculpture, songs for quartet, unobvious percussion performances or electronics played on the piano. Here are 9 albums on which jazz is theoretically the starting point, but which lead into original compositional areas.

In finding spaces with unobvious acoustic properties, the Germans seem to have no equals. I write shortly about three albums, recorded in unusual circumstances.

Regional traditions, songs, field recordings, dark drones, and psychedelia – the French scene is in bloom. Join me for a run-through of the most interesting musical gems from France.