The best of 2023
My the top 30 albums of 2023, some sound memories, four festivals and many special concerts.
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The New Irishness
Different ways of seeing folk – from instruments, lyrics, or psycho-geographical mythologies immersed in the local context – catch me the most in this year’s Irish music scene. Join me for the ten most exciting records from the last year.
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Acoustic deconstructions
During the November evenings at the Kolonia Artystów, I’ve heard how the sound of the banjo, accordion, and saxophone could be creatively transformed to show their identity and musical language anew.
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Hopper and grime
Although different in form and color, the two albums released by Lotto at once have much in common: darkness and uncertainty, painted in a contemplative, striking way.
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The Strange World Of… Buh Records
I speak to Luis Alvarado, founder of essential Peruvian label Buh Records, and offers a beginners guide to their vast discography that takes in the country’s rich musical traditions, avant-garde greats both old and new, unreleased gems from wider Latin America and more
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Supersonic Festival: what the festival once was and, here, still is
Supersonic restores faith in what can be done with the guitar, that music can speak for the present, and what else the word ‘festival’ can mean.
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The timelessness of Svitlana Nianio’s music
Svitlana Nianio strength is in meditative minimalism, and subtle, emotive pieces are timeless, even when listening to what she composed today or thirty years ago.
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We Are Getting Healed: Sanatorium Of Sound Reviewed
Jakub Knera reports from the ninth edition of the Sanatorium Of Sound, in Sokołowsko, Poland and focuses on the wild intonarumori instruments of Italian futurism, takes a deep listening walk to a mountainous opencast mine at dawn, and enjoys the healing properties of outdoor sound.
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The Great Fake Organ: An Interview With Robert Piotrowicz
Ahead of a performance at the ninth Sanatorium Of Sound, Jakub Knera speaks with Robert Piotrowicz about how he created the sound of organs using a modular synthesiser and his creation of ‘fake folk’ music.
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Face The Spectrum: Poland’s New Young Experimental Composers
Jakub Knera profiles four of the female Polish composers leading the charge for the country’s new experimental music scene, three of whom are set to perform at Warsaw’s Ephemera Festival next week. “Everything makes a sound,” says Martyna Basta, as she taps a glass during our Zoom conversation. “The most exciting sounds hide where we […]
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