An abundance of tildes occupies our title space as ~Nois returns with What Is ~Nois, the follow-up to Kinds of ~Nois.
The playfulness of the album title translates to the music, while the implied question, “What is noise?” is a challenge to the listener.
What is noise? In music, the answer is subjective. Some listeners call rap, metal and improvised jazz noise, while others embrace these genres.
In like fashion, some feel comfortable with the sounds of a city, while others call it cacophony.
Is ~Nois noise? Even within the boundaries of What Is ~Nois, the variety of tracks may lead to differing opinions.
Even the question “What is ~Nois?” is difficult to answer. On the surface, the ensemble is…
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Canadian composer 
Nowhere Sessions was recorded in a secluded family cabin deep in the heart of Iceland, far from the bustle and roar. According to 
The accordion emerges as a central instrument across three substantial concertante works exploring contemporary classical expression within Baltic music tradition. The program centers on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s 2007 Prophecy, a single-movement concerto examining the figure of the Seer, one who perceives future events yet faces societal rejection for this gift. The work unfolds across a substantial duration, maintaining musical momentum despite the absence of traditional movement divisions. Tüür’s opening establishes an orchestral foundation through soft, sustained sonority, gradually building in volume. The accordion enters almost imperceptibly embedded within orchestral texture, emerging gradually from accompaniment toward solo…
Jóhann Jóhannsson: Piano Works brings together pianist 
The ferny Brutalist cityscape on the cover of 
With Vesper, 
Taking a critically acclaimed, historic composition and reconfiguring it for a seemingly anachronistic style can be tough to pull off, even, to some ears, heretical. However, for composer and pianist 
A lot of life can happen when nothing’s going on. As the years tick by, landmarks become less regular. Highs become less vaulted. Lows become less abyssal. There’s a reason that posting to social media is mostly a younger person’s game. It’s not that less becomes less exciting or moving, it’s just less flashy. Most of life tends to happen in those quiet periods, which we far too often write off as boring, which, in turn, makes us feel bad about our lives, as if we’re not living up to the influencers we could be.
Conceived as a series of portraits inspired by his personal encounters, Alter Ego, released by Decca, marks a new direction in the discography of Thibault Cauvin. Extending the ideas of his eponymous book and framed as a kind of sonic travel diary, the album features eleven original pieces, each tied to a figure who left a lasting impression during his journeys. Far removed from the more flamboyant character of his previous works, Cauvin here turns toward a stripped down form of introspection, inviting the listener into a more private, inward world over the course of a 39-minute program.
Producer and composer Hannah Peel first worked with percussionist Beibei Wang on Manchester Collective’s 2023 album Neon, which included compositions by Peel as well as Lyra Pramuk and Steve Reich. The two artists then performed a fully improvised concert together as part of Peel’s artist residency in London. Afterwards, they spent five days improvising and recording at Real World Studios. The result is 
Combining different genres through your music has become something of a norm these days, the effectiveness and quality relying mainly on two artistic variables – the level of the artist’s knowledge and understanding of the genres they are combining and the ability (including technique) and inventiveness to make such a combination work. The above might sound a bit dry and scientific, but then, it all comes down to the results, and Norwegian pianist, organist and composer Ruth Viggen makes it all art turn into music as art on her second solo album Open Plains.
Currently on the piano faculty as Artist-in-Residence at New York’s Bard College, Franco-Irish pianist 
In one sense, this 8-track collaboration between Pulitzer prize-winning composer-vocalist Caroline Shaw and Grammy award-winning cellist-composer Andrew Yee is a snapshot of a friendship.