Propulsion and stillness coincide in the atmospheric “State of Motion,” an early single from this third volume in the Nanocluster series. Vibrations build and surge, their overtones merging in limpid pools of sound. A pedal steel arcs over ambient tones, a drum beat pushes it onward, but mostly this music doesn’t develop so much as it exists. You can float on it, on your back, like a swimmer in salt water, effortlessly taking in the liquid tone and pulse of it.
Nanocluster Vol. 3 pairs Wire’s Colin Newman and his creative partner Malka Spigel with cosmic country’s SUSS, two sets of musical talents that Dusted has long admired. We’ve covered works by Spigel and Wire since moving to the Tumblr and Githead in the before times. As for SUSS, of the 2024 Birds and Beasts,…
Category: indie
If you thought Fleet Foxes’ White Winter Hymnal evoked the feeling of deepest winter, you should check out this beautifully odd and solitary project from Arkansas-based multi-instrumentalist Chaz Knapp to hear how it’s really done. Chaz is a traditional instrumentalist and field recorder, whose Microfolk series highlighted him as a musical collagist. Winter Music contrasts Microfolk (which was recorded in the summer heat) in that Chaz took his instruments to various locations in the rugged terrain of Northwest Arkansas in the depths of winter, recording with tape loops and improvisations while his fingers froze and his nylon string guitar neck shrank in the cold.
The result is something of a remote and isolated audio diary, as much documenting…
The 12″ single redefined music and the way we move to it, something that’s celebrated on the fantastic new four-CD collection from Cherry Red Records, Extended Stimulation: 12″ Pop Adventures on the Dancefloor 1983-1988. While 12″ vinyl is generally associated with disco, electronic, and hip-hop, this box set explores just how revolutionary it could be for traditional pop music, featuring tracks from the likes of New Order, Simply Red, the Human League, Duran Duran, Talk Talk, Pet Shop Boys, and many others.
However, these may not be the songs as most people remember them. That’s because everything here is either a remix (or extended mix) of some kind, originally released on 12″ vinyl. A little history lesson may be in order. Before the 12″…
Lightning in a Twilight Hour are another band built around the heartbreak of Bobby Wratten, and like the Field Mice, Northern Picture Library, and Trembling Blue Stars, their albums are made up of songs that trickle like warm tears down the cheeks of a heartbroken soul. Colours Yet to Be Named has all the hallmarks of his work: precisely jangling guitars, dub-inspired basslines, soothingly dark synth pads, and vocals that alternately glide on top of, or sink into, the gloom. Wratten is joined as he was on the group’s previous masterpiece of overwhelming melancholy Overwintering by longtime collaborators Anne Marie Davies and Beth Arzy on vocals along with producer Ian Catt and bassist Michael Hiscock. They work together seamlessly to create a soft…
Are we approaching The End? A quick global vibe check points to the affirmative. From non-stop doomscrolling pummeling our neural pathways to climate scientists throwing up their hands in despair, the near future might be a wrap on the world as we know it. Philosophers like Slavoj Žižek and Amador Fernández-Savater have already gone as far as to argue that the apocalypse has already occurred. For so many of us, it feels like we are just drifting through dystopian fallout, waiting out the days until inevitable societal collapse.
So, where to turn when confronted with such dire and defeatist predictions? Hieroglyphic Being (AKA Jamal Moss) offers a few avenues of spiritual release on his latest album, The Sound of Something Ending. The title track drops…
Tucked into the Caribbean Sea are the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Saint Lucia. Guadeloupe is an overseas department of France, while Dominica and Saint Lucia are independent nations. All three boast volcanic beaches, high mountain peaks, and lush tropical landscapes — coral reefs, palm trees, and sapphire blue waves make them instantly mesmerizing. The island’s cultural histories, shaped by the displacement of native Arawak peoples, centuries of colonial conflict between Spain, France, and Britain, and the enslavement of West Africans, continue to shape their musical output. Today, modern mixtapes (largely circulating on YouTube) pulse with intercontinental influences such as Angolan kuduro, Portugal’s batida, and trap, to name a few.
One of the traits of what is loosely dubbed as modern classical music is that the classical composition concept serves solely as the base, where other elements are brought in, coming from the musical ideas developed further elsewhere – it could be pop in all its shapes and forms or just a figment of the artists’ imaginations.
That is basically a manner in which Vanbur, a collaboration of Bristol-based composers Jessica Jones and Tim Morrish, seem to be building their music upon their (formal) debut album Of Becoming. Actually, the manner in which the duo were to develop their music could have already been visible/audible with their debut EP Human (2020), and its remix version (2022), including versions by Mogwai, Alexandra…
DERBY’s debut album Slugger presents an interesting paradox: How can an album this derivative also feel authentic, even original?
Single “Gold” seems like a slick attempt to recreate Dijon’s fast and free songwriting magic, his big-feeling bravado, his Americana-twanged R&B; “Jenny” draws clear inspiration from Alex G; his frequent use of pitch-shifted vocals and flanged guitars are siphoned from the Bible of Blonde. Yet DERBY — a Houston native who now lives in New York and whose real name is Craig Caldwell — has talent that continues to reveal itself even after you clock the comparisons and a perspective that cuts through the references. Slugger captures a world of quotidian intensity and rural nostalgia: shooting a deer through the eyes with…
At first glance, it seems like Horse Vision build their debut album, Another Life, from wholly familiar ingredients. Its drop-D tuning, rhotic vocals, and pastoral guitar passages would slot in nicely on the shelf between Alex G and Pinegrove. But then the Swedish duo of Johan Nilsson and Gabriel von Essen will throw in something unexpected: They interpolate a classic pop song, or get Swedish singer Tiffi M to sing an Auto-Tuned chorus straight out of a Porter Robinson track, or drop what might be the most heartwarming MIDI airhorn riff ever put to tape. Another Life isn’t strictly Americana, but it does feel informed by an American attitude, winking at the tropes of U.S. pop culture right now — gratuitous mashups, unblinking earnestness, shaky irony — in a way…
The progressive post punk ramble and rock of Infinite Games, by Consumables, the fierce NYC-based art punk quartet, is a big bass laden banger with funky sax embellishments, with snappy free form drumming, layers of guitars and a super dense vocal patter expanding the sonic narrative more as the song pushes forward, rolling and picking up intersecting musical layers as it goes.
Razor-cut licks, shout-along choruses and surprising bouts of vulnerability — this new project produced and co-written by Ben Hozie shares much with his other outfit, Bodega. The band, formed around the dual guitars of frontman Kyle crew and Dylan Joyce, bassist Miles Fox and Hector Guillen on drums sweetens mayhem with a touch of melody. A sax floats through, blearily,…
There’s a reason that To Live and Shave in L.A. (TLASILA)’s The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg opens up with samples of free jazz. Shave mastermind Tom Smith is explicitly trying to connect his work with the music he loves — the record’s liner notes contain a Nurse With Wound-like list of those influences. That list is multidisciplinary, covering his love of usual suspects like “Poe, Baudelaire, Joyce, Man Ray,” but also “Theremin and all Russian avant-gardists,” “Lee Marvin,” “all atomic test footage,” “global student revolt and the inevitable erotic aftermath,” “Fluxus (in doses),” not to mention digressions on Funkadelic, Hendrix, the “titanic Electric Eels,” and provocative music-nerd statements like “Stooges purists prefer Asheton, but…
The music is calm, the cover is calm, the effect is calm. After releasing four singles over the course of spring, Harbors (Hollie Kenniff & Goldmund) released When We Are Free in the heart of summer. But from what does one yearn to be freed? The answers may vary from person to person, from the physical to the emotional. Having unveiled the stellar For LA project earlier this year, the Kenniffs are keenly aware of the threats posed by prejudice, callous government and fire. Their music – whether solo or duo – has always promoted peace, but has seldom been so intentional. The liner notes suggest the music as the backdrop to everyday activities, while promoting the practice of mindfulness; and the moniker implies safe harbors. Nothing will hurt you here.
…include a new bonus track titled “Into Desert”
Whether they realise it or not, millions of people know the music of Soichi Terada. After all, the Tokyo producer’s childlike melodies have bleeped out of consoles across the world as the soundtrack to the Ape Escape games. Until then, Terada seemed to be playing a game of his own, one that could be called Deep House Simulator.
From the early ’90s onwards, Terada’s Far East Recordings has specialised in Eastern impressions of Western deep house. On Sounds from the Far East, Hunee compiles the best of Terada’s tracks for Rush Hour, alongside a few from his compatriot Shinichiro Yokota.
Parts of Sounds from the Far East are like the aural equivalent of Amerikamura, the Osaka…
Released via Clue Records, The Wedding Present return with the fifth volume in their critically-acclaimed series of Marc Riley Sessions. First launching in 2016, these sessions have been celebrated by longtime fans and new listeners alike for their immediacy, uniquely capturing The Wedding Present’s trademark urgency and spontaneity. While reaffirming the band’s status as one of indie rock’s most beloved and consistent acts, the Marc Riley Sessions serve as a fascinating chronicle of The Wedding Present’s continued evolution.
“This fifth volume in our series of live recordings made for Marc Riley’s BBC Radio programme is particularly interesting because – with sessions from 2019 and 2023 – it straddles not only…
Ten years ago, Citizen released Everybody Is Going to Heaven – a record that marked a bold turning point in their career. Following the breakout success of Youth, the band could have stayed the course. Instead, they doubled down on darker textures, heavier moods, and a fearless sense of experimentation.
Released in 2015, Everybody Is Going to Heaven expanded Citizen’s sound beyond their emo and post-hardcore roots, weaving in elements of grunge, and alternative rock. Tracks like “Cement” and “Stain” captured a raw, unsettled energy that explored mortality, depression, and identity with an honesty that still resonates today. It wasn’t a record built for easy listens – it was built to last. Now, a decade later, Everybody Is Going…
David Garland may not be a household name for many, but he’s a singer-songwriter, composer, instrument designer, illustrator, graphic designer, journalist, and former New York City radio personality. Over the years, he has recorded with a diverse range of artists, including John Zorn, Sufjan Stevens, Meredith Monk, and Sean Lennon. The latter described Garland as someone who “pushes the limits of acceptable harmony and dissonance, yet never at the expense of beauty”. It’s an impressive resume that barely scratches the surface, and his wild, eclectic work continues on a new album that sees the multifaceted artist grappling with loss, specifically his wife’s death from cancer six years ago.
The Spark was recorded primarily in Garland’s…
Composer/producer Paul Russell (Axes/Tough Glove) returns with Thank You, the fourth album to be released by his Human Pyramids project. Featuring members of Axes, Suicide Bid and Modern Studies, the album was recorded all over the world and mastered by Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens/Animal Collective).
…The twelve-strong ensemble, anchored by Russell, still pulls out all the stops. Almost every track is a party, with generous servings of brass and strings. Guitar, accordion, marimba, vibraphone and hammered dulcimer fill in the buffet. The music’s propulsive energy keeps the spirts high; the opening track (titled “Shut Down,” since the music stops and restarts in the second half) eases the listener in with…
Gravity is a pivotal album from Monolake’s nearly 30-year career. It’s the first to feature Robert Henke more or less on his own, following the departure of Gerhard Behles.
It also finds Henke transitioning into the sound and style that makes Monolake one of the most legendary techno artists of the 21st Century. Now, thanks to this essential vinyl reissue from Field Records, you finally have a chance to hear it in deep, rich, sparkling high fidelity.
Henke’s third LP as Monolake is an anomaly. A good chunk of the underground electronic music from this time focuses on the conceptual and cerebral, with genres like microhouse and glitch filling raves and art galleries alike. Even more belongs to the burgeoning minimal…