The long-awaited but nonetheless unexpected sequel to one of the most widely beloved documents of improvised music is finally here in the form of Supers​é​dure 2, the first material  from field recordist Éric La Casa and percussionist Seijiro Murayama since the original Supersedure in 2009 (I’m not sure of the significance of the presence/lack of the accented E, if any). The two seasoned sound artists’ collaborative formula remains largely the same for this formidable follow-up, though the sonic milieus captured, transformed, and occupied seem to lean more toward interiors than exter ..read more

Even if you haven’t yet heard the first release by B33N, it should come as no surprise that Seamus Williams once collaborated with New England neighbors Staubitz and Waterhouse. I bring this up because the same flavor of masticated mundanity that so enthralled me when I first heard “Pickup for Mark” on the Pawtucket duo’s first double-A 7” emerges right off the bat in this debut collaborative release from Williams (of TVE and Ayurvedic fame) and fellow anti-music apostle Liam Kramer-White (check out excellent solo documents Every Moment Worldwide and this year’s For Every Moment Upon Which It ..read more

Only one of several multi-artist entries in the latest Buried in slag and debris. batch (which also includes a collaboration between label alum dang. and Howard Stelzer and a sprawling 2xCS faceoff between household names Knurl and ARTBREAKHOTEL), this inspired pairing of two newer voices in minimal analog noise takes a less contrastive curatorial approach than the Slow Blink / Stomachache matchup reviewed last week, instead featuring artists with similar but nonetheless distinct sounds. Toronto-based project Murmur (Ross Henteleff) has been around since at least 2021, self-releasing scuz ..read more

Visionary hermits hailing from Chattanooga and Minneapolis, respectively, pair up for this dusty split C42 on the latter’s new imprint Hectare. (Side note: shout out to Stomachache for always keeping me stocked with copies of his new releases; 2021’s Good Machine cassette and this year’s Capacity Limit / Compressor lathe 7″ are also great and well worth checking out.) I had never heard of Amanda Haswell’s Slow Blink project before now, but consider my ears opened because her contribution, the side-spanning “Axis Tilt,” is a tremendous feat. Longing loops spool up haunting laments tha ..read more

Even before “hyperreality” is explicitly invoked in “Heart-Shaped Reality,” Baudrillard was already brought to mind by the overloaded maxi-collages of The End. Here is a grotesque, ouroboric cultural semiotics, a festering mass of neon signs abstracted to such a degree that they both consume and signify only themselves; Burroughs’ cut-up polemic also lurks behind the scenes, but there are no accidental premonitions or moments of serendipitous sublimity to be found, only the death spiral of the modern era that we are already subjected to each and every day. Though venerable multimedia project I ..read more

“I’m on a budget right now, but using the skills I have to continue to make music.” So goes Ellie Kokoro’s humble introduction to their newest release on nebulous in-house netlabel Wouldn’t Know (this quote is followed by a much lengthier discussion of audio quality standards and mastering techniques—long story short, the artist’s production paradigm leans minimal and laissez-faire, and stands in opposition to the still-snowballing loudness wars). The music comprising Curious Cryptids itself possesses plenty of humility as well, taking the form of six ragtime-influenced piano improvisations re ..read more

Going into Bituminous Concrete Curb Detail I did not expect the level of fidelity and sound design that immediately and loudly makes itself known in distortion-wracked opener “Not to Scale” and remains, in various forms, throughout the remaining six tracks. I’ll admit I had expectations based on what I have previously heard on Ayurvedic, a small batch label initially launched by Seamus Williams to release his first recordings as TVE, which all seemed to worship the bottommost dregs of analog tape noise. And that was before I knew that the material for  fellow Worcester, MA resident M ..read more

The circle of souls gathered around a fire becomes its own insular universe for the night, a space of shadows and secrets where even the tallest of tales ring truer than death knells. Step shivering into the worlds of these storytellers, where their true identities as oracles or deceivers are not just obscured, but obsolete. Playful scares, arcane séances, surreal premonitions, dreadful dreams. Ghosts and ghouls and grief. Fiction and memory are strange but inseparable tentfellows. 00:00. Unknown Artist – A side [beginning] of Campfire Tales (Tribe Tapes, 2020) 00:38. Ahul ..read more

Selving, the latest and perhaps greatest solo project from Dan Williams (a.k.a. Swarm Survival; member of Pyramid Dust, Culled, Ghoul’s Teeth, Rust Belt), first torched tape with 2021’s appropriately titled Willed Into Existence on the artist’s own imprint Structures Without Purpose. Though there was already plenty of cut-up DNA woven into the two mono-heavy blasts of that C20, those strands have grown like hungry vines through the thick analog churn of Guerrilla Bamboozlement Campaign and now thrive in the loamy ruins of Miniscula, cinch-amputating slabs of surging pedal-noise into jagged chu ..read more

Last time I reviewed an Everyday Samething release (Hydra’s Your Name), I discussed how the enigmatic imprint’s unique approach to tangible editions responds to “a point in time when physical music is much more ritual than utility to most.” That dialogue is only more relevant in the case of the newest entry in their catalog: Birdbath I, a brief bit of thoroughly DIY sound art by an unknown artist pressed as an “extremely limited” run of four business cards with the album artwork on the front and a QR code linking to a youtube upload of the music on the back, priced at a cool hundred quid each ..read more