I have been receiving and reviewing Muslimgauze CDs for over two decades and when I first received this package I thought this was a new posthumous Muslimgauze CD that had just been unearthed (yeah that still happens!), until I realized it only "looked" like a Muslimgauze CD and instead it was a CD by the NYC-based experimental saxophonist Andy Haas. Then I read the liner notes and it all made sense: the CD is actually dedicated to Muslimgauze, so I felt vindicated because the graphics, lettering and art work really were made to look like that! I am unaware of the reasons why Haas dedicated the CD (other than obvious respect and admiration) to the late Muslimgauze but it was a welcome tribute to a great musician and a great writer (Ginsberg is also an inspiration for this release). Unlike pretty much any Muslimgauze release you might have heard, this one has none of his distinctive percussion sounds and loops. However it does have some bubbling structures of repeating time, mostly thanks to the taal tarang, a digital tabla drum box with a selection of raga time signatures that Haas put through effects to create the rhythm tracks he then improvised on top. With the exception of the taal tarang, "Taballah" is pretty much a solo sax release, but you would be hard pressed to come to that conclusion if you didn't read that in the liner notes. It actually sounds more like a collaborative CD in which Haas duets with an electronic musician. Playing alone with oneself is nothing new in the genre, but doing it so that it sounds like you are listening to a duo who is interacting with each other is a harder balance to achieve. Haas has done just that and has brought his unique playing of the soprano and sopranino sax to best fruition with the aid of harmonizing, minimal rhythmic structures and various effects.

One of my favorite musical artists, Canadian multi reed and wind-strumentalist Colin Stetson, and his partner in crime and in life, Sarah Neufeld (great violinist and understated singer, also a member of Arcade Fire) finally joined forces and made a record together.

If you don't know Mr. Stetson, start by listening to his amazing trilogy of albums entitled "New History Warfare" (which came out between 2007 and 2013) and then, if you can, try to wrap your head around the fact that everything you are hearing is played live, without loops or overdubs!!! On every track you will hear what sounds like multiple voices and voicings, distant muffled echoes of whales and ogres (from the contact microphones on Mr. Stetson's throat and chest), multiple melody lines and usually a very defined melodic and rhythmic bass line made up of notes, clicks and clunks (from the saxophone's keys) that pedals throughout each piece. All of those, and more, are played live, on the spot, with extended micing and performance techniques of the instrument (usually tenor or bass saxophone) and a mind-boggling command of circular breathing, concentration and transcendence that is usually the stuff of legends, or very advanced yogi's!

On their first released musical effort as a couple, the two add even more to the table: Mr. Stetson plays the contrabass clarinet on some of the tunes (which is just an incredible sounding instrument, with a possibly even wider range than the bass saxophone, or at least extending further downward in the scale).
Mrs. Neufeld's laying is fluid and entrancing and perfectly complements the nature of what is going on. When she adds some nice long reverberated vocal notes into the mix, the whole thing gets even more eerie and chilling, relaxing and all encompassing, like a fog or a wave that takes over the space in which you are enjoying this music.

I recently went to see them play live at Bowery Ballroom in NYC (talented drummer Ryan Sawyer was opening for them) and it was just a reminder (not that I needed one) and a reinforcement of why I like Colin's playing so much. Seeing them play together, seeing the interaction and the obviously intense and intimate connection that they have, augments the listening experience even more and takes their performance to a level that traditional ensembles can rarely achieve.

Now that the two of them play together the result is exponentially more interesting, as in the result is greater than the sum of all parts!

tÄtÄma is a new duo formed by the unstoppable and untiring Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Mondo Cane, Tomahawk, John Zorn interpreter) and Australian pianist Anthony Pateras (Thymolphthalein, Pivixki, Pateras/Baxter/Brown, Beta Erko).
I have seen Pateras solo opening for Patton's Mondo Cane in Australia a few years ago I remember being impressed by the vigor with which he beat the shit out of the grand piano on stage. I knew they were friends, but that Patton would find the time to write a whole record with Pateras, all the while writing the new Faith No More record and doing a million other things was undoubtedly a surprise!
"Geocidal" is a concept record about the killing of a place, maybe because it was a created in so many different places, since the two artists live half way across the world from each other and most everything was recorded in a different country (mostly France, Australia and the US). It is an incredibly interesting, original and exciting concentrate of raw power, evil chants, shamanistic percussion, mysterious atmospheres and violent eruptions of screams, distortion and instrumental abuse.
The album features a cast of 12 special guest (including drummer WiIl Guthrie) and is just another testament to the originality, versatility and pipes of the amazing Patton and the quality of the collaborators and co-writers he surrounds himself with.
Absolutely not to be missed!

I have very mixed feelings about these two releases. Here is why:
Francisco López's "Epoché Collection" is an ongoing series of untouched environmental field recordings from tropical forests all around the world.
Volume 1 ("Hyper-Rainforest") contains a continuous one hour long mix of recordings made between 1990 and 2010 in tropical, sub-tropical and cold rain forests in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Gambia, Japan, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, USA and Venezuela. These recordings also were the sonic part of a 2011 installation of 82 speakers at the EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) in Troy, New York, where these sounds have been played back to an audience in the dark at the facility's large concert hall.
Volume 2 ("Yanayacu") contains unadulterated environmental sound matter from the Peruvian Amazon and is divided into 5 pieces totaling 51 minutes.
Both CDs are limited to 300 copies and their sonic imagery are as absolutely beautiful, soothing and relaxing as they come. I've listened to these CDs multiple times, at home and in planes, letting myself be transported to these remote locations and imagining the humid and lush vegetation surrounding me in this auditory voyage.
The reason I initially said that I had mixed feelings, which is also why I have given this 3.5 stars and not more, is that presenting non-transformed field recordings does not really require any particular artistry or skill, other than the skill of recording them properly and managing one's travel expenses to reach all these far away places. Of course I do appreciate the fact that Lopez has traveled far and wide to collect these sources and document them. Without him, there might be no such pristine recordings in the first place! But can one sound artist and composer really claim these as his own creations? Isn't it just the creation of nature that Lopez simply recorded? Isn't he just the recording engineer? The fact itself that he points out himself that these recordings are non-transformed, further validates my doubts about the artistic validity of such exploits. They certainly have historic and geographic validity, but their artistry is questionable in my opinion.
All that said I absolutely love the recordings and Lopez did a fantastic job capturing them and mixing them together on these CDs and I, for one, will continue listening to them over and over. Whether to waste mental energy over validity and purpose, I will leave up to the hopefully many other listener who will get to enjoy the sounds of these forests.

I've lost count on how many records italian artist Daniele Brusaschetto has released since he started making music in the 90es. He's one of the few who keeps at it to this day, plays live shows and continues to releases physical products, such as his latest 8 track CD "Rapida e Indolore" (italian for "quick and painless"). The CD comes with a real insect glued onto the front cover and, thankfully for the insects, he made them in a hand-numbered limited edition of 99 (although he has not confirmed this, I'm pretty sure he picked dead insects and didn't just kill them for the cover... or maybe the title of the album describes their death... who knows...).
Daniele's style keeps on evolving and becoming more structured, in some ways, and orchestrated, in other ways. Most of the songs have lyrics (in italian) which are printed inside the CD and, as you might imagine, are pretty hermetic and metaphor-heavy.
"Rapida e Indolore" possibly has louder noise blasts than most of his previous CDs, maybe marking a return to his more industrial origins and past. This album definitely has a lot less guitar than his previous ones so the texture is more rarified and minimal. Some of the tracks of this CD take a more soundscape-y approach, and samples of strings or even bells are to be found here and there, but in general you should expect heavily distorted beats juxtaposed to softly-spoken and quietly sung vocal melodies.