It’s been a while since our monthly roundup of new releases – sorry for the hiatus, but we’re at it again! What called us back into action is the outpouring of amazing ambient, experimental and electronic records in recent months. You probably know from past posts how much we love this kind of music, so here’s a roundup of some of the recent ones that stand out to us.
Pick hit!
Lucrecia Dalt – ¡Ay!
(released October 14, 2022)
Composed and arranged by Lucrecia Dalt in Berlin in 2021
Percussion by Alex Lázaro
Trumpet by Lina Allemano
Clarinet and flute by Edith Steyer
Double bass by Nick Dunston
Double bass on “El Galatzó” by Isabel Rößler
Backing vocals by Camille Mandoki and Alex Lázaro
Even among unique albums that mix genres, the sound of Lucrecia Dalt really stands out – one of the most interesting albums of the year. Here, Dalt creates an evocative contrast between old and new. On “Dicen” for example, a loping futuristic synthesizer groove introduces a traditional Cuban danzón-sounding trumpet. These kinds of contrasts between old and modern textures and sounds are crucial to this album and abound. I really can’t top what Dalt’s Bandcamp page says:
“Dalt channels sensory echoes of growing up in Colombia on her new album ¡Ay!, where the sound and syncopation of tropical music encounter adventurous impulse, lush instrumentation, and metaphysical sci-fi meditations in an exclamation of liminal delight. In sound and spirit, ¡Ay! is a heliacal exploration of native place and environmental tuning, where Dalt reverses the spell of temporal containment. Through the spiraling tendencies of time and topography, Lucrecia has arrived where she began.”
It’s a fascinating and unique listen – highly recommended.
Pick hit!
Loraine James – Building Something Beautiful For Me
(released October 7, 2022)
A great ambient record is an act of alchemy, or maybe a kind of magic. There has to be something evocative about the sounds, the textures, and the ideas for it all to work. The results can either be dull, or transfixing. Loraine James has that kind of magic. Just as remarkable is how she channels Julius Eastman; Building Something Beautiful For Me venerates Eastman’s spirit, but sounds quite different from Eastman too – it’s very much a Loraine James record more than anything. Eastman’s melodies and arrangements are all beautifully rendered, but recontextualized into a soundscape of James’ synthesizers and arresting vocals. I keep coming back to this terrific record and hope you will too.
Pick hit!
Fuubutsushi – Birthingbodies EP
(released September 15, 2022)
Chris Jusell – Violin
Chaz Prymek – Guitar, Bass Guitar, Lapsteel Guitar
Matthew Sage – Piano, Synthesizers, Autoharp
Patrick Shiroishi – Saxophones, Wind Synth, Glockenspiel, Voice
The return of the ambient supergroup responsible for the four seasonal albums that help many of us navigate stress during the pandemic. In this concise but gorgeous 3 song EP, the group chemistry keeps on building from their prior releases. Here, the music is especially spare and shows a mastery of the difficult art of saying more with less. The music is organized around a political cause, to raise funds for WWW.MOFUND.ORG, a reproductive healthcare resource in Missouri, where Prymek resides. If you love this music, check out those four prior Fuubutsushi releases collected in Shiki.
Mabe Fratti – Se Ve Desde Aquí
(released October 14, 2022, Unheard of Hope)
Mabe Fratti: cello, vocals, synths, and saxophone (in track 7)
Synths and/or guitars and/or bass contributions in every track by I. La Católica
Héctor Tosta: Multiple instrucments
Carla Boregas: Synth and tapes (track 9)
Alina Maldonado: Violin in tracks 5 and 7
Gibrán Andrade: Drums in tracks 1, 2 and 3
Jarrett Gilgore: Saxophones in tracks 2, 4, and 8
This Guatemalan cellist, who is based in Mexico City, is entirely new to me. Her prior albums Pies sobre la tierra (2019) and Será que ahora podremos entendernos (2021) along with noted collaborations such as with Gudrun Gut on last year’s Let’s Talk About The Weather, all seem to be highly regarded, so I’m going to have to catch up! Se Ve Desde Aquí employs Fratti’s intimate vocals and cello, with a shifting background of synthesizers, guitar, and percussion. At times the album goes from ambient and noise into folkloric and pop song structures and then transitions back into sound texture. It’s always arresting music – a very strong release.
Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat – Chasing the Phantom
(released July 22, 2022, Black Truffle)
Gamelan Salukat, a large ensemble of Gamelan percussion designed by Dewa Alit
Not all ambient music has to be electronic, as the rich Gamelan musical culture shows. This is the second release from contemporary Balinese composer Dewa Alit and his Gamelan Salukat. (Check out the 2020 album Genetic here). Gamelan Salukat is a 25-member ensemble that performs on instruments specially built to Alit’s designs, using a unique 11-note scale. Composer Alit explains in the liner notes for that 2020 release that “the music of Gamelan Salukat is grounded in the tradition of Balinese Gamelan; however, he approaches this tradition not as something static, but as a set of concepts and principles that can be used to create something radically new.” While the music created here is all acoustic, the Gamelan ensemble sounds a lot like the sound and texture of electronics. The approach earns this fascinating album a spot in the Ambient/Electronic roundup!
Nate Wooley – Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes
(released July 29, 2022, Pyroclastic Records)
Mary Halvorson – Guitar
Susan Alcorn – Pedal Steel Guitar
Ryan Sawyer – Drums
Mat Maneri – Viola, (Track 2)
Trevor Dunn – Electric Bass, (Track 4)
Nate Wooley – Trumpet and Amplifier, Compositions
Last year’s Mutual Aid Music emphasized group communication, and while that is sometimes fascinating, I don’t think it engaged Wooley’s genius for creating a sonic monolith out of disparate voices. He does that on Seven Storey Mountain IV and does that here too. Field recordings of crashing waves bleed into Wooley’s fuzz-box trumpet distortions, and then into Halvorson’s vertigo-inducing guitar twang. Then in the second half, Wooley takes the amp off his trumpet and we are reminded he can play it the old-fashioned way too. Another winner from one of the most interesting musicians around.
Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn – Pigments
(released October 21, 2022)
Music composed, arranged, and produced by Spencer Zahn
Vocals composed and written by Dawn Richard
Stuart Bogie: clarinet, bass clarinet
Mike Haldeman: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, sampled electronic instruments
Malcolm Parson: cello, violin, viola
Dawn Richard: vocals
Dave Scalia: drums
Kirk Schoenherr: electric guitar
Jas Walton: tenor saxophone, flute
Doug Wieselman: clarinet, bass clarinet
Spencer Zahn: upright bass, fretless bass, piano, vibraphone, synthesizer
This short album has gotten a lot of press from NPR and elsewhere. I love the very democratic blend of electronic, classical, and pop threads into one whole, and the end result has one foot planted in each world (not sure whether that makes three feet . . . ). A strong release and I’m looking forward to more from these artists.