CIRCULASIONE TOTALE ORCHESTRA
Bandwidth
RCD2089
Rune Grammofon 2009
12 Tracks. 171mins31secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD

Led by Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, Circulacione Totale Orchestra is an ever-changing formation, which he started in the mid-eighties as a forum for musicians to experiment with improvised music. Over the years, CTO has counted as many as thirteen musicians in one performance, although it is more usual to find around ten members at any one time. In this particular incarnation, CTO features two slightly different casts of internationally renowned musicians such as drummer extraordinaire Paal Nilssen-Love, noise authority Lasse Marhaug, Morten Johan Olsen (drums and electronics), who is regularly found fuelling the rhythmic section of MoHa! and Ultralyd, American cornet player Bobby Bradford, an early collaborator with Ornette Coleman, or Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten, of The Thing and Scorch Trio, and a long-term collaborator with Nilssen-Love, on acoustic bass, to name but a few.

Something of a mastodon release, Bandwidth, CTO’s fifth album, their first for Rune Grammofon, spills over three CDs and almost three hours. Continue Reading »

Twelve months compiled into just twenty albums. From the thousands of records released each year, it is difficult to get even a handful on the site, and even more difficult to decide which ones were the best of the lot. This is however the twenty albums that have marked 2009 for themilkfactory.

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PETER BRODERICK & MACHINEFABRIEK
Blank Grey Canvas Sky
FB012
Fang Bomb 2009
06 Tracks. 42mins23secs

Amazon UK: DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

Grey Canvas Sky is the second time that Rotterdam-based sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt and Peter Broderick, who shares his time between Portland, OR, Coppenhagen and Berlin, have worked on a release, but while the first, Huis, was a record by Machinefabriek on which Broderick was lending a hand, this new collection was conceived as a combined project from the off. And, despite their respective sonic universes being somewhat different, Broderick occupying the classical and folk end of the musical landscape while Zuydervelt’s is usually found crafting cinematic drone, processed guitars and electronics, the resulting collaborative effort is a totally effortless and immersive piece of contemporary music. Continue Reading »

CALIKA
Crooked
AB024
Audiobulb Records 2009
05 Tracks. 22mins04secs
Format: Digital

CALIKA
Slack Jaw
HPLL043
Highpoint Lowlife 2009
05 Tracks 20mins32secs
Format: Digital

Crooked
Amazon UK: DLD Amazon US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Slack Jaw
Amazon UK: DLD Amazon US: DLD. Boomkat: DLD

Clearly willing to spread his music to the cream of British electronic imprints, Brighton-based Calika has, in recent weeks, returned to both Sheffield’s Audiobulb and London’s Highpoint Lowlife, offering each label five tracks of fine electronic music compiled on two EPs. Simon Kealoha, the brain behind Calika, has, in the past, released two albums on Audiobulb, worked with Benbecula and contributed one track to Highpoint Lowlife’s excellent Analog For Architecture compilation, published in 2006. Beside his solo activities, he has also worked with Seefeel’s Mark Clifford, with whom he has recorded two albums worth of material, the first, Running Tapper, released through Clifford’s Polyfusia imprint, the second yet to materialise. Continue Reading »

ETIENNE JAUMET
Night Music
VERCD021
Versatile Records 2009
05 Tracks. 45mins35secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Over-marketing is a dangerous thing, and it is definitely something Versatile Record have fallen foul of. Etienne Jaumet’s debut solo album, Night Music, was ‘directed and imagined’ (that’s produced and mix to you and me) by Carl Craig, and the fact is shamelessly plastered all over a giant sticker in much bigger letters than those spelling Jaumet’s name. The presence of such legendary producer on a record is indeed something to be noted, but when it becomes the main focal commercial point, expectations are raised and can only be disappointed. As it happens, once this pointless act of soliciting is overcome, Night Music is actually a pretty fine record which doesn’t need to be sold for something it isn’t.

Before stepping out on his own, Paris-based musician Etienne Jaumet was one half of Zombie Zombie, a formation offering a somewhat cheesy blend of Krautrock and horror movie soundtrack elements. Night Music fortunately forgets this unsavoury concoction almost entirely and focuses instead of ambitious settings and expansive soundscapes. Continue Reading »

NILS FRAHM
The Bells
ERATP21
Erased Tapes 2009
11 Tracks. 40mins12secs

NILS FRAHM
Wintermusik
ERATP18
Erased Tapes 2009
03 Tracks. 29mins58secs

The Bells
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Wintermusik
Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

London imprint Erased Tapes continues in its quest to unleash some of the most beautiful music around with its latest signing, German pianist and composer Nils Frahm, who delivers not one, but two releases in as many weeks. During his formative years, Frahm studied piano with Nahum Brodski before going on to work on his own music. Based in Berlin, where he has established his studio and shares his time between production and composition, Frahm has already featured on a number of releases and has worked with the likes of Peter Broderick or Machinefabriek’s Rutger Zuyderveltd. Continue Reading »

FIRE!
You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago
RCD2091
Rune Grammofon 2009
04 Tracks. 41mins51secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD Amazon US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP iTunes: DLD

Out of the seemingly inexhaustible treasure chest that is the Scandinavian experimental scene comes this latest Swedish supergroup, formed of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, member of many a formation, of which the best known is perhaps The Thing, bassist Johan Berthling, co-founder of Häpna and member of Tape, Animes and Sten Sandell Trio, and Andreas Werliin, the drumming half of Wildbirds & Peacedrums amongst other things. Having landed on Rune Grammofon with their first missive, this three-headed entity, who operate under a banner which, thanks to a prominent element of punctuation, unmistakably suggests an element of urgency, have such widespread backgrounds that the sum of their collaborative effort was bound to surpass much of their individual outputs. Continue Reading »