Week in Review #96
This week we’re leading with the latest cool burn from Chicago’s BARO Records, a truly slipstream vaporwave double-feature courtesy of two foundational projects; Hong Kong Express and t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, titled Gateway アセンション, and released just under our radars last Friday. It’s a more reserved outing than usual from both and an exciting bit to see in this particular catalog.
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#1 – 11.22.2015 – Canary Records — and a slew of other early adopters — are offering their Bandcamp digital discography at discounted rates to make use of the site’s expanded functionality. In the case of Canary, the discount sits for now at 40% and will save you almost $100 in nabbing one of the more extensive archival catalogs around right now in its entirety. Scoot over to the Canary Bandcamp to peruse the offer, and maybe check back on some of your other favorite labels to make sure they haven’t done something similar. -DP
#2 – 11.23.2015 – Tabs Out ran an old but still informative interview with Massachusetts-based experimental recorder Crank Sturgeon. By his own description, “Sturgeon makes noise and collaged headgear in lieu of a reality informed by four sides,” and both his outputs are indeed an antidote to whatever reality might encroach. -DP
#3 – 11.23.2015 – Pan Y Rosas Discos unveiled their latest free release, The Bridge EP, a collaboration between two French improvisers; Sheffield, UK-based Hervé Perez and André Darius. In a nutshell: “Three pieces. Electric bass, eub, objects, voices, saxophone, drums, field recordings, processing. Designed sound. Building bridges. Water. Portrait. Shore. Fog.” You might replace “water” with “nautical,” given the recordings definite sway, but pretty dang nifty seems like an equally suitable nutshell to me. Download The Bridge from Pan Y Rosas. -DP
#4 – 11.24.2015 – Omaha, Nebraska-based ambient composer Aaron Hansen, aka Erinome, followed a pair of self-released cassettes — Second Floor and Transfigured — with a spectacularly restful mixtape for Headphone Commute. If you hadn’t noticed yet, I have a predilection for sleepy weekend mixes. Stream that at Headphone Commute and check out the new tapes on Hansen’s Bandcamp if you haven’t already tipped over from the mix. -DP
#5 – 11.24.2015 – New York’s Stadiums & Shrines blog posted a new installment in their Dreams series courtesy of LA transcendentalist Diva Dompe, with half an hour of sounds in contemplation of Thailand — reportedly the longest entry in the series to date. Listen at Stadiums & Shrines. -DP
#6 – 11.25.2015 – Danish tape mavericks Metaphysical Circuits unveiled extremely limited editions of seven new tapes from proprietor Christian Kann’s Fugleøen project, the debut from another Danish project Kanelbjørn, Berlin’s cryptic scenery, Jakarta-based The Kiriks, the debut from Buenos Aires-based Nube Rosa, a second cassette from Beijing-based Michael Cupoli’s Noise Arcade project, and a new set from another Kann project Pacific Mausoleum. Peruse the lot at Metaphysical Circuits, though Gourd knows they may be gone by the time anyone’s reading this… -DP
#7 – 11.25.2015 – A second edition, pink, of Giant Claw’s recent Deep Thoughts cassette landed at Orange Milk. -DP
#8 – 11.25.2015 – Les Inrocks premiered a music video for a new track off Rennes-based Kaviar Special’s upcoming album. The video for “Highway” features a well-curated mixture of classic VHS glitchiness, shots of UFOs, and alien masks, punctuated with live footage of the psych-garage rockers. Check out the video below; the album is due April 2016 via Howlin Banana Records. -LP
#9 – 11.25.2015 – Aux reported that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will host French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installation with “zebra finches shredding on guitar.” Having opened the 25th, the Museum will maintain the piece through March — click through to their website for more information. -DP
#10 – 11.26.15 – Future Islands side project The Snails released a new version of their Christmas jam, “Snails Christmas (I Want A New Shell)” in anticipation of their upcoming debut album, Songs from the Shoebox. Slide over here to download the free single while we wait for more from our favorite mollusks. -LP
#11 – 11.27.2015 – Paris-based Hylé Tapes unveiled their second cassette this year with Osaka-based producer Takahiro Mukai, a multi-faceted beat-tape with a pleasantly acerbic edge titled The Ideal Ruins. Download or buy the cassette from Hylé. -DP
