We start by contemplating stillness with 'March 10th, 1876', a track by New York-based producer Photay, taken from his latest album On Hold. The creative process behind the works is fascinating: as the album title indicates, the pieces are completely derived from recordings of phone “on hold” or “call waiting” music.
Next is Machinefabriek (September 2021 mixtape), the moniker of Dutch composer Rutger Zuydervelt, a musician who leverages tension in tone, texture and timing to create sonic environments for the listener to dwell in. The album’s eight pieces exhibit his use of cassette recorders, tone generators, radios and synths to construct bewildering aural architecture around human voices.
We continue with another one from Machinefabriek, taken from Field Works: Ultrasonic, a superb compilation of sounds created by various artists as part of a broader storytelling project about the federally endangered Indiana bat. This album is perhaps the first-ever to use the echolocations of bats as compositional source material. A sonic wonder that brings the listener into truly uncharted acoustic territories.
Volker Bertelmann and Hildur Guðnadóttir's unique styles have graced the speakers of pretty much anyone enamored with experimental music. Pan Tone is a recording of a single concert that the duo performed in 2010, during which they decided to create a set of compositions based on the idea of the ocean. They took a book of Pantones to extract references to the specific colors of the sea, and these watery tones formed the backbone of the performance. This is one of those albums that you have to dedicate yourself to entirely. The result is haunting music that takes time to penetrate, but when it does, it shakes you to the core and leaves you with an unsettling calm.
Pauline Anna Storm is a spiritual force of her own. In the 70s, armed with her synthesizers, the blind-since-birth composer made an appearance on San Fransisco’s new age and ambient scenes and went on to compose an epic catalog of full-length releases as Trans-Millenia Consort. In the late 80, financial constraints led her to retreat from music and devote herself to spiritual healing practices. In February 2021, Angel Tears in Sunlight, her first album in 33 years, was released. She passed away a couple of weeks before the release but will be forever remembered as a mystery woman whose mind-expanding music blessed the ears of a cult following. To dive further into her world, check out the NTS mix RVNG Intll Presents A Tribute To Pauline Anna Strom.
CAMA is the first album by Lebanese musician Teddy Tawil. His 2020 trip to Belgium turned into a 6-month quarantine away from home. During this time, he recorded music reflecting the extremely challenging political, economical and social climate in Lebanon, and its impact on the Lebanese society.
One can write pages and pages about Muslimgauze, the musical project of Bryn Jones. The British post-industrial and experimental musician was influenced by wars and history in the Muslim world, often with an emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian "conflict", or to use the correct terminology, apartheid, colonialism, ethnic cleansing. Sparked by Israel’s war with Lebanon in 1982, his interest in the politics of the Middle East became an obsession and throughout his prolific but short-lived career (he died prematurely at the age of 37), he produced a discography of over 2000 tracks, and around 100 albums spanning various genres, from minimal techno to ambient, breakbeats, dub, industrial and ethnic electronica (a startling work rate by anyone’s standards). Mullah Said has been regarded as one of the greatest Muslimgauze releases, alongside Return of Black September.
Cranking it up a notch, River Yarra’s remix of 'Weltraumsandalen' is an absolute gem. If you’re into percussions and electronics, Instrumentalmusik von der Mitte der World (the album the original song was taken from) deserves a full listen.
I got introduced to Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh at an exhibition at Berghain last year. A song he created specifically for the main floor peeked my interest and led me to Beyond The Yellow Haze, his debut album released earlier this year. Combining subtle layers of ambient electronics, dance music and field recordings from Lagos, Ogboh’s tracks depict the Nigerian city’s soundscapes as well as the musician’s increasing immersion in electronic music since moving to Berlin six years ago.
We start our descent with the lead track from Alessandro Cortini’s upcoming album SCURO CHIARO. The Nine Inch Nails keyboard, bass and guitar player is set to release his second album later this year. Its title is taken from the term for heavily contrasting light and shadow in painting and other visual arts. In Cortini’s own words, "it shows that no matter how you order things, there's always going to be two elements that tend to be the opposite of each other that make up the truth — or make up everything." This song transports me to places I just can’t reach on my own. I feel utterly invigorated by its build-up; it’s like the birth of life, pure bliss. If you dig this, check out his 2019 album VOLUME MASSIMO.
Hijaz (the arabic word for pilgrimage) is the result of a collaboration between composer Michael Harrison and the Young People’s Chorus. They deliver vowels, South Indian rhythmic, tabla syllables, and a universal prayer as the text. This 12-minute piece was composed with the intention to “invoke a sense of pilgrimage, either to a wondrous, natural or holy place, or metaphorically to a sacred place within us.”
I’m not into TV series, and the few ones I’ve watched can probably be counted on one hand, but I can definitely vouch for the polish drama show DEKALOG. It is a masterpiece, not just for its captivating storytelling and breathtaking cinematography, but also for the wonderful soundtrack by Zbigniew Preisner.
