mascule fuerte

toughy macho

jocky volcan

X.Y.R. - Labyrinth (Not Not Fun Records)

d r i f t z o n e z o n e d r i f t z o n e c o s m i c z o n e d r i f t z o n e z o n e d r i f t l i f t

Tyshawn Sorey - Verisimilitude (Pi Recordings)

hmm...

I'm interested to see what comes out of the DSA convention.

Sote - Sacred Horror in Design (Opal Tapes)

Santour, setar, electronic revelations. This is so good.
I actually saw Sote live a long time ago, the first time I heard of him...
at this: https://www.kuci.org/show_feature.cgi?id=181
TBH a little overshadowed by some of the Warp all-stars that night... in any case this album is awesome. Would love to see the live version.

Ben Frost - Threshold of Faith (Mute))

Noisy landscapes with plenty of bell/metal/clay-type sounds.

Elusive - Moments (DOMEOFDOOM)

Elusive has been on a roll with strong releases, and this one stands out. Will stay in rotation awhile, particularly in the car. Harmonic elements near the Flying Lotus / Brainfeeder sphere... I can still do with less key jangling / coin jingling, but it's a great set of beats/music.

this thing

I don't really know why it's online already, but it is. It's interesting and not what I expected. Will say more about it later.
I feel everything at the same time.

this is B-S
this is B-S
this is B-S
skies are so blue
but that's not blue
bright is so bright
banana black
really speckled
Those TV people are the worst.

solange
bjork
tribe
perfume genius
purp

great release with range of sounds from dynamic compositions, noisy power, and more IDM braindancy passages all working together
- - -

I'm going to write something falsely emotional and vaguely poetic (aka grandiose) to reinforce an online sense of community and belonging so that I can package you for advertisers. You'll be just the right demographic, historically marginal and young enough to feel the emotion, really-not-marginal enough to be ripe for new advertising.

good job

rarely does something make it through the gauntlet of appreciation, doubt and criticism so quickly, but I'm enjoying these two

Untold - HEK029 (Hemlock)

two tracks of that haunted futuresound

Serenus Zeitblom Oktett - Erster Teil - Zweiter Teil - Dritter Teil (Hyperdelia)

three pieces of thoughtful, processor-engaged ensemble performance
not sure what else to say

that ra courtesy mix is great
seeking stingray kern

I'm not sure if Eater or its followers (including me) should be ashamed of how many of its headlines use the word "underground" or "secret." Somebody should be ashamed.

I was finally able to settle on a few favorites.

Ambrose Akinmusire - A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)

great music through a variety of moods, tempos, expression

Roscoe Mitchell - Bells for the South Side (ECM)

Another 2-hour recording, again covering a wide range of tones on a much freer spectrum. From zoning drones to zoning freakouts to zoning interplay. Zoning.

Cornelius - Mellow Waves (Warner Music Japan)

Let me put on some sunglasses and fill my ears with stereo tremolo (or panning on an LFO, whatever).

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - On the Echoing Green (Mexican Summer)

Take master droney noise and make it pop-shoegazey, not the other way around. He should perform on episode 19.

Mike Dehnert - Providing Home (Fachwerk Records)

Even with vocals, Mike Dehnert gets to that place. Some are down low. Some pump. It all works. Fachwerk.

Fred Frith & Hans Koch - You Are Here (Intakt Records)

improvised alchemy

There are 20 albums I'm listening to right now. Sometimes this habit and the processes I've set up around it are too demanding.

It was amazing. I'm going to post a couple of photos this week.
Really want to go next year.

this is great

Loke Rahbek - City of Women (Editions Mego)

It's hard to say what makes this better than the next noisy droney thing that's interesting to listen to it, but it's something.

Christopher Willits - Horizon (Ghostly International)

raft.
I'm just now learning that this album is part of this whole multichannel thing...

Kara-Lis Coverdale - Grafts (Boomkat Editions)

[Goem's "Stud Stim" plays from the living room.]
"I don't think this is very good night time music."
"OK, I have something perfect."

Natalia Lafourcade - Musas (Columbia)

what a joy this is
the following starts the great video album:

Jessica Moss - Pools of Light (Constellation Records)

Fantastic electroacoustic violin work in 2 main parts. You can hear the processes churning. At time sounds like a daf could show up.

Felicia Atkinson - Hand in Hand (Shelter Press)

badass weirdo neck-tickling soundbath. don't miss

Son Lux - Remedy (Meru)

Maximalist but razor-sharp production on interesting songs and sounds. Favorite is Stolen.

Perc - Bitter Music (Perc Trax)

The noisy, ambient, "experimental" tracks are great, and the pumping tracks are immense.
Here are two of those... don't cheat yourself:

Today’s left tends to avoid giving such definite philosophical answers, satisfied with “problematizing” and never coming to a conclusion. Generally, thinkers do this under the guise of false humility. They substitute theoretical pluralism for theoretical commitment, presenting the latter as sheer hubris.

I agree.
And I do this.

so many options for time and effort

Justin Walter - Unseen Forces (Kranky)

Wind controllers are awesome, like this music.

Roger Robinson - Dog Heart City (Jahtari)

Oh, that Jahtari sound, dubby delays and video game bleeps. Here it's met with a strong concept, observing and analyzing a dystopian world that's really not so different from our own.

Valgeir Sigurðsson - Dissonance (Bedroom Community)

Big droney string music. Think of 50 strings bowing at different speeds on the same lowish pitch. Then give it narrative drama. Then make it much better than I've just described. I'm not very good at this, so here's YouTube:

Second Woman - S/W (Spectrum Spools)

Eustis and Dietrich roll pads out in percussive glitches. Reminds me of some Mark Fell releases as well, which means this probably pummels live. A dense score of one of these tracks could make a great visual.

That Colin Stetson album was really good, but I could do without the moaning.

why does this thing generate so much amusement and pleasure?

I often read things (intangibles: values, ethics, beliefs, systems) described as "bourgeois" that could just as easily be described as "enlightenment." I suppose the easy explanation here is the historical context of one coming after another, but I also wonder if the B is too commonly used for E-based dispositions that aren't necessarily politically aligned the way B's pejorative implications might suggest.

I'm less and less able to settle on a direction.
My political affinities often get swept into declarations or political maneuvers that I can't honestly agree with, but then nothing's perfect.
I've read so many arguments and directions. Where do they meet?
Should the government manage, or should it all be decentralized?
And isn't focusing on the former really undermining the latter? meaning picking sides is really picking sides
Why waste my time trying to change things that I probably won't and that I'm not even completely sure I agree with?
Or is this spoken from a position of privilege and security? And is there anything wrong with that?
There are so many things I could be doing... and by doing I mostly mean thinking about.

"You've done it again."
Yes, it's another one.
It doesn't carry the in-the-moment political intensity of the previous, but it makes up for that with the personal.
where to go from here

There has just been so much stuff to go through, so it's taken awhile to circle around and decide on nominations, but here are some recent favorites:

arkiv 4 (Raster-Noton)

“What are some of your favorite labels? What does their music sound like?” This is how one of my favorite labels sounds in 2016. I’m usually not crazy about compilations, but this one has been a pleasure. Raster-Noton delivers as usual with murky atmospheres, razor rhythms, machine funk, and floating ambiance, and the best packaging ever (really this CD is just an include on the new “source book 1.”) Looks like it has a weird little promo I can include.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async (Milan)

New Ryuichi Sakamoto albums are always welcome. There’s probably some surrounding material I am yet to read, but the album stands firmly on its own. Sakamoto has a diverse toolbox. A simple melody on a piano transforms into a cathedral-organ overture. Electronic tones sit alongside traditional instruments. Dream-pop arpeggios follow crunching footsteps. Is that an owl, a howl, or just an electronic drone? The warm and cool circulate. This album could easily be called Neo Geo or Esperanto, but he's already used those titles.

High Plains - Cinderland (Kranky)

There are a lot of droney electroacoustic could-be-soundtracks. Not all carry this much saturate-your-ear softbass. Not all combine sweet vignettes into an arching whole. Not all have this cello.

deepchord presents echospace - live in detroit [ghost in the sound] (echospace [detroit])

How different is one echochord release from the last? And shouldn’t we just call this subgenre Basic Channel? Different enough, and sure why not. There’s some music that gets me daydreaming about my ideal lineup for a summer desert weekend. It gets me thinking about the few vendors, the budget, the sound, and how I’m going to open the conversation with my friends to get things in motion. Echochord has the 9pm-11pm slot.

Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet - December Avenue (ECM)

Stanko manages to be deeply emotive without threatening cringes. He's not mixed lightyears above the ensemble. The melodies are beautiful. The breakdowns are intriguing. The interplay sum is greater than its constituents. It's good.

not sure why I give myself more and more work