Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Vrioon

Sparse piano notes and gentle bleeps and electronic hum combine to create a meditative mood.

In Zaire - Visions Of The Age To Come

In Zaire are an Italian group based in Berlin. They play dub and funk influenced psychedelic rock. There's a clarity and precision to their sound that helps makes it almost hypnotic.

 

Learn more

• In Zaire bandcamp
• In Zaire Discogs

Above The Tree

Above The Tree is a solo project of Marco Bernacchia. He plays guitar augmented by odd noises and loops. There's a bluesy, lo-fi folk vibe to this.


More

• Above The Tree bandcamp

Justin Walter - Unseen Forces

Justin Walter creates beautiful, gentle waves of organic sound by modulating his breath through an analog synth.



Discover

• Justin Walter bandcamp

Group Home - Livin' Proof

Group Home were a short-lived hip-hop duo that were associated with Gang Starr. Both members of the act appeared on Gang Starr's Daily Operation LP, and Livin' Proof was produced by DJ Premier.

 

Grauzone - Eisbaer

Grauzone were a short-lived German new wave act. They released a handful of records with Eisbaer becoming a chart success in Germany and Austria. Eisbaer has a tight, danceable punk bass line punctured by sharp, dissonant electronic noises.

Desmadrados Soldado De Ventura

Desmadrados Soldado De Ventura are a British psychedelic rock band specialising in noisy extended freak-outs.


Find out more

• Desmadrados Soldado De Ventura bandcamp
• Desmadrados Soldado De Ventura on Discogs

Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek - Bird, Lake, Objects

We've already highlighted the work of the electronic musician Jan Jelinek. But he's recorded a lot of great releases so we feel no shame in bringing another to your attention.

On Bird, Lake, Objects he collaborates with vibraphone player Masayoshi Fujita. Like Jelinek, Fujita's music shares an interest in exploring gentle texture and layers.

The product of their partnership is this hypnotic, immersive album.

Roy Montgomery - Tarkovsky Tone Poem

Along with groups like The Dead C, Roy Montgomery was part of New Zealand's rock deconstructionist scene.

He's played in bands such as The Pin Group and Dadamah as well as releasing records under his own name. This track is taken from a split LP that he made with The Dead C.

Malediction - Mould Of An Industrial Horizon

Malediction were a British grindcore act from the early Nineties. They were pretty well known on the tape-trading scene at the time. They put out a bunch of releases. This was one of my favourites.

 

Choubi Choubi! Folk and pop sounds from Iraq

Another Sublime Frequencies compilation, this time collecting together pop music from Iraq.

Hisato Higuchi

This Japanese guitarist creates fragile, whispered, blues full of gentle ghostly notes and tones.

 

More

• Hisato Higuchi Bandcamp

Eduard Artemyev - Stalker

You may not like or understand Andrei Tarkovsky's impenetrable Stalker, but a huge part of its haunting atmosphere can be attributed to Eduard Artemyev's incredible score.

Kikagaku Moyo - House In The Tall Grass

Kikagaku Moyo are psychedelic explores who switch between extended acid-fried wig-outs and gossamer smooth folk sweetness.



Want more?

• Kikagaku Moyo on Discogs
• Kikagaku Moyo on Bandcamp

Black Mountain Transmitter - Black Goat Of The Woods

The soundtrack to a nightmare curated by David Lynch.

 

Sly & The Family Drone

Sly & The Family Drone are rhythm fetishists seemingly on a mission to numb your cerebral cortex. Their sound is characterised by percussion clatter, gnarled electronic squelches, and bleary vocal incomprehension. And their live shows are usually pretty special (by that I mean, totally chaotic).



Investigate here

• Sly & The Family Drone bandcamp

Chico Hamilton - Peregrinations

Chico Hamilton was a jazz drummer and bandleader who came to prominence in the 1950s. Initially he played West Coast jazz, but throughout the Sixties and Seventies his music continued to evolve and move with times. In the 1970s he came to embrace the fusion sound that had emerged at the beginning of the decade.

That's where we find Chico Hamilton on 1975s Peregrinations.

 

• Chico Hamilton's discography
• Chico Hamilton obituary

Phurpa

Phurpa are a Russian group who use overtone chanting to create a pre-Buddhist Tibetan ritualistic music.

Or to put it another way, it's a bunch of dudes in black robes growling.



Find out more

• Phurpa on Bandcamp
• Discogs

Jan Jelinek - Prime Time

Jan Jelinek has released music under a variety of different aliases (Farben and Gramm to name a couple).

Under his own name his predominantly released glitch techno. But on this EP from 2012 Jelinek goes for something different: a sound collage of different samples and audio snippets.

Herbie Mann - Stone Flute

Jazz flutist Herbie Mann had a lot of pop hits over his career. But on Stone Flute there's more of a progressive vibe like he's playing the quieter moments of Miles' Bitches Brew.

Don Cherry - Organic Music Society

Don Cherry was always one of the most adventurous musicians throughout his career. During the 1970s he started to explore African, Middle Eastern and Asian music. And one of the best examples of this genre fusion can be heard on Organic Music Society.

Aural Holograms

Finnish ambient droners specialising in highly atmospheric soundscapes.

Listening to them is like eavesdropping on an ancient ritual.




More

• Aural Holograms website
• Aural Holograms - Before the great stone

Abul Mogard

Abul Mogard only started making music after he retired from his job working in a factory.

The songs that he created on his homemade instruments were a way of recreating the sounds that he had become used to hearing throughout his working life.

Mogard's pieces are typically gentle, electronic, tonal washes with warm, slowly evolving melodies.



Discover more

• Abul Mogard bandcamp
• Interview with Abul Mogard

Verstarker

Forty-five minutes of instrumental space-rock motorik. Turn on, tune in, and enter the groove.