For its seventh installment in the Japan-only ECM Special series, Trio Records finally dedicated a compilation to “New Music in Piano.” The expected constellation is present. Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley occupy familiar zones of gravity, while Steve Kuhn moves nearby with his own restless voltage. Yet the album’s first door opens in a particularly inspired direction: Stanley Cowell’s Illusion Suite, represented by the luminous “Ibn Mukhtarr Mustapha.” Cowell moves between acoustic and electric…
Read the full post at - Soul Boom by Rainn Wilson I stumbled across Rainn Wilson’s podcast Soul Boom the way I stumble across most things I didn’t know I was interested in — serendipitously. One episode led to another, and after just a few episodes I had a decent sense of what he’s been up to since The Office wrapped. The short version: he’s been on a genuine, years-long mission to make big philosophical and spiritual questions feel normal to talk about. Soul Boom is the book version of that…
Music From Memory’s next missive is a set of mellow, muted electro-acoustic mediations. Groovy group improvisations featuring Ko Ishikawa, Luis Perez Ixoneztil, Laraaji, Carlos Nino, Miles Spilsbury, Mia Doi Todd and headed up by Maui-based Jesse Peterson. The opening number is “Iseo” is a lullaby. A soothing session of loose chimes and rattles, with a warm, welcoming vibe, whose wordless harmonies, in tone, recall Robbie Basho. “Teamotanto” simulates nature stirring. Synthetic drones swirling…
We are officially into the release month for The Durutti Column’s new record Renascent, which drops on the 31st of July, and today brings a second taste of the new record. I’m not reading too much into the song titles of the previews – “Liars” and now “Scammer” – but maybe Vini Reilly has some […] The post The Durutti Column – “Scammer” appeared first on Space Echo.
By Michael Grasso / July 1, 2026 “Even apart from my intellectual convictions, there was this whole matter of California. As a transplanted Easterner, I felt duty-bound not to take anything in California very seriously. I certainly felt no need to understand California; I simply allowed myself to record the usual impressions: millions of Americans breaking away from reality, looking for a dream; everything in excess… When natives told me this was where it was “happening,” when they said…
W.M.D.: Against all WarningsOut 5th June, self-released Tempers the legacy of Vektor into a tighter, more focused entity of progressive thrash. An earthy punk immediacy and even some hints at party metal a-la Municipal Waste are offset by bracing technical flourishes, arriving at something like Watchtower kept in check by a foot stomping simplicity. Although choppy and dense, the bulk of these pieces are direct, focused, and accessible. Complexity arises from the sheer number of parts thrust…
Galaxie 500 - Cabaret Metro, Chicago, Illinois, March 29, 1989 / The Lounge Ax, Chicago, Illinois, October 12, 1990It’s not quite the Fourth of July, but hey, let’s listen to “Fourth of July” by Galaxie 500. If there was ever an Independence Day to stay at home and pull the curtains so you don’t have to see the sky, well, this is it! 🇺🇸That classic G-500 tune kicks off a truly majestic Lounge Ax set from 1990 — yet another treasure from the extraordinary Aadam Jacobs tape stash. Dean, Damon and…
So today is Canada Day, July 1st, a celebration of all things Canadian and, every year since I moved here it usually rains on this day. Well, today may be an exception to the rule as the sun is doing it’s best to fight it’s way through all the heavy thick cloud, and shine. If it does, I just might take the bus into the old part of town and take photos. I have maybe a 2-3 hour window of opportunity before a big storm moves in later this afternoon, because of the humidity out there. It was 70%…
"Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What's a song you only listen to when you're completely alone? - Bring the Noise by Public Enemy No one in my house has any appreciation for the social conscious of 80's HipHop but me. Old white dudes with whiter hair ( the shoe that fits me) MIGHT look a little pretentious chanting "Farrakhan's a prophet, I think you outa listen to." so I avoid all of that by making this song and the album…
I'm really digging their new album, and this performance on KEXP was great too: There's a couple live shows of theirs on my youtube concerts list that are fun. Recommended if you like heavy, fuzzed out guitars.
Keith LeBlanc was the only white boy in the Sugar Hill Gang Village, hence the name. So to win the respect of the majority Black members of America's premier Hip-Hop collective Keith had to show off his technologically enhanced and Electro-influenced Drum style.Just as Robin Hood and Little John fought each other in a sickening display of male machismo flailing staffs over what i can only imagine was the 12th century River Trent?Like two medieval rappers free-styling their way towards a state…
July already, and my late mother's birthday (she'd have been 105 today) – and it's Canada Day, marking the anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, formed on this day in 1867. It was on Canada Day in 1980 that 'O Canada' became the country's official national anthem (and one of the best). Here is the one and only k d lang performing it – And here she is again, referencing 'O Canada' in one of the most beautiful recordings she ever made – her cover of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You'...
The Best Record of 1989: Day 27
I like Fano 3-folds. I like them so much that I created Fanography! One thing which I found intriguing in the story one aspect of the details of the Mori–Mukai classification that is not often mentioned. Namely, at the very end of their Classification of Fano threefolds with $\mathrm{b}_2\geq 2$, I, in paragraph (7.33), they introduce an invariant that they need to distinguish between various Fano 3-folds with otherwise the same numerical invariants. For instance, the families 2.22 and 2.24…
Three further weeks at number one from 12th December 1987The way "Birthday" sold in late 1987 was downright peculiar, even by cult indie standards. In a similar fashion to This Mortal Coil's "Song To The Siren" - with whom it possibly shared a few fans - it kept selling modestly week in week out, selling a thousand copies here and there. While other indie records were swift fanbase sellers in their debut week then ebbed away, "Birthday" kept on reaching new listeners who were intrigued by its…
Logging my Crucial Tracks entries for the month here. Visit my profile for all tracks. “Holding Out” by Eleventyseven My first post on Crucial Tracks! I've been playing "Holding Out" on repeat this week. A mood. “Empire” by Jukebox the Ghost A song from your most listened to artist of the last 20 years. A long time ago (2008), there was a music discovery site called thesixtyone. Most of the music was from independent artists. You could stream and/or purchase tracks. Every day, you got an…
Photo: Alexis Maryon Aphex Twin THE Aphex Twin is a 21 year old sonic crusader from Cornwall. Like some sort of futuristic Mozart prodigy he spews out wigged out ambient tracks and wired, original techno at a furious rate. In the last six months alone he’s released two double albums. THE UK’s leading techno innovator is originally from Cornwall and has been making music since his early teens, frequently creating new sounds by customising pieces of equipment. His first release was a white label,…
“Spacious Heart” is the solo debut from L.A.-based musician Anthony Calonico. Signed to Amsterdam’s Music From Memory, he previously appeared on the label as part of the trio Total Blue. The new 8-track set is split equally between instrumentals and songs. The music has the feel of floating, fluttering, weightless fusion – check the appropriately titled “Ether”. A syncopation of hushed, brushed cymbals, and delicate drum programming, carrying treated textures created from fragile, gentle guitar…
ECM Special VI continues the journey through this rare 1970s compilation series from the Japanese Trio Records imprint, gathering a deepening philosophy of resonance. Across its seven selections, the instrument becomes a hidden intelligence moving through the floorboards, where melody becomes sediment and rhythm grows roots in the dark. “Re: Person I Knew” features Ralph Towner on 12-string guitar and piano alongside Glen Moore on bass in a crystalline selection from Trios/Solos. The Bill Evans…
BTS is currently the biggest musical group in the world. Although I was aware of them for a few years, I only recently took a deep dive into their history and their discography. Below, I want to share a few of their tracks that I came to love, as a fan of hip-hop who slowly but surely turned into a fan of BTS. And below that, if you are so inclined, you can read some more of my thoughts on this very unusual group. Intro: Persona is a RM solo track, with incredible flow and pace in my opinion.…
Son Of Mustang Ford [1990]So I was still in high school when the first couple of Swervedriver EPs came out. These were Rage classics that we taped on VHS months before we could ever get our hands on the records. I mean we lived in the bush mate! This tune to me and my mates was just a grungier, more testosterone fuelled version of You Mad Me Realise. Which didn't make it any less great. I mean it rocked like a high octane drag racing mutha fucka didn't it. Rave Down [1990]Then five or six…
Reviews / June 30, 2026 Integrati… Disintegrati Franco Leprino Eleven, 1977 The work of someone called “McPanda,” who seems to have evaporated after the LP’s release, the front cover art of Franco Leprino’s 1977 Integrati… Disintegrati (“Integrated… Disintegrated,” as you’ve doubtless worked out for yourselves) shows the hexagonal cells of what looks like a honeycomb, an artifact that connotes naturalness but also evokes the same queasy blend of the biological and the mechanical that H.R. Giger…
I've 'laid down' the guitars for the last song of the album, and also re-recorded the guitar parts for another song and made them worse.It's time to watch Boon, nestled as it is between ads for funeral plans, will pledges and stairlifts. How cheery! The approaching full stop of life has never looked so enticing!Might have another go at those guitars after Boon. In the afternoon, after Boon. Ha ha!
Television - CBGB, New York City, June 30, 1976A half-century ago this evening, Television were doing that thing they’d been doing for more than two years — playing CBGB! Since helping jumpstart the Bowery scene in ‘74, they’d delivered dozens upon dozens of sets at the tiny club, sometimes soaring into the heavens, occasionally crashing down to earth. This better-than-average audience tape is almost 100% celestial, letting us listen in on a band on the cusp of greatness. Dizzying / dazzling…
Who are you, and what do you do? My name is Casey Liss. I’m a podcaster, app developer, and writer based out of Richmond, Virginia, USA. I host two podcasts: the Accidental Tech Podcast with Marco Arment and John Siracusa; I also host Analog(ue) with Myke Hurley. ATP is a tech news/discussion show, largely focused around Apple, but we’ll cover anything that interests the three of us. Analog(ue)... I still don’t have a good elevator pitch for, over ten years on. It’s Myke and I hanging out. (I…
Hello You. It’s been a while, but I’m delighted to announce that FOGFEST returns for one last ride on Saturday August 1st at IKLECTIK, live from their new home at Peckham levels. Absolutely killer line-up too. Tickets available here via DICE. FOGFEST returns to Iklectik for another explosive lineup of tunes, tape loops, turntablism, techno and trash. It’s our most packed line-up yet, featuring a four-way ‘audio-visual quest to further the exploration of rhythm, sonic groove theory and the…
Hailing from Philadelphia, lead singer Patti LaBelle first toured Britain with her backing group The Bluebelles featuring singers Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong in January 1966. The tour was arranged by promoter Roy Tempest. For this first British tour, Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells were backed by northwest London group Bluesology who featured a very young Elton John known as Reg Dwight at the time on keyboards. It’s not clear whether Bluesology backed them on all the gigs, so we’d…
Percussion, in the ECM imagination, rarely behaves as ornament or engine alone. On ECM Special V: New Music in Percussion, rhythm functions as a conduit for revelation, each struck surface opening into an interior geography where hands and skins communicate in infinity signs. The compilation gathers music that feels carved from threshold states, hovering between human gesture and some older grammar of vibration. Its deepest theme may be contact: the instant when one body addresses another…
