subpop.com: "These songs are rotten with metal, reeds, consciousness-erasing islands of black doom; bass-heavy rippers, late-night free-terror jams, afflicted dog-hearts, underwater crabs: pure mayhem" More
Curicium - Nowever
dynamophone.com: "Evan Sornstein's great appreciation for the unfettered humanity of E.E. Cummings is celebrated on this suite of twenty-two poems, read by twenty-two different people evenly spaced around the world." More info + downloads
A Lilly: Wake-Sleep
dynamophone.com/: "a lily is james vella and is a side project from yndi halda. a lily is love songs for leanna. a lily is delicate guitar picking around a campfire. a lily is long nights and wide eyed staring at a laptop screen. alas,
a lily is sleepy, gentle, fragile electronics and soft intertwining guitar lines."
wnyc.org: "Singer/harpist/songwriter Joanna Newsom made a strong impression on Spinning On Air listeners--and everyone else who heard her--a couple years ago when her album "The Milk-Eyed Mender" was released. Her new album "Ys," and though it has only five songs, it's nearly an hour long, with lots of Newsom's unusual lyrics, and an orchestra added to her rhythmic harp playing. Host David Garland offers an extensive preview of Ys." Listen here
wps1.org: ""Playing the pedal-steel guitar, an instrument usually associated with country & western music, Texan Susan Alcorn creates a music that is simultaneously meditative and energizing.
Susan Alcorn's compositions make use of improvisation while her pedal-steel guitar, with its natural vocabulary of slides, whoops, glisses, and clouds of slowly-shifting sustains, completely lends itself to extended techniques." Listen here
lassemarhaug.no: "Lasse Marhaug (b. 1974) has since the early 90ies been one of the most active artists in the so-called Norwegian noise scene. As a performer and composer he has contributed to well over 200 CD, vinyl and cassette releases over the years, as well as extensive touring and performing live in Europe, Asia and America. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug plays regularly in projects Jazkamer, Nash Kontroll, DEL and Testicle Hazard. Past projects and bands include Origami Replika and Lasse Marhaug Band. He has collaborated with several artists in the noise, improv, jazz, rock and extreme metal fields, as well as working with music for theatre, dance, installations and video."
From the OM webpage: "OM was formed by Al Cisneros (bass/vocals) and Chris Hakius (drums), both founding members of legendary doom pioneers Sleep. They recorded their debut album Variations on a Theme in 2004. The album was an instant success; heralded as a triumphant return by Mr. Cisneros who had not made any music publicly for many years. The underground popularity of the band lead to exclusive live engagements in London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. OM spent the fall of 2005 recording their new album - Conference of the Birds. Comprised of two songs that build on OM’s use of cyclical rhythm, riff and vocal intonation, the duo’s new album blends metal, chant, drone, dub and psychedelia. The band’s lyrics expound upon the structure of the universe, potentiality and freedom from the physical body. Engineered by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Melvins) and produced by the band, Conference of the Birds progresses beyond their debut, Variations On a Theme with more fully-realized songwriting and production."
themilkfactory.co.uk "Born in Angola, of Portuguese origin, Victor Gama is a totally unique artist. He develops musical instruments from a variety of materials, including wood and metal, has set up a non-profit making organisation, PangeiArt, to help other Angolan musicians, and regularly travels the world to bring their work, as well as his, to new audiences." Read the whole interview
BBC: "Meandering, mysterious and festooned in Van Dyke Parks’ fussily baroque orchestrations, Ys is a record that gives up its treasures slowly. Its five helium-voiced, harp-propelled essays are not so much songs as oblique, Pre-Raphaelite epic poems - you imagine the elfin Newsom spends weekends letting down her tresses from high castle windows." Listen to one song from YS
BBC: "Sunn O))) (their name is that of a vintage amp) play doom metal of a monolithic power and almost apocalyptic intensity, using waves of loud, hypnotic drone, overlapping, feedback-affected chords held for what seems like an eternity, and layer upon layer of sludgy, psych-rock soundscapes. They’ve sacrificed the traditional elements of rock – melody, harmony, song structure – in favour of improvisational freedom and, in many ways, have more in common with minimalist composers like Steve Reich than, say, the black-metal fraternity."
From her myspace site: "Colleen is a French musician working within a minimalist and melodic aesthetic using acoustic instruments and modern technologies. She released two albums on The Leaf Label, as well as a live recording in cult series "Mort aux Vaches" on Staalplaat in 2006 and an EP made entirely with music boxes, «Colleen Et Les Boîtes À Musique», in October 2006. Colleen's music is one of magical details - instrumentals filled with warmth, melody and soul, phasing in and out, on the verge of collapse. For her live shows, Colleen has developed a specific repertoire, as she does not want to use any prerecorded element. The variety of instruments (cello, classical guitar, clarinet, music boxes and wind chimes) reflects her deep love of acoustic instruments, and the occasional use of looping and delay pedals brings her live music closer to the layered feel of her albums. You can listen to the two albums on Colleen's website."
From her myspace site: "Colleen is a French musician working within a minimalist and melodic aesthetic using acoustic instruments and modern technologies. She released two albums on The Leaf Label, as well as a live recording in cult series "Mort aux Vaches" on Staalplaat in 2006 and an EP made entirely with music boxes, «Colleen Et Les Boîtes À Musique», in October 2006. Colleen's music is one of magical details - instrumentals filled with warmth, melody and soul, phasing in and out, on the verge of collapse. For her live shows, Colleen has developed a specific repertoire, as she does not want to use any prerecorded element. The variety of instruments (cello, classical guitar, clarinet, music boxes and wind chimes) reflects her deep love of acoustic instruments, and the occasional use of looping and delay pedals brings her live music closer to the layered feel of her albums. You can listen to the two albums on Colleen's website." 