With so much good music coming through thick and fast, it’s easy for albums to drop online and go overlooked. Each week we select notable releases, from across the musical soundscape, that require your attention. Check out our weekly mini-guide to the best new records you need to hear – stream music from Jasmine Guffond, Louise Bock, Priscilla Ermel, MinaeMinae, Zelienople and Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty. Happy listening – and don’t forget to hit the links and support the artists.
Jasmine Guffond – Microphone Permission
Australian producer Jasmine Guffond lands on Editions Mego with another unique sonic adventure. Developed over two years, Microphone Permission is an unsettling musical journey utilising contemporary tools of communication to display Guffond’s ongoing research into online surveillance and sound as a method of investigation. On this brilliant four-track recording, she skillfully takes elements of ambient, techno, and club-oriented electronics blending them with source material from various projects she’s been working on such as a soundtrack for an extinct forest, or an installation that sonifies Twitter metadata in real-time. As the saying goes, “It isn’t paranoia if they’re really out to get you.” Essential listening.
Louise Bock – Sketch for Winter VII – Abyss: For Cello
Louise Bock takes the helm for the seventh instalment in Geographic North’s long-running Sketch for Winter series. On this new album, the talented multi-instrumentalist focuses primarily on the cello over five interesting pieces. The sweeping sounds of ‘Jute’ has a sense of grandeur with many a moment to stop you in your tracks. Elsewhere the chordal sounds of ‘Actinic Ray’ is a highlight as is the unsettling ‘Oolite’ featuring guitarist Kendra Amalie. Press play and let Bock transport you to a world of beauty, sorrow, and joy. Highly recommended!
Priscilla Ermel – Origens Da Luz
Music From Memory celebrates the work of Brazilian composer and musician Priscilla Ermel on this brilliant compilation. Origens Da Luz features a selection of original recordings made between 1986 and 1994, and this double-LP collection showcases Ermel’s explorations of analogue sound technology mixed with Tai Chi rhythms and field recordings. Compiled by John Gomez this is an incredible 15-track journey into her unique and enchanting sound world. Essential!
MinaeMinae – Gestrüpp
Having recently wowed us with his cosmic polyrhythmic explorations on ‘Variante, German producer Bastian Epple, aka MinaeMinae makes a swift return. Blending psychedelic trance, exotica, ambient and melodic dance music, tracks such as ‘’Flossensäume’ and ‘Nackenwirbel’ are drenched in tribal rhythms while ‘ Flügelhüllen’ grows Epple’s sonic palette further with a melodious guitar loop and a hypnotic drumbeat that is complemented by a bouncy rhythm. This is a real treat from start to finish.
Zelienople – Hold You Up
Experimental underground pop trio Zelienope sound as wondrous as ever on their long-awaited new album. Hold You Up is the group’s first album in five years following 2015’s Show Us The Fire. The Chicago threesome of Matt Christensen, Mike Weis and Brian Harding takes us on another spellbinding trip where for a while we can forget about all the craziness going on in the world right now. With delicate tribal percussion, soothing melodies, glistening bass guitar, and soft vocals they create things of impressive beauty (‘Safer’) and (‘You Have It’), pieces of eerie seduction (‘Just An Unkind Time’) and tracks flowing with dreamy, ambient experimentation (‘Hold You Up’). A must-listen album that channels the best elements of early post-rock and generates its own unique energy. Highly recommended!
Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty – Visions
What a wonderful gift! Visions is a collaborative album from former BADBADNOTGOOD member Matthew Tavares and current member Leland Whitty. Written in three weeks and almost entirely performed and recorded in one take during an intense studio session. The record is a partly-composed, partly-improvised suite performed with a killer rhythm section of bassist Julian Anderson-Bowes and drummer Matthew Chalmers. The four players come together in remarkable ways with their blend of improvised jazz and long-form instrumental ideas! Highlights include ‘Blue’, ‘Symbols Of Transformation’, ‘Visions Of You’, ‘Heat Of The Moon’, and ‘Eyes’. As with absolutely everything and anything Matthew Tavares touches this is a must-listen.
