Author name: Ash

BOOK REVIEW: No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred (by Klee Benally)

“A reverberating despair echoes through dry canyons and off distant concrete walls filled with ancestral subversions, it is the far crying conspiracy of anti-colonial dissonance. It is the conflict of Settler cognition in discord with itself, resonating against its contours and contradictions. It is the overbearing sound of desperation and failure weaponized into a pedagogy of negation. Our defiances, our subterfuges, our anti-colonial antagonisms all have a natural resonant frequency. This is the indelicate strategy of breaking glass with sound. This is part of how we make sense of this world, again. I offer that it is the responsibility of those who wage anti-colonial struggle to break the static infrastructures of settler colonialism.”

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Keiji Haino / Jim O’Rourke / Oren Ambarchi – With Pats on the Head, Just One Too Few Is Evil One Too Many Is Good That’s All It Is

On their twelfth live recording, the electrifying power trio continues to expand the vocabulary of their improvised sonic sorcery. One LP of mysterious duo invocations, followed by two LPs of primordial free rock. Through concentrated force and harnessed chaos, the trio patiently pushes primordial riffs to their noisiest, most visceral limits, striving to become the sound itself.

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Beak> – >>>>

Style: Space Rock, Krautrock-Influenced, Neo-Psychedelia, Minimal Wave

Vibes: Motorik, Sci-Fi, Retro-Futuristic, Cryptic, Hypnotic, Menacing, Dystopian, Brooding, Psychedelic, Playful, Restrained, Gloomy, Focused, Eerie

Musical Qualities: Analogue Recording, Repetitive, Rhythmic, Riffs, Droney, Bass Lines

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Rex – C

Style: Country-Slowcore, Grunge-Influenced

Vibes: Autumnal, Moody, Intertwined, Reflective, Passionate, Twangy, Contemplative, Rural, Drifter

Musical Qualities: Riffs, Dynamic, Lush, Slow, Vocal Harmonies, Climactic

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Gary Higgins – Red Hash

Style: Loner Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Acid Folk

Vibes: Autumnal, Alienation, Reflective, Warm, Melancholy, Stoned, Rural, Lonely, Mellow, Psychedelic, Loner

Instrumentation: Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Cello, Flute, Mandolin, Organ, Piano, Electric Bass

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Bröselmaschine

Style: Acid Folk, Kosmische Folk, Progressive Folk

Vibes: Pastoral, Flowing, Surreal, Dreamy, Warm, Psychedelic, Sunny, Fantasy, Mellow

Musical Qualities: Acoustic, Progressive, Vocal Harmonies, Lush, Raga-Influenced

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Water Shrews – Widening Spaces

Style: Drone, Free Improvisation, Psychedelic Ambient

Vibes: Journeying, Amorphous, Introspective, Woozy, Exploratory, Earthy, Washy, Hypnotic, Psychedelic, Murky, Rhizomatic

Musical Qualities: Noisy, Improvisation, Lo-Fi, Loops, Slow, Pulse, Analogue, Atmospheric

Instrumentation: Keyboards, Electric Guitar, Electronics, Synthesizers, Field Recordings

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Water Shrew Trio

Style: Drone, Free Folk

Vibes: Meditative, Forest, Peaceful, Contemplative, Nature, Soothing, Hypnotic, Psychedelic

Instrumentation: Harmonium, Hammered Dulcimer, Electronics, Acoustic Guitar

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Cassia Streb – Marginal Habitats

Style: EAI, Reductionism

Vibes: Meditative, Desert, Ecological, Desolate, Meandering, Lonely, Contemplative, Morning, Intimate, Lethargic, Primordial, Raw, Restrained

Musical Qualities: Graphic Score, Sparse, Slow, Soft, Instrumental, Improvisation, Dissonant, Electro-Acoustic

Instrumentation: Field Recording, Viola, Small Objects

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(Blouseusa) – Stimulus Overnclusion

Stimulus Overconclusion wastes no time in launching you into an otherwordly space where even familiar textures feel alien and mysterious. Throughout the first side, aquatic percussion loops on tabla or drums are submerged in strange electronic smears and warbly acoustic strings & flutes, suggesting a shapeshifting noise-folk beat tape. The flip side features overcompressed drum blasts, fractured noise rock and sci-fi electronics.

Recommended if you dig Nuke Watch, Fourth World, or This Heat

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Robert Wyatt – Cuckooland

LPx2, Domino Recordings, 2003 / 2008 repress featuring Karen Mantler, Annie Whitehead, Gilad Atzman, David Gilmour, Brian Eno, Paul Weller ON THE SURFACE Style: Progressive Pop, Jazz-Rock, Canterbury Scene Vibes: Surreal, Sombre, Conscious, Dystopian, Ethereal, Ominous, Absurd, Colorful, Gloomy, Mournful, Plaintive, Restrained Themes: Liberation, History, War, Political (Anti-imperialist Critique, Socialism), Existential, Philosophical Instrumentation: Vocals, Keyboards,

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Different Every Time – the Authorised Biography of Robert Wyatt [book review]

This review was recently published as part of Bedcrumbshow newsletter (issue 002), follow them on substack to get updates from our music & radio community “How long can I pretend that music’s more relevant than fighting for a socialist world?” -Robert Wyatt (from Matching Mole’s “Gloria Gloom”) In this thorough biography on the influential singer

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The Pentangle

Style: Folk Baroque, British Folk, Acoustic Blues

Vibes: Intertwined, Rootsy, Pastoral, Breezy, Playful, Bluesy, Intricate, Uplifting

Instrumentation: Upright Bass, Vocal Harmonies, Drums, Acoustic Guitars

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Esmerine – Dalmak

Whilst in Istanbul for an artist residency, the adventurous Montreal chamber rock group recorded Dalmak with an ensemble of Turkish musicians, augmenting their core sound of cello, marimba, and drums with the saz, darbuka, bendir and several other instruments used in Turkish and Arabic folk music. Epic, modal themes emerge from watery beds of minimalistic polyrhythms and suspenseful string arrangments. While often sombre, mournful or foreboding, the musi seems driven by a collective sense of spiritual determination and hope.

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Autechre – Confield

Style: IDM, Glitch, Experimental Electronic, Generative

Vibes: Metallic, Wet, Mechanical, Cold, Woozy, Disorienting, Surreal, Abstract, Spectral, Complex, Futuristic, Hypnotic, Mysterious, Suspenseful, Monochromatic, Detached

Musical Qualities: Polyrhythmic, Glitchy, Digital, Percussive, Dissonant, Dense, Instrumental

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Off World – 2

featuring Sandro Perri, Eric Chenaux, Drew Brown, etc

Style: Alien Electronics, Tribal Ambient, Kosmische

Vibes: Spacey, Surreal, Imaginative, Exploratory, Impressionistic, Abstract, Cinematic, Meandering, Messy, Mysterious, Warm

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Scalpy + Meanstreetz

Style: Free Improvisation, Experimental, Noise Rock

Vibes: Ecstatic, Visceral, Hypnotic, Somatic, Abstract, Passionate, Cathartic, Liberatory

Musical Qualities: Noisy, Percussive, Repetitive, Improvisation, Dissonant

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Sonic Gnostic Research 01.10.24 [Bed Crumb Archives]

While this live broadcast was originally selected & sequenced spontaneously, it retrospectively appeared to move through some interesting movements. The introductory set of ambient pop & minimalist folk is followed by a long stretch of Japanese Psychedelia from four different decades. During the second hour we venture through jazz fission, abstract rap, and microtonal psych before closing the show with a trio of ethereal folk meditations.

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Ut – In gut’s House

Style: No Wave, Post-Punk, Experimental Rock, Noise Rock

Vibes: Angsty, Visceral, Hypnotic, Urban, Intertwined, Aggressive, Dystopian, Brooding, Cathartic, Cryptic, Dark, Moody, Ominous, Passionate, Raw

Musical Qualities: Noisy, Dissonant, Vocal Harmonies, Heavy, Lo-Fi

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Embryo’s Reise

Recorded September 1978 – May 1979 in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, & Germany

Style: Free-Psych, Krautrock, Prog, Jazz-Rock, Raga Rock, Arabic Folk

Vibes: Adventure, Communal, Triumphant, Exploratory, Warm, Psychedelic, Bluesy, Playful, Energetic, Spiritual

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Third Ear Band

Style: Psychedelic Chamber Music, Free Folk, Neo-Medieval Folk, Dhrupad

Vibes: Mystical, Medieval, Nature, Alchemical, Flowing, Meditative, Ritualistic, Mysterious, Earthy, Occult

Instrumentation: Cello, Oboe, Percussion, Violin/Viola

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Dorothy Carter – Troubadour

LP, Celeste Recording, 1976 Style: Neo-Medieval Folk, Progressive Folk, Traditional [Appalachian, Celtic, European, Hymns] Vibes: Hypnotic, Flowing, Rootsy, Medieval, Passionate, Meditative, Peaceful Musical Qualities: Acoustic, Suite, Pulse Instrumentation: Voice, Hammered Dulcimer, Psalteries, Flute Tamboura, Ch’in

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Alan Silva and the Celestrial Communication Orchestra – Seasons

Lineup: Alan Silva, Roscoe Mitchell, Robin Kenyatta, Don Moye, Steve Lacy, Jerome Cooper, Dave Burrell, Bernard Vitet, Alan Shorter, Joseph Jarman, Ronnie Beer, Michel Portal, Dieter Gewissler, Jouk Minor, Kent Carter, Irene Aebi, Oliver Johnson, Joachim Kuhn

Style: Cosmic Big-Band, Creative Music, Free Jazz

Vibes: Apocalyptic, Cosmic, Cathartic, Communal, Intense, Ritualistic, Entropic, Meditative, Spiritual, Mysterious, Energetic

Musical Qualities: Conducted Improvisation, Dense, Acoustic, Instrumental, Atonal, Orchestral, Active Listening, Complex, Noisy, Heavy, Progressive

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dredg – El Cielo

LPx2, 45rpm, Self-Released, 2002 / 2012 pressing First Vinyl Pressing (2012)Originally released on CD by Interscope Records (2002) Style: Art Rock, Progressive Post-Hardcore Vibes: Cryptic, Dramatic, Surreal, Groovy, Anthemic, Epic, Passionate, Intricate, Bombastic, Psychedelic, Sentimental Themes: Sleep Paralysis, Dreams, Existential, Salvador Dalí Qualities: Conceptual, Lyrical, Suite, Dense, Uncommon Time Signatures, Rhythmic, Progressive

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