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Posts by Cyclic Defrost Magazine

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Watch “In the Eastern Wild” the powerful new music from Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri  Italian musician Abul Mogard and Ibero-American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri will release their second full length album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, on March 26, 2026, via Black Knoll Editions. This follows 2024's previous duo album, the gorgeous Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close - you can read our review here. We spoke to Mogard last year, where amongst other things he disussed creating music as unconscious therapy - you can read that…

Watch “In the Eastern Wild” the powerful new music from Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri

 Italian musician Abul Mogard and Ibero-American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri will release their second full length album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, on March 26, 2026, via Black…

2 weeks ago 9 4 0 0
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Taylor Deupree & Zimoun – Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations (12K) Back in December the label 12k released ‘Wind Dynamic Organ, One & Two’, and ‘Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations’. The first by Swiss artist Zimoun, and the second in collaboration with Taylor Deupree. Both works are based on the Wind-Dynamic Organ, Prototype III located in the Bern Cathedral, where Zimoun had access to record over the past few years. While the first album is a solo effort of more unmanipulated sound, the Deviations delve even further into the possibilities of such a captivating instrument.

Taylor Deupree & Zimoun – Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations (12K)

Back in December the label 12k released ‘Wind Dynamic Organ, One & Two’, and ‘Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations’. The first by Swiss artist Zimoun, and the second in collaboration with Taylor Deupree. Both works are based on the…

2 weeks ago 1 0 0 0
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Thundercat – Distracted (Brainfeeder) “Got me looking like a fool, just to get some of your attention” sounds all too familiar in this age characterised by an inability to focus on what matters. That doesn’t stop Stephen Bruner from rewarding those who find it within themselves to truly listen.  With Distracted, Thundercat channels his phantasmagoric jazz fusion into an album that (ironically) feels like his most focused yet.

Thundercat – Distracted (Brainfeeder)

“Got me looking like a fool, just to get some of your attention” sounds all too familiar in this age characterised by an inability to focus on what matters. That doesn’t stop Stephen Bruner from rewarding those who find it within themselves to truly listen.…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0
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Ellen Fullman – JACK Quartet: Energy Archive 4 @ MaerzMusik – St. Elisabeth-Kirche (Berlin)  23rd of March 2026 Can an instrument be 20 meters long, weigh 900 grams, and be played solely by the touch of the fingertips? Although the imagination might cast doubt on it, Ellen Fullman says it can. The composer, performer, and experimental luthier from Memphis, the land of country and blues, has created an instrument that defies categories and formats, exploring tunings and experimenting with the resonance of spaces through her performative installations, which evoke the sounds of the French spectral school of composers such as Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail, and Eliane Radigue herself,  while engaging with more contemporary, non-academic genres such as ambient and drone music.

Ellen Fullman – JACK Quartet: Energy Archive 4 @ MaerzMusik – St. Elisabeth-Kirche (Berlin)  23rd of March 2026

Can an instrument be 20 meters long, weigh 900 grams, and be played solely by the touch of the fingertips? Although the imagination might cast doubt on it, Ellen Fullman says it can. The…

3 weeks ago 2 1 0 0
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Asteroid Ekosystem – Sounds Have Dreams Nothing makes me happier than saying I don’t know what this is. I’ve seen them live, enjoyed their previous live album Live at The Great Club, even spoken to them, and if anything its made them even more difficult to pin down. Just when you think you know what’s going on the next track appears and it feels somehow alien to what preceded it, yet it’s also distinctively Asteroid Ekosystem.

Asteroid Ekosystem – Sounds Have Dreams

Nothing makes me happier than saying I don’t know what this is. I’ve seen them live, enjoyed their previous live album Live at The Great Club, even spoken to them, and if anything its made them even more difficult to pin down. Just when you think you know…

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0
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Mogwai are Celebrating their 30th Anniversary in Australia Iconic Scottish ensemble  Mogwai are heading out to Australia to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Over 11 studio albums and some pretty great soundtracks such as Zidane and Les Revenants, this quartet have continued to evolve their own powerful guitar centric highly emotional sound. We recently caught their documentary If The Stars Had Sound, which not only reminded us how good they are, but also demonstrated their community spirit, sponsoring a kids soccer team.

Mogwai are Celebrating their 30th Anniversary in Australia

Iconic Scottish ensemble  Mogwai are heading out to Australia to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Over 11 studio albums and some pretty great soundtracks such as Zidane and Les Revenants, this quartet have continued to evolve their own…

3 weeks ago 2 1 0 0
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Meredith Monk – MaerzMusik – Berliner Festspiele -21.3.2026 At her concert at the Berliner Festspiele, within the MaerzMusik series—a festival centered on contemporary music and hybrid formats that brings together a wide variety of projects focused on sound and its multiple practices—Meredith Monk, accompanied by her vocal ensemble composed of Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin, presented a program covering her extensive career. It was a primarily vocal concert, with brief instrumental interventions on piano, synthesizers, and violin.

Meredith Monk – MaerzMusik – Berliner Festspiele -21.3.2026

At her concert at the Berliner Festspiele, within the MaerzMusik series—a festival centered on contemporary music and hybrid formats that brings together a wide variety of projects focused on sound and its multiple practices—Meredith…

3 weeks ago 2 0 0 0
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Adrian Sherwood @ La Nau (BCN) – 28th of February 2026 We were lucky enough to witness Adrian Sherwood present his ‘Live Dub Sessions’ at an intimate venue in the Poblenou district of Barcelona. This was towards the beginning of his most extensive tour to date, previous to his first solo tour in North America and a forthcoming visit to Australia in June. Adrian Sherwood’s career is remarkable, a prominent figure in the universe that he’s been contributing to since 1979, he’s an essential piece in the expansion and sophistication of dub music, and a very relevant nexus of artists around the globe with On-U Sound, one of our Holy Grails of this vast genre rooted in embracing different cultures.

Adrian Sherwood @ La Nau (BCN) – 28th of February 2026

We were lucky enough to witness Adrian Sherwood present his ‘Live Dub Sessions’ at an intimate venue in the Poblenou district of Barcelona. This was towards the beginning of his most extensive tour to date, previous to his first solo tour in…

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Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Casa Montjuïc (BCN) 14th of February 2026 A couple weeks ago we caught Rafael Anton Irisarri in a sold out show in Barcelona. Closing a tour around Budapest, Vienna and the Basque Country with his latest album, and a performance with Abul Mogard at the Athens Conservatoire, his concert in the Catalan capital took place in Casa Montjuïc, a venue that’s been growing steadily and expanding its horizons this year.

Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Casa Montjuïc (BCN) 14th of February 2026

A couple weeks ago we caught Rafael Anton Irisarri in a sold out show in Barcelona. Closing a tour around Budapest, Vienna and the Basque Country with his latest album, and a performance with Abul Mogard at the Athens Conservatoire,…

1 month ago 2 0 0 0
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Flying Lotus – Big Mama (Brainfeeder) Big Mama arrives already in motion. Across eight tracks, Steve Ellison allows rhythm, distortion and texture to behave almost as if they are still assembling themselves as they move forward. The EP does not unfold like a fixed object; it feels closer to a transmission caught mid-formation, its energy sustained rather than polished into symmetry. That quality makes sense when placed alongside Ellison’s own description of the writing period, which arrived in a concentrated burst and then vanished just as abruptly.

Flying Lotus – Big Mama (Brainfeeder)

Big Mama arrives already in motion. Across eight tracks, Steve Ellison allows rhythm, distortion and texture to behave almost as if they are still assembling themselves as they move forward. The EP does not unfold like a fixed object; it feels closer to a…

1 month ago 1 0 0 0
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Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy — Dying Is the Internet (Dekmantel UFO) Dying Is the Internet is the second collaborative release from two prodigious talents shaping experimental club culture in Europe. Released as part of the Dutch festival Dekmantel’s UFO series, that showcases “ranky darkwave funk and industrial textures, jagged body music”, it is a considerable evolution of Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy’s 2020 release Kill Me Or Negotiate (Brothers From Different Mothers)

Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy — Dying Is the Internet (Dekmantel UFO)

Dying Is the Internet is the second collaborative release from two prodigious talents shaping experimental club culture in Europe. Released as part of the Dutch festival Dekmantel’s UFO series, that showcases “ranky darkwave funk…

1 month ago 2 0 0 0
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Flying Lotus: “I don’t want to remind people of the world we’re in. I want to help people escape it.” For weeks, Steve Ellison, better known as Flying Lotus, lived inside a surge. From his home studio in Studio City, Los Angeles, he would wake and move straight to work, staying there until evening in a state that felt closer to compulsion than routine, as sleep thinned and meals interrupted momentum. The music arrived in one sustained rush and, when it stopped, it stopped completely.

Flying Lotus: “I don’t want to remind people of the world we’re in. I want to help people escape it.”

For weeks, Steve Ellison, better known as Flying Lotus, lived inside a surge. From his home studio in Studio City, Los Angeles, he would wake and move straight to work, staying there until evening…

1 month ago 2 0 0 0
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Temporal Totality: The Magical Vibrating World of Éliane Radigue (1932–2026) French composer Éliane Radigue passed away on the 23rd of February 2026 in Paris, at 94 years of age. Just the day before, I was sitting on the balcony of my home with friends, listening to the Feedback Works 2LP set we reminded ourselves of the effect her music could have on listeners. It is now a reminder of how fortunate we are to have the incredible legacy Radigue leaves in both recorded and live music.

Temporal Totality: The Magical Vibrating World of Éliane Radigue (1932–2026)

French composer Éliane Radigue passed away on the 23rd of February 2026 in Paris, at 94 years of age. Just the day before, I was sitting on the balcony of my home with friends, listening to the Feedback Works 2LP set we…

1 month ago 8 3 0 0
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Nathan Fake: “It confused a lot of people.” Nathan Fake might not be a household name like Fred Again or Four Tet, artists often credited with helping to define the current electronic landscape, but his contribution runs deep. Over the past two decades, he has shaped the UK’s ambient and electro terrain, particularly from his roots in the North of England. As one of the early voices on James Holden’s…

Nathan Fake: “It confused a lot of people.”

Nathan Fake might not be a household name like Fred Again or Four Tet, artists often credited with helping to define the current electronic landscape, but his contribution runs deep. Over the past two decades, he has shaped the UK’s ambient and electro…

2 months ago 3 0 0 0
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Nathan Fake – Evaporator [InFiné ] Twenty years after Drowning in a Sea of Love introduced Nathan Fake’s emotive, ambient-electronic palette to a wider audience, Evaporator finds the Norfolk-based producer in reflective but adventurous form. Released via Berlin's InFiné, the album does not revisit the past so much as reframe it. It feels warmer, freer, and often surprising in its tonal shifts. The record opens with a softness that speaks to its origins.

Nathan Fake – Evaporator [InFiné ]

Twenty years after Drowning in a Sea of Love introduced Nathan Fake’s emotive, ambient-electronic palette to a wider audience, Evaporator finds the Norfolk-based producer in reflective but adventurous form. Released via Berlin's InFiné, the album does not revisit…

2 months ago 1 1 0 0
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Listen to an expanded Praed’s experimental electro Shaabi . We're pretty happy to hear that the experimental electro Egyptian trance duo Praed are about to drop another album. It comes hot on the heels of Raed Yassin & Paed Conca's second Orchestra album, The Dictionary of Lost Meanings, on the ever reliable Discrepant label, which saw them enlist a bunch of incredible improvisors including Alan Bishop, Radwan Ghazi and Sam Shalabi for a kind of improvised free jazz take on their signature sound.

Listen to an expanded Praed’s experimental electro Shaabi

. We're pretty happy to hear that the experimental electro Egyptian trance duo Praed are about to drop another album. It comes hot on the heels of Raed Yassin & Paed Conca's second Orchestra album, The Dictionary of Lost Meanings, on the…

2 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Luz González – Bi Gezur (Everest Records) With Galician and Basque references in its name and song titles, Bi Gezur (two lies) from artist Luz Gónzalez was released back in December on Everest Records and it’s been under our radar since then thanks to its distinctive feel, rooted in the vast springs of ambivalence, making this a recurrent play in the past weeks. It builds anticipation with thick, cavernous synths on the opener ‘Volverse paisaxe’, with a strong narrative and a dramatic transition from an eerie atmosphere of grainy effects to a sharp and tense percussion.

Luz González – Bi Gezur (Everest Records)

With Galician and Basque references in its name and song titles, Bi Gezur (two lies) from artist Luz Gónzalez was released back in December on Everest Records and it’s been under our radar since then thanks to its distinctive feel, rooted in the vast…

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Watch Markus Guentner’s expansive new ambient work German DJ and producer Markus Guentner has released his music on Ware, Warner, A Strangely Isolated Place, Moodgadget, and Sending Orbs, also Kompakt where he often featured on their Pop Ambient series. Over the years he has collaborated with numerous artists including the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri, Julia Kent, bvdub, Tom Moth, Joachim Spieth, and…

Watch Markus Guentner’s expansive new ambient work

German DJ and producer Markus Guentner has released his music on Ware, Warner, A Strangely Isolated Place, Moodgadget, and Sending Orbs, also Kompakt where he often featured on their Pop Ambient series. Over the years he has collaborated with…

2 months ago 6 2 0 0
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Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske – At Source (light-years) Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske's At Source arrives fully formed, like an object that has always existed, outside of the constraints of space and time. The collaboration sounds exactly like what you would expect from these two minimalist composers, in the best way possible. Barbieri’s drifting synth arpeggios and Giske’s rhythmic extended saxophone combine to form complex layers of sound that are at once recognisable from the individual performers, but merge into something beyond the source.

Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske – At Source (light-years)

Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske's At Source arrives fully formed, like an object that has always existed, outside of the constraints of space and time. The collaboration sounds exactly like what you would expect from these two…

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Listen to Akira Kosemura’s intimate piano melodies on the 15th Anniversary of his seminal Poloroid Piano . Room40 have just announced a reissue of Japanese pianist and composer Akira Kosemura's Poloroid Piano on its 15th anniversary. Kosemura has scored anime, a Hollywood drama series, a Nitendo Switch game as well as collaborating with everyone from Devendra Banhart to Lawrence English. In fact he works with English on Poloroid Piano. It's really quite a beautiful work.

Listen to Akira Kosemura’s intimate piano melodies on the 15th Anniversary of his seminal Poloroid Piano

. Room40 have just announced a reissue of Japanese pianist and composer Akira Kosemura's Poloroid Piano on its 15th anniversary. Kosemura has scored anime, a Hollywood drama series, a Nitendo…

2 months ago 2 1 0 0
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Various Artists – Elemental Studies (Carpe Sonum) It’s always a delight to catch up with Carpe Sonum. The U.S. based platform started in 2013 to release ‘Die Welt Ist Klang’, a fantastic Pete Namlook tribute that we remember dearly given the collective effort that made it happen. TJ Norris is a multidisciplinary artist hailing from Fort Worth, Texas. Many years ago he was a lighthouse in the cultural storm for us thanks to Toneshift, a music review platform that has gone through many iterations, its current form a monthly radio-show on Camp.

Various Artists – Elemental Studies (Carpe Sonum)

It’s always a delight to catch up with Carpe Sonum. The U.S. based platform started in 2013 to release ‘Die Welt Ist Klang’, a fantastic Pete Namlook tribute that we remember dearly given the collective effort that made it happen. TJ Norris is a…

2 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Watch Alejandra Cárdenas (Ale Hop) and Gibrana Cervantes on ‘Inward.’ Alejandra Cárdenas (also known as Ale Hop) is a Peruvian-born artist and researcher based in Berlin. Her multidisciplinary work spans live performances, record releases, sound, text and video artworks, academic research on sound and technology, and original compositions for film and dance. She has recently collaborated with the likes of percussionist Laura Robles on Agua Dulce, and Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta on…

Watch Alejandra Cárdenas (Ale Hop) and Gibrana Cervantes on ‘Inward.’

Alejandra Cárdenas (also known as Ale Hop) is a Peruvian-born artist and researcher based in Berlin. Her multidisciplinary work spans live performances, record releases, sound, text and video artworks, academic research on sound…

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Listen to the harrowing ‘Violence Is Like An Infectious Disease’ from Chicago Gunfire Survivors . Given the events in the US overnight it seems pertinent to share this short excerpt from a forthcoming album produced by Ian Brennan. I connected with Brennan about 6 years ago where we had a great chat about travelling to Pakistan to record the great maestro Ustad Saami. You can read that here. Brennan has famously travelled the world, producing the likes of Tinariwen, more recently the super weird…

Listen to the harrowing ‘Violence Is Like An Infectious Disease’ from Chicago Gunfire Survivors

. Given the events in the US overnight it seems pertinent to share this short excerpt from a forthcoming album produced by Ian Brennan. I connected with Brennan about 6 years ago where we had a great…

2 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Listen to The Sea from Swedish composer Matti Bye  Matti Bye is a Swedish pianist, composer and sound artist. With a background in silent film accompaniment having live scored masters like Fritz Lang, Victor Sjöström and Jean Vigo at the Cinematheque in Stockholm , he has gone on to compose over 30 films and TV series, including Life After Death, Faro and Young Wallander. He has also released numerous solo albums, including Capri Clouds (2024) and Between Darkness & White Snow (2023) on the likes of Denovali, 1631 ecordings and Tona Serenad.

Listen to The Sea from Swedish composer Matti Bye

 Matti Bye is a Swedish pianist, composer and sound artist. With a background in silent film accompaniment having live scored masters like Fritz Lang, Victor Sjöström and Jean Vigo at the Cinematheque in Stockholm , he has gone on to compose over…

2 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Watch Swiss artists Zimoun and Till Hillbrecht’s new work In what feels like a change of pace for Swiss artist Zimoun, he has teamed up with sound designer Till Hillbrecht for a highly textural work and something of a change of pace from last years Harmonium I-VI. We spoke to him at the time and he reflected on his desire to consider not what more can be added to a piece, but what can be removed.

Watch Swiss artists Zimoun and Till Hillbrecht’s new work

In what feels like a change of pace for Swiss artist Zimoun, he has teamed up with sound designer Till Hillbrecht for a highly textural work and something of a change of pace from last years Harmonium I-VI. We spoke to him at the time and…

2 months ago 3 0 0 0
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Jana Irmert: Portals / 7038634357: Rope (GRM Portraits) We’ve had this split EP on repeat since it came out a couple months ago on Portraits GRM together with Shelter Press. It presents two pieces commissioned for the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (INA grm) and thought for the acousmonium. Berlin based sound artist and composer Jana Irmert takes over on side A with Portals, created with ultrasound and hydrophone recordings of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Colombia.

Jana Irmert: Portals / 7038634357: Rope (GRM Portraits)

We’ve had this split EP on repeat since it came out a couple months ago on Portraits GRM together with Shelter Press. It presents two pieces commissioned for the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (INA grm) and thought for the acousmonium. Berlin…

3 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Watch a tripped out 46 minute audio visual improvisation that is O Fortuna’s album launch O Fortuna is an improvising trio of Robert Vincs (Saxophone), Monty Price (Electric Guitar) and Sam Price (Drums). Late last year they released Hylo, which demonstrated the trios unique approach to experimentation and improvisation. They launched it Dimension Art project studio with a totally improvised performance, augmented by similarly improvised lights/visuals. Price sent the clip to me as a Xmas present, with the words "it's seriously not shit." I tend to agree, in fact I'd go a little further in the other direction and say its pretty bloody good.

Watch a tripped out 46 minute audio visual improvisation that is O Fortuna’s album launch

O Fortuna is an improvising trio of Robert Vincs (Saxophone), Monty Price (Electric Guitar) and Sam Price (Drums). Late last year they released Hylo, which demonstrated the trios unique approach to…

3 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Craven Faults: “I like things that evolve slowly over time.” The music of UK electronic artist Craven Faults is hypnotic and durational. A mysterious and enigmatic figure who carefully guards his identity, he first emerged in 2017 with Netherfield Works and has since issued a number of EP’s and albums on the Leaf label to considerable acclaim. Whilst his music draws parallels to German Kosmische music due to its repetition and simultaneous though somewhat contradictory feelings of both propulsion and stasis, his minimal modular music is very much tied to a sense of place.

Craven Faults: “I like things that evolve slowly over time.”

The music of UK electronic artist Craven Faults is hypnotic and durational. A mysterious and enigmatic figure who carefully guards his identity, he first emerged in 2017 with Netherfield Works and has since issued a number of EP’s and…

3 months ago 13 3 0 1
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Listen to the incredible new duo album from Carl Stone and ASUNA Carl Stone is a composer and radio producer from Los Angeles. He studied composition at CalArts in the 1970s with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and is a pioneer of computer sampled music, having used computers in live performance since 1983. He later moved to San Francisco and then Tokyo, where he teaches at Chukyo University. ASUNA is a Japanese sound artist renowned for his sound installations (often using toys or keyboards such as…

Listen to the incredible new duo album from Carl Stone and ASUNA

Carl Stone is a composer and radio producer from Los Angeles. He studied composition at CalArts in the 1970s with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and is a pioneer of computer sampled music, having used computers in live performance…

3 months ago 4 0 0 0
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The Bug & Ghost Dubs – Implosion (PRESSURE) Look, this is a totally superficial comparison but let's entertain an idea that The Bug is playing at being The Beatles of dub techno here. Moving beyond the obvious entomological comparisons, I want to compare how Kevin "The Bug" Martin is moving into the latter years of his musical career and how The Beatles drifted apart in their later years. Because I think it's interesting to listen to this album in the way that one hears the specific Lennon or McCartney tracks in the twilight years of their partnership, as the contrasts between Martin and his collaborator Michael Fiedler seem similarly easy to identify.

The Bug & Ghost Dubs – Implosion (PRESSURE)

Look, this is a totally superficial comparison but let's entertain an idea that The Bug is playing at being The Beatles of dub techno here. Moving beyond the obvious entomological comparisons, I want to compare how Kevin "The Bug" Martin is moving into…

3 months ago 4 1 0 0