brainwashed

New music is due this week from Jason Urick, Porcelain Raft, and Leila.

In their third collaboration, Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto go for a more conceptual approach:  Sakamoto recorded 24 piano improvisations to open concerts during a Japanese tour, each within a different key.  These 24 pieces were then handed over to Fennesz, who added his touch to them.  The result is a compelling, if sprawling, work of gentle improvisation.

This archival release, captured live in Philadelphia, is a valuable companion piece to the previous Bardo Pond and Tom Carter session, 4/23/03, which was originally released on CD nine years ago, and is receiving a vinyl reissue this week. It is a joy to hear another side of Carter and Bardo Pond playing together, this time in a live setting.

Craig Tattersall and Andrew Hargreaves are The Boats, a UK duo that have an exceptional ability to mix abstract electronics, shoegaze drones, and jazz-influenced acoustic drumming into a singular work that sounds like no one else.  The small symphonies and genre hopping on here are simply brilliant and unique.

New music for 2012 featuring All the Saints, Mi and L'Au, Tetras, Windy and Carl, Masaki Batoh, Ghost, Reformed Faction, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, A Place To Bury Strangers, Portraits, Disappears, Dirty Three, and Matt Elliott PLUS the final nail in the coffin of 2011, featuring music by The Field, Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand + Aluk Todolo, Pyramids, Taylor Deupree, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Fennesz, Steve Hauschildt, Skullflower, Superpitcher, and Tim Hecker.

Natural Snow Buildings seem to be currently locked in a rhythm in which they release one truly monster album each year and Solange Gularte's latest solo effort seems to have possibly secured that honor for 2012 right out of the gate.  More remarkable than the album's quality, however, is how restless and adventurous Solange has been in tweaking her sound.  This sounds almost nothing at all like her last album (2010's Modlitewnik) and makes some bold and somewhat surprising changes to her expected aesthetic.

Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti should require no introduction to Brainwashed's readers. Members of Throbbing Gristle, purveyors of fine electronic music under the names Chris & Cosey, CTI, and Carter Tutti and dedicated solo artists; there is not much out there that they have not had a stab at. John Kealy asked them about the recent Throbbing Gristle reissues, their current projects and the changing state of acceptability in art.

I basically enjoyed Williams' acclaimed 2009 dark ambient opus Perdition Hill Radio, but did not find it especially revelatory or unique.  This follow-up is an entirely different story though: The Resurrections Unseen marks a huge compositional leap forward.  As expected, the mood is similarly blackened and ominous, but this effort is significantly more focused, artfully structured, visceral, and slow-burning than its predecessor: this is a rumbling, album-length plunge into the void rather than a mere series of crackling and brooding soundscapes.   Fowler Collins has delivered an instant genre classic.

Ben Chasny, the sole creative force behind the scorched-earth folk music of Six Organs of Admittance, and Elisa Ambrogio, the snarling frontwoman of Magik Markers, have come together to form 200 Years. Their debut record is ten songs of hushed, pretty, and occasionally lackluster voice and acoustic guitar.

Blending psychedelia, occultism and a YouTube sense of filmmaking, Shazzula’s Black Mass Rising is an arduous yet rewarding trip through the borderlands of the mind. With no dialogue and no plot, she shows us a procession of vaguely related tableaus all presented with one of the best soundtracks I have heard in years (featuring pretty much every band I would consider essential when it came to doing a soundtrack for a film called Black Mass Rising).

This is the Brainwashed Readers Poll. Once again the Brainwashed Readers participated in the nominations and the voting rounds, and here we are with what has resulted. The writers don't all necessarily agree with the placement and rankings, but we have our last word in the comments we have provided.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the rounds and we wish everyone the best for 2012.

As the least prolific member of Cleveland kosmische collective Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt's first widely available (and officially pressed) solo release is long overdue. Recorded over three years, and released on Kranky in late 2011, the album is a twinkling gem—an hour's worth of vintage, Berlin-style electronics and ambience.