Experimentalist Phew Pushes Forward by Crawling Deep Inside on ‘New Decade’
Phew’s voice on New Decade is an instrument often disconnected from lyrics. Its job is supplemental to the amorphous tones she invokes from electronics.
Bruce Miller
Bruce earned an MFA in fiction from Goddard College. He teaches college-level composition and literature. He has traveled, documenting music from India, Uganda, Ghana, Senegal, Vietnam, and elsewhere. He's published in Magnet, Rootsworld, Signal to Noise, The Old Time Herald, and The Oxford American.
Jana Rush’s ‘Painful Enlightenment’ Exists on Footwork’s Outer Edges
Jana Rush’s new album addresses mental health issues and exists gingerly on footwork’s outer edges, suggesting the genre without quite hardening into it.
Maxine Funke Whispers the Commonplace Into the Unexpected on ‘Seance’
To take in Maxine Funke’s music is to slow time down, watch a spider methodically envelop its catch for the day, or marvel at a flower on an okra plant.
Electronic Producer Ziúr Conjures an Unsettling Utopia on ‘Antifate’
As we wobble out of a nightmarish pandemic, Ziúr’s Antifate might be the soundtrack to our awkward efforts to wipe the cobwebs from our wings.
Dâm-Funk Creates a Form of Funk Ambient on ‘Architecture III’
Dâm-Funk creates funk as ambience on Architecture III, the blunter edges chiseled, the song structure replaced by trance-inducing not-quite-dancefloor minimalism.
Goat Girl’s ‘On All Fours’ Is Amazingly Gorgeous
What we have on Goat Girl's On All Fours are some hazy but deeply unsettling observations, carried along effortlessly on a bed of delirious voices, sailing over music quieter, slicker, and tighter than that on their debut.
J Dilla’s ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’ Pointed the Way to 21st Century Hop-Hop
J Dilla's Welcome 2 Detroit announced where hip-hop could go in the 21st century. This reissue, expanded and spread over 12 seven-inch records, with a book that tells the whole story, reveals just how crucial an album it remains.
Son Lux’s ‘Tomorrows II’ Has Added Resonance After the Capitol Riot
If there's a narrative arc to the Tomorrows trilogy, the upcoming final volume may not offer more than a cautious hope. Yet, such precariousness produces Son Lux's most probing, gorgeous music.
The Bug and Dis Fig Soundtrack Lockdown with ‘In Blue’
On In Blue, the Bug and Dis Fig have created music to dance to while being sucked into a black hole. It only seems fitting that LP cover shoes a grainy, black and white photo of a tunnel.
The Fall’s ‘The Frenz Experiment’ Gets an Expanded Edition
A more complete picture of the band's period output does wonders for the Fall's The Frenz Experiment.
Tolouse Low Trax’s ‘Jumping Dead Leafs’ Is Coated in Dank Grooves
Detlef Weinrich's latest release as Tolouse Low Trax, Jumping Dead Leafs, is covered in such infectious, dank, thudding grooves that force the body to deal with them.