Arooj Aftab Unleashes Moody, Nocturnal Bliss on ‘Night Reign’
Arooj Aftab’s Night Reign is filled with dark, mysterious corners and an intoxicating blend of jazz and her Pakistani roots with stunning results.
minimalism
Explosions in the Sky’s ‘The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place’ at 20
The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is Explosions in the Sky’s most acclaimed album, establishing themselves as figureheads of epic, instrumental post-rock.
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NYC’s Underground Scene: ‘This Must Be the Place’
Music may be the glue of every NYC underground scene This Must Be the Place covers, but Jesse Rifkin’s primary interest is in the community held together by that glue.
The Nuanced History Eluvium’s Many Clockwork Fables
Ambient maestro Matthew Robert Cooper (Eluvium) is two decades into his career, and on his latest LP, overcomes surprising obstacles physical and geographical.
Erik Hall Creates Minimalist Compositions with Warm Beauty on ‘Canto Ostinato’
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Erik Hall shares his second installment of a trilogy with a tribute to Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt on Canto Ostinato.
Faten Kanaan Revels in Ever-Molting Textures on ‘Afterpoem’
Faten Kanaan’s musical molting feels more organic than the repetition in Steve Reich or Philip Glass; her music doesn’t rely on an unwavering framework for effect.
Phillip Golub Gives Processed-Based Composition an Uncommon Warmth on ‘Filters’
Approached as neo-classical minimalist jazz, Filters is a triumphant solo debut from Phillip Golub and another fascinating album from greyfade.
Greg Davis Dives Into Compositional Properties of Prime Numbers with ‘New Primes’
On New Primes, Vermont experimentalist Greg Davis explores process-based composition, with a little help from a record label that revels in the concept.
Yann Tiersen’s ’11 5 18 2 5 18′ Is Surprising and Entrancing
11 5 18 2 5 18 makes it sound like Yann Tiersen has been dabbling in deeply abstract instrumental synthesizer mood music for decades. Yes, he pulls it off.
Jessica Pavone’s ‘…of Late’ Is a Bold, Tense Contemporary String Ensemble Composition
Composer and violist Jessica Pavone continues to explore the tactile and sensorial experience of music as a vibration-based medium on ...of Late.
Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer Build a New Sense of place on ‘Recordings From the Åland Islands’
Recordings From the Åland Islands goes beyond soundscape ambience and utopian visions of isolation and delves into the living connections between people, place, and sound.
Christopher Otto and JACK Quartet Imbue Music with Mathematics on ‘rag’sma’
Christopher Otto and experimental string ensemble JACK Quartet apply the concept of “just intonation” to create a stirring, intense triple string quartet.