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Happy Bandcamp Friday everyone... well ... at least for now.
It's definitely a weird time to be sending this kind of an email given that they recently "joined" Epic Games. Who knows what's in store for the future. Certainly there are some unsettling thoughts floating around out there about the ramifications... but for now, they're still doing Bandcamp Fridays—which is far more than any of their streaming counterparts can say for themselves!
In the spirit of shifting the focus back to artists, I have a wonderful set of releases from my publicity clients listed below. Everything from stunning work within the Irish tradition to totally bonked jazz, and from sprawling outer reaches of contemporary music to beautiful drums and voice songs.
I also wanted to share that I recently participated in a great remix project for Machinefabriek, the details of which you'll find below.
I hope you're all hanging in there amidst everything that's afoot in the world currently.
Sending positive and musical enthusiasm,
Nick
R~M — OUT THIS FRIDAY
Ellen Gibling — The Bend in the Light
(CD/DL out TODAY)
Ellen Gibling's luminous new CD, The Bend in the Light casts the K'jipuktuk/ Halifax, Nova Scotia-based harpist as a dynamic new voice in the folk music landscape. In Gibling's capable hands, her instrument becomes a loom, as her unique and intricate arrangements serve to weave together an array of both traditional tunes and recent compositions—including some of her own. Gibling's singular vantage point within traditional Irish music can be attributed to her varied musical background which includes everything from performing in acclaimed improvised music quartet New Hermitage to a Master's Degree at the University of Limerick's Masters' Program in Traditional Irish Music. The album has already been featured on a number of radio programs including ones on the BBC and CBC. Meanwhile, Long-running Canadian site Textura calls it a "wonderful recording", remarking that "every one of the album's pieces possesses deep personal meaning for the harpist, but the authenticity of the writing and the sincerity with which it's delivered allows any human being to partake of its beauty." Meanwhile Celtic Life International Magazine calls it "an illumination of sorts," praising its "moving and memorable melodies that are certain to stroke listeners' souls."
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER HERE
Eldritch Priest — Omphaloskepsis
(2xLP/DL out TODAY on Halocline Trance)
It might seem tongue-in-cheek on the surface, but the fact that the title of Eldritch Priest's sprawling debut vinyl release, Omphaloskepsis, is the Greek translation for “navel-gazing” unlocks something essential to the Vancouver-based composer and writer's peculiar outlook.
This 2LP set from Toronto's Halocline Trance unfolds like attempting to meditate with a high fever. Any sense of tranquility is constantly derailed as one succumbs to queasy agitation. The piece's foundation is a seemingly endless guitar melody; an organic meander that becomes tangled with snarls of dense digital processing and shadowed by stumbling virtual “band.”
Priest's disorienting music has also been performed by top-tier interpreters such as the Arditti Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, Philip Thomas, Anton Lukoszevieze, and Continuum. Other collaborators of his include the likes of Eric Chenaux, Doug Tielli, Eric KM Clark, Heather Roche, and Rob Clutton.
Norman Records calls it "discombobulated, anxious and completely fascinating - a must-listen for any fan of experimental music."
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER FROM HALOCLINE TRANCE
R~M — COMING SOON!
Tania Gill Quartet — Disappearing Curiosities
(CD/DL out 11 March) PRE-ORDER NOW!
Tania Gill's name will undoubtedly be familiar to anyone that's been keeping a close eye on Toronto's jazz and experimental scenes over the past two decades. The Tania Gill Quartet launched their debut Bolger Station (Barnyard Records) in 2010 to numerous accolades including a nomination for ‘debut album of the year’ in The Village Voice jazz critics’ poll, and a spot on The Globe and Mail's top 10 discs of the year. Disappearing Curiosities, the band's follow up, continues to mine Gill's polar fascinations—pensive lyricism and playful angularity with new energy and maturity. Her group features Gill on piano & synthesizer alongside brilliant improvisers Lina Allemano (trumpet), Rob Clutton (bass), and Nico Dann (drums). David Tobocman of Esthetic Lens magazine says of it that "Her deft incorporation of modern classical elements in a jazz setting are some of the most thoughtful and moving examples of the potential presented by the hybrid of these two heady worlds."
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER NOW
Dolman / Rossy / Jobin — Are You Here To Help?
(CD/DL out 18 March) PRE-ORDER NOW!
Dolman / Rossy / Jobin is a Montreal-based experimental trio led by drummer, composer and lyricist Aaron Dolman, alongside vocalists Sarah Rossy and Eugénie Jobin. The group's unique, minimalistic instrumentation harnesses the expressive powers of percussion and the human voice as primordial conveyors of rhythm, melody, poetry and song.
Their eagerness to explore unfamiliar sounds and approaches is informed by a number of musical traditions, notably, Jazz, free improvisation, chamber music, Minimalism, the avant-garde and North American folk music. The result is a strikingly distinctive sound that feels both intimately familiar and refreshingly new. Noted podcast Free From Freakout praised the "unpredictable, improvised energy coursing through" the album.
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER NOW
Ansible Editions presents:
High Alpine Hut Network—727/16
Adams/ Dunn/ Haas — Future Moons
Brodie West Quintet — Meadow of Dreams
(LPs/DLs out 25 March) PRE-ORDER NOW!
  
Ansible Editions is a new Toronto-based label specializing in various mutations of Jazz. Their first three limited-edition releases emerge March 25th, 2022 and are as follows:
High Alpine Hut Network — 727/16 (Ansible Editions AE001)
This bug-eyed studio-based collective uses Teo Macero’s collagist approach to production as its jumping off point for two eccentric frayed extended jams. Includes appearances by fêted Canadian musicians such as Joseph Shabason, Robin Hatch and others. Raven Sings The Blues calls it " real deep level fever-sweat psych-jazz crust that needs to be felt"
Adams, Dunn, & Haas — Future Moons (Ansible Editions AE002)
This subgroup of Canadian free-fusion ensemble Cosmic Range includes MV+EE/ U.S. Girls collaborator Matthew “Doc” Dunn, and Tzadik Records alumnus, reed-player Andy Haas as well as ubiquitous Toronto musician Kieran Adams. Where their parent-group is more groove-driven and psychedelic, this collection might evoke Supersilent or Tangerine Dream’s wild early forays.
Brodie West Quintet — Meadow of Dreams (Ansible Editions AE003 / Astral Spirits AS191)
Acclaimed alto saxophonist and composer Brodie West has performed and recorded as a member of the Ex during their collaboration with Getatchew Mekuria, while working with the likes of Han Bennink, Hamid Drake, and US GIrls. This release follows the 2018 debut of this eccentric double-drummer quintet, Clips and Meadow of Dreams is a co-release with the venerable Astral Spirits. In the current issue of the Wire, Bill Meyer says : "Toronto based alto saxophonist Brodie West’s quintet make a strong case for the creative potential and emotional persuasiveness of idiomatically syntonic post-bop jazz. The ballads pull for intimacy and gravity, and the uptempo tracks open up into structurally unpredictable passages that test the ensemble’s rapport."
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER FROM ANSIBLE EDITIONS NOW
Instruments of Happiness — Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness
(CD/DL out 22 April from Redshift Records) PRE-ORDER NOW!
Montréal electric guitar ensemble Instruments of Happiness (led by composer/ guitarist Tim Brady) unveils their third release following a pair acclaimed discs for American imprint Starkland. Its title is quite descriptive of the music found on it; the works were all commissioned to be performed with the four guitarists scattered throughout a highly reverberant space. Yet there’s considerable variety found among its four compositions. Featuring acclaimed Canadian composers Rose Bolton, Andrew Staniland, Louise Campbell, and Andrew Noseworthy, the disc encompasses everything from plush sonic beds to elusive trickling textures, and from the unsettling to the sumptuous. Vital Weekly urges listeners to "hear the wondrous musical world created by these four splendid musicians guided by four excellent composers."
PREVIEW AND PRE-ORDER NOW
... FROM NICK STORRING
MACHINEFABRIEK — Prisma (Tactile Dub)
out Thursday March 3rd, 2022
Last year, I was invited to work on two different remixes, something which I have not done in some time. Given the acoustic/ electromechanical approach I've adopted for my studio-based music-making over the past decade, I decided to try and find a similar technique for remixing. As such when I was approached by Machinefabriek's Rutger Zuydervelt—who has been hugely supportive of my work over the past while—I decided that I would process all of his sounds using acoustic and electromechanical techniques. I did do some digital manipulation of the original track as well, but any electronically manipulated sounds were subsequently processed in the same way: using amps, talkbox, spring reverb, and, most of all, transducer speakers. These vibrating speakers were used to activate the resonance of a wide range of instruments as well as various objects.
The remix comes out on CD and digitally this Thursday alongside the original EP-length piece, and re-works by Phil Maguire and Matt Wand. I will have physical copies available shortly on my own Bandcamp but you can also purchase both iterations from Machinefabriek.
PURCHASE HERE
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Doug Tielli & Nick Fraser — In the Same Room (Rat-drifting)
Country Phasers — Country Phasers (Rat-drifting)
p2p — Impossible Burger (Rat-drifting)
Eric Chenaux — Say Laura (Constellation Records)
Ambroise — Bienvenue
Isaiah Ceccarelli — Toute clarté m'est obscure (Ambiances Magnétiques)
Nick Malkin — Nothing Blues (Mondoj)
For more recommendations, check out my collection (and wishlist) on Bandcamp : https://bandcamp.com/nickstorring
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