Winslow, Conrad – “Perfect Nothing Catalog, The” – [Innova Recordings]

Conrad Winslow is a composer working in Brooklyn from Alaska and has studied at NYU and Juilliard. The group is violin, flute, cello, and percussion. It’s got that fun silence silence silence then crash John Cage feel I personally enjoy. The whole thing is also a performance piece with costume and candles and choreographed ritual-like movements. Very brainy High Art kinda stuff.
-Billie Joe Tolliver

Vibracathedral Orchestra – “Live At Total Inertia” – [Vanity Case Records]

Side one is skronky improv. Side two is more springy and fairly-like. They have been jamming together since the 90s with founders being Neil Campbell, Michael Flower, Adam Davenport and others coming in and out. Real trippy pleasant sounds. This was live at the Total Inertia Festival in Leeds last year which is an experimental music festival. I can’t tell if it’s annual or not but last year the festival also had sometimes VO collaborator Bridget Hansen as well as Richard Dawson, Apostille, and FCKN’BSTRDS among many others.
- Billie Joe Tolliver

Odyssey Cult, The – “Vol. 1″ – [Silver Current]

Ethan Miller from Oakland! This album just came out. He also writes Sci Fi poetry.
Sounds like wailing guitar and jamming drums in a big empty echoey container. If one were to label the genre one might pick the word psych. Second side is very chill. Whole thing is excellent. On delicious cherry red vinyl.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Maju – “Maju-2″ – [Extreme]

Pronounced “may you” and is Japanese for cocoon. Group from Tokyo. Sounds like romantic spacey moody almost hip hop beats. Reminiscent of Lovage. Came out in 1999. One of those albums that’s too short.

Tapes and Topographies – “Signal to Noise” – [Simulacra Records]

This is Todd Gautreau. Came out this year. Sounds like field recordings, maybe childrens’ voices, strings, piano, probably both electronic and not electronic. Very droney.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

No Balls – “Second to Win First to Lose” – [Killedbyanaxe Records]

Lie! Lots of balls. Sweden and Norway by way of Paris. Album came out this year. Limited pressing. Sounds like grunge noise rock. Heavy guitar riffs. Artists are Brandsdal, Bryngelsson, Gurrik, Lauritzen, and Raberg. B side is chiller. Has horns! (?) It’s also not really three tracks, it’s just two. Both sides are 16:20.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Hocevar, Dre – “Transcendental Within The Sphere of Indivisible Remainder” – [Clean Feed]

Recorded last year. Jazz improv jam with Hocevar leading on drums, Fraser on bass, St. Louis on cello, Clarke on synth, Corren on piano, Rasmussen and Qu on sax, and Tevis on trumpet. Skronky crashy good time. 48 minutes long. Just strap in and enjoy.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Cage, John – “Litany For The Whale” – [Harmonia Mundi USA]

Cage at his Cageiest. Opera voices, spoken word, and chanting that reminds me of Catholic monks in New Mexico who put out an album of Latin chants. But this isn’t that. Lots of pregnant silences. Excruciating details in the liner notes and I still have no idea what is going on. But I don’t care because I love it.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

DK & The Perfectly Ordinary – “Car Dew Treat Us” – [Spool]

Jazzy releases by different artists all 4:33.
These are a blind collaborative interpretations of Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise. Spoken affirmations as facts dip in about one a piece.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Muslimgauze – “Hebron Massacre” – [Soleilmoon Recordings]

Muslimgauze is Bryn Jones from Manchester. This is a 25 min long piece that sounds like spiraling beats. Released in 1994. Called experimental and tribal. This piece is a response to the 1994 Hebron massacre which was carried out by an individual of the Israeli Kach movement at the Ibrahimi Mosque.
- Billie Joe Tolliver

Griffith, JP and Peters, H – “Experiment In Sound” – [Self Released]

Trippy guitar distorted/hip hop beats/spoken word/jazzy. Playful and creative. The sort of thing you make someone listen to and watch their reaction while it’s playing.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Glen Or Glenda/ Dinosaurs, Baseball & Hopscotch [coll] – [Cupid Is Stupid]

Glen or Glenda has been described as “jazz music for a horror movie” and I agree. They are Adrian Riffo, Christophe Ratier, Mathieu Fuster, Melody Gottardi.
Dinosaur, Baseball & Hopscotch is Clare Hubbard, Justin Clifford Rhody, Keith Wright Sounds like a slow grind. Horn drums and panting breathing beat boxing. Both noisy hippy jam freak outs. Really groovy.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Dempster, Stuart – “In The Great Abbey of Clement VI” – [New Albion]

This album came out thirty years ago. Bay area dude. He’s done a lot of important stuff like taught at Washington University and had fellowships. He is associated with the Deep Listening Institute founded by Pauline Oliveros This is three long minimal droney toney pieces. Horns on tracks 1 and 3 and didj on track 2. Absolutely delicious. Good for calming down or staying bummed out.
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Galbraith, Kole – “Alptraum” – [Self-released]

From Washington. Poem about birds and soft dark nights.
One 30 minute track sounds like humming. Drone. Ambient. High frequency. Guitar flickers and crackles and tones. Becomes more chaotic as it goes on.
– BJT

Subotnick, Morton – “Music For The Double Life of Amphibians” – [Wergo]

LA experimentalist. Long moody tracks from different times and recordings. Sounds like abstract stringed instruments. Some quiet moments. Mostly you can really zone out on this rollercoaster.
– BJT

Ikeda, Ryoji – “0 Degrees C” – [Touch]

Japanese sound scientist. Sounds like glitchy upload download fast forward symphony radar bloops chimes skipping static no signal. Short to medium tracks. Blends well so would recommend continuous play.
– BJT

Sammartano, Ray – “Dream Switch” – [Self-release]

Analog synth and public domains sounds.
Spacey sparkly pretty with some indecipherable low vocals.
From Eugene, Oregon.
- BJT

Bastard Noise / Brutalomania [coll] – [Skull Records]

Noisy oh my gosh and screaming vocals about veganism and animal rights. Good stuff. Brutalomania is a solo noise artist who has worked under many different aliases such as Cadaverizer Noise, Feral Squat, and Manuel M. Cubas.
Bastard Noise of course is a California group founded by Eric Wood, Henry Barnes, and WT Nelson. They’re discography is quite extensive. They have been making noise since the early 90s and have worked with countless other artists.
BJT

Thomas Carnacki – “Where’s My Love,My Eyes Are Gone,The Rains Are Coming” – [Alethiometer]

Limited edition printing.
Chickens. In stereo.
Humorous tuba.
Dedicated to those lost in Ghost Ship.
Made from a batch of 7″s he got in the mail and farm field recordings.
Veheug is dutch for “looking forward”
– Billie Joe Tolliver

Levitas, Asher – “Lit Harness” – [Planet Mu]

Previously of Old Apparatus and a collaborator with Michael Crowe. From London. This is his first solo album. He is also a video artist. Sounds like buzzing electronic ambient with rhythm. Pretty. Spacey. Pew pew laser guns. Engine. Ambient hazy details and wooshings. Said to be about his sleep paralysis.
– Billie Joe Tolliver