Category: ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Samuel Blaser / Marc Ducret / Peter Bruun’s “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground”
Everest. Kilimanjaro. Fuji. Some mountains just have to be climbed, no matter what. Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was The Night,

Essential New Music: Simon Joyner’s “Coyote Butterfly”
Not everything that Simon Joyner sings is autobiographical, but it’s always true. The Omaha-based singer and guitarist has spent the

Essential New Music: Tashi Dorji’s “We Will Be Wherever The Fires Are Lit”
Instrumental music has its limits as a way of advocating for social change, and Tashi Dorji knows this. But he

Essential New Music: Cleared’s “Hexa”
Cleared is a Chicago duo with fixed personnel but a morphing modus operandi. When Michael Vallera and Steven Hess started

Essential New Music: Bardo Pond’s “Melt Away”
Double-LP compilation Melt Away has been released in tandem with Matador’s 25th anniversary reissue of Bardo Pond’s Set And Setting. It comprises one

Essential New Music: Brandon Seabrook’s “Object Of Unknown Function”
Brandon Seabrook is not a reluctant solo performer. Besides his various ensembles and appearances with other musicians, he keeps up

Essential New Music: Lina Allemano’s Ohrenschmaus’ “Flip Side”
Ohrenschmaus is a German word that signifies a feast for the ears, and the title of the latest album by

Essential New Music: The Hard Quartet’s “The Hard Quartet”
The Hard Quartet would like you to know that this is not a project, it’s a band. But what kind

Essential New Music: Stefan Christensen’s “In Time”
It’s time, quite literally, for Stefan Christensen to come clean. Previous recordings by the denizen of New Haven, Conn., have

Essential New Music: BASIC’s This Is BASIC
BASIC began when Philadelphians Chris Forsyth and Nick Millevoi spent some of their COVID downtime talking about records. Among their

Essential New Music: Theoxenia’s “(Adventures In) Stasis”
While the name of this album implies immobility, the record itself will not be confined. It first appeared in 2022

Essential New Music: Amy Rigby’s “Hang In There With Me”
From connection comes meaning, but also pain. This album’s title words “Hang in there with me” come from third track

Essential New Music: Bilders’ “Dustbin Of Empathy”
Wandering poet. Novelist whose work has been translated into Serbian. Gladiator opposing the efforts of New Zealand’s national library to

Essential New Music: Dave Rempis / Tashi Dorji Duo’s “Gnash”
Poly-saxophonist (he’s up to four now) Dave Rempis and electric guitarist Tashi Dorji are hardly strangers. With their trio Kuzu