reviews of contemporary underground psych, drone, sound art, and electronic/experimental music from the fringes
France, “Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts” (the state51 conspiracy, 2026)
This latest live album from this “legendary hurdy-gurdy-powered kraut/psych/folk/drone band” captures an impressively raw, fiery, and thoroughly trance-inducing performance at state51 Conspiracy’s East London headquarters. In fact, it is damn […]
Water Is The Sun, “Ritual Fever” (Trome/Tocco Magico, 2026)
After a handful of digital and cassette-only releases, this duo of Mkl Anderson (Drekka) & Adam Parks (lightning white bison) celebrate the project’s vinyl debut with their finest album to […]
Terrence Dixon, “When Stars Remember” (Tresor, 2026)
This latest EP from the veteran Detroit techno producer feels like a killer outlier of sorts, as Dixon notes that he set out to make a louder, more dance floor-targeted […]
Caterina Barbieri & Bendik Giske, “At Source” (light-years, 2026)
I am always skeptical of collaborations between two solo artists with cool and unique visions, as the result is usually an underwhelming compromise or a collection of half-baked edits of […]
James Blackshaw, “Fractures On The Horizon” (Self-Released, 2026)
Back in 2016, this British fingerstyle supernova publicly announced that he was taking a hiatus from music due to the financial pressures of surviving as a working/touring musician, but he […]
Mike Majkowski, “Invisible” (Hands in the Dark, 2025)
This Australian double bassist has quietly become one of my favorite minimalists over the last few years, as he has perfected a signature strain of austere, slow-burning soundscapes that occupy […]
Rat Heart, “Dancin’ in the Streets” (Modern Love, 2025)
I don’t know a hell of a lot about the inscrutable Tom Boogizm other than the fact that he is based in Manchester and runs the Shotta Tapes label, but […]
The Inward Circles, “Shadow Reflex” (Corbel Stone Press, 2026)
This latest full-length from the darkest and most intense of Richard Skelton’s many guises is quite accurately billed as the project’s most hostile and percussive release to date. That is […]