Music catch-up 2020
A selection of albums and EPs that I didn't get a chance to rave about but definitely deserve your love
Kicking off my year-end round-up of everything electronic and music, here's a few of the releases that resonated with me but I didn't shout about much. All well worth digging in to.
zakè - Orchestral Studies Collectanea
Sweeping orchestral movements tempered with blissful electronic synths from Zach Frizzell.
Made For Humans - Made For Humans
More under appreciated Ambient music, mainly piano and strings, from Stefan Olsdal (from 90s band Placebo) and shady figure Digital 21.
Toàn - Volta No Vento
Another superb music + book package from the IIKKI label. Delicate, contemplative, surprising and more-ish.
Lisa Lerkenfeldt - Collagen
Experimental sound artist Lisa Lerkenfeldt makes music that can ruffle, rouse and remedy. I really enjoyed her EP The Speed Of Images from last year and was smitten on hearing Collagen.
Ezra Feinberg & John Kolodij - S/T
Multi-instrumental split EP from two talented musicians, take you on a spooky and animated journey. Beautiful!
Francis Theberge & Hendekagon - Trimmed, Trammed & Truncated
From the man behind the Adventurous Music label (Hendekagon) and Francis Theberge, a collaboration that veers towards the more contemplative side of the Experimental Ambient music.
Silvia Tarozzi - Mi specchio e rifletto
You may remember I made Al cancello a tune of the moment when this album was released. It's a superb collection of poetry set to song about "love, motherhood and the mystery hidden behind the curtain of everyday life".
Forest Robots - After Geography
Using his love of the outdoors and his daughter as inspiration, here's an album of quiet, jazzy noodling, haunting and soothing in equal measure.
Overcast Sound - Fleuves
The opening track on this three track album is simply superb (and the rest ain't bad either). Continuing afloat his water-based themes, Michael Pettit invites us on a meandering journey past the ox-bow lakes.
amnfx - Audrey
Vasily Skobeev is a prolific artist but the quality rarely drops and Audrey, his fifth album (he's actually released two more since!) is a collection of lo-fi jams that prod and poke subtly.
Hilary Woods - Birthmarks
Following up a sublime album like Colt was always going to be a major challenge, so rather than outdo herself, Hilary Woods turned left field and introduced a bold element of electronic experimentation to an otherwise acoustic, singer/songwriter style. It mostly works too, but the influence of experimental noise producer and filmmaker Lasse Marhaug occasionally turns things too dark.
Ocoeur - Everything
Franck Zaragoza returned with a fleeting six-tracker, not an album or an EP but one of these new breed of tasting menu releases™ where textured Ambient sounds, cathartic rhythms and melancholy melodies combined in perfect unison.