Dispatches from the Underground // January 2022, Vol. 3

New and Upcoming…Albums, Singles, EPs

Pete Murphy – Fantasy The Opiate / New solo album out now. Avant spoken word cut up poetry over a wonkily diverse musical backing. Written in 2 days. Recorded in a week. Mixed/mastered in a state of pain and confusion. Possibly the oddest album I’ve made. Very proud of it (h/t Wormhole World)

Robert Stillman – What Does It Mean to Be American? (Orindal Records)

Shark – Angelus Novus / Finally got around to releasing a little solo album. Vampy sound collage stuff – Oudwijn Records

Life Patterns – Bedroom Days

Cut Out –  Down The Line (Still Heat Recordings) / Followers and fellow admirers of the early 2000’s UK Wonk / Broken Beat scene will need no introduction to Cut Out’s (aka Paul Gannaway) work. Releasing a slew of sludgy broken electro and skronked up-beats & bass, on labels such as the mighty Ugly Funk , Nest and Werk – and performing notoriously chaotic sets at Ugly Funk nights at the infamous Elektrowerkz venue in London.

Bagaski – Dash (See Blue Audio) / thirtieth release on See Blue Audio, is out now on Bandcamp, Spotify and other streaming services, and digital download stores. Two aural landscapes and extended synthesizer pieces representing the process of transformation. (h/t Thomas Ragsdale)

Hopkirk – Magical Mystery Trip / Hopkirk is a sampling / recontextualization / storytelling wizard and I’m proud of his achievement – Binaural Space

Spaceship – Ravines (wiaiwya) / the new album from the ever-brilliant @spaceshipmark. Gorgeous haunting and atmospheric dronescapes – beautifully evocative of the landscapes they represent. The artwork is great too. Highly recommended – Stephen Bradbury

Lars Haur – Excruciate (Bent Window Records) / It’s a loud and distorted exploration of my love for noise and extreme metal

Ian Manire – Sketches / reminder that this is great & you owe it to yourself to listen & get it – A Journey of Giraffes

the modern folk – improsivations and overlays for prepared guitar

Sangam – Hope You Don’t Leave (Decaying Spheres) / a journey of emotion, the title is self-explanatory. Thoughts of you leaving haunts me in ways you can never imagine. I see our connection like a scene of a film unfinished. Hearts beat and welp at the same time

molven – Haze (rohs! records) / Soft ambient textures. Ghostly vocals, gliding over slowed beats. On the edge. Layered, almost fragile. Tactile. Yet distant. “fluctuation without movement” – Disruptive Rhythms Electronic Music Radio

New and Upcoming Compilations

ELECTRONIC KUMOKO cloudchild (Kumoko) /  22- track electronica comp with Carlos Niño, Rob Mazurek, Jamael Dean, Takashi Kokubo, etc. – Bill Barnett

Listening Recommendations from the Past / Months Prior

Boris Divider – Digital Mind (Satamille Records NYC) / Found some really nice electro here – Thomas Ragsdale

Tarotplane – Horizontology (12th Isle) (h/t Mike Mannix)

Everyday Dust – Mosscillators / Such expert mastery of …well, everything. Sinister tropical vibes for the first half, all sorts of weird rhythms and textures. Then into some slower more ominous drone-age. Superb work – Polypores

2021 Label Sampler from Take This to Heart Records

Compilation Vol. 2 (Mystery Circles) / have u tried our 2nd comp? / some wax still left!

Reading…Blogs

The Capsule Garden, Vol 1.2: January 21, 2022 (via Foxy Digitalis)

Fresh newsletter from Elizabeth Crompton

Reading…Books

Jonathan M. Katz – Gangsters of Capitalism (h/t Immune to Boredom)