Risil, Non Meters Volume 1 (Important)

The supergroup, eh? Who wants to have the product of months’ worth of ego-heavy circlejerk rammed down their throats? Well, me: I’m more than willing to have a taste (come back, come back, I’m not extending this distasteful metaphor any further) if the participants include Guillermo Herren (Prefuse 73), Tyondai Braxton (Battles), John McEntire (Tortoise), Zach Hill (Hella), Alejandra Deheza (School Of Seven Bells), Eva Puyuelo Muns (Savath and Savalas), Laurence Pike (Triosk), and Eric Clapton (Derek and the Dominoes). No hang on, that can’t be right. Laurence Pike is in Pivot.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan and Kasai Allstars at The Barbican, 26/07/09

I’ve been told by a few people who don’t live here that “London is no place to bring up children”, which has always struck me as an odd thing to say. The park? The zoo? The river? The lido? For a start, If I’d had those things as a child, and the weather to enjoy them, I’d probably not be the sort of person who wastes his time indoors pontificating on the internet about what people with children do when I don’t have any of my own. And then there is the Barbican. This weekend was one of their “Do Something Different” affairs, with all sorts of events taking place throughout the building, from sandpits to walks to butterfly-making to energetic world music concerts on the free stage. I was more than a little jealous of all those little ones who were being introduced to hip-hop trumpet troupes and goggling at Indian fire-eaters, and the gleeful look on their faces would probably be a far better review than you’ll find here. Fuck me, what a lot of soppy crap that intro is. I need to listen to more metal, obviously.

Max Bondi, M; Quinta, My Sister, Boudicca (both Tartaruga)

It had been a while since I had heard the satisfying whump noise that a Tartaruga release makes when it falls through the door. Their hand-assembled silk-screen printed and sewn thick cardboard sleeves feel like the anti-jewel case, a gesture of love – love for the music as well as for the listener. This aesthetic, this painstaking cobbling together from natural and unusual sources, things at hand and things exotic, extends to the music – as is delightfully shown by two new releases from Max Bondi and Quinta.

Haruki, To Humble A Nest; Billy Gomberg, Days (both The Land Of)

The Land Of label’s mission is “to explore the beauty and detail of everyday sounds”. A series of delicate, intricate releases by the likes of My Fun, Asher and Green Kingdom have seen them carve a chair out of wood and pull up to the table currently occupied by the likes of 12k. So what everyday sounds will we find on this new pair of records by Haruki and Billy Gomberg?

The Thing, Bag It (Smalltown Superjazzz)

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH (gasp) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH (gasp) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (gasp!) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (GASP!) eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee THONK-THONK THONK-THONK THONK-THONK THONK-THONK crack-crack-crack-crackity-crackity-thump BRRRRRWWWWWAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRRRR

Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent (Honest Jons); Vladislav Delay, Tummaa (Leaf)

Even if he made rubbish records, I’d at least have to give him some credit: didn’t Moritz von Oswald look quite the dandy on the cover of last month’s issue of The Wire magazine? Now there is a man who knows how to accessorise. Of course he makes nothing of the sort: his crisp dub releases under the Rhythm & Sound name would be matchless were it not for his recent classical/techno collaboration with Carl Craig, Recomposed, and now this new release as part of his trio, Vertical Ascent. The trio includes longtime collaborator Max Loderbauer, as well as the great multi-monikered Finn Sasu Ripatti/Vladislav Delay – another man unafraid to wear a cravat in the pages of The Wire. Tummaa, Delay’s new set of designs for the house of Leaf makes a very different statement, but with no less elegance.

Mark Templeton, Inland (Anticipate)

Mark Templeton’s last release Standing On A Hummingbird had me rummaging around in the box of adjectives I normally reserve to describe Fennesz records. Those two artists have since turned their back on each other, musically speaking, with the Austrian marching off into much darker and denser forests, and the Canadian heading into lighter, sun-dappled fields. In a recent release with aA Munson entitled Acre Loss Templeton edged at times towards more ambient field recording territory, while his new album Inland feels somewhat warmer and more organic than his debut.

The Village Orchestra, I Can Hear The Sirens Singing (Highpoint Lowlife); Erstlaub, Broadcasting On Ghost Frequencies (Moving Furniture)

Owing to the incredible summer weather, I haven’t been overindulging in my typical diet of frosty electronic drones. It has all been lite reggae and salsa-flavoured hip-hop round here. Honest. Trust the Highpoint Lowlife bunch to tempt me back to the dark side. Ruaridh Law, (The Village Orchestra), has enlisted the help of fellow HPLL artists Dave Fyans (Erstlaub) and Dave Donnelly (Production Unit), as well as fellow sonic mischief-makers Tom Scholefield (Konx-om-Pax) and Chris Dooks (Chris Dooks…hang on, is that right? Anyone want to invent a pseudonym for him?) to create I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again, while Fyans’s new solo work Broadcasting On Ghost Frequencies has found a home on the Moving Furniture label.

Marshall Allen at Cafe Oto, 06/07/09

First of all, apologies for the fact that this is only half a review – however it was so very nearly no review at all. It was at 7pm yesterday evening when, idly checking updates from Tour De France riders on Twitter, I happened upon the following simple, unadorned tweet: “Marshall Allen tonight at Café Oto”. That was posted by the Room 40 label, not by Lance Armstrong or Carlos Sastre, although that would have been pretty amazing; albeit less amazing than the Sun Ra Arkestra entering Le Tour. Marshall Allen? I thought. At Oto? Hang on, I’m pretty bloody sure I have tickets for this! And so I did, so tossed my half-finished game of Twitter to the floor and travelled the spaceways (aka Victoria line and the number 30 bus) to Dalston.

Win tickets to Hiromi + Yaron Herman Trio + Tineke Postma Quartet at the Barbican on 10th July

On Friday 10th July 2009, three exciting young acts will be playing at the Barbican, and you can win tickets by answering a reeeeaaaaaally simple question.