Marina Rosenfeld; Plastic Materials, Eric La Casa, Zone Sensible 2 / Dundee 2

Room 40 was the name given to the old Navy cryptological unit in World War 1, charged with turning the fragments of sound picked up from German warships into something that made sense. The artists on the Room 40 label do, er, likewise, taking some noises that many would consider unpromising at best, and turning them into something much more listenable. These two latest releases are a case in point: Marina Rosenfeld’s Plastic Materials (from late 2009) and the new album from Eric La Casa, which has the somewhat cumbersome title of Zone Sensible 2 / Dundee 2.

Borealis at Out Hear, Kings Place, 25/01/10

I’ve got to take my hat off to Kings Place for the audacious set of events they are using to encourage people to visit their glass palace on Monday nights. The Out Hear series hands over the curatorial reins to artists and composers from the more experimental end of the musical spectrum, taking in contemporary classical, free improvisation and electronic composition. Tonight’s lineup was in the hands of the equally free-thinking organisers of Norway’s Borealis festival (9-13 March in Bergen), resulting in an eclectic selection showcasing some of that country’s musical mavericks, headlined by the mighty MoHa.

Nico Muhly and the Britten Sinfonia at the Roundhouse, 24/01/10

A couple of days ago Nico Muhly posted a rant on his blog about how London was a complete logistical nightmare, how Londoners were too accepting of this fact, and how they just shouldn’t take it any more, god damn it. What a load of rubbish, I thought. How dare these New Yorkers come over to London and traduce our fine city just because they don’t happen to know the best places to eat/drink/get free wi-fi within 100 metres of every tube station in Zone 1. However, as I stood in the pissing rain waiting for a rail replacement bus service to ferry me up to the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm (the Northern Line having been crudely disembowelled at Camden Town), glancing anxiously at my watch as the scheduled 7.30 start time loomed ever nearer, I began to think he may have had a point. Revolutionary thoughts began to foment in my mind, imagining myself marching on city hall with a flaming pitchfork and an Evening Standard-sponsored “TF-HELL” placard, desperately trying not to set one on fire with the other. But then the bus came, and I forgot all about it.

Chicago Underground Duo, Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey)

I must admit that while I attended a respectable number of concerts, I didn’t do terribly well at keeping up with jazz records last year. Only a trickle of new releases reached my ears, and most of those right towards the year’s end; impressive albums by young artists like Steve Lehman, Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer, along with new landmarks posted by some of the old pioneers like Henry Threadgill and Bill Dixon. Perhaps I should view this thrilling early 2010 missive from the Chicago Underground collective as a reminder to do better this year.

Richard Skelton, Landings (Type)

“Hill and bone. Skin and heather. A memory is nothing more than this. Nothing more than touch. Pressed forms in the cold, grey earth, and the river, ever yielding”

Albums by Richard Skelton are so bound up with context and circumstance that the act of writing about them as mere musical artefacts seems somehow to diminish them. And nothing I’ve written about to this point has ever felt less like a mere musical artefact than his new album. Landings is the long awaited culmination of an extensive exploration of Anglezarke on the West Pennine moors, in which he accumulated scraps of music, poetry and history – as well as bones and barbed wire. It is released on CD and double LP, but the accompanying limited-run book (a fragmented diary of the process, of personal reminiscences, of census data and associated trove) is an equal part. Whereas the background to Skelton’s work has previously been unsaid and implied, here it is set upfront, as we are made to participate in this powerful, at times almost ritualistic, study of death and decay, of grief and letting go, of rebirth and transformation, of landscapes and lifetimes and- above all – of the (im)permanence of the collective memory.

Daniel Menche, Kataract (Editions Mego)

Editions Mego has always been at the wilder edge of the musical spectrum, but their recent releases have really pushed the boat out in this respect. Right out into the middle of a particularly turbulent lake. Russell Haswell’s Wild Tracks album from late last year showcased his own brand of field recordings, but with tracks entitled “Ant Colony Featuring Eurofighter Typhoon F2 Flyby” and “A Horde Of Flies Feast On A Rotting Pheasant”, Chris Watson it clearly wasn’t. With his first solo release for Mego/eMego, Daniel Menche has come up with a nature-based concept so perfect that you can’t help but think that someone must surely have already done this: Kataract is a noise album based on recordings of waterfalls.

Arctic Circle, Explorers Club

I sometimes wonder when Ben Eshmade lets his penguin workers sleep. For those unfamiliar with Ben and his feathered team, they are behind all the Arctic Circle concerts in London. The Daylight Music sessions in the Union Chapel. The forthcoming Bubbly Blue and Green festival in Kings Place. The Arctic Circle That Fuzzy Feeling compilations. The Arctic Circle Radio podcasts. And now the Explorers Club series. A collaboration with LOAF recordings, these are 12 download-only singles, featuring the likes of Minotaur Shock, Johan Johannson, Sons Of Noel And Adrian, Janek Schafer, Haushcka and Nils Frahm. Along with the singles, you get some lovely screen-printed stuff featuring – inevitably – penguins.

Celer, Close Proximity and the Unhindered Care-All (SRA); In Escaping Lakes (Slow Flow); Pockets Of Wheat (Soundscaping)

After the sad and sudden death of Celer’s Danielle Baquet-Long last year, you would have been forgiven for thinking that as far as the group was concerned, that was, well, that. Not so. At that time there were still around 25 Celer albums in some form or another awaiting release, and Danielle’s husband and musical partner Will Long will have his work cut out for some time yet finding a suitable home for them. What is more surprising is that – especially given the volume of material – the quality of the albums that have since seen the light of day has been as high as ever. If not even higher.

A return to Type…

The gLASSsHRIMP radio show returns to Resonance FM on Wednesdays from 9.30-11pm. Which must mean tonight. Gulp. I’ll be doing weekly themed features at around 10pm each week, starting with one tonight on the estimable Type Records, playing a selection of tracks from their new and forthcoming releases, as well as new work from some artists closely associated withthe label. You can find Resonance FM on 104.4FM in London, or by streaming it from the web.

BJ Nilsen, The Invisible City (Touch)

In recent years, Christian Fennesz and Philip Jeck may have stolen the critical plaudits for the Touch label, but arguably the label’s most vital artist is Stockholm’s BJ Nilsen. His diverse interests have led him into collaborate with the UK’s premier sound recordist Chris Watson, and with Icelandic experimentalists Stillupsteypa and cellist Hildur Gudnadottir. It is in his solo work, both on record and in concert, that he has brought all this together, fusing field recordings with electronics to create coherent works focusing on the interface between humans and nature. And, particularly in the case of new album The Invisible City, with technology.