Ben Frost, Teeth Of The Sea and Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides at The Luminaire, 30/05/10

One of the most unmissable, if unlikely, menus that the Luminaire has ever offered paired two of the acts currently near the top of my most-desperately-wanting-to-see list (how did they know?) as irresistible starter and un-turndownable dessert, and threw in some proggy palette cleanser between those courses. My current obsession with Sheffield’s Singing Knives label means that I was probably more excited than most in the crowd at seeing the improbably named Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides (hereafter, inevitably, PWHMOBS), while Ben Frost’s extraordinary By The Throat was one of every right-thinking person’s albums of 2009. It was an evening that was ultimately to prove to be incendiary, in every sense of the word.

Jóhann Jóhannsson, Greg Haines and Nils Frahm at St Giles-in-the-fields, 27/05/10

I love London history, and this place has A LOT of London history. Since its inception, St Giles-in-the-fields has been closely linked with London’s most unfortunate. A church of some sort has been in this location since 1101, when it was part of a leper hospital. The current building dates back to the 1700s, when it was situated in the middle of one of the most desperately poor rookeries in London, and it was a stopping point for carts carrying condemned men on their way to the gallows at Tyburn. But when I saw the lineup for this gig, then saw where it was taking place, I began to feel like one of London’s unfortunates myself. For I really do still bear the mental scars from the first time I came, for that performance by Tony Conrad in St Giles-in-the-fields a few years back, when he played a seemingly never-ending set of minimalist violin. Despite all that history, and all its character, and its acoustics, the venue – hard pews, one toilet, no refreshments – really isn’t designed for such an endurance test. Yet, back I came, for another evening in these most unforgiving of seats, to see this Arctic Circle-promoted event, featuring the considerable combined talents of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Greg Haines and Nils Frahm. I’m so glad I did.

Kevin Drumm, Necro Acoustic (Picadisk)

Lasse Marhaug’s Picadisk label seems to be on a mission to release great box sets which showcase the work of some of the leading proponents of noise. Not content with devoting 4 discs to Government Alpha, 10 to Incapacitants and 4 to Lasse Marhaug himself, they have now issued this ESSENTIAL 5 disc set which collects together some rare and unreleased material from the oeuvre of Chicago’s Kevin Drumm. Necro Acoustic spans the whole of Drumm’s career, with recordings from 1996 to 2009, and covers the full range of styles he has excelled in, from the brutality of his Mego work to the dark glistening of the recent pair on Hospital Productions – and much more.

Jan Bang, …And Poppies From Kandahar (Samadhisound)

The name Jan Bang is one that I’ve been coming across a lot in recent years in a variety of collaborative contexts. His live sampling featured on last year’s album by Jon Hassell, Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street, on Hamada by Nils Petter-Molvaer, as well as the previous year’s Cartography by Arve Henriksen. He is also one half of the Punkt duo with Erik Honore, who record together and run the annual Punkt festival in Norway. All four of these musicians, as well as a number of the others who played on those albums, appear on Jan Bang’s excellent new solo album And Poppies From Kandahar on David Sylvian’s samadhisound label.

Tim Hecker, Chihei Hatakeyama, Machinefabriek and Simon Scott at Cafe Oto, 18-19 May 2010

I had no idea what Tim Hecker looked like before the start of this two day residency at Cafe Oto, and given that he played in darkness by the sound desk on both nights, I could probably have walked past him in the street afterwards without batting an eyelid. But that may be the least mysterious thing about Tim Hecker. Far more difficult to comprehend is the strange power his music has, walking an unfathomable emotional path between euphoria and distress.

Pekko Käppi, Vuonna ’86 (Singing Knives)

I first saw Finland’s Pekko Käppi a few years back playing in support of Richard Youngs in London. Whilst obviously coming from very different backgrounds, both shared an interest in ancient musical forms – Youngs at the time seemed to be reaching back into British folk music, and Käppi was performing on the jouhikki, an old Finnish-karelian lyre. Käppi’s new album has now appeared on one of the country’s most interesting labels, and one with a strong interest in records which take traditional music and instruments and put them in new and disorientating contexts.

Emeralds interview

“It seems that very few people appreciate the beauty of the cross-referencing built into music and elsewhere. Once you can tap into it genres literally disappear and it no longer becomes necessary to define anything.”

If you want to read all three members of Emeralds cheerfully meeting my inane and seemingly never-ending questions (about their new album, the Editions Mego label, their synth set-ups, hypnagogic pop, and their love for Tangerine Dream and Robert Ashley) with interesting and insightful answers, you really should head over to FACT magazine. Sadly I cannot claim any responsibility for that “Jewel purpose” headline.

Wildbirds and Peacedrums, “Bleed Like There Was No Other Flood” video

I played this track, the lead track from the new Retina EP, for the first time as part of a Leaf label feature on the radio show a few weeks back. Everyone in the studio at the time was completely blown away, me included. For me, this is the best thing that Wildbirds and Peacedrums have done to date (yes, even better than “My Heart”). I love the dramatic vocals on this – the EP has stunning arrangements by Touch recording artist Hildur Gudnadottir (she of last year’s sublime Without Sinking album), performed by the same Schola Cantorum Reykjavík Chamber Choir who featured on Bjork’s Medulla. Retina will be released on white vinyl on May 24 by Leaf; the follow up Iris will appear on June 21. Keep your eyes peeled for them.

The Village Orchestra, “Ala” video

As someone who a) is very keen on the work of Ruaridh Law and his solo work as The Village Orchestra (I hope you didn’t sleep on his FACT mix late last year, it was probably the best one I’ve heard) and b) spends half his life shambling around Dalston these days, mainly at Oto, sometimes at the Vortex, the news that the next TVO project would be a piece of sonic psychogeography focused on the streets of Dalston was very well received round my way. And then I heard this clip, ten minutes of slow-building drones and processed field recordings. Suffice to say, I’m proper excited now. The full release, entitled Amid The Blaze Of Noon, will be on the ever-excellent Highpoint Lowlife in Autumn or September. Ruaridh/TVO will also be performing in Manchester this weekend as part of the FutureEverything festival, if you happen to be in that part of the world.

Joanna Newsom at the Royal Festival Hall, 12/05/10

The photo above was taken last Sunday at ATP. Look at how close I was! I suspect I’ll never be as close to Joanna Newsom again. Not least because of the restraining order that is now in force. Such is my current obsession with her (I mean with her music, if the police or her lawyers are reading) that after Sunday’s truncated set I needed to return for the full experience. This time round I hid in one of the bins outside her dressing room for two days and nights leading up to the show posh boxes at the side of the Royal Festival Hall.