#freejazz — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #freejazz, aggregated by home.social.
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This morning's #workout #music is from Roscoe Mitchell & Moor Mother performing in 2019. It was The Art Ensemble of Chicago's "We Are On The Edge" that introduced me to Moor Mother, so I was excited to see this concert come across my feed. A must-see collaboration.
https://www.youtube.com/live/03nA7WqStg8
#Poetry #jazz #FreeJazz #SpokenWord #KettleBells #DumbBells #WellnessWe Are On The Edge on #bandcamp
https://artensembleofchicago.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-on-the-edge-a-50th-anniversary-celebration -
This morning's #workout #music is from Roscoe Mitchell & Moor Mother performing in 2019. It was The Art Ensemble of Chicago's "We Are On The Edge" that introduced me to Moor Mother, so I was excited to see this concert come across my feed. A must-see collaboration.
https://www.youtube.com/live/03nA7WqStg8
#Poetry #jazz #FreeJazz #SpokenWord #KettleBells #DumbBells #WellnessWe Are On The Edge on #bandcamp
https://artensembleofchicago.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-on-the-edge-a-50th-anniversary-celebration -
Saba Alizadeh & Farzané (NL/IRN) + Vehicle/Passenger (US/CW/DE)
OCCII, Friday, October 23 at 08:30 PM GMT+2
Saba Alizadeh
Architect of Power Ambient
Saba Alizadeh occupies a singular space in contemporary music ,a sonic language so distinct it seems to exist outside comparison.
Coming from a distinguished musical lineage and shaped by more than two decades as a composer, producer, and performer, he has developed an artistic voice that merges deep cultural memory with fearless sonic experimentation.
Across four critically acclaimed albums, he has continuously expanded the boundaries between contemporary composition, electronic music, and Persian sonic heritage.
Having lived through defining social and political ruptures – from witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall as a child to experiencing the Green Movement and the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran – his work carries the emotional residue of history not as commentary, but as lived memory transformed into sound.
Emerging from Tehran’s underground electronic scene, Alizadeh forged a deeply personal language where Persian classical music, experimental electronics, archival recordings, and cinematic tension dissolve into what critics have called “Power Ambient.”
At the center of his performances stands the Kamancheh: the ancient Persian bowed instrument whose raw, human cry he reshapes through live processing and sonic experimentation into something both ancestral and radically contemporary.
His live sets unfold like fragments of forgotten cinema – dense, haunting, and physical. Continuously reimagining how history, memory, and resistance can breathe through modern sound.
”A bridge between the ancient and the contemporary” — The Wire
”A fresh, compelling soundscape” — Pitchfork
”Hope as an act of resistance” — Frankfurter Rundschau
”Music that feels like a cinematic unfolding of history” — Chain D.L.K.
”The stringed Kamancheh is a living soul and primal voice” — Veil of Sound
"Temple of hope" Live Concert<a href="https://sabaalizadeh.bandcamp.com/album/temple-of-hope">Temple Of Hope by Saba Alizadeh</a>
Farzané
(Farzaneh Nouri), an Iranian sound artist, creative coder, and researcher based in the Netherlands, works at the intersection of experimental music and computer science. Her ongoing practice-based research focuses on embodied knowledge in improvisational settings with machines. Embracing AI’s fundamental otherness while establishing relational connections, her practice aims at creating conditions of genuine encounter and collaborative destabilization between the artist and the machine. This speculative approach moves beyond technological determinism and cultural essentialism, exploring how human and machine intelligences might co-evolve through creative tension and collaborative aesthetic discovery.
Farzané at Audiomanzia<a href="https://farzane.bandcamp.com/track/chiasma">CHIASMA by Farzané</a>
VEHICLE/PASSENGER
Ethereal yet full of raw power. A tour-de-force of artistic expression combined with an urgent message on the state of our world.
In VEHICLE/PASSENGER we gather around thoughtful, radical poetry, as it weaves through energetically improvised pieces and delicate soundscapes. Exploring a queer perspective on body, society and improvisation. The trio reveals a unified, futuristic sound, repositioning the past, present and future of experimental music, free jazz, hip-hop, live electronics and poetry.
“An energy and urgency without simple slogans.” – WDR, Odilo Clausnitzer
“Vehicle/Passenger has created one of the most honest and unique recordings of 2024.” – All About Jazz, Maurice Hoge
The Ballad of a Never-ending Elevator Accident – VEHICLE/PASSENGER – Live in AmsterdamM Alberto (NL/AN) – poetry , saxophones and electronics
Lesley Mok (US) – drums and percussion
Florian Herzog (DE) – double bass and electronicsM. ALBERTO (they/them), is a Euro-Carribean improviser, award-winning poet and composer. Born in Curacao and currently based in the Netherlands. M.’s work is explicitly political, and always critical of colonial structures. They are one of the driving forces behind theatre collectives Boys won’t be Boys, as well as a steady collaborator in other critical productions. They have performed internationally on diverse stages and theatres from The Royal Concertgebouw and the Dutch National Opera to pop-festivalslike Sziget, Rock Werchter and Pinkpop.
FLORIAN HERZOG, bassist and composer, is a pioneer of the German and international jazz and avant-garde scenes whose bass playing has been described by the press as “emancipated, spirited and sensitive.”
He has worked with established greats like Theo Bleckmann, Jim Black and Nils Wogram, but also with the new generation and musicians like Anna Webber, Elias Stemeseder and Nick Dunston.
LESLEY MOK (they/them) is a percussionist and interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY, who works in sound, installation, film, and theater. Interested in the ways social conditions shape our beings, Lesley’s work focuses on overacting humanness to explore ideas about alienness and privilege. Their work draws from queer and feminist art practices, Chinese philosophy, Caribbean folkloric musical traditions, futurist perspectives, and ancestral knowledge. Their critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Living Collection’ was awarded with a prestigious Deutscher Jazz Preis in 2024.
https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/saba-alizadeh-and-farzane-nlirn-vehiclepassenger-uscwde
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..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:evocfgfx3nkoccovotpzk6zc/post/3murpvsex33t2 -
..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:evocfgfx3nkoccovotpzk6zc/post/3murpvsex33t2 -
..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:evocfgfx3nkoccovotpzk6zc/post/3murpvsex33t2 -
..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:evocfgfx3nkoccovotpzk6zc/post/3murpvsex33t2 -
..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:evocfgfx3nkoccovotpzk6zc/post/3murpvsex33t2 -
Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom – Monk And More / أحمد [Ahmed] – Play Monk https://freq.org.uk/reviews/monk-play-monk/ @Hakarl ..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned. #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
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Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom – Monk And More / أحمد [Ahmed] – Play Monk https://freq.org.uk/reviews/monk-play-monk/ @Hakarl ..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned. #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
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Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom – Monk And More / أحمد [Ahmed] – Play Monk https://freq.org.uk/reviews/monk-play-monk/ @Hakarl ..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned. #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
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Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom – Monk And More / أحمد [Ahmed] – Play Monk https://freq.org.uk/reviews/monk-play-monk/ @Hakarl ..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned. #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
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Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom – Monk And More / أحمد [Ahmed] – Play Monk https://freq.org.uk/reviews/monk-play-monk/ @Hakarl ..these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning #theloniusmonk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned. #jazz #freejazz #improv #musicreview
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First listen: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions by The Peter Brötzmann Octet, released August 2007, originally released as Machine Gun, June 1968
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First listen: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions by The Peter Brötzmann Octet, released August 2007, originally released as Machine Gun, June 1968
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First listen: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions by The Peter Brötzmann Octet, released August 2007, originally released as Machine Gun, June 1968
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First listen: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions by The Peter Brötzmann Octet, released August 2007, originally released as Machine Gun, June 1968
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First listen: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions by The Peter Brötzmann Octet, released August 2007, originally released as Machine Gun, June 1968
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio or #streaming #aroundtheworld from: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #postpunk #psychedelic #spacerock #freejazz #AvantGarage #strangemusic #noiserock #outsidermusic #musiqueconcrete #ElectroAcoustic #nowave #postrock #ambientmusic #plunderphonics #heavypsych #idmmusic #freeform
#archives (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/08/28/29-august-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow on #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time.
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM #portland or #streaming #AroundTheWorld : http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #heavypsych #PostPunk #AvantGarage #spacerock #freejazz #antifolk #electroacoustic #dub #musiqueconcrete #noiserock #psychfolk #postrock #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #ambientmusic #electronicmusic #FreeMusic #freeformradio
#archives (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/08/14/15-august-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM #aroundpdx #streaming #aroundtheworld from: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #heavypsych #protometal #postpunk #drone #noise #noiserock #freejazz #electroacoustic #musiqueconcrète #plunderphonics #AvantGarage #experimentalmusic #spacerock #postrock #dub #nowave #electronicmusic #freemusic #freeformradio
#archives (#listen anytime!): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/07/31/1-august-2026/
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#saturday 6-8 PM PDT What's This Called? #newradioshow #FreeformPortland!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM #TerrestrialRadio #portland
#streaming #AroundTheWorld http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #PostPunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #psychfolk #heavypsych #spacerock #noiserock #postrock #protometal #protopunk #resistancemusic #freejazz #ElectronicMusic #musiqueconcrete #electroacoustic #plunderphonics
#archives (#listenanytime) https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/07/17/18-july-2026/
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#saturday #4thofJuly #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time.
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM: #TerrestrialRadio in #portland & #streaming #aroundtheworld: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #Drone #noise #PostPunk #postmetal #psychedelic #AvantGarage #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #noiserock #freejazz #freemusic #hiphop #soulmusic #plunderphonics #outsidermusic #garagerock #FreedomRock #freeform
#ARCHIVED (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/07/04/4-july-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode What's This Called? #radioshow on Freeform Portland! 6-8 PM Pacific Time.
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM #TerrestrialRadio in #portland #streaming #aroundtheworld http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #dronemusic #noise #postpunk #garage #psychedelic #AvantGarage #outsidermusic #spacerock #freejazz #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #ambientmusic #noiserock #electroacoustic #SoundArt #plunderphonics #avantfolk #heavypsych
#archives (#listen anytime!): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/06/19/20-june-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time
#ExpunkimentalMusic #dronemusic #noise #postpunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #avantfolk #electroacoustic #musiqueconcrete #outsidermusic #undergroundmusic #spacerock #noiserock #experimentalmusic #freejazz #plunderphonics #electronicmusic #freeformradio
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio or #streaming from http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#archives (#24hour #listening): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/06/05/6-june-2026/
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#special What's This Called? floating #radioshow for #FreeformPortland ! To air whenever needed, but you can #listen anytime from:
https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/05/31/early-summer-evergreen/
#ExpunkimentalMusic #dronemusic #Noise #postpunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #freejazz #plunderphonics #spacerock #noiserock #avantfolk #outsidermusic #postrock #dubmusic #freemusic #freeformradio
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland! 6-8 PM Pacific Time.
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio in #portland or #streaming from: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #postpunk #experimentalmusic #dronemusic #noise #psychedelic #AvantGarage #strangemusic #undergroundmusic #plunderphonics #electroacoustic #musiqueconcrete #spacerock #noiserock #freejazz #avantfolk #outsidermusic #darkwave
Archive ( #listen anytime!): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/05/22/23-may-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM Pacific Time!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio #aroundpdx or #streaming #aroundtheworld from http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #postpunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #strangemusic #outsidermusic #musiqueconcrete #electroacoustic #spacerock #plunderphonics #experimentalmusic #undergroundmusic #noiserock #freejazz #avantfolk
Archive (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/05/08/9-may-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode: What's This Called? on Freeform Portland 6-8 PM Pacific.
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio or #streaming from http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #postpunk #psych #noiserock #experimentalmusic #freejazz #SpaceRock #AvantGarage #StrangeMusic #musiqueconcrete #electroacoustic #plunderphonics #postrock #undergroundmusic #outsidermusic #illbient #electronicmusic #difficultmusic #freeform
#ARCHIVED (#listen #Anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/04/24/25-april-2026/
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Arrington de Dionyso & Ensemble – The Gods of War Will Be Consumed By A Greater Fire
#Experimental #ExtremeMusic #SunRaArkestra #Trancepunk #bassclarinet #freejazz #shamanic #shamanism #throatsinging #Olympia
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://arrington.bandcamp.com/album/the-gods-of-war-will-be-consumed-by-a-greater-fire -
#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow on #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM PDT
90.3 & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio or #streaming: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #ambientmusic #postpunk #psychedelic #experimentalmusic #spacerock #musiqueconcrete #electroacoustic #StrangeMusic #postrock #outsidermusic #freejazz #noiserock #electronicmusic #undergroundmusic #plunderphonics #AvantGarage #freemusic #freeform
#archives (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/04/10/11-april-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow for #FreeformPortland 6-8 PM PDT!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio #aroundpdx and #streaming #aroundtheworld from http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #experimentalmusic #drone #noise #postpunk #psychedelic #noiserock #postrock #AvantGarage #StrangeMusic #musiqueconcrete #electroacoustic #avantfolk #spacerock #freejazz #plunderphonics #outsidermusic #freeform
#archives (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/03/27/28-march-2026/
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#saturday 6-8 PM Pacific Time #newepisode of What's This Called? #radioshow on Freeform Portland!
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM #aroundpdx and #streaming #aroundtheworld from: http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
On theme for #JukeboxFridayNight #timesaretough
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #postpunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #StrangeMusic #noiserock #freejazz #electroacoustic #ambient #plunderphonics #outsidermusic #spacerock #psychfolk #freemusic #freeform
#ARCHIVED (#listen anytime!): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/03/13/14-march-2026/
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#saturday #newepisode of What's This Called? #RadioShow for #FreeformPortland! 6-8 PM Pacific Time
90.3 FM & 98.3 FM on #TerrestrialRadio #aroundpdx or #Streaming #aroundtheworld from http://listen.freeformportland.org:8000/stream
#ExpunkimentalMusic #drone #noise #PostPunk #psychedelic #AvantGarage #plunderphonics #noiserock #freejazz #spacerock #electroacoustic #musiqueconcrete #StrangeMusic #postrock #spacerock #experimentalmusic #outsidermusic #freeform
#archives (#listen anytime): https://whatsthiscalled.net/2026/02/27/28-february-2026/
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Backengrillen – Backengrillen Review By TymeAs this new year has gotten off to a right proper, lunacy-fueled start, I scoured the sump pit in search of something to pen my first review of 2026 on. As I poked through the pickens, slim as they were, I spied one of my favorite tags: ‘Steel says review,’ sitting unclaimed. Self-described as ‘free form death-jazz,’ Umeå, Sweden’s Backengrillen play music that is a paean to chaos and destruction. The basic idea is to take a death/doom metal, or noiserock riff and play it until it loses meaning and then break it apart like a ravenous cat would a tiny forest mouse. Okay, I thought, I’ll bite. Formed primarily from the ashes of the now twice-dead Swedish post-hardcore legends Refused, vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, bassist Magnus Flagge, and drummer David Sandström have partnered with composer and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson to release Backengrillen, their eponymous debut album on Svart Records. Backengrillen cull inspiration from The Cramps and Little Richard to Entombed, Misfits, and Can. With such an eclectic cadre of performers to draw muse from, I was thoroughly intrigued to dive into Backengrillen and discover what I had gotten myself into.
Experimentally chaotic yet at times catchy and compelling, Backengrillen reaps seeds first sown on Refused’s initial 1998 swan song, The Shape of Punk to Come. Where TSoPtC only dabbled outside traditional punk and hardcore tropes, though, Backengrillen embeds those fringe elements of ambiance, electronics, and jazzy instrumentation as the spine of its soundscape, with Gustafsson carrying most of the weird load. His role as frenetic flautist, huffing, puffing, and grunting violently over his flute’s embouchure like some deranged Ian Anderson (“Dör för långsamt”), and psychotic saxophonist, skronking, squawking, and swooning (“Backengrillen”), counterbalances Backengrillen’s more alt-punk style, homogenizing the whole into something akin to Morphine on meth.
Backengrillen by Backengrillen
Written during Backengrillen’s first rehearsal, performed live the next day, then recorded the day after that, Backengrillen is a gutsy shot in the dark. As off-the-cuff as it is, there are moments on Backengrillen that came off way more methodical than the nature of their origin would suggest. Launching from a simple, keyed melody, “A Hate Inferior” builds slowly as layers of drums, bass, and smarmy sax eventually coalesce into a scorched-earth sludge bomb that hits around the three-minute mark, and is topped off by Lyxzén’s nuclear scream, whose vocals sound like a mix of Zach de la Rocha and Jello Biafra. From that point on, the track had me rocking a slow and steady stank-faced head bob. Then there’s, at least for me, the humorously titled “Repeater II,” which is the shortest and most traditionally structured of the bunch—clocking in at a brisk six minutes forty-three seconds. A rompy, punk-fueled ditty that sounds like a mix of The Cramps, Dead Kennedys, and Nirvana, with a bit of sax thrown in for good measure, and Lyxzén, at his most Biafra-like, shouting the infectious chorus, ‘Hey, repeat it, repeat it again,’ over and over.
Whipped up quicker than a batch of Mom’s Rice Krispies treats, Backengrillen suffers most from impoverished improvisation. Despite the churlish charm present on the tracks mentioned above, the rest of this five-song, fifty-three-minute monster isn’t nearly as engaging or easy to listen to. “Dör för långsamt,” for example, is just over thirteen minutes of Gustaffson’s squawky, dying-animal sax playing entwined with a bevy of Lyxzén’s screeches, screams, grunts, and queasy, drunken-sounding chorus lines layered over a plodding, tribal bass and drum beat. “Backengrillen” fares no better, eleven minutes of sluggish drum and bass holding up Gustaffson’s breathy, trilly flute and barely tuned saxophone alongside another Lyxzén performance made up of pitchy, swaying chants and lots of grunting screams. And on every play through, by the time “Socialism or Barbarism” rolled around, I was checked out and ready to move on. This made slogging through the tracks’ first three minutes of electronic noise that much harder to digest, let alone the remaining 7.5 minutes.Had this been recorded as one continuous, fully improvised live set in some Västerbotten County dive-bar, complete with sparse crowd reactions, by four musicians who’d never played one note together, it might have hit different.1 As it stands, my greatest takeaway from this experience was discovering Refused, which I actually had a lot of fun listening to during my prep. And for those wondering, why no puns, here you go. Ultimately, there isn’t enough meat grillen here to get me to come Backen.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
#25 #2026 #Backengrillen #DeadKennedys #DeathMetal #FreeJazz #Jan26 #Morphine #Nirvana #Punk #Review #SvartRecords #SwedishMetal #TheCramps
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Svart Records
Websites: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: January 23, 2026 -
Under – What Happened In Roundwood Review By Samguineous Maximus
There’s something tantalizing about the brand of metal-adjacent noise rock that’s experienced a renaissance in recent years. It’s ugly, it’s loud, and it doesn’t give a damn if you’re comfortable. You’ve got breakout stars Chat Pile dragging nü-metal’s bloated corpse through the mud, Couch Slut dishing out dissonant, riff-heavy nightmare fuel, and Intercourse sounding like a feral animal tearing flesh for fun. This isn’t “revival” music; it’s bands weaponizing noise, smashing metal’s brute force into punk’s emotional hemorrhaging, and then deliberately breaking whatever’s left just to see it scream. Enter the UK’s Under, stepping into this mess with zero interest in playing nice. They fuse sludge metal’s suffocating weight, noise rock’s hostility, and art rock’s weird, confrontational instincts into something genuinely unhinged. Their third record, What Happened In Roundwood, doesn’t aim to be palatable. It aims to crush, mesmerize, and leave a dent. The question isn’t what they’re doing—it’s whether Under hit hard enough to leave permanent damage.
In the first half of What Happened In Roundwood, Under establishes their own distinct style that sits nicely in conversation with their American contemporaries. The foundations of these songs are built on angular sludge riffs over looping odd time signatures and off-kilter rhythmic patterns, like if a more avant-garde Melvins crashed into a version of Swans that was capable of editing. Bassist and vocalist Matt Franklin anchors the music with simple but weighty low-end riffs, locking tightly with drummer Andy Preece’s commanding, hypnotic grooves. Guitarist Simon Mayo fills in the gaps with jagged riffs and layers of dissonant, skronk-heavy leads. Franklin lends a sneering, British rasp to the endeavor, guiding the songs with an impassioned vocal performance that successfully conveys the aural depravity on display. This formula is deepened with the addition of menacing choral vocals and harmonies (“Ma,” “The Alchemist”), swirling guitar cacophonies (“Tantrum), and even Primitive Man-tinged, slow noise bursts (“Isaac”). It’s an effective and thoroughly unsettling display with just enough variety in its execution to keep things exciting until the B-side obliterates any sense of normalcy.
What Happened In Roundwood by Under
In the second half of What Happens In Roundwood, Under undergo a dramatic sonic shift, and the results are thrilling. The final stretch of the album leans heavily into exploratory, avant-garde jazz-influenced territory, with the tracks flowing seamlessly into one another like a three-part suite. These songs stand out as the album’s clear highlights. The sequence begins with “Rings,” which unfolds in a state of subdued horror, slowly building tension through sparse instrumentation before reaching a blissful climax. This transitions smoothly into “Roots and Limbs,” a jazzy, post-hardcore-like track that increases the tempo and intensity, providing a sense of release after several slower songs. All of this builds toward the closer, “Felling.” The final track plays out like a fever dream, reprising key moments from earlier in the album and reshaping them into a chaotic haze of noise. When the music finally collapses into rich choral vocals, it feels like the calm at the center of a storm. A perfect ending to a bold and striking second half.
This places What Happens in Roundwood in a peculiar position. The second half of the record explores markedly different sonic territory than the first, and is stronger for it. Under’s more standard sound, showcased on the first five tracks, is engaging, but compared to the highs of the final three, it falls a little short. Repeated listens leave me wanting just a bit more grit or memorability in the more straightforward sludge riffcraft before it gives way to the more exploratory material. I appreciate the band’s efforts to vary their noise-rock/sludge approach through vocal layers/embellishments or a Southern tinge (“Escape Roundwood”), but I find myself largely whelmed by the opening salvo. This isn’t a major mark against the record; the album is solid throughout. Still, it keeps the work from standing quite as tall alongside some of my favorites in the style.
With What Happens In Roundwood, Under have delivered a solid sludgy noise rock record with plenty of autre appeal. I wish the impressive oddity were distributed a bit more evenly throughout the album’s runtime, but it’s still an enjoyable listen that carves out its own unique niche within the broader style. The next time the UK group revisits their brand of sinister sludge, I’ll be excited to listen.
Rating: Good!
#2026 #30 #APFRecords #ArtRock #ChatPile #CouchSlut #ExperimentalMetal #FreeJazz #Intercourse #Jan26 #Melvins #NoiseRock #PrimitiveMan #Review #Reviews #SludgeMetal #Swans #UKMetal #Under #WhatHappenedInRoundwood
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: APF Records
Websites: understockport.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/understockport
Releases Worldwide: January 23rd, 2026 -
New #review today: "#Spinifex is an #AvantJazz group based in Amsterdam, though its members come from various countries. Led by artistic director and chief composer #TobiasKlein on alto sax, the membership has changed somewhat over the years. Undrilling the Hole features seven energetic tracks of unpredictable music that ranges between tightly coordinated arrangements and free-blowing chaos." #ExposeOnline #FreeJazz #PunkJazz http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/spinifex-undrilling-the-hole-maxximus-2.html
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ZAAAR at the Jacobikerk, Utrecht, last Saturday. Thank you Le Guess Who for this magic moment, and also Tianzhuo Chen for inviting us. We admire his work, so it was a honor to play in his crew
#leguesswho #festival #psychedelic #freejazz #spiritualjazz #experimental #freeimprovisation #occult #improvisedmusic #freeimprov #ritual #darkambiant #weirdmusic #pouetradio #tootradio #mastoradio -
Screaming resistance a thousand years into the future
https://friendica.world/display/84b6ef2b-6168-c3b1-8e07-f17279128895
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Free download codes:
Spite Cathedral - Life Kills, Bury Me In Concrete Once Again
"Described as 'sounding like the bastard son of Genesis P. Orridge and Alice Coltrane'."
#experimental #drone #noise #industrial #abstract #freejazz #musiqueconcrte #music
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Dutchyyy – Mother (Nocturnalis) EP
#HipHopRap #Meditationmusic #freejazz #gamesoundtrack #instrumentalhiphop #lofihiphop #Tampa
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://dutchmassive.bandcamp.com/album/mother-nocturnalis-ep -
NTS Radio | David Grubbs | June 2025
"Musician, writer and founding member of the groups #GastrdelSol, #Bastro, and #SquirrelBait, selects an hour of music..."
https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/david-grubbs-3rd-june-2025
#music #ntsradio #nts #davidgrubbs #soundtrack #modernclassical #avantgarde #artrock #freejazz
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By Dear Hollow
It’s hard to keep up with Swans. Since 1982, Michael Gira and company have cranked out sixteen studio albums, eight EPs, and ten live albums (not to mention all the compilations and side projects), influencing underground stalwarts like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Neurosis, Godflesh, and Napalm Death, as well as more mainstream acts like Nirvana and Tool. No genre was safe, as noise rock, no-wave, industrial, sludge, post-punk, and post-rock were impacted in the process – yet Swans have always had their own inimitable and uncategorizable sound. In Gira’s words, “Swans are majestic, beautiful-looking creatures – with really ugly temperaments.” Seventeenth studio album Birthing, a supposed end to the big sound of Gira’s millennial reformation, is an affirmation of both why some love them and why others stay far away. Maybe the real Swans were the friends we made along the way.
The path of Swans has been one of blending ugliness with a sheen of pristineness. They’ve had it all, from the ugly industrial sludge of Filth and Cop, the more regal industrial noise rock of Greed and Holy Money, the Gothic rock groovers of Children of God, the lush starkness of White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, the post-rock-imbued apocalyptic prophecies of The Great Annihilator and Soundtracks for the Blind, the trancelike 2010s comeback My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, the formidably monolithic trilogy The Seer, To Be Kind, and The Glowing Man, to the minimalist folk-embedded Leaving Meaning and The Beggar. If you wanted to devote a week to the Swans discography, have at it. Or get into the process of Birthing.
In spite of its higher focus on more acoustic textures and Michael Gira’s wild baritone, Swans’ use of repetition is a tether to which their grasp of reality is consistently mutilated, interspersed with moments of sparse accessibility. Seven tracks and nearly two hours of content greet the ears with repetition both nauseating and hypnotic, tracks undeniably modern-era Swans: folkier, more acoustic and organic, and retaining that trademark longwindedness and industrial/noise barb, shifting from mood to mood with ease. You’ll hear painful dissonance, ritualistic passages of pounding percussion, Gira’s unnerving vocal lines, and synth-heavy crystalline atmosphere exchanged across mammoth runtimes. Especially in the first act, ugly stretches stitch together more uncanny valley passages of accessibility, like a synth rock jam session with pulsing basslines (“I Am a Tower”), beautiful piano ballads graced by spidery melodies and Jennifer Gira’s haunting vocals (“Birthing,” “Guardian Spirit”), catchy little choral “bum bums” (“The Merge”), and instrumental ambient swells (“The Healers,” “(Rope) Away”).
Gira and company find themselves in an odd predicament: in the shadow of their own influence. Swans has smartly focused on more acoustic and organic textures with their most recent releases, but in comparison to the 80’s and 90’s, and even the 2010s, Birthing cannot hold a candle. No one can do music like Swans, but it feels as though the trilogy of The Seer, To Be Kind, and The Glowing Man was Tsar Bomba, and every subsequent release has been the fallout. Likewise, the raining ash of Birthing is lethal, unnerving, and undeniably Swans, but it doesn’t feel as monumental. The only track that feels crucial is the absolute fever-dream “The Merge” in its wholehearted dive into the abyss. Each track features Swans-isms that sear themselves into your brain if you let them, but therein, very few moments justify why you should devote two hours to listening to them – especially if you are not a fan to begin with. Their focus has never been to be catchy, impress with riffs, or go wild with novelty – as such, the trademark tapestries of droning dissonance (“I Am a Tower,” “Guardian Spirit”), free jazz/industrial noise explosions (“The Merge”) are just difficult – aside from Swans’ inability to edit.
I may be Swans lone apologist at AMG HQ, and maybe I’m insane for it. Birthing is nowhere near the influence of its predecessors – while retaining that noise and industrial sneer throughout, it’s a far more gentle album than the ugly classics of the band’s heyday. However, it’s probably the best of its era, blending its bad temperament with its more post-rock atmospheres and semi-accessible passages that keep listeners this close to insanity. That being said, it’s still Swans. And a whole lot of Swans. Two hours of Swans. Yay/ugh.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Young God Records
Websites: swans.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/SwansOfficial
Releases Worldwide: May 30th, 2025#2025 #35 #Ambient #AmericanMetal #Birthing #Experimental #ExperimentalAmbient #FreeJazz #Godflesh #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #Industrial #May25 #NapalmDeath #Neurosis #Nirvana #NoWave #Noise #NoiseRock #NonMetal #PostRock #postPunk #Review #Reviews #SludgeMetal #Swans #Tool #YoungGodRecords
