Crucial Listening

Intuitive resonance, cataclysmic dualities, bandleader grace. The UK-based saxophonist discusses three important albums.

Xhosa's picks:

Sonny Rollins – With The Modern Jazz Quartet
Shirley Horn Trio – Softly
Balimaya Project – Wolo So

Xhosa's latest album, Ibeji, is out now on Stoney Lane Records. Listen here. His website is here.

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Heart wrung like a towel, Skullcandy bass, the magic of music boxes. The Beirut-based multi-instrumentalist, video artist and puppeteer discusses three important albums.

Yara's picks:

Aphex Twin – Drukqs
Colleen – Et Les Boîtes À Musique
Daniel Johnston – Hi, How Are You

Yara's debut album, Home Recordings 2018 - 2021, is out now via Hive Mind Records – check it out here. She's on Instagram – @microwave.blues.

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Visions of hell/paradise, two G's in eggs, bizarre lemonade. The composer/multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas discusses three important albums.

Mari's picks:

Jim O'Rourke – Eureka
Robert Ashley – Private Parts
SOPHIE – Product

The fabulous Strawberry Season by More Eaze is out now via Leaving Records. Check it out on Bandcamp or Boomkat. Mari is on Instagram and Twitter.

Vocal imitation games, aural cocktails, jazz-adjacent ingenuity. The New York-based composer and pianist discusses three important albums.

Phillip's picks:

Ensemble Organum & Marcel Peres – Guillaume de Machaut: Messe de Notre-Dame
Ran Blake – Painted Rhythms: The Compleat Ran Blake Volume 1
The Claudia Quintet – I, Claudia

Phillip's debut solo album, Filters, is out now via Greyfade. His website is here and he's on Instagram @phillipgolub.

Too-short tracks, dying melodies, birds mimicking electronics, the highest organ note. The musicians and collaborators discuss their important albums.

Julian's picks:

J Dilla – Donuts
Jean C. Roché – Birds Of Venezuela

Feldermelder's picks:

Autechre – LP5
Pedro Santos – Krishnanda

Bonn Route is out now via -OUS. Check it out here. Also worth checking are Feldermelder's new solo album, Euphoric Attempts, and Julian Sartorius' recent record Mux.

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Tim Hecker beneath the aurora borealis, nerdy icebreakers, blurs and beats. The Turkey-born, UK-based composer and guitarist discusses three important albums.

Elif's picks:

Tim Hecker – Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again
Tangerine Dream – Rubycon
Bowery Electric – Beat

Elif's new album, Green Drift, is out now on Expert Sleepers. Her website is over here and she's also on Instagram.

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Harnessing ugliness, memories of Okinawa, Pärt in the snow. The Japanese vocal performer discusses three important albums.

Hatis' picks:

Meredith Monk – Mercy
Yasukatsu Oshima with Geoffrey Keezer – S/T
Arvo Pärt – Tabula Rasa

Hatis Noit's new album, Aura, is out now on Erased Tapes. Check it out on Bandcamp or on the Erased Tapes site.

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Hours of jazz in the city, matching Spiderland tattoos, vertiginous rabbit holes. The guitarist and label curator discusses three important albums.

Greg's picks:

Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Slint – Spiderland
Bernard Herrmann – Vertigo OST

Head over to The Lord Bandcamp to hear/buy the first album Forest Nocturne, and to preview/preorder the upcoming record Devotional with Petra Haden. Both are released on Southern Lord.

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Sad tween car journeys, dismantled pop, pioneers of Baltimore Club. The South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, composer and producer discusses three important albums.

Ami's picks:

Sardari Begum – OST
Portishead – Third
K-Swift – Club Queen Vol. 3

Ami's new album, The Living World's Demands, is out on November 4th via Phantom Limb and Leaving Records. Preview/pre-order on Bandcamp. Follow Ami on Instagram and check out her website.

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Brazen electronic keys, odes to the rig, ripping everything out. The UK composer and performer discusses three important albums.

Laurie's picks:

"Blue" Gene Tyranny – Out Of The Blue
Improved Sound Limited – Road Trax
Mica Levi – Blue Alibi

Laurie released three new albums this Spring: Years Went By with Eliza McCarthy via Entr'acte, Fatty via 33-33 and Sharp Love Slow Faint on Hyperdelia. They're all on Laurie's Bandcamp too. His Instagram is here.

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