Alex Zhang Hungtai – Mother
These two pieces from Alex Zhang Hungtai (of Dirty Beaches, among other projects) are alchemical. From his upcoming double album Orion/Mother, Zhang describes the music as “like something that was dormant is starting to awaken.” True to its title, the second disc’s second track indeed feels as if it is being wrenched from the primordial soup, Zhang’s trumpet sounding sustained, exhausted birth calls over halting percussive clatter, as if marking the last stretch of marathon labor. The albums were formed from a collage of years-old improvised rehearsal sessions recorded with an ad-hoc group of New York musicians and then restitched in the present by Zhang, using his trumpet as thread. Orion/Mother is out June 19, but these two songs are available now on bandcamp.
Alex Zhang Hungtai – “Mother”
Alex Zhang Hungtai – “Sidewinder”
Absorver – “Phantasmagoria”
Lacelike, coffee-stained IDM from Slovakian artist Absorver (Adam Mészáros). These are from his recent EP, Phantasmagoria (a term that originally referred to a 19th-century form of horror theater that used hidden lanterns to project spooky images onto a screen). Both songs speak to that concept: they are full of eerie sound design, ephemeral melody, and worn and rusted percussion–haunting, but comforting in the way horror somehow often manages to be. You can find the EP on bandcamp or for streaming.
Absorver – “Interloper”
Absorver – “Phantasmagoria”
Bodo Bifroest – Fading
More nostalgic downtempo electronica tonight, this time from German artist Bodo Bifroest (Felix Gerlach), whose pseudonym is a reference to Nordic mythology, where Bifröst is the burning tri-color bridge between heaven and earth. Tender and frank, “Fading” is meant to represent identity loss and perseverance. Gerlach spent years away from music amidst a long-term illness; the song communicates both the fragility of that time and his will to return to himself. I relate to that, having set down my musical pen for years to pursue something more concrete, eventually returning to it at the margins of my life. Making art your identity creates such profound vulnerability that can be as rewarding as it can be devastating. “Fading” is available on bandcamp or for streaming, but Gerlach was also generous enough to let me post the mp3 for you here.
Bodo Bifroest – “Fading”