Erika Angell – The Obsession With Her Voice (Constellation)
In The Obsession With Her Voice, Erika Angell successfully dances between echoes of jazz, free improvisation, opera, and dark blues without ever being trapped in a single mode; her muse is sufficiently light-footed that she avoids being sucked into any single, predictable genre; her songs evoking a range of forebears without ever being anything over than unique.
Erika Angell has a deep track record of producing intriguing music across numerous different bands and outlets, but here, under her own name, it feels like she’s created her masterwork. At a time when there are so many talented women with something to say across all genres or busy collapsing any remaining lines between them, The Obsession With Her Voice deserves to be rated among the finest. – Nick Soulsby
Armbruster – Can I Sit Here (Dear Life)
There are vast differences between Can I Sit Here, the latest release from violinist and composer Connor Armbruster, and his previous album, Masses (2022). While Masses was recorded in the vast, empty sanctuary of an old church, employing classical and Appalachian motifs, its follow-up record is a droning, distorted, more heavily experimental LP, recorded in a small back room of an apartment (in mono, accounting for its somewhat claustrophobic sound). Despite its occasional experimental tilt, Masses is positively genteel compared to the unsettling vibe of Can I Sit Here. But both albums show an artist of astonishing range, willing to expand and explore. – Chris Ingalls
Avalanche Kaito – Talitakum (Glitterbeat)
One of the most exciting rock tracks of the year so far has been “Tanvusse”, the second single from experimental group Avalanche Kaito‘s sophomore LP Talitakum. It features everything the transnational trio most excel at in one compact package: vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse interpreting a Burkinabé folktale with speed and an impeccable sense of rhythm against his own flute and mouth bow, guitarist Nico Gitto buzzing back and forth, and drummer and producer Benjamin Chaval holding the ensemble in a furious, curious orbit driven as much by djeli traditions as underground hip-hop as post-punk experimentation.
If “Tanvusse” is made up of what Avalanche Kaito does best, it’s not because of the lack of a broad palette. Talitakum (which means “dead, come back to life”) is full of different styles, sounds, and time signatures that make it a more dynamic whole than any one of its tracks can represent. – Adriane Pontecorvo
Tashi Dorji – We Will Be Wherever the Fires Are Lit (Drag City)
Search experimental, improvisational guitarist Tashi Dorji‘s vast Bandcamp page, and you’ll discover sinewy-yet-jagged nylon string excursions, electric smoke circles of noise and drone, duos and trios bashing it out, and even a digital album’s worth of yawps, grunts, and other sounds of near-viciousness coaxed from a banjo. Yet none of it, including his last release for Drag City, Stateless, sounds much like what’s on offer on We Will Be Wherever the Fires Are Lit, his second release of new music for the long-running Chicago-based imprint.
It’s not so much the ingredients – acoustic guitar, often prepared with tape for muting or metal for the whizz of distortion – that have changed, but the focus on relentless repetition, as if the left hand is stuck on the same note or chord while the right can’t stop itself. The results are often hypnotic. – Bruce Miller
Fire-Toolz – Breeze (Independent)
On Breeze, the first full-length Fire-Toolz album since I Am Upset, Marcloid demonstrates the capaciousness of her fiery imagination. In short, she asks the one question that could surprise the listener: “What if things are actually going to be kind of okay?” Breeze is the sunburst-colored patchwork quilt to I Am Upset’s frenetic neon collage. As one project among Marcloid’s many musical ventures, Fire-Toolz is still an experiment in absolute profligacy where genre is concerned, but it’s more in tune with the rhythms and frequencies of everyday life. Marcloid says that the songs on Breeze sprouted in her move out of Chicago proper and bloomed out of the joys of domestic life, and the listener can hear this in the opening affirmation. – Nate Schmidt
Samuel Goff – This Is My Body, This Is My Blood (Cacophonous Revival)
Virginia-based Samuel Goff runs the experimental label Cacophonous Revival, known for releasing off-the-beaten-path albums focused primarily on free jazz and noise rock, and This Is My Body, This Is My Blood is Goff’s second record of his own material, following 2020’s Transmissions. That first LP featured dark, ambient instrumental music with a heavy emphasis on percussion (drums are Goff’s primary instrument). The new album has plenty of vocals, including spoken word, low-registered growls, experimental vocalizing, and even some hardcore thrash screams. It’s a roughly hourlong trip through Goff’s psyche, always thrilling and never dull.
One hopes that This Is My Body, This Is My Blood is Samuel Goff’s successful exercise in healing, an artistic therapy session. Goff has poured his heart and soul into this release, and anyone listening to this utterly fascinating album has the potential to be significantly moved by it, just as Goff has been somewhat calmed and freed by it. – Chris Ingalls
Max Jaffe – Reduction of Man (Whited Sepulchre)
While that may not have been the original intention, Reduction of Man—the new album from experimental percussionist Max Jaffe—commemorates his dozen-plus years in New York City, making experimental music in various configurations. It also happens to have been created using an interesting method devised by Jaffe and incorporated with unique sampling technology. Reduction of Man is an appropriately styled record reflecting Max Jaffe’s New York City years. It draws from punk-oriented scenes and the city’s vast, rich jazz resources. As an example of an artist who is profoundly eclectic and supremely talented, the record also fits the bill. But above all else, it’s fascinating and a lot of fun to listen to. – Chris Ingalls
Josh Johnson – Unusual Object (Northern Spy)
One of the things that makes Unusual Object such an interesting and entertaining release is that while it seems to employ modern, somewhat experimental techniques, it’s unlikely to turn off more traditional jazz fans. Except for a drum sample from Aaron Steele on the kinetic, highly syncopated “Quince”, every sound made on the record is created by Josh Johnson. The processed sounds and odd sonic loops that weave their way into each song can initially come off as challenging to an old-school jazz fan. Still, the effect is so effortlessly engaging that it’s seemingly effortless for anyone to fall in love with the sound. Johnson takes it several steps further, insisting that the melding of jazz, electronica, experimentalism, and other hybrid genres can live peacefully and feed off each other to create exciting, previously unheard combinations of sound. – Chris Ingalls
Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements – Rain on the Road (Thrill Jockey)
Call it experimental, ambient, or hell, even indie agnostic. With these five pieces, Lattimore and McClements sonically reflect on each of their repetitive cycles between life and music on an album that feels like it ought to be submerged in, as well as listened to. It never challenges outright, instead opting for a churning of musical ruminations. What it forgoes in aggression, it replaces with charm, creating a collection of soundscapes full of meditative redemption. Save this one for your next late-night subway ride or highway drive on a rain-soaked morning. You won’t be let down. – Avery Gregurich