For the Record: April 28, 2023.
New and forthcoming releases from Ruth Anderson and Annea Lockwood, Cassie Wieland, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, Tyshawn Sorey, and more.
Lead in.
For the Record is a regular round-up of new and upcoming recordings of interest to the new-music community – contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined – on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited typically correspond to initial U.S. release, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, used when all else fails, do not imply endorsement.)
After publication, new listings are incorporated into For the Record: The Master List.
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
Please note that all opinions expressed herein are solely my own, and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.
Spin.
Another strong week for new releases, but before I venture any recommendations, a reminder: The next Bandcamp Friday event happens seven days from now, on May 5. So unless you’re worried the gorgeous limited-edition neon violet/yellow/green merge pressing of Lunar Chamber’s Shambhallic Vibrations you’re coveting might run out, consider adding this week’s shopping picks to your wishlist, and then purchasing them next Friday, when Bandcamp waives its cut.
That said, it’s completely understandable if you feel compelled to grab a physical copy of Tête-à-tête, a new vinyl-only collection of tracks by composers/sound artists Ruth Anderson and Annea Lockwood, without delay. The album includes three works from 1974, 1984, and 2021, documenting not only two exceptional artists but also a loving partnership that has endured beyond Anderson’s death in 2019. It’s ear-opening, inspiring, and profoundly moving, and shouldn’t be missed.
Among today’s arrivals, I’m especially smitten with Atmospheriques, Vol. 1, newest in an illuminating series by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on Sono Luminus, featuring works by four leading Icelandic composers and honorary Icelander Missy Mazzoli…
… Plays a Word for Wind, a gripping sophomore session by vocalist Christina Carter, multi-instrumentalist Andrew Weathers, and bassist David Menestres as Tamarisk (who I had the great pleasure of hearing locally a few weeks ago), included in a swell new cassette-tape batch from Astral Editions…
… and Hymn, a mesmerizing set of compositions for piano and electronics by Cassie Wieland, played elegantly by Vicky Chow. And don’t miss Wieland’s dreamy remix, under the name Vines, of “Lung,” a piece she wrote for violinist Adrianne Munden-Dixon. (The original version is on Munden-Dixon’s album also titled Lung, which came out in late January and is very much worth your continued attention.)
Honestly, this week’s crop of new releases is fascinating and diverse… I’m especially eager to hear Ensemble Pi, Eve Essex, Tongue Depressor with John McCowen, and two new ones from the reliably transporting label Unfathomless.
Apologies for missing this week’s Tuesday newsletter, well underway earlier this week when it was derailed by veterinary necessity. (All is well now, phew.)
New this week.
Dieter Ammann - Core / Turn / Boost; Unbalanced Instability - Simone Zgraggen, Basel Sinfonietta/Baldur Brönnimann (Naxos)
Ruth Anderson & Annea Lockwood - Tête-à-tête (Ergot; recordings from 1974-2021)
Tim Brady - Symphony in 18 Parts (Starkland)
Sarah Cahill - The Future Is Female, Vol. 3: At Play - compositions by Hélène de Montgeroult, Cécile Chaminade, Grażyna Bacewicz, Chen Yi, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Pauline Oliveros, Hannah Kendall, Aida Shirazi, and Regina Harris Baiocchi (First Hand)
Bruno Duplant & David Vélez - des-illusions (Unfathomless)
Ensemble Pi - Reparations NOW - compositions by Courtney Bryan, Allison Loggins-Hull, Angélica Negrón, Damian Norfleet, Alvin Singleton, and Trevor Weston (Bright Shiny Things)
ensemble 0 - Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
Eve Essex - Today, I Will Be the Bread (Soap Library)
Michael Jon Fink - Sunless - Nicolas Horvath (self-released)
Mark Guiliana - Mischief (Edition)
Standard Grey - peregrination (Unfathomless)
Hugi Guðmundsson - The Gospel of Mary - Berit Norbakken, Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis, Århus Sinfonietta/Hörður Áskelsson (Da Capo)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Daníel Bjarnason - Atmospheriques, Vol. 1 - compositions by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Missy Mazzoli, Daníel Bjarnason, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, and Bára Gísladóttir (Sono Luminus)
Giuseppe Ielasi - Down on Darkened Meetings (Black Truffle)
Lau Nau - 5 x 4 (Beacon Sound)
Matt Lavelle - The House Keeper (Unseen Rain)
Allen Lowe - America: The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk’)
Allen Lowe - In the Dark (ESP-Disk’)
Mute Duo - 5amSky (Astral Editions)
Shara Nova - Titration - The Crossing/Donald Nally (Navona)
Post Moves - Clarity Surrender (Sweet Wreath)
Dan Rosenboom - Polarity (Orenda)
Tamarisk - Plays a Word for Wind (Astral Editions)
Tongue Depressor and John McCowen - Blame Tuning (Full Spectrum)
Vaster Than Empires (Allen Otte, Erica Dicker, Paul Schuette) - Three Days (New Focus)
Vines (Cassie Wieland) - “Lung (Vines version)” (Gold Bolus)
Cassie Wieland - Hymn - Vicky Chow (Cantaloupe Music)
Dorian Wood & Thor Harris - You are clearly in perversion (Astral Editions)
Coming soon.
April 30
Abdul Wadud - By Myself (Gotta Groove; originally issued 1977)
May 2
Merzbow + Nicolas Horvath - PiaNoise (Sub Rosa)
May 5
Sebastian Fagerlund - Terral; Strings to the Bone; Chamber Symphony - Sharon Bezaly, Tapiola Sinfonietta/John Storgårds (BIS)
Emmanuel Jacob Lacopo - Eastman - compositions by Julius Eastman (people|places|records)
Matt LaJoie - On Garudan Wing (Flower Room)
JD Parran and Mark Deutsch - California Street Sessions (Infrequent Seams)
PJEV/Kit Downes/Hayden Chisholm - Medna Roso (Red Hook)
Tōru Takemitsu - Spectral Canticle; To the edge of dream; Vers, l'arc-en-ciel, Palma; Twill by twilight - Viviane Hagner, Jacob Kellermann, Juliana Koch, BBC Philharmonic/Christian Karlsen (BIS)
May 7
Marc Ducret - ICI (Ayler)
May 12
Claire Chase - Density 2036, Parts VI-VIII - compositions by Phyllis Chen, Sarah Hennies, Olga Neuwirth, Pamela Z, Liza Lim, Ann Cleare, Wang Lu, and Matana Roberts (New Focus)
Lucy Liyou - Dog Dreams (개꿈) (American Dreams)
May 19
Sarah Albu & Gayle Young - According to the Moon (farpoint recordings)
David Dunn - At the Margin of the Sensate (Neuma)
David Dunn - A Lambent Mirror for Remote Ontographies of Nested Infinities (Neuma)
Lary 7 - Larynx (Blank Forms)
Aaron Jay Myers - Late Night Banter (Neuma)
William Selman - The Weather Indoors (Mysteries of the Deep)
Glen Whitehead - Pale Blue (Neuma)
May 22
James Ilgenfritz - #entrainments (Infrequent Seams)
May 25
Charlemagne Palestine - The God Bear Archives I: Unreleased Tapes from the ’70s and ’80s (Matière Mémoire)
May 26
Karl Evangelista's Apura - Ngayon (Astral Spirits)
Eva-Maria Houben - Gesänge des tages und der nacht - Nicolas Horvath (self-released)
Various Artists - Red Hot + Ra: Nuclear War - performances by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Irreversible Entanglements, Angel Bat Dawid, and Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o (Red Hot Org.)
May 28
Doug Wieselman - WA-Zoh (figureight)
June 2
Meredith Bates - Tesseract (phonometrograph)
Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim - Starling (self-released)
Curtis Stewart - of Love. (New Amsterdam)
June 16
Colin Andrew Sheffield - Images (Elevator Bath)
June 25
Oren Ambarchi/Eric Thielemans - Double Consciousness (Matière Mémoire)
June 30
Tyshawn Sorey Trio - Continuing (Pi Recordings)
July 1
Tony Buck - Environmental Studies (Room40)
July 10
Terrence McManus - Karacell (Rowhouse Music)
August 4
Carl Stone - Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (Unseen Worlds)
Something’s happening.
SO MUCH MUSIC.