Music fans will get their chance to start the season early, as this Friday is not only the first major release day of the fall, but another Bandcamp Friday. The fall season is incredibly frontloaded, and we suspect that some wallets (or Venmo accounts) will be emptied by the end of the week.
We’re always excited about the Fall Music Preview, as many of us are summer people, yet it reminds us that there’s still plenty to look forward to. For now, it may still be warm, but pumpkin lattes and jack-o-lanterns are right around the corner. As the night continues to encroach and the leaves begin to turn, these are the albums that will accompany the transition. We wish all of our readers an amazing autumn!
Our cover image comes from Seulement la Nuit’s Landscapes, covered below.
William Basinski returns with a spacious, single track piano album, inspired by past-life regression hypnotherapy. Passing the Cup of Sorrows is slow and thoughtful, making a perfect accompaniment to meditation (Temporary Residence Ltd., October 23). Happy 10th anniversary to Slovakia’s mappa label, which celebrates by releasing a double cassette of 57 songs by 51 artists, including Lau Nau, Natalia Beylis, Alexandra Spence, Cheryl E. Leonard and so much more! Synthetic Water Music is the descendent of 2023’s Synthetic Bird Music, and they make a lovely couple (September 10).
Fohn‘s Porcelain is filled with field recordings and tape crackle, which surround tender ivory melodies, specifically designed to imitate a late summer’s day. Conversation unfolds as a lawnmower kicks into gear; someone is still working! (Odda, September 11). Ned Milligan‘s Real Fun is a family affair, reflecting the joys of fatherhood via little moments: a bout of laughter, a downpour, a walk in the field. Lake Mary, M Sage and others make guest appearances (Florabelle, September 18). The same day, the label releases Billy Gomberg‘s pensive capacity, whose “one from october” is tailor-made for the upcoming season.
Difficult Art and Music introduces the season with a release for all seasons; Lille & rsn‘s The Diversity of Nature runs the course of the year, beginning with “The aspects of the seasons,” and is a collaboration between a composer and his 10-year-old daughter. Elfed/Elmet is a Welsh language “speculative history” from CIGFA/SEGFA featuring track titles like “Gwgddarylenogwernefiniog.” Both are out September 4.
Gilroy Mere could have died last year, but thankfully survived. While traveling back and forth from cancer treatments, he spent time making music, inspired by the paintings of Ravilious. Now in remission, Oliver Cherer is back on tour, and Furlongs is his grateful testament (Clay Pipe Music, September 4). Lynn Wright layers pensive guitar phrases on Before the Sinking Plains, adding wordless vocals and synth. The original loops provided solace during a long neurological illness, and now they are offered to the world in beautifully enhanced versions (Miasmah, September 4). Sadly, trumpeter Jon Hassel passed away before the last piece of Pentimento Trilogy could be published. Music Is Invisible, offered separately or as a three-part set is out October 2 on Ndeya.
Deniz Cuylan‘s For Luca is a tribute to a canine companion, sadly departed. In processing his grief, the artist turns to a multitude of friends, who make comforting contributions through music and voice. The end result is more thankful than sad, a reminder of an interspecies friendship (Hush Hush, September 18). Kjetil Husebø‘s Contours of Texture was also recorded during a time of loss and grief, and slowly crawls its way into the light (September 11). Noir Age has two releases planned for September 11. Night Foundation‘s Mental Objects is a meditative set billed as a sound suite, while Anasisana‘s Self Exploration is a Tunisian exploration of grief and its aftermath. On With What Little Light There Is Left, Matthew Paul Menovcik also addresses grief, highlighting the trajectory of healing (September 25).
The prolific Home Normal imprint launches its fall season with two new albums. maps and diagrams‘ returning light is soft and hazy, tumbling like dust in sunbeams. midorinozu‘s lost horizons makes a fine companion, with a slight Midwestern flair. Both are out on September 4. And be sure to check out the places we carry, a nearly two-hour mix of new and unreleased selections, generously set to Name-Your-Price and released in early August.
Lamin Fofana delves into the Black experience on Corps Perdu, which “transmutes the words” of Aimé Césaire and others into sound. The result is both centering and informative (Shelter Press, October 16). Field recordings become elements of composition on Timothy Fairless‘s Friction, enhanced by wordless vocals and a sense of endless space (Dragon’s Eye Recordings, October 2).
Seulement la Nuit‘s Landscapes has been revealed one track at a time over the course of the year. On September 25, the full album will finally become available. We’re partial to Everything Fades Beautifully, as if perfectly reflects the sentiments of this time of year. Rachaell Lavelle guest stars on Eyes Bright and Low, a gorgeous album from Francis Harris & Gareth Quinn Redmond that crashes like light waves on an autumn shore (INNI, October 16).
Minimal piano becomes even more minimal on Raphael Loher‘s Figuren. Originally played only for a small group of friends, these sounds were then deconstructed even further, resulting in a series of tone poems (Präsens Editionen, September 4). Dedekind Cut completes a trilogy with Dede-K-Ton, concentrating on cascades of piano. The dearly departed Ryuichi Sakamoto appears on two tracks (God Tier Virgo / Ojas Music / The Vinyl Factory, September 22). Here’s an interesting concept: an album comprised of time-stretched samples from Australian jazz luminaries. Danny Barwick brings new appreciation to these pieces by exposing them to an entirely new audience. home (fragments) is one of the first singles (Amica, September 22).
IKSRE (I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere) is preparing to release in all her forms (sound meditations volume 2), a sound bath that travels from “coral seas” to “falling snow” (Constellation Tatsu, October 6). Philippe Deschamps is fascinated with wind. The opening track on the artist’s last album was “The Wind’s Unseen Lines,” while the new set is titled Wind Paths. The music is gentle as a light breeze, the antithesis to a heavy gale (September 25). Matthew O’Neill honors avian collaborators on Through to Us, identifying a host by name: Ovenbird, Redstart, Eastern Phoebe. The field recordings are as important as the music, or even more so; the album unfolds like a conversation, reverent and true (Panther Mountain, October 16).
Thomas Guistini is releasing the ambitious COMPOSITIO on October 9: seventeen pieces, each accompanied by a video to eventually comprise a feature film. The first are already available for preview (EGEA). Reflections is the first taste of Mathias Villard‘s Past Radiance. The EP comes with a rework by Joachim Spieth, producing anticipation for the full set (Affin, September 4).
Max Devereaux & Alec Watson‘s Febrile offers physical and psychological refuge. Recorded on the sixth floor of a skyscraper apartment while ICE raids took place on the streets below, the music vibrates with indignation and tension while proposing a more merciful path (Dragon’s Eye Recordings, September 4). Junge Eko‘s Pierced is a reflection of emotional rupture, translated into sonic form. Thanks to occasional vocals, the music often recalls the timbres of Codeine or Low (Warm Winters Ltd., September 4). Open to the Sea (Enrico Coniglio, Saverio Rosi and Matteo Uggieri) return on the impressionistic Beyond the Emotional Flood, a guitar-drenched narrative that seeks to lighten the weight of a difficult journey (Secret Lovers / Silentes, September 16).
A single piece in seven movements, The Sky Was Out of Tune is a mesmerizing studio version of a live performance from Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok. The tones undulate and shift like clouds on a changeable weather day; one never knows what shape will form next (Morr Music, September 18). Built on a blue palette, Orkun A.‘s Dew is designed as a soundtrack for early mornings, when everything is new and the day is filled with promise (FUU, September 25).
Lost Tribe Sound’s Moss & Melee series is drawing to a close. The soft timbres of the dead bell reflect the nature of civic hall, a duo comprised of Craig Tattersall and Euan Alexander Millar-McMeeken. Their sound is restrained and intimate, awash in muted hues as the turquoise-tinted video for “woven dust” (October 2). Darkness Is Just Darkness, say Euan Alexander Miller-McMeeken & Henrik Meierkord, decorated ambient passages with spoken word, meant to console and surround. The cello is a steady companion, waiting in the wings (Audiobulb, September 22). Meierkord also guest stars on Trem 77‘s Textural Colour Spectrum Sandpainting, his treated strings shifting said spectrum from ambient to modern composition (September 1).
Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory is a duo of duos, four friends who have known each other for a long time and are finally getting the chance to record together. Piano, synth and guitar notes waft through the recording room, aloft on soft breezes, taking a while to settle on the floor. The comfort level is high, between performers and between performers and audience (kranky, September 4). After scoring Star Wars: Ahsoka and Dark Winds, saxophonist alas, i am myself (Deana Kiner) releases in the forest you’re still short, but you will grow, whose track titles are just as intriguing as those of the album and moniker (November 6).
Michael Scott Dawson will release a pair of peaceful guitar albums on September 4. Long Slow Distance sounds just like its title, perfect for an interstate drive, way past the comforts of civilization. kitsune no yomeiri delves into more Western timbres, despite its cover art and title. Every so often, the skies open for a swift shower (We Are Busy Bodies, September 4).
Constellation is dropping three albums September 25. Steve Bates‘ Infinite Antenna is wobbly and warped; form dissolves into abstraction, song into texture. Courant Zéro‘s Solari is a guitar driven odyssey that occasionally borders on drone, while Light Conductor‘s Sequence Three lands between genres and will be covered later this week.
There Is Wonder Here, proclaim BJ Cole & Seconds. Their shimmering album is awash in pedal steel, Cristal Baschet and reverb, perfect for those sprawling late summer and early autumn days (Centripetal Force, September 18). Pedal steel is also the star of Luce Mawdsley‘s Dream, Baby Butch, an EP composed for the film “Catherine Opie: Moments of Being” (September 4).
Chihei Hatakeyama and Ken Ikeda join forces on The Empty Rose, an elegant novel unveiled in sixteen chapters. The music drifts, descends and occasionally clings, producing a sense of unease (mykesrhiza, September 19). Blue Chemise‘s loop-based Mothers of All is haunted and haunting, a dark set for the darker months. Billed as “spectral salon music,” the score-like melodies stick in the head like buried traumas (Students of Decay, October 2). Texture reigns supreme on Vitor Joaquim‘s spacious Calligraphy, whose titles include “Oxygen,” “Carbon,” “Hydrogen” and “Nitrogen,” concluding with “Dust Stars.” One for the science fans! (October 20).
Kenichiro Isoda‘s Epilogue lies at the intersection of new age and ambient, while straddling the organic and electronic worlds. The artist has been active for over 40 years and has found his way to peace (Oath, October 30). Based on a sound installation, Brian House‘s Synchronizing Uncertainty introduces 286 circuits that “activate spontaneously, but may also be triggered by movement.” The result is a mixture of the planned and spontaneous (LINE, September 18). David Wunder Brägger mixes vintage organs with handmade electronics and more on Séance of Sleep II – La lévitation de Shéhérazade. A very cool double-sided art print is available for purchase, emphasizing the sci-fi aspect of the release, as seen to the right (Tiki Parlour, September 18).
Gorgeous electronic tones percolate throughout Pozo de Aqua, the upcoming album from Le Motel. Water flows, light twinkles and the set is infused with a sense of calm (Constellation Tatsu, September 15). What could be as peaceful as a seascape? Maxime Denuc‘s ocean-minded Club Imperiale is an invitation to stretch the former season as far as it can go (which is some climates is pretty far). The album operates as an electronic church, as techno rhythms are filtered through organ, producing a unique sense of uplift (light-years, September 11). Loop Diary incorporates field recordings in Music from Tokyo / New York, one city for each side. Subdued electronic rhythms lie underneath like the pulses of the cities. Given the choice of location, which side will players turn to first? (Personal Affair, September 14).
Richard Allen
