Albums

Over a couple of sides for the Gothenburg label Discreet Music the Italian-Swedish composer Timoteo Carbone Hansson blends winds and percussion to limpid and spellbinding effect, winding a course or cleaving a verdant landscape as he cuts between aspects of folk, new age and early music. Gwethilu: Songs for the Dark Lake comprises two sides of about equal length, each...

The first image wrought by Alex Zhang Hungtai's new double album Orion/Mother is of somebody blaring away on their horn from the shrunken corner of a forge or foundry. You can almost feel the heat and see the contrast of those glowing billets or molten liquids - in their brilliant whites or burning oranges and dulling reds - with...

I first came across the music of the bass clarinetist Jeff Anderle several years ago owing to his ensembles Splinter Reeds, a west coast reed quintet which focuses on contemporary composition, and Sqwonk, a San Francisco-based bass clarinet duo which remains rooted in the classical tradition while drawing upon everything from free improvisation to heavy metal to klezmer, the...