Following the death of the laptop pioneer and Editions Mego founder Peter Rehberg last July, the fabled Parisian electroacoustic institute GRM announced that three of its labels would move over to the Shelter Press, home of the publisher Bartolomé Sanson and sound poet Félicia Atkinson. Continuing the Portraits GRM series this week is the drone minimalist Kali Malone, who composed Living Torch at the institute between 2020 and 2021 before debuting the work at the Radio France Auditorium, stalking the ground between early modern music, American minimalism, and musique concrète, kindling the textural fires which unite the trombone and bass clarinet to Éliane Radigue’s ARP 2500 modular synth and the boîte à bourdon, an experimental drone box inspired by the shruti box and hand-cranked hurdy-gurdy.
From Lima the independent label Buh Records continues to share fresh perspectives on the history of Afro-Peruvian music, as the children of the distinguished violinist Amador Ballumbrosio Mosquera embody the rhythms of the panalivio and festejo dance, while Perkutao draw from Cuban and Caribbean forms for a sprightly and evocative blend of free-flowing percussion. Hunkered down in Milan, the machine theorist Caterina Barbieri conjured the internal worlds of Teresa d’Avila, Emily Dickinson, and Rosi Braidotti through a spectral séance, and from Brisbane the post-classical composer Madeleine Cocolas shreds field recordings from building sites and lakes nearby her place of work in a process of keening tension and exculpatory catharsis.
Placid Angles explores nineties dance music and 303 arps, while Dewa Alit and his Gamelan Salukat channel anxiety through muted strikes and metallic shimmers. Commemorating the Fourth of July in the shade of revolutionary war and the fate of Crispus Attucks, the trio of Killer Mike, Dave Chappelle, and Young Thug storm the beaches. Sarah Davachi sets a piece for four trombones, performed by Mattie Barbier in the bestiary of the Museum of Jurassic Technology in the Palms, and from dense Romanesques to candyfloss wisps, the duo of Church Andrews and Matt Davies braid jazz and dub through unorthodox time signatures. The pianist Bruno Bavota and vocalist Chantal Acda unite from afar, as tracks by Soul Glo, Nicola Cruz, Yaya Bey, and Paris Texas complete the latest roundup.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
* * *
Madeleine Cocolas – ‘Northern Storm’
* * *
Killer Mike – ‘RUN’ (feat. Dave Chappelle & Young Thug)
* * *
Los Hermanos Ballumbrosio – ‘Hatajo de Negritos (Serrana-Panalivio)’
* * *
Soul Glo – ‘Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)’
* * *
Placid Angles – ‘Stormy Angel’
* * *
Caterina Barbieri – ‘Broken Melody’
* * *
Kali Malone – ‘Living Torch II’
* * *
Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat – ‘Likad’
* * *
Sarah Davachi – ‘En Bas Tu Vois’
* * *
Paris Texas – ‘cyanide’ (feat. cryogeyser)
* * *
Yaya Bey – ‘big daddy ya’
* * *
Church Andrews & Matt Davies – ‘ROMANESQUE’
* * *
Nicola Cruz – ‘Pulso Invisible’
* * *
* * *
Bruno Bavota & Chantal Acda – ‘Still I’
