#glassine

[thinkingimages]

A page of antique glassine - Spider's Web interleaving material 

[minimavisibilia]

Oscar Tuazon Cracked Slab 2009 Plexigass, security glass, plywood, steel, cement, mirror papercrete, glassine, C print, mesh, plastic tarp, silicone, paint, and tape 100 x 151 x 23 cm (39.37 x 59.45 x 9.06 in.)

[k00278300]

Eric Fischl, Bathers

This are paintings done on glassine a paper similar to tracing paper with a glossy finish done by Fischl. He used glassine because he struggled with composition and laying out the ideas in his head.

I was hesitant to paint the third body as I was very happy with how the painting was. I was inspired by Fischl and painted in the third figure on glassine. I used watered down paint so it would drip and give the figure a withered effect. I would like to go in and add more detail but I really like the effect it gave and that I still have the painting as it was.

[k00281262]

Eric Fischl (Glassine Paintings)

In yesterdays "exploring mark making using drapery" workshop, we worked on glassine, a clear, non-absorbent paper. I emailed Sylvia after the workshop to ask for the name of the material, as I had forgotten, and she recommended this artist to me.

Eric Fischl was an American painter known for his depictions of suburbia. He used glassine to build layers of narratives and create a story. In his glassine paintings, figures interact with their interiors in visually interesting ways.

I am inspired to use glassine in my own work. I am thinking of ways I could use the translucency to show different representations of myself.

[yesthatgino]

I bought a pack of glassine paper bags and they come in a plastic bag. :)

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Glassine

Glassine is the musical moniker of Baltimore-based producer Danny Greenwald. Greenwald’s most widely known release to date is probably 2015’s No Stairway, an album crafted out of field recordings taken inside the retail chain Guitar Center. His most recent release is Radial,a collaboration with Horse Lords drummer Sam Haberman, reviewed in last month’s Dust. Tim Clarke wrote that Radial “veers between malfunctioning electronica (“Up, Together, Reach”), throbbing ambient drone (“St. Pete”), clattering percussive workouts (“Brushes in Woodstock”), and what could almost pass as vaporwave (“Behind a Seatbelt”).” For Greenwald’s contribution to Listed, he chose 10 things that have inspired him other than Nirvana.

Pink Floyd — “Bike”

I used to hang out with this guy in high school who ate a lot of acid. Now he is a Hasidic Jew. We were close. He made high-quality iron-on decals with a fancy printer he had sent to a church across the street because he bought it with a stolen credit card. He made a t-shirt that said on the front, “I’ve got a mouse and it hasn’t got a house, I don’t know why I call him Gerald.” And on the back, it said, “he’s getting rather old but he’s a good mouse.” When I first heard the song “Bike” I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. It’s obviously brilliant and I was a dumb kid and Syd Barrett is my favorite guitarist. Watch him shred.

Jason Urick — Husbands

Husbands by Jason Urick

The first show I ever enjoyed that only used a laptop was Jason Urick performing in some warehouse in Baltimore. I would go see him play in various other venues with unclean floors, but I’d usually lie on my back toward the front. Everyone would stand kind of far back from Jason and his laptop in the way you’re probably picturing, but I would lie down. His seamless textural transitions are a guiding light. I listened to Husbands on headphones 1,000,000 times lying on my back. In bed, usually.

The Microphones — Mount Eerie

When I first heard this album, it blew my mind. I knew all of Phil Elverum’s previous albums, but this was on some whole other trip. It’s my favorite Microphones record. Me and my friend Brian would listen to it in its entirety in his driveway in his small Toyota Yaris in Pikesville, Maryland, at like 3am. I LOVE the line that goes, “you’re soccer balls on knees.”

“I know you’re out there, You’re lanterns on lakes / I know you’re out there, You’re soccer balls on knees... through your skirt I see... your legs gracefully / I know you’re out there, you’re swaying and pleased / I know you’re out there, you’re vultures in trees / I know you’re out there In mountainous peaks.”

Cass McCombs — “AIDS in Africa”

This song taught me an incredible lesson about the usage of metaphor and allusion in songs. Listen to the entire song — then do some research — then think about the line, “Survivor cells are chanting ‘Ali, Bomaye.’” I used to write a lot of words; however the lesson has very much crossed over into how I go about textural arrangements, field recordings, samples, and what have you.

My mom, Donna Greenwald

Outlook, “Anthem Annie”

My mom sang the National Anthem at every Major League Baseball stadium. I’m not a big fan of the song, however I was able to travel across the country on a train because she was able to wrangle corporate sponsorships in the ’90s for her “National Anthem Tour.” Only an amazing lady could pull off something like that. Self-PR in the days of phone books and small-town newspapers. Learn more about Donna Greenwald by listening to this podcast episode I made about her.

Horace Andy — Dance Hall Style

Once when I was 15 or so I walked into The Sound Garden, a record store in Baltimore, and asked what I should listen to. The person walked (almost urgently) to the reggae section in the back of the store and handed me Dance Hall Style on CD. Horace Andy looks so cool on the cover. Also, I intrinsically had a lot of trust in the person who helped me because he also looked very cool. Lyrically, the album is very heady. And his voice is so expressive. The production sounds like outer space in the mind of an extremely sensitive man.

MF DOOM and all of his monikers/collaborations

Daniel Dumile was the cleverest person to walk the earth. He was an insanely talented and underappreciated producer. He was an immense talent and the world is less enjoyable without him. He felt like the most distant stranger that I kind of knew from someplace. He helped me get through some really difficult times.

Own his own throne, the boss like King Koopa On the microphone he flossed the ring (“Super!”) Average emcees is like a TV blooper MF DOOM, he’s like D.B. Cooper

Grateful Dead — Dark Star, Rotterdam Civic Hall, Rotterdam, Netherlands 5-11-72

I grew up on the Dead. Here is a 48-minute version of one of my favorite songs. I don’t have anything more to say about it.

“Shall we go, you and I, while we can through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?”

Panda Bear — Person PItch

Also a great non-album track recorded at The Ottobar in 2007

Person Pitch was a game changer for me. I was already into atmospheric and druggy music that sounded like waterbeds, but this record utilized discernible samples, like skateboards and infants crying. Panda Bear turned all his samples into clay and treated them like weather patterns. I saw him perform at The Ottobar when the album came out. He used two SP303s (which were actually used to record the entire album) and a small mixer on stage with a very organized row of SmartMedia cards. Here is the tour poster hanging in my studio. I colored parts of it because I was working at a summer camp and had unfettered access to an array of markers. Also, I love his voice and Person Pitch is a play on Pet Sounds. That’s cool. Also, WZT Hearts opened and Jason Urick was in that band.

CELESTIAL WHITE NOISE | Sleep Better, Reduce Stress, Calm Your Mind, Improve Focus | 10 Hour Ambient

I fall asleep to this every night.

Björk — Unravel

This is one of my favorite songs. Everything about it. Heartbreaking. The End.

While you are away My heart comes undone Slowly unravels In a ball of yarn

The devil collects it With a grin Our love In a ball of yarn

He’ll never return it So, when you come back We’ll have to make new love

[craftdiscoveries]

(via How to Make Faux Glassine Bags! - The Graphics Fairy)

[jokeanddaggerdept]

[mildmayfoxe]

got some beautiful things from @saltedsnailstudio yesterday!! everything is so gorgeous thank you so much!!! 🤩🙏🏻❣️

[vodid]

Question if you’re fine answering!

What’s advice you would give young people wanting to open an art store for the first time? If that makes sense?

this is a very general question and there is SO much to cover so i'll just put a buncha different points:

research research research all your store platform options (etsy, shopify, bigcartel, kofi, etc.) before choosing one and, when you find one that will work for you, look into how established artists structure their stores if you need help on building your own. you'll want products to have a decent picture and a description that lists its size and shipment options. not required but def recommended, i'd see about adding a faq page too that mentions shipping times, if you'll replace damaged artwork, etc.

prioritize having pictures of the physical product over the digital file (if applicable) customers want to see what they're getting!

keep track of all your finances (easiest way is to just use a google spreadsheet) track your revenue, fees, production costs, shipping costs, supplies, everything you spent money on for your store. i can give a tutorial on how to set up a spreadsheet if you need!

DO NOT SKIMP on protective measures for your art. buy chipboard, buy plastic sleeves/baggies, buy rigid envelopes, buy extras of your products! have lots of scotch tape! chipboard i think is the most important one that i hear some artists don't use. PLEASE USE IT HSDFSDFS it's a sturdy but flexible and thin piece of cardboard! this will make sure your artwork won't be as easily bent or creased during shipment. you can find these at crafts stores or online!

research post offices in your area. (if US) look into cost of postage, travel times to the post office, if you have a post office with a 24/7 kiosk available, and decide if you are willing to ship international (no shame in choosing not to!) — for this and the last bullet, i have a lot more about how to ship your art if you need it

optional but strongly recommended: handwrite your thank you notes! nothing makes people feel better than to see a personal touch in their order saying it was packaged with care by the artist themselves. you don't need good handwriting to write a simple ty 💕

be annoying about your store. promote it like fucking crazy (on your own blog, please don't self-promo on other ppl's blogs hsdfsdfs) and make it fun!

i hope that helps :') feel free to ask for clarification or about other things and i'll try my best to provide an answer!

and last thing, i'm not sure what you define as "young", but keep in mind that most platforms and paypal require you to be 18 or older to use their services!

[suprpackmailer]

Supr Pack's Sustainable Glassine Bags are FSC Certified, Acid free and Recyclable & a great packaging essential for jewellery, accessories, stationary, etc.

[h0neyfreak]

I have so many hobbies at this point I’m honestly shocked every time I need to actually order supplies for a new hyper fixation. Like what do you MEAN I don’t have bookbinding supplies anywhere???? Not one measly awl in this whole house??????

[kppackaging123]

Understanding the Benefits of Poly Coated Papers for Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging has become a critical aspect of modern-day businesses, and the choice of materials plays a significant role in achieving this goal. One of the popular options for eco-friendly packaging is poly coated paper. In this blog, we explore the benefits of poly coated papers and how poly coated kraft paper manufacturers and poly coated glassine paper suppliers are catering to the growing demand for sustainable packaging.

Poly coated papers are essentially paper materials that have been coated with a layer of polyethylene, a thermoplastic material that provides moisture resistance and durability to the paper. This coating makes the paper ideal for a variety of packaging applications, including food packaging, shipping envelopes, and labels.

One of the primary benefits of using poly coated papers is their sustainability. These papers are typically made from renewable resources and are recyclable, making them an eco-friendly choice for businesses looking to reduce their environmental impact. Poly coated papers also require fewer resources to produce than plastic packaging, making them a more cost-effective solution in the long run.

Another advantage of poly coated papers is their versatility. These papers can be customized to suit different packaging needs, such as varying levels of moisture resistance, strength, and printability. For instance, poly coated kraft paper manufacturers offer a range of kraft papers that have been coated with polyethylene, making them ideal for packaging applications that require a durable and water-resistant material.

Poly coated glassine paper is another popular option for businesses looking for sustainable packaging solutions. Glassine paper is a translucent, grease-resistant paper that is typically used for food packaging, bakery bags, and envelopes. When coated with polyethylene, glassine paper becomes even more durable and moisture-resistant, making it an excellent choice for food packaging.

In conclusion, the use of poly coated papers is an excellent way for businesses to achieve their sustainability goals while maintaining the functionality and durability of their packaging. With the help of flexible packaging paper manufacturers and poly coated glassine paper suppliers, businesses can easily incorporate eco-friendly packaging solutions into their operations.

[k00278300]

Finished painting on glassine.

Details.

Two finished paintings next to each other.

[yesthatgino]

Using Less Plastic (at work): Plastic Bags

I am going to try to post my efforts to use less plastic and to be more environmentally conscious and have less of a negative impact. Less! The key word is "less". If it's impossible or financially irresponsible I won't do it.

Context: I work in jewelry. Specifically custom jewelry for my family's business where we do mostly refurbishing. Big chain retail jewelry retail store takes your old jewelry as a trade-in, they give you credit, they give us the worn scratched ring, we clean it, buff it, make it shine like new, and they sell it used. We do thousands of rings like this. Our main clients are businesses so we don't ship the rings in ringboxes, we ship then in these 2x3 2mil plastic bags.

If we were to box them our boxes would be tossed out and the clients branded boxes would be used, the boxes increase shipping costs (weight and volume), whatever. Bags. :) Its how everyone ships jewelry to each other anyway. I do mean everyone. All of it is in plastic bags.

These bags, we buy from Amazon for $17 for 1000pcs. Thats 1.7¢ per jewelry piece. Earrings, to prevent scratching each other, is separated so one per bag and then one bag is placed inside the other bag. Success. I tried to find bags made of recycled plastic, but they do not exist. There is an Atlanta business that sells it, but they gave me a high price per bag. I, deciding the earth was worth it, approved it and they ghosted me. They were clearly trying to get rid of my small order. D:

So, in an attempt to use less plastic in my life, I suggested we switch to glassine paper bags. Glassine paper is like polished paper. It doesn't scratch, pH neutral, and although it looks and acts like wax paper, it has no wax. If it did have wax the rings would scrape it off the surface and then have wax embedded in it.

These bags from... uhh... Wizard Coin Supply, have JBM brand glassine bags, which from my searches they appear to be *the* brand to get for glassine bags. They're $51.79 plus shipping for 1000, which is ≈5.2¢ per bag. Which is a full 3x more expensive than the virgin plastic ones.

Here's where I see some environmentalists split. Glassine bags require more energy to create, and require virgin wood (non-recycled), than virgin plastic bags. They're also heavier, so manufacturing and transportation creates more CO₂. But, virgin plastic bags wear down, rip apart, and produce microplastics which end up in my brain. There's plastic in my brain. >:(

(to be fair, I don't have confirmation of this, I just hear newborns have microplastics in their brains and assume I have it too)

Glassine paper bags are recyclable with ordinary plastic, and compostable (biodegradable) if they're dirty. So pick your poison (literally), do you want more CO₂ or microplastics?

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 9, Number 1

The Beauty Pill

Every January, we grind the gears shifting from records that came out in the previous year to the ones that will come out in the current ones.  It’s a rough transition, and lots of us have leftovers that deserve attention. We manage it, in part, with a late January Dust that clears out the backlog and allows us to focus on the new year. It’s not an iron clad rule.  We will certainly cover a few more 2022s in the weeks to come, and there’s at least one 2023 in this batch (the estimable Dischord-era retrospective from the Beauty Pill, pictured above). But it’s a turning point, and we’re turning. Are you ready to turn with us?

Contributors include Tim Clarke, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Andrew Forrell, Ray Garratty and Patrick Masterson.

1 Mile North — The Sunken Nest (Mutual Skies)

The Sunken Nest by 1 Mile North

Jon Hills discreetly snuck out his latest album as 1 Mile North in mid-December, a notorious no-man’s-land for new releases. However, this is strangely fitting for The Sunken Nest, which possesses an understated majesty and rich melancholy that harks back to the first wave of post-rock artists who emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hills’ close attention to dynamics and tone extend to the assembly of the track list, where the individual song titles together form a poem: “Plunge forth / Into muted depths / Where light collapses into night / Exhale and sink / Find rest / Amidst the ship / Your sunken nest.” The opening run of songs works especially well. “Into muted depths” nails Labradford’s signature sound of glacial guitar traced out over pulsing electronics. “Where light collapses into night,” the album’s longest and most satisfying piece, builds patiently into a hard-earned crescendo that’s almost anthemic. And the guitars on “Exhale and sink” have a post-metal edge that threatens to build into a cathartic climax, but instead settles for tense slow burn.

Tim Clarke

 Beauty Pill — Blue Period (Ernest Jenning)

Blue Period by Beauty Pill

The Beauty Pill hid its sharp edges in a dream pop sheen, but they were there all the same. In the early aughts, the band recorded a full-length and an EP for Dischord, setting off a thousand hot takes about whether they were or were not a Dischord band (since they didn’t sound very much like Fugazi). But I’d suggest that the Beauty Pill was as fierce and intense and off kilter in its way as Fugazi, and there was more punk in its croon than most people would admit. The sleek, harmonized chill of “the mule on the plane,” for instance, explodes subliminally with rupturing drum energy. “Terrible Things,” bristles with its bass lick’s muted ferocity. “such large portions!” overlays the most beautiful white noise guitar skree over its loping, narcotized vocals. The music itself incorporates both beauty and destruction—and that’s before you even get started on the words, which are sharp and devastating. Take for instance, the couple that introduces “Goodnight for Real” and encapsulates everything you need to know about difficult music and its fans: “There’s a band on stage tonight/every note they play turns its back to you/still you want to add them to the sad list of things/you’ve said yes to.” Or the dual verses from “Terrible Things,” that coolly observe David Chapman and Idi Amin (“And David chapman shakes and hovers in the shadows of the Dakota/ hearing voices one of which will never sing again when this is over”). The Beauty Pill’s output slowed—but didn’t entirely stop—when bandleader Chad Clark suffered a rare viral infection of the heart. They’ve had one more full-length (Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are) and two EPs since. But if you’re just getting going, this double LP is a reasonable place to start. It collects all the songs from both Dischord releases, the You Are Right to Be Afraid EP from 2003 and The Unsustainable Lifestyle from 2004, along with a smattering of unreleased alternates and demos.

Jennifer Kelly

 Best Fern — Earth Then Air (Backwards/Youngbloods)

Earth Then Air by Best Fern

Nick Schoefield is a Montreal-based ambient artist last observed distilling electronic and synthethic sounds into radiant, crystal-pure abstractions. His 2021 solo album, Glass Gallery, tinted Reichian rhythmic explorations with the glowing prettiness of melody. Best Fern, Schoefield’s collaboration with the singer Alexia Avina, dips even further into pop idioms, draping airy vocal motifs over lattice-work electronics. “On and On,” the single, distills the sounds of stringed instrument and, maybe, banjo, into a blinking bank of luminous tones, then tips Avina’s voice over in cascading waves. It is cerebral yet inviting. “World Spins,” by contrast, is nearly unadulterated indie pop, framed in keyboard chords, but putting wispy vocals up front; it sounds a bit like the earliest iteration of the XX. But “Way Inside,” the other single pits a cyber-storm of tinkling sounds against piano and subtly altered vocals, the organic world abutting the theoretical one in a lovely, arresting way.

Jennifer Kelly

 David Blue — Stories (Eremite)

This 50th anniversary reissue of David Blue’s Stories is undeniably a labor of love. It also represents the acme of craft. The retro, flip back sleeve and dead quiet vinyl have been manufactured with the determination to getting details right that one expects from Eremite Records. But who’d have expected that the label would break a quarter century run of jazz-derived releases with a singer-songwriter LP that was originally issued on Asylum and was made by a guy who ran with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen? Love makes a body do strange things, but that’s how you know that it’s really love. Blue’s writing style is as exacting and precision-oriented as Eremite’s production technique. His lyrical details are stark, his delivery muted, and the production (slide guitar by Ry Cooder, vocals by Rita Coolidge, strings by Jack Niesche, etc.) frames each tale with exquisite understatement. His baritone singing is similarly just-right. There are really no flaws to explain why Stories was a commercial dud back in the day, except that maybe the portraits of losers and love affairs were a little too real for comfort.

Bill Meyer 

 Color As Time — Soma Schema (Adhyâropa)

soma schema by color as time

Color as Time is Joshua Stamper’s jazz-into-classical project, which filters the composer’s bright, lucid melodic aesthetic through the improvisational lens of a six-member ensemble. Soma Schema appears to be the group’s second album, following 2018’s This Light Use to be a Mountain, perhaps incorporating some of that disc’s earlier material—there is a track on this disc called “This Light Used to be a Mountain,” though not on the album by that name. The music here flows effortlessly between fusion-y jazz and pointillist classicism, with individual instruments sometimes taking different sides in the argument. In “close cover gently,” for instance, Paul Arbogast’s unmistakably swinging trombone solo winds through the starry twinkle of abstract electric keyboard; later a saxophone (played by Mike Cemprola) blows blearily, earthily through that same pristine, percussive background. The other long piece “with (con) turning (verse)” lets cool flute and saxophones wander through a radiant, 3 a.m. jazz club space. Sophisticated, fluid and hard to pin down.

Jennifer Kelly

 Fucked Up — One Day (Merge Records)

One Day is yet another high-concept release from Fucked Up. This time around, the band members each spent a maximum of 24 hours (that titular “one day”) on their contributions to recording the music. It’s an interesting idea, folding Fucked Up’s attraction to the Big Idea into its formal processes; it also ends up being a useful corrective measure to some of the more expansive excesses (and, frankly, bloat) that have marked the band’s recent records. This reviewer liked Dose Your Dreams and was charmed by some of the nuttier aspects of Year of the Horse. But it was a lot to process, and all the accumulating bagginess and sagginess left its unhappy mark on Oberon. By contrast, there’s a very appealing zip and straight-to-the-gut punch to some of the tracks on One Day. The title track has the big-hearted, maximum-volume appeal of Fucked Up at their best, and opener “Found” reminds you what it’s like to be in the room when the band is making its violent, joyous sound. Look out, folks. Fucked Up is writing rock songs again.

Jonathan Shaw

 Glassine & Sam Haberman — Radial (Cached)

Radial by Glassine & Sam Haberman

Radial is an intriguing collaboration between Baltimore-based producer Danny Greenwald, who releases music under the moniker Glassine, and Sam Haberman, who plays drums in avant-rock instrumentalists Horse Lords. If you’re expecting a record that sounds anything like Horse Lords, however, you’re out of luck — Radial is a mostly placid, intimate record. Haberman sent field recordings and four-track experiments to Greenwald, which he manipulated into these impressionistic compositions, to which the duo then added textural overdubs. The resulting half-hour of music veers between malfunctioning electronica (“Up, Together, Reach”), throbbing ambient drone (“St. Pete”), clattering percussive workouts (“Brushes in Woodstock”), and what could almost pass as vaporwave (“Behind a Seatbelt”). Together, the eight tracks are pleasingly disorientating, especially on headphones.

Tim Clarke 

 Joy Anonymous — “Joy (God Only Knows)” (self-released)

Right up until the last week of the year, if you’d said 2022’s best dance edit was Ploy’s remix of Khia’s “My Neck, My Back,” you’d have been right — but Christmas came right on time for those hip to London duo Joy Anonymous and you might want to have a rethink yourself after giving this a listen. Henry Counsell and Louis Curran’s accelerated treatment to a 1975 Betty Everett cover of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” was a favorite among those who saw them open for Fred again.. in recent months, and it’s easy to see why: Even twice removed from Brian Wilson’s original vision, “Joy (God Only Knows)” soars with life-affirming positivity and the kind of smile-inducing energy made for outdoor summer dance parties, illegal warehouse raves, your living room, the biggest rooms (as God might have it)… anywhere open arms and hearts seek to groove together, that is to say. If you’re feeling bitter and despondent, tired of an uncaring world and fed up with pretending like there’s any chance of salvaging something from all of this, fine, maybe you’re right — but for at least four minutes, Joy Anonymous will have you reconsidering. I speak, of course, from personal experience.

Patrick Masterson

Kraus — Fire! Water! Air! Kraus! (Soft Abuse)

Fire! Water! Air! Kraus! by Kraus

Kraus is an ultra-productive one-man band from New Zealand, and Fire! Water! Air! Kraus! stands out from his discography in two respects. You can get it on vinyl, unlike 14 other entries in his 19 album catalog. And it’s his first production of completely electronic music. While he doesn’t publish the specs, one suspects that he is working with a combination of analog and digital gear. The drum machine pops, synthetic squelches and fluttering fake flutes on “Gunther’s Button” all bring to mind a world where pushbutton telephones were spanking new technology. The bright resolution of the chimes on “Canal du Midi,” on the other hand, suggests higher-bit sampling rates that might come from the sort of cheap, high-powered contemporary gadgetry. Kraus likes tunes, but he lets them emerge from squirming nests of short loops. And while he likes machine sounds, his music is most attractive when it sounds like a heavy human hand is manually retarding or accelerating the spinning cogs.

Bill Meyer

 Memoriam — Rise to Power (Reaper Entertaiment)

It may be indicative of where metal finds itself that the first song on Memoriam’s Rise to Power is titled “Never Forget, Never Again (6 Million Dead).” Memoriam is not a war metal band, in subgeneric terms, but like singer Karl Willets’ old band Bolt Thrower, Memoriam expends a good deal of creative energy making war-themed death metal. And in our current cultural environment, if you’re going to record anthemic metal tunes titled “Total War” and “Annihilation’s Dawn,” it makes sense to lay down a marker indicating just where you stand on the Holocaust. That said — and done — Rise to Power is a satisfying record of sometimes doomy melo-death, written and played by a crew of dudes with serious heavy-music chops: bassist Frank Healy put in nearly two decades with Benediction and briefly played with Napalm Death; drummer Spikey Smith has seemingly played with everyone, from Killing Joke to the English Dogs to Conflict to (say what?) Morrissey. For anyone familiar with Bolt Thrower’s early records, Willets will have the most recognizable presence, and his gravelly growl suffuses these sometimes by-the-books songs with some gravitas and drama. The opening 12 minutes of the record are its best, most ruthlessly grand passage, sometimes recalling the tougher sounds of Planks or invoking a meatier version of At the Gates.

Jonathan Shaw

 E Millar & Christof Kurzmann — Rare Entertainment (Mystery & Wonder)

rare entertainment by e millar and christof kurzmann

Entertainment and improvisation certainly coexist on a frequent basis, but when it comes to improvised music, the pairing is not a given. So, the title of the CDR, which contains a performance by Canadian clarinetist Elizabeth Millar and Austrian singer/electronician Christof Kurzmann may raise questions. If you’re wondering if this is a slice of Bennink/Breuker/Zorn action, the answer is no. Over the course of not quite 50 minutes on a June night in Montreal, they judiciously added layers of hum, rattle, hiss, chime and whine, only occasional letting themselves sound like they were actually playing anything. Every once in a while, Kurzmann gently croons in English, Spanish or German; hearing Tall Dwarfs’ “Think Small” bob in the slow-moving swirl is not exactly entertaining, but it’s definitely an emotional inflection point . So, gestures of overt entertainment are rare, but if you’re ready to indulge some existential pondering whilst settling into a state of uneasy immersion, this duo has your sound bath ready.

Bill Meyer 

 Ivan Nahem + ex->tension — Crawling Through Glass (Arguably) 

Crawling Through Grass by Ivan Nahem + ex->tension

Ivan Nahem came up through NYC’s no wave/post-punk underground, playing a role in such bands as The Situations, Carnival Crash, Swans and, most recently, Ritual Tension with his brother Andrew. This new project is far more reserved and atmospheric than anything in his history and reflects, in part, his experiences with the meditative aspects of yoga. “The Exhaltation of Nothing,” a track which he wrote with his brother, stretches the dissonance and clangor of punk guitar into infinity, turning the sounds that these instruments make into drones that melt in glowing, serene pools. “51st St Savasana” floats lighter, airier tones over skittering vibrations, buried spoken word and isolated pings of acoustic guitar. This latter cut brings in collaborators from prior, more heated projects, Norman Westberg of Swans and Carnival Crash on guitar and Mark C. from Live Skull on keyboards and synths. The music remains unruffled, though not without drama, big swells of organ tone promising revelation but delivering mostly calm.

Jennifer Kelly

 Sneeze Awfull — Exercise #1 (We Be Friends)

Exercise #1 by Sneeze Awfull

Pittsburgh trio Sneeze Awfull are collagists whose outsider DIY background belies the sophistication of their music. Beneath the spoken word samples, twitchy beats and electronic effects lies a collection of art pop songs that evoke the work of Arthur Russell and These New Puritans. Vocalist Hunter, cellist Ricki and JF on beats, samples and synthesizers use all the busyness of their overlays to enhance rather than disguise the poignancy at the heart of Exercise #1. On “qlip qlop” Hunter’s vocal floats above the beat of marching feet as Ricki plucks jazz inflected riffs on their cello, CF drops a sample of what sounds like a grey flannelled mansplainer “I can really tell you’ve lost a lot of weight/That’s good, I said”, a polyphony of voices follows, more in conversation than competition. Such juxtapositions are a feature of their work, moments of intense beauty rising above the thrum of the world, the tracks constructed like intricate nested boxes, that reveal new secrets with every listen.

Andrew Forell 

 Torben Snekkestad / Søren Kjærgaard — Another Way of the Heart (Trost)

Another Way of the Heart by Torben Snekkestad / Søren Kjærgaard

In the 1970s, ECM Records’ penchant for packaging audiophile instrumental performances within strikingly colored album sleeves earned the label an association as a purveyor of soundtracks for imaginary fjord vistas. Not only does Another Way of the Heart sound about a three o’clock twist of the reverb knob away from being a vintage ECM release, it was actually recorded on the Western Norwegian island of Giske, which is one ferry ride away from some cruise-worthy fjord views, with the express intent of evoking the regional vibe. Both pianist Kjærgaard and reeds/trumpet player Snekkestad rein in their more extroverted tendencies in order to favor long, breathy tones, reverberant keyboard gestures, and creeping tempos. Each track draws its title from the poetry of Torben Ulrich (yep, Lars’ dad), and the music lives up to names like “Wind and Floating Lines” and “Into Particles of Light.” This is not an album for all occasions, but if you’re ready to reflect, it may be the one you need.

Bill Meyer 

 Valee — VACABULAREE (Shell Company)

A proper original and maybe even a creator of its own genre, Chicago MC Valee now makes properly boring and unoriginal music, the kind AI could make if all Valee’s lyrics were fed into it. White audiences who likes their rap chilly and not daring will love it. Last year, MC Valee made an album titled The TrAppiEst Elevator Music Ever!, but VACABULAREE elevator music in the worst sense.

Ray Garraty

Zaliva-D — Misbegotten Ballads (SVBKVLT Records)

孽儿谣 Misbegotten Ballads by Zaliva-D

The haunted soundscapes of Beijing based duo Li Chao and Aisin-Gioro Yuanjin speak to entrapment in tradition and the harsh lockdowns from which China only recently emerged. Mixing eastern and western music into a disquieting hybrid, Zaliva-D, offer no easy entry into their world. The tracks on Misbegotten Ballads fall somewhere between the blasted bastardized blues of Beefheart or Waits and traditional music injected with off-kilter beats, discordant machine music and the wordless wheedling lamentations of ancestral spirits. Built on distinctly Chinese rhythmic cadences and played at a uniformly deliberate pace, the duo’s music is at once aloof and strangely engaging. Club music at the end of a labyrinth of alleys for which no map exists. Arm yourself with a large ball of string and venture forth.

Andrew Forell

 Tucker Zimmerman & Joshua Burkett — Tunnel Visions (Idea/Mystra)

Tunnel Visions is a collaboration between poet Tucker Zimmerman and acoustic guitarist Joshua Burkett. The former is a Californian long transplanted to Europe who has been making records you never heard of since the 1970s, the latter has pursued a similarly obscure course for a quarter century whilst running Mystery Train Records in Massachusetts. Neither is too concerned with getting things perfect, which makes them perfectly suited to each other. As Zimmerman raspingly rhymes about seasons, long-gone musicians and radios saying things you know they’d never really say, Burkett and a few of his old freak folk friends trace meandering string tracks with just the right amount of bounce and melancholy to keep you listening past the words into the darkness of a very late night. This one might take some looking to track down; at press time, the only sources were Midheaven Mailorder or Burkett’s shop.

Bill Meyer