Gorgeous, restorative duets by a French singer and Iranian singer/instrumentalist, taking a highly personal, affective approach to the traditional radif repertoire established by Ostad Abdollah Davami. Ecstatic, sensual ghazals from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: ‘You gave me away free,’ she chides. ‘I wouldn’t take the world for a single hair from your head.’
Two sides triumphantly add organ and harmonium, bendir and n’goni.
The performances are considered and expert enough, but with a have-a-go freshness and emotional truth, without snoot or prettification.
Wonderful artwork by Gwénola Carrère.
A magical record.

A symphonic layering of phone-taps by Scanner and TT, aka DJ Sprinkles.
Plus some deep, glitchy Ambient by the label-boss, with piano and harpsichord.

Free-flowing recordings made in Pakistan with members of the instrumental quartet Jaubi (including Zohaib Hassan Khan on sarangi).

The eagerly awaited return of Bastian Epple to Marionette, for his debut album. Fifteen richly evocative vignettes conjured up with modular synth, tape-work, synthetic sounds, percussion, guitar: captivating, scene-setting catalysts of dreams, nostalgia, and other imaginary voyages; intimate, unpredictable, and alive; full of curiosity and wonder.

Rawly ethereal, other-worldly singing by members of hill tribes in China, Vietnam, and Laos.

‘Deep and haunting; a dense tapestry of layered percussion, time-warped tape loops, and spiralling drumgita figures, all underpinned by hypnotic improvisations from Brazilian pianist Rafael Dos Santos. Privately pressed in 1982, it is both ecstatic and unsettling, a landmark recording in black British experimental music.’

‘Based in the south of France, Beduneau builds intricate self-playing installations and DIY electronics. Bringing a fresh and personal perspective to electronic and electroacoustic music, his work is intent on opening up dialogues about the social construction of disability, and other norms and conventions.
‘‘Clairon’ refers both to a medieval trumpet and to the beloved with whom this music was first shared, as a kind of impressionistic, though deeply moving sound-diary, during the stillness of the pandemic. The movement of air, pressure, resonance, and the physical properties of the trumpet are reimagined; organic ASMR tones, synthesized bird calls, and pirouetting melodies of pipes and bells score an imaginary biodome where chaos and harmony coexist.
‘Striking, singular, and boundary-pushing.’