maxazine

The Los Angeles post-rock duo El Ten Eleven releases its sixteenth record with “Nowhere Faster”, following its longest break in 23 years of collaboration. The album is thematically rooted in unrest and transience, and this is audible in the eight tracks that Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty have assembled. A new element is the inclusion of live strings and piano, heard for the first time in their discography and giving tracks such as the title track and “You Against You” a ... read more

With “Kammerkonzert”, Tom Jenkinson, better known as Squarepusher, ventures fully into the world of chamber music for the first time. The title is German for chamber concert, and the name is meaningful: fourteen tracks built on strings, fortepiano, vibraphone, woodwinds and live drums, all played and programmed by Jenkinson himself via a MIDI guitar system. The familiar IDM blueprint remains recognisable, but the usual electronic sounds have been replaced by acoustic instruments, ... read more

No one was waiting for “Highway to Heaven”. Nina Hagen likely knew that herself. But she made it anyway, in her own inimitable and slightly incomprehensible way. The album is neither a statement nor a comeback. It is what it is: a 71 year old woman singing gospel with Nana Mouskouri, and fully believing in it. That deserves respect, and somewhere also a smile. But it is no longer great art.

“Hauntings” contains pieces that, without exception, are excellently mastered and produced, as we have come to expect. The level of detail in the mix is impressive. “Hauntings” is not an album of standalone tracks, but a suite that ideally should be performed by an orchestra capable of translating Barbieri’s sound worlds. Such a performance is something you experience, something that washes over and through you, after which it settles into memory. Slowly and ... read more