Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 2019

Crocodile - Howling Mad Black Music under Hot Stars

Austin prog band Crocodile realeased their second album on October 1, 2019. The album title Howling Mad Black Music under Hot Stars (HMBMUHS) and the artwork echo the 70s, but not...

De Press - Body Manifest

Every once in a while I am totally taken by surprise and blown away by an album sent for review. When a new album arrives I put it in my queue and don’t listen to it until I am ready to...

Led Bib - It's Morning

This album (the band’s eighth) brings big changes for Led Bib. The band has always consisted of Mark Holub (drums), Liran Donin (bass), and Toby McLaren (keyboards) with the dual alto saxes...

Various Artists - Music of the Piano Mill 2017, 2018 and 2019

Harrigans Lane Collective in Willsons Downfall, Australia, is the home of the Piano Mill, a center for explorative interdisciplinary projects in rural Australia with a focus on architecture, music,...

Crystal Jacqueline - A Prayer for the Birds

Over the past ten years Crystal Jacqueline has grown and blossomed as a singer and musician. Her latest solo album is A Prayer for the Birds, co-written with her musical and life partner...

Crystal Jacqueline - A Prayer for the Birds

With each new release, Crystal Jacqueline solidifies her place as one of the prime current exponents of acid folk. But even aside from genre labels or comparisons with her other work, A Prayer...

Sarah Pagé - Dose Curves

When “Dose Curves” starts, a listener would probably never guess that the sounds are being made by a harp. Under a sheen of reverb, there seems to be a bowed string, so the first...

Bernie Shaw & Dale Collins - Too Much Information

Before Bernie Shaw joined up as lead singer of Uriah Heep in 1986, he was part of the vibrant Victoria BC music scene. For Too Much Information he has teamed up with one of his old...

David Woodcock - Normal Life

Brit singer songwriter David Woodcock’s second album, Normal Life, was recorded over a two year period of various recording sessions. The resulting thirteen songs are quite a mixture...

Hawkestrel - The Future Is Us

Hawkwind fans who haven’t been getting enough of the space rock they love from Hawkwind itself can rejoice in Hawkestrel, the latest project by long-time Hawkwind bassman Alan Davey....

Robert Rich - Tactile Ground

One can always count on Robert Rich to deliver something interesting, and his 2019 release, Tactile Ground, most definitely delivers the goods for anyone seeking out a gently floating mesh...

The Monochrome Set - Fabula Mendax

The new Monochrome Set album, Fabula Mendax, is based on manuscripts written in the 15th Century by Armande de Pange, a companion of Joan of Arc. The phrase "fabula mendax" is...

Malcolm Galloway - Transitions

In addition to his work leading the progressive rock band Hats off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, Malcolm Galloway has built up a substantial catalog of non-rock recordings, with...

Soft Hearted Scientists - Please Read Me

After a lengthy break, these enigmatic scientists returned to the studio in early 2019 to record a cover tune for a year-end Fruits de Mer retrospective that is appearing this spring, but Keith...

Sendelica - Cromlech Chronicles IV - The Door into Summer

Chromlech Chronicles IV is the final installment of the Sendelica series of extended instrumental jams. To end this series Sendelica and Fruits de Mer decided to release something special...

Alex's Hand - Hungarian Spa

From the very beginning, Alex’s Hand has been a band with a distinctive vision of what they wanted to sound like — or maybe I should say “visions,” since their sound has...

The Worm Ouroboros - The Endless Way from You

The last time we heard from Belarus band The Worm Ouroboros was back in 2013, with the release of their debut album Of Things That Never Were, which we

London Underground - Space Edition

About a year ago I reviewed London Underground’s fourth album Four that was released on...

District 97 - Screens

With so much music coming out every year, there’s no way to keep up, so when I saw District 97 play at Seaprog 2019, I’d never really heard them before. Their stock in trade could be...

Frank Makowski - Canon der Finsternisse

Frank Makowski is a German electronic composer and musician, active since the early 90s as a solo artist recording under a variety of monikers (Tranquility, The Speed of Dark) as well as being a...

Sendelica / Secret Knowledge / The Orb - Windmill

Last Summer Fruits de Mer released a very special one-off 12” single featuring Sendelica, Secret Knowledge, and The Orb, which has subsequently sold out. Sendelica is well-known to FdM fans,...

Alan Simon - Chouans

After presenting epic musical epics dealing with Celtic history and legend, the origins of the universe, and who knows what else, Alan Simon epically moves on to the epic story of the French...

Jean-Jacques Chardeau - In Terra Cognita?

Chardeau’s latest project, In Terra Cognita?, is a dreamy musical journey around the globe, fifteen tracks featuring an astonishing number of top-flight musicians and singers, twenty...

Orsak:Oslo - Orsak:Oslo

Orsak:Oslo was formed by guitarist Christian Andersson, a Swede living in Oslo. He got together with some local guys (drummer Øyvind Minsaas, bassist Peter Nilsson, and second guitarist...

Frédéric Gerchambeau / Bruno Karnel - Amra

I’ve been listening to this collaboration between these two French artists for about four months now, scratching my head, trying to figure it out, trying to think of something intelligent I...

This Frilly Ape - Lovely Mutant Cauliflower

Every once in a great while I have to review something that is such a difficult listen that, no matter how many times I try, I end up aborting the endeavor well before the album is even half...

Lisa Maxwell's Jazz Orchestra - Shiny!

There was a time (before the birth of most readers of this website) when the big band was the primary unit of both jazz and popular music. Hundreds of groups consisting of 16 or more musicians...

North Sea Radio Orchestra - Folly Bololey - Songs from Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom

With an album like this one, which presents a selection of Robert Wyatt songs arranged for chamber orchestra plus a rhythm section, I feel like that’s all I should need to say to get readers...

Noah Preminger - Zigsaw

Noah Preminger’s latest release finds him at the helm of a group featuring Jason Palmer (trumpet), John O’Gallagher (alto sax), Kris Davis (piano), Kim Cass (bass), Rudy Royston...

Go: Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Raga Massive - Ragmala - A Garland of Ragas

At its core, music is an ephemeral art which exists only in its moment of performance. In the hundred years and a bit, the advent of recording technology has changed this somewhat, allowing the...

Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York - Entity

Composer, conductor and arranger Satoko Fujii has several of these orchestras around the world (Tokyo, Kobe, New York, Berlin) that convene periodically to to perform and record Fujii’s...

Vacuum Tree Head - Rhizomique

We last heard from VTH in 2018 with their two excellent EP-length releases Aasraa and Botofogos in Shadow Position. Fact is, it’s pretty hard to track down information on...

Colour Haze - We Are

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from this Munich-based band, now nominally a four-piece with guests. By my count this is their sixteenth recording since their debut in 1995, but the...

Quimper - I Am an Italian Souvenir

The prolific Quimper has released another EP of avant electronics, I Am an Italian Souvenir. The four-track EP clocks in at 14 minutes and features what we have come to expect from...

Fighting Kites - Mustard after Dinner - An Anthology of Fighting Kites

Mustard after Dinner is a free downloadable anthology of non-album material from North London’s Fighting Kites (2006-2012). Pulling together their self-releases, compilation...

Randy Brecker / Ada Rovatti - Brecker Plays Rovatti - Sacred Bond

Now well into his 70s, trumpeter Randy Brecker shows no signs of slowing down, with several notable releases to his credit in the last few years. Sacred Bond finds him teaming up with his...

Toiling Midgets - Sea of Tranquility

After seeing the name Toiling Midgets around for decades, Sea of Tranquility is my first time actually listening to them. This music could be described as (mostly) instrumental post-rock,...

Sonar - The Bill Laswell Mix Translations & Tranceportation Vol. 1

It could fairly be said that if you’ve heard one Sonar album, you’ve heard them all. Their basic idiom is quite fixed, with repeated grooves in varying meters topped by interlocking...

Sonar - The Bill Laswell Mix Translations & Tranceportation Vol. 1

It could fairly be said that if you’ve heard one Sonar album, you’ve heard them all. Their basic idiom is quite fixed, with repeated grooves in varying meters topped by interlocking...

The Supertones - Unknown and Other Hits From Outer Space

A surf rock band from New York City, who woulda thought? Plus they’ve released about ten albums before this one, starting in the early 90s with their debut The Big Wet Twang, none of...

TEAR - Secret Music & City of Memories

In late 2019 Markus Reuter (Touch Guitar, electronics) and Mark Wingfield (electric guitar, electronics) released two albums of music under the moniker TEAR. Both of these were previously recorded...

TEAR - Secret Music & City of Memories

In late 2019 Markus Reuter (Touch Guitar, electronics) and Mark Wingfield (electric guitar, electronics) released two albums of music under the moniker TEAR. Both of these were previously recorded...

DulceMuse - Musette

DulceMuse is the nom-de-plume of composer and multi-instrumentalist Katje Janisch's folktronic project – she works with synths to manipulate folk instrument textures into a matrix over...

PoiL - Sus

In the ranks of bands playing complex, noisy music, PoiL surely has a special place. Their music is so packed full of changes in rhythm and tempo that it can be challenging for listeners to keep...

Steve Eulberg - Between the Tracks

Steve Eulberg describes himself as a ‘traveling, performing, teaching musician’ in San Mateo, California, right across the bridge from where I called home for over thirty years in the...

Fernando Perdomo - Out to Sea 2 & The Crimson Guitar

On Out to Sea 2, Fernando Perdomo continues his musical tribute to his favorite artists of the...

Fernando Perdomo - Out to Sea 2 & The Crimson Guitar

On Out to Sea 2, Fernando Perdomo continues his musical tribute to his favorite artists of the...

Philip Zoubek / Ivann Cruz / Marcin Witkowski - Radium

Ivann Cruz is the “C” in TOC, and an accomplished and adventurous French guitarist (we reviewed his solo album

Oval Planet - Trench Poems

Oval Planet is an electronic project led by guitarist and synthesist Pete Prown, with support from Jerry King on bass, guitar and synthesizer, and Dave Newhouse on flute, saxes and clarinet. While...

Church of Hed - The Fourth Hour

Church of Hed is the solo project of Quarkspace drummer and synthesist Paul Williams, and The Fourth Hour is the latest in a long string of albums (not the fourth, in fact it’s the...

Grup Ses / Elektro Hafız - Varyete

Varyete is the collaborative and split release by Istanbul’s beats scene artist and archivist Grup Ses and Turkish electric saz musician Elektro Hafız, now residing in Köln,...

Roland Bühlmann - Crucial

Some readers might be familiar with the early Jade Warrior albums, where heavy rock riffs were paired with relatively minimal percussion (sometimes not including a drum kit). I bring this up not...

Max Corbacho - Echo of Longing

Offering a powerful sense of otherworldly ambient drift, Max Corbacho’s latest Echo of Longing was created over a four year period from 2015 to 2019, released near the end of last...

Celeste - Il Risveglio del Principe

A short history of Celeste. There was a band called Il Sistema that existed from around 1969-71, never released anything during their lifetime, their permanent place in history only assured fot two...

Jim Basnight - Not Changing

“Power pop” is a genre with fairly fuzzy edges, and there are probably fans who argue about which artists are and are not properly labeled with it. I witnessed a discussion online...

LFant - LFant

LFant is the solo effort of Guilhem Meier, drummer of PoIL, Icsis, PinioL, Ukandanz, Pili Coit, Le Grand Sbam, etc. He plays prepared drums and the result can be summed up as self-indulgent...

Aldi dallo Spazio - Quasar

Rarely do I come across an album that is outstanding from the opening note until the last note fades into silence. I was surprised and excited, to say the least, when I listened to Aldi dallo...

Chelique Sarabia - Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana

In the early 70s, Venezuelan composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia decided to record an album of Venezuelan traditional and folk songs, but with an updated modern touch using musical instruments...

O.R.k. - Ramagehead

This multinational band continues with its winning formula on their third album, blending intense rock with atmospheric production and some avant tendencies into a distinctive style all their own....

The Galileo 7 - There Is Only Now & Too Late

British psych-beat-garage band The Galileo 7 released their sixth album There Is Only Now and accompanying single in June 2019. Over the last ten years The Galileo 7 have evolved into a...

The Galileo 7 - There Is Only Now & Too Late

British psych-beat-garage band The Galileo 7 released their sixth album There Is Only Now and accompanying single in June 2019. Over the last ten years The Galileo 7 have evolved into a...

Henry Kaiser / Anthony Pirog / Jeff Sipe / Tracy Silverman / Andy West - Five Times Surprise

Among the many ways to categorize music is the axis from strictly composed to freely improvised, which has the advantage of being completely objective. A listener can subjectively say they prefer...

Harvey Valdes - Solitude Intones Its Echo

I first encountered guitarist Harvey Valdes with his trio, which features violin and drums and plays his inventive compositions. With Solitude Intones Its Echo, we get a 38 minute set of...

Yoko Miwa Trio - Keep Talkin'

Yoko Miwa’s newest trio release plies the same stream as Pathways (2017) — spirited...

Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Heavenly Bodies Expanded Edition

In conjunction with the giant Bill Bruford’s Earthworks Complete box set, which contains 20 CDs and 4 DVDs, we have an expanded version of Heavenly Bodies, a compilation...

Ciro Perrino - Planets

Forty years after its original intended release date, we have what should have been Ciro Perrino’s solo electronic debut in ‘79. Recall at that time Celeste was on hiatus, and...

Toh-Kichi - Baikamo

Prepare yourself for one wild and crazy ride with Toh-Kichi, but the musical chemistry between pianist / composer Satoko Fujii and drummer / composer Tatsuya Yoshida is something positively unique,...

Jeremy Cubert Project - Elephant in the Room

Nearly 20 years ago I reviewed From A to B, an album featuring a Jeremy Cubert Project...

Sirjoe Project - Letze Baum

Letze Baum is a cautionary concept album about an eventual environmental apocalypse, based on a quote from Chief Sitting Bull. And like many concept albums, Letze Baum tends to be...

Paolo Siani ft. Nuova Idea - The Leprechaun's Pot of Gold

It has been two years since Paolo’s previous album, Faces with No Traces. His new album is The Leprechaun’s Pot of Gold, though not near as interesting as Faces...

Amy Denio - Eureka

Amy Denio is a musical (as well as linguistic) polyglot. Her music has taken her around the world, with frequent trips to Eastern Europe, and she has absorbed language and culture deep into her...

Sally Barry - Renditions

Sally Barry is a singer with a musical career that started in the mid-80s New York punk scene, but Renditions is a small-scale effort that might be called outsider art-folk. Like many...

Kinetic Element - The Face of Life

When The Face of Life arrived I was unfamiliar with the band Kinetic Element, and I’ll admit that my first few listens to the CD left me cold and even dreading having to write a...

Freddy Delirio and the Phantoms - The Cross

Based on my previous exposure to Freddy Delirio’s music on his reissued solo album Journey, I expected The Cross to be a keyboard-dominated gothic Italian prog album....

La Janara - Tenebra

La Janara is an Italian progressive goth band named after a legendary mysterious creature in Irpinia, a district of the Apennine Mountains in Southern Italy, about 50 km east of Naples. Janara is...

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord - Harder on the Outside

Big Five Chord’s ninth recording, Harder on the Outside, celebrates their 15th year as a band, and offers a mighty eight tracks, all purely instrumental explorations of hard-grooved...

Dewa Budjana & Tohpati - Janapati

Certainly Janapati is an ambitious project by these two outstanding Indonesian guitarists who should be well known to all readers of Exposé, since we've covered many of...

Bertrand Loreau - Eternal Sorrows

If one searches around on the web, most sites will show Bertrand Loreau’s first release as Prière, from 1993 on Musea Parallele, an association that lasted for seven releases...

Anthony Phillips - Strings of Light

“Seven Long Years” was the closing track on Phillips’ 1978 album Private Parts and Pieces, perhaps a foetelling of the long seven year wait since his last album, City...

Corciolli - Imaginary Brazil

An accomplished pianist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, Corciolli (he’s one of those guys with only one name) is probably best known for his film music scores, with over a dozen...

Fungus Family - The Key of the Garden

Italian neo-prog group Fungus have released their fourth album, this time as Fungus Family, The Key of the Garden named after a song on their previous album, The Face of Evil....

The Night Times - Watch Your Step / I Got My Mind on You

Los Angeles garage-rock sensations The Night Times have released a new single, “Watch Your Step” b/w “I Got My Mind on You,” two high-power three-minute songs. “Watch...

Macchina Pneumatica - Riflessi e Maschere

Macchina Pneumatica is a neo-Italian prog band that pays homage to their forebears, wiith Riflessi e Maschere being their debut album. And a killer it is! Coming together in Milan in 2013,...

The Blues against Youth - Evil Flatmates

Refreshing. Authentic. And if you did not know better, you would swear that you were listening to one of the masters of Delta Blues. But more fool you. The Blues against Youth (TBAY) is in reality...

Ghost Rhythms - Live at Yoshiwara

There are bands operating in the avant-jazz realm that are all-out crazy energy all the time. Then there are bands like Ghost Rhythms that are more subtle and subversive, lulling listeners into a...

Kathleen Supové - Eye to Ivory

Prior to hearing the recording at hand, my only knowledge of pianist Kathleen Supové was her contributions to Doctor Nerve and the Sirius String Quartet’s Ereia, Michael...

Arkhe - Origen

Arkhe is the international duo of Canadian guitarist Fraser MacNeil and Chilean vocalist Jimmy P. Torres. Origen is their first release, an EP of six tunes for a total of 24 minutes. The...

Adventure - New Horizon

There is a lot of exciting music coming out of Norway, and the newest band for me is the melodic prog-rock band Adventure from Trondheim. Even though New Horizons is their fourth album, it...

Sleepyard - Winter Crickets

For their fifth full length album, Norwegian band Sleepyard brings together a number of styles that collectively mine the introspective, ambient, shoegaze vein tastefully with some occasional...

Trojka - Tre Ut

Hailing from Bergen, Norway, Trojka is a trio that produces a mixture of prog jazz and groovy pop songs. Trojka is Gjert Hermansen (vocals, drums), August Riise (vocals, keys), and Simon Kverneng...

Alwanzatar - Helsfyr Terminal Ekspress

Norwegian electronic wizard Alwanzatar is back with his third release, Helsfyr Terminal Ekspress, an album that continues to explore his unique take on tribal space rock. Predominantly...

Cloud over Jupiter with John Shirley - Short Stories for Tall Aliens

Rock music infused with science fiction is nothing new, going back to the 60s, with plenty of examples offering varying levels of success on both musical and science-fictional levels. There has...

Glutton - Eating Music

A glutton is an excessively greedy eater, and the Norwegian alt-rock power trio Glutton consumes music and influences and produces music that defies categorization. Released in May 2019, their...

DarWin - Origin of Species

“We have sufficient computational power to establish control over all networks and computers on Earth.” So begins the epic concept album Origin of Species by DarWin, with a...

Curved Air - Live at Under the Bridge - The 45th Anniversary Concert

Seems like only yesterday that I was listening to an FM station in Los Angeles when they played a song called “Vivaldi with Cannons” by a band called Curved Air Conditioning (or so I...

Remy - Exhibition of Dreams - 20th Anniversary Box Set

Remy Stroomer was born in 1979 in Haarlem in the Netherlands, and began taking keyboard lessons at the age of nine, and in the mid-90s while still in high school he joined with other bands and...

Isabelle Olivier / Rez Abbasi - Oasis

A big part of my enjoyment of music, and certainly what pushes my exploration forward, is finding something that pushes a boundary, defies conventions, and piques the imagination in a way that...

Molo - Earthsongs

I grew up listening to American Country music. It was frequently played in my home, though not exclusively, and I credit my parents for also including some light Classical music in their...

Brother Saturn - Music for Sleep

If there was ever a perfectly titled album, Brother Saturn’s Music for Sleep is it. Brother Saturn is the musical alias of Colorado based multi-instrumentalist and composer Drew...

Trio Dhoore - August

Three brothers from Flanders (in Belgium) founded the band in 2010 to create original instrumental music rooted in Flemish traditional sounds, with August being their fourth offering....

October Equus - Presagios

It’s been half a dozen years since their previous full band studio album Permafrost, but it’s no surprise given the elaborate compositions and complex arrangements, which are...

Potter's Daughter with Annie Haslam - Blood and Water & This Winter's Child

Potter’s Daughter is a band built around singer and pianist Dyanne Potter Voegtlin. She is backed by Amit Chatterjee (guitar) and Ian C. Voegtlin (guitar, saxophone) as full-time band...

Potter's Daughter with Annie Haslam - Blood and Water & This Winter's Child

Potter’s Daughter is a band built around singer and pianist Dyanne Potter Voegtlin. She is backed by Amit Chatterjee (guitar) and Ian C. Voegtlin (guitar, saxophone) as full-time band...

Moon over Mountain - The Colors of Life

Moon Over Mountain is the Colorado based duo of Ken Roberts on keyboards (piano, synthesizer, mellotron) and electronic drums, and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Megan Buness, the latter...

Kraan - The Trio Years - Zugabe!

Those who are familiar with Kraan throughout their career know that they have some excellent studio recordings, but where they really hit their stride is in a live setting, as any of their previous...

Stereo Total - Ah! Quel Cinéma!

Euro lofi twisted pop duo Stereo Total is back with their twelfth album, Ah! Quel Cinéma! If earlier albums resonated with influences from chanson, trash or disco to punk,...

Forrest Fang - Ancient Machines

Early on, which for Forrest Fang would be the 80s, much of his music was textural and minimalist, all things moving slowly through an ever-evolving listening space. Albums like Some Brighter...

Various Artists (Billy Sherwood) - A Prog Rock Christmas

For fans of mainstream progressive rock who also love Christmas music, Billy Sherwood has you covered. With A Prog Rock Christmas, he's assembled an all-star cast of prog luminaries to...

Tomeka Reid Quartet - Old New

For her quartet, cellist Tomeka Reid joins up with two thirds of Thumbscrew — Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums) — and bassist Jason Roebke, a Chicago musician with...

Polly Gibbons - All I Can Do

Polly Gibbons is a jazz singer from, of all places, a small town in Suffolk, England, the daughter of a farmer. None of which you would guess from listening to her. This is straight-up classic...

Mark Wingfield & Gary Husband - Tor & Vale

Mark Wingfield and Gary Husband are two musicians we’ve encountered before in a fairly wide variety of settings. Wingfield is on a number of releases on Moonjune in various configurations...

Sirkis / Bialas IQ - Our New Earth

Asaf Sirkis is an Israeli born drummer, composer and bandleader, now resident in the United Kingdom. He has played with Gilad Atzmon and his Orient House Ensemble, his own Asaf Sirkis Trio, albums...

Ola Onabulé - Point Less

Ola Onabulé is a London-born singer whose music can be categorized in various ways depending on how you look at it. There are aspects of jazz and latin at times, with occasional flavors from...

Pak - Bestial

Pak has been around since around 2000, mostly in a trio formation, and members have come and gone over that nineteen year period; the one constant throughout the lineup changes is guitarist Ron...

Lo Zoo di Berlino - Resistenze Elettriche

Lo Zoo di Berlino is an Italian instrumental trio (keyboards, bass, and drums) that has been making music since 2000. Their latest album, Resistenze Elettriche, features Patrizio Fariselli...

Crystal Beth - Push Thru

Push Thru is an album built from a very small number of elements. There is a human voice, a clarinet, and a bass clarinet, all handled by Beth Fleenor with the use of a few electronic...

Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno - In Rock

Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno (RRR) formed in the early 70s in Rome and released their debut album Per....Un Mondo di Cristallo in 1972. They played a few Italian pop festivals in 1972 and...

Ryorchestra - DMK

I love it when a musician known for one kind of music ventures into a different style and manages to nail it. My view that genre labels mean nothing is reinforced when, for example, a saxophonist...

Pete Um - As You Were

The first thing you notice about As You Were is the disturbing cover art of a mentally deranged clown sawing his arm off. Is this someone suffering from Body Identity Disorder or Body...

Datura 4 - Blessed Is the Boogie

Blessed Is the Boogie is the third album by the Western Australian band Datura4, fronted by Dom Mariani. Here we have ten brand new songs recorded in a studio farmhouse in Fremantle....

Robert Carl - Splectra

Carl is a prolific composer, currently resident in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School, University of Hartford. While he has less than a dozen...

Matt Sargent - Separation Songs

With Separation Songs, upstate-New York based composer, guitarist, music technologist, and audio engineer Matt Sargent makes his first appearance in the pages of Exposé....

Care of the Cow - Dogs' Ears Are Stupid

Care of the Cow was a trio based out of Chicago in the early 80s who played a fascinating blend of psychedelic folk, minimal electronics, and post punk weirdness. Their second album,...

Rhys Marsh - October after All

My last encounter with Rhys Marsh’s solo career was Sentiment (2014), which was a lovely set of...

Action & Tension & Space - Explosive Meditations

The latest release by this Norwegian quartet of sonic improvisers offers a powerful trio of extended tracks with no vocals (some occasional shouts buried deep in the mix are barely audible at the...

Human Ottoman - Rampage

With their third release, this Portland, Oregon band stays true to their past while not repeating themselves. In the time since Farang (2015), founding members Susan Lucia (drums) and...

Mareike Wiening - Metropolis Paradise

Thinking about jazz groups led by drummers in my recent reviews, Mark Lomax, II is the most prominent, but I’ve also covered Sean Noonan, Jeff Siegel, John Hollenbeck (The Claudia Quintet),...

Cousin Silas & Sergio Mariani - Ho Katechon

The album at hand is an expansive floating ambient panoramic soundscape that calms the nerves and soothes the spirit, a perfect coupling between the busy world of consciousness and the relaxed...

One of Hours - When You Hear the Music, It's Yours

Winding the clock back to 1966 in Lexington, Kentucky, a group of friends at the University of Kentucky got together to form the garage-psych band One of Hours. They released their first 45,...

Rudy Adrian - Woodlands

The latest in a series of deep ambient explorations, Woodlands’ inspiration comes from the natural beauty in his home country of New Zealand, as did Coastlines,...

Marc Wagnon - Interesting Times

Swiss born, New York based percussionist Mark Wagnon should need no introduction to long-time readers of Exposé, but since this is his first release in almost ten years, all should...

IMA - The Flowers Die in Burning Fire - 炎の中で死にゆく花

IMA is the duo of Hong Kong born (now based in California) electronic sound artist Amma Ateria and Japanese percussionist Nava Dunkelman. Their music is an explorative and impressionist offering of...

Chemistry Set - The Incomplete Fabulous Stinking

Seattle in the 80s was a hotbed of musical activity, much of it centered around the heavy rock of punk-inflected bands that eventually gave birth to what the world knew as grunge rock. But among...

Lunar Cape - Lunar Folk Tales

In 2015 the Russian extraterrestrial band Lunar Cape released their debut album, Just Lunatics....

Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda - Four

The free cosmic music that pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist / flutist Joe Fonda create together is at once magical and liberating, feelings that are easily convered by the musicians as they work...

Gintonic - 3

Gintonic is a Basque band that plays a mixture of progressive and jazz-influenced rock, with elements of classical music. The band members (Aurkene Núñez - keyboards and vocals; Mario...

Michael Byron - Bridges of Pearl and Dust

For a number of years, composer Michael Byron has been on Exposé’s radar, beginning with his 2003 full length release Awakening at the Inn of the Birds, and more...

Steve Roach - Trance Archeology

One has to wonder, after so many years and so many releases, how does an artist like Steve Roach come up with new ideas that don’t sound like what he’s done before? Some reference...

Jamie Saft / Steve Swallow / Bobby Previte - You Don't Know the Life

Unlike this trio’s last outing, Loneliness Road (2017), You Don’t Know the Life ventures out of the piano trio mold with other keyboard instruments in the mix, mostly...

Wadada Leo Smith - Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs

Wadada Leo Smith’s tribute to and meditation on civil rights icon Rosa Parks takes the form of an oratorio, seven songs interspersed among instrumental passages for a variety of different...

Bizirik - Ceremonia

Bizirik is one Cristián Larrondo who was the bassist and Chapman Stick player for Mar de Robles, a fine Chilean band that released two excellent albums in the early to mid 2000s on the...

Bart Hawkins - 21 Pulse Eclipse

The opening cut, “Dream Meditation,” on Bart Hawkins’ Spotted Peccary debut 21 Pulse Eclipse begins with an expansive and dreamy three chord loop, not unlike Patrick...

Cloud - Live at Kulak's Woodshed

Kulak's Woodshed is a live recording studio / venue in North Hollywood, CA. Live at Kulak’s Woodshed is brief but breathless audio and video recording from Cloud (Tyler Taormina,...

Autumn Tears - Colors Hidden within the Gray

As of this writing, we have four bands on the Expose site with the word “Autumn” in their name: Autumn Electric, Autumn Tears, Autumn’s Grey Solace, and Mostly Autumn. Of these,...

The Catenary Wires - Til the Morning

A catenary is the curve that a chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported from two fixed points. Its graceful beauty lies in its simplicity. When Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey...

Ale Hop - Apophenia

Ale Hop is Peruvian expat Alejandra Cardenas, now living, studying, and working in Berlin. She is a researcher, artist, and experimental instrumentalist, who makes her living creating film scores...

Professor Tip Top - Hybrid Hymns

Hybrid Hymns finds Professor Tip Top very much in the same vein as their previous album, 2017’s

Sam Rosenthal - Tanzmusik

Rosenthal is best known as the founder of Projekt records and the leader of the band Black Tape for a Blue Girl, but Tanzmusik pre-dates both, released in ‘85 when Rosenthal was...

Angus McOg - Beginners

This Italian band has a lot in common with jangly melodic music of the 80s from bands like The Feelies, The Sundays, The Church, The Go-Betweens, and so on. The use of Mellotron sounds adds in a...

Subshine - Easy Window

At the risk of sounding like one of those old farts who’s always going on about how the “good old days” were better than today, I’m going to throw out the generalization...

Sean Noonan Pavees Dance - Tan Man's Hat

Sean Noonan’s project called Pavees Dance is a very unusual entity that makes very interesting music. Jazz and rock meld to back mostly-spoken vocals in a way I’ve never heard before,...

Guarino Savoldelli Quintet - Core 'ngrato

While he only has about a half dozen prior releases over an extended period of time, solo and in collaboration, pianist and arranger Corrado Guarino is known well on the Italian jazz scene. For...

Shining Pyramid - Children of the Stones

Shining Pyramid is the London-based duo of guitarist Nick Adams and keyboardist Peter Jeal, who play a modern impressionist-based flavor of instrumental progressive rock. Children of the...

Sales de Baño - Geometria del Vinculo

Geometría del Vínculo translates to ‘Geometry of the Bond’ in English, and is a wholly appropriate title for this, the third album by Buenos Aires based six-piece...

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols. 5 - 8

Moving along from the first section of 400: An Afrikan Epic by composer / percussionist Dr. Mark Lomax, II (

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols. 5 - 8

Moving along from the first section of 400: An Afrikan Epic by composer / percussionist Dr. Mark Lomax, II (

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols. 5 - 8

Moving along from the first section of 400: An Afrikan Epic by composer / percussionist Dr. Mark Lomax, II (

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols. 5 - 8

Moving along from the first section of 400: An Afrikan Epic by composer / percussionist Dr. Mark Lomax, II (

Polly Fae - Dreamwalkers

It’s always an interesting situation when one ‘discovers’ an artist who already has eight previous releases. Where have I been all that time? Polly Fae, for those eight previous...

Moron Police - A Boat on the Sea

Sometimes you can just look at the cover of an album and have a pretty good idea – in a general sense – what the music is like. I used this method all the time back in the 60s and 70s...

Halma - The Ground

The latest release from German quartet Halma finds the band flying through deep yet gentle grooves, sometimes at high speed, some at lesser speed, bassist Gundi Voigt and drummer Fiona McKenzie...

Niall Mc Guigan - Spiritual Anarchy

Mc Guigan is an Irish musician and practicing music therapist, specializing in medical ethnomusicology (music and healing within shamanic and neo-shamanic traditions). Over the years he has played...

Exit North - Book of Romance and Dust

When you listen to Exit North’s debut album, the first thing that will really stand out is the voice of Thomas Feiner, which resembles Scott Walker as much as anyone. He has a tone that is...

Phil Keaggy / Tony Levin / Jerry Marotta - The Bucket List

Here we have a somewhat unassuming album featuring three musicians of note. Tony Levin needs no introduction, and Jerry Marotta should be familiar for his work with Peter Gabriel (and Tony Levin)....

The Tronosonic Experience - II: The Big Blow

The title track of The Big Blow reminds me of Soft Machine on Bundles, with a great riff worthy of a comparison to “Hazard Profile” — this in spite of the lack...

Osamu Kitajima - Torii in the Sea

Over the years Osamu has released some of the most stunning music, which would easily include 1984’s The Source, 2013’s Over the Brink, and his psychedelic masterpiece...

Ten Worlds - Ten Worlds

Ten Worlds is the latest foray into the area of vocal jazz by french pianist Stefan Orins, who composed all of the music on the eleven titles herein. Of equal importance is singer Karine...

Jarguna - Prospettive Animiche

Jarguna is the project name of Italian ethno-ambient artist Marco Billi who has been plying his trade and refining his style for at least a dozen years. His explorative, meditative drones create an...

Baaden / Cremer - Aufbruch

Those of you who have been around a while probably remember MySpace as the go-to place for music, which has since been replaced by Bandcamp. Back in the day, electronic musician Andreas Baaden was...

Randy Brecker & NDR Bigband - The Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra - Rocks

A couple of years ago I reviewed RandyPop! which was a live collection that served to highlight the...

Astral TV - Travelling the Circuits

There is a bit more than straight-up improvisation in this second offering from Astral TV, the synthesizer duo of Rasmus Rasmussen (from Causa Sui) and Keith Canisius. With Rasmussen’s...

Lee Abraham - Comatose

Abraham was the bassist of Galahad from 2005 until 2009. Unfortunately my familiarity with Galahad ends with Following Ghosts (1998) and I’ve never heard any recordings by them where...

Moon Men - Uncomfortable Space Probe & 3

Moon Men is an unconventional musical collective, though it’s a stretch to call them a band, maybe a recording project would be a more accurate term. Uncomfortable Space Probe is...

Spirit - The Complete Potatoland

I said it before and will say it again, Potatoland (originally intended to be the follow-up to Randy California’s Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirly Birds album) is a...

Fervent Mind - Tranquilize

The Norwegian band Fervent Mind occupies a very interesting stylistic space, bringing together elements of post-rock, modern progressive rock, and dreamy pop music with great compositions to form a...

Humble Pie - Joint Effort

Back in 1974, Humble Pie was in a very uncertain state. Founding member Steve Marriott had left the band briefly, but was coaxed back to work with Dave Clempson and Jerry Shirley for sessions at...

Magnatar - Parallel Worlds

Having been a mandolin player since I was around fifteen years old and having written about half a dozen songs on it, I’ve always wanted to hear a band that made good use of the instrument in...

Cabinets of Curiosity - The Chaos Game

Listening to Cabinets of Curiosity, it is necessary to leave expectations and preconceptions behind, as they’ll only hinder the experience of listening to this remarkably diverse album. And...

Mythopoeic Mind - Mythopoetry

Any musicians who would name their band Mythopoeic Mind obviously have some aspirations towards intellectual, high-concept themes. The roots of this project go back to the late 90s, when Steinar...

Nicolas Meier World Group - Peaceful

Nicolas Meier is an immensely capable Swiss-born and British-based guitarist and composer who works in many styles in quartets, trios, duos, solo, as well as other configurations, and has appeared...

Tillian - Lotus Graveyard

There is something about this Israeli prog metal band that I find very appealing. It could be the balance of male — Opher Vishnia (guitar and vocals), Yaron Gilad (guitar), Alon Shulman (bass...

Miguel Flores - Primitivo & Lorca: The Lost Tapes (1989​-​1991)

From the late 70s to the mid-80s there was a group of Peruvian composers and musicians who attempted to fuse modern experimental and avant-garde compositional techniques while at the same time...

Panzerpappa - Summarisk Suite

Panzerpappa is back with another set of tasty instrumental music that inhabits a region somewhere between rogressive rock and jazz, and once again, listeners will probably notice that Canterbury...

Le Rex - Escape of the Fire Ants

Le Rex is back with another set of mutant jazz. With their horns and drums lineup, some comparisons to New Orleans street bands are inevitable, but this Swiss band definitely takes that sound into...

Michael Gregory Jackson Clarity Quartet - Whenufindituwillknow

I first encountered guitarist Michael Gregory Jackson a couple years ago on Wadada Leo Smith’s

Psychic Equalizer - The Sixth Extinction

Hugo Selles and the Psychic Equalizer are back with a new album, The Sixth Extinction. Hugos’s musical efforts continue to grow, this time integrating elements of progressive rock,...

Kouma - AibohphobiA

AibohphobiA is Kouma’s third album. Kouma is the trio of Romain Dugelay (baritone sax and keyboards), Damien Cluzel (baritone guitar) and Léo Dumont (drums), who have worked...

Liebman, Rudolph & Drake - Chi

In 2018, we found Dave Liebman and Adam Rudolph collaborating with Tatsuya Nakatani on a fascinating album called

The Aristocrats - You Know What...?

It’s been a few years since The Aristocrats’ last studio album Tres Caballeros, apparently off doing more lucrative projects, tours, and such in the interim. But the trio...

Aarktica - Mareación

It's been a good ten years since Aarktica’s last release, well overdue. Aarktica is the musical project of ambient / atmospheric composer Jon DeRosa, who has been releasing music with a...

Tom Dyer - 1 + 1 = ?

Tom Dyer is something of a musical institution in the Pacific Northwest, having been involved in a variety of endeavors since the 80s, including running the Green Monkey label and being in bands...

Rascal Reporters - Redux, Vol. 1

In the annals of eccentric, complicated modern music, Rascal Reporters deserve a special place if they don’t have it already. With a history stretching back to the 70s and a catalog of...

Miserable Noise Club - Dust Coated Departure, Frost Confinement & Singles

Welcome to our first review ever of the musical collective miserable.noise.club, said to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but also claiming members in Amman, Jordan and Guangzhou, China....

Miserable Noise Club - Dust Coated Departure, Frost Confinement & Singles

Welcome to our first review ever of the musical collective miserable.noise.club, said to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but also claiming members in Amman, Jordan and Guangzhou, China....

Miserable Noise Club - Dust Coated Departure, Frost Confinement & Singles

Welcome to our first review ever of the musical collective miserable.noise.club, said to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but also claiming members in Amman, Jordan and Guangzhou, China....

Kelly David - Meditation in Green

With Meditation in Green, Kelly David opens a world of dreamy atmospherics, slow-evolving tapestries that combine passages of ambient electronics, acoustic and electronic percussion, loops...

Todd Rundgren's Utopia - Live at the Chicago Theatre

Taken in relation to the scope of Todd Rundgren’s career, Utopia might be seen as a digression, given that he’s released 30-some studio albums as a solo artist, while Utopia barely gets...

Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra - Hiding Out

For those who appreciate the big-band orchestal jazz sound, Mike Holoder's Gotham Jazz Orchesta's latest release Hiding Out is a two disc set of awe-inspiring compositions,...

Ultra Zook - Ultra Zook

Over the years France has produced some of the finest progressive rock, as well as some of the strangest, far out music you can imagine. Case in point is the French band Ultra Zook. This trio of...

Chocolate - Peru's Master Percussionist (Perspectives on Afro​-​Peruvian Music. The Collection)

The full title includes the subtitle (Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music. The Collection), and was originally released on the New York-based label Lyrichord way back when it was recorded in 1991....

Jay Graboski - Just Jay (& His Sonic Sphere of Acquaintance) - Steps 1971-2019

Jay Graboski has been a mover and shaker in the Baltimore area music scene since the very early 70s, playing in numerous different bands over the years, and what Steps attempts to do is...

Marilyn Mazur's Shamania - Marilyn Mazur's Shamania

Listening to Marilyn Mazur’s Shamania is like receiving an invitation to visit a new world, one that developed along different lines than ours, where peace and positivity are as...

Red Kite - Red Kite

This Norwegian group brings together four names that show up on a lot of other recordings. There’s Even Helte Hermansen on guitar, and he’s also in the band Bushman’s Revenge;...

Disen Gage - The Big Adventure

One of the more engaging contemporary Russian progressive bands is Disen Gage. Their latest album of eight instrumental tracks is The Big Adventure. Disen Gage is quite an inventive band,...

Steve Roach - Bloom Ascension

Much like the cover art might suggest, Bloom Ascension uncovers numerous aspects of Roach’s more sequenced interests, melding the more dreamy elements of his floating ambient style...

Ciolkowska - Avtomat Proshlogo

Avtomat Proshlogo is transliterated Russian meaning the Automat of the Past, referring to cause and effect or karma, with automat also meaning the virtue of the mind to...

Miles Richmond & Peter Grenader (with Steve Roach) - POV

The two Los Angeles based collaborators Miles Richmond and Peter Grenader have long and varied histories with electronic and experimental music, although much of their work has been making film and...

Stephan Thelen - Fractal Guitar

When you’re a guitarist making a solo album, inviting as guests some of the greatest guitarists in the world seems like a risky action — what if they show you up, and it’s more...

Wreckless Eric - Transience

Almost a year after his previous album, Eric Goulden AKA Wreckless Eric, released Transience on May 17, 2019. Whereas his previous album had a Bowie / Bill Nelson flavor,...

Nik Turner - The Final Frontier

With The Final Frontier, Nik Turner gives us another tasty slab of what he’s best at — rollicking space rock with steady grooves, trippy synthesizers, and plenty of Mellotron...

SEN3 - Vol. II

SEN3 is a Brit jazz-rock instrumental band consisting of Max O’Donnell (guitar, synths, kalimba, and metallophone), Dan Gulino (bass and synths), and Saleem Raman (drums and percussion)....

Astralasia - A Different Kettle of Fish

When Keith Jones was combing the Fruits de Mer archives for the tenth anniversary Goldfish compilation, Marc Swordfish of Astralasia was going down an entirely different path of...

Akiko-Hamilton-Dechter - Equal Time

With Equal Time, this trio creates a serious yet fun jazz sound with a simple trio of organ, guitar and drums. Drummer Jeff Hamilton is a veteran player, in addition to his work with the...

Videodrones - Atavistic Future

This Danish synth duo is comprised of Jakob Skøtt and Kristoffer Ovesen, the former being a founding member of the great Causa Sui in addition to having a half dozen solo albums to his...

Karakorum - Fables and Fairytales

With their second album, Karakorum further develops an interesting combination of progressive rock influences that’s quite distinctive. The title Fables and Fairytales may hint at...

Monarch - Beyond the Blue Sky

Far from the base of El Paraiso's operation, which would be Denmark, and also far from their typical sound, which would be the heavy instrumental rock jam-band sound of groups like Causa Sui,...

Chocolate Watchband - This Is My Voice

The 60s are over. They were over a long time ago, but their musical influence lives on, having left a mark on virtually every genre of music. So when one of the bands that actually went into making...

Jonas Munk & Nicklas Sørensen - Always Already Here

We know Jonas Munk from his work as longtime multi-instrumentalist (primarily guitar) and writer in the Danish powerhouse Causa Sui, as well as solo endeavors like 2012's Pan....

Hanterhir - Our Hour & Songs We Learned in Cornish

I first encountered Hanterhir on their ambitious epic concept album The Saving of Cadan, the success of which has prompted the band to release these two collections of their earlier...

Hanterhir - Our Hour & Songs We Learned in Cornish

I first encountered Hanterhir on their ambitious epic concept album The Saving of Cadan, the success of which has prompted the band to release these two collections of their earlier...

William Steffey - Reality Jockey

When I first heard William Steffey’s Reality Jockey, his name didn’t ring a bell, but that’s not because I’d never heard his music before. He was in the band...

Kit Watkins - Field of View

It’s always good news whenever Kit Watkins releases new music, and for me, being unaware of his two 2015 releases, the last one I heard was Sky Zone from 2006. When one listens to...

Dizzy Mystics - Wanderlost

Dizzy Mystics is a band from Winnipeg, Canada, with an interesting and engaging style. In many ways, they remind me of Opposite Day, with strong vocals over complex instrumental backing, but where...

Erik Griswold / Camerata String Quartet - Hollows out of Time

The story behind this album starts with the Harrigans Lane Collective, a creative space for explorative artistic interdisciplinary projects in rural Australia with a focus on architecture, music,...

35 Tapes - Lost and Found

Norwegian trio 35 Tapes is a modern melodic rock band inspired by the progressive rock of the 70s. The sound of the mighty Mellotron, with its 35 tapes to produce notes, made a deep and lasting...

Security Project - Slowburn

For their second full-length outing, the all-star Peter Gabriel interpreters tackle seven more tunes from the repertoire, this time bringing in some earlier material. Where Contact relied...

Fraud Prophets - Poptosis

The world of studio musicians is a part of the music business that many people don’t know about. Outside of pop stars whose music is primarily the product of producers, we always think of the...

Shob - Solide

Around a year ago I reviewed French bassist Shob’s second album Karma Obscur; since then...

Lonny Ziblat - Dream Hunting

Ziblat is an Israeli-Argentinian singer-songwriter and composer of film music now based in Holland, who first came to our attention when he was the leader of the band Modest Midget around the time...

Akku Quintet - Depart

Like their previous releases, the five pieces on Depart make superb use of math in their overall concept, seemingly moving forward in multiple simultaneous time signatures, something most...

Richard Wileman - Cabal of a Thousand Souls

Songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Wileman is probably best known as the guiding force behind Karda Estra (a dozen full length releases from 2000-2017) and Lives and Times before...

Ruphus - Ranshart

Regarding Ranshart:

The Norwegian group Ruphus suffered a drastic lineup shift after their 1973 debut, New Born Day, which resulted in the loss of, among others,...

Various Artists - The 16th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festival Live

Starting back in 2015 with the 13th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festival, Fruits de Mer Records has been presenting an annual festival of musicians and bands who have been, currently are, or soon will...

Hermetic Science - Out There - Live 1996-2006

Ed Macan is a professor of music at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California. The sprawling campus is hard to miss as one drives through Northern California on US highway 101. His idea in...

Manfred Mann Chapter III - Radio Days Vol 3 - Live Sessions & Studio Rarities

Manfred Mann, as of this writing, is just seventeen months shy of his 80th birthday, and what an amazing career he has had with his various bands through all the years, plus soundtracks and other...

Paul K - The Fermi Paradox

Paul Kirkpatrick is a British composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who operates under the moniker Paul K. On these fourteen tracks he creates a musical homage to Italian...

Neil Campbell - Last Year's News

Neil Campbell is a Liverpool based master-guitarist with about twenty releases to his credit, both solo albums and with various ensembles, mostly instrumental, but some with vocals, mostly original...

Ruphus - New Born Day & Ranshart

Karisma Records has begun a reissue campaign for the catalog of Norway’s Ruphus, a band formed in 1970 that went through a lot of changes and gained some notoriety in Europe, though they...

Ruphus - New Born Day & Ranshart

Karisma Records has begun a reissue campaign for the catalog of Norway’s Ruphus, a band formed in 1970 that went through a lot of changes and gained some notoriety in Europe, though they...

Magma - Zëss - Le Jour du Néant

Zëss. Hardcore Magma fans will be familiar with it through two previous official releases: First, there is the Bobino Concert 1981 CD (released in 1995) where we get a...

Caravela Escarlate - Caravela Escarlate

Caravela Escarlate is Brazilian band in the classic tradition of keyboard trios, Emerson Lake & Palmer being the prototype (or 1-2-3 / Clouds if you want to go a little earlier and less well...

Jordsjø - Nattfiolen

With Nattfiolen, Jordsjø proves that their debut album was no fluke. This duo is indeed one of the top progressive rock bands in the world today. Looking at all the qualities that...

Kevin Ferguson - Beauty in Your Head

Ferguson is a Portland, Oregon based composer and multi-instrumentalist with nine releases to his credit. We reviewed his first album Strad to Strat way back in 1996, a masterful treatment...

Frédéric l'Épée - The Empty Room

Master guitarist Frédéric L’Épée has done just about everything, recalling his work with Philharmonie, Yang, Shylock, and numerous solo albums alongside...

Kepa Härkönen - Spicy Tales & Spacey Tones

In a general sense, Kepa Härkönen is mostly known as a “surf guitarist” in his native Finland, previously the lead guitarist of The Wristshakers; he’s been honing his...

Lucifer's Friend - Black Moon

Lucifer’s Friend hit the scene around 1970, a German progressive hard-rock band fronted by the gifted British singer John Lawton, their apparent influences were Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and...

The Proper Ornaments - 6 Lenins

6 Lenins is the third release by the London jangle pop group The Proper Ornaments. I was a little thrown off by the disturbing cover art that looks like an execution, as the image does not...

Third Ear Band - Alchemy (Expanded and Remastered)

This is where it all began for a band so unusual and outside the ‘rock box’ that many at the time may have dismissed them as being too far out. When I first heard Alchemy, I...

Pepa Päivinen / Jussi Miettola - Hirttomiehiä Työväenluokalle

While it may have enough umlauts to make a metal fan salivate, Hirttomiehiä Työväenluokalle is in fact a highly abstract and atmospheric creation involving various wind...

Clan Aldo Pinelli - Patagonia

In his latest release, the Argentine composer and multi-instrumentalist has surrounded himseld with a small orchestra. His previous releases (at least the three that I have heard) have been all...

Nodens Ictus - Live Kozfest 2018

Nodens Ictus began back in the mid-80s as a subset of Ozric Tentacles performing that type of music in a more ambient style (as opposed to the space rock of Ozrics), specifically guitarist Ed Wynne...

Cantrip - Authentic Luxury

In the legions of jazz-rock power trios, Cantrip sets itself apart in several ways. First of all, there’s the guitar of leader Simon Henneman, whose resume includes such diverse settings as...

Phenomena - Anthology

I’m going to assume that there is a segment of music fans for whom Phenomena is a big deal. I am not a member of that segment, and in fact, I’m not even sure I ever heard of the project...

IZZ - Don't Panic

It’s been many years since I’ve heard anything new by IZZ, maybe their second album I Move, but they’ve been busy releasing numerous albums in the interim while I...

Big Big Train - Grand Tour

I’ve been aware of Big Big Train as long as Exposé has been a going concern, since the days of early albums like Goodbye to the Age of Steam and Gathering...

Alban & Cédric Theys - Sirius

Alban and Cédric Theys are French-born brothers now both living out of their mother country. Cédric, the elder brother, now calls Texas home, and he started playing guitar, and then...

The Spellcasters - Music from the Anacostia Delta

First question is: What is the Anacostia Delta? One might be forgiven for not knowing, but it’s the area of the East Coast which includes southern Maryland, northern Virginia, and of course...

Farmhouse Odyssey - Fertile Ground

This Northern California band has been honing their craft in relative obscurity for several years now, and their dedication is apparent on Fertile Ground, which is their third full-length...

Tim Burness - Interconnected

This past November UK musician Tim Burness released his latest album, Interconnected. Like his previous album, this one features a wide range of musical styles, touching on electro-pop,...

Kevin Kastning / Sándor Szabó - Ethereal III

While there is a good chance I haven’t heard every one of Kastning and Szabó’s previous collaborations, I think it can be safely said that Ethereal III is unique among...

Satoko Fujii / Ramón López - Confluence

Our readers should know the work of Satoko Fujii well, as we have covered most of her releases as solo, and in collabortion, as well as with the many bands and orchestras that she leads, as a...

Hoia - Scavenger

The man behind the name Hoia is Prateek Rajagopal, who is also known for his work with a metal band called Gutslit. But Hoia is the result of his interest in music outside of the metal genre, and...

Alio Die & Lorenzo Montanà - The Threshold of Beauty

These are two names that any floating ambient music enthusiast can trust with certainty, and much like Alio Die’s collaboration with Mathias Grassow Expanding Horizon way back in...

Walter Holland - Storyteller: Part I

This album might be the last thing one would expect from Walter Holland: an album of traditional, cover and original folks ongs, especially given that his previous releases were pretty much...

Wooden Peak - Yellow Walls

Yellow Walls seems to me like an application of the attitude which produced albums like After the Heat to modern pop music. Wooden Peak is a duo using a combination of guitar and...

Lambert - Dimensions of Dreams - Remastered

At hand is a remastered reissue of Lambert’s sixth album from 1995, whose released works date back to the late 80s. With the addition of a seven minute bonus track “Distance,”...

Various Artists - Romantic Warriors IV - Krautrock Part 1

This is the fourth in a series of excellent documentaries produced by José Zegarra Holder and Adele Schmidt, and judging by the title, it probably won’t be the last. I checked my video...

Der Finger - Le Cinque Stagioni

Der Finger is a band from Moscow, Russia who play avant-free, dark jazz, noise, and psychedelic improvisational music. Their new album, Le Cinque Stagioni, is a set of five instrumentals...

Moon Goose - Source Code

Moon Goose is a new band on Fruits de Mer. They came to Keith Jones’ attention last year on Facebook. Keith really liked what he heard, so he persuaded them to contribute a track, “The...

Sverre Knut Johansen with Robert Rich - Precambrian

What the Norwegian composer and synthesist has created here could be summed up as an instrumental representation of planet Earth’s history in roughly 62 minutes. Precambrian is...

Bibi Den's Tshibayi - Sensible

Bibi Den’s Tshibayi was born in the Province of Kasaï Occidental, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire) on February 5, 1954. Growing up in a musical family, he...

The Yardbirds - Live and Rare

The 60s were turbulent times, the decade where rock music grew up, going through a number of phases and reaching new extremes as time went forward. Within the span of just two years, from 1963 to...

Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin - All My Friends Live in Uncanny Valley - The Remixes

Now, if you thought that the lovely Miss MacPumpkin’s latest album

Various Artists - Romantic Warriors IV - Krautrock Part 1

The latest installment of the Romantic Warriors series takes us to Germany, a country with such a rich and varied history that it will require three full-length films to cover. As...

Sonora Sunrise - The Route through the Canyon

This Russian band started releasing digital EPs on Bandcamp in 2016, but The Route through the Canyon marks their label debut. Most of the nine tracks on this album have appeared on one or...

Chat Noir - Hyperuranion

Italian electronic jazz explorers Chat Noir are back after three years with Hyperuranion, and the duo of Michele Cavillari (keyboards) and Luca Fogagnolo (bass) has expanded to a quartet...

Moon Letters - Until They Feel the Sun

For a couple of years now in the Seattle area, Moon Letters has been impressing audiences with their modern take on classic progressive rock. The band could be considered a Northwest supergroup of...

Diamusk - Sleepwalkers

Adisa Zvekić a.k.a. Diamusk is a Bosnian musician currently living in Norway, and Sleepwalkers is the third Diamusk album, and the eighth in her career. The music is primarily reggae and...

Kuhn Fu - Chain the Snake

What do you do when you try to surpass your previous success? Try something different. And that is exactly what Kuhn Fu has done on their new album, Chain the Snake. The same elements are...

Julien Favreuille / Christophe Motury / Stefan Orins - Till Mina Vänner

A most unusual jazz trio, in that there is no bottom end (drums or bass) to hold down the rhythm, but that’s not to say they’re not there, mostly implied by their absence using the...

Green Seagull - Simeon Brown / Belladonna

Brit neo-psych rockers Green Seagull released a new single on May 3 that is a taste of things to come on their forthcoming second album, to be released later this year. Both songs are so good that...

Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Pandemonium Shadow Show

During their short life as a band (1967 - 1970), Brit psych group Mandrake Paddle Steamer opened for the likes of Pink Floyd, The Nice, and Vanilla Fudge, as well as performing at the Isle of Wight...

Breidablik - Nhoohr

Breidablik is back with another choice set of tasty electronic music. For the most part, Nhoohr is firmly in mid-70s Tangerine Dream mode, starting with icy string synth and the sounds of...

Stratus Luna - Stratus Luna

Stratus Luna is a new four-piece from Brazil, but to hear this, their debut release, one would think these are old pros who have been at it as long as most of the members have been alive. The band...

Jeff Kelly - Beneath the Stars, Above the River

Those who know Jeff Kelly only from his work in The Green Pajamas might be a little surprised hearing Beneath the Stars, Above the River. His distinctive voice and a tinge of psychedelia...

Hasting's Street Opera - Slippery When Wet

In the late 60s a group of young friends (Harry Wellott, Gordon Carlisle, Don Hathaway, and Chris Nelson) in Montclair, NJ formed the Hasting’s Street Opera, named after an old Detroit blues...

Hhoogg - Earthling, Go Home!

Who or what is a Hhoogg? Is it an alien or the sound of a stuttering pig? There is a dearth of information about them, but neither answer is true. Hhoogg is an improvisational quartet of aliens...

Ni - Pantophobie

Three years after Les Insurgés de Romilly and time spent on side project PinioL, Ni is back with a new album, Pantophobie, released on March 1, 2019. While being faithful...

Gabriele Zibret - Happy Songs und Herzenslieder

A most unusual album, especially for the pages of Exposé, but when a change of pace is in order Happy Songs und Herzenslieder (“Happy Songs and Songs from the...

Various Artists - Post Now: Round One - Chicago vs New York

With a roster that includes such diverse artists and Cheer-Accident, Koenjihyakkei, Flying Luttenbachers, Space Streakings, Yowie, and many more, Skin Graft has become one of the most reliable...

Thirteen of Everything - Our Own Sad Fate

Austin’s progressive rock scene continues to produce excellent music. The latest is Thirteen of Everything’s second album Our Own Sad Fate. The band has a long and storied...

Satoko Fujii - Stone

Satoko Fujii piano solo Stone, not what you think! Yes, these fifteen pieces are most definitely performed solo on piano, but using mostly extended techniques, rather than sitting at the...

Tom Eaton - How It Happened

Tom Eaton is a Massachusetts based composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer who has spent most of his career behind the scenes, producing and engineering dozens of releases for other...

The Ed Palermo Big Band - A Lousy Day in Harlem

After six albums on Cuneiform, all nothing less than superb, the Ed Palermo Big Band is back in action on Sky Cat records with A Lousy Day in Harlem, this time taking it in a slightly...

Sam Rosenthal with Nick Shadow & Steve Roach - The Gesture of History

Sam Rosenthal is probably better known for his band Black Tape for a Blue Girl, who have been releasing albums since the mid-1980s, or his label Projekt Records specializing in gothic,...

Emily Bezar - Out of the Moment

If you come to Out of the Moment as a listener unfamiliar with Emily Bezar’s music, I can only try to imagine what you might think. “The Longest Way” starts out with a...

Djam Karet - A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof

On their site, the band claims that this is their 19th album, but in fact their discography shows a few additional releases that they must not be counting (and that’s not even counting those...

Aria Primitiva - Sleep No More

It wasn’t that long ago that we reviewed the three song teaser Work in Progress, which was a preview of sorts to this, Aria Primitiva’s first full-length foray into their...

Byron Metcalf / Mark Seelig - Persistent Visions

One has to wonder... If this was designed to be a continuous 71 minute listening experience, why the heck was it broken into six tracks, especially when the end of one track is no different than...

Kuhn Fu - Chain the Snake

Surely what Kuhn Fu accomplished on their last album Kuhnspiracy couldn’t be topped, so this time out they seem to have wandered down a slightly different path, bringing forth their...

Rudolf Heimann - Die Unendlichkeit des Augenblicks

Electronic musician Rudoph Heimann is back with a new album, which is possibly his best to date, Die Unendlichkeit des Augenblicks or The Infinity of the Moment. This new album...

Kenyon Bunton - All Planes Must Land & This Guy's Disguised This Sky

Kenyon Bunton is a musician with roots back to bands in the 90s, ultimately unsuccessful, but mainly in the Cardiacs and London avant noise scene. Disillusioned with the music scene, Kenyon...

French Boutik - L'Âme de Paris

Overall all, L’Âme de Paris is an excellent set of aggressively pleasant French psych pop songs by French Boutik. L’Âme de Paris is meticulously...

Bobby Beausoleil - Voodoo Shivaya

“Bad breaks and hard knocks, it’s been a long hard road” are the opening lyrics on “Hard Road,” a dark, bluesy number that opens the first disc of this two disc set,...

Peter Orins - Happened by Accident

If one goes to the ‘discogs.com’ website and searches for Peter Orins, they will find that it simply says ‘drummer,’ though that’s certainly an oversimplification of...

Cabezas de Cera - Contigo y en Directo / En Vivo en el Alicia

One has to be amazed at how just two guys can make such absolute mind shattering music in a live setting, but the evidence is right here on this 71 minute compact disc, recorded on June 6, 2018 at...

My Favorite Martian - Martian Chronicles, Los Angeles 1990's

In the annals of American garage rock, My Favorite Martian is an interesting footnote, and this archival release serves to illuminate a little-known corner that deserves to be remembered. Al Bloch...

Massergy - Fire Opal

Massergy is the floating ambient electronic music project of one Eric Jensen, based in Austin, Texas. There’s an interesting back story here: Massergy was originally created to honor...

The Honey Pot - Bewildered Jane

The Honey Pot have come a long way since their first album and then debuting on Fruits de Mer Records. Their fifth full album, Bewildered Jane, was just released on Mega Dodo Records and...

Alister Spence and Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe - Imagine Meeting You Here

Moving into 2019, after releasing twelve albums (seems like more) last year, Satoko Fujii takes a back seat on this album, leaving composer and co-conspirator Alister Spence to take the reins of...

Craig Padilla & Marvin Allen - Toward the Horizon

For many years at Exposé we have been reviewing the work of Craig Padilla, both as a solo artist and in collaborations with Zero Ohms, Skip Murphy, Howard Givens, and others. A...

Robert Forster - Inferno

Robert Foster has a long musical career starting as the co-founder of the indie band The Go-Betweens in 1978. After that band broke up in 1989, he released his first solo album, Danger in the...

The Telescopes - Exploding Head Syndrome

The only thing constant with The Telescopes is founding member Stephen Lawrie. Every release explores a different musical direction. For his 11th album, Exploding Head Syndrome, Lawrie...

Radiant Mind / Steve Roach - Heliosphere

Radiant Mind is a soundscape and meditation music artist who prefers to exist in relative anonymity, but we suspect his real name is Robert Englis. On his first two releases Sense (2012)...

Ape Shifter - Ape Shifter II

A couple years since their debut, Jeff Aug and company are back for their sophomore release, another (almost) instrumental exploration of edgy hard rock played with a punk vengeance with only a few...

Kevin Kastning - Piano I

Kastning has played piano on many of his albums to date, mostly on collaborations where someone is playing guitar, but for his sixth solo album, he has crafted nine pieces – over an...

Steve Roach - Atmosphere for Dreaming

Released on January 1st 2019, I’ve been spinning this nearly every early morning for almost three months as this review is written, and it could go on like this for much longer too. We have a...

Chris O'Leary - Ashes to Ashes

Exhibit A

Ashes to Ashes covers The Songs of David Bowie, 1976-2016 — every song Bowie wrote or recorded in that time period in chronological order....

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols.1 - 4

Dr. Mark Lomax, II is a 2018-19 Artist in Residence at the Wexler Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, and he has taken advantage of the Center’s support in a big way, putting...

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols.1 - 4

Dr. Mark Lomax, II is a 2018-19 Artist in Residence at the Wexler Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, and he has taken advantage of the Center’s support in a big way, putting...

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols.1 - 4

Dr. Mark Lomax, II is a 2018-19 Artist in Residence at the Wexler Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, and he has taken advantage of the Center’s support in a big way, putting...

Dr. Mark Lomax, II - 400: An Afrikan Epic, Vols.1 - 4

Dr. Mark Lomax, II is a 2018-19 Artist in Residence at the Wexler Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, and he has taken advantage of the Center’s support in a big way, putting...

Xochitzin & Ixonetzli - True Love Vol.1

A most unusual collection of folksongs by Mexican singer Xochitzin, with several previous albums to her credit, and multi-instrumentalist Luis ‘Ixonetzli’ Perez, who penned most of the...

Forrest Fang - The Fata Morgana Dream

Appropriately titled, most of Forrest Fang’s catalog could seem like the soundtrack of dreams, and this latest release underscores that sense, from the sprawling eleven-minute opener...

Ed Wynne - Shimmer into Nature

It’s been a good four years since the last Ozric Tentacles album Technicians of the Sacred came down from on high, a double CD and a great one which was promptly

Metaphor - The Pearl

It’s been at least ten years since Metaphor’s last album, The Sparrow, so the band certainly can’t be accused of flooding the market with product. Even with the passage...

Mark Feldman's Level 5 - The Sybil EP

This short but anazingly effective helping of crisp, snappy, aggressive instrumental funk clocks in just shy of twenty minutes, and is in fact the debut offering by Level 5, the four-piece led by...